— Long time ago, I went to Colonie High School here in beautiful upstate New York; our mascot was a Garnet Raider, a Native American guy riding on a horse.
Found out this week that the NY State Board of Regents voted to drop all mascots that were tied to Indigenous people; more than a dozen schools in this area are changing their nickname.
Now a Raider isn’t necessarily a native American (see Las Vegas Raiders) but the powers that be announced this week that Colonie teams will now be the Wolfpack (one of the main streets near the high school is Wolf Road).
No one asked me, but I would’ve kept “Raiders” and just changed the picture of the mascot, but that isn’t going to happen. Strange times we live in.
— When you’re making our your college basketball brackets in a couple weeks, remember that Gonzaga has been in the Sweet 16 the last nine years, but when the Zags have been lower than a #4-seed under Mark Few, they’ve only made the Sweet 16 three of ten times.
Gonzaga will almost definitely be lower than a #4-seed this year.
— 20 of the last 22 national champs in college basketball were a #3-seed, or better; the two exceptions were both UConn, in 2014 (#7-seed) and last season (#4-seed).
— Out in the Big West, Cal Poly fired hoop coach John Smith, who in five years is 30-114 coaching the Mustangs, 8-74 in conference games. Cal Poly has been in the NCAA’s once in this century, back in 2014.
— Prop Bet of the Week: You could bet on whether someone will get a hole-in-one at the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic this weekend:
Yes, -130
No, +120
Nick Dunlap got a hole-in-one on the 7th hole Friday, cashing the win tickets.
— Three weeks ago, Bill Vinovich was the referee at the Super Bowl, a game watched on TV by 123.7M people; Thursday night, he was one of the refs at the Stephen F Austin-Cal Baptist basketball game, where the attendance was 2,111.
— Average salary in major league baseball last year was $4,525,719, a 7.1% raise over 2022.
— Philadelphia Phillies are ditching their popular promotion “dollar hot dog nights” because of rowdy fans and long lines at concession stands.
Instead of $1 hot dogs every Thursday, Phillies will run a 2-for-1 frankfurt promotion on certain days, April 2nd/16th being the first two.
— Diego Castillo is a 26-year old shortstop who had an interesting winter:
December 22- DFA’d by Arizona
January 5- claimed by the Mets
January 12- DFA’d by the Mets.
January 19- claimed by Bronx.
January 29- DFA’d by Bronx.
February 5- claimed by the Phillies.
February 13- DFA’d by the Phillies.
February 16- claimed by the Orioles.
February 20- sent to AAA by the Orioles.
He’ll start the season playing for AAA Norfolk.
— Famous people with birthdays on March 2nd:
Terry Steinbach, 62
Jon Bon Jovi, 62
Ben Roethlisberger, 42
Reggie Bush, 39
Adolis Garcia, 31
Tua Tagovailoa, 26
— Loyola 77, Dayton 72
Dayton turned ball over 22 times, Loyola 11.
Ramblers shot 11-27 on the arc.
Loyola moves into 2nd place in A-15, a half-game behind Richmond.
— Lipscomb 81, Eastern Kentucky 67
Eastern Kentucky led by 15 late in first half.
Lipscomb outscored the Colonels 51-29 in second half.
Despite the loss, EKU is the #1 seed in Atlantic Sun tourney.
— Marist 58, Fairfield 55
Fairfield led by 13 late in first half.
Teams combined to shoot 14-49 on the arc.
Red Foxes won six of their last seven games.
— Quinnipiac 82, Iona 64
Bobcats snap a 4-game losing skid, lead MAAC by half-game.
Quinnipiac shot 56.5% inside the arc.
Eight of their nine players scored between 8-13 points.
— Texas State 82, Troy 79 OT
Trojans led by 14 late in first half.
Davion Sykes had 30 points, 12 rebounds for the Bobcats.
Troy is the #3 seed in the Sun Belt tournament.
