A little bit about a lot …
The overnight news that an apparent medical hiccup untethered Carlos Correa from the Giants, allowing Mets owner Steve Cohen to hammer his seemingly endless bank account before sunrise stunned.
It’s surprising, though, that the Padres did not scoop up Correa. Shortstops are kind of their thing. …
The Mets are proving that baseball’s luxury tax means little to a select few. After lassoing Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga, what’s another $315 million? …
It’s easy to make offensive arguments for shortstops Correa, Trea Turner and Padres pickup Xander Bogaerts. One differentiator: Bogaerts is on the field more. In their careers, minus pandemic-shortened 2020, Turner has played an average of 112.9 games per season. Correa: 118.6. Bogaerts: 134.2. …
One last cap tip to University of San Diego’s volleyball team that charged into the Final Four, losing for just the second time this season against eventual champion and top-ranked Texas. The other loss? Louisville, which reached the title game.
Time to open up the pocketbook, Toreros. Coach Jennifer Petrie, the gold standard of San Diego college coaches, just upped your game. …
As 2022 rushes to a close, the San Diego State men’s basketball team is still figuring itself out offensively. Sometimes, there can be such a thing as too much depth. Tightening the rotation could sharpen roles and cohesion.
Eight players average 18 or more minutes, while 11 are in double digits. That could save legs for late in the season, without a doubt. But the 30-2 team in 2020 had six players with at least 18 minutes per game and nine at 10 or more with five players at 25 minutes or more. The current Aztecs have two players averaging that many minutes.
When the pandemic clipped the season short in 2020, Malachi Flynn and KJ Feagin logged more than 30 minutes each time they laced up their sneakers. No one on the 2022-23 team is spending that much time on the court.
Interesting decisions ahead for coach Brian Dutcher. …
No problem at all with the deal for 37-year-old Matt Carpenter. Veteran, left-handed bats routinely are worth the risk. And there’s not much risk with Carpenter, given the short-term price tag.
Can he extend the resurgence with the Yankees last season? The re-tooled swing is encouraging. Worth a shot. …
Here come … the Lions? …
College football commitments somehow mean even less in the NIL era. Three five-star prospects jumped ship in the last three days: Safety Peyton Bowen jettisoned Notre Dame for Oregon, quarterback Dante Moore stiff-armed the Ducks for UCLA and offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor left home-state Iowa in the cold after a late push from Alabama.
All in, until they’re not. …
Steelers star Franco Harris is gone at age 72, far too soon. He won four Super Bowls and was a nine-time Pro Bowl pick. He’ll always be remembered for a heady play on Dec. 23, 1972, when he grabbed a deflected pass inches from the ground for an improbable touchdown and playoff comeback against the Raiders.
Though the “Immaculate Reception” defined him, I’ll remember the unrelenting toughness running between the tackles season after season. …
One year after it was supposed to happen, the Holiday Bowl will make its Petco Park debut. We think. Oregon is scheduled to play North Carolina at 5 p.m. on Dec. 28.
Five hours before the 2021 matchup between North Carolina State and UCLA, everyone stood ready for Petco’s football glamour shot. Then the Bruins pulled the rug out — blindsiding the bowl, the Wolfpack and fans who traveled across the country — after citing last-minute COVID issues.
The pandemic claimed the 2020 game, meaning the bowl has been on mothballs since 2019. Should we go ahead and play this one? …
Will football ever stop spitting out Mannings? Arch Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, signed with Texas. Arguably the top recruit in the country, Arch shattered Eli’s record for passing yards and Peyton’s mark for touchdowns at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans.
Grandfather namesake Archie could sling it a little bit, too. …
A Sports Illustrated story reveals that late Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach recently wrote a check to save a Starkville restaurant. The quirky coach bonded with the owner, a single Black mother. It didn’t matter that she’s a Democrat and he supported former President Donald Trump. Real friendships run deeper.
Leach, surprising us still. …
The Masters announced it will allow LIV Golf players into the 2023 tournament. Cue the controversy. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on one side. San Diego’s Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson on the other side.
Nobody hates controversy or outside noise more than the stuffy Masters. Grab some popcorn.
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