Q: Hey guys, since we are in the middle of the NFL’s speculation season, I thought I’d toss out this question. Do you see the Bucs positioning themselves to move up to the first pick of the draft? With Jake Plummer and an extra second-round draft pick, it seems plausible they could parlay a swap of draft positions with Oakland and possibly get Randy Moss in the deal. Any comments?—Bill Hoffman, Hacienda Heights, Cal.
A: The only way the Bucs would trade up to the No. 1 spot is to ensure the selection of Calvin Johnson. Moving up to the top is costly, even from the No. 4 position, and at this point it’s unlikely the Bucs would give up a premium draft pick to go up three spots. There’s virtually no chance they could come way with both Moss and the No. 1 overall pick in the same deal. Moss is still a valuable commodity to the Raiders, who gave up a lot to get him from Minnesota a few years ago. Although they definitely need help at QB, there’s no indication at this point that the Raiders have any compelling interest in Jake Plummer.
*The brackets for the 2007 Jon Sinclair Memorial Spring Fling Invitational Softball Tournament at JC Handly Park in Brandon have been released. The two-day tournament will be held March 23-24.
March 23
OPENING ROUND
Riverview vs. Academy of the Holy Names, noon
Brandon vs. Robinson, noon
Plant City vs. Freedoom, noon
Plant vs. Newsome, 2 p.m.
Bloomingdale vs. Sickles, 2 p.m.
River Ridge vs. Durant, 2 p.m.
Venice vs. Wharton, 4 p.m.
Alonso vs. East Bay, 4 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS
Riverview/Academy winner vs. Brandon/Robinson winner, 6 p.m.
Plant City/Freedom winner vs. Plant/Newsom winner, 6 p.m.
Bloomingdale/Sickles winner vs. River Ridge/Durant winner, 8 p.m.
Venice/Wharton winner vs. Alonso/East Bay winner, 4 p.m.
March 24
Semifinals at noon
Consolation championship at 4 p.m.
Tournament championship at 6 p.m.
*Consolation bracket games are not listed.
Tickets for the July 29 ArenaBowl XXI in New Orleans will go on sale March 13 exclusively on TicketMaster.com. Prices range from $12 to $30 for upper level tickets, while the price range is from $50 to $175 for lower level seats. Beginning March 19, tickets will be available at both www.ticketmaster.com and www.arenabowl.com or by calling 1-866-AFL-TIXS.
This is the complete schedule for the 27th annual Tony Saladino Tournament, which begins Saturday.
ADMISSION: $5 each day
DIVISIONS: Atlantic: Brandon, Wharton, Gaither; Pacific: Middleton, Leto, Jefferson, Cambridge; Indian: Chamberlain, East Bay, Alonso, Tampa Catholic; Eastern: Hillsborough, Durant, Lennard, Tampa Bay Tech; Western: Spoto, Freedom, Plant, Sickles; Northern: Newsome, Robinson, Bloomingdale, Plant City; Southern: Riverview, King, Blake, Armwood
SCHEDULE: Today (Pool play) - At Brandon: Spoto vs. Freedom, 10:30 a.m.; Plant vs. Sickles, 4:30 p.m.; Gaither vs. Brandon, 7:30 p.m.; At Chamberlain: Tampa Catholic vs. Alonso, 1:30 p.m.; East Bay vs. Tampa Catholic, 4:30 p.m.; Alonso vs. Chamberlain, 7:30 p.m.; At Newsome: Bloomingdale vs. Plant City, 1:30 p.m.; Tampa Bay Tech vs. Lennard, 4:30 p.m.; Robinson vs. Newsome, 7:30 p.m.; At Riverview: Hillsborough vs. Durant, 1:30 p.m.; King vs. Blake, 4:30 p.m.; Armwood vs. Riverview, 7:30 p.m.; At Middleton: Cambridge vs. Leto, 1:30 p.m.; Jefferson vs. Cambridge, 4:30 p.m.; Middleton vs. Leto, 7:30 p.m.
