Being happy -- or sad

The Detroit Pistons were happy to get the new season underway. Excitement abounded. Then the Houston Rockets came to town and thumped them in their own building. Now they're probably sad. Given the brutal west coast rode trip coming up next, if they don't play a lot better than what they did against Houston, they're going to be a lot sadder when they finally get back home.

James Hardin, AKA Grady from Sanford and Son, is the Rockets' newly acquired point guard from a trade with the Okla City Thunder. He just lit up the Pistons for 37 points. He's happy. Better yet, he signed an $80 million 5-year contract. Averaging it out, that means Grady, ahem, James will make about $200,000 for every game during the next 5 years, whether he plays or not. He's REALLY happy. The fans in Houston that will have to skip a house payment to attend a game, while paying for these insane contracts, have every right to be sad.

On a related note, the LA Lakers just got trashed by the Portland Trail Blazers. This, after spending national deficit type money acquiring point guard Steve Nash and all-around superman center Dwight Howard. I'm not sure there's such a thing as being sad in LA-LA land. It's just like, you know, such a downer.

Remember Matt Barkley, USC's quarterback? He used to be happy. After last year, he was a huge success. Barkley could have declared for the NFL draft. It's debatable whether he would have been drafted ahead of such players as Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, but he was a given to go in the top 5. He would have raked in countless millions before he ever set foot on a professional football field. But no, MB decided to return for his senior season as the BMOC, and go out with a blaze of glory, perhaps even a national championship. Indeed, some pre-season polls had USC as #1. Fast forward. USC's already lost to Stanford and Arizona, the Oregon Ducks might well beat them again in their upcoming game, and the unbeaten and resurgent Notre Dame lurks at the end of the season. The national championship shot is history, as is any hopes of being a Heisman contender, and he might be stuck with 4 losses, if not more, before this season is over. Dear Matt's NFL stock is falling faster than GM's did just before the bailout. And that's assuming he stays healthy. A possible serious injury is always just one play away, and one never knows what fate has in store. The NFL has a way of shying away from damaged goods. He's probably sad.

Tiger Woods has reason to be happy. It appears he's finally got his game back together, recently blistering a golf course over in Kuala Lumpur at 20-something under par for the tournament. Yet Eldrick also has reason to sad, because he still couldn't win. Though they may rotate, every tournament it seems a couple other guys are always just a little bit better. When Tiger was winning everything, he was happy and used to say second place is for the first loser. The field was sad. Times change. These days Tiger might be understanding what those other guys felt like back in those days. He's probably sad. The field now knows he's beatable. They're happy.

Still no word on a contract resolution any time soon in the NHL so the games can begin. Most owners, the players, and certainly all the pro hockey fans are sad. Everybody's sad -- except for league Commissioner Gary Bettman and his NHL office cronies, and Donald Fehr and his union cronies. They're happy. Know why? Because they're still getting their regular paychecks. Turn that spigot off and there would be an agreement in 2-3 days. Who's kidding who here?

Only a few more days to go. Yours truly cares not about which parties, people and/or proposals y'all might be fer or agin, and some may indeed be sad when the final tally comes in.

But on some level, can we all at least agree to be happy that this election year madness is finally over?