The NFL is a Weeny Sport

I just finished watching Wales defeat Scotland in an international rugby match. All I can say is the National Football League should be ashamed of itself. Rugby players wear no helmets, no pads. They play in T-shirts and shorts and advance the ball down the field in what appears to me with the kind of violence associated with the Visigoths sacking Rome or our Army storming ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Not a concussion protocol in sight. And talk about fast, holy hundred meter dash!!!!  And then, after the match, I'm told, both teams go to the pub and suck up suds and hug each other, and sing songs. Now that's football.

Sacramento Kings center Willy Cauley Stein, a free agent at the end of this season, would consider leaving for another team. He feels, according to this morning's sport page, unappreciated. He says of himself, "I've still got more skills that haven't been brought out." He wants to be more than a rim running center. I'm a fan of Cauley Stein, but find his complaint curious. Is he saying the Kings coaching staff have not developed his potential? If that's the case, pray tell, what would that potential be - skill wise? At this point in his career, the way I see it, Willy is a Tyson Chandler, DeAndre Jordan type of player and that's not an insult. Tyson won a ring being a rim protector and dunking lob passes. But, if Cauley Stein sees himself as possessing the kind of skills that would put him in the category of Anthony Davis, or Tim Duncan or Hakeem Olyjuwon, wouldn't it seem logical that in the four off seasons, Willy would have worked his butt off to learn to shoot a consistent jumper, or develop a few post moves or jump hook? Oh, but maybe, this was the job of the Kings coaches.

Watched my Dubs hand the Nuggets their jocks (I hear this is an outdated male garment) and said to myself if they can play like this through the playoffs, it's another Championship Parade. And just so you know where my heart is, as far as I'm concerned, it's all about Warrior defense. When the attack on D, every other part of their game reaches it's devastating potential.

Question going into end of season. Who will the Celtics give up to get AD? They better be careful not to give away too much. AD does not have a good medical history.

Watching My First Rugby Match    by Tom Meschery

I wonder in the chaos
called a scrum,
what is hidden
that is not the ball.

And remains behind
within the vortex
as the ball slips out
and pitched to run

until the next collision.
This way the ball 
moves down the field
one embrace after another

that it is not so fond
to its final destination
players bloody and broken
and wars are lost and won.

End of 2018/19 NBA Season Approaching and etc

I don't mean to denigrate Pop's Spurs, but I'd like the Warriors to avoid facing the OKC in the first round. Granted the Thunder are not playing well. But mindsets change once playoffs begin, and OKC has some excellent players and are far more physical than the Spurs. Now that we have Bogut back with the Dubs, I'm less concerned about physicality in the paint and rim protecting, but it's my feeling they have the one time ability to pull off an upset. So, Of course who the Dubs play will be more determined by the team playing for the 7th spot, and how they are viewing their chances. Still, the Dubs need to win down the stretch and stay atop the Western Conference.

When there's talk of Coach of the Year, it appears to me the pundits are overlooking the job Steve Kerr has done this season. Ask all the coaches who've won consecutive NBA Championships how difficult it is, and Kerr has to be considered a strong contender.

It bears keeping in mind that Coach Kerr has had to be extremely creative putting together rotations for this season that were more predictable and more effective in the past. In addition, he's had to figure out how to integrated Boogie into a line-up in such a way as to maximize his positives and minimize his negatives, two of which are: he's not a rim protector and not a fierce rebounder. Note: I believe the first requirement for jumping is that your shoes must leave the court. Sorry, Boogie, I love parts of your game, but you have no hops.

If not Kerr for Coach of the Year, I vote for Pop. He's done wonders with a very incongruous group of players.

A respectful nod to Doc of the Clippers, or should I say Jerry West for breaking the team down and putting it back together better.

If not our Western Conference coaches, than Budennholser of the Bucks. Nifty job with his bench players.

So, what does the race for the NBA Championship look like from Meschery's view point?

The East first: The 76ers do not have the chemistry; the Celtics? Yeah, they can be extremely tough but seem to have too many lapses in concentration, plus I'm not that big a fan of Kyrie as a leader; the Bucks appears to have all the positions covered and bench strength at max at just the right tiime. That leaves Toronto. Can they win with Lowry as their leader? Neither a true point guard nor a pure shooting two guard.

The West: The Warriors and the Rockets. Watch out for the feisty Clippers. There is no question that the Rockets are tough. But whither goeth Hardin, so goeth the Rockets. The Warriors win because it's extremely difficult to beat them in a seven game series.

Now cometh the ETC like the Post Man:

Is anybody pissed at the split screen coverage of sporting events? And what's with the larger screen being the commercial and the weeny screen to the sport.  Rise up sports fans, we have nothing to lose but a few bad beer commercials and some lying Big Pharma promises.

I hate to say it, because I like Joe Biden, but he needs to drop out of the race for the presidency. This latest revelation, which is not really a revelation, that he pats and hugs and embraces women, not sexually, but certainly condescendingly, disqualifies him in the eyes of the modern generation of educated women voters the Dems need to beat the jerk we have in office now. It's time to pass the political baton to the youngsters.

Zion Williams is not the Second Coming of Lebron James. More of a Randle look-a-like inside/slashing power forward. Not a jump shooter, not with that sidewinder form. But I may eat my words as Lebron was not a shooter when he came into the league.

Pulling for U of Virginia just because - from loser last year to winner this year seems like justice.

I've never been much of a bowling fan, but clearly it requires great talent to play the sport well. So here's a bowling poem in honor of a sport I overlook and in honor of fathers and sons. .

Hook    by Floyd Skloot

My father limps on the leg that healed short.
His twice-broken right wrist, too weak to hold
a bowing ball palm up, is why he spins
a hook he cannot control. The ball rolls
slowly, as if limping while it wanders
from one gutter to the other and back.

We stand dead last in the Father and Son
League, not helped by my rocketing straight shots
that knock down nothing as often as they
knock down everything. He watches, giving
no advice. At thirteen, knowing there is 
nothing for me to say either. I wait

for the ball's return so I can heft it 
again and aim down the gleaming alley.