St. Louis Blues. Stanley Cup Champions!!!

Hats off to the Blues. Proud temporary owners of Lord Stanley's beloved Cup. And they did it the hard way. Beating the Boston Bruins in Boston in a nerve-wracking Game Seven. No small feat.

Then again, this series was odd in a way.

Out of the seven games played, the visiting team won five of them. So much for "home ice"

Though yours truly had no "dog" in this race, perhaps the right team won. After all, between the Red Sox and Patriots, Boston's had enough championship parades lately.

This was the Blue's first time ever, while the Bruins have a slew of Stanley Cup championship banners hanging in their rafters.

And who -- besides Boston fans -- can begrudge them their victory? It took them 50 years of trying to finally get it.

This, with a rookie goaltender that was alternatively praised and ripped over the series. Brilliant and El-Stinko. Either a brick wall or a sieve. Yet he was masterful when it counted the most -- Game Seven. No pressure.  lol

So all hail the St. Louis Blues.
'
Finally, FINALLY, Stanley Cup Champions.

And very worthy ones at that.

Bravo.

[And even better news. The players can now shave and go see a dentist.]  :-)

The Kyle Lowry incident

Fans watching the NBA Finals no doubt saw it. And have probably seen it a hundred more times since via replay. The politically correct crowd just can't get enough of it.

That would be Toronto Raptors player Kyle Lowry sailing into the court-side seats trying to keep a loose ball from going out of bounds, and bulldozing a lady in the process.

Well, OK. If you want to sit that close to the action, you take your chances something like this could happen.

But then a man sitting next to her gave Lowry a little shove and apparently had some not-so-kind words for him. In the whole scheme of things, it really didn't amount to much. It's not like the guy clubbed Lowry with a bat, shot him, and/or called him the "n" word on national TV. It was a harmless little push and a bit of trash talk.

And then everything went berserk. The PCers wanted to hang this guy by his thumbs, or at least banish him for life from the NBA and fine him every last dollar to his name.

NBA Commish Adam Silver quickly jumped in, banishing such an "egregious" offender for one year and fining him $500,000.

Turns out, Lowry is black, and the fan is white, who BTW, owns a stake in the Golden State Warriors. His name is Mark Stevens.

So here's a few questions. How do you think this would have played out had the roles been reversed?

A white player being "abused" in the exact same manner by a black fan?

Would it have been such a big deal?

Would it have been even news-worthy?

As I write this, two days after it happened, they are many that are still howling about it, saying the already ridiculous punishment mentioned above wasn't nearly harsh enough.

I suspect had the situation been reversed, as also mentioned above, any that would have dared further persecute the "offender" would quickly have been labelled racists. Who's kidding who?

If I was Stevens, I wouldn't pay. A half million for THAT? Not a chance. And peanut-head Commish Silver doesn't have the legal authority to take it from him. If I had to sit out a year of NBA action or even sell my share in the Warriors -- so be it. But I would not, repeat NOT cough up 500 large for something so trivial.

Of course, Stevens has made the same mistake so many have before when they've incurred the wrath of the crazed PC crowd.

He apologized -- as if that was going to help him.  Not a chance.

All that guarantees is the mob will hammer him even harder.

He nudged a guy and told him to f-off. That's it.

Should have stood his ground, cuz trying to make things "right" with that bunch NEVER works.

That would be akin to throwing bloody meat into shark-infested waters. It's not going to exactly make them friendlier if you decide to hop in with them-- ya know?

Bad idea. REALLY bad idea.

The rise and fall of Oklahoma

Poor Oklahoma. Just when you thought they might accomplish something historic, bang, the wheels fell off.

The mighty #1 ranked lady Sooners softball team just got kicked to the curb in the College World Series by UCLA. A two-game mini-sweep at that.

This, after going an eye-popping 48-2 during the regular season. And playing in the CWS Finals in their own home town to boot.

Sports haven't been kind to the Oklahoma faithful in recent years.

Their boys football team hasn't been the perennial powerhouse it was a few decades ago.

The entire state only has one professional team.  No presence in the NHL. No Major League Baseball. No NFL team. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. And they're snake-bit a couple ways.

They always seem to make an early exit from the playoffs.

And trash-talking Russell Westbrook aside, the Thunder can't seem to hang on to super-star players when they have them.

They lost James Harden to the Houston Rockets a few years back.

And then Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors. Paul George is OK, but not in the same category as those two.

So with apologies to the late Ernest Lawrence Thayer (author of Casey At The Bat), once again, there will be no joy in Norman(ville). The mighty Sooners just got made into the See-ya-laters by the UCLA Bruins.

48-2, #1 on everybody's list, and then thud, when it counted the most?

That's gotta be a tough pill to swallow.

Why there will never be another 30 game winner

The last pitcher in Major League Baseball to win 30 games in a season was one Denny McLain, of the Detroit Tigers. He went 31-6 way back in 1968, For the record, he got shelled in his two starts against the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series that year. Southpaw Mickey Lolich wound up being the unlikely hero as the Motowners captured the title in a thrilling 7 game series.

But it will never happen again.

It's simply a matter of numbers.

Back in those days, team had 4-man starting pitching rotations. Given the same 162 game regular season, that meant -- if they stayed healthy throughout -- they'd get about about 40 starts.

Over time, and burnt out arms, MLB has evolved into 5-man rotations, with a 6th getting an occasional start.

Do the math. That means instead of 40 starts, they'll get maybe 31-32, at most.

And nobody's gonna win em all. Even the best don't always have their "best stuff", or maybe they get out-dueled by an opposing pitcher having a particularly good day. Or their own team doesn't give them much if any run support. Losing a 1-0 or 2-1 game is rough, but it happens.

To boot, there will be a few, perhaps several games where the starter gets no decision at all. Pitch counts being what they are, a complete game is a rarity these days. Maybe an ace starter is cruising along into the 7th or 8th inning with a slim lead, but whoops, now he's up to 130 pitches. They'll yank him. How many times have we seen bullpens implode and blow a lead? That happens too.

So who's the best pitcher in the game these days? Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers? Justin Verlander of the Astros? Max Scherzer of the Nationals?

Even if those guys are dominant every time out, the BEST they can likely do is rack up 25 Ws.

Which is a far cry from 30.

It's just a matter of numbers.

Milwaukee Bucks, The collapse is complete

A scant few days ago it would have been hard to believe. The Milwaukee Bucks had trounced the Toronto Raptors the first two games of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals, and it had taken the Raptors two overtimes, at home, to barely pull out Game Three.

Wasn't Milwaukee the same team that had posted the best regular season record in the whole league? The team that had only lost back to back games once all season? And therefore had home court advantage, where they're formidable, to boot?

No way they were going to lose this series.

Until they did.

In one the the biggest collapses in recent memory, the Bucks were taken down three more times in a row after their narrow Game Three loss.

There will be no joy in Beerville USA. Only finger pointing. How could this happen, and who's fault was it?

