Here at the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState, we’ve been keeping tabs on assorted and occasionally sordid happenings in sports across the globe. It’s been busy.

The NCAA basketball tournaments are in full swing, with the men’s side providing thrill, chills, and not a few upsets as we’ve already seen a #1 and two #2 seed fall by the wayside plus one terrific Cinderella story. The play of the tournament thus far:

This Indiana cheerleader is a legend for this 😭 pic.twitter.com/qP3X5ZHBex

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 18, 2022

Meanwhile, in the We Can’t Take You Seriously When You Can’t Be Serious department, there’s the women’s tournament. First, we had the first round squeaker of a game between #1 seed South Carolina and #16 seed Howard, South Carolina leading at the half by a paltry forty points. The Gamecocks somehow held on for the win. Meanwhile, ESPN’s desperate effort to make the women’s tournament relevant hit a “minor” roadblock in the form of its own woke stupidity. Between stunts such as this and the inane insanity that is Lia Thomas, women’s sport succeeds solely in shooting itself in the foot.

On to football. If you’re looking to score some overtime, the best job in China right now is one at whichever sweatshop … er, factory makes Nike’s football jerseys, as business is booming even aside from reopening the Tom Brady line. The biggest deal thus far is the Cleveland Browns breaking out the piggy bank to get Deshaun Watson away from the Texans. Never mind that he could still be suspended by the league despite being cleared of criminal charges. This leaves Baker Mayfield as a QB without a team. Apparently, he wanted to go to the next state over and play for the Colts. However, this dream most likely was squashed Monday when Indianapolis did the merciful thing by getting Matt Ryan out of Atlanta. Meanwhile, Jameis Winston went back to New Orleans, Marcus Mariota took Ryan’s place in Atlanta, and in the most mind-blowing deal of all Matthew Stafford signed a contract extension with the Rams. (Okay, we may have been kidding about the mind-blowing aspect.) And Von Miller left the Rams for the Bills, as the multiple seasons he spent in Denver obviously left him incapable of facing the brutal Los Angeles winter weather.

The hockey trading deadline came and went with a few deals of note. The Minnesota Wild greatly enhanced their championship ambitions by obtaining Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks, while the Florida Panthers remain determined to remind people they are still in the NHL by adding Claude Giroux from the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks broke a lot of teams’ hearts by signing Tomas Hertl to an extension in lieu of trading him. Finally, the best job in sports right now if you like traveling a lot is being a Seattle Kraken scout, as after a few trades, new and old, the calamari crunchers have a mind-boggling 34 draft picks over the next three years.

Spring is in the air, and alongside the pollen, baseballs are in the air as well now that spring training has finally sprung. Some things remain constant. The Dodgers are packing free agents’ bank accounts with big bucks, the A’s are most likely packing their bags to leave Oakland, and Fernando Tatis Jr. is hurt. There are some changes, of course. The Minnesota Twins are actually spending money on a top-flight free agent. Whouda thunk.

In the NBA, the playoffs start soon enough. ‘Nuff said.

Finally, a thought. The mainstream media calling Tom Brady the G.O.A.T. does not invalidate the statement’s truth, correct? Just asking.