So the big news of the week is, of course, Sandpapergate!
What, you haven’t heard about it? It’s been all over the Australian and British press. Even the NY Times covered it. But if you are an American, you can be forgiven for not hearing about it, since it involves cricket. In short, the Australian national team scuffed the ball used in a recent test against South Africa. As the ball is used pretty much the entire test, this alters things big time. Or did until it was proven that the ball was intentionally scuffed. For more details, here is a primer (and a tip of the hat to SB Nation for covering it in the first place):
https://www.sbnation.com/2018/3/25/17161980/australia-cricket-ball-tampering-sandpapergate-scandal
Even though I know next to nothing about cricket, I can easily see how this is a huge story in places where the sport matters, especially Australia. And it’s a reminder once again that any time an athlete thinks cheating will work, cheating will happen. So let’s not kid ourselves that the teams and athletes we love are above such things.
Meanwhile, there are other, most likely less controversial things afoot:
- Congrats if you have Loyola-Chicago in your Final Four. Not so impressed if you had Kansas and ‘Nova
- At long last, the dreary offseason is ending and baseball can resume. Predictions welcome (though it feels like all six division titles are set in stone already).
- Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving are hurting. Will the NBA playoffs be a long game of Last Man Standing?
- JPP is gone. Will OBJ follow?
As ever, all topics welcome.