George Washington's 315th birthday - Sat February 22 2025 - will long live in the memory of this fan of Wisconsin men's and Columbia women's basketball. The agony occurred in midday when on FOX national TV, the Badgers, ahead by 12 at the half and 15 midway through the second half, allowed Oregon's Ducks to go on a 13-2 run in the last six minutes of regulation and win in overtime, 77-73. Oregon coach Dana Altman's suffocating defense forced the Badgers into a season-high 17 turnovers, many of them late in the game. Center Nate Bittle, back from two seaons of injury, led Oregon's offense with help from the Villanova transfer guard TJ Bamba (who was born in the Bronx but went to HS in Denver) and sophomore forward Kwame Evans, a fearless lefty who was born in Baltimore.
Only positive thing about this loss is that it came in February not in March. Having followed Wisconsin basketball intently for over a half-century, it seems we never play well when our national rankings increase. We still have scoring machine John Tonge, the 6th-year transfer portal surprise, but only one real point guard, the undersized 6 0" senior Kamari McGee who doesn't even start but is one of the team leaders. When we had the big lead on Saturday, I thought about how much McGee has meant off the bench and how his shot-making has improved. Same story for senior reserve forward Carter Gilmore who even saved the Iowa game on the road with career-high offense. I can always root for sophomore big man Nolan Winter - great name for a Wisconsin player! - who hit a big 3 in OT to give us a brief lead against Oregon.
Fans will blame inconsistent longtime center Steven Crowl for his six turnovers on Sat. and sophomore guard John Blackwell for his crucial late game booboos. And the haters of coach Greg Gard, silent during our winning streaks this season, always emerge after any loss. Yet the schedule ahead is not too bad for Badgers if they learn the lesson that Yogi Berra's line applies to basketball, too - it ain't over until it's over and you must play hard all game.
Up next is Washington at home on Tues Feb 25 9P EST on extra-priced Peacock. Then a biggie at Big 10 leader Michigan State on CBS next Sun Mar 2 at 130P. Followed by Wed Mar 5 arch-rival Minnesota at home on Big Ten Network at 830P and Penn State at home Sa Mar 8 1P BTN (all times EST). The following week is the annual Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. This year the three teams with the worst record in the expanded Big 18 are sent home early so Washington, Penn State, and Minnesota cannot be overlooked because they are opponents with hopes alive for squeezing into the tournament.
My ecstasy came later in the day when I got a ride to Princeton to see Columbia rally in the 4th quarter to beat the perennial-Ivy League champion Tigers, 64-60. The Lions' victory moves Columbia into first place with a 10-1 record with a one game lead over both Princeton and Harvard with three
games to play before the conference tourney this year at Brown in Providence on FSa Mar 14-15.
Down 6 points entering the 4th quarter on Sat., guard Maria Arrendola hit a 3-point shot that started a 13-0 run that gave Columbia the lead for good. Sophomore Riley Weiss, who grew up in nearby Hewlett, NY, scored a career-high 34 points, 16 in the last period. Senior co-captain Kitty Henderson hit the dagger late in the 4th quarter that gave the Lions the cushion they needed.
I was part of almost 200 ardent Lions fans seated behind the Columbia bench. Although we were outnumbered 10-1 by Princeton faithful, our chants of "DE-FENSE!" and "LET'S GO LIONS!" could be heard. It was Princeton's first home loss in over 30 games and the first time we've beaten them twice in one season in almost 10 years. Seated in the row behind me and rooting hard for her alma mater was Abbey Hsu, Columbia women's basketball all-time scoring leader who will be going to the Connecticut Sun's training camp in April. (Teammate Kaitlyn Davis, who played a graduate year at USC, will be going to the Liberty camp.)
I told Abbey she was almost as good a fan as she was a player.
In addition to loving acronyms - Columbia coach Megan Griffith has coined a good one for her program: EDGE: Energy/Determination/Grit/Excellence -
I'm somewhat of a sucker for inspirational slogans. I saw a fan in the Princeton crowd wearing a T-shirt that read: LIFT/LAUGH/LOVE. Pretty good one for the aspiring athlete in your family. I've also loved the T-shirt I saw years ago worn by a Tampa Bay Rays baseball trainer: CHAMPIONS ARE MADE WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING. And here's an original one to remember the Five Towns of Long Island's Nassau County close to the NYC borough of Queens:
WILCH - Woodmere, Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Hewlett (home town as noted earlier of Columbia's budding star Riley Weiss).
One last note on women's basketball in the NYC area: The NYU women are now at 55 wins in a row and counting. They will host the first two rounds
of the Division III playoffs on FSa Mar 7-8 at their home court Paulson Center on Mercer Street in Greenwich Village. So likely will the men's team under coach Dave Klatsky, a 2003 graduate of Penn. They sport a 23-1 record as they, too, enter the playoff season. I find it hard to imagine any school in any division that has gone this far in one basketball season with only one loss between them.
