New Life in the Spring

This is the time of year that my allergies start getting terrible. However, it is all worth it because it means the blooming of life both in nature and especially in the world of sports. This weekend plays host to the final four and then next week is when the fun begins. Monday is opening day for Major League Baseball! (One game on Sunday) Then next Thursday the Masters golf tournament begins with Tiger Woods making his first appearance since withdrawing from the Farmers Insurance Open on February 5. Let's talk about that for a moment, shall we? Tiger has gone from #1 golfer in the world 5 years ago to #104 in the world today. That makes the favorite this year Rory McIlroy: the current world number one and awesome Irishman. Others in the hunt for the green jacket could be Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and others. The Masters is always a fun tournament to watch and witness because of its history and talent. In addition, the course is well-groomed and amazing to look at.

Anyways, the best day of the year is Monday. My favorite day of the year. Better than my birthday, better than Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving or any other holiday in the world. Opening day. Opening day. Baseball is back! There's nothing better! Matt Kemp versus Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout versus Felix Hernandez, and many other intriguing match-ups to make our chops lick. Spring training has brought many headlines such as Kris Bryant blasting 9 home runs or injuries to Yu Darvish. But it is all designed for this moment: opening day. Baseball is back! Here are your scores for the Padres spring training this past week:

28 March: Padres 3, Rangers 2; Barmes: 2B, 2 RBI
29 March: Padres 8, Mariners 5; Myers: Solo HR; Kemp: Solo HR
30 March: Padres 6, Reds 3; Kemp: 2-run HR; Barmes: Solo HR; Solarte: 3-run HR
31 March: Royals 4, Padres 1
1 April: Padres 8, White Sox 2; Gyorko: 3-run HR; Solarte: 2-run HR
2 April: Padres 6, Brewers 5

There ya have it! 5-1 this past week is not bad! This offense looks pretty potent. 31 home runs this spring has to surpass the total from the last two years. I look forward to a great year to provide not only fan entertainment, but inter-divisional competition. James Shields will take the hill on Monday against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw at 1:05 p.m. pacific time in Los Angeles. Please watch the game on FSSD and tell me how the Pad-squad looks!

March madness resumes tomorrow night in Indianapolis with Wisconsin facing off in a rematch of last year's final four with Kentucky. Then later, Duke will take on Michigan State. Both games are on CBS. This is the first year, I recall, that you will be able to watch it nationally on your favorite team's feed.

Later this month is the NFL draft and it will be exciting to see all these young college prospects leave their old life behind and leave themselves vulnerable to the grueling gridiron. Who will flop? Who will not? The talk of the town will be over Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston. It is looking more and more like the Buccaneers will take Winston first overall, but neither of them will be attending the draft. Only about 5 months until opening kick in college football again. But until then, we have an entire season of baseball to enjoy.

That should do it! Let's hope this baseball season is as good as advertised. I plan on driving 14 hours next week, so do not be surprised if I do not post anything at all. But I will do my best to do so. Feel free to leave any comments as to what you would like me to talk about. I am an open book and am willing to learn about any sport. Yes, even soccer. Have a great week!