Good and Bad of Monday Morning

The bad news is that I'm home sick, fighting off a pretty strong cold that developed the last day I was in Arizona.  My voice sounds about as bad as it has in a long time, but at least I have 8 days before the Notre Dame exhibition game.

The good news for you is that because I am home today, it opens up more time for me to blog.  I'm planning on posting a lot today, so make sure you come back often for updates. 

The other good part of today is that I'm completely psyched about UK going back to the Final Four for the first time since 1998.  As most of you know, I'm from Kentucky originally and I'm a diehard UK fan.  Last night's victory over UNC is a big part of the reason why I have no voice left for today :)

Another post coming soon, with an update on my Friday night conversation with Mark Haley from Spring Training...

Blogging from the Bus

Yep, on the bus this morning to Bowling Green, Kentucky. We just passed by downtown Louisville and Slugger Field, the home of the triple-A Louisville Bats (Cincinnati Reds affiliate). Now we are passing Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, where the University of Louisville football team plays their home games. As a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats, I really can't stand the Louisville Cardinals.

What a great win last night for the Silver Hawks, rallying from a five run deficit to ultimately win 8-7 in ten innings. While this team has lacked in wins this season, there is no question that they hustle, work hard, and provide some dramatic games (seven walk off wins this year!). My voice still hasn't recovered fully from the excitement of last night. Thankfully we still have eight hours until tonight's game so I can rest up.

As always, it's just one win over a 140 game season, but you just hope that finally the team will gain some momentum from the victory and carry it over to win a few games against Bowling Green. However, maybe more so than any sport, there's really not a whole lot to be said about momentum in baseball. You could be the hottest team on the planet, but if the next pitcher you face is on his game, he can wipe away that momentum in a hurry.

Game time tonight is 7:35 Eastern Time. I'll have more from the stadium later this afternoon.

Catching Up From the Weekend

Well, now that my beloved Kentucky Wildcats are out of the NCAA Tournament, it's time to focus all my attention on the baseball season. (Props to my alma mater Dayton Flyers making the NIT Final Four, but come on, it's the NIT).

Let's catch up on a few important stories from the weekend:

-A.J. Pollock is out 3 months after having elbow surgery. He wasn't going to be coming back to South Bend anyhow, but with him being out, it may bump up someone slated for the Silver Hawks.

-Nick Piecoro also did a piece on Marc Krauss late last week. You can read it here.

-Mark Haley's latest blog entry discusses his family coming to visit and drug testing in Spring Training. How would you like to pee in a cup with somebody watching?

-Finally, Daniel Vasquez has been released by the Diamondbacks. Vasquez pitched for South Bend last year, going 4-1 with a 4.57 ERA. However, he tested positive for a performance enhancing drug in the offseason, and was going to be suspended 50 games to begin this year anyhow.

I'll have more later today with Pete's last report from Spring Training.

My Picks

So most of you don't care about my entire NCAA tournament bracket, but I figured I'd at least get my Final Four picks on the record so that I can brag when it happens.

I have Kansas beating Kansas State in one Final Four matchup.
In the other, I have Kentucky beating Villanova.

And in the finals, going with my heart more than my head, I have my beloved Kentucky Wildcats cutting down the nets for the 8th time in school history.

UPDATE: In typing the tags for this post, I just realized that three of the four teams I have in the Final Four have the same mascot: Wildcats.