The NBA season has reached the mid-way point, college football is behind us, we are down to the final four for the NFL playoffs and pitchers and catchers report in just a few weeks.  It’s time for SU to change its mindset and gear up for the next few months.  A few thoughts this morning:

• The NFL got its dream match-up between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Following this year’s playoffs really hammers home just how violent football is and how hard it is to keep your play-makers on the field.  A lot of a team’s success comes down to injuries – plain and simple.  You can have depth but at some point you do need to have good players to put out there.  Look at Green Bay.  Aaron Rodgers showed his greatness by keeping the Packers in the game with 3rd string receivers and a truly remarkable Hail Mary pass.  I like the way Green Bay keeps its receivers in the field of play and then has them back into the end zone for the jump ball.  It’s almost like boxing out in basketball – gives you a better shot of pulling these down.
• SU believes that Carson Palmer is the type of player who is always going to throw that one (or sometimes two) dumb pass in a huge spot.  He’s had a great year but you just can’t count on him.  Cam Newton is ready to take that next step.  Good Conference finals for the NFL.  Rare to see the top 4 teams advance.
• This is a great year for college hoops.  There are no dominant teams and the tournament should be wide open.  Given the departure of players to the NBA after their freshman year, it makes it tough for the top schools to meld their teams until late in the season.  There is no way to know just how good Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, etc will be come March at this point.  SU says that makes the sport that much more interesting and fun to follow.
• The Australian Open is underway and there are fresh reports of match fixing coming from the BBC involving players in the top 50 of the men’s game.  No names have been mentioned but there is lots of buzz Down Under.  SU can’t picture any of the top players being involved but if you are a fringe player and someone offers you $100k, it has to be tempting.  We know cheating and game fixing are rampant in soccer.  We should not be naive that it can’t happen in other sports.  And no, Peyton Manning and his wife have not been mentioned in this latest story.
• Finally, Cespedes is still out there, Met fans.  It’s time for ownership to swoop in with a 3-year deal that overpays for him.  SU says stay away from the 7-year, $200 million type contract but go for 3 years at $75 million and take your chances.