Baseball: The Phillies got a much needed boost in their starting rotation with a somewhat surprising move. Jake Arrieta, formerly from the Chicago Cubs, has signed on with the Phillies for three years. I thought he would sign with a better team, like the Washington Nationals. Arrieta has already experienced winning the World Series with the Cubs, so for him to come to Philadelphia is a great surprise.
I am very happy with this development for the Phillies. I think this will speed up the rebuilding process and make the team a lot better by next year. A similar thing happened to the Phillies in 2003 when Jim Thome was brought over from the Cleveland Indians. He was a real key to the Phillies' resurgence in 2005.
Golf: There has been a good bit of golf news in the last few weeks. Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have shown the golf world that neither of them is done winning on the PGA Tour. Phil won in the Mexico Championship, in Phil form, with a very exciting playoff over Justin Thomas. This was Phil's first win in over five years! He has been playing well for the past six weeks, so this win was not completely unexpected, but certainly overdue.
Tiger came in second last week at the Valspar Championship in Florida. My Aunt Ginny was one of the volunteers last week at this tournament, so I was able to get a little bit of insider info with a few pictures she sent to me during the week. Tiger only lost by 1 stroke to Paul Casey who shot a 65 in the last round to steal that win from Tiger. Tiger's progress to come back from his latest back surgery has been faster than even he thought possible. His form and attitude seems back on track.
The Masters is only three weeks away. This is one of my most favorite events in golf and is one of Tiger's favorite golf courses to play. I would be surprised if he doesn't have at least a shot to win the tournament. I hope he continues to do well. He's good for golf.
Basketball: Let the March Madness begin. Did you all make your picks? I will be trying to watch as many games as possible because this years tournament is wide open when it comes to who will take it all. I picked Villanova and Virginia to be in the finals with Villanova coming out as number 1.
Let the fun begin!
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A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