Or -- it might just be the Raptors are pretty damn good themselves. The "Greek Freak" Giannis Antetokoumpos was thoroughly stymied by the smothering defense of one Kawhi Leonard. And Milwaukee's so-called "depth" didn't step up and produce when it mattered most.

So now the Raptors move on to face the defending champion Golden State Warriors. The "north of the border" team will even have home court advantage.

Could they pull off another "upset"?

Maybe.

But I wouldn't count on it.

The Dubs, with or without one Kevin Durant, who remains a "maybe", are a whole different animal than the Bucks.

Yours truly hasn't seen the early line yet, but I'd bet when it does come out, the champs will be highly favored to three-peat.

But ya never know.

Wouldn't it be something if the Raptors could pull off another improbable series upset -- this time capturing an NBA title?

The hosers would go wild in the streets, ay?

But I'll believe THAT when I see it.

Nonetheless, bring it on.

Milwaukee/Toronto The worm has turned

OK, so I'm an idiot. It wouldn't be the first time, and likely not the last.

Yep, I had the Milwaukee Bucks easily getting past the Toronto Raptors in the NBA's Eastern Conference finals.

Hey, didn't the Bucks have the best regular season record in the entire league? And would therefore enjoy home court advantage in this series?

And aren't the same team that had cruised through the playoffs so far?

Yes, the opening round against the gawd-awful Detroit Pistons, who had no business -- NONE -- being in the playoffs was a predictable romp.

And after they mysteriously lost the first game, at home, no less, against the Boston Celtics, in the conference semis -- didn't they come roaring back to blister the Beaners four in a row?

And didn't they easily win the first two games against the Raptors?

And take them to double-overtime in Game 3 in Toronto before just falling short?

But then the wheels seemed to fall off for the Bucks.

The worm has definitely turned.

They were themselves routed by the Raptors in Game 4, and the Toronto defense, notably one Kawhi Leonard, put the clamps on alleged super-star Giannis Antetokoumpo. He was shut down, befuddled, and even harassed by a Drake at courtside.

True, yours truly has never understood the fascination so many people have over a dude that named himself after a duck -- but what do I know?  It seemed to work out for that insurance company -- Aflac -- right? Quacks, I tell ya. Sorry.

Still, the series was only tied 2-2, and would be heading back to beer city. Surely, they would right their ship?

Nope, they got beat again, semi-handily, and those pesky visitors from north of the border, the only non-American NBA team, appear to be firmly in control.

Game 6 is back in Toronto, which will be a hoser madhouse. After the last three games, it's mighty hard to believe the Bucks can go into Toronto and win such a big game.

And I don't think they will. Look for another blow out, and the Raptors moving on to face the defending champs Golden State in the Finals.

Maybe the Dubs will be happy with that, or maybe not.

They'll still have to cede home court advantage in the Finals, but gone is the worry about trying to negate the "Greek Freak" mentioned above without a healthy Kevin Durant, who remains out with a lingering calf injury.

Sure, home court or not, the Warriors would have been a heavy favorite against either the Bucks or Raptors. They travel well. Ask the Houston Rockets how Game 6 of their series worked out. Or the Portland Trail Blazers that got taken to the woodshed on their home court while being swept.

It's starting to shape up like a three-peat for the Dubs and another parade in Oakland.

Or I could be wrong.

After all, I'm an idiot.

And I think that's where I came in.

The Portland Trailblazers. Alas

After a not-so-surprising opening round playoff win over the Oklahoma City Thunder -- Russell Westbrook continues to trash talk but can't seem to win anything -- the Portland Trailblazers mildly stunned many (yours truly included) by knocking off the favored Denver Nuggets.

Only those pesky Golden State Warriors stood between them and a trip to the NBA Finals.

To boot, the Warriors were without the service of Demarcus Cousins (out for the year with a torn Achilles tendon), and super-star Kevin Durant (still hobbled by a strained calf).

And in Game Three of that series, already down 2-0, the Blazers saw Andre Iguodala of the Dubs go down with another calf injury, severity unknown. They still lost, after blowing a big lead.

With the Warriors down three starters, surely the Blazers could at least win Game Four to avert a sweep, right? Especially, given they were playing on their home court, where they're very tough.

Wrong.

Once again, they built a huge lead, seventeen points, midway through the third quarter.

And then the wheels fell off -- again.

The Dubs came roaring back to send the game into overtime, and finally won it.

So given all the above advantages, Portland STILL couldn't beat those guys?  Not even once?

That's got to be disheartening.

Or maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

Or maybe Golden State is just..... that..... good.

Kudos to Steph Curry and Draymond Green, the fist teammates in NBA history to both get triple-doubles in a playoff game.

That might have had something to do with it.......

And now the Warriors get a full nine days off, so sit back and study the Milwaukee Bucks, the presumed winners of the Eastern Conference Final against the Toronto Raptors.

And rest.

And get healthy again. (Except for Cousins).

These guys are going to be their usual load in the Finals.

Golden State and the Kevin Durant enigma

No pro basketball fan would doubt Kevin Durant is a great player. The best right now? Maybe. But certainly in the top five.

But the Golden State Warriors are strange ducks. They've won championships without KD, and with him as well.

Let's not forget their regular season win record a few years back was set BEFORE Durant arrived on the scene.

Sure, any team would jump at the chance to have KD on their roster. He really is that good.

But do the Warriors "need" him? That's where things get a little bit tricky.

It's a given that Durant can "take over" a game all by himself. He might put up 40, even 50 points in any given contest. Thing is, while he's doing that, most of his teammates are just standing around watching the one man show. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But when KD is NOT in the line-up, as he hasn't been recently due to a calf injury, it forces the other Dubs to play more like a "team". And a formidable bunch they are when things are clicking.

In the Western Conference semis, most, including yours truly, thought the Houston Rockets would knock off the Warriors in Game 6, which Houston had at home, and GS was fresh without the services of KD. But we all know it didn't work out that way. The Dubs went into Houston and polished off the Rockets -- again.

And now the Portland Trailblazers have faced a GS team without KD the first two games of the Conference Finals. Okay, no big surprise the Dubs came out and blistered the Blazers in Game One.

But the latter had the Dubs down at home throughout Game Two. Including holding a double digit lead with just a couple minutes remaining.

Then bang. GS went on an improbable 14-3 run and it was game over, just like that. It had to be demoralizing for the Blazers.

When Durant will be healthy enough to come back is unknown. Maybe Game Three in Portland. Maybe not.

But when he's in the line-up, the Warriors play an entirely different style of game.

It's almost unthinkable, yet the question needs to be asked. Are the Warriors better off with KD, or without?  A very good argument could be made either way, given the results of how they've played.

It's almost like the Warriors are in constant teaser mode. After all, the LA Clippers beat them twice, on GS's home court, in the opening round of the playoffs. Before the Dubs came roaring back to dispatch an obviously inferior opponent.

And Houston had them right where they wanted them, without Durant, until they looked up at the scoreboard when the final buzzer sounded. Oops.

Same with the Blazers in the above mentioned Game Two of the Conference Finals. They had them, they had them, they had them -- and then they didn't have them at the end.

