The Women's Game is Catching Up & etc

 While we've been oh'ing and ah'ing over Saint Peters upsets, the Women's NCAA finals have been in progress and the games have been terrific. It hasn't been too long that you never saw women taking really jump  shots. Now, they're all elevating, proving that women can jump, white, black, brown or whatever skin color. Loved the Movie White Men Can't Jump, which is another racist myth. We don't need the women aribombing-dunks to enjoy their game, which is played at a high skill level and just as aggressive as the men. When the Final Four begins, we'll be treated to a classic match-up: UConn vs last years champs, the Stanford Cardinals - two iconic coaches facing off. 

While I'm on the subject of women's basketball, what is our country doing about getting Brittany Griner home? 

Etc:

I'm still trying to figure out how Purdue lost to Saint Peters. Should they have kept 7 footer Eddy in more and fed him the ball in the low post? 

I still see Holgrem of the Zag as a NBA project. It's going to take two years to get that young man muscled up. Then, what do you wind up with? Porzingis? Not Jokic, that's for sure. Some hybrid of the two? Other than Bonchero, I do not see this draft as anything special. 

Boshero is a potential old school power forward. Instant help. Think Karl Malone. 

Sacramento Kings. Forget the Playin. You finally have a solid nucleus of players at four positions. You need a stretch three. Get a good first round draft choice. Trade Homes for another solid vet and clear out the unnecessary players from the past losing seasons. Next year will be your year. 

I told you so. Butler is trouble.  

It's going to be tough for the Warriors playing against bigs in the playoffs now that Wiseman is not available to give Loony a spell. Okay I know Draymond can play the post, I sure wish Bjelica was little tougher. If every Warrior player is healthy, with a few games under their belts to prepare before the playoffs begin, they will be tough in a 7 game series. Wiggins will have to be a consistent All Star. The Dubs will need his D and the 3rd shot makers. 

Okay, I'm going to say it. I hate the corner three. It's shorter than the rest of the three point line and the easiest three to make. It also makes playing help Defense miserable. It is overvalued. Eliminate it. Start the three point line higher as  a true three point shot. The floor diagram of 3 pt line would be simple to redraw. 

Cavs' Matthew Delavadova dove for balls the way Smart does. How come Delly got the dirty-player label and Smart does not? Smart is just a "gamer."

The Cleveland Browns are going to regret signing Deshaun Watson. That's all I got to say.   

Does anyone resent that the larger portion of the split screen is commercial and the smaller is the sport as much as I do. Write! Complain! Let your voice be heard. Selling a frigging SUV is not as important as having a better view of a 15 yard putt or a free-throw.  

Last Saturday in April and trout season opens in California Here's a small poem to herald the event. 

ON THE CLARK FORK

Jon, Buddha-buddy, dreaming of trout
Illusive in the deep green pool
ignoring your floating mayfly nymph
Rainbow,  too sly to curve into the sky. 

 all the old deadwood.

CONVINCING PLUS

In the NBA, there are wins, then there are convincing wins. Last Thursday night, the Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets and their incredibly talented super star, The Joker. One might say it was an unconvincing win. How that Nuggets game would be remembered would depend on the next game, which was played last night against the Milwaukee Bucks. 

The Warriors defeated the 2021 NBA Champions convincingly, which helps to define the infinitive To Convince: from the Latin, convincere, to demonstrate incontrovertibly. By defeating the Bucks, the Warriors convinced me (and others I should imagine) that they have finally found the way as in a clear path forward to the playoffs, and with enough games left on their schedule to incorporate Draymond Green and James Wiseman. This does not mean that the Warriors will go on a tear and win the rest of their games, but it does say the rest of their games will be mostly about strategy and not rhythm or energy or confidence. 

I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Bucks game saw Klay Thompson shooting like Klay Thompson. HooWah!

I'd like to add that in my last blog I left out the Bucks as contenders for the Eastern Conference Championship.  They are rapidly improving, which makes the Warriors' win that much more CONVINING.

