by John Walters

Starting Five

1. Spicer Girl

Unannounced, four-time Saturday Night Live guest host Melissa McCarthy showed up as White House press secretary Sean Spicer in a skit that ran directly before the musical act. It was the funniest sketch of the year (Donald probably found it “unfunny” and “sad,” though).

2. Arrest

A person of interest in the sexual assault and murder last August 2nd of 30 year-old Karina Vetrano is in custody. Vetrano, of Howard Beach, had gone for a run at 5 p.m. in a local park that in the summer is overgrown with sawgrass and weeds. She never returned and her body was found in the tall grass a few hours later.

A few months ago an off-duty cop noted a vagrant hanging around the park and phoned authorities. Nothing happened, but when the man was seen again there he was asked to submit a DNA sample. He did so voluntarily. Now he’s in custody.

From video taken of Vetrano running on her last day (I’m thinking what you’re thinking; yes, a little creepy; who’s shooting that and why?)

Howard Beach is a neighborhood where plenty of cops and firemen (read: white) reside. My guess is that this “vagrant” looked out of place because he isn’t white. We’ll see.

3. Top Ten Hit List

Iowa State won in Lawrence for the first time in 12 years

No. 1 Gonzaga remained undefeated (24-0) with a 90-55 defeat of Santa Clara, but elsewhere in the top 10 there was ,what’s the word our Commander in Chief favors….carnage.  Six of the top nine teams lost, which I’m assuming is a first for the same Saturday.

In the Big 12, No. 2 Baylor and No. 3  Kansas both lost at home, the latter for the first time in 52 games (I’m not counting three games in Kansas City as home games and you can’t make me). The Bears lost by two to Kansas State and KU lost by three in OT.

The Wildcats have lost 3 of 4, while Florida has beaten three of its last four by at least 30

No. 5 Arizona just plain failed to show up in Eugene in front of the Tie-Dyed Wizard, Bill “Conference of Champions” Walton,  a palindromic pummeling, 85-58.  No. 7 West Virginia lost at home to Oklahoma State. No. 8 Kentucky lost by 22 in Gainesville to a Florida squad that suddenly looks Donavan-esque. And No. 9 Virginia lost by 4 at Syracuse (painful reminder of last year’s Elite Eight game, when the Cuse erased a 15-point deficit in the final 9:33). It was Jim Boeheim‘s 1,000th asterisk-free win or, as Jay Bilas put it, the 1,000th loss he has pinned on another coach.

The takeaway: March Madness is wide open. We have no idea who’ll make the Final Four in Glendale (though I wouldn’t bet against Villanova, which didn’t lose yesterday).

4. Super Bowl Hero

If someone at ESPN or FOX already did this piece and I missed it, my apologies. But on CBS This Morning there was a terrific piece on Patriot wideout Malcolm Mitchell, who as a student at Georgia had been invited to join a book club of middle-aged women and did so. Now he’s written  a children’s book of his own—The Magician’s Hat—and is distributing it for free.

What a genuine, wonderful guy. Even if he catches passes from a cheater. 🙂

5. Another Day Of Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VPJ_CAoQm8

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