With or without KD, no way are the Blazers going to beat the Dubs four our of five to go to the Finals. It's over.

But when they face their presumptive opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, for all the marbles, things could get very interesting.

More on that later........

Houston, we have a problem

Well, let's see.

The Golden State Warriors were already without the services of big man Boogie Cousins (out for the year with a torn Achilles), a starter and an All-Star caliber player.

Then Kevin Durant, arguably the best player on the planet right now, went out for at least a few days with a strained calf.

The Houston Rockets were playing at home.

And normally sharp-shooting Steph Curry scored exactly zero points in the first half of the game.

And the Warriors STILL won the game 118 -- 113?

How can it be?

Are the Dubs just that good -- or did the Rockets choke (again)?

I dunno. But it's gonna be another long off-season in Houston.

Houston, we have a problem indeed.

It just doesn't appear to be in the cards.......

The idlest of thoughts

Given Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors suffered a calf strain and will be out for Games 6, and if necessary 7, this is make it or break it time for the Houston Rockets. If they can't beat the Dubs now without KD (and also Boogie Cousins, who was injured earlier in the season), they might as well pack it in and fuhgettaboutit. It just ain't in the cards. We'll see....

I always chuckle when I see one particular show advertised. To wit:  From the Mind of Kobe Bryant.

Never watched it and never will, but one wonders about the thought of same.

Would that be anything like From the Bottom of a MickeyD's Deep Fryer?

From the Attic of My Crazy Uncle Bob?

From the Pants of Donald Trump?

These are not exactly pleasant images to conjure.

And where did Bryant's folks get off naming him Kobe in the first place? Look it up and you'll discover it's a very expensive piece of Japanese beef. The expensive part makes sense. But naming a son after a hunk of meat?

There's a daily sports talk show on TV featuring Bomani Jones and Pablo Torres.

So somebody tell me why, pray tell, they named the show High Noon -- when it airs at 4 PM?

Stupid football things

Should it even matter what an offensive tackle's vertical leap is?

Or how fast a guard runs the 40?

And who cares how many times a running back can bench press 225 pounds?

Are they running place kickers through agility drills these days?

And now comes the latest bit of stupidity from Sports Illustrated. They wanted the world to know how incredibly "ripped" Mississippi wideout D.K. Metcalf is on the eve of the draft. See those eight-pack abs.

WHO CARES??

The only things that matter are -- can he run decent routes? Catch the ball? Especially in traffic? Not fumble too much afterwards? And most importantly -- does he have any brains -- as in -- will he be able to comprehend the massive playbook if and when he gets to an NFL team? And understand audibles?

Do you really think any NFL coaching staff is going to be in awe if Metcalf can do 500 sit-ups? 1000?

Did I mention WHO CARES??

These are stats for morons only.

It would be like putting great importance on how long it takes any given politician to relieve him/herself in a restroom. Or perhaps nailing down the exact free-throw percentage of a cop in a police hoops rec league.

Shouldn't we have more important  things to be concerned with regarding such folks?

One can only imagine what the stat geeks will come up with next.

Maybe it will be hyped as earth-shaking news to rank the Top Ten punters in the NFL regarding how many hot dogs they can eat in any one 20 minute sitting.

And the really scary thing is -- there will be those that give it great weight. No pun intended. Maybe.

Sigh.....

The sorry case of Russell Westbrook

See Russell Westbrook, of the the Oklahoma City Thunder, strut his stuff.

See Russ run up and down the basketball floor.

See Russ dunk and hang on the rim.

See Russ taunt his opponents and otherwise talk trash.

See Russ and his team once again make an early exit from the playoffs, this time at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers.

You'd think he'd learn a little humility after so many failures in the post-season.

But no, not Russ.

Is there any wonder super-star players like Kevin Durant, and James Harden before him, left the Thunder for much greener and more competitive pastures elsewhere? Maybe they'd had enough of Westbrook's nonsense.

Memo to Russ. Keep talking all the smack you want, but until you actually win something, nobody's going to pay much attention.

Yet Russ will no doubt keep flapping his gums, in the same sing-song girlish voice that a boxer named Mike Tyson once had. Close your eyes when either are speaking and I dare you to tell the difference.Even looks a little like Iron Mike in his younger days.

Alas, every time the playoffs roll around, it's like Russell Westbrook climbs in the ring with James "Buster" Douglas.

Bang. KOed.

And why, pray tell, does dear Russ insist on dressing like an uptown ghetto pimp away from the court? Leopard skin, pink, and chartreuse all rolled into one? Really?

The dude definitely needs to re-calibrate on a number of levels.

Cuz what he's done so far just ain't getting it done.

The pathetic Detroit Pistons

See the Pistons barely sneak into the NBA playoffs as the final team in the weak, by comparison, Eastern Conference. What was their reward?

A first round match-up with the Milwaukee Bucks, owners of the best regular season record in the entire league.

See the Pistons get absolutely slaughtered in Game One, to the tune of 35 points worth.

See the hapless Pistons get drubbed again like red-headed stepchildren in Game Two, by 21.

Two games and they were outscored by 56 points?

Ah, but just wait, quoth the local pundits and roundball groupies. Da boys are coming home and things will be different in Game Three.

They were right.  The Pissed-Ons only got beat by 16 on their own court.

With any luck, maybe they get another loss down to single digits in Game Four, but I wouldn't count on it.

This is men against boys. Rambos vs Barney Fifes.

The sorry Pistons have no business on the same court with the Milwaukee Bucks.

And it gets even worse for the Motown morons.

By squeaking into the playoffs, only to get blasted, they forfeited any chance of getting an impact player in the draft. Not that it would make any difference. This is the same club that saw the --cough- gag-barf-wisdom in giving a big slug like Andre Drummond a max contract.

Yep, he's paid right up there with the likes of Lebron James, Steph Curry, and James Hardin. Thing is, Drummond has little talent. He's not a ball handler, by any stretch of the imagination. Doesn't have a reliable jump shot. Is terrible at the free throw line. Shooting from three point range? Please. And slow of foot. His main assets? He's big, can clog up the paint on defense, and muscle a lot of rebounds. And they put their whole salary cap structure in a bind over a big ape like this? Amazing.

Then again, it probably should come as no surprise, given the brain fart mentality owner Tom Gores has shown so far.

He must know something about shuffling other peoples' money around in his day job, because one doesn't get to be a billionaire by accident.

But basketball/NBA wise, he appears dumber than your proverbial box of rocks.

This is the same guy that got the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Pistons, as part of the deal when he bought them a few years back.

The Palace was already completely paid for by his predecessor, the late William Davidson. And out of his own pocket, no less. You NEVER see that happen. The taxpayers always get dinged.

And the Palace was, and remains, a world class facility, located in an ideal location. In a no-crime suburb that has easy access to major roadways for easy fan entrances and exits.

So what did Gores, in HIS infinite wisdom, do? Packed up the team and moved it to the crime-ridden dregs of Detroit, where fans are relatively safe as long as they're within spiting distance of the arena, but not so much if they happen to take a wrong turn somewhere.

