Infielder Derek Jeter #2 of the New York Yankees prepares to bat against the Pittsburgh Pirates during a Grapefruit League Spring Training Game at McKechnie Field on March 14, 2010 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)J. Meric/Getty Images
For love of the game
While the start of the new baseball season means a lot of things to a lot of people, for the World Series-champion New York Yankees it means it's time to get new jewellery. For their bank managers, however, it means it's time to get new abacuses, with a British study revealing that the Bronx Bombers receive the highest average salaries in world sport. Derek Jeter and Co. were paid an average of $7.2-million in their championship season, ahead of those plying their trade for Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, forced to scrape out a living on $6.5-million and $6.2-million, respectively.
Bad Barack-et
So much for Nostradamus. After going out on a limb last year in successfully picking top-seeded University of North Carolina for U.S. college basketball glory, it appears U.S. President Barack Obama is fallible after all. With Kansas, Villanova, Kentucky and Kansas State all victims of early elimination, the commander-in-chief has failed to predict any of this weekend's Final Four participants, and will consequently be devoid of a rooting interest when the NCAA crowns its champion over the coming Easter weekend. Still, as leader of the free world, you'd hope his to-do list has more pressing matters than watching kids play ball anyway.
More March Madness
It appears March Madness extends beyond the hard court. Coaches across this continent seem to be losing their cool, and the occasional jacket, in their quest to keep their teams in the win column. Though Abbotsford Heat coach Jim Playfair's AHL meltdown was well documented on Hockey Night in Canada , Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators football team blew his top at a reporter who had the cojones to quote one of his players, and Toronto FC's Predrag (Preki) Radosavljevic threatened to stop talking to media if they don't get more positive about his team - wonder what positives he drew after TFC picked up where they left off last year in a 2-0 loss at Columbus last Saturday?
Arsenal expect Spanish inquisition
You can be sure Arsenal fans were wishing it was under different circumstances. While the faithful will be understandably excited to see Thierry Henry - the Gunners' leading career goal scorer - back playing at the Emirates Stadium for the first time since he left the club in 2007, they will be less so about the company he now keeps. As a member of defending champion Barcelona's fearsome front-line trio - alongside Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic - the French international striker will be coming home on Wednesday to end his former club's interest in the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, keeping the elusive trophy out of coach Arsène Wenger's hands for at least one more year.