Monday: (Pool play) - At Brandon: Durant vs. Lennard, 1:30 p.m.; Tampa Bay Tech vs. Hillsborough, 4:30 p.m.; Wharton vs. Brandon, 7:30 p.m.; At Chamberlain: Spoto vs. Sickles, 4:30 p.m.; Chamberlain vs. East Bay, 7:30 p.m.; At Newsome: Plant City vs. Robinson, 4:30 p.m.; Newsome vs. Bloomingdale, 7:30 p.m.; At Riverview: Blake vs. Armwood, 4:30 p.m.; King vs. Riverview, 7:30 p.m.; At Middleton: Plant vs. Freedom, 4:30 p.m.; Jefferson vs. Middleton, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday: (Pool play) - At Brandon: Spoto vs. Plant, 1:30 p.m.; Durant vs. Tampa Bay Tech, 4:30 p.m.; Wharton vs. Gaither, 7:30 p.m.; At Chamberlain: Lennard vs. Hillsborough, 1:30 p.m.; East Bay vs. Alonso, 4:30 p.m.; Tampa Catholic vs. Chamberlain, 7:30 p.m.; At Newsome: Sickles vs. Freedom, 1:30 p.m.; Bloomingdale vs. Robinson, 4:30 p.m.; Newsome vs. Plant City, 7:30 p.m.; At Riverview: Armwood vs. King, 4:30 p.m.; Riverview vs. Blake, 7:30 p.m.; At Middleton: Jefferson vs. Leto, 4:30 p.m.; Middleton vs. Cambridge, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday’s quarterfinals - At Brandon: Atlantic winner vs. Pacific winner, 10:30 a.m.; Indian winner vs. wild card, 1:30 p.m.; Eastern winner vs. Western winner, 4:30 p.m.; Northern winner vs. Southern winner, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday’s semifinals - At Brandon: Atlantic-Pacific winner vs. Indian-wild card winner, 4:30 p.m.; Eastern-Western winner vs. Northern-Southern winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday’s championship - At Brandon: Semifinal winners, 7:30 p.m.
NOTE: Championship bracket subject to change as wild card will not play winner of own bracket.
Gonna be a hot one today as the A.L. champion Tigers make their lone visit to PEP/Al Lang this spring. Among the guests here in our studio audience, my mom and sister, who made the trip down from Atlanta to check out my new digs. Here are the lineups:
Tigers
Ivan Rodriguez DH
Placido Polanco 2B
Carlos Guillen SS
Gary Sheffield RF
Marcus Thames LF
Sean Casey 1B
Omar Infante 3B
Brent Clevlen CF
Dane Sardinha C
Jeremy Bonderman P
Rays
Rocco Baldelli CF
Carl Crawford LF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Carlos Pena DH
B.J. Upton 2B
Akinori Iwamura 3B
Elijah Dukes RF
Josh Paul C
Ben Zobrist SS
Casey Fossum P
What does Maddon hope to see from Fossum today?
“I’m not looking for results. The only result I’m looking for is that he walks off the mound and says he feels great and then furthermore tomorrow that he feels great.”
ATLANTA — You may be wondering why Florida — despite being the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament — wound up in the Midwest Region instead of the South. Gary Walters, the chair of the tournament selection committee, explained Sunday night. Sort of.
“Basically, the mileage,” Walters said in a teleconference. “It was a little bit of a push.”
According to MapQuest, St. Louis (Midwest second weekend site) is 890.72 miles from Gainesville. San Antonio (South second weekend site) is 1,055.91 miles from Gainesville.
So basically, it’s the mileage.
Which Cinderella team is set up to make the most surprising run? Which top seed won’t even get a sniff of the Sweet 16? And which No. 1 has the easiest road to the Final Four?
Discuss in our TBO Forum.
ATLANTA — In case you missed the selection show, here’s the breakdown. Florida is the No. 1 overall seed and will play in the Midwest Region. The Gators open the tournament Friday in New Orleans against Jackson State. Should the Gators advance, they would play the Arizona-Purdue winner on Sunday.
