Bryce Miller: Aztecs go on ‘ankle watch’ while Padres bank on A.J. Preller

'A little bit about a lot' does a lap through basketball, baseball, football


Bryce Miller:  Aztecs go on ‘ankle watch’ while  Padres bank on A.J. Preller + ' Main Photo'

A little bit about a lot

Rolled ankles happen in college basketball all the time, but the one suffered by Miles Byrd in practice Monday caused the entire Aztecs basketball team to cringe.

Byrd was one of the few bankables coming into a season being written in pencil with plenty of eraser shavings waiting along the way.

A season after building around proven timber, from post bully Jaedon LeDee to veteran guards Lamont Butler, Darrion Trammell and Micah Parrish, the tumult of the transfer-era portal has arrived.

New faces. New rotations. New everything. That makes proven commodities like Byrd, in synch with the program, filled with the bedrock, more valuable than ever.

Bryd was on crutches with a walking boot during Tuesdays rout of Occidental, but coach Brian Dutcher said he has not ruled him out for Mondays monster game against Gonzaga.

With guard Reese Waters still working his way back from a stress fracture in his right foot, Byrd looms even larger with games against the Zags, Creighton and Oregon on deck.

The Roki Sasaki stakes officially have begun. The young pitcher will be an enormous get for the team that lands him, given his immense talent and modest posting fee.

The Dodgers surely will be the favorite, given the presence of country-mates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the most recent World Series win.

The Padres counter with Yu Darvish, who Sasaki played with in the World Baseball Classic and hugely respects.

The real needle mover, though, could be President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller.

Darvish thinks the world of Preller. The general managers ability to focus on details large and small creates memorable impressions. Rewind to 2022, when Preller told me about how the Padres impressed Ohtani and had a real chance at signing him despite there being no designated hitter in the National League at the time.

Preller memorized a 6½-minute speech in Japanese, delivering it so convincingly that Ohtani thought he spoke the language.

“Our group, they understand that those little details matter,” Preller said at the time. “You don’t know what’s going to matter, honestly. So the big thing is to figure out what’s important to that player. What’s the connection point? We take a lot of pride in trying to understand that.”

Preller gives the Padres a chance.

The Cowboys remain an absolutely glorious mess. The franchise has not won a game beyond the wild-card round since 1995. Now, theyre 3-6.

Comments by star linebacker Micah Parsons after Sundays loss to the Eagles, the teams fourth straight, caused many to sense the unraveling had gone public.

Asked about coach Mike McCarthys future, Parsons said: “That’s above my pay grade Guys I kind of feel bad for is guys like (guard) Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year, on their way out, because that’s who I wanted to hold the trophy for.

“You want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did.

Parsons tried to walk things back, saying he meant to show empathy for teammates rather than frustrations with his coach.

Americas favorite NFL reality show always delivers.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson will fight social media star Jake Paul on Friday, nearly 20 years after Tysons last sanctioned fight.

Tyson is 58. Paul is 27.

Why? Good question.

The debut of the 12-team college football playoff will be a monstrous success. Keeping the door open to teams like Boise State and Indiana has the same must-watch feel of early-round games in the NCAA basketball tournament.

Could Boise State play Ohio State? Could a dark horse like Army or SMU make a late-season charge?

Possibility abounds.

Padres award finalists Jackson Merrill (NL Rookie of the Year) and Mike Shildt (NL Manager of the Year) both deserve to win. Im guessing Merrill wins and Shildt is a close-call runner up to Pat Murphy of the Brewers.

Merrill energized and, at times, carried a team with plenty of high-paid veterans who needed a jolt. Hes an everyday player, as opposed to uber-talented pitcher Paul Skenes of the Pirates. Merrills numbers reinforce the everyday impact. He won a Silver Slugger award this week.

Theres a strong and defendable case to be made for Murphy, himself a former Padres interim manager. But theres also a big and underappreciated argument for Shildt. Start with this: The Padres cut $90-million-plus in payroll, traded away a massive offensive star in Juan Soto and won the second-most games in the clubs regular-season history after a disastrous 2023.

San Diego States football season under first-year coach Sean Lewis has wobbled because of a series of missed opportunities. The Aztecs lost to Central Michigan, Washington State and New Mexico by a combined nine points.

Pulling out even one of those games would have positioned the team to win six games and become bowl eligible. Now it will take a big upset over UNLV and running the table.

Thats a huge difference in the infancy of a program with a new coach. Not only is a bowl game a building block, it means extra practices and a chance to accelerate bonding and learning.

Theres a growing buzz about Colorados Deion Sanders succeeding McCarthy if (when) he is fired by the Cowboys.

Cant wait.