SU has put its game face on for the 2016 MLB season.  I even tuned in for a half hour of the Yankees’ exhibition game last Sunday with their likely opening day line-up.  I’m sorry: it’s as boring as I feared it would be.  I already miss Greg Bird.  They are just oppressively dull – it’s like the air is sucked out of the atmosphere.  Hicks will add some spice in the outfield and Castro hit .400 in spring training.  A-Rod is still must see tv but as long as Chase Headley is on the team, this will be painful.

By the way, too, too much is made about who will be in the starting rotation come opening day.  Sabathia?  Nova?  Hey, it does not matter.  The Yankee pitchers go down with injuries and tight forearms so often, as long as you are in the top 7 you will get plenty of starts.  If Miller ends up missing substantial time, SU says put Nova in the Phil Hughes role from 2009 and have him be a super set-up guy.  Girardi will go with CC as the 5th starter as he probably just can’t loosen up his body in time to be a reliever.  SU will release its fearless baseball predictions this weekend.  Unlike the NCAAs, I actually have a decent track record with baseball.

SU caught the UConn women’s game last Saturday with long-time subscriber M. Levine up in Bridgeport.  Total beatdown: 61 – 12 at half-time.  You have to love the UConn women’s team fans who average about 63 years of age and are trying to jinx the opposing team’s foul shooters in the 2nd half when they are leading by 60 points.  Too funny.  The UConn women are the best basketball viewing around and contrary to some sports writers, they are great for women’s basketball.  It puts them on the map.  Once their 3 seniors graduate this year, they will not be as dominant next season which will also be good for women’s basketball.

Busy week for SU.  Caught the Westchester Knicks’ game last night with long-time subscriber, A. Grossman.  Courtside seats – very cool.  Truth be told, any seat at the Westchester County Center is a good seat and the quality of play is very good.  For the true NBA and college hoops fans, you get to see a lot of guys who you watched on tv in college but who will likely never get their shot in the NBA, e.g., CJ Fair from Syracuse, Jimmer Fredette, Rakeem Christmas from Syracuse.  SU would highly recommend the experience and you even get to watch them run the triangle offense which of course is a special treat.  Last night, the triangle produced a 5 for 16 night from Cleanthony Early playing the Carmelo Anthony role.  He is NOT good.

For the few of us who watch the Tennis Channel and men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic continues to have an impressive run carrying over from last year.  He now has the largest point differential between the #1 and #2 men’s players in the ATP Tour in its history in an era with Murray, Nadal and Federer.  It’s hard to stay healthy and in a year with the Olympics and playing Davis Cup, it will be hard for him to sustain it.  But SU believes he is solidly in the conversation now for Greatest of All Time right with Federer.

Finally, the D’Angelo Russell – Nick Young situation is an embarrassment.  What a bozo.  The good news for Russell is that as crazy as it may seem now, these things do blow over and the public is very forgiving.  Ask A-Rod.

Let me start with Jeremy Lin, a long-time SU fave.  On Monday night, he torched the San Antonio Spurs for 29 points including 15 in the 4th quarter as Charlotte came from 23 points back to beat the Spurs.  As SU is an NBA Season Pass subscriber, I am able to follow teams that I actually care about and enjoy watching (which I can count on one hand).  Lin has had a solid year coming off the bench for Charlotte and they are now surging.  It was interesting on Monday night to see Kemba Walker re-enter the game in the 4th quarter having a terrible game and after throwing up a couple of forced shots, he actually deferred to Lin who clearly had the hot hand.  Note: this rarely happens in the NBA.  Guys that are scorers always believe they will regain the hot hand and are committed to filling up the scoring line no matter the flow of the game.  SU gives Walker a lot of credit to see what was happening in the game and make that determination.  I mean, you are sitting on the bench and watching – it’s not rocket science here.  But so many big ego NBA players do not get this at all.  In fact, one plays in NY.

Lin, followed up the next night with 21 points in a win over the Nets.  There is plenty of time and room to get on the Hornets’ band wagon.  Team owner Michael Jordan will save you a seat.

Time to get pumped for the Sweet Sixteen.  There is still not a clear favorite to win it all this year which is great for the tournament.  SU says do not sleep on Texas A&M – could be a team of destiny now after the comeback over Northern Iowa.  Or they could not be that good and lose easily tonight.  Maryland finally has a chance to show the world that they are not an overrated team.  Time to make a statement against Kansas.  They have underachieved all year.  Will they seize the moment?

SU is starting to pay attention to spring training.  Stephen Drew hit a homerun off of Tanaka yesterday and is hitting about .350 this spring.  I still believe his over/under this year with the Nationals is .205 based on a huge September surge in his walk year.  Tanaka has gotten rocked his last 2 outings but hey, it’s spring training, no need to panic.  We can do that in 3 weeks in April.  Sabathia also pitching poorly but SU says he will definitely start in the rotation out of respect. But Nova will replace him by late April.  Girardi will give him a shot despite a poor spring.

