SU believes the 5-game suspension of Juwan Howard at Michigan is appropriate and a reasonable outcome. He was actually lucky as he had a prior incident with Maryland coach Mark Turgeon in the Big Ten Tournament last season where he was tossed from the game for threatening Turgeon. Key points for SU:

1. NCAA coaches need to set an example for the players. And you can’t put them in harm’s way defending the coach in a situation that he started. Two Michigan players (and one Wisconsin player) were each suspended one game for throwing punches.
2. Michigan was pressing full court in the last minute of the game down 17 points with at least 2 starters still in the game. Wisconsin had cleared its bench. Clearly, Wisconsin coach Gard was annoyed and called the timeout with 15 seconds left because of that. He said he wanted to give his team a full 10 seconds to get the ball past half court but he called the timeout to piss off Howard. But that’s fair.
3. Juwan Howard over-reacted to that slight given that he was pressing in the last minute. And he was wrong to hold back in the handshake line. SU says be a man and say what you want to say first in line as all coaches do – win or lose.
4. Gard grabbed Howard and Juwan just does not like that. It set him off.
5. SU was surprised that Gard only received a $10,000 fine and no suspension – for perhaps one game – for the assistant coach who charged forward in the scrum. But clearly the Big Ten wanted to send a message that the instigator – Howard – is going to be punished the most to set an example.

Bottom line is that Howard could have been fired over this, or at least suspended through the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAAs (which is a long shot for this year’s team which just cannot shoot it from the outside). He put his freshmen and sophomores in a bad situation having to defend the coach and risk their careers. Hopefully, Howard will learn from this. SU predicts it will only hasten his departure to the NBA as he is already a hot candidate for NBA head coaching positions which are always plentiful every off-season. His son Jett is going to be a freshman next year and assuming he stays 2 seasons, well, that may be it.

It was a bad look, a bad day for college hoops. You just can’t have it.

Another Super Bowl is behind us. SU can’t say this was the best game ever but at least it was close. After several weeks of exciting overtime finishes, this game almost felt anticlimactic at the end. Anyway, congrats to long-time SU subscriber and most prolific commenter, A. Grossman, who had the Rams winning 27 – 24, and came the closest to predicting the final outcome. His prize is a free 1-year subscription for SU in 2022 which as we all know is almost priceless.

A few thoughts on the game:

1. Neither team could run the ball. The Bengals actually did a little better with Mixon but their coach preferred the quick release passes by Burrow. That’s fine if you have a solid offensive line but in the 2nd half, that was exposed bigly even with quick throws. There were definitely times in the red zone where some runs by Mixon could have resulted in a better outcome. And on that final drive, 2nd down and 1 at mid-field and then no runs with 3 timeouts left?
2. Stafford had a solid game. One interception in the end zone on a 3rd down play was as good as a punt there – not a big deal. The 2nd pick was not his fault – went through the receiver’s arms. He came up big on the final drive passing to Cooper Kupp.
3. So few penalties. Now, they said these 2 teams were among the last penalized in the League but was that the reason or just that the refs did not want to call them? Clearly, there was offensive pass interference on that long pass early in the 3rd quarter for the touchdown, and they called a bunch of defensive penalties on the Rams’ final drive.
4. People really liked the half-time show. Twitter-verse reviews were very positive.
5. The Bengals’ fans travel well. It sounded like they had half the stadium.
6. Quick first half – always a positive.

Bottom line: can’t say it was a memorable game. I guess I am sort of happy for OBJ who got a Super Bowl ring but to be honest, I have been done with him for many years. Too much me, me, me.

We turn our interest now to March Madness which will commence in a few weeks, and maybe baseball???? Feel free to share your thoughts on the game.

The fans demand it. Given how easy it is to bet on sports now, no doubt many of you are laying down some serious money on Sunday’s game (as much as $20!). As SU has reminded you a few times already, I had the Rams going to the Super Bowl and in fact winning it all before the start of the playoffs so clearly my prediction will carry tremendous weight (or not). Here goes:

Rams 34 – 24. The game will not be close and the Bengals will score late to get to 24 points. Key factors:

1. Burrow will be running for his life against only a 4-man pass rush. The Rams won’t even have to blitz as they have a legit front 4 and we have already seen that the Bengals’ offensive line is offensive.
2. Stafford is king of the dumb turnover but he is going to have Phil Simms like Super Bowl stats in this game. It’s his time. He paid his dues in Detroit and has shown that he can make plays if given the time (and if given Cooper Kupp).
3. The game is in LA but not a factor for either team. LA fans can’t maintain enough attention on the game through the endless commercials, plus the locals don’t get that many tickets anyway for the game.

It’s NBA trade deadline day. It feels like there will be a lot of moves today – more than usual. Some teams are already in rebuild mode like the Trailblazers and Pacers, while others like the Lakers, Nets and Sixers need to be bold. Keep refreshing your favorite sports web sites this afternoon.

MLB is blowing it. SU blames both sides. Most of the issues are financial – just figure out a deal and get it done. The product quality on the field is not getting better and apparently the games in 2021 were longer than ever. Things are trending the wrong way right now. No action, too many strikeouts, too much time between pitchers, and too many pitching changes. You all know what it is. A shortened season with out of shape players who start getting hurt is not entertaining. Do not assume that the loyal fans are well….. loyal.

Very sad news about the passing of Gerald Williams from cancer at 55. One of Jeter’s best friends. A good guy.

Feel free to share your Super Bowl predictions here. Clearly, not as dramatic as if you had done this 4 weeks ago but a chance to impress the intergalactic subscriber base all the same.