Weekly Takes - Monday, March 13th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, March 13th Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs playoff-style win over the Devils on Tuesday…

1. Jake McCabe

2. Michael Bunting

3. Auston Matthews

A brilliant game from McCabe, who made the right play every time he was on the ice, capped off by an excellent last-minute of play.

And Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander all stepped up with special individual plays. It had to happen with the team on the road, down two of their top five forwards, and it did.

2. My three stars from the Leafs impressive win against the Oilers on Saturday…

1. Marner

2. Noel Acciari

3. Tavares

A dominant performance from the Leafs, who overcame awful goaltending from Matt Murray.

Their best players were their best players and Acciari and McCabe continue to impress.

3. The World Baseball Classic has its flaws due to player commitments (or lack thereof), but it is still the highest level of international baseball in the world, happens only once every four years, and has already seen amazing moments in this year’s event.

People need to start giving the WBC the respect it deserves and enjoy it for what it is rather than what it could be.

4. The embarrassing officiating from Scott Foster in the Raptors-Nuggets game on Monday is another prime example of why sports gambling is still an unethical thing to promote to the average fan.

A close, one-point game was instantly made a four-point game because an egotistical official wanted to be the star of the show.

Can’t happen.

1. Given that, Fred VanVleet was right to rant the way he did following the Raptors loss to the Clippers on Wednesday.

It was long overdue from a Raptor and long overdue from a rather notable star in the NBA.

Here is hoping his comments create a broader conversation and leads to referees changing their behaviour.

Because it has to happen.

5. March Madness Prediction: Houston beats Alabama in the National Title Game.

Houston and Alabama are the clear top two teams in the country, but this is what makes March Madness so great. The odds of the two best teams meeting in the title game is very low.

6. The Saints signing Derek Carr is significant for them in the sense that they instantly become the best team in the depleted NFC East, but they are not winning a Super Bowl with Carr at quarterback.

Should that not be the end goal when you commit $150 million to your franchise quarterback?

7. The same thing applies to the Giants, who committed to a quarterback in Daniel Jones who will never lead them to a championship.

A shame for them, as they were/are building a very solid roster around Jones.

8. The Bears trading down was a no-brainer and they should be ecstatic with their return, but it is tough to criticize the Panthers quite yet.

If they draft and develop a franchise quarterback with the first overall pick, it is a massive coup.

But they have to land a franchise quarterback after paying the price they paid.

9. With that, here is my ranking of the top four quarterbacks in the upcoming draft…

1. CJ Stroud

2. Bryce Young

3. Anthony Richardson

4. Will Levis

No question that Richardson has the highest ceiling, but the floors of Stroud and Young are so high that I think you have to take them over Richardson.

But who could actually blame any team, including the Panthers, for drafting Richardson as QB1? If he can come even close to throwing an accurate football, he is going to be a superstar.