Quite the week in sports and sports related items.
The NCAA Final Four took place this weekend with two pathetically unexciting semi-final games followed by one of the all-time great championship games. North Carolina and Villanova turned in an awesome battle for right to cut down the nets. The Tar Heels came back from apparently dead to tie the game with 4.7 seconds left in the game only to have Villanova race down court and heave up a three pointer just before the buzzer to take the win. It was truly a spectacular moment for college basketball and you will see both of those shots every March from here on out. Nice job gentlemen.
Major League baseball cranked up this week. I have made it clear that I have little hope for the Braves this year and will not rehash all the reasons here but I will say that, after losing game one, I expect Atlanta to trail in the division for the remainder of the season. Atlanta had a chance to win game one but poor defense and weak offense doomed them in extra innings. I expect that to be a season long theme.
Speaking of baseball, my Gators dropped out of first place in the rankings for the first time all season when Texas A&M jumped them last week. Florida responded by thumping those same Aggies for a three game sweep over the weekend. Point made. I’m guessing the Gators will be back at the top of the next poll.
Over the same weekend, the Gators softball game lost for only the second and third times all season as Alabama came into Gainesville and took two out of three to win the series. It remains to be seen if Florida will drop out the top spot in the rankings which they have held all season. There are currently six SEC teams in the top 12.
I managed to attend one of the Gator baseball games and two of the softball games (one of which was thankfully the win). I was in Gainesville for a charity golf tournament for the Holden Flynn Foundation with GatorCountry.com and it was an awesome experience. Hopefully, this was the first annual such event. I hope to attend every year. While the golf was great, the rest of the weekend was even better. I got the chance to talk to former Gator players and several people very close to the program. I learned a lot and laughed even more.
Meanwhile, spring football practice is winding up around the southeast with many of the spring games being televised. Check listings to see if your team’s game will be available. I will watch the Gator’s Orange and Blue game Friday night eager to get a look at those battling it out for the starting quarterback spot this fall. UGA has a similar battle at quarterback making that spring game a must see as well a week from Saturday.
And then there is The Masters this weekend. Like I said, there is a lot going on in the sports world right now. Enjoy.
