Tuesday Morning Thoughts: April Sadness

Thoughts on the end of the tourney, baseball, Michigan, MJ and the HOF and 2016.

1. March Madness is officially over. With the start of April, comes April Sadness. Yes, as a non-baseball loving fan living in Chicago, it’s almost officially the boring season. Once the Bulls are bounced in Round 1, this Chicity fan will only have the NFL Draft, NBA Draft, Champions League and the thoughts of the Cutler era to get him through spring and summer. Luckily, for you baseball loving fans, SagiNasty will be providing weekly reports on baseball.

2. Explain to me again how Michigan State was supposed to save the Michigan economy? Filling up Ford Field for a weekend will not save the auto industry. It is a nice side note and possibly some source of psychological relief for some Detroit workers, but let’s not get too far. Now if people started buying the Ford Fusion or the Chevy Volt, we might have something to talk about.

3. Whose idea was it to receive the Olympic Organizing Committee Members to Chicago in early April? For future considerations, when planning to receive, host and persuade global leaders in Chicago, may I suggest holding such a meeting in June. I realize that the Chicago 2016 members probably had no choice in this matter, nevertheless it is unfortunate.

4. Speaking of 2016, I speculate that 80% of the decision making process of members depends on (a) politics and (b) bribes. In my mind, people (whether from Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo, etc.) must be paying of these members to vote in their favor. Why you ask?

5. If college boosters pay a high-school prodigy upwards of $20K to attend the UConn’s or USC’s of the world, it’s logical to infer that local politicians or their rich friends are willing to pay much more to Olympic Committee Members for their vote. The Uconn’s of the world bring in 8 million a year due to their college basketball programs. How much would you need to pay Olympic Committee members to bring the billion dollar plus Olympics to your city?

6. This isn’t to automatically conclude that Chicago or other cities involve themselves in such black market bribery deals, but that it wouldn’t be entirely surprising that some members have been paid off for their vote. For example, if you are Pat Ryan or Mayor Daly and believe that some rich guy from Spain is willing to spend a million or two to buy the votes of some members for Madrid’s campaign, wouldn’t the same thought cross your mind? In addition, the risks of getting caught must be lower. Unlike the NCAA where boosters are located locally, the Olympic Committee members are located globally. The mere dispersion of voting members and the lack of power to enforce international laws and IOC regulations, would make it even more likely that these things occur.

7. Anyway, the Hall of Fame confirmed MJ as part of its upcoming HOF class. This is of course a no brainer. But I don’t think this is enough. If you are overwhelmingly considered the best player EVER to play basketball then a special something should be created to honor your playing history. I would suggest something bigger, like renaming the Hall of Fame to the Michael Jordan Hall of Fame or building an entire wing dedicated to his Airness. Or maybe creating another HOF called the “Greatest Hall” that only included MJ and Muhammed Ali with special consideration to players like Montana, Magic, Bird, Babe Ruth, Walter Payton, Jim Brown, Etc.

8. Tom Izzo has got to be one the best, if not the best, college basketball coach. I look at that team and always wonder how in the world they reached the championship game. I don’t see one great player and often question how they will score points. Yet, year after year and especially this year, they manage to get it done. Well done.

9. On the other hand, I have no idea what Izzo’s Spartans were doing yesterday. A simple, SLOW IT DOWN motto should have been in order. Michigan State played like they were a retarded energizer bunny and North Carolina played like a fully tuned lithium Ion battery. Michigan State had no business trying to out-run UNC. They would have lost even if they played a half-court game, but Izzo is partly to blame for their fast paced turnover game.

10. Maybe the best team should win. Congrats UNC.

11. DaChifan triumphed over SagiNasty in the Fogo De Chao challenge. Thanks again Tarheels.

12. For the first time ever, I won an NCAA Tourney pool. Albeit that it only consisted of 8 other players.