By: Cody Marshall

As March comes to a close, the sports world starts to get heated up. The NCAA Tournament Final Four begins on April 2^nd in Houston, Texas. Meanwhile, March 31^st marks the Opening Day of Major League Baseball, and April 28^th-30^th is the NFL Draft. To keep people involved in what’s going on the sports world, GESN (Galway Entertainment and Sports Network), set up by Josh Bailey, Cody Marshall, Shane Marshall, and Nick Manna, will go inside the action and breakdown everything that goes on in all sports.

To start off, it is still March, so the NCAA Tournament has priority. When the matchups were announced on March 13^th, everyone began to fill out brackets, some for money, and others for the fun of it. The first and second round games were full of upsets which set the tone for the third round as well. I had chosen Purdue, Notre Dame (2), and Kansas (2) to win on the five brackets that I filled out. Needless to say, Kansas is the only team still in out of the three. Now that the Sweet 16 has begun, there are currently only twelve teams still remaining. Those teams are: Ohio State, Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina, Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Florida State, Butler, and Florida. Of those 12 teams, there are just two #1 seeds (Ohio State, Kansas), and there are five teams with a seed of #8 or lower (Marquette, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Florida State, Butler). The tournament continues with the last four Sweet 16 games being played on March 25^th, followed by the Elite Eight games being played from March 26^th-27^th. The Final Four will then be played at Reliant Stadium in Houston on April 2^nd and April 4^th.

The Major League Baseball season is almost upon us and this year, you might not see the pinstripes in the playoffs. The New York Yankees seemed to make only little waves during the offseason, acquiring mainly pitchers who have struggled in recent years. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox made moves that have many picking them to win the American League East this year. The Tampa Bay Rays lost key players, but added Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez to make up for it. In the Central, Ron Gardenhire’s Minnesota Twins will look to win their seventh division title in nine years. The West is anyone’s division, but Texas is looking to be the front runner after losing in the World Series last year. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves will be without former manager Bobby Cox for the first time in over 20 years. Fredi Gonzalez took over for this year, but the Braves need to battle with the Philadelphia Phillies for the top spot in the East.

To wrap things up, we’ll make our predictions on who is going to win the awards for both sports this year.