A Few Cranky Thoughts

It's been voiced and noted by sports writers, talking head, and bloggers that the Warriors need Steph Curry. Well, DUH! And then go on to point out that the team is just another playoff team. Well, DUH! You take Michael Jordan off the Bulls? I'm sure Scotty Pippen would have had a choice response to said comments.

The Warriors lost to The Beard's Rockets because they played poorly, not because Steph Curry was on the bench. If they'd have played the whole game the way they played in the fourth quarter, there would have been no contest. As it was, they should have won. How that ref missed Hardin's push off is beyond me.

In this mornings' Sacramento Bee sports page there was an article in which John Calipari said that Cousin was no problem, no problem at all in One and Done U. Maybe so, but he's been a migraine in for the Kings. Since when must a player have to bond with a coach. A baby must bond with his mother and father. That's it. You play your best. You stay in the best shape you can be. You do not diss your teammates, or yell at your coach in front of an arena of fans. Mike Malone was a fine coach, granted. Was there a true bonding between the two. I doubt it. Would Cousin's bonding with him have lasted a full year? My guess is, no. For the very simply reason that DeMarcus Cousin's is an immature, self-centered young man. He may or may not ever mature.

Has anyone noticed a Ciroc Vodka ad that comes on regularly during NBA playoff games that ask viewers to Live Life Responsibly while showing a bunch of drunks living life irresponsibly?  I'm just asking. In Russia, the birthplace of Vodka, you are considered an alcoholic (piani) if you drink vodka without eating food along with the drink.

I've been on an "Oldies but Goodies" poetry search, and found this lovely, touching poem about a father teaching his daughter how to swim.

First Lesson   By Philip Booth

Lie back, daughter, let your head
be tipped back in the cup of my hand.
Gently, and I will hold you.Spread
your arms wide, lie out on the stream
and look high at the gulls. A dead-
man's float is face down. You will dive
and swim soon enough where this tidewater
ebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe
me, when you tire on the long thrash
to your island, lie up, and survive.
As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.

The Playoffs and other topics

First of all, let's be clear, if Luke Walton leaves the Warriors to come to the Kings, he should find a good psychiatrist. With this caveat: If the Kings seriously shop DeMarcus Cousins, perhaps, Luke should talk to Vlade, but only under that condition.

 It is my strong belief and I've said it before, the Sacramento Kings will never win with Cousin. Whether another team can convince the big baby he can grow up and be a true pro, well, maybe, and that possibility and the kid's talent should make him marketable. A couple of strong players and a first round draft choice? In today's game, do you really need a low block center.. Oh, you say, but Cousin's can shoot from the outside. Check out his % from the perimeter. Anyway, he doesn't run, he lumbers. The center of the future is Karl-Anthony Townes and centers like him. Besides, the Kings have a mobile post in Willy Cauly-Stein (with a little lefty, righty jump-hook). And Koufas will always be a valuable backup. I'm starting to wander, so I'll drop the Kings and head in another direction.

Watch out for the Miami Heat to upset teams on their way to a final in the Eastern Conference. They've got lots of talent and they're healthy. Wouldn't it be delovely if Wade and the Heat beat the Cavs? King James might have to give up his crown, which, by the way, belongs to the Golden State Warriors, so he'd have to lower himself to the level of a prince. I'm slowly becoming less and less of a James' fan. As you can tell.

My Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets without Steph Curry. Let's assume that nobody was surprised. I do want to point out one thing: as the game progressed and the Warriors played well, the player most often off the bench cheering on his teammates was Stephan Curry. I hesitate to bring this up as there's already so much about Curry's "goodness," that people might begin to start questioning his sincerity. It's human nature and our society as a whole is a cynical one. But, I swear I detect no lack of sincerity, no lack of "teamsmanship," no lack of commitment, and honest fire. Sports fans, we are witnessing something special in Stephan Curry. Baring injury, Curry will reside in the Pantheon of basketball Stars.

Recently I was asked who does Curry remind me of in terms of talent and charisma. I was tempted to say Magic Johnson. But I decided finally that he reminded me of Luke Walton's father, Bill. Whoa! You gotta be kidding me? No I'm not. For one and a half seasons, there was no better basketball player in the history of the game, no one who combined the skill, the smarts, the enthusiasm, the subtlety, the instincts, the spirit and magic. He did something even Steph is not doing. With apologies to Maurice Lucas and Lionel Hollins, he took a team with some very average players and turned them into NBA Champions.  Steph's cast is far more talented than the Trailblazers' group. So was Magic's, Chamberlain's, Russell's, Jordans'. It's the "specialness" I'm talking about.

If Thibodeau takes the Timberwolves job, watch out NBA. Once this team learns to play defense, watch out.