For the record, SU is a major Michigan fan as both kids are recent graduates.  However, I put that aside to make an objective selection for this year’s NCAA Tournament.  After all, I know that thousands of people are counting on SU to do its homework and make its picks as fairly as possible.  While the Spartans’ loss knocked me out of the running, I am THRILLED that they did lose.  And it wasn’t like they shot horribly – they just couldn’t stop Middle Tennessee State defensively.  Too bad (ha ha ha).

Meanwhile, SU caught its first NCAA Tournament game ever last night in Brooklyn in the company of long-time SU subscribers S. Levine and S. Fink.  What a great experience – so much fun.  As I have said before, college games do not have the same level of cursing and bad behavior that we see at the professional level.  Now, some of that no doubt is the result of the no beer sold policy that the NCAA enforces at its tournament games (who knew?).  One benefit of that was shorter lines in the men’s room.

And by the way, a note to the MTA: run some extra subway trains back into Manhattan from Brooklyn after the games let out late at night.  This is not a difficult concept.  The huge swarm of people descending into the subway stop at 12:15 am was a little scary and then a couple of lines were not even running.  Bad situation.  If Barclays’ wants to attract fans from the suburbs, they need to make it easier for them to catch their late night trains with some expectation that the trains will be running often.  Bad job MTA.  Get with the program.  SU has spoken.

West Virginia plays just like Mt. Vernon High School.  Throw up a shot and get about 7 offensive rebounds until you score.  They were in the double bonus shooting foul shots for the last 15 minutes of the 2nd half and still could not win that game.  It’s losses like this one that make the NCAAs the best sports event of the year.  Rarely plays out as you expect.

Finally, as predicted by SU, the Pac 12 Conference was vastly overrated by the NCAA Committee.  Going down one after another.

It’s time.  SU has instructed the research staff to stop running the predictive models for the NCAA Tournament (I mean I thought 25,000 scenarios was sufficient).  We are ready to boldly make our predictions for this year’s games and provide expert commentary to the intergalactic subscriber base as they rush to fill out their brackets.  Here is what you need to know and keep in mind:

• The PAC 12 got a lot of love from the NCAA Committee but SU is not feeling it.  I saw Oregon play at the Barclay’s Center just a year ago. Unimpressive.  And now they are a #1 seed?  Hard to believe.
• Watch out for Wichita State.  Well-coached, have been there before and many will be sleeping on them this year.  I think they will make it through for the first few rounds.
• Many are high on Kansas.  SU has never been a Bill Self fan – his teams often find a way to disappoint and being the #1 overall seed is too much pressure for them.  But they should make it to the Final Four.
• The same is true for North Carolina although I like Roy Williams and feel he is a good coach.  But they usually fall short.  They were the preseason #1 team but will fall to Providence in the 2nd round.
• Kentucky was dis-respected as a #4 seed and Coach Calipari will ride that “diss” all the way to the bank with his team.  They are Final Four bound.
• SU saw a snippet of an ESPN 30 for 30 show on the Texas A&M coach who has Parkinson’s Disease.  It’s a nice story and the guy is a fighter.  They are an experienced team and for no particular reason, SU says they make it to Houston because the coach’s story is inspirational.
• Teams that win their conference tournament often tire themselves out.  This will be a factor for UConn – beware of picking them.
• Michigan State is still the best team and while SU hates them, they will be the last team standing come April.
• I think Purdue is a tough match-up for many teams with their large front line and will make a deep run.  Iowa is over-rated and will depart early.  Same with Maryland.

SU Final Four: Kentucky; Texas A&M; Michigan State; and Kansas.  Michigan State wins it all.

Care to weigh in with your overall championship prediction and be admired by thousands if you are right and ridiculed if you’re wrong?  This is the place to do it!

First of all, the CBS Selection Show is awful.  2 hours for this?  A joke.  Plus, apparently the full bracket has been leaked and is already on Twitter.  Do we need to watch Charles Barkley who doesn’t even follow much of college basketball?

SU will be sure to make its fearless predictions in the next couple of days but how Michigan State is not a #1 seed is beyond me.  North Carolina and Kansas always go out early, and Virginia didn’t even win its conference tournament or league.  The experts on CBS only see a few teams being capable of winning it all but SU believes that is wrong.

Oregon State is in at 19-12?  I admit I don’t watch much of the PAC 12 but that is a low win total to get in.

More to come in the next day or so.  Let the games begin!

OK, Knick fans, here is something for you.  Today, SU is acting like the back page of the New York Post.  Sit around, make up a story out of nothing and pretend it has legs.

Kyrie Irving is unhappy in Cleveland.  He had bed bugs in Oklahoma City, he keeps getting hurt and the new coach there, Tyronn Lue, does not love him.  Carmelo Anthony is aging and wants his ring.  He is best friends with LeBron.  All the talk has been about moving Kevin Love but why not swap Irving for Carmelo?  They are probably close enough in salary that you can throw in another player (Richard Jefferson?  Make my day) and equalize salaries.  Irving is a great talent.  Paired with Porzingis and you have something there.

No one is talking about it.  You heard it here first.  Thoughts?