The Cleveland Cavaliers had to work hard to eliminate the Detroit Pistons. It was a sweep, but three of the four games were competitive.
LeBron James had some help in the series. Kyrie Irving showed flashes of brilliance. Kevin Love had positive moments, especially in game one.
The Cavs are the favorites in the East. I don't see anyone in the conference beating them. The Pistons were tough, and Stan Van Gundy's team will learn from this series.
I was absolutely thrilled as I was honored by the New Jersey Hall of Fame and inducted on April 7th at the Paramount Theater located at Convention Hall in Asbury Park. It was an incredible event hosted by Joe Piscopo of Saturday Night Live. He did a fantastic job with a first class program.
I was introduced by my friend John Saunders from ESPN and it was a night I will always treasure. It was filled with tons of memories as my family and friends gathered for this special vacation.
Thank you to the New Jersey Hall of Fame for allowing me to be a part of such a great class including Derek Jeter of the NY Yankees, Christie Rampone, Captain of the USA Soccer Team,John Stewart of Comedy Central, Cool and the Gang, and a host of other outstanding people.
It was an honor to be inducted into a great group of outstanding people!
We had two blowouts in the national semifinals here in Houston Saturday.
The first game was stunning as Villanova blew out Oklahoma by 44, 95-51. Who would have believed that, especially since the Sooners had a huge victory over the Wildcats back on December 7 in Hawaii. Saturday's game was the opposite as Villanova used a variety of players to stop Buddy Hield, who had just nine points. Josh Hart was brilliant for the "cats wit 23 big points. Oklahoma made a second-half surge and cut the margin to 46-37 when Hart made a big basket and drew a foul. That game the Wildcats the momentum again and it was off to the races.
North Carolina took care of business, beating Syracuse in the other semifinal. Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meekks were too much inside for the Orange,. Carolina also dominated on the glass and Syracuse struggled on the foul line.
We should have a great game in the finals Monday night.
I have had a great time here at the Final Four in Houston.
Last night, I enjoyed two speaking engagements, representing UPS and Allstate. The latter one also included Texas coach Shaka Smart and we talked about today's two national semifinals. He had a great point in discussing Buddy Hield. He described him as a volcano, capable of erupting at any time.
I love representing two outstanding companies, UPS and Allstate. The March Mayhem bracket challenge comes down to today. If Oklahoma beats Villanova, Buzz Aldrin and I will be tied.
The Final Four is set and Houston has four squads with great experience. Each has a solid coach who has been to the Final Four before.
Jay Wright vs. Lon Kruger and Jim Boeheim vs. Roy Williams. There is so much talent on the court. Buddy Hield. Brice Johnson. Ryan Arcidiacono, Malachi Richardson.
I cannot wait to get to Houston. I will be calling a semifinal and the championship game for ESPN International with Sean McDonough.
My pick to cut down the nets: North Carolina over Oklahoma.
I had a great time on Tuesday in Houston, the city that will host the Final Four in a few weeks.
I went up against an American legend, Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, in the Allstate March Mayhem Challenge. In past years, they put me up against dolphins, a longhorn and even a groundhog.
My friends, this year's competition will be tough. Buzz Aldrin is a smart man, and he made some great picks. Everybody loves the brackets, baby! You can follow and see who wins by following #MarchMayhem on twitter.com
Peyton Manning went out as a winner on Monday, announcing his retirement.
He has been plagued by injuries in recent years. He missed a lot of action this season, but came back to help the Denver Broncos win the Super Bowl.
Manning has always been a workaholic who studies and prepares hard. He has been a hero to many, both on and off the field, doing a lot of charity work to help others, while serving as a great teammate.
I love this time of year. March Madness is under way. So is Spring Training.
I am lucky to live in Florida. The Orioles are down the road, as are the Pirates. The Rays are in Port Charlotte. It is great to see young players battling for playing time, future stars getting their first taste of the majors.
I am a huge baseball fan. I have season tickets to the Rays. Soon they will be saying Play Ball for real, baby!
We are only a few weeks away from Selection Sunday. It has been a wild college hoop season, and there are plenty of bubble teams and others battling for seeding in Championship Week.
The ACC and SEC are two conferences still very much up for grabs. Kentucky has not even locked up the double-bye in the SEC tournament.
This week we will see a number of teams secure bids into the big dance. You will see lots of celebration for the little guys. Enjoy it!
I had a great time with the American Frozen Food Institute. I was the keynote speaker at the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel in San Diego. I enjoyed going to Dinner with President, Joe clayton, and several board members. It is a tremendous organization and they are so well organzied. I was honored to be their speaker this weekend.
It was another wacky weekend of college basketball.
Eight of the top 25 teams in the AP poll lost. It just shows how much parity exists in college hoops, baby!
You can expect great races in several conferences over the next few weeks, leading up to Championship Week. Selection Sunday will be special, and the big dance will be wild.
Saturday was a great example of why this has been a special college basketball season.
Duke edged Virginia at the buzzer on Grayson Allen's driving shot. Kansas showed why the Big 12 race goes through Lawrence, beating Oklahoma. Wisconsin scored a stunning upset at Maryland. Notre Dame got past Louisville in another thriller. Kentucky showed that it is peaking at a good time, blowing out South Carolina.
It has been a season of unpredictability, so why not see Alabama win at Florida and Texas Tech win at Baylor.