Even MORE astounding -- Gores now has to pay rent for moving the Pistons an arena that was built for hockey, specifically, the Detroit Red Wings sparking new Little Caesar's Arena.

Could it get possibly get any more wrong-headed than this?

Oh wait. Maybe. The Pistons claimed to have made a major coup by landing former Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.

Yeah? Isn't he the same guy that run out of Toronto -- fired -- last year, for his team under-performing year after year?

No matter how one looks at it, this is one clueless franchise, from ownership on down to coach and players.

And there are absolutely no signs, none, that it will get better any year soon.

Tiger mania. Yuck

One would have thought something truly monumental had just happened. Virtually all TV programming was interrupted for an emergency newscast. Same with radio stations. And the internet was burning up at this latest earth-shaking event.

Could another President have been assassinated?

Were nuclear weapons about to descend on us?

Had some alien race invaded earth?

As it turned out, thankfully, none of the above had occurred.

It was merely Eldrick Tont Woods, sometimes known as Tiger, having won a golf tournament. In this case, the Masters.

But oh my, people were going absolutely berserk with the news. I was almost afraid to look outside for fear Tiger groupies would be flogging themselves in the streets in utter bliss.

Such has become the Tiger phenomenon. And all this for a serial wife-cheater, who's as boorish and arrogant away from the cameras as he is charming in front of them. Or at least used to be. Yours truly crossed paths with dear Eldrick at a couple golf tourneys a while back as a member of the gallery.

He and his caddie evidently thought they were royalty. Out of the way peasants. Can't you see His Highness is coming through?

But that was a side of Eldrick most of the public never got to see. His public persona is all spiffed and polished.

So yes, I took a disliking to him.

As a golf fan, I've watched many a tournament on TV. Thing is, I'm the opposite of most. I'd much rather view a tourney when Woods is either not playing in it, or if he is, isn't in contention.That way the coverage is more fairly spread around to the other players, as it should be.

If Eldrick has an early tee time, that means he'll finish his round early, and while the talking heads will still find a way to talk about him, at least every other TV shot won't be about him. See Tiger talk to his caddie. See Tiger take a drink of water. See Tiger lining up his next shot. See Tiger eat a banana. See Tiger scratch his backside. See Tiger still lining up his shot. Tiger this. Tiger that. There's no end to it. Meanwhile, those roars in the background mean other players are hitting great shots we don't get to see. We'll be force fed replays of Tiger strokes, maybe even clips of him in past tournaments. Or a taped interview.

The blatant bias of the media in Tiger's favor is mind-boggling.

They want him to win. They NEED him to win.They openly root for him to win.

While it's true Woods is a black man in a predominantly white sport, consider if this were the other way around.

What do you think would happen if a white guy in a predominantly black man's sport were afforded the same level of attention?

The media and "politically correct" crowd would be screaming racism. Heads would roll at the networks. Congress might convene a special hearing to check into such unacceptable behavior.

But with Eldrick Tont it's OK?

Not for me. Not since I was unceremoniously shoved out of the way at the Buick Open a while back when the "privileged" were approaching. I was behind the ropes right where I was supposed to be. But Woods had hit an errant shot into the crowd and none of us knew exactly what to do. Regardless, there was no excuse for me and others to be treated the way we were, like we were some sort of throwaways. We had paid good money to be there, dammit.

So in conclusion, I'll sum it up this way.

While the legions of Tiger lemmings continue celebrating their hero's victory, there are those of us that would much rather see him just go away.

We are so, so sick of the wall-to-wall coverage of this guy being forced down our throats every time he so much as hiccups.

ESPN's Scott Van Pelt appears to be so infatuated and enamored of Tiger that, frankly, I'm a bit surprised he doesn't volunteer to go to Eldrick's home and offer his services as a pool boy, or doing lawn maintenance, or perhaps shining his shoes. Whatever it is, SVP has a seriously bad case of it.

Nonetheless, I recognize the confounding Tiger groupie syndrome isn't likely to change any time soon

They are what they are.

And I wish them happy flogging -- the poor devils.

Hateful things

There aren't a whole lot of things in life I hate. Liver's right up there. It's all in how you prepare it, some say? Hogwash. I don't care how you cook it -- I hate it. Same with sushi. Keep that nasty raw stuff away from me.

People that barge into conversations get my dander up. Mouthy bartenders, especially the female variety, are notorious for such crude behavior. I've told more than one -- "What make you think whatever it is you have to say is more important than what my friend and I were talking about? It's rude and classless." That usually backs them up a step, at least for a little while.

There are a few others, I suppose. But in the world of sports, I can boil my intense dislike down to three teams.

The Notre Dame ladies basketball program.

This is not so much against the players as the head coach and the school.

To me, Muffet McGraw is like nails scraping a chalkboard. See MM in her perfectly coiffed hairdo. Lots of goop? Are you kidding? A tornado wouldn't mess that up.  See MM in her painted on tight skirt. It's so tight she can only take one inch steps. Throw in the 6-inch hooker heels and it's a wonder she can walk at all.

The difference between McGraw and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, her long time nemesis? Geno's got class. When his team loses to McGraw, he's gracious and a gentleman. Win or lose, McGraw is catty and pompous.

Throw in those stupid leprechauns that follow Notre Dame around everywhere, and yep, I hate em.

Besides, the real Notre Dame is a cathedral in Paris. Last time I looked that was still in France. So where do they get off calling themselves the Fighting Irish? Can't they even get their countries right?

And now they've made the Finals of the NCAA hoops tournament. Again. I almost threw up when they won last year. So go Baylor. My motto is -- ABND. Anybody But Notre Dame.

The Dallas Cowboys.

Speaking of pompous and arrogant, how did those clowns ever figure themselves to be "America's team"?  Good grief, outside of the Dallas area -- 90% of the rest of the country hates them, just like I do.

Owner Jerry Jones continually comes off as the epitome of a snake oil salesman. Would you trust that guy to handle your finances? Not me. The more they lose, the better I like it.

Michigan State basketball -- particularly Tom Izzo.

The pundits keep telling us what a great basketball coach Tom Izzo is. Look at all the Final Fours he's been to. To which I say -- so what? The only things more over-rated than making the Final Four are political correctness and the Kardashians, both of which I have no use for either. They belong in the same category as the above-mentioned liver and that slimy eely crap.

Only in college hoops (and to a lesser extent, college hockey -- the Frozen Four), is making the semi-finals such a big deal. Thing is, three of them are going to lose, and nobody's going to remember them. It's nothing but a major marketing farce -- quite successful I might add -- that's been foisted on the gullible masses. Name any other sport -- tennis, football, baseball, etc, and they don't sound the trumpets and start throwing the rose petals for just getting to the semi-finals.

Izzo's won a grand total of one championship -- that almost twenty years ago. If coming in second, third, or fourth was such a big deal, consider Jack Nicklaus. He won 18 golf majors. If you throw in how many times he finished in the Top Four, that number probably goes up to fifty. Nobody cares about that, nor should they. So why should Izzo be heralded as such a hoops wizard when he's only cut down the nets once in his entire long coaching career? He's been pretty good, maybe even excellent. But no more than that.

