OFF THE TOP OF MY BALD HEAD
Barry Warner: Madness, Kaepernick and more sports
Mar 20, 2018, 7:00 am
Colin Kaepernick surprised Bob McNair. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Without question this is the most mind-blowing tournament I have ever seen. Brackets have been busted, hearts have been broken, buzzer beaters, No. 1 seeds eliminated.
The best story of March Madness is the Loyola Ramblers. And not just because of coach Porter Mosier’s kids who upset both Miami and Tennessee. It’s the remarkable story of 98-year-young team chaplain and scout, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.
She is getting more press coverage than the players, posing for selfies and signing autographs. Sister Jean, the team chaplain since 1994, has had a TV camera trained on her during games and has been mic’d up for her pregame prayers.
The national celeb plans to be with the 11th seeded Ramblers in Atlanta on Thursday night at the Sweet 16 in Atlanta, where they will face No. 7 seed Nevada in a South Region semi.
Coogs just miss
The UH Coogs finish the season 27-8 under coach Kelvin Sampson as a
buzzer beater keeps them from advancing to the Sweet Sixteen and a game against the Aggies. But I still cannot figure out why Sampson, a defensive minded coach did not put two players on the inbound pass.
Strange indeed.
But it’s a boost for Kelvin Sampson’s program, as they move into their new state of the art facility.
A&M moves on
The Aggies made it to the Sweet Sixteen doing it in a manner that Kevin Sumlin’s football teams could not: With defense.
Once again coach Billy Kennedy’s kids clean the glass, pulling down 84 percent of their shots against former defending champ North Carolina and Providence. The keys are 6-10, 241-pound sophomore Robert Williams and 6-10, 266 pound junior center Tyler Davis.
So much for putting a lot of stock in your conference, where the Aggies finished seventh in the SEC
Rockets roll on
Like a well-oiled machine, Mike D’Antoni’s Rockets continue to roll, even though they make a scary habit of letting teams get back into the games in the fourth quarter.
The more you watch P.J. Tucker, the more you appreciate the unselfish play of the former Texas star.
Astros, Altuve stand tall
Astros owner Jim Crane and GM Jeff Luhnow rewarded superstar second baseman Jose Altuve by signing the MVP through the 2024 season. It’s a five year, $151 MILLION-dollar deal.
Crane is one again putting his money where his mouth is by paying guys who grew up in their farm system. When he bought the club, it was bare bones payroll and 100 loss seasons. Crane lived up to his promise of taking care of his stars.
They did the deal quietly with the toughest agent in baseball, Scott Boras, representing the Venezuelan package of dynamite.
Net Gaines
Huge props to new Texans GM Brian Gaine. Unlike his predecessor Rick Smith McNair, who treated the media as maggots, Brian had a press conference to discuss the first few days of free agency.
How refreshing.
Communicating with you the fans through the media rather than Slick Rick hiding in his imperial office. On the day they lost out on left tackle Nate Solder, Gaine added three offensive linemen.
And that was before the shocking signing of Tyrann Mathieu on a one-year deal. The hard-hitting safety declined a pay cut from Arizona. With the addition of the Honey Badger the Texans have upgraded the back end of the defense with a great player on a one year deal. He gives defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel multiple options in the back end.
But the key to secondary is the play of former first round pick Kevin Johnson. The kid is blessed with talent but can’t stay healthy.
Still at odds
Colin Kaepernick was seen last Thursday working out at a local soccer field, then flew to New York to participate in the collusion case. Bob McNair, was part of the NFL deposition. According to sources, the Texans owner was shocked at Kaepernick’s presence.
Not from an optics perception but who I still think McNair should let Gaines sign Kap. His mobility is perfect to back up Deshaun Watson
Still Luv ya blue
Big thanks to Titans owner Amy Strunk for a first-class day of golf and dinner for ex-Oilers. Warren Moon flew in from Seattle, Kevin Gilbride from the East coast and Dr. Doom, Robert Brazille, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.
I had dinner with Rams legendary defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. He is like a little kid in the candy store with the acquisitions of Aquib Talib and Marcus Peters. He’s never had a talent like the Chiefs former No. 1 pick.
Wade loves Watson and what Bill O’Brien did with him. “From the tape I saw the kid is destined for greatness. He has things that you can’t teach or coach.’’
Chirp!
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.