SPORTS & MORE: WHERE WERE THE ANNOUNCERS FOR MIAMI HEAT SKIRMISH?

I watched the Miami Heat game on March 23 as I usually do. Following their loss to the Golden State Warriors, I scanned the internet. No particular reason, but I found a story by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about a third-quarter scrum on the Heat sideline, a near-fight involving coach Erik Spoelstra and players Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem.

Did I miss this on television? It wasn’t described on the Bally Sports channel. Why not? The Heat announcers made no mention. I turned back to the post-game report that included the coach’s press conference. The media’s first question was about the near-fight. Spoelstra tried to laugh it off – unsuccessfully.

The next day, the near-fight was at the top of the news. There was tape of the incident. The coach had asked Butler if he wanted to fight him. Haslem, the veteran who rarely plays, but is a semi-coach, reportedly yelled at Butler, “I’ll whoop your ass,” a few times. Spoelstra smashed his clipboard on the floor. It took the rest of the players to hold back the combatants.

Interesting stuff, but why wasn’t it reported on the Heat’s channel? 

It was reported a few days later that the Heat had instructed the announcers not to mention it. Wrong! No one should interfere with news. It happened. Report it. Whatever Heat representative squashed that report was wrong, wrong, wrong. He or she should be embarrassed.

The next night was the United States-Mexico soccer World Cup qualifier. I’m not a big soccer fan, but I wanted to watch the game. I could not find it on my TV, at least not in English. Could you? If so, please email me at ralphmoro1936@gmail.com. So I watched most of the game in a language I do not speak.

You would think some channel, some network would have telecast — in English — this very important game. It ended in a scoreless tie. (Very exciting, no matter the language.) College basketball’s Final Four is my favorite sporting event. This year’s event is Saturday, April 2. Kansas, the only No. 1 seed left, takes on Villanova on CBS at 6:09 p.m.

Duke faces its neighbor, North Carolina, at 8:49 p.m. The first Final Four I covered was in 1962 when I was working for the Rochester, New York, Times-Union. Cincinnati defeated in-state rival Ohio State in the championship game. Jerry Lucas was the Buckeyes’ star and he was injured in the “semifinal” game, but did try to play in the title game.

After that first Final Four game, won by Ohio State over Wake Forest in Louisville, Kentucky, there may have been a half dozen writers in a hallway interviewing Fred Taylor, the OSU coach. I asked him something about Lucas’ injury. “Why don’t you ask him?” Taylor responded. So, a reporter from Newsday and I walked into the Ohio State dressing room and without hindrance talked to Lucas. Saturday, a few hundred reporters seated in a large room will have the opportunity to question the stars of the game. None will be in the dressing room. Ah, times have changed.

I have covered 17 Final Fours. I say the first night is the most exciting because there are four teams playing before their exuberant fans. Half of those fans have probably gone home (and maybe sold their tickets) by the time the championship game is played. The most people to watch a championship game on TV was in 1979 in Salt Lake City. It was Michigan State and Magic Johnson defeating Indiana State and Larry Bird. I was there. It was very exciting. Bird disappeared after the game. We didn’t get the opportunity to talk to him. But I did speak with the Magic man.

Veteran sports columnist Ralph Morrow says the only sport he doesn’t follow is cricket. That leaves plenty of others to fill his time.