So it gave yours truly great satisfaction to witness Texas Tech knock off his Spartans in this year's semis. Chalk up another Final Four appearance, but also chalk up another close but no cigar. Just another footnote for the stat geeks and Spartan groupies to ramble on about -- that meant nothing in the bigger picture. They got drilled by the Red Raiders. Period. What else matters?

One more thing. I hate liars. So you can imagine how I feel about a certain"chief executive".......... 

Michigan and the woodshed

One of two things has to be true. Either the Red Raiders of Texas Tech were underrated all year -- or the Michigan Wolverines were vastly overrated -- again.

Because the latter got taken to the proverbial woodshed by the former in a Sweet Sixteen game.

Michigan could only manage a paltry 16 points in the entire first half? And 44 total? That's more like a high school score, not a so-called "elite" program.

This was men against boys from the opening tip-off. Straight to the woodshed went the "proud" -- and they're always chock full of pride -- Wolverines.

Yeah, I know. Michigan made it all the way to the championship game last before getting drubbed by a vastly superior Villanova squad.

And many moons ago, the "Fab Five" was supposed to be all that. But they never won squat, always choking on the big stage. A bunch of hype and precious few results. All talk and no walk.

Just this year, Michigan was blistered by their in-state rival Michigan State, not once, not twice, but three times. Ouch. And the Spartans of MSU just kicked LSU to the curb in convincing fashion.

And now along come Texas Tech, a lower seed, and trashes them by 20 points or so.

Did I mention woodshed?

On related notes, a #1 seed finally went down. Few would have foreseen Auburn clobbering mighty North Carolna -- but they did.

Yours truly is surprised Virginia's still around. The Cavaliers have a long history of being great regular season teams but chokers once the tournament starts, dating all the way back to the Ralph Sampson days.

Who's going to win it all?

Not a clue, but I've been a closet Gonzaga fan for as long as I can remember. How can you root against a tiny private school tucked away in the far northwest corner of the country, when they have to go up against so many behemoths at this time every year?

Go Zags.

Yep, it's going to be a long flight back to Ann Arbor for Michigan.

And a while before they heal up from the thrashing they got in the woodshed. Hope they've got extra-soft pillows on the plane for them to sit on.

Man, that's gotta smart.

The Robert Kraft "gift"

Well OK, we've all heard about New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft getting caught up in a prostitution, human trafficking, night out on the town -- take your pick -- sting in Florida.

And of course he's pleaded not-guilty. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. But one thing he most DEFINITELY is -- is a billionaire.

Typically, "justice" works a little, make that a lot, different for folks like that as compared to the commoners. As in they'll get off with the proverbial slap on the wrist when John or Jane school teacher/plumber/truck driver -- take your pick again -- would get hammered for the same alleged offense.

But here's the thing. Whatever break the prosecuting people give Kraft -- and you just know there will be one -- they'll have to extend to the other poor every day saps caught up in the same mess. Anything less would reek of a double standard, and defense attorneys would be screaming in outrage, now to mention how the press would lambaste any prosecutors and judges that were a part of it.

So the moral of the story is ---

If you're gonna rock and roll with the "ladies of the evening" for a fair market price, it's a really good idea to do it when a really rich guy is in the house doing the same thing.

Consider it his "gift" to you.

The utter stupidity of Le'Veon Bell

I want to see athletes from whatever team succeed as much as the next guy/gal. And if they can get mega-bucks, by all means go for it. Though often times, players in many sports are dumber than bricks in real life, and would be lucky to get a menial job at minimum wage anywhere else in the marketplace.

Which brings me to one Le'Veon Bell, former running back of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He just got a full-spread story in Sports Illustrated penned by one Jenny Vrentas, who appears to be an idol worshiper of the highest order. But SI scribes are like that. Everybody's the greatest at something, and no criticism allowed. They live in their own politically correct cocoon.

No such limitations here. It is what it is, and sometimes it's just stupidity rearing it's moronic head.

Which brings me back to Le'Veon Bell. Football fans know he sat out the entire 2018 season because he refused to accept the "franchise tag" the Steelers were going to put on him. Thing is, the very definition of the franchise tag dictates a player will be paid the average of the top five other players around the league at the same position. Which is exactly what Bell was. A top-fiver. Good, even really good, but NOT eye-popping great. Nobody's going to mention Bell in the same sentence with folks like Jim Brown, OJ Simpson, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, and those of that class. It should also be noted that when Bell sat out, his replacement, one James Conner, stepped in and the Steelers never lost a beat in their running game. Conner was every bit as good as Bell. When THAT happens, the O-line is definitely worthy of praise for their blocking and opening holes, but they never get any.

But let's just look at the simple numbers of it all.

By turning down the franchise tag, Bell lost $14.5 million bucks. Flush. Gone. I'll get back to that.

Back in the summer of 2017, the Steelers also offered him a five year deal worth $12 million a year. I'm pretty sure that comes out to $60 million total. He also turned that down. Bear that in mind as well.

Just recently, he signed a four year deal with the NY Jets worth roughly $52 million, or about $13 million a year.

Even assuming he stays healthy, ya never know, he will have made far less money at the conclusion of the current contract than he would have under the one Pittsburgh offered him a while back.

How dumb is that?

And now he'll be playing for the woeful Jets. At least in Pittsburgh the Steelers were always contenders. Playoffs every year, and a proud and fabled history over the years to boot.

The Jets haven't been any good since the days of Joe Willy Namath, back when the Viet Nam war was raging. How long ago was that? And they're going to stink it up for next few years as well.

So Bell went from a winning franchise to a sad-sack outfit, for less money in the long run. It's reminisce of Golden Tate leaving a Super Bowl winning team in the beautiful city of Seattle -- to come to an historic bottom-feeding team like the Lions in the crime-ridden dregs of Detroit.

How colossally stupid is that?

And the Jets get a prima donna player who has a history of drug related offenses. If he's not smoking weed, he's skipping drug tests. Both will get a guy in trouble with the league.

Evidently, the stupid thing is contagious.

Or put another way -- monkey see, monkey do.

Yep, Bell and gullible scribes like Vrentas can claim a "win", but a hard objective look at the reality of it all suggests quite the opposite.

A pissed off sports fan

So there I was. Sitting in my favorite old chair.  Nuked leftover pizza? Check. Six-pack on ice? Check. My two little yorkie boys giving me looks of love? Well, kinda, though I suspect they had an ulterior motive (see pizza above).

And flipping back and forth between the PGA Valspar tourney and NCAA hoops. What could go wrong?

While watching golf on NBC, they broke into it with a "red alert" newscast. Holy cow. Were nukes incoming?

Nope, nothing near as exciting as that. Just an update on that pesky Mueller report that's been going on for so long.

Turns out, after almost two years, Mr. Mueller and his investigative crew drew "no conclusions" over whether Donald Trump and his family committed various crimes. Not enough evidence to charge them, but explicitly not a total vindication either. OK, got it. Now can we get back to golf?

