April bee gone, happy trails Art Dye, Durant key date, “Uneducated Stupidity”…

A two-hour delay at Tuesday’s Diamondbacks game due to a bee swarm behind home plate capped off a bizarre opening month of the season for the Hometown Nine. Consider that the team made eight roster moves involving pitchers, and Corbin Carroll hit less than .200. Dig deeper, and you see that only two Diamondbacks are in the top 40 in the National League in batting average. The team kicked the ball around to the tune of 17 errors in 31 games. Hit a little better, field a little(lot) better, and get some pitching back, and the fortunes can turn in a positive direction. They aren’t as bad as the record indicates…

Happy high school head coaching trails to Art Dye. Back in the day, Art ran the Arizona Stars AAU basketball team. The Stars were the leaping off point for Mike Bibby, Richard Jefferson, Kenny Crandall, Todd Heap, etc. No one is more well-known in the Arizona grassroots basketball scene than Art.  He recently stepped aside as the head coach at Benjamin Franklin High School in Queen Creek. At 77 years young, he’s not stopping. “The only time I’m going to retire is when I’m in the grave,” he told me on Wednesday morning. We agreed on a future chop-up session…

July 8th is a day we will know much more about the Suns and Kevin Durant. I chopped it up with ESPN NBA Front Officer insider Bobby Marks on the Sun’s future after their first-round flameout. Worth the click

VIDEO – Good to chop it up with @BobbyMarks42 “Phoenix is no closer to winning a championship” – https://t.co/Pa3duHDntR via @sports360az

— Brad Cesmat (@bradcesmat) April 30, 2024

Do you watch the NFL Sunday studio shows? I bring this up because CBS let go of Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason earlier this week, and it caused some resentment among those in our industry. Matt Ryan and JJ Watt will step in. Is Jason Kelce going to get me to watch Monday Night Football any longer or shorter? Richard Sherman get me in front of a TV any sooner for Thursday night football? No. It’s a different story regarding Inside the NBA on TNT. I watch and laugh a lot…

Bobby Hurley lands the top nationally regarded big man, and GCU gets a 7″1 center in the transfer portal. Because I want what’s best for the Arizona basketball scene, and I like and respect the jobs that Bobby Hurley and Bryce Drew are doing, let’s not make this too complicated. ASU vs GCU in late December. Neutral court in Glendale or Downtown Phoenix. TV executives would eat it up, as would the fans. No downside. None. Same as my thought from March of GCU vs. Baylor and ASU vs. UConn…

A few weeks back, someone in town texted me “Uneducated Stupidity” to one of my notes. I love the sound of that as the title of a daily podcast.

Day 170 without an athletic director at Arizona State…

Britney Buckles took it upon herself to create an HBCU football camp for high school kids in the Valley. Do you know about Historically Black Colleges and Universities and what Brittney is doing? It’s great that a mom decided to take action and create an event, which she spoke about earlier this week with Claudia and Spurge. 

Bleacher Talk: AZ Draft Picks, HBCU Camp, Liberty Spring Ball