June 8th, 2015
Let me tell you something folks. If Lebron James and the Cavaliers pull off winning the NBA Finals with this roster, he is going to have a legacy like no other. He’s got no Kyrie Irving, no Kevin Love, no coach, some New York Knick rejects, and some dude named Delladova that looks like Jerry Ferrara. Hats off to The King just for winning a game. This is one hell of a series, and it might even go 7 games. I can’t believe I’m saying this after two games, but Lebron has been that good, and that’s while getting totally screwed by the refs last night. The Warriors definitely relaxed after learning that Kyrie was done for the series, and they are screwing around way too much. The Cavs are giving them all they can handle. Steph Curry may not go 2-10 for only 8 pts again, but then again Lebron may not go 11-34 again either. This one is going to be a classic battle folks.
The long wait between the NBA Finals always leads fans to the never ending argument about whose legacy is the greatest or comparing some of the best players in the NBA history. This past week, much of that discussion focused around comparing Lebron vs Kobe. It was actually Shaquille O’Neal who sparked much of the conversation by saying he would take Kobe over Lebron in their prime’s. Truth be told, even though these are really very different players from difference eras, I’m “a Kobe guy”. He has the benefit of having a legacy that is already written, and the championships to back him up. While Lebron’s story is still in progress, he has the stats to back him up, while playing in an era that revolves around advanced statistics. The other problem with these arguments is nobody ever knows what we are basing the argument off of: best player? best legacy? Saying one is simply better than the other is for the simple minded. Being “a Lebron guy” doesn’t make you a Kobe hater, and being “a Kobe guy” doesn’t make you a Lebron hater. However, failing to realize that a minimum, both of these guys are top 10 NBA players of all time exposes you as a hater, and makes you look like an idiot.
I love what Shaq had to say about Kobe. He said that he wouldn’t have changed a thing about their relationship, and that relationship, even to this day, is very special. This is definitely bitter sweet for any Laker fan, knowing that they probably left a couple of championships on the table. Despite Kobe’s respect for Shaq, he admits that he wasn’t going to play with him anymore after 2004 because he wanted to take on the naysayers that said he couldn’t win without Shaq. That’s actually a huge reason why Shaq likes Kobe so much: he pushed him to be great. He pushed him to be great when Shaq was a Laker, and after that. The irony of it is, as great as Shaq was, he could have easily been the greatest center ever if he wanted to. He just preferred to have a little more fun. The duo was fun for Laker fans while it lasted.
On to baseball where this is getting old. The Dodgers got owned by the St Louis Cardinals for the 2nd straight weekend. The Dodgers may be in 1st place, but they are 4-12 against the Giants and Cardinals this season. They are 28-13 against everybody else. It just so happens that the Giants and Cardinals are currently the only teams they’ve faced with winning records. The story is the same, the bullpen stinks, and the Dodgers can’t hit in the clutch against the Cards pitching. On the bright side, Clayton Kershaw got angry and shut down St Louis on Saturday night. However, he’s going to need to do it in the playoffs to shake the stigma that he can’t win the big game. Make no mistake about it…..if the Dodgers make the playoffs, they are going to have to go through the Cards and overcome the demons that have haunted them the last two seasons. I can’t say I’ve seen anything so far to make me think that they will overcome them. Especially without adding another pitcher to their starting staff, and without fixing their middle relief.
Brutal weekend for the Angels against the Yankees. The Halos top 3 starters got bombed in all 3 games, and they were swept away by New York. For the first two plus months of the season, it’s like they’ve been stuck in 2nd gear. They consistently have not been able to hit. Their starting pitching has looked good at times, and like monkey crap at others. At this point it’s fair to say the Angels need something to jump start their team. The Halos could call up Andrew Heaney and give him a shot in their starting rotation, which might even push some of their veterans to get their act together. However, what they really need is another bat at third base or left field. The Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Padres have plenty to spare, so Jerry Dipoto should pick up the phone and start making dials before he finds his team further spiraling down the AL West.
I never imagined that I would see a Triple Crown winner in my lifetime, and sure enough we saw one on Saturday, in American Pharoah. On second thought, American Pharoah is the first Triple Crown since JR Smith’s drink order at the bar after game 1 of the NBA Finals. That was exciting to watch. The only shame, as is the case with many of these horses, is that we may not get to see very much of him again, if at all. These race horses careers are even shorter than the career of Vanilla Ice. You’ve gotta enjoy the greatness while it lasts, because it could be a while before we see another Triple Crown winner. Nice expletive by jockey Victor Espinoza when it was over…..
The NHL Finals area headed back to Chicago tied 1-1, but the Tampa Bay Lightning are ridiculous. Tampa restricted ticket sales to Florida only zip codes, in order to make it difficult for the Blackhawk fans to get their hands on tickets and fill up Amalie Arena. That move was a little obnoxious, but somewhat tolerable. However, they took a step further. They are preventing any fan from wearing any Blackhawks apparel in certain parts of the arena. That feels like some kind of first amendment violation to me. I realize that the Hawks fans travel well, but such policies just make it look like you know you have a fan base with no excitement or passion for your team. Can you imagine if they did this at the Honda Center? When the Kings came to town, there would just be a bunch of empty seats since Kings fans wouldn’t be allowed to show up.
So Sepp Blatter stepped down as FIFA President. Too bad Blatter is still going to be pulling all the strings behind the scenes, and probably hand pick his successor. I’m sure he’ll continue to bully people behind the scenes, while Russia and Qatar get to keep their upcoming World Cup bids. If only we could get Roger Goodell to step down after Blatter did. Oh, in case you missed it, here’s a live look at Blatter stepping down……
Has anybody seen Entourage yet? The movie didn’t seem to get great reviews, however, I saw it and i loved it. There were a number of laugh out loud moments, mostly because of Ari’s big mouth, but if you loved the show you will love the movie. The movie should have come out about 3 years ago, but I’m still hoping there is a sequel. Each of the characters quickly reminds you why you loved the show when it was on, and the ending was perfect. The only downside to having a sequel is that the ending might not possibly be as perfect as this one was.
Game of Thrones went down against on HBO last night. For the most part, the show hasn’t gotten too crazy with over the top fantasy like elements. However, the ending of the last two episodes has moved a lot closer to that. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it. How the heck did Drogon (her favorite dragon) get loose? Wasn’t he chained in the basement? His arrival was great timing to save Dany, but what about the rest of her friends? We’re just supposed to believe they are going to be ok? Ok, I admit that seeing her jump on the dragon and ride it was cool, but completely departing from the realistic nature of the show we’ve seen up to this point. That and last week’s battle with the White Walkers. I’m glad to see Ser Jorah back in Dany’s good graces, even though he probably doesn’t have much time left to live. Meanwhile, the death of Shireen was horrific. Just when you think Stannis is starting to develop some sanity and humanity in him, he goes and murders his own daughter. What a bunch of nut jobs he, his wife, and Melisandre are. Melisandre watches flames like most people watch Netflix. Of course in Stannis’ mind, he probably thinks starving an army of people is worse than burning his own daughter alive. Too bad he’s not sane enough to realize they have nothing to do with each other. It’s obvious that Jon Snow is going to get himself or others killed with his integrity. The only thing more annoying than the Arya story in general is the fact that when she finally had the chance to kill somebody on her list, she didn’t even do it. Anyway, hoping for an action packed season finale next week.