New York needs to get rid of Carmelo. He simply doesn't understand team concept. He will always make the Carmelo decision instead of the team decision. Like Cousins, NY will never win with Melo. 

I was surprised to find this strange little poem about tennis by Gwendolyn Brooks. I think it says a lot about all aging athletes.

Old Tennis Player.   by Gwendolyn Brooks

Refused
To refuse the racket, to mutter No to the net.
He leans to life, conspirs to give and get
Other serving yet.

The Key is and always has been, DEFENSE

Every player and every coach know what KISS means: Keep It Simple Stupid. The Dubs need to follow this simple advice and focus on their defense. From the beginning of competitive sports, defense, not offense, wins games. It is the spine of the team. I have watched every Warriors game from the start of the season, and even though I've consistently been proud of my old team, these young Warriors, I'm more proud and impressed by them when they play smothering D, which leads to Turnovers, which leads to easy fast break points, which rattles the opposition, which ensures victories.

As an ex player, I know how hard it is at the end of a season, with the standings in place, to get down and dirty on D. It takes lots of will power.

I am confident that the Warriors will muster the will power needed to see them through the last four games and into the playoff to a second NBA title.

Win or Loose: IT WILL BE ALL ABOUT DEFENSE.

My Blog title reads Sports, Literature, and Life. Here's something about American Life: Let's hear it for the Treasury Department for enforcing a law put in place by President Obama and the Democratic Party that blocks American companies from going overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Removing the incentives, the U.S. drug maker Pfizer and its Irish rival Allergan decided to drop their plans to merge. It is my opinion that companies and their corporate boards should be tried for treason if it is proved they moved their companies overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes like every American citizen is required to do. There is no wiggle room here. No rationale. No excuses. IT'S TREASON.

I was looking through a book of sports poem for a baseball or basketball poem and ran across this lovely little quatrain about tennis.

From Adulescentia   by Robert Fitzgerald

Miraculously, through prayer to Saint Anthony,
The lost tennis ball was found in the alders:
That dun, worn, airy to-be-bounced
Treasurable and humble sweller in closets.

Come on, Scottie, come on you guys!

What is all this stuff about the Jordan led Bulls beating the Curry led Warriors? There are a number of teams, of course, that I can think of that would give the Warriors a run for their money. The Russell led Celtics, the Wilt led 76ers, and West led Lakers, the Bird led Celts, The Bad Boys Pistons, Magic led Lakers, Kobe/Shaq Lakers. and certainly your team Scottie led by Michael Jordan. And before you get your shorts in a twist a nod to the Bucks led by rookie Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but only a maybe because who the hell on that team is going to guard Curry and Thompson, not you Oscar. Sorry, not quick enough. Enough said, but the question remains SO WHAT?

So what if there were some amazingly good teams in the past? What is it about these Dubs that brings out this kind of childish jealousy? You never heard Larry Bird says, well, gee, our team could have killed Kobe's Lakers.

We're watching a magnificent professional basketball team doing spectacular things on the court.

We're sitting at a table in a fine restaurant enjoying our meal and along comes someone who says, hey, you're in the wrong restaurant, the Beef Bourguignon in my restaurant is better than your Beef Bourguignon; my Cabernet is tastier than your Cab. Do you see how petty this sounds? Grow up Scottie, Oscar. Oops, I guess you have grown up - as in "old timers."Well, take it from this old timer, you both sound like grumpy old men. Not very appealing.

Go take a nap and some prune juice, boys and let us watch the Dubs in peace having fun on the court shooting deep threes.

Here's another in the series of Haiku I'm writing for Steph Curry.

Steph #15

Hits the second three
   Does the shimmy shimmy
Ko ko bop two step

2016 NCAA Men's Finals and Other News

My apology to my readers. I've not been blogging. My time has been taken up with a writing project I've put off for a long time. I'm writing my memoir and autobiography. It is both because the memoir part, the 2015/16 Golden State Warrior season, frames the autobiography. I'm following each of the Warrior games, commenting on the players, coaches, and their performances, while at the same time allowing my memory to flash back to the times I played. Such flashback come easy, as the every city in the league brings back a memory or two or three. If it's not a city, it's a coach or assistant coach or something that comes up within the flow of the game that triggers the past. Anyway, that's why I haven't been blogging. I'm hoping a publisher will be interested. So far I haven't approached an agent, but am close to sending out an edited portion soon.

