Good thing the Phillies’ season hasn’t started yet

The last week of spring training for the Phillies has not been going well. They haven't won many games and their pitching has not been successful. Also, the most important player, Bryce Harper, has not played in a game in over a week with mysterious back stiffness. The season starts next Thursday against the Braves at home at Citizens Bank Park. Let’s hope Bryce is available to play by then. This team has a lot of expectations to live up to from their success the last two years. I sure hope they don't disappoint us.

Scottie Scheffler made history last week when he won the 50th Players Championship by one shot over Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele. Scottie was able to come back from a five-shot deficit to start out the final round. This ties the biggest deficit ever for a come back in this tournament's history. He shot a 64. His run started by holing his second shot on the fourth hole for eagle. He did not look back from there. In the second and third rounds, it looked like Scotty had a significant neck injury. He miraculously recovered to play the perfect last round. I felt bad for Wyndham Clark, since he almost forced a playoff with a tough lip-out putt on the 18th hole that would’ve tied it. The ball did a 360 around the hole before falling away. Wyndham also had a five-shot lead going into the third round of the tournament. With this victory, Scottie proved that he is the best player on tour.

The college basketball tournaments start this week. I will actually be paying more attention to the women’s tournament this year and rooting for Iowa to make it to the Final Four. Caitlin Clark and the whole team has been impressive the entire season. With a record of 29-4, they are one of four No. 1 seeds to start the dance. They remind me of the 2006-08 Phoenix Suns who scored an incredible amount of points in the NBA in really fast fashion. This year‘s Iowa team has scored more than 90 points in 23 of their games, which is a big deal since it’s only a 40-minute game in college. The South Carolina women's team is the big favorite to win the whole thing and finish undefeated. Most of their games have not been close.

In the first two rounds of the women's tournament, the high seeds get to host home games, so Iowa is going to have at least one more home game starting on Saturday at 3 p.m.

For the first time in years, I will not be filling out a NCAA bracket. I will still be watching most of the games, but I will be having more fun without caring about who wins in the men's tournament.