Oh no. The same guy, reading from the same papers, had to say it all over again, and then again a third time.

To REALLY insult our intelligence, some female talking head that worked for the network asked him to clarify what had already been clearly stated three times. So on he went again.

Click. A commercial during the basketball game. Out of curiosity, I checked out the other major networks. Sure enough, they were all blathering on about the same "non-news". Over and over again, the very same stuff.

Hey, it's bad enough one network feels the need to keep repeating itself, but all of them? What is it with the herd mentality of these folks anyway?

Put it on CNN, a news network, and leave the sports alone, you idiots.

Finally, back to CBS, which was showing hoops. Ah man, a little behind the others, here's comes their "newsbreak" too. Yep, the same old tripe, only-- OMG -- it only lasted a couple minutes, which was all that was needed in the first place on all the other channels, then they returned to basketball.

And the moral of the story?

President here. Collusion there. Russians, witch hunts, slimy politicians, nefarious underlings everywhere. At the highest level of American politics.

But despite all that, not even those folks can, pardon the pun, trump March Madness.

Which is as it should be.

Golf maybe, but not the "tournament".

Best game of the Sweet Sixteen?

Gonzaga versus Florida State.

The Players Championship

Pity that pesky Spaniard, one Jon Rahm, shot a lights-out 64 on Saturday to take a one stroke lead in the PGA Players Championship.

For a while Brit Tommy Fleetwood and Irish lad Rory McIlroy were duking it out atop the leaderboard.

Yep, Fleetwood Mac was headlining the show again, some 40 years later. They should have played disco music in the background and threw in a few strobe lights.

Hard to say who will eventually win. Fleetwood's been lurking around the top in many tourneys of late but, alas, his collar seems to get a wee bit tight on Sundays. He's still looking for his first win.

Rory's been there, done that, and after a brief period where his game appeared to desert him, seems to be back in the groove again.

Young Rahm, if not already, will certainly be a force to contend with for the next couple decades.

Aussie Jason Day was out of synch for a while, but seems to have righted his golf ship and is in contention. Can't count him out.

Likewise Dustin Johnson, arguably the #1 player in the world. He's only a handful of strokes back. If he gets hot on Sunday......

The good thing about PGA tournaments these days? How the TV coverage gets its sanity back on the weekends, and that's likely not by choice.

Typically on Thursday and Friday, the TV folks turn the tourney into basically the Tiger Woods show. It's unbelievable how often they'll feature him on the air. Every shot. Then replays of same. They'll even throw in a few "highlights" from when Eldrick was playing in tournaments past. This, despite him usually being 5, 7, 10 strokes behind.  More out of contention the longer the play goes on.

What's good about the weekend?  If Eldrick does make the cut, it's usually barely. Which means he'll have early tee times on Saturday and Sunday. In other words, he'll just about have finished play before the contenders even start.

Even the obviously biased TV folks find it difficult to throw in a bunch of Tiger clips when he's not even playing any more. Hence, the coverage is more fairly spread around, as it should be.

True, they WILL find a way to interview him. That's seems to be mandatory, even if he's 10,12, 15 shots behind. Tiger this, Tiger that. If this was a white guy in the NBA, the networks would be blasted for blatant racism. But they keep jamming Eldrick down everybody's throat, even though he's won only one tournament in the last five years, and that not a major.

No offense to Jon Rahm. He seems like quite the gentleman, and this author wishes him well.

But I kinda liked the Fleetwood Mac angle.

Detroit Lions and laughable free agent signings

Well, the always sorry NFL Puddy-Tats of Motown are at it again. No doubt, they and their ever-faithful media and koolaided fans will claim the Lions made a big splash in free agency. Nothing could be further from the truth. All they've accomplished is getting a few has-beens at ridiculous prices.

Trey Flowers.

For all the hype, he's basically an average defensive lineman. Twenty one sacks in four years is hardly Hall of Fame material. But wait -- he came from the Patriots? Correct. They know when to let a player go, especially one that starts mouthing off about being worth a bazillion bucks, and will reload with a younger one. Can anybody doubt their ways of late?

Danny Amendola.

Also a former Patriot. The receiver got cut in New England, signed on with the woeful Miami Dolphins, and got cut there. Plus he's 34 years old. Not good enough for Miami, and Detroit thinks he's a big catch? Please.

Jesse James.

True, the Lions haven't had a decent tight end in forever, but THIS guy? I mean, who's next? Wild Bill Hickok? Annie Oakley?

Justin Coleman.

Supposedly the "answer" to complement Darius Slay at cornerback. You know, the self-proclaimed "Big Play" Slay. That he is. In any typical name, he'll get torched a couple times by opposing wide receivers on deep routes. And while Coleman was OK in Seattle, do you think the Seahawks would have let him go if they thought he had a major up-side?  Likely not. It's also telling that Coleman would opt out of a beautiful city like Seattle, which is a Super Bowl contender every year, to come to the crime-ridden dregs of Detroit, which hasn't sniffed one since Super Bowls started over a half century ago. Kinda like Golden Tate did a few years back. Not exactly mental heavyweights, those two.

The "Patriot connection" in Detroit has become yuk-worthy. General Manager Bob Quinn, who was only a mere scout for the Patriots, hence not nearly qualified to be a GM, has pretty much botched the drafts since he's been in charge of player procurement for the Lions.

Head coach Matt Patricia, formerly defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick, appeared clueless in his rookie season as the field general in Detroit.

And now the Lions have been busy signing a few former Patriot players to eye-popping contracts, and will no doubt claim they "made a killing"

That they did. They've killed themselves salary cap wise in the near future by signing a bunch of retreads to exorbitant contracts.

Just wait for the draft. It won't matter who the Lions take -- they'll proclaim from on high they made yet another "killing".

And yep, you can be sure the above mentioned media and eternal sappies will jump on the bandwagon once again. They always do. By God, this just might be the year, they'll scream

Um, no. It won't.

They keep forgetting the obvious.

It's still the same old Detroit Lions. Everybody is great, until they prove themselves to be busts.

And if there's a way to screw something up, rest assured they'll find it.

For whatever reason, it's just in their DNA. 

The ridiculous Antonio Brown

What is it with these idiots? You know, the ones that think soon-to-be former Pittsburgh Steeler receiver Antonio Brown is all THAT?

Sure, he's been a great player for several years. Tons of receptions and touchdowns scored. A leader in many categories.

But he's also 31 years old. Which means his best years are behind him.

On top of that, he's a show-off, prima donna, look-at me me me type guy, not to mention a locker room cancer.

If, as rumored, the Oakland Raiders want to take a flyer on this guy, one has to (further) question the sanity of Jon Gruden -- the $100 million man that has so far butchered the team in every conceivable way.

Antonio Brown is only going to be happy if the majority of passes come in his direction, and he doesn't have to do mundane chores such as -- gasp -- blocking on outside running plays, which he appears to have been incapable of doing anyway.

This dude and his 'tude can disrupt an entire team, so why, pray tell, would he be in hot demand?

