Rich's Sports Beat

If you’re like me (actually, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone!) then your brackets got busted real fast. All of my Final Four teams are out and I might as well have never even filled out a bracket. Well, that’s not really true. This is the fun of filling out a bracket at tournament time. You just never know what is going to happen. First things first. If anyone is still peeved that Pitt lost its second round game to Butler, don’t be. The reason is twofold. First, Pitt was just not good enough this year. Yes, they won the Big East regular season title, but they lost in the first round of the Big East tournament to UConn. Second, the team that knocked Pitt out, Butler, is Final Four bound for the second consecutive year. That happens to be two of the four teams heading to Houston this weekend. So those losses were legitimate. Okay, my Final Four teams were North Carolina, San Diego State, Kansas, and Pitt. All four are gone. So much for knowing how the ball is going to bounc...

For this of us who perhaps had Pitt among our Final Four, we can go ahead and erase that right now. While I had my doubts (now confirmed) I felt this was the year they would make it to the Final Four in Houston. Now, it appears that will never happen. Keep in mind that Pitt plays in perhaps the toughest conference in the country – the Big East. That is not an excuse for what happened Saturday night. Mental errors will kill you every time. And they were made by both Butler and Pitt at the end of the game. So, the story goes. Butler moves on (one of last year’s finalists) and Pitt goes home. Butler proved that last year’s run was no fluke, and they might just make it back again this year. Don’t be surprised if they do. Beating a number one seed is an accomplishment, no matter how it happens. So, the first number one seed of the tournament falls. And the way the rest of the tournament has proceeded, many brackets are now messed up, again. That’s just the way the NCAAs go, an...

Hello, my name is Rich and I am a sports junkie. “Hello, Rich!” Okay, for all practical purposes, I am a sports junkie. Of course, that depends on your definition. First, and foremost, I am a football junkie, the NFL lockout not withstanding. I love all levels of football – high school, college, and professional. However, if this lockout extends into the regular season (chances are it will not; not with all of the money at stake), I am not going to worry about no football on Sundays, Sunday nights, and Monday nights. I also love hockey, primarily the Penguins. I can watch other hockey games, but I also like to have a rooting interest. I am also a big racing fan, primarily NASCAR. I watch the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series (the AAA of NASCAR) and the Camping World Truck Series (although they do not race every weekend). I am also a huge fan of the Indianapolis 500. That is tradition for me. I am becoming a fan of baseball again. Baseball lost me for a long time; y...

*The NFL labor talks have been extended another week to this Friday. Should those talks not produce anything concrete, then I’m sure they’ll keep going until they get something done. A chink in the armor of the owners occurred when a judge told them they would not attain $4 billion from the TV networks should a lockout occur. That is a chunk of change that no one wants to let go of, so this is where we are at. To many, this may seem like billionaires versus millionaires, and those people would be right. However, what is at stake here is the game of football. The public still wants football to be played and both parties, owners and players, want football to be played. What the real problem here is owners versus owners versus players. The big market owners want a bigger piece of the pie, forcing small market owners to scramble to make up for that loss. Most of us cannot relate to the amount of money that is at stake here. However, I have no problem with the money involved. Thi...

The NFL and players collective bargaining agreement was set to expire at midnight on Thursday March 3. As of this writing, negotiations were not going particularly well and the idea of a lockout loomed large. A lockout would be the owners locking the players out of all team facilities. That also includes coaches and staff responsible for all team aspects as well. Basically, a full separation of ownership and front office and the rest of the staff and players. The oddity behind all of this is that, while all team functions would cease, the NFL Draft would still be conducted in April as scheduled. No minicamps, no free agency, no O.T.A.s, nothing. Business would cease except for the draft. Now, if this looks as if the players are being greedy and the owners greedier, think again. You would have the first part correct. The owners want an 18 game season to realize more profits at the gate, more advertising from television, and more revenue streams to add to their coffers. They ...