PLUS:

I read in this mornings Athletic Pulse an article about Coach Mike Fratello and his sadness and anger over the evil Russian war against the country of Ukraine. Frattello, once the coach of the Atlanta Hawks coached the Ukraine National team from 2011 to 2014. Many of his players are now on the battlefield fighting the invaders. 

I'm with you, Mike. As a Russian American, a naturalized citizen of this country and one who has a very dear friend in Saint Petersburg, a retired basketball players for Spartak, and with two cousins in Moscow, I am, like you, saddened and angered that Putin has started a war pitting Slavs against Slavs. I have not heard from my cousins, but the son of my friend in Saint Petersburg has been arrested along with many other Russians for protesting the war and sentenced to two weeks in prison. Two weeks may not seem a lot, my friend says, but he is worried about torture. 

As athletes, we should be proud that the governing bodies of most sports federations have opted to bar Russia from participating in international events and cancelled their upcoming events. The federations that are still straddling the fence, shame on you. It's a painful fall, straddling.

Need I remind anyone which ex President of the United States of America is a friend of the evil Russian Dictator? Please note I have not used the past tense.

We might all want to say a prayer for Brittany Griner who has been arrested in Russia. 

Finally, who needs Russian vodka. We have Gray Goose. And if GG is not your taste, remember Poland makes vodka. 

If my readers get a chance, go on the internet and look up Associated Press writer Paul Newberry's article entitled "National Hypocrisy League Shows True Colors Again." Second sentence: The organization better known as the NFL proved. . .

From an article by Robert Whiting published in Sports Illustrated in 1979, "You Got to have Wa," i learned the following: Wa is the Japanese ideal of unity, team play, and no individualism. To Kyrie Irving, Novak Djokovic and Aaron Rodgers, listen up. 

"The US is a land where stubborn individualism is honored and where 'doing your own thing' is a motto of contemporary society. In Japan Konjinshugi, a term for individualism is almost a dirty word. The Japanese have a proverb: The nail that sticks up shall be hammered down." 

Haiku

Bombs dropping on Ukraine
Fly balls suspended while talks resume.
Russia playing a dangerous game

A Few Comments Going into 2022

I haven't been blogging for a while. Considering most of my comments have to do with the NBA, the reason is simple enough. COVID and injuries have turned the standings into pure speculation. It's always been difficult in the NBA around midseason to get any substantive practice time, but with COVID it's damn near impossible. No matter how few and far between, practice time is essential. So, what's left to teams: walk-throughs on game days?

Which leads me to my next topic, the Warriors need to support Steph Curry better. It seems clear that as a league, the word is "face guard Curry with your best and toughest defender, harass him, make his life on the court as miserable an experience as possible." This continues to happen even though Klay has returned. So the Warriors need to set some hard screens, make the defenders pay a price for guarding Steph. Where is Andrew Bogut when we need him?  Having a cold one and putting something on the barbi, I suppose. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to Bjelica's 3 point shot that has been reasonably accurate most of his career. The Warriors are going to have do something about paint protection and rebounding or they are going to have a miserable time in the playoffs when the game becomes more physical. It's good thing the Warriors started out so hot. We still might wind up in second place in the West. 

The Sacramento Kings have finally made a move that makes sense. They had to give up a very fine young point guard in Tyrese Halliburton, but the return, Domantas Sabonis was worth it. Sabonis will be the Big of the future in the same way that Vlade Divac was during the Kings winning years. In the recent  trade the Kings also received two capable reserves in Justin Holiday and Jeremy  Lamb, both decent 3 point shooters. Holiday is also a solid defender. Soon after, King's GM Mone McNair traded for the Bucks shooting guard and excellent on point defender Donte DiVincenzo. Not much will change this season. They won't make the playoffs, but they will get a good draft choice to add to a future that is beginning to look bright for the first time in centuries.  

