North: Random thoughts on the world of sports
With the baseball season colliding this weekend with basketball and hockey, let's spray to all fields with some random thoughts.
• Kentucky will beat Wisconsin by 3 this weekend, although I'm rooting for the Badgers and I hope my prediction is wrong.
• Michigan State falls by 5 to Duke, setting up the NCAA championship game with Duke versus Kentucky. Where's former Duke all-star Christian Laettner, a fantastic collegiate player, when you need him?
• Maybe it's just me, but the the Wrigley Field construction looks like a giant mess.
• The perennially injured Derrick Rose has modeled more suits in the last three years than a model for The Men's Wearhouse.
• Congratulations to the Loyola University Ramblers for winning a CBI championship. Porter Moser, who attended Benet Academy and is originally from Naperville, has done a tremendous job as head coach. In my book, a championship is a championship!
• I talked with former New York Mets player Mookie Wilson on my Fox Sports radio show about his close friendship with former Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner. They have forever been connected by one of the most famous plays in baseball history. In Game Six of the 1986 World Series, Wilson hit a grounder that went through Buckner's legs, and the rest is history.
If Buckner had fielded it cleanly, though, Mookie said he would have still beaten Buck to the bag.
Fortunately, it has turned out well for both guys and they are making money off their notoriety. Wilson has an autobiography out now called "Mookie: Life, Baseball and the '86 Mets."
• Tiger Woods at Augusta… Please say it's so because we just haven't weaned ourselves completely off of Tiger yet. I just have to ask: would Tiger winning the Masters be the biggest shock in sports history? In my limited world, the answer is yes. I guess that's why he continues to capture our attention because it is possible.
• ESPN has abandoned LeBron James and adopted Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors as their latest front-runner project. Isn't three straight days of Golden State coverage two days too many? I am sorry, but I think most of America is bored with all the coverage for a team that could be out in the second round of the playoffs!
• I've been watching a series of one-year deals by the Bears, which will probably translate into a very bad year for them. But general manager Ryan Pace is setting the table, and I believe when the Bears eventually make the playoffs, Jay Cutler will not be the QB.
• I talked with Bill Livingston, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and sold him on Josh McCown as a good fit for the Browns. Josh won't light the world on fire there because the team is pretty bad, but I can't think of a better guy to help their somewhat misguided QB Johnny Manziel. Their former QB, Brian Hoyer, didn't want any part of a mentoring the flamboyant rookie.
• Enjoy the Cubs home opener against the Cards!
Program notes:
Follow me on Twitter@ north2north, and listen to Fox Sports Daybreak with Andy Furman and myself from 5-8 a.m. Monday through Friday on Fox Sports radio, and check me out on iHeart radio or Foxsportsradio.com.
• North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.