tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Tuesday’s Thoughts

While wondering how long it will be before Bobby Valentine's act wears thin in Boston, here is what's on my mind this morning:

* What in the world is up with the New York Jets?? Acquiring Tim Tebow makes absolutely no football sense. Seems more like an attempt to take publicity away from the Super Bowl Champion NY Giants. Ultimately, Rex Ryan will regret the day that Tebow arrived in New York.

* Rumors abound that Sean Payton would like his former mentor, Bill Parcells, to take over the New Orleans Saints while Payton serves his one year suspension. Somehow, I don't see why the 71 year old Parcells would want to do this.

* The National Football League has a problem on its hands and that problem is Warren Sapp. Sapp's declaration on the league's television network that Jeremy Shockey was the guy who blew the whistle on Bountygate has the league in some potential hot water. Besides the fact that everyone around the investigation and Commissioner Goodell has indicated that Sapp is wrong, if Shockey does not find employment this season the league will be facing a lawsuit for sure. This country has whistleblower laws which prohibits retaliation against an employee who speaks out about an improper practice. Sapp should be taken to task for his remarks and the league needs to monitor what is said on its own network.

* The NFL Draft is a month away and there is all kinds of speculation about what the Cleveland Browns are going to do with the fourth overall pick. There is a possibility that they might trade down to acquire more picks. Bottom line for me: they better do something to bring some spark to their boring offense.

* The fascination of the New York media over the lack of velocity on Michael Pineda's fastball is amazing. This 21 year old kid seems to have developed the third pitch that the Yankees wanted him to work on and his spring stats are good. On the other end of the spectrum is Ivan Nova whose spring numbers have not been very good. Maybe the dailies ought to quit looking at the radar gun and pay more attention to earned runs given up, hits allowed and walks.

* Is there anything more boring than watching a baseball exhibition game from the sixth inning on??

* Nice to see Tiger Woods win a PGA tournament over the weekend. Woods being on his game will truly make this year's Masters more interesting to watch. A last day battle between Woods and Rory McElroy would really bring excitement back to golf the likes of which we haven't seen since Tiger bursted on to the scene many years ago.

* As predicted by many (me included), 3 number one seeds did not make it to the Final Four. Kentucky will be the only one playing next weekend and I believe they are the favorite to win it all. The best match up in the Finals would be Kentucky and Ohio State. By the way, what has happened to the ACC???

* Should be a dandy this evening as the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres meet in the nation's capitol. The teams are tied for the 8th and final playoff spot. What makes this game really interesting is that Buffalo's hottest player is Ryan Miller and Washignton's hottest player is Alex Ovechkin.

* The Maple Leafs meet the Carolina Hurricanes at the ACC tonight. The Hurricanes have really been playing well as of late. The loser of this game will be in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and have a shot at a lottery pick. The way things have been going I can feel a Carolina win.

* A bright spot for Leaf Nation: what team has given up the fewest goals in the American Hockey League?? You guessed it, the Toronto Marlies.

* The guy who I think is the most underrated coach in the NHL is Barry Trotz. The Nashville Predators are not a big market team but they make the playoffs on a regular basis. They don't have any big name goal scorers but they compete every game. Might do the Maple Leafs some good to watch some Predator games.

* Sad news on Sunday when it was announced that Bert Sugar passed away at the age of 74. Sugar was Mr. Boxing as he covered the game for years and was a frequent guest on many sports talk shows throughout North America. I always enjoyed listening to him. He was a throwback sports reporter. He will be sadly missed.

* And finally, while driving home last night, I had to hear Mike Schopp tell a story about being at some event over the weekend and he couldn't remember the name of a former school mate. What made it worst was he called the guy his wrong name the whole evening. It was only until the end of the event when Schopp got the bad news. This is the state of Sports Radio in Western New York.