It can't be overstated how absolutely compelling Ja Morant of the Memphis Griz is. He is channeling Allan Iverson and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. Remember The Pearl? When The Pearl walked onto  his local playground courts his fans standing around would part like the Red Sea to let him on and whisper to each other, "Jesus is coming." You will find stories such as these in my memoir, called The Mad Russian, due to come out sometime in early 2023. Check my blog for specifics. Given what the Russian's are doing in the Ukraine, we might have to change the title, although that was what I was called in my 10 years playing in the NBA with the Warriors and Seattle Sonics.

Speaking of Seattle, there are rumors that the NBA will expand to Seattle and Las Vegas next season. It's about time for Seattle to get some love, considering how badly they were juked by the owner of the Thunder who bought the Sonics, promised the city that he wouldn't move, this while he was already half way through building an arena in OKC. Liar, liar, pants on fire!   I'm crossing my fingers expansion happens and could use some finger-crossing help from you, my readers. 

Do I dare make any Final's predications? I'll take a chance on the Heat as long as they are all healthy to win in the East. They can beat you too many ways and in a 7 game series versatility is essential. There might be some hope for the 76ers as long as Harden doesn't tank the way he has n the past in clutch time. I love Embid, so I wouldn't be unhappy if they represent the East, but I'd hate to see Harden's disloyalty to Houston that built his rep and the Nets who gave up the bank to get him be rewarded.. Harden seems so selfish to succeed. 

At this point, post All Star Game, it's fair to say if Chris Paul's injury inhibits his performance, the Suns will be more vulnerable. Still they remain versatile and tough. Booker derserved to be a starter in the All Star game. Warriors better have Green back and playing at the All Star level he was before his injury to have a shot at representing the West. If all the players are healthy, the Nuggets would be a good bet in Vegas.  

The Lakers trade for Russell Westbrook will go down as one of the worst in NBA history, There were too many old legs and vets to being with. (I have never been a Carmelo and Dwight Howard fan) The Lakers  gave up youth and defense for a player who is immensely physically talented but predictable and has no idea how to facilitate for teammates other than driving the paint at max speed and kicking if he can't make a layup. Time for a new Laker GM with some guts to withstand King James' choices of teammates. 

Russian are destroying fellow Slavs in the Ukraine, and he NBA has a number of Ukrainian players We pray for them and their families. Brittany Griner has been arrested in Russia for supposedly having some hashish oil in her suitcase. Maybe, maybe not. Not hard to set her up. This is all on President Putin and his minions. All of them as far as I'm concerned are no better than the evil Communists dictators of the past who executed most of my relative during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. I have no doubt Griner was targeted as a bargaining chip against the United States. We are living in dangerous times, folks. Putin is threatening nuclear war. All sports leagues and federations must pitch in to do what they can to stop this maniac. It must be a world wide decision to  ban all Russian teams and individual athletes from performing in their countries and further ban all their own athletes from performing in Russia for as long as this deadly and immoral invasion lasts. I grew up in the 50's with the threat of nuclear war. I am terrified for my children and grandchildren. 

There have been many poems about war, but few include sports as part of the theme. Here's one that is particularly powerful from the Vietnam War days. William S. Carpenter in the title was a QB for West Point.

A Mad Song for William S. Carpenter 1966 by James Wright.

Quick on my feet in this November of my loneliness
I tossed a short pass
almost the instant I caught the ball, just over the head

Of Barrell Terry before he knocked me cold.

When I woke up, I found myself crying out

Latin conjugations, and new snow falling

At the edge of a green field

Lemoyne Crone had caught the pass while I lay

Unconscious and raging

Alone with the fire ghost of Catullas, the contemptuous graces tossing

Garlands and hendecasyllabics over he head

Of Cornelius Nepos, the Mastodon.

The huge Volume. 

Out at the edge of Southeast Asia this afternoon

The quarterbacks and the lines are beginning to fall.

A spring snow.

