Major leaguers still better than college players

There were sort of real exhibition baseball games today in Florida.
The Tigers and Yankees each took on a college team that posed new threat. All four lineups were littered with no-name players. In fact, the most recognizable might have been Jameis Winston, who played for Florida State in its 8-3 loss to New York.
A guy named Ramon Flores homered for the Yankees. Their starting and winning pitcher was LHP Vidal Nuno, with two scoreless inning.
For Detroit, Steven Moya, who has been hanging around Lakeland for the last four late winters/springs, drove in four runs with a double and a triple. LHP Robbie Ray, the winning pitcher, struck out five Florida Southern batters in two innings of a 12-0 shutout. The Tigers' starter, RHP Drew VerHagen, struck out two in two perfect innings. He no doubt faced tougher batters when he was at Vanderbilt, and again last season in the Double-A Eastern League.
Elsewhere,
-- The biggest news, probably non-news in the long run, came from the Angels' camp. LHP C.J. Wilson was hit by C Yorvit Torrealba's batted ball during batting practice, and OF Josh Hamilton was on crutches because of a strained left calf. Neither injury is expected to affect regular-season playing time.
-- Free-agent LHP Johan Santana threw for seven teams in Florida. His fastest pitch hit 81 mph. That means for his changeup to remain effective he'd have to dial it down to about 65.
-- For openers: LHP Madison Bumgarner would start the Giants' first regular-season game.
-- Baltimore. OF Nelson Cruz passed his physical, and now is officially an Oriole.
-- Washington. RHP Ryan Matheus was scheduled for an MRI exam to determine the cause of chest pain that has kept him from throwing for six days.
-- Pittsburgh. For some reason, the Pirates claimed 3B Brent Morel on waivers from the Blue Jays. Because he's a Steelers fan, perhaps?
On Wednesday, there will be slightly more real games, at least between two teams wearing major league uniforms: Tigers-Braves, Yankees-Pirates, Blue Jays-Phillies in Florida, and Reds-Indians, Athletics-Giants and Dodgers-Diamondbacks in Arizona. There also will be a Miami vs. Miami game. In that one, my money is on the Marlins over the Hurricanes from The U. I think.
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Basketball. Not a good start for my fantasy team this week. I couldn't get on to the ESPN.com site earlier Tuesday. By the time I could, about 7:30 p.m. EST, I wasn't able to put Tyler Zeller into the starting lineup. Not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.
Worse news: I was trailing this week's competition 5-3. I'm going against the team in second place overall and leading the other division. If he keeps that advantage, he would stay alive for at least another week. Going by the early (small-sample-size) results, two other teams would remain alive in the fantasy regular season.
The oddity is that I was leading in the categories that usually give me trouble: the two shooting percentages and 3-pointers. I trailed by two steals and three blocks, so I'm not entirely pushing a panic button.
Even worse news: The newest addition to Team Fresh Prints, Knicks G Raymond Felton, was arrested in the wee hours of Tuesday on weapons possession charges. He won't be back in court until June 2, which would be long after the Knicks are finished for the season, so I wouldn't be without him -- if I decide to keep him on my roster.
Updating an hour later: The Zeller non-move is paying off. He has 0 points in the third quarter. Despite a double double already by David West and 20 points from Victor Oladipo, the score is down to 4-4. No more posting partial scores.
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Hockey. I currently have nine skaters listed as playing Wednesday. That means I'll have to get up early and make sure I have the right players in my lineup each day through the end of the week, and that I've made all the moves that need to be made. Should I waive my two players on IR: Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula? I'll let you know.

