While many of us have been reminiscing about the 1992-93 Suns NBA Finals season lately, another story has quietly unfolded almost 2,000 miles away in Toronto.
Reportedly, Tim Leiweke, the incoming CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which includes among its holdings the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, will replace the team’s President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo, possibly with Colangelo’s former assistant Masai Ujuri of the Denver Nuggets.

At the time, it seemed audacious even to Paul Westphal, the first-year head coach who had guided the Phoenix Suns to the best record in the NBA during the 1992-93 regular season.
But in the first round of the 1993 NBA playoffs, the Suns lost the first two games of the best-of-five series against the Los Angeles Lakers, at home no less. No team in NBA history ever had escaped from such a fix.

Injuries have so profoundly impacted the NBA playoffs this year that one can put together a pretty good All-Star Game made up only of players who are missing the playoffs because of various ailments, or have at least missed some games or had their minutes dramatically limited because of them.
And we’re not even counting a lot of players who have sucked it up to play at least close to their normal minutes despite injuries, such as Miami’s Dwyane Wade or Golden State’s Stephen Curry. Nor are we counting star players whose teams did not even make it to the postseason, such as Kevin Love of the Timberwolves.

We probably would have felt better about Ryan McDonough’s introduction as the Suns’ general manager Thursday if Lon Babby, the club’s president of basketball operations who hired him, had not rolled out his “Five Ps” and had just said, “You know what? I’m going to get out of the way here and let the new guy do his thing.”
OK, so we can’t be too hard on Babby for working in his “Preparation. Perseverence. Poise. Pride. Performance.” schtick, although we wish he’d add a sixth P next season — Points.

Hey Ryan McDonough, congratulations on your new gig as Suns general manager.
Here’s what I suggest for your first move.

Arizona Athletic Director Greg Byrne and members of the Wildcats coaching staff, including basketball coach Sean Miller and football coach Rich Rodriguez, were at Chase Field Thursday evening meeting with fans, alumni and media as part of an annual Road Tour.
Byrne has made connecting with fans and alums around the state a priority, which especially makes sense in the Valley with more than 50,000 alums.

Suns fans have never experienced a more painful season than they did in 2012-13. Oh, the record in their first season was worse, but that’s expected for an expansion team and tickets could be had for, what, a couple of bucks?
That’s why it pains us greatly to bring this up. You’ve suffered enough.

We’re hoping the Cardinals are right about Tyrann Mathieu, and not just because the “Honey Badger” has the best nickname in sports.
Arizona’s controversial third-round draft choice, despite being (maybe) 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, was the most dynamic defensive player in college football when he last played at Louisiana State in 2011. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist with a knack for making the biggest plays at the biggest moments as a cornerback and return specialist.

In the buildup to the NFL draft, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians and General Manager Steve Keim kept insisting it was no foregone conclusion that the Cardinals had to draft an offensive tackle with the seventh overall pick Thursday.
The plan was to focus on the best player available on their board and not be blinded by “needs,” real or perceived.

Suns President Lon Babby all but dismissed the possibility of hiring Charles Barkley as the team’s next general manager on Tuesday, but Barkley told Brad Cesmat on his “Big Guy on Sports” radio show on XTRA Sports 910-AM that he’s interested in the job.
Charles Barkley discusses interest in being Suns GM

A couple of weeks ago, Suns managing partner Robert Sarver gave Lon Babby a mulligan, and the Suns president of basketball operations had better make it count.
When Babby, a longtime player agent, was hired three years ago he admitted that he needed to hire a basketball genius to serve as his general manager.

For a third year in a row, we feel it is our civic duty to give Suns fans — those of you who remain — some reason to watch the NBA playoffs with your men in orange counting ping-pong balls once again.
It’s sort of a tradition.

Runners everywhere are grieving.
We’re grieving for the family and friends of Boston Marathon runners whose bodies and lives were shattered by a terrorist’s bomb.

Maybe the coolest story in the first two rounds of the Masters was the exploits of China’s 14-year-old Guan Tianlang.
If you follow golf, you probably saw the little dude with a putter almost as tall as he is shooting 1-over-par 73 on Thursday, which was better than seven past Masters champions in the field, including defending champion Bubba Watson.

It didn’t take long for new Grand Canyon basketball coach Dan Majerle to start hearing the comparisons.
From 2002-07 Florida Gulf Coast University was a Division II NCAA program. You know the Eagles. They blew up your NCAA Tournament bracket.

We caught up with Alvin Gentry the other day and gave him the chance to say, “told you so” about the Suns.
Of course, Gentry was replaced by Lindsey Hunter in January when the Suns were 13-28. They are 10-20 since Hunter took over.

There is a reality television show just waiting to happen in the Los Angeles Angels’ formidable outfield.
And right in the center of it, literally speaking, is former Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep star Peter Bourjos.

It didn’t exactly generate the same buzz that Peyton Manning’s visit to the Cardinals Tempe training facility did last off-season.
But at least this time the Cardinals got their targeted free-agent quarterback to put his signature on a contract.

Instead of Coach K, we have a feeling Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski might be known as Coach K-boom! after he tossed an F-bomb in the direction of a celebrating Virginia fan Thursday night.
Later, Krzyzewski complained that Virginia failed to properly control fans who rushed the court, putting his team and staff in a dangerous predicament.

Chicago Cubs fans are accustomed to waiting for next year. It’s a Cubs tradition since 1908.
And after losing 101 games last season, the second-worst record in baseball, it’s hard to imagine that the Cubs are going to turn things all the way around immediately, even with the curse buster, President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, entering his second season in charge.

First, the Kansas City Chiefs nabbed Andy Reid before the Cardinals could get to him in their coaching search.
And now they’ve reportedly beaten the Cardinals to 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, putting together a deal that will be finalized March 12.

In endurance sports such as running, triathlon and possibly those popular mud events where they electrocute you, the term “getting chicked” refers to a guy having his rear end handed to him by a female competitor.
Or a lot of female competitors.

The last time the Suns were this bad at this point in a season, it turned out to be a good thing.
It was 1988 and the Suns were 17-36 before a visit to the Lakers, rather than after one.

If you just dropped in from another planet, watched Phil Mickelson’s wire-to-wire victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, admired the crowds, the weather and the antics at that curious coliseum of a 16th hole, you’d never suspect that golf is regarded as a game in trouble.
But according to the non-profit National Golf Foundation’s latest participation numbers, the game has lost more than 4 million golfers in the past five years, falling to levels not seen in 25 years. Female golfers have slid by 25 percent. Junior golfers are down 35 percent.