And terrified young men

Quick on their feet 

Lob one another skulls across

Wings of strange birds that are burning

Themselves alive. 

 

 . 

   

P

 were not individual, but team problems. He should know better, having been one of the best on-ball defenders of his decade. 

Kareem, the Soul of the NBA & etc

 In the 1970/71 NBA season, I played against Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the Milwaukee's first round draft choice out of UCLA. A rookie, he was already a force and he would remain one for the rest of his 21seasons in the league, most of which were spent as a Los Angles Laker. My one memory of Jabbar from those day was how impossible he made it for any player to drive the paint, to do anything in the paint, for that matter. Since a lot of my game, even back then in my last year in the NBA when I was less than my physical best, had to do with getting put backs off the offensive glass, playing against Kareem was particularly frustrating. 

That was then, this is now. Kareen is long in retirement. I am even longer retired. Today, I hardly think of Kareen as a professional basketball player any more, He has published non fiction and fiction, written articles, led progressive discussions about race and society. He is quoted often on a variety of subject that affect this county and the world. No, I can't think of him as the man with the sky hook or the player who swatted away my meager efforts to score. When I think of Kareem in 2021 in terms of basketball, I think of him as the one player that exemplifies the soul of the NBA. 

If it were the power of the NBA, I would think of Wilt Chamberlain; if it were the skill of the NBA, I would chose Michael Jordan; if it were the finesse of the NBA, I'd select Steph Curry; if it were the energy of the NBA, I'd see Magic, and for basketball smarts, I'd select Larry Bird. (Wasn't it Bird who said once, "I wasn't a very good student, but I'm a PhD in basketball?") And so he was. And so it is that the core, the spiritual intelligence of the soul of the NBA belongs to the thoughtful, scholarly, and empathic Hall of Fame Center, Kareen Abdul Jabbar.   

Why am I writing this today, when it is something that I've long believed? It is because on Facebook this morning I saw Kareem's thoughts on NFL QB, Aaron Rodgers. Kareem said, "Rodger's ignorance regarding the science of immunology brings back to life the old stereo type of he big dumb jock. His utter lack of even the most basic knowledge is shocking."

DUMB JOCKS, that's what Donald Trump and his ultra conservative, racist minions have been calling us from the time Colin Kaepernick knelt on the field during the national anthem to the statement that Lebron James should keep on dribbling instead of speaking out against racial inequity. And Rodgers, by his stupidity about COVID has played right into these despicable Trumpian people's hands.   

I wonder if All State Insurance Company that is providing Aaron Rodgers with a hefty paycheck to endorse their product believes we're all a bunch of dumb jocks? Dumb enough to buy their insurance? Rodgers will assuredly become the poster child for Anti-Vaxxers. Is All State hoping to cash in on the Anti-Vaxxer market? 

Well, as the saying goes, I guess Aaron Rodgers should just keep passing the football and stop talking about medical science as if he know what the F--K he's talking about. 

A VERY LARGE ETC: For those of you NBA fans who didn't see Steph Curry's magnificent 50 point production against the Atlanta Hawks, you missed some beautiful magic. Curry is Macavity the Mystery Cat, (When opponents try to guard him, he is never there.) the elegance and grace of Barishnikov, and Henri Matisse (critically defining color and shape in modern 20th century art.) - oh, yes, Curry and the Art of Basketball. 

I watched with mild interest Markief Morris's hard foul on Nicola Jokic and the Joker losing his temper slamming the back of Morris. And now the NBA is in an uproar. Not to mention a few Serbian brothers now versus the brothers. How the NBA has changed? In the NBA of 1960's and '70's that episode would have been considered a little manly disagreement, emphasis on the little. Here's a small poem on the subject from the prospective of a man who played in the NBA in the Sixties. 

In the Moment   by Tom Meschery

The whistle blows
and I'm caught
between curbing my anger
or punching the player
who just fouled me.
Oh, what the hell, I think. 

