It’s BLAST OFF time in March for many sports.  Let’s BLAST RIGHT OFF into the NCAA tourney…

…As the NCAA Mens Basketball Tourney opens up, some familiar teams & names and surprising facts emerge each year. Yes, traditional “favorites”–Duke, N. Carolina, UCLA pop right into mind but the run of 26 consecutive NCAA tournament bids — the nation’s longest”run” in the NCAA Tourney, belongs to Michigan State! They barely stayed alive in 2021 with a “gift” from the NCAA (at least it looks like that to me) when the Spartans were put in the First Four with a 15-12 record.  But the Spartans clearly deserve their NCAA bid this year. Michigan State won the Big Ten season title by 3 games this year, and their 27-5 record includes 8 consecutive victories, all against quad 1 competition. HC Tom Izzo, now 70 years old, leads the team with enthusiasm, experience and talent in NCAA—the Spartans who have 26 consecutive NCAA tournament bids hold the nation’s longest consecutive tour.

…If a team kept that same rate for the 82 game season, they’d finish with 111 points!! The Blues have finished with 111 points or more only 10 times since the beginning of the franchise. Their all-time best for a season is 115 points in the 1990-91 season. It’s lots of fun watching them play with good speed, good defense & good in goal!  The new playoff format is that the top 3 teams in each of the four division and the next two highest teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.

…the NCAA’s BLAST OFF brings many familiar teams & coaches.  Coaches are often overlooked when assessing the likely progress of a team. Take a look @ Rick Barnes. He’s taking his team for the 25^th time to the NCAA Tourney in his 38 years of being a Head Coach. That’s while coaching @ 4 different schools!! That sounds good But…his teams are 11-23 against the tournament “spread” and his overall record in the NCAA tournament is 28-26!  Ugh.. Sooo..don’t pick Tennessee to go deep this year 😊

…Mizzou, who had lost four of its last five entering the tournament, couldn’t find the BLAST OFF button in their 1^st round game vs Drake as they fell  67-57. Drake (31-3 out of the MO Valley conference) used a defensive strategy of stopping drives to the paint & Push the long range shooters off the 3-point area. 1^st year HC @ Drake, Ben McCullum, who had won 4 national titles @ NW MO State used the same style in his 1^st year @ Drake. Again, they did just that and Missouri had no answers on offense. Soooo… a school of 4,774 advances to the 2^nd round. Mizzou (22-12), who entered the contest having lost 4 of its last 5 games, fought hard as they cut a 15 point lead down to a single point but Drake scored the next 6 points and momentum changed back again to Drake. Another shocking upset in NCAA 2025—McNeese State 69 Clemson 67!

…BLASTING OFF are the Blues! It coincided with the hiring of HC Jim Montgomery. Since he arrived, the Blues are 11-8-3. That’s 25 points in 22 games. It’s said in any sport, that you win with defense.

The combined save percentage of goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer has risen significantly, with the Blues now having the NHL’s best save percentage at 5-on-5!

…Spring Training has BLASTED OFF.  Each spring brings hope, rookies, players from trades, etc. We expect players to “move on” regularly. However, surprisingly, at least to me, only 9 Cardinals have spent their entire career as a Redbird.  Go ahead…take a guess who they are.  Of Course, Stan Musial—22 years-1941-1963; Bob Gibson 1959-1975; C Yadier Molina (2004-2022)-19 years; Adam Wainwright (2005-2022)-18 years(they are the real easy ones); others are— Tom Pagnozzi (1987-1998-12 years; Ray Blades (1922-1932)-10 years; OF/3B Pepper Martin (1928-1944)-13 years; CF Terry Moore (1935-1948)-11 years; LHP Al Brazle (1943-1954-10 years). Currently, It’ll be very hard for players to remain with one team for their entire career with free agency possible after 6 years of service.