Okay, on with the Blog: First story I read in the sports page this morning was about Kahadeem Lattin, the grandson of David Latten, a first round 1967 draft choice of the Golden State Warriors who was part of the storied West Texas University team of all black players that defeated an all white University of Kentucky team - a first in the history of basketball. This defeat broke all kinds of racial barriers, opened up the doors of colleges to black athletes like nothing that had happened before. Universities began falling all over themselves after that win to recruit African-American basketball players. One must remember the coach of the Texas Western team, Don Haskins who had no problem, unlike the fabled Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp, coaching black players. I'm reminded of my first head coaching job for the Carolina Cougars of the ABA in 1972, just retired from playing, moving down to the south. In my first game, I started five blacks. The next morning I woke up to find my house toilet papered with nigger lover spray-painted on my lawn. I remember playing against Lattin, a good role player, who gave the game his all. I can only imagine how proud grandpa is.of grandson.

Last night I took my 13 yr old granddaughter Ruth, a basketball player, to the Boston/Warrior game. An exciting game but a surprising losing effort by the Dubs. Their defensive energy was not there, while the Celtics played lock-down D. I would have sworn the last 3 ball Curry shot was going in but, alas, it fell short. Doesn't every shot Curry takes look like it's going to swish? Granddaughter and grandfather were disappointed, still we drove away from the arena proud of our Warriors.

This morning's Bee has an article by Andy Furillo in which he discusses whether the Kings should let their coach, George Karl go. He says they should not, that the team will look foolish letting a future Hall of Fame coach go after only one season. Yes, he's right, the team will look foolish, but maybe that shouldn't be the consideration. First and foremost in my opinion, the Kings need to straighten out their basketball operation before any firing and hiring can happen. What I want to know is who's the GM? Is it Vlade Divac? If it is, why is there all this talk about Divac's need to hire a GM? If Divac is not the GM, who the heck is he? And if he hires a GM, what role will he play in the Kings future basketball operation. The Golden State Warriors chain of command is precision clear. Strong ownership, 1) Lacob and Guber with help from a wise consultant, Jerry West 2) COO of business  Rick Welts, 3) Co-equal General Manager of basketball ops, Bob Meyers 4) Head Coach, Steve Kerr.
Into which slot does Divac fall? He's either consultant or GM or both, I supposed, but that sounds clumsy to me. Let's get all this hierarchy straight, Kings after which you can decide to retain Karl or not.

I worry about Karl's energy. As a cancer survivor myself, I can say unequivocally that after going through doctors, hospital stays, chemo, and other procedures, you never get back the energy you previously had, and never close. I also worry that the specific cancer Karl went through, throat cancer, limits his ability to communicate effectively with his players. Grant Eppler, my wife's son, who is a motivational speaker and salesman for food giant Tyson reminded me that the tone and timber of one's voice has a lot to do with one's effectiveness. Karl not only has to speak over the noise of the crowd, he says, but over the white noise going on in the players' minds. I think this is an extremely smart observation. Can Karl do this? Can Karl speak over the white noise in the mind of his moody and childish center, Demarcus Cousin? That's a question that needs to be answered by a General Manager. Furillo says the Kings should trade Cousins. That is another decision that must be made by a GM. The Kings have got some work to do.

Marginal Note: In the Furillo article, George says of Sacramento that it's a "small town learning to be a city." Sorry, George, it is a city. In fact it's the capital of a state that were it a county would have a higher GNP than almost all of the countries in the European Union. It has an opera and ballet company, a state university, three major community colleges, a flourishing arts community (check out some of the fine poetry readings at the Sacramento Poetry Center.), a museum of fine arts, tons of art galleries, some splendid restaurants, a minor league soccer and baseball team and a NBA basketball franchise, called the Kings. It is not LA or Houston or The Big Apple (large metropolises) nor should The River City ever aspire to become like them. It is, however, a CITY with reasonable proportions, my adopted city with almost as many trees as Paris. It could be your city, George, if the Kings retain your services.

Baseball season is about to start. The Giants will be playing the A's today. Go A's, soon you might be the only pro team left in the East Bay

Pitching Coups   by Ron Wellburn

The arc of the pitching arm
unwinds a circle of dreams
and corkscrews out behind a kick
to release a flying head,
in whose face coming towards
the men with bats
is a leer and a laugh.
The stitches of the sphere blur
into war paint and head's estatic yell echoes
throughout this canyon of battle.
It flies as straight as an arrow or
whirls like a tomahawk;
sometimes it just jumps off a ledge
the way lovers are said to do
in secret ravines all over the country.
It always comes ready to count coup
and tease and intimidate.
The pitching arm belongs to coyote
and so does the flying head.
The arm belongs to Chief Bender
from yesterday, then Allie Reynolds,
and the next time to Cal McLish,
and now to John Henry Johnson and
Fernando, the Valenzuela.
Pitchers all.
Coyotes too.
'skins.