A Major League City with a Small Town Newspaper & etc.

 The fifth game of the 2021 World Serie was played yesterday. The Atlanta Braves were leading  the Houston Astros 3-1 and could have won the title with a win. Instead, the Astros won. It is not unusual in sports for teams to rally during championships and extend the series. What is unusual and shameful is that the Sacramento Bee, the newspaper that services a major league sports city (home to the NBA's Kings)  with a metropolitan area population of over two million people, did not carry a word about the game in its morning newspaper. THE WORLD SERIES????? For the last four years the Sacramento Bee does not bring its readership any news that developed after - I'm guessing - 2 p.m. It is disgusting. My wife and I agree we continue our subscription only because we don't want to see another newspaper fold and its assets broken down and sold separately to make money for the greedy hedge fund sharks that gobbled up the paper and promised to make it a gold standard newspaper again. There's not enough gold in their standard to fill a cavity. 

Let's hear it for Alana Beard, the retired WNBA All-Star and now business woman in her quest to bring a WNBA team to Oakland, CA. The Warriors and Raiders have left. The A's are threating to leave to Las Vegas, where else? I'm betting the Oakland fans will embrace the new team. And if she can't get Oakland to back her, why wouldn't the Warriors be willing to have WNBA team in Chase Arena? 

Let's not get overly enthusiastic over Jimmy G's impressive performance against the Chicago Bears, a team missing its best passer rusher. On the other hand, it is enough reason to stick with him at QB. As I stated in a previous blog, Lance needs to watch and learn. I don't know what goes on in NFL practices, but it seems as if, given their commitment to him, Lance should get lots of reps with the starters in practice and at least a few chances at specific times during games. And not simply for running plays. Mentor teachers know a young teacher needs time by him/herself to run a class. They hand over the reins and let the run. Football in no different. Finally, I must say I was impressed with Garappolo and wish that this his states against the Bears become his stats for the rest of the season. If that happens, holy-think-thank, what do the 49ers do then? 

A quick observation: OKC has found its point guard of the future in 6'8" barely 19 year old Australian Josh Giddy. The kid has all the right instincts.  And just a baby. 

Franz Wagner is making heads turn in the NBA in his rookie season. And some teams that passed on him, might be having regrets. I'm thinking of my Warriors who took Jonothan Kuminga ahead of Wagner. The question in this case is - and will only be played out in time - has Wagner reached his potential, given a certain amount of improvement due to experience? As for Kuminga, he is 19 years old and has clearly not reached the skills set his awesome physical talent portends. I'm betting on Kuminga in the long run.    

I'm happy to see that the average NBA dance team member makes around $500 per game with a bonus of approx $1,500.00. This is a part time job, but not an easy one to handle ie: juggling practice sessions,  if they have a fulltime employment, which I dare say all the women (and now some men) must have to support themselves.  The Warriors according to the internet pay $600 per game. I've never been a fan of most of the grind and hump dance routines, but there is no doubt these dancers work their butts of, and lately I've been noticing more creative routines with more narrative for the discerning fans. I'd bump the salary per game to $800. As an incentive to attract the very best dancers. Fans are paying big bucks to go to games; they deserve the best entertainment. My wife says lower the price of hotdogs. Food might be classified as entertainment, no? 

By the way, an NBA mop boy can make up to $90,000 per year with benefit. One can start a family on that salary and with a second income for spouse live a pretty decent life. Some teachers don't make $90, 000 per year. (In California, a teacher with 10 years experience makes $72,937 per year). I note the disparity not because mop boys should get less, but for God's sake, teacher should get more. 

So wishing only the best for mop boys, let's consider changing their title to something like Custodial Assistant. Just in case, later in life a mop boy's son asks his dad what he did for a living. Mop boy at forty years old doesn't sound too dignified. 

Sometimes less is more as in these three lines by William Shakespeare in honor of the World Series:

"What work's, my countrymen, in hand?
               Where go you
With bats and clubs?