…Before the 2025 season BLASTS OFF, I have a question about the formation of the roster.  Why are we keeping Pedro Pag’es, to be our “backup” catcher on the roster? He was a .238 batter last year. The MLB average was .243 so he’s not a real “threat” at the plate. Yes…he is solid defensively but…(there’s always that “but” coming up) with Wilson Contreras @ 1b, who’s has been a catcher for his 8 year MLB career, we already have a 2^nd catcher—RIGHT HERE in St. Louis available immediately.  From my view, that’s a waste on the roster spot. If there’s an injury, a minor league catcher could be on the scene by the next day. The average number of pitchers used in a game in 2024 league wide was 4.26 pitchers/game. Soo…any average over 4.00 means, you’ll be using 5 pitchers on the average often.

…the real problem is the Catcher spot on the roster. Ivan Herrara seems to be able to hit (he batted .301 in 723 games last year) but can’t throw runners out trying to steal 2b. Pag’es is solid defensively but batted .238 last year (league batting average was .234 in 2024).Sooo..he’s right in the “average” level. I would expect that he’ll post similar marks in the future. Why not let Herrara lead off the batting order…get 3 ab’s, then bring in Pag’es for defense? Or teach Herrara to play 1b?

…Btw…speaking of MLB pitching…instead of naming a starting pitcher…..why not name a starting trio! Each pitcher would be assigned 3 innings.  Each pitcher could prepare for 75 pitches. Then you could bring them back sooner than the 5 days currently required between starts. Repeat the process.

…Long time St Louis U Head baseball coach-Darin Hendrickson is Ready to BLAST OFF for his 18^th season @ SLU. His accomplishments are largely overlooked or ignored. He has 1006 wins in his College coaching career and holds the SLU record winningest HC back in 2018 when he won his 352^nd game as SLU. He’s won the Atlantic 10 conference in 2024, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012. He’s the only SLU baseball coach to win  consecutive years of 30 wins…in fact he’s done it from 2012-15; 2023-24; 2017-18; 2009-10. He’s been a WINNER for SLU for a long time.

…Speaking of college baseball… the U of Tennessee  has also BLASTED OFF this year. You may be thinking…so what?…well, a local boy has guided this BLAST OFF. Tony Vitello, son of long-time DeSmet Coach Greg Vitello, is the Head Coach @ Tennessee. Vitello led the Tennessee to the NCAA Baseball Title last year!  Currently, the Volunteers are on a 22-game winning streak dating back to last season’s College World Series. The Vols won the final 2 games in Omaha to clinch the program’s first national title.

…His Dad, Greg Vitello who coached Soccer & Baseball @ DeSmet for 46 years (that’s not a typo). Between the 2 sports, Vitello reached 14 Final Fours with Championship trophies in soccer in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2011. His Baseball title came in 2000. He’s a member of the MO Sports HOF. A well deserved award. At one point of my life, I was a high school umpire. All I can say is that when I umpired DeSmet, Coach Vitello was always very intense throughout the game.

…The BLAST OFF for the NCAA for Women’s basketball takes a different approach than the men. All the games in rounds 1,2,3 &4 are played @ just 2 sites! This year the locations are Spokane, Wash & Birmingham, Alabama. All the games of the first 4 rounds are played at these 2 locations. The Final Four is in Tampa, Florida. Would the Men adopt this style? It sure would save on flying all around each weekend at a different location. Logistics for lodging, transportation, would seem to be much easier. Maybe, the NCAA could give the players Monday off and return to action on Tuesday?

…one of the proposals for NFL, as they BLASTED OFF for 2025 rules adjustments, they eliminated the “Tush Push”…Ya know…a quarterback takes the snap, then his backfield pushes him  in the butt forward for short yardage plays. It’s strange …it’s seemed illegal to me the moment I saw it being used!  The rule book states…”Helping the runner, also called assisting the runner and aiding the runner, is a penalty in gridiron football that occurs when an offensive player pulls or carries the ball carrier in order to gain additional yards.” Don’t know why another rule was necessary. Is a “push” not the same effect as a “pull”?

….Well, that wraps it up for this week. Don’t Tush Push me out of here 😊 Please consider sending your thoughts…agree, disagree, whatever…I publish them on my FB page. Almost all of them make fantastic suggestions or revisions! Have a good week!  Bob