CC strays from the Subway diet

With a full schedule of games this weekend (and the At Bat 11 app out for my iPhone), one of my favorite times of year in Florida has finally arrived — Spring Training.

As IoT’s Florida correspondent, I’ll be reporting on a couple of games next month. In the meantime, I thought I’d celebrate the start of Spring Training with my favorite tidbit of the offseason, which should have been the lede in this Feb. 14 ESPNNewYork.com story about the Yankees’ CC Sabathia:

Sabathia, who had knee surgery this offseason, said he is 25 pounds lighter after he stopped eating full boxes of Cap’n Crunch. The 6-foot-7 Sabathia had reported to past camps well over 300 pounds.

Somehow, I don’t think Jared would have approved that as part of CC’s Subway diet.

Melo Gold: A Pro and Pro Discussion

Jimmy: Well, Jeremy, it’s finally over. The most notable Melodrama not to appear on Lifetime is at an end. I, for one, thought we’d never stop hearing about Carmelo Anthony’s future. Lately, I’ve wanted to close my eyes, plug my ears and chant “LALALALALALALALA” to avoid the end-to-end coverage.

But even that was no escape:

La: A note to follow sew. LaLa: A spouse to lead Carmelo to NYC.

Anthony’s forced his way to the Knicks. Was his treatment of Denver better or worse than what LeBron James did to Cleveland this past summer?

Bias arrives

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, Len Bias arrived, with this well-known steal and dunk in a game at Carolina. Four months later, he was gone.

At Slate.com, the excellent Tom Scocca recalls hearing the game on the radio from his parents’ home in the Baltimore suburbs. Plenty of ACC basketball games sang me to sleep when I was a teenager; sometimes, I wish the glut of televised basketball didn’t render those radio games obsolete.

All the time, I wish Len Bias had lived to revolutionize basketball.

Finally, the blog has come back

For as long as we’ve known each other, Jimmy and I have enjoyed debating sports with each other. In September 2009, we decided to channel those spirited discussions into a blog about the nation’s premier college athletics conference, the ACC. We figured it would be great if we could pick up a few readers along the way, but mainly, we just wanted to have some fun blogging about what we already texted, e-mailed and talked about.

A lot has changed in the year and a half since we launched Instead of Texting. For example:

• The name for our blog was inspired by Jimmy’s girlfriend, who suggested that we post our sports conversations online “instead of texting.” Today, Jimmy is happily married to this literary genius.
• When we began, I was a committed Cincinnati Bengals fan (in more ways than one). Then they signed this guy and this guy, and I decided I’d had enough.
• In September 2009, we were bracing ourselves for Sidney Lowe to lead N.C. State through another mediocre basketball season in a red blazer. Today, he’s leading N.C. State through another mediocre basketball season while wearing a bowtie.

Whatever CJ Leslie was suspended for …

… we know it wasn’t chivalry. At least, if this poem (uncovered by Deadspin) is an indication.

N.C. State’s greatest quarterback*

Russell Wilson's place in N.C. State history is loftier than you think.

If you’re still reading this, you’re at least slightly open to a little heresy. And suggesting that anyone other than Philip Rivers is N.C. State’s all-time best quarterback qualifies.

When he graduated in 2003, Rivers held nearly every N.C. State and Atlantic Coast Conference passing record. He is the all-time conference leader in attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns. He’s second in quarterback rating and adjusted yards per passing attempt, according to sports-reference.com. Listing Rivers’ NCSU records would take up more space than the Internet allows.

Russell Wilson built a more humble legacy. It appears that he’ll leave N.C. State sharing the conference and school single-season records for touchdown responsibility, with 37 last year. He’s sharing that record with, of course, Rivers. Wilson also holds the school records for single-game completions (38 against Boston College in 2010), single-season pass attempts (527 in 2010) and single-season total plays (670 in 2010).

Rivers has a far deeper statistical footprint. But before you dismiss the idea that Wilson was in the same league, consider Quarterback A and Quarterback B: