Submitted for your approval today, an issue of News and Views.
NEWS: The Artemis mission is set to blast off on April Fool’s Day for a trip around the moon.
VIEWS: The crew includes a black man and a white woman, which NASA previously had trumpeted as a DEI initiative, writing in a statement the commitment to land “the first woman and first person of color on the moon.” This is not a moon landing mission, but the arrival of President Trump and his aversion to DEI as governmental policy, has seen NASA scrub the DEI language. These crew members seem to have credentials. I hope that is the case.
NEWS: Major League Baseball has gone to automated ball-strike (ABS) challenges and early in the season the New York Yankees are 10-of-11 on challenges overall, including going 5-for-5 Monday night.
VIEWS: You’d need to be blind to think umpires were not missing a lot of ball-strike calls through the years. The arrogant umpires each had “their” strike zone, never mind what the rule book says. The strike zone also had differed from National League to American League, at least in the eyes of the umpires. I just wish Eric Gregg was still with us and calling a strike zone so wide the 400-pound umpire could have slept in it. During Game 5 of the 1997 National League Championship Series, Gregg helped Florida pitcher Livan Hernandez to a career-high 15 strikeouts with a strike zone Atlanta’s Chipper Jones labeled “ a travesty.” If ABS had been around back then, Atlanta might have gone 60-for-60 on challenges – and won the game!
NEWS: Duke blew a 19-point lead to UConn and lost an NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament game Saturday that is being hailed as one of the greatest chokes in tournament history.
VIEWS: I called it during the game. I was watching the broadcast with a friend and when Duke came out sloppy and lethargic to start the second half, I told him Duke was going to blow the game. I didn’t necessarily see the ultimate choke details, when Duke had the ball and the lead with 10 seconds to play, threw away the ball and allowed a three-pointer for the win. But, I did anticipate the final result. Through 35-years as a sports writer, and a lifetime spent viewing this stuff, I have come to learn more games are lost through inept play, than won due to superior play. And, you can’t take the human element out of the equation. Teams ahead tend to get overconfident and lose momentum, frequently being unable to recapture said momentum. My pick to win it all on my bracket was and is Arizona. I think I will stick with the Wildcats.
NEWS: An amalgamation of deranged leftists – celebrities, communists, socialists, Democrats and the mentally impaired – ginned up another of those No Kings protests Saturday, aided by about $3 billion in seed money from the usual suspects who preferred to lurk in the shadows and make the metaphorical bullets for others to fire.
VIEWS: The highlight for me was seeing Robert De Niro doing an unintentional Clueless Joe Biden impression by looking repeatedly at notes while stumbling and bumbling through a statement as cameras rolled. He had to stop at least once and start over. Pathetic. Fox’s Jesse Watters sent Johnny to interact with No Kings protesters in New York City and found the usual assortment of people long on emotion and short on facts. Interestingly, European nations that actually have kings, modified their pre-printed signs to “No Dictators,” or “No Tyrants.”
NEWS: The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey Monday for conduct detrimental to the team.
VIEWS: What was that conduct? Glad you asked. Ivey posted videos on social media disagreeing with the NBA’s Gay Pride promotion, his sentiment rooted in his religious beliefs. A story on ESPN, quoting unnamed sources, of course, described Ivey as too “preachy” around the locker room. Imagine if Ivey were Muslim, not Christian, would he have been waived for expressing similar thoughts? Doubtful.
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