"The Stack" 1-19-17

The Stack is back on this Thursday with a very short blog today.  It’s so short, I’m wondering why I’m even doing it, but I am so let’s get right to it and see what is in “the stack” for today, Thursday, January 19th:

 

Bagwell, Raines, Rodriguez headed to Cooperstown

 

Football is our nation’s current pastime, but our old pastime made headlines last night electing three new members into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  That’s right, baseball.  Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez are the three new members after being voted in yesterday.  Bagwell and Raines were one vote away from one another (381 for Bagwell and 380 for Raines), good for 86.2% and 86% respectively while Pudge received 76% of the vote.  Remember you have to receive at least 75% of the vote to get in.  Those three are all well-deserving candidates.  Bagwell won Rookie of the Year and was an MVP with the Houston Astros from 1991-2005.  He was a four-time all-star and won three Silver Slugger awards.  Raines was a seven-time all-star outfielder for the Montreal Expos in the 1980s.  A lot of people put him behind Rickey Henderson for greatest lead-off hitter of all-time.  And what didn’t Pudge do?  He was a great defensive catcher and was a beast at the plate.  In all he won 13 Gold Gloves and was an all-star player 14 times.  He was the only first-ballot player to get in.

 

Notable names we didn’t see get elected included Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.  They are gaining votes.  It will still be a few years, but one day they’ll get in.  They have to.  The Steroid Era wasn’t just about them.  San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman was also very close to getting in as was Vladimir Guerrero.  Each of them had over 70 percent of the vote so they figure to get in next year.  All I know is that I would like to see guys like Bonds get in.  They weren’t the only ones using during the “Steroid Era.”  They had a lot of God-given talent.  They deserve to get in.

 

Australian Open

 

I didn’t realize this until yesterday, but I had completely forgotten to give my picks for tennis’ first grand slam event of the season, the Australian Open.  As they play down under, I like Novak Djokovic (surprise, surprise) and Serena Williams (surprise, surprise).  If Serena falls, this may very well be the end of her.  I’m giving her one final chance.

 

College basketball headlines

 

Notre Dame and Florida State played in a very entertaining and highly contested game Wednesday night.  Florida State trailed 64-62 before going on an 11-1 run and holding on to beat Notre Dame 83-80.  People need to take this Florida State team seriously.  They are the real deal.  Notre Dame is good too, but Florida State I think is just a little better.

 

In Morgantown, West Virginia, a week and change after taking down the number one team in the land (Baylor in case you didn’t remember), #7 West Virginia lost at home to Oklahoma 89-87 in overtime.  This Oklahoma team is not that good this year, but that will happen when you lose a player like Buddy Hield.  This is a good win for them.  It’s a loss that shouldn’t happen, especially on their home floor for West Virginia.

 

Indiana won at the buzzer, there were a lot of close games in the A-10 last night, some teams in the tournament right now lost while some bubble teams won and put themselves in.  ESPN’s Joe Lunardi should have another bracketology unveiled later today or possibly tomorrow.  It should be interesting.  Love college basketball.

 

Coming up Friday: NFL Championship game previews