The NCAA Tournament pared its field to the Sweet 16 on Sunday. TheSportsNotebook’s daily sports look this morning sets the tone for the week by looking back on those eight games, and then looking ahead to what’s on tap from today through Sunday in the world of sports
The rapid-fire process of paring the NCAA Tournament field to the Sweet 16 concludes on Sunday. TheSportsNotebook’s daily sports focus will be, as it has been all week, to look at the TV agenda for today’s games, and then look back on the eight games from Saturday.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series goes west, with Sunday’s running of the Auto Club 400 (3 PM ET, Fox) in the Los Angeles suburb of Fontana. Paul Menard isn’t a driver you’re going to hear a lot about, but the 32-year-old is making a slow and steady ascent, both in his career and within this young season, as he arrives at the Auto Club Speedway.
The Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays are both coming off their own disappointments last year. The teams had met in the playoffs in both 2010 and 2011 and it seemed fair to think a Round Three might have taken place in the American League Championship Series. But the Rays missed the playoffs entirely, the Rangers blew the AL West and then the wild-card game and now both teams are somewhat under the radar as Opening Day 2013 approaches. The two teams even have the exact same expectations, as defined by the Over/Under win total posted in Las Vegas, of 86.5. Let’s check on both teams and see what the prospects for renewal are this season.
We’re pared down to 32 teams left in the NCAA Tournament as our wild four-day ride enters the second half. There’s now “only” eight games each day, and TheSportsNotebook continues its daily sports focus during March Madness of first laying out the TV agenda of the day ahead, then cleaning up with some notes on Friday’s first-round results.
It was a great year to be a baseball fan in the Bay Area last season. The Oakland A’s were one of the Cinderella stories in all of sports as they won the AL West, and the San Francisco Giants were even better, winning the World Series and keying their home city’s run as the most successful sports market of 2012. Now let’s see what both teams have in store for 2013.
The Detroit Tigers are coming off their second American League pennant in the last seven seasons and have officially established themselves as the scourge of the Yankees, knocking the Pinstripes out of the playoffs for the third time since 2006. But there’s one thing Detroit hasn’t done under manager Jim Leyland and that’s win the World Series. Will the 2013 edition of the Tigers take the final step? TheSportsNotebook will evaluate Detroit and will also check in on their Rustbelt rival in Cleveland, where Terry Francona has undertaken the job of rebuilding the Indians.
The NCAA Tournament rolls on with the latter part of the true first round here on Friday. TheSportsNotebook’s daily sports look will break down today’s games by TV time slot, so you can make your viewing plans, and then we’ll close out with some thoughts on Thursday.
The real first round of the NCAA Tournament starts today, with the slate of 16 games that will leave us all wondering which bracket-busting upset will come first—or if the favorites will survive unscathed. TheSportsNotebook’s daily sports league will run through the games in the sequence they’ll appear on TV…
The Arizona Diamondbacks lived through a disappointing 2012 season, after winning the NL West the year before. The D-Backs struggled with injuries early, often teased throughout the summer, but never quite put together a sustained run at either San Francisco or Los Angeles. It’s the defending champion Giants and the free-spending Dodgers sucking up all the media air in the NL West in the spring of 2013. TheSportsNotebook’s MLB coverage today will see if Arizona should be considered in the group of contenders, and we’ll also check on two more potential darkhorses out west, the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.
It’s the second day of NCAA Tournament play-in action. TheSportsNotebook’s daily sports look previews tonight’s action, and looks back on Tuesday’s games.
The NCAA Tournament starts tonight with the first two of the four play-in games that will take place in Dayton over Tuesday and Wednesday. TheSportsNotebook’s daily sports look is going to be pretty well tied up in college basketball until we get this pared down to the Final Four, so without further adieu let’s dive into tonight’s games
