Woods at home, extends thanks
Tiger Woods is home from the hospital.
After shattering his ankle and other leg bones in a rollover crash, the golf great is recuperating at home, he said on Twitter Tuesday.
“Happy to report that I am back home and continuing my recovery,” he wrote on Twitter. “I am so grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that I have received over the past few weeks.”
He also thanked the medical personnel and staff who had cared for him.
“I will be recovering at home and working on getting stronger every day,” Woods wrote.
ETC.
NFL: Washington
● agreed to terms with welltraveled quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played the past two years for the Dolphins. The 38-year-old “FitzMagic” will be joining his ninth franchise . ...
The Chicago Bears agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract with former Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys quarterback
Andy Dalton . ... New England continued handing out money, agreeing with 49ers receiver Kendrick Bourne on a threeyear, $22.5 million deal. The Patriots also are negotiating with Chargers tight end Hunter Henry after adding Jonnu Smith of the Titans at that position . ... Jacksonville added an immediate starter in Seattle cornerback Shaquill Griffin for a threeyear deal worth up to $44.5 million, $29 million guaranteed . ... The Buffalo Bills agreed to a threeyear deal with former Dolphins punter Matt Haack, who is expected to replace Corey Bojorquez.
Soccer: Kevin De
●
Bruyne’s blistering strike set Manchester City on its way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach and a place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
While the Marlins’ spring training roster shrinks to something closer to what it’ll look like on Opening Day next month, the future of the organization is still hard at work on back fields around the Marlins’ facility at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
On Tuesday, some of Miami’s best hitting prospects hit the field for a scrimmage and didn’t wait long to impress onlookers. In the first at-bat of the game, Kameron Misner went deep off
Zach McCambley, then
Peyton Burdick matched his fellow outfielder by homering off Jake Eder in the first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning.
McCambley and Eder both delivered three strong innings, and threw about 60 pitches apiece, but the two leadoff hitters delivered the biggest highlights of the day.
While neither ranks among the top 100 prospects in the MLB.com rankings, Misner and Burdick remain two of the most promising hitters in Miami’s farm system. Misner was a first-round pick in the 2019 MLB draft and Burdick went in the third round the same year. Misner was the No. 14 prospect in the organization last year and Burdick was No. 16 — MLB hasn’t updated its organizational rankings yet this year — and both should push to play for Double A Jacksonville at some point this season.
The prospects last played with Class A Clinton in 2019 before MLB canceled the minor-league season in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and are likely on track to start with Class A Advanced Beloit.
The Marlins sent two more of their best-hitting prospects to the minors Tuesday. Miami optioned shortstop Jose Devers and outfielder Jerar Encarnacion to the Pensacola Wahoos before its game against the Washington Nationals in West Palm Beach. The Marlins also optioned pitchers Shawn Poteet and Cody Morimando to minorleague camp before they made the quick trip south to the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
MARLINS PLAN TO USE FIVE STARTERS
With two off days in the first nine days of the regular season, Miami won’t need a fifth starting pitcher until the 13th game, but Don Mattingly said the Marlins plan to carry five starters to open the year — whether Sixto Sanchez is ready by then or not.
“Without going into it, we’re going to start with five starters. We know that,” the manager said. “That’s just part of the long-range plan for everybody.”
The move has one major
benefit for Miami: Last week, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said the Marlins are going to have to manage innings for their young starters and the extra day of rest built into the early part of the calendar will naturally do some of the work.
The biggest drawback is the implications it could have on Sanchez’s readiness to start in his first turn through the rotation. Sanchez has gone through several setbacks and false starts this spring — starting with a delayed arrival to camp because of a visa issue and continuing with a false positive COVID test — and Mattingly hasn’t yet committed to the starting pitcher being available when the season begins.
Mattingly continues to insist he won’t rush his MLB Rookie of the Year Award hopeful.
