ONE MONTH INTO NBA SEASON COMMENTS

With one month into the season, here are a few observations about some of the teams and the league in general. Lets begin with the NBA League. 

It should be clear to the League by now that injuries are a serious problem for all teams. The absence of star players makes for unpredictable team building - and fan building.  There is no doubt that the way the game has evolved into such a high flying acrobatics that the season is too long.  Additionally, the first round of the playoffs is too long and should return to a five game series. It is also time for the NBA, as the Daddy of the teams, to do in-depth research into physical fitness training for its children with the emphasis on what kind of training is best suited to today's players. There needs to be creativity by trainers who think outside the box. I simply refuse to believe that teams can't do a better job of keeping players free from injuries. Look at cross-training, ballet dancers and other types of dancing. Look to martial artists, track and field. Look to Flexibility training, etc.  

General Comments about TEAMS:

Wizards: They've made some solid draft choices and the youngsters should get the bulk of playing time. Go young, trade older players for draft choices and build around yout youth.

Knicks: Towns' trade was a mistake. They should have paid Harrkenstein, kept DeVincenzo and Randle.

T Wolves: Towns' trade was a mistake. They were doing fine. They needed tweeking, not a major trade.  

76ers: No way to win with their two go-to stars and their health history. Cut your losses. George is still tradable. Get some youth with the same chops as Maxey. Fewer scheduled games per season should help a player like Embid, who certainly needs a more creative physical fitness regime. To start with he looks overweight to me. 

Pacers: Haliburton's shooting mechanics is odd, so it was eventually going to happen, as teams picked up on it, that his three-ball % would drop. 

Bucks: Lillard trade was awful. But it's too late to worry about that this season. They must stop talking about Middleton. He'll never be the player he was. Look for a trade for a wing defender. 

Warriors: Loss of Melton will hurt, but the emergence of the Kiowa Kid, Lindy Waters, will soften the blow. As for free-throws: How about a practice contest for jelly bellies - a jar for each player.  Fifty free- throws at the end of every practice day available during the season and 20 free-throws at shoot-arounds. Coaches keep the records. Sounds High School but athletes of any age love a competition. 

Suns: Same problem as 76ers. Star players with a history of injuries. They did a good job creating better reserves. If KD and Beale are back to full strength toward the end of he season, they could surprise. Big IF. 

Jazz: Are you going youth or not? Make a decision. The upcoming draft has got a ton of excellent players.

Clippers: How long are you going to wait for Leonard to stay healthy? Hardin is playing basketball in a truly adult way for the first time in his career. He has finally realized he can be a scorer and a point guard at the same time. 

Mavs: I've never been sold on Jason Kidd's coaching. 

Lakers: The Knicht draft choice is paying off. Be patient and get your injured players back.

Kings: I love DeRozen but it may be that he and Fox are not a good fit. The Kings need a better back-up center and more D off the bench. I thought Coach Brown was a D expert? 

 growing youth.   

i JUST COULDN''T HELP IT and etc

  I Promised myself when Adoph won the election, I wouldn't blog about the evil bugger again, but this was too good to pass up. My wife found this on line: A woman wrote the following: I unpacked my Nativity Scene for Christmas and after I'd discarded the Jews, Arabs and the foreigners, all I was left with was a jackass and a handful of sheep. 

You know what's really pathetic about this ? If Trump and his minions read it, they wouldn't get it. Trump probably thinks Jesus was a Norwegian and the people in Israel back then all spoke English. The Trump presidency is going to be the apex of ignorance. Even their favorite evil dictators will be laughing at him behind his back. Har! har! have you heard the latest about Comrade Trump? Har, dee,  har, har! 

ETC:

After the end of the first half, it looked as if the Celtics were going to roast the Cavs. But Les Chevalier came roaring back and cut the game to single digits and a couple of times toward the end to two points. Both teams were missing important players to injury, so that was a wash. Conclusion; Celts still look like number one, but the Cavs will be nipping at their heels the rest of the way. The biggest concern for the Celtics is they rely way too much on their three ball. If they continue to stary the course, there is a good chnace the Cavs will beat them in a seven gaeme series. Notice,, I didn't mention any thoere team in the East competing for he East Championship, because there isnt'. Knicks on the oouted, maybe, but I'm not sold on Twons and never have been. 

My Warriors lost a close one to the Clippers. They were in some sort of brain fog because they kept leting Norman Powell get easy three-point looks. With no hand in his face, no sense of intimidation, Powell is a deadeye shooter. 

Must comment on the 76ers. The ownership needs to reevaluate the team building. It didn't make any sense to trade for a star player with an injury history to help a star player with an injury history. Consider Embid and George for a minute, that's all it will take, would you bet money that these two will be playing together in the playoffs? 

Trump and his sheep wont' get this poem any better than they'd get the Nativity Scene comment, but it might resonate with teachers. The poem is about how we think. It's a kind poem because it doesn't judge; it just makes a statement. 

