The Sacramento Kings lost a play-in game to the Dallas Mavericks last night. That is newsworthy only in the fact that it will be the Mavs and not the Kings taking part in the NBA Western Conference playoffs. What is different about that game is what happened after the game:
- The Kings and their GM, “mutually agreed to part company” but the Kings did not fire their coach – – at least for now.
The Kings have hardly been a stalwart franchise in the NBA for the last decade or so, but someone there decided that the loss last night was at least equally due to roster construction as it was to coaching strategy and tactics. Have the Kings broken new ground here?
Moving on … The Atlanta Braves have to be pleased to see Sencer Strider back on the mound. Strider missed all of the 2024 season following elbow surgery and he had been working his way back in minor league games. He appeared in 3 games with the Gwinnett Stripers in the Triple-A International League; his performance there was very positive:
- He threw 13 2/3 innings in those games and struck out 27 hitters.
Yesterday, Strider made his first start for the Braves facing the Blue Jays. Although the Braves lost the game, Strider’s inaugural appearance was encouraging:
- He went 5 innings yielding 2 runs and 5 hits while striking out 5 batters.
The Atlanta Braves are off to a miserable start in 2025; if they are going to right the ship and make a run at the division title, they are going to need to have Strider performing well for the rest of 2025 and to get Ronald Acuña, Jr. back from his ACL injury. Recent reports on Acuña’s status are promising. According to a report at SI.com Acuña has been cleared to take at bats but is not yet ready to run out of the batter’s box. He is “cleared to ramp up activities” and the hope is that he could be back in the Braves’ lineup “next month”.
Sticking with baseball and rehab assignments … Late last season, Dodgers’ starter Clayton Kershaw had to leave a game due to pain in his left big toe. He never returned to the mound for the rest of the season or for the playoffs and then had surgery on that toe and on his knee around Thanksgiving. Yesterday, Kershaw had a minor league rehab start for the Oklahoma City Comets of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Rehab from surgery is a series of small steps and Kershaw took a small first step yesterday with these stats:
- He threw 3 scoreless innings, gave up 2 hits and struck out 2 batters.
- He threw 30 pitches and 22 were for strikes.
According to a report in the LA Times, the Dodgers hope that Kershaw can be back in the big leagues in mid-to-late May. That timetable would give him four or five more rehab appearances in Oklahoma City. Kershaw has been with the Dodgers for his entire career dating back to 2008; his career accomplishments point him to the Hall of Fame soon after he retires:
- 10-time All-Star
- 3 Cy Young Awards
- 1 NL MVP Award
Switching gears … Recently, I noted here that all was not well in the Kent St. football program. With Spring Practice about to begin, the school put head coach Kenni Burns on administrative leave with pay while it investigated some unspecified issues. I pointed out then that Burns’ two-year coaching record at Kent State (1-23) was not going to provide him with much cover during that investigation. Indeed, it did not.
Kent St. fired Kenni Burns last week after the investigation turned up “multiple violations of his contract, including how he used a personal credit card”. It is more than a bit late in the game for Kent St. to hire a new coach for the 2025 season so the former offensive coordinator, Mark Carney, will be the interim head coach as a coaching search develops over the next season. Carney has his work cut out for him; Kent St. was 0-12 last year; their defense won my “Brothel Defense Award” for giving up the most points per game in college football last year. Here is what the first half of the schedule looks like for 2025:
- Vs. Merrimack – – a Division 1-AA team – – a winnable game at home
- At Texas Tech – – Probably a 2 TD underdog against an 8-win team from the Big-12.
- Vs. Buffalo – – A conference game against an opponent that won 9 games last year
- At Florida St. – – Seminoles were really bad last year, nevertheless …
- At Oklahoma – – Sooners were disappointing last year, nevertheless …
- Vs. UMass – – Could be a race to the bottom in this contest.
Finally, these words from Dave Barry:
“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………