One: I turned 80 and can play better D at my age than my Dubs are playing these days. Come on, fellows, don't let an octogenarian show you up. Talk, close-out, switch hard, get in peoples' faces. D is a 48 minute job. D is also a habit that can be lost if not played all the time.
Two: Raider fans don't deserve the screwing their getting from Little Davis, and I mean little and greedy. And from Mr. Know-It-All Gruden who struts the sideline like a banty rooster, with about as much football intelligence as the feathery critter. I hope they have to play next season on some Vegas high school turf..
Three: I'm not ruling out the 49ers the way I'm ruling out the Raiders. With the 49ers, you c;an detect a plan and an energy that will take them into next season. Not saying they'll kick ass next NFL season, but there will be lots of good carry-over. 2020 will be their year.
Four: Is there any way to get rid of Shaq and Barkley and giggle master Ernie from NBA broadcasting. Kenny, the only one who tries to talk hoops. All the other three do is clown around. Fans deserve better. Great to see Candace Parker talking basketball.
Five: Serena Williams is a STUD, and GORGEOUS and TALENTED. Why isn't tennis covered more fully in our newsprint? By the way, where are all our American tennis pros???
Six: That goes for lots of other so called "minor " sports - one of my favorite gripes. I'm getting really tired reading about what NBA stars having an owies and which NFL player has been suspended for beating up his girlfriend, and which college football stud has been suspended for using whatever frigging substance. Let's sub a womens' volleyball game story in instead of these boring and tawdry revelations. Americans have got to wean themselves off the Big Three Sports -baseball, football, and basketball diet. It's like get off the red meat and eat more veggies. With apologies to my Warriors. You know I love you.
Seven: Speaking of NFL, this year is noticeable for a whole group of new and exciting quarterbacks. Love Mahones, so much fun to watch. Along the same vein, great fun watching speedster DeAndre Fox of the NBA's Sacramento Kings. We're talking serious lightning speed..
Eight: The Sacramento Bee, our local newspaper, does not cover late ending sports, thus there is never a story about the Young Kings team, the city's only major league franchise when they play at home. Is that bush league, or what? Double ??? You think the NBA is going to award an All-Star game to a city with a rag like this?
Nine: I have never been an advocate for the death penalty. There is simply no evidence that it deters murders. However, as a high school teacher, I've been a witness to males (fathers even) abusing young girls and can not imagine anything more vile. Regarding the animal who abused all our lovely female gymnasts, I'm okay that the state give the SOB the needle. And any other abuser of children. Good riddance! And lets hear it for those young female gymnasts, in the middle of this monstrosity that was happening to them, still performing their sport with courage and dignity.
Ten: 2018 saw Tiger make a substantial comeback. He'll never be the Tiger,Tiger burning bright, but he can still play the game and get fans excited. A back injury in golf is like an Achilles injury is in basketball, tough to recover from. With that in mind, let's cross our Warrior fingers for DeMarcus Cousin's return from his torn Achilles tendon injury.
Eleven: Hey, I was sure sorry to read this morning about the 173 U.S. billionaires losing 5.9 percent of their wealth, leaving them - oh woe is me - with $1.9 trillion bucks. Can we all shed a tear?
Twelve: Some lies are more venal than others:. Closing out 2018, Trump tells our brave soldiers in Iraq that he got them a 10 % raise this year. TOTAL FRIGGING LIE. Go stand in the corner, Trump.
Has anybody figured out how many lies this man has told to the American public in 2018?
Thirteen: One more time: Why not a four point line in the NBA? Tell me it wouldn't be exciting.
Fourteen: 2019 should be the year college football drops all these silly bowls: Music Bowls, and Ceramic Bowls, and Pizza Bowls and Mineke Muffler Bowls. Really? Do people give a sh-t?
Fifteen: Any bets on how many Trump groupies (read administration) will be indicted and begin serving time in 2019? The Republicans sold their souls for the 20% tax cut, and the Christian Conservatives sold their souls for anti abortion judges. And Fox News simply sold its soul.
Sixteen: Huge shout out for Lebron Jame's starting his I Promise Elementary School for At Risk children in his hometown of Akron. Also big thank you to Lebron for supporting new and wonderful medical insurance for NBA retirees. And to the NBA League and Player's Union for similar support and dedication to the guys from the past.
Seventeen: Bravo to Matt Millen, just underwent successful heart transplant surgery. All fingers crossed for a football warrior. We should all think the way he thinks about life when he said, "I'm thankful for what I have, and I'll take what I get."
Eighteen: Alabama and Clemson should be interesting. Got to hand it to Nick Saban; he continues to produce winners and that is not easy on any level of coaching. Sure the more you win, the easier it is to recruit the best HS players. But coaching the best is not easy and requires a special kind of personality. It's not just X and O's.
Nineteen: Pop doing some terrific coaching with a whole lot less talent that he's had in the past.
Poem for the end of the year and for the coming year: Has nothing to do about sports, except JOY is a Coach Kerr of Golden State Warriors mantra.
Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don't hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
it its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that's often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don't be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