Turns out, he isn't. Most teams know better than to take on an over-the-hill player that will want far more money than he's worth, with such a downside to boot.

Though he'd never say so, one can certainly speculate that Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin and the front office is glad to be rid of him. His liabilities are growing, while the asset side is rapidly shrinking.

Give him a couple years in Oakland -- a bad team from top to bottom -- getting blistered on the field most games, and the dear Mr. Brown may wish he hadn't burned that bridge back in Pittsburgh.

At least there he had a shot at the playoffs and, once in, who knows how far a team might go?

Ain't gonna happen in Oakland.

See ya, AB. You asked for it, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.   

Somebody's crazy

So the Philadelphia Phillies gave Bryce Harper a thirteen year contract worth $330 million bucks.

They're crazy.

Harper, now 26 years old, will obviously be the very ripe old baseball age of 39 by the time the Phillies are off the hook for this ludicrous contract.

When's the last time you heard of an everyday position player being any good past the age of 35?

Oh, but it gets even more ludicrous. Harper was a sub .250 hitter last year, is most definitely a sub-par defensive outfielder, strikes out a lot, and is an injury waiting to happen. And let's not forget he's not the easiest guy for teammates to get along with in the clubhouse. Can you say hot-head/prima donna?

Just when you think people can't get any stupider ---

Along comes a couple golf club commercials.

One says buy this driver and every tee shot is guaranteed to land in the fairway. Well then. How come the hot-shots on the PGA Tour aren't using it? Lord knows, they sure miss enough fairways trying to bomb the ball well over 300 yards.

And if you're crazy enough to be interested in that driver, you'll just love....

The guaranteed sand iron. Buy this little gem and your sand trap worries are over. No more flailing away in the ditch. Every shot guaranteed to land on the green.

Right.

And if you're stupid enough to plunk down money for either of these clubs, why not buy six or seven of each? One for every day of the week. Call now while supplies last -- you moron.

I saw where some Detroit area columnist said the best thing the Detroit Tigers could hope for was to play well enough in the early part of the year, so some of the "veterans" would have enough "value" to get rid of for future "prospects", thereby torpedoing the team even further for the next several years.

And that's just nuts.

The Robert Kraft sex fiasco

NFL fans know Robert Kraft is the owner of the New England Patriots. Pretty much everybody else knows he's also uber-rich, as in billionaire. Probably several times over.

And getting richer every day. As the honcho of the Kraft food empire, see mac and cheese, mayo, and a slew of other products folks buy every day by the millions, the money continues to pour in.

Yet it would appear Mr. Kraft is dumber than a brick in another respect.

How else to explain him getting caught up in a prostitution and/or "human trafficking" sting?

Yes, I get it. Men have their "needs", even old guys like Kraft. And given his wife died a while back, nobody would begrudge him if wanted to "get a little on the side" to satisfy his libido.

Stop right there.

How, pray tell, could he have possibly have wound up in this predicament? Sure, he denies any involvement, and he's innocent until proven guilty, just like everybody else. Time will tell -- maybe.

Just for the sake of argument, and perhaps stupidity, something yours truly excels at, let's just say he actually did it.

But this would he so colossally dumb, if true.

Consider. Your average billionaire has all kinds of contacts and connects. He/she can pick up a phone and call somebody to get most anything done.

It only seems logical then, that he would have somebody on his list that could facilitate getting in touch with a high-class call girl agency. They're out there, and very discreet as well.

And now a word from our sponsors. It's a lie. A blatant one. Some golf club company claims if you buy their latest and greatest driver, you'll never miss a fairway again. Guaranteed. Here's my question. Why aren't the touring pros, the best in the world, using it? They miss fairways all the time. Yet this "magic" club is foolproof, even for your average duffer? Please. What kind of idiot would fall for a advertising spiel like this?

Back to Bob.

Though I wouldn't know from personal experience, not being a billionaire, I'm pretty sure the above-mentioned "agencies" can provide Grade A cuisine for any man willing to pay enough for it. Beautiful women that will do anything to please/gratify a client.

And what can it cost? A few grand a pop? Definitely way out of my league, but chump change to a billionaire. Somebody like Kraft could have a different "companion", all equally gorgeous, every day/night of the year, if he wished.

Even if he had the stamina to "go" every night, 365 a year, at, say, $5000 a throw, add it up and it's still under two million bucks. Did I mention chump change in the world of a billionaire? Good grief, he probably makes a lot more than that every week through his food empire.

So why, tell me WHY, would somebody in his position, with infinite resources, stoop to going to a sleazy massage parlor looking to hook up for fun and games? Those are precisely the kind of places the vice squad boys and girls love to bust.

And it appears he got busted indeed. Sure, he and his high powered lawyers will probably figure a way out of it. Such is "justice", or the lack thereof, in America of late. Got enough dough, and you probably buy yourself a break from the law. Happens all the time, unless children, large quantities of drugs, or the dreaded "national security" come into play.

But had the mac and cheese man spent a few bucks he could easily afford for "steak" in the first place, instead of settling for "hamburger helper", he wouldn't be in this mess.

Dumb.

Dumb.

Dumb.

Down go the Dukies

So much for being #1. Coach K's boys just got ran out of their own building by cross-town rival North Carolina. You can't get thrashed by 16 points on your home court (or anywhere else for that matter) and expect to be considered the top team in the country. And it only got worse for the Blue Devils. Star play Zion Williamson, once considered the shoo-in #1 pick in the next NBA draft, went down with a knee injury, severity unknown. If he's out for any length of time, particularly when the NCAA tourney starts, Duke has NO shot. And if the injury is bad enough, who knows what it will do to his draft stock? Not good.

So that would seem to beg the question -- who is #1?

Tennessee was there for a while -- until they got throttled by Kentucky.

Virginia? They're pretty good but they always fold in the tournament.

Tiny little Gonzaga from the great northwest? They've historically been the little engine that stalls on the way up the mountain.

Michigan? Nah. Though they improbably made it to the title game last year, they're not good enough.

Nor is Michigan State.

Kansas always lurks, but they don't appear to be the real deal this year either.

Same with Louisville.

Once perennial powerhouses like UCLA and Arizona haven't made any noise in a long time.

It just goes to show you all this ranking stuff is a bunch of hooey in the first place. It doesn't matter one iota once the tournament field is set. Whoever wins THAT will be #1. Period.

And this year, it's shaping up to be a total crap shoot.

Any number of teams could get hot and pull it off. That's not even considering the injury factor. Ya never know about that stuff. See Duke above.

I'ms still rooting for the Zags (Bulldogs). What an incredible story it would be if a little school like that could become champions.

But do I think it will happen?

Nope.

Fingers crossed, though......

The insanity continues

Here we have a professional golfer. Between the PGA, European, Asian, and other tours, not to mention the "minor leagues", there's certainly an abundance of them.

See said golfer playing a tournament -- not a major -- just your average tourney, in California.

See him a whopping ten strokes back -- tied for 55th place, not quite through his second round of play, and hoping to make the cut. Barely.