NOW IT'S TIME FOR BASEBALL!
The annual New York Pro Scouts Hot Stove League dinner in late January offered some memorable speeches and tributes. Anthony Iapoce, a 33rd-round 1994 draft choice of the Milwaukee Brewers, received the Jim Quigley "Service to Baseball Award" (which I was honored to receive 15 years ago). Service to baseball is no exaggeration for Iapoce whose career in baseball included over 10 years as a minor league outfielder (reaching Triple A at the highest), scout for several organizations, minor league manager in 2023 for the Tiger's Triple AAA Toledo franchise, and now entering his second year as Detroit first base coach.
Iapoca offered his general praise for the scouts who have "mastered simplicity" by becoming "detailed observers" and "active listeners". He then specifically praised Jim Fleming the scouting director who hired him for the Marlins and insisted that every scout go to high school games with him and give appraisals not mere judgments. Anthony also tipped his cap to Tony LaCava, who when he hired him for the Blue Jays, stressed: "I want you to give your opinions."
Another speaker at the late January dinner at Leonard's Palazzo in Great Neck Long Island was Bruce Shatel, High School Coach of the Year from Delbarton Prep in Morristown, New Jersey (alma mater of Yankee shortstop Anthony Volpe and Rangers RHP Jack Leiter). "Why do you coach?" Shatel said he is often asked. Because he gets the thrill of a double into the gap hit by one of his players, he answered. He added that he loved the thrill of seeing a well-executed 3-2 pitch that leads to an out.
One sad note that I just learned while preparing this post. Bobby Malkmus, born on the Fourth of July in 1931 in Newark NJ, passed away on Feb 23.
He had major experience as a Milwaukee Braves second baseman in the 1950s before the trade of Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst in 1957. Malkmus was a long time Cleveland scout and a minister. His presence at scout gatherings will be greatly missed.
As for news of baseball on the MLB level, I am glad that most of the ballyhooed free agent signing season is over. I have never begrudged players making a lot of money in a career that usually is quite short. But let the buyer owner beware of handing out multi-year contracts. I don't like seeing super-agent Scott Boras's mug day in and day out on the TV and computer screens, sharing the space with his clients. I also think that the MLB season is ridiculously long and the number of teams in the playoffs are far too many. But there is too much grouching in this world. I'm happy for the return of baseball and upcoming warmer weather and for now I'll leave it at that.
The upcoming TCM baseball movie tip not to miss is Th Feb 27 at 7A (EST): "Speedy" (1928) - Harold Lloyd's great silent movie about the misfortunes but optimistic resilience of a baseball-loving young man. The scene where awed taxicab driver Lloyd transports his hero Babe Ruth to a game at Yankee Stadium is must-viewing.
W Feb 26 at 8P "Going My Way" (1944) Bing Crosby as a priest and St. Louis Browns fan with Barry Fitzgerald & Frank McHugh, dir. Leo McCarey. There's more baseball references in this film that I recalled on first viewing. Not just Bing wearing a Browns sweatshirt. After 1944 was the year of the only all St. Louis
World Series, won by the Cardinals in six games. And Bing made a cameo in the 1951 underappreciated baseball film "Angels in the Outfield" (1951).
M Mar 3 8P "Pride of the Yankees" (1942) returns again and it is always worth seeing for the great cast of Gary Cooper/Teresa Wright/Dan Duryea/
Walter Brennan and Babe Ruth and Bill Dickey appearing as themselves.
Non-baseball movies worthy of seeing include:
M Feb 24 5P "When We Were Kings" (1996) Leon Gast's movie about the hoopla surrounding the Sept 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali & Geoirge Foreman. It is as much about the big music concert as it is about the fight.
Later that night at 8P Hitchock's early classic "Suspicion" (1941) with Cary Grant
Tu Mar 4 highlights John Garfield movies from dawn to dusk. Most of them are from his heyday from the late 30s through the late 40s but his last film for Warners (and produced by his own company) "The Breaking Point" (1950) must be seen at 615P. His blacklist started shortly thereafter and in 1952 he died of a heart attack at the age of 39. (He suffered from a heart condition that kept him out of World War II service.)
Cast includes Phyllis Thaxter as his wife, Patricia Neal as a femme fatale to end femme fatales, Wallace Ford, and Juano Hernandez. By far the best film version of "To Have and Have Not" by Ernest Hemingway.
That's all for now - stay positive test negative (for as long as the new Health czar RFK Jr. allows for tests) and take it easy but take it.