Winter Games and Thoughts of Spring

The Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea are underway even though the opening ceremonies are not until Friday night.

They are 14 hours ahead of us so this morning I was watching curling on NBCSN and tonight NBC begins its regular coverage with Freestyle Skiing and Team Figure Skating.  The Olympics run through Sunday, February 25^th.  By the way if your favorite prime time TV shows are on NBC they won’t be for the next two weeks as every night will of course feature the Winter Olympics.

Six Ocean County schools have advanced to the NJSIAA Team Wrestling Sectional finals Friday night after winning their semifinal matches last night.  Heading up that group is perennial South Jersey Group 5 power Southern who rolled past Rancocas Valley and will host Kingsway while Brick Memorial topped rival Jackson Memorial in Central Jersey Group 4 to earn a date with Long Branch.

Also advancing to sectional finals were Point Boro, Lacey, Point Beach and Donovan Catholic along with Shore Conference schools Howell, Ocean, Raritan, Holmdel and Middletown North.  Friday’s winners move on to the group championships Sunday at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena on the campus of Toms River North which is always a great day of wrestling and even better when local schools are a part of it.

Todd Frazier made it official Wednesday by signing his two-year, $17 million contract with the Mets and putting on his #21 uniform during a news conference at CitiField. Frazier wore #21 with the Reds and White Sox but had to settle for #29 with the Yankees in deference to former Yankee Paul O’Neill.

After what even he called a rough off-season trying to figure out his future Frazier has a week to get things in order before leaving Toms River.  He’ll head to Port St. Lucie, Florida next Thursday and before then will get to celebrate his 32^nd birthday Monday.