Spring Training games are underway which means it is a matter of time until baseball season starts. The promo schedules are coming out and this looks like it will be a big year for bobbleheads. I should be able to get at least 40 this year if everything goes well along with a few other giveaways. The big news for the Pirates was that the MLBPA filed a grievance with MLB for their use of revenue sharing money. Here’s a question for them: What MLB free agents want to come to Pittsburgh and what glaring holes do the Pirates have? The largest of them were filled via trades and while some free agents would certainly be an upgrade the amount of money that would need to be paid is simply too much. IMHO the players overvalued what they are worth and the market is correcting itself. Teams are now realizing that paying for an aging player who will spend more time as a good to mediocre player but being paid superstar money is not a good approach. Especially for the Pirates.

And of course the players don’t like the new pace of play rules. They say that they want to play a crisp game. When I read that last part I rolled my eyes. I hate to tell you MLBPA, pace of play rules make the game much more enjoyable for the fan and you’ll get used to them. You really will so stop complaining. I am tired of Major League games finally getting into the 5th inning 2 hours into the game. At first it was just the Yankees and Red Sox doing it but now it is everyone.  World Series games take 4+ hours to play. How do you expect children, particularly those on the East Coast to watch those games? Especially since you cow tow to the NFL and don’t play a Sunday afternoon game. You don’t need the pitcher and catcher to discuss War and Peace before every hitter and hitters don’t need to take 10 practice swings before every pitch and readjust their equipment even when they don’t swing.

And now for something completely different…

The sports week started on Monday with District basketball action. York High and Northeastern played the 5A semifinal and it went to OT with York pulling it out. York’s Kyree Generett hit a 3 from the corner with time running down to send the game to OT and York separated themselves there. District final is on Thursday against Milton Hershey who beat Lower Dauphin. To say that I am shocked that they made it this far is an understatement but a very pleasant one. I was back at the Giant Center for Tuesday’s games. Stopped in at Troegs beforehand to pick up some beer and then pulled in to watch Millersburg and Halifax play for the 2A crown. Halifax won easily. Then came the 6A games. Chambersburg beat Hempfield easily and Reading pulled away late from Manheim Township.

Back to Hershey for Thursday’s games, the 4A and 5A finals. Berks Catholic dominated Bishop McDevitt in the 4A final. Following that Milton Hershey got up on York High by about 10 and kept York at arms length for the rest of the game. Too many missed free throws and missed peeps. Congrats to Milton Hershey. Also stopped at Pig Iron Brewing in Marietta to get a pint glass since they did not have them in stock when I was there before Christmas and at Tattered Flag to get two crowlers to go. On to the PIAA tournament.

York College got to host the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They were paired with Yeshiva and had to play Friday afternoon since Yeshiva did not want to play after sundown. Yeshiva hung around but York emerged victorious. I have never seen a team play with yarmulkes so I scratched that one off of the list. Apparently Yeshiva making the tournament was international news too! They are a young team and could be pretty good for the next two years. Hamilton took down Nazareth in the second game. It was a close game for most of the way but Hamilton held them off.

Saturday brought me back up to Hershey for the 6A boys final between Chambersburg and Reading. The first half was a snoozer, Reading leading 19-12 at half with more walking calls than field goals made. The second half picked up and Reading built up a lead but Chambersburg came roaring back getting to within a bucket on multiple occasions. They just could not get over the hump but they had their chances. Even at the end with .7 seconds left they had a player on the line, down 3, and they could theoretically have tied the game but the player missed the first end of a one-and-one and that was it.

Needing to kill time afterwards before York College’s NCAA Tournament game I hit a few breweries in the Harrisburg area. Started at Zeroday to pick up a few crowlers and then on to Desperate Times in Carlisle for dinner. Good beers there and it helps that they have a badge on Untappd. Then to Molly Pitcher to get a sixer to go before finally ending up at Evergrain where I picked up two more crowlers. Got to the college at about 20 minutes before the gates opened. Went over to Parma for a slice to kill the time.

I’ll get this off of my chest early, Hamilton College is good, they are #13 in the polls. They won the game just as much as York lost it. York missed too many free throws, too many easy looks inside and turned the ball over too much with poor passing. The latter has much to do with Hamilton’s defense. York got it down to 1 late and had the chance to go ahead but could not get over the hump. They had numerous opportunities to tie the game and missed or turned the ball over and lost by 3. It was an ugly way to end a great season.

This was a long week with district basketball and the NCAA Tournament. It was nice to just sit around on Sunday. Made fake lobster lo mein in the slow cooker, can’t really afford real lobster. Things get a bit boring now as I do not expect York High to last long in the PIAA tournament and then the last basketball action I’ll probably go to will be the state finals. Baseball season is right around the corner though…