AVON PARK –– Brad Gooch is certainly not the reason the South Florida Community College baseball team is struggling, but his season thus far can be looked at as a microcosm of the ‘Cats’ frustrating play.
A tall, quick player, Gooch isn’t playing collegiate baseball on a whim. He’s good –– but recent fielding hiccups have bled over to the offensive part of his game. The same can be said for the team as a whole –– good, solid baseball players not playing to their potential and letting careless defense undercut their abilities. As a result, the losses are piling up faster than the wins, and a season of promise is starting to sour.
All that was forgotten, at least momentarily, on Sunday afternoon when Lincolnland (Ill.) Community College came to town for a welcome non-conference tune-up. As Gooch went, so went SFCC –– the shortstop not only scored five runs but made a handful of smooth plays in the field as the ‘Cats rolled 19-4.
Perhaps the biggest number on the scoreboard was the smallest –– zero errors to go along with 20 hits for South Florida. The game was a stark reminder of what the Panthers are capable of, and hopefully a springboard for what figures to be the most critical three-week stretch of the season –– 12 conference games that will make or break any hopes of a postseason.
Sunday’s romp came after two consecutive losses at Miami-Dade, dropping SFCC (16-19) into a tie for last place in the Southern Conference at 1-5. The Panthers took out plenty of frustration on the overmatched Loggers, sending a total of 32 batters to the plate in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings in scoring 16 runs.
Every starting player reached base at least twice, and all but Dale Slimick scored one run or more. Slimick’s seventh inning replacement, Hunter Reed, singled and scored in his only plate appearance.
SFCC led 4-2 going into the bottom of the fifth when the bats came to life. Nick Stanley, Gooch and Steven Levine were all hit by pitches with two outs, scoring Reco Jackson (who was plunked to lead off the frame) in what became a non-stop carousel. Eric Derham, who had four hits and four RBI, singled home two runs before Barry Padgett and Tyler Wright followed with run-scoring singles.
Six Panthers had multi-RBI games –– Jackson, Nick Polston, Levine, Derham, Padgett and Wright –– a long-overdue explosion of offense that needs to carry over into this week’s home-and-home series with Indian River (4-2).
Just when it seemed the PODS Championship was heading to a playoff, Heath Slocum made sure it didn’t.
Slocum missed a three-foot putt on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff with Mark Calcavecchia. Instead Calcavecchia claims the trophy with a 10 under.
Calcavecchia also missed his par putt on 18 and seemed resigned for a playoff. He just shook his head when Slocum missed his putt.
Mark Calcavecchia and Heath Slocum both parred the 17th hole.
Calcavecchia takes a one-shot lead to the 18th hole. There haven’t been a lot of birdies on the final hole today.
Both tee shots are in the fairway.
Mark Calcavecchia threw his hat on the ground when he got to his ball hidden in the rough on No. 16. He then laid up in the fairway with his second shot.
His third sailed past the pin, resting at the back edge of the green. He settled for bogey on the hole, dropping his lead to one shot over Heath Slocum (10 under).
Mark Calcavecchia is making things interesting. His tee shot off of No. 16 nearly went in the water and now rests in the deep rough.
Playing partner Heath Slocum’s tee shot landed safely in the fairway. Calcavecchia has a two-shot lead over Slocum.
Third-round co-leaders Mark Calcavecchia and Heath Slocum matched birdies on the par-5 14th hole.
Calcavecchia remains atop the leader board at 12 under with four holes to go. Slocum, after a slow start, is two shots back.
Co-leader Heath Slocum made up for a double bogey on the 2nd hole and a bogey on the 9th with three-consecutive birdies after the turn.
Slocum moved back to 9 under, tied for second with John Senden and Lucas Glover after birdies on the 10th, 11th and 12th holes. His tee shot on the par-3 13th landed in the thick rough, making it difficult to go for four in-a-row.
While Slocum settled for par, his playing partner Mark Calcavecchia birdied the hole to take a two-shot lead with five holes to go.
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