Fridays are great.  Springtime Fridays are greater.  Weather improves. Days are longer.  Flowers bloom.  And, multiple sports become more interesting.  Oh, and there is this thing called March Madness.  What is it about us knowing so little about so many teams and for a weekend or two we fixate on their stories.  Everybody and every team has a story.  The weekend is near.  And, the tasty morsels below will help fuel your run to the weekday finish line.

1.  It’s a rather small sample size of exactly one game.  But, if Murray St. plays as well as they did yesterday, the 12th seed could run deep in this tourney.  One of our astute readers is a basketball junkie.  He points out that when you have the second best player in America you always have a shot at winning.  Ja Morant did not disappoint.  He crossed over and then nailed a step back three one minute, and then a bit later he threw down a statement jam.  His triple double led the Racers to a 19 point shelling of fifth seeded Marquette.  But, we found his supporting cast more than up to the task as well.
2. Florida St. beat a balanced Vermont team by seven.   Florida St. might be ten deep.  They can play big or small and fast or half court.  Yesterday they did both and advanced over a determined Vermont club that drained a strong 16 three pointers.
3. Which brings us to a Saturday late afternoon showdown between Murray St and Florida St.  Madness indeed.  Today’s play will uncover another surprise or two, but for BBR’s money this upcoming tussle to get to the Sweet Sixteen should be sweet to watch onto itself.
4. The opposite of this success was Alabama’s lethargic NIT loss at home to Norfolk State.  Former NBA player and two team NBA coach Avery Johnson couldn’t turn the Tide around on the hardwood.  When you have an office in the same athletic department as Nick Saban going to the knitting tournament doesn’t promote job security.   Losing at home to Norfolk St. is the final ball of yarn.   A buyout conversation is underway.
5. Which brings us to Alabama’s basketball future.  Shouldn’t we expect them to try to shoot for the moon with their next hire?  The football program was, is,  and will continue to be a cash cow.  Why can’t a football powerhouse also be a basketball powerhouse?  LSU made a run at just that.  The problem is they paid for the coach who might have likely paid for the players too.
6.  Which brings us to baseball.  The LA Angels made some noise. They hooked Mike Trout with 430 million George Washington’s for a dozen years to effectively ensure that he puts it on the line for his one and only team for the entirety of his career.  If you project his career totals, as analytic geeks do every day, his stat pile will put him onto a very short list of the best baseball players ever.  Ever.  Like Willie Mays ever.
7. In this same noisy window of time the Seattle Mariners and the entire country of Japan said goodbye to a hitting machine named Ichiro Suzuki who spoke softly and carried a lethal wooden stick.  Ichiro was a 10-time All-Star in the majors. He had 3,089 hits over a 19-year career in the big leagues after having 1,278 while starring in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 is a professional record.  His hit stat pile puts him onto a very short list of best hitters ever.  Ever.  Like Pete Rose ever.
8. ESPN, who we like to bash for a variety of reasons, put out a cool “untold stories” article on Ichiro.  You can read it here.  There are six parts to the quick read, and his exchange with the impatient Lou Pinella is the first one.  Ichiro was a rookie, and Pinella wanted more out of him.  Turns out, all Sweet Lou had to do was ask.
9. Meanwhile the Houston Astros decided to get ahead of the Alex Bregman train before it left the station.  The confident 3rd baseman hinted that the Astros should be willing to pay a bit more for his services after just two and a half years in the bigs.  His performance last year both at the plate and in the field put him right into the MVP conversation for the American League.  The Astros own him for the 2019, 2020, and 2011 seasons for cheap.  Rather than slow play it, they put 100 million on the table for six years.  His agent decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth.  Bregman could possibly fetch more elsewhere for years 4-6 of the deal offered.  Or, he could get hurt and never live up to his end.  In the end the deal sounded good to both parties.
10. Which brings us back to basketball for our last tasty nugget.  Today’s NCAA action will bring upsets.  In a one and done scenario the longer the dog stays in the game the more they feel free to bark.  Ducks don’t bark, but watch out for Oregon as a very spry 12th seed facing the Badgers of Wisconsin.  We’re going to watch carefully and if Charles Bark(ley) picks Wisconsin to win, we are putting at least three wooden nickels on Oregon.

Enjoy the weekend and the Madness.