“The thing with Sixto is getting ready and making sure that he’s totally ready, built up, ready to compete where he doesn’t walk into a game and say, OK, he’s only allowed to throw 60 pitches. We’re
not going to do that, I’ll promise you that,” he said. “We’re going to get him ready and then we’re going to get him going, so once that happens — if that happens right away, it’ll be right away and if it happens five, eight, 10 days into the season, then it happens.”
Including the rookie, Miami has four pitchers effectively locked into rotation spots, with starting pitchers Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcantara and Elieser Hernandez filling the other three. Rookie pitchers Daniel Castano, Nick Neidert and Trevor Rogers are all candidates for the final spot after debuting last season, and there could be room for two of them at the outset if Sanchez isn’t quite ready. Pitcher Gio Gonzalez is a dark horse after the Marlins signed him March 3.
MARCH 17
There’s something missing from a new wave of bars opening around the world: Alcohol.
Aimed at the growing number of people exploring sobriety, the bars pour adult drinks like craft cocktails without the booze. At 0% Non-Alcohol Experience, a futuristic bar in Tokyo, patrons can sip a mix of non-alcoholic white wine, sake and cranberries from a sugar-rimmed glass. On a recent evening at Sans Bar in Austin, Texas, customers gathered at outdoor tables, enjoying live music, bottles of alcohol-free IPA and drinks like the watermelon mockarita, which is made with a tequila alternative.
Sober bars aren’t a new phenomenon. They first appeared in the 19th century as part of the temperance movement. But while previous iterations were geared toward non-drinkers or people in recovery, the newer venues welcome the sober as well as the curious.
“A lot of people just want to drink less,” said Chris Marshall, Sans Bar’s founder.
Marshall, who has been sober for 14 years, opened the bar after serving as an addiction counselor. But he estimates 75% of his customers also drink alcohol outside of his bar.
“It’s just easier,” said Sondra Prineaux, a regular customer at Sans Bar. “I don’t have to worry about leaving my car here and getting an Uber home. I’ll wake up without a headache.”
Abstinence challenges like Dry January — which began in 2013 — and a growing interest in health and wellness are behind the trend, said Brandy Rand, chief operating officer for the Americas at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.
Last year, alcohol consumption in 10 key markets — including the U.S., Germany, Japan and Brazil — fell 5%, IWSR said. Consumption of low- and no-alcohol drinks rose 1% in that same time period.
Alcohol still far outsells low- and no-alcohol drinks. Drinkers in those key markets consumed 9.7 billion 9-liter cases of alcohol in 2020, compared to 292 million 9-liter cases of low- and no-alcohol beverages. But Rand notes that global consumption of low- and no-alcohol beer, wine and spirits is growing two to three times faster than overall alcohol consumption.
An explosion of new products is also fueling sales.
“I have the wonderful problem of too many great options,” said Douglas Watters, who opened Spirited Away, a New York shop that sells non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits, in November.
Watters said the pandemic lockdown caused him to rethink his usual pattern of ending each day with a cocktail. He started experimenting with nonalcoholic beverages, and by August he had decided to open his store. Many of his customers are sober, he said, but others are pregnant or have health issues. Some are training for marathons; others just want to cut back on alcohol.
“There are a lot of people, this past year more than ever, thinking more critically about what
they’re drinking and how it’s making them feel,” he said.
Joshua James, a veteran bartender, had a similar realization during the pandemic. After a stint at Friendship House, a substance-abuse treatment center, he recently opened
Ocean Beach Cafe, an alcohol-free bar in San Francisco.
“I wanted to destigmatize the words addiction, recovery and sober,” he said. “There’s a thousand reasons to not want to drink as much.”
Billy Wynne, the coowner of Awake in Denver, is also selling coffee and bottles of non-alcoholic spirits out of a carryout window for now. But he plans to open the doors to a non-alcoholic bar next month.He said his customers tend to be in their 30s or 40s, and the majority are women. Some tell him they’ve have waiting their whole lives for a bar like his to open.
“This type of thing, it’s not a fad,” he said. “People don’t wake up to the negative impact alcohol is having on their life and then change their mind.”