There have been so many great moments and the best is still ahead with Selection Sunday less than a month away.
We had our annual Stars & Cars event to raise money for the V Foundation and pediatric cancer research at Mercedes Benz of Sarasota on Clark Road. The General Manger, Ernie Withers, was so kind and generous and helped us raise dollars.
The event was outstanding as Mary Kenealy and her team did a fantastic job of putting on the show. It was terrific!
We had with us Ryan Hunter-Reay and the car he used to win the Indy 500 in 2014. Also joined with us were celebrities Nic Wallenda, Marcus Liberty ex NBA Player, Jared Ward former Michigan star and NBA player, Tom Niedenfuer who pitched for the Dodgers in the mid 80s and his wife Judy Landers a tv star, Former Boston Redsox star Rico Petrocelli, and Willy Clark who played football at Notre Dame and also 7 years in the NFL.
The night had many local business people join us. It was a great night of networking and sharing insights about helping kids battling cancer.
We were happy to have cancer survivors Erin Kisielewski, Jake Taraska, Kyle Peters, and Cole Eicher join us for this event.
The Denver Broncos are the NFL champions and Peyton Manning was able to celebrate.
My friends, it was the defense that put on a show. Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware were outstanding as the pass rush applied a lot of pressure to Cam Newton.
Carolina made too any mistakes in defeat. Newton still was league MVP and had a great season, but Denver got to hold up the trophy as champions.
It was fun to watch two of the top PTP'ers in America, Oklahoma's Buddy Hield and LSU's Ben Simmons.These two young men are outstanding athletes and quality kids off the court. They are special to their teammates, and they were part of a great game last weekend. Oklahoma found a way to get to the winner's circle, never losing their poise despite trailing by 14 points.
I love the way Hield has elevated his game. Last year, he was told he would be a second round draft pick, and he decided to return to school. He has worked hard on his game and his stock has climbed dramatically.Hield has improved so much, becoming one of the best three-point shooters in America, He is so versatile, capable of scoring in so many ways. Besides being great at shooting the trifecta, he can explode to the basket. Hield is now ready for the next level. I also love his desire to win. His passion rubs off on his teammates.
Simmons is also well-liked by his teammates. Part of that is due to his tremendous passing skills. Some people have compared his handling of the basketball to the Magic Man, Ervin "Magic" Johnson. The LSU standout has great vision, but he is so unselfish, it is almost to a fault. His presence draws so much attention, so he often finds the open teammate for jump shots. It allows others to score.
I feel he is too passive looking for his own shot at times. He has to be even more aggressive. Simmons has the skills to go to the basket but he has to make moves and look to score. There is some pressure for Simmons to put the team on his back in big games. He did not look for his opportunities to score against Oklahoma. He has to want the basketball on the big stage. He is a rebounding machine, among the nation's leaders on the boards. He has adjusted nicely from high school to the rigors of college life in the spotlight.
The Super Bowl 50 match-up is set. The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers will square off for the championship.
There will be a lot of attention paid to the quarterbacks, Peyton Manning and Cam Newton. My friends, these two teams go after it on defense too. Denver has a great pass rush with DeMarcus Ware and company. Von Miller is an outstanding linebacker.
Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly is one of the best in the game.
Both teams have outstanding members of the secondary. Then there is Ron Rivera and Gary Kubiak on the sidelines. It should be a great showdown. Let the hype begin.
The NFL's version of the Final Four is set. Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady as the Patriots visit Denver. Carolina and Arizona had super seasons and now meet in the NFC title game. Each is one game away from getting to the Super Bowl.
Last week, all four road teams won playoff games. This week, all four home teams won. What will happen in the two games ahead? It should provide excitement galore.
The first weekend of the NFL playoffs certainly brought drama.
The twists and turns of the Steelers-Bengals game will be talked about for years. Ben Roethlisberger came back despite injury and led Pittsburgh to a win. Jeremy Hill will be remembered for his fumble and Vontez Burfict and Adam Jones for their penalties. What about the job AJ McCarron did in rallying his team from a 15-0 deficit?
Blair Walsh will be remembered for missing a short field goal as the Vikings lost at home to Seattle.
Kansas City looked great in shutting out Houston. Green Bay fell behind early and rallied to beat the Redskins. All four road teams got to the winner's circle.
It will be tougher next weekend with New England, Denver, Arizona and Carolina hosting games.
What an incredible night in Lawrence, Kansas. Oklahoma and Kansas went three overtimes in the battle for number one. It was a sporting event that truly lived up to its hype and went well beyond.
They went at it like a championship fight. They each deserve a standing ovation for the performance that they put on. They gave it everything they had, playing with so much passion, energy, spirit and emotion.
In the end, Kansas won its 32nd straight game at Phog Allen Fieldhouse and Oklahoma still left without a win; the last victory there was 1993.
That was the loudest I have heard an arena get in my 37 years of calling games on television. The atmosphere was absolutely electric and both teams played so hard for 55 minutes. It was the best game I have called in my career.
The stars really shined. Buddy Hield set a record for points for an opponent at Allen Field House, scoring 46 points while playing all but one minute. He showed that he could score in so many ways. He performed as well s anyone could on such a big stage.
Perry Ellis showed why he is an inside-outside threat. He was especially tough in the low blocks against Ryan Spangler. He's a solid interior player who put on a show at times. Ellis finished with 27 points and the Jayhawks needed every one of them.
