LAZ Sports Radio text

This is Jamie Lazaroff and welcome to the latest edition of LAZ sports radio. Sorry I have not done a blog or video in the last week. I have been busy with lots of irons in the fire. I got a part-time job being the voice on some advertising for 1350 WINY radio in Putnam CT.

One to the sports. This week’s major news story is that the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament is expanding to 68 teams. CBS sports and Turner sports are the home of the tournament for the next 14 years. The interesting part of the deal is that starting in 2016 the Final Four will be on cable. The good news for basketball fans is that all tournament game will be on national TV. It’s good that the NCAA men’s basketball committee recommended expansion of the tournament from 65 teams to 68. Like I said before, 96 teams would be too much. ESPN was also in the running for the right to March Madness but CBS/Turner bid was bigger. Is this a sign that ESPN is going after the Olympics? We will see.

There is sad news to report as former International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch died last week. Mr. Samaranch was the IOC’s top man for 1980 to 2001. After boycotts at the 80 Summer Games in Moscow and 84 in LA Mr. Samaranch make the Olympics in to the global event it is today.

I have talked before about how I think the NFL Draft is one of the most over hyped events in all of sports. The Draft is not an exact science. No one knows how these college athletes are going to perform on the pro level. I was interested why the Denver Broncos took Tim Tebow before better rated Quarterback’s Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy. What was Denver thinking? We well see in a few years which team was right. Some times later round picks work better than first round sections. Remember Tom Brady was a six round pick in 2000 draft and he is the best Quarterback in the league right now. We shall see how this year’s class pans out in a few years.

This weekend is the latest fight to save boxing. Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight Shane Mosley in Las Vegas. I read were Mayweather said he was better than Mohammed Ali. I laughed out loud. First off Ali had national TV in his day and also had Howard Cosell as his antagonist/supporter. Mayweather can’t deliver a promo. No one is in the league of Ali. Just for this I’M going to hope Mosley can shut Mayweather up. I’M going to Foxwoods to watch the fight on a big screen. We’ll give you a report next week.

This weekend is also the first Saturday in May, which means the Kentucky Derby. This year race is more wide open than usual. Last week likely favorite Eskendereya was scratched with a leg injury. The new favorite is Lookin At Lucky with Garrett Gomez aboard. It’s not good to be the favorite in the run for the roses; in the last decade only 4 favorites have won the fastest 2 minutes in sports. We shall see. Post time is 6:24 on NBC.

One final note. On April 17 one of my crazy relatives competed in the “Inferno” pentathlon race at Tuckerman’s ravine, which is on the eastern slope of Mt. Washington in NH. The race consist of a 8.3 Miles run, Kayak for 6.2 Miles, bike 18.2 Miles then hike for 3 miles before the final member of the team skis down the ravine. Their team name was “6 of 1 half dozen of the other.” My cousin David did the kayak, our friends Alec did the run, his father Len did the hike our vacation friend Bruce did the ski and their friend Kelly did the bike. Congratulations to all!! I know I can’t do it. You go guys and ladies. This year my cousin Carley is doing her triathlon in Webster with my aunt Ann and my soccer coach Geri is also competing. I will be their cheering them on and reporting back.
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Jamie Lazaroff