Lookin’ Like A Long Winter

After a much milder-than-normal December, and even early January, winter has arrived here. The low temperature yesterday was 6F. Significant snow is expected tomorrow and Friday. Could get close to a foot if we end up on the high-side of estimates.

It’s been rough for winter sports here lately. The Blue Jackets’ woes have been well documented here. They are still the worst team in the league.

The road has been unkind to the basketball teams. The Ohio State men appeared to have the corner turned with a win over Kentucky, part of a streak of 7 wins in-a-row. But road trips continue to be disastrous. Saturday, the Bucks lost by 35 at Maryland. This after big road losses at Indiana and Connecticut earlier. With two conference losses, OSU is tied for fourth in the Big Ten. Indiana and Iowa are 5-0.

The Kentucky men had won 18 straight games over Auburn, a streak that went back to 2000. But after having a decent second-half lead on The Plains Saturday, the Tigers came storming back and won 75-70. After the earlier big loss at LSU, the Cats have 2 conference losses and are tied for fourth in the SEC. Texas A&M is 5-0, coming off a huge rout at Georgia.

Speaking of Auburn, the Kentucky women did manage to avenge their loss at Auburn with a 54-47 home win over the Tigers Sunday. But the Cats were no match for #2-ranked South Carolina even in Memorial Coliseum last week. With two conference losses, UK is in a 4-way tie for third. The Gamecocks are 5-0.

Even the Ohio State women could not avoid an embarrassing road loss in Evanston last week. Maryland, Purdue and OSU are currently tied for first in the Big Ten with 5-1 records.

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all readers. I hope 2016 is your best year ever!

I had a wonderful holiday season. Got to spend a lot of time with my girlfriend’s granddaughter.

Over the holidays, craziness abounded in Columbus. The Jackets lost a bunch of games but also managed victories over Dallas and Washington, the best teams in the West and East respectively. Goaltenders Bobrovsky and McElhinney are both hurt, so Columbus is dependent on minor-league goalies. Ryan Johansen has been traded to Nashville in exchange for defenseman Seth Jones.

SEC play hasn’t been kind to the Kentucky men and women so far. The women beat Duke and finished out the non-conference schedule unbeaten. But the Cats opened up SEC play at Auburn and lost 66-61. I did not get to see the game, but Auburn has not traditionally been an SEC power.

The men beat archrival Louisville, then easily handled Ole Miss in the SEC opener. But Tuesday the Cats went to LSU and lost by 18. UK is not getting much effort out of its players right now.

On the other hand, the Ohio State men are turning things around. The win over Kentucky seemed to be the turning point. After a couple more non-conference wins, the Bucks won their first three conference games over Minnesota, Illinois and Northwestern. A big game against Indiana comes up Sunday on CBS.

The Ohio State women are ranked #5 nationally with wins over Virginia, Michigan State and Maryland. The nationally-televised contest on the Terps home floor was their first ever Big Ten loss since they joined the league. Kelsey Mitchell could be the player of the year.

The stock market has certainly had a horrible start to 2016. I have continued to add stocks to my portfolio on down days. No idea how low we go. But the Fed raising rates and the economy slowing down can be a one-two punch to the financial markets.