* The U.S. beat Canada in overtime to win the Olympic gold medal in hockey. Most highly-hyped match-ups don’t measure up to the over-the-top anticipation. This one did. Including the replay.
* BTW, all that Olympic buzz—including nearly half the Lightning players making various national teams—had to have impacted the locker room. But there was an elephant in that room: Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasyleskiy. They are two of the best players in the world but were unable to participate because their country, Russia, was banned. Nothing was said in the media, which was prudent–and rare–but you can imagine it had its awkward moments.
* Over the winter, Rays All-Star Junior Caminero worked hard on his English, and he’s now prepared to do interviews without team translator Kevin Vera. Would that others follow his lead. Players, especially prominent ones, can’t truly connect to a community through a translator. Just ask the Lightning.
* “We believe in a meritocracy.” That was Bruce Meyer, executive director of the MLB Players Association. In other words: Don’t even think about a salary cap for Major League Baseball.