PROSPECTIVE IMMIGRANTS, TAKE NOTE

 

Either you will go through this door
Or you will not go through.
If you go through
There is always the risk
Of remembering your name.
 
If you do not go through,
It is possible to live worthily,
To maintain your attitudes,
To hold your position.
To die bravely.
 
But much will blind you.
Much will evade you
At what cost, who knows?
 
The door itself makes no promises.
It is only a door.
 
        Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)

 

ONE LAST BLAST

There is only one group of people that we can blame for Trump's election and that is the general male population of the United States. I'm talking about all men of all races, and ages and beliefs. The pre-election rumble was that women were going to swing this election to Kamala Harris, It was speculated that conservative women who outwardly stated their preference for Trump when in the voting booth would pull the lever for Harris. If that happened, it did not happen enough. What did happen I'm sorry to say is that that far too many men who professed their support of Harris and promised their wives their support to regain their right to choose what happened to their own bodies LIED. When they entered the voting booth, they chose the path of misogyny and would not pull the lever for a woman. COWARDS ALL OF THEM. Treacherous weeny creatures, so insecure about their masculinity that it got in the way of any sound judgement. What are you doing now? Showing off your pecks? Flexing your muscles? Chugging a can of Bud? Watching an over-the-hill wrestler tear off his T-shirt? Wow, real masculine of you. 

I know there are real men in this country. I know that my son and his friends are real men and the spouses of my daughters are real men and so are a great number of males in other families who support the wives, daughters and female friends. I'm grateful for you. America is grateful for you. 

Unfortunately, these REAL men are a minority. i WOULD HAVE NEVER BELIEVED IT, but now di do that the majority of men in the country are like Donald Trump, growling in so-called sexy voices that they, "looove women," snickering at Trump jokes about the size of penises, wishfully thinking of the future when they can boss women around, when they can be FATHER KNOWS F- - KING BEST. Foolish, foolish males, you are so delusional and lack so little imagination that you can not see that real males join hands in partnership with real females for a more perfect union.

.God help our country that you weeny men were missing your manhood as you stepped into the voting booth. What's to come, four years of Trump dictatorship, falls squarely on your cowardly shoulders. 

 

AMERICA, THE LAND OF THE FREE, YOU JUST LOST IT

The Electoral College system has just elected the first Dictator of its country, Donald Trump. 

                 The following is what the people in this country have in store for them:

Lot's of Chaos. Lots of revenge against any politicians or military, or notable persons who criticized Trump. LeBron James, Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, watch your backs. IRS is going to be weaponized. So will the justice department. 

 No realistic economic plan. The 20 dollar tariff on all products imported into this country is nuts and will cost middle class folks about $4,000 a year, maybe more. You think gas and groceries are expensive now, wait until Trump f__ks up our economy. 

A strict ban on abortion will become the Law of the Land. States like Californa and New York will have to fight it out in the courts, but it will be more chaos. In most states, women will be in peril of losing their lives if for some reason they have a problem pregnancy. If I were a woman during the Trump presidency, I'd stop having babies. Too risky. 

Forget about gender equality for at least four years. What the Trump men will try to do is send women back to the days when men ruled them. 

Forget about racial equality. People of color, those of you who voted for Donald Trump, you will look back on your vote as one of the worst decisions you ever made. Trump and this ilk are White Supremacists. What? You didn't know that???

Immigrants, get ready for mass deportations. Dreamers? You are out of luck. 

Get ready for Trump's total support of anything Israel wants to do in in Gaza. He and Netanyahu, two dictators like peas in a pod. 

Political and economic power will be in the hands of 1% of the population. This is called an oligarchy. Think Elon Musk, guys like him.  

Get ready for Russia and its Dictator Putin to influence our foreign policy.

Get ready for Trump to take us out of NATO, the result being America to lose all credibility with its past European partners.  

Get ready for law suits after lawsuits, grinding our country to a standstill. 

Get ready for more MAGA Republicans on the Supreme Court. 

Get ready for an attack against unions. You union members who voted for Trump, you screwed yourselves. 

I can probably think of a lot more troubles ahead for our citizens, but I'm too shocked by the result of this election to go on. Lets try to do our best to survive these next four years with dignity and grace.

 Democratic Governors, it's up to you now to save your states from the dictatorship of Trump.

                                                               Go California!

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HOW TO SURVIVE TODAY AND TOMORROW

 Last night, news commentator, Lawrence O'Donnell, said we have a chose hope or despair as we go into election day with our Beloved Democracy on the line. He cited as an example Nelson Mandela as a person who never gave up hope. For 27 years Mandela, the father of modern day South Africa, lived in one cell in an Apartheid prison, most of the time in solitary confinement. According to O'Donnell, Nelson Mandela went to bed every night with hope in his heart. 

Let us all follow Nelson Mandela's example.

SPIRITUAL, EMOTIONAL & PRACTICAL WAYS TO LOOK AT HOPE

Hope springs eternal:  As we pray

Hope springs internal:  As we feel

Hope springs external:  As we act