Monday Morning Coffee

shark fin

May 20th, 2013

What a bunch of garbage that took place in San Jose on Saturday night.  I’ve always said that NBA  referees are by far the worst in sports, but the nonsense I saw on Saturday night made me think that NHL refs might get that dishonor.  Trevor Lewis was clearly shoved into Sharks goalie Anti Niemi at the end of regulation, but the referees called an interference penalty on Lewis.  That of course, led to a 5 on 3 man advantage for the Sharks in overtime, and a 2-1 win.

Sure, for the last two days I’ve heard crap like “the hockey gods evened things up”, or “justice was served”, since the Kings stole game 2 in controversial fashion.  That however, is a bunch of monkey crap.  The referees set a tone for the players by not calling a lot of penalties throughout the game, including numerous contact the Sharks made with Jonathan Quick that was not called.  Then, when the game was at its most crucial moment, they decide to call a penalty.  A players aggressiveness is determined by how the referees are calling a game, and when there is no consistency, it screws up the game.

FINE.  Take your game 3 victory San Jose.  In a game 3 must win on your home ice, you needed a two man advantage in overtime, which you couldn’t even score on until the very end of the powerplay.  That’s all you’ve got?  Quick and the Kings have got this.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly could be fired on Thursday if the Dodgers perform poorly over the next 3 games against the Brewers.  Just one year ago, Mattingly was overachieving with a crappy roster.  Now, he’s been saddled with a bunch of overpaid underachievers, and he’s about to be canned?  Firing Mattingly isn’t going to fix Matt Kemp’s swing, or keep the Dodgers any healthier.   It was Ned Colletti that traded for reliever Brandon League last season, when the Mariners gave him away for a bucket of KFC Chicken.  Now’s it’s Colletti that’s choking on the bone after signing him to a 3 year extension.

Here comes another Phil Jackson book, so prepare for more drama.  This time he felt the need to compare Jordan with Kobe, and he favored Jordan in almost every way.  I like how Phil  briefly mentions that he always resented Kobe for the sexual assault charges that were filed against him in 2004, because it symbolized his daughter previously being victimized by sexual assault.  Phil has always enjoyed criticizing Kobe, and it’s the nature of their relationship.  However, for a guy that’s responsible for your last five championship rings, you would think he might be able to say a few more positive things about Kobe.  How about the duration of Kobe’s greatness lasting longer than MJ’s?  How about Kobe’s superior shooting range and ball handling skills?  Glad to see that Phil’s hiatus from the NBA hasn’t altered his ego in any way shape for form.

Apparently, nothing has changed for the Clippers.  ESPN LA’s Ramona Shelburne reported that Donald Sterling is actually considering keeping Vinny Del Negro around because he doesn’t want to give a coach a multi-year contract, and he knows Del Negro is probably one of the few who would accept such a crappy deal.  I wonder how Chris Paul feels about this?  I have a feeling we’ll find out in July, when Paul and Dwight Howard leave LA together.

 

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