Let's see the NBA at Yankee Stadium in April 2015

Still not much going on in off-season baseball. Unless you count the guys who are retiring but you thought they were already retired. Yes, I mean you, RHP Jeff Suppan and 1B/OF Aubrey Huff. Both had their days in the sun without really catching fire or gaining widespread acclaim. Suppan seemed to have the potential to be very good when I saw him in the minors. That potential became the ability to win 10-12 games a year seemingly forever. Huff was instrumental in bringing the first World Series championship to San Francisco, as well as being part of the Rays' growth into a contending team.
The other big baseball news seems to be that Rangers -- New York Rangers, that is -- goalie Henrik Lundqvist will be wearing a mask featuring the likenesses of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio for the Stadium Series hockey at Yankee Stadium.
The NHL will be coming out of its shutdown for next month's Olympics with a series of outdoor games, like the one that drew 105,000 people to Michigan Stadium on New Year's Day. The most exotic locale will be Dodger Stadium, which last saw ice in a cocktail glass inside a luxury suite.
Yankee Stadium just had the Pinstripe Bowl football game. Hockey is next.
Let's get with it, NBA! Schedule at game at the new House That Ruth Built. Try to make it The House That Carmelo Brought Down. A Saturday or Sunday afternoon game in April (while the Yanks are out of town) should due. That's April 2015, and not a day later.
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Basketball. I'm ahead 5-3 going into the last day of this week's competition. That would keep me in fourth place. But I'm down by just two assists, so I could pick up another game and possibly move into third.
With Ricky Rubio not playing today, I decided to pick up free-agent PG Mario Chalmers. I contemplated dropping up-and-down SG Joe Johnson, but I might need him to boost my 3-point total, so I waived Taj Gibson for the second time this season. I may try to pick him up again.
Eight of my 10 roster spots are filled tonight. I figure Chalmers at least has plenty of options of people to pass to who are likely to shoot and even make some shots. If I'm really lucky, he'll be getting assists for Chris Bosh.
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Hockey. Still at 66 points, and sliding slowly farther behind the second-place team, currently at 73.
The biggest chances for me to gain ground are in assists, where I'm just 8 behind the team in second; power-play points, 4 behind both teams ahead of me in the standings, and save percentage, .027 behind No. 2.
Last night's game before my very eyes was a mixed blessing. Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals and was plus-2, but Brenden Dillon was minus-2. The goals weren't terribly important, because I already lead the league. Last night's plus/minus was up and down, but finished plus-1, boosting my season total to plus-19. That's still 21 points away from catching the next higher team.
My lineup for Sunday will have six skaters and possibly goalie Eddie Lack (Roberto Luongo was in goal for Vancouver Saturday).
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Football. It seemed weird Saturday when I got up thinking I needed to make an 11th-hour check of my fantasy roster, then realized that I didn't have a team playing. Then as I listened to the first half of Kansas City-Indianapolis on the way to the Red Wings-Stars game, I was wondering whether I could retain RB Jamaal Charles on my playoff roster even if he wouldn't be able to play in the Divisional round.
I don't think it was just because I had the Colts in both of my playoff pools, but I found the KC radio crew very annoying. I just looked up the name of the Chiefs' play-by-play guy. He's Mitch Holthus, and he must have some following in Kansas and Missouri because he's been on the job for 20 years. The annoying part was when the Chiefs were tearing it up, he kept repeating a mantra that the Chiefs would be doing it "all day," which apparently included saying "all day" all day. He also seemed very impressed with himself for knowing the small town in Kansas where the head linesman lived, and the location of Mary Hardin Baylor University in Texas.
It wasn't until after the hockey game that I learned the Chiefs had blown their big lead and lost. All day apparently had a second half.
It didn't help the broadcast that color man Len -- turned out to be the one-time great Len Dawson -- was one of the type who pretty much agree with and parrot what the play-by-play guy says. Dawson has seen better days, and I think those are in the past. (All day.)
Anyway, in my pick-'em pool, both the Colts and Saints advanced, as I predicted, but by the skin of their teeth.
Fortunately, in my $1,000-bankroll, pick-with-the-spread pool, I "wagered" $200 on the Saints and just $100 on the Colts, who didn't cover as 2.5-point favorites. So my hypothetical bankroll is up to $1,100.
In my college pools, I don't expect I'll win anything despite picking up 28 points from Vanderbilt in the pick-winners confidence pool. I have 1 point on Ball State tonight and 5 on Florida State Monday. I'm not even sure Vanderbilt covered the spread, but going into that game I was just 11-16 in my point-spread pool.