Opening day is finally here

The Philadelphia Phillies start their regular season Friday, March 29, against the Atlanta Braves. Because of the new schedule, which was put in place last year, they only play their division rivals 13 times in the regular season. So this first series against the Braves is going to be a good measuring stick for how the season is going to go. I hope Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm have a consistent April along with JT Realmuto. If this happens, the Phillies will definitely be in first or second place battling with the Atlanta Braves in April and May.

A few weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles traded for the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback from last year, Kenny Pickett, who has struggled to start his career. I think he’s going to be a decent backup quarterback for Jalen Hurts. I personally have more confidence in him being able to play well in a few games than Marcus Marriota, who was the backup quarterback last year. 

I also heard there’s going to be a new NFL rule for the kickoff starting this year. I think this is a good move because it has been way too easy for the kickers to have touchbacks, and there are a lot of injuries on kickoffs every week. I heard that part of the rule is if the kick goes into the end zone and is not run back, the offensive team gets the ball on the 30-yard line. It’s going to be interesting to watch the kickers show more of their skills to place the football where they want to. It will be more like soccer players rather than just booming it into or out of the end zone when they kick. And this is going to be good for the Eagles because their kicker Jake Elliott is so talented.

Both NCAA basketball tournaments are down to the Sweet 16. In the women’s tournament, South Carolina is the favorite to win because in their two victories they beat their opponents by a combined total of 99 points. If Iowa wants to get back to the Final Four, they’re going to have to play a lot better than they have so far. If they want advance to the Elite Eight, they may have to play the defending champion LSU Tigers in a revenge game.

I was also able to watch both University of Connecticut women's games. I think people are underestimating UConn's ability to make it back to the Final Four again as well. I was also impressed with most of the second-round games being closer than usual which means women’s basketball is getting a lot more competitive overall. 

On the men’s side, two impressive teams are Purdue and the defending champ, Connecticut. I think Purdue is hoping to follow the example of the University of Virginia from a few years ago. They were the first team ever to lose to a 16 seed in the first round and then the next year came back to win the national championship. Connecticut has some really tall players, and if they win, they would become the first back-to-back champions in 16 years. 

North Carolina State is the only men's Cinderella team in the field. They were able to come from nowhere to win the ACC tournament by winning five games in five days, and then kept the momentum going once they got to the dance. They have to play Duke, one of their biggest rivals, in their Sweet 16 game. It will be interesting.

Happy Easter and spring break to all.