If you were watching the tournament at home, would you expect to be bombarded by coverage of this guy?

Of course not. But this particular golfer's name is Eldrick Tont Woods, sometimes known as Tiger.

The insanity of the media, not to mention the hordes of lemmings faithfully following him around continues.

He's not even in the Top Ten of the rankings.

He's won a grand total of one -- count it -- ONE tournament in the last five years. Not a major at that.

But STILL they faun over him. Replay, after replay, after replay. Everything always revolves around Tiger. See Tiger drive. See Tiger putt. See Tiger eat a banana. See Tiger chat with his caddie. See Tiger scratch his rear end. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger mania is everywhere. It's like they WANT him to win. They NEED him to win.

And never mind the 54 other golfers that are ahead of him. The TV crews can't go more than 2 minutes without showing Eldrick on the air.

When any round is over, apparently Congress passed a law saying it's mandatory the media televise a live interview with Tiger.

Wake up in the middle of the night, flip on ESPN for a recap of the day's sports, and what will you see?

More Tiger highlights. Tiger eagled this hole and birdied that one. They don't show the viewer the holes he butchered in between to be so far back on the scoreboard.

There are those that continue to say Eldrick Tont Woods was/is good for golf. They wouldn't tune in if he weren't playing.

I'm quite the opposite. I find any tourney infinitely more interesting when he's NOT entered in it, or the final two rounds of one where he didn't make the cut.

Because when that happens the TV coverage is more evenly spread around among the top contenders, as it should be.

To boot, of late Woods appears to only play maybe once a month or so, cherry-picking his tournaments at venues he prefers, while the rest of the pros are grinding it out week after week here, there, and everywhere.

You can bet he'll go into hibernation a few weeks before the Masters in April, preparing himself for the conditions at Augusta National.

And I wouldn't be surprised if the media somehow found a way to televise a documentary of Eldrick's said preparations, while all the other superior golfers the world over are ignored while actually playing live action.

I won't even get into his serial infidelity as a husband. Or his temper-tantrum throwing infantile behavior on the course when things don't go his way. Or claiming to have walked an entire course while playing on a broken leg. Ridiculous, but the suckers bought it.

Yet in spite of his boorish behavior and self-entitled attitude over the years, I tried, I really tried to warm up to the guy.

But I can/t.

The more the media attempts to jam him down my throat, the more I come to dislike him. If they would only be impartial about it, I likely wouldn't harbor such feelings.

I, for one, will be SO glad when the time comes and Eldrick Tont is no longer relevant, as in so bad even the media can't spin the proverbial gold from his game of straw.

Game "better" with Tiger in it? Pshaw. It's decidedly worse, much worse, because of the blatant bias.

Patriots Super Bowl champs -- again

It probably shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to most football fans. After all, the New England Patriots WERE favored, though just slightly, to win another Super Bowl over the LA Rams.

And so they did. What WAS surprising was how both defenses were so effective. In what most, including yours truly, thought would be a high-scoring affair, it was anything but. A final score of 13-3 bears that out. Defense pretty much ruled.

Hats off to defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Pats. Holding the high-octane offense of the Rams to a mere field goal was impressive indeed. Rumors have it Flores will depart next year to take over the head-coaching job of the Miami Dolphins. Sure, he'll get a huge raise in pay -- welcome to the multi-millionaire club -- but last time I looked the Dolphins were still in the same division as the Pats. Which means they have no chance of winning it.

New England is amazing in that way. They just keep getting it done with guys most football fans never heard of, besides Tom Brady, of course. Running back Sony Michel was Rams' running back Todd Gurley's back-up at Georgia, but look who's hoisting the Lombardi Trophy now. Receiver Julian Edelman isn't tall, fast, or tough. But he drives defenders with the scat routes he runs and catches he makes.

Quick, name somebody on the Pats defense, or offensive line, for that matter. Betcha can't. None jumps out as a "notable" but together they play superbly as a team. That's coaching.

One need look no further than the current head coach of the Detroit Lions. Under Bill Belichick's tutelage, Matt Patricia was highly successful as the defensive coordinator for the Patriots.

One he got to Motown, he fell flat on his face, racking up a 6-10 record in his rookie season. And it surely doesn't look like the Lions will be any better next year. Same with Detroit general manager Bob Quinn, another former Patriot employee. True, he was only a measly scout in New England, but the Lions' "brain trust", and I use that term with tongue planted firmly in cheek, somehow came to the genius conclusion that Quinn had the credentials to be a general manager. As a scout, this guy knew about as much about negotiating player contracts and salary caps as your average legal assistant would know about arguing a case in front of the Supreme Court. Is it any wonder he's crashed and burned so badly?

But in contrast to New England, that's the Detroit way. Hire an incompetent, and stick by him for years. It took the Lions eight -- count em -- EIGHT years to realize buffoon Matt Millen running the franchise was a bad idea.

Nevertheless, all hail the New England Patriots, Super Bowl champions -- again. They get to have another parade while 31 other NFL teams don't.

Is anybody really surprised?

Hero worshiping fools

There was a time many years back when many golf fans and pundits would bet on Tiger Woods to win any particular tournament over the rest of the entire field.

And it wasn't a bad bet. From the late 90s to maybe 2008, Woods had the most dominant decade the golf world had even seen, seemingly winning damn near everything.

But that was then. Fast forward. Now is a lot different.

Eldrick Tont has won a grand total of one tournament in the past five years. It just happened to be the last one of the prior golf season.

Yet fools persist. Some have the audacity -- see stupid -- to think taking Woods over the entire field today is a decent bet.

The various world golf rankings have dear Tiger somewhere between #10 and #20. And they want to take THIS guy over the entire field? HAHAHAHAHAHA.

A much more appropriate bet would be wagering on if Eldrick will make the cut in any tournament. That's about a coin flip these days.

Former NY Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera is another example of duh getting in the way of common sense.

Soon to be up for Hall of Fame consideration, some geniuses think he might be the first guy to score 100% on the first ballot of Hall voters.

Please.

The dude was a relief pitcher. Granted, a very good one, but still very limited in his abilities. He was only good for pitching one inning -- two tops. He never had to bat, or run the bases, or field anything other than the occasional ground ball back to the pitcher's mound. Truly a one dimensional player with little stamina at that.

Yet again, fools persist. Somehow they've come to the mind-numbing conclusion that this guy is more worthy of Cooperstown than the likes of Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, or Ty Cobb, the very first inductee. But none of them got 100% of the votes. What are these people smoking anyway?

To boot, how in the HELL did Cal Ripken Jr. receive the highest percentage of votes ever? There was nothing spectacular about him. Pretty good fielder, decent hitter, average arm, and no speed to speak of. He just played a long time, breaking Lou Gehrig's "Iron Man" record. And he wouldn't have done that if his daddy hadn't been his manager for so many years with the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken often played while he was hurt, to the detriment of the team. No other manager would have allowed that.

It's the whole "hero" thing. Everybody's a hero these days. Cops for merely doing their jobs. And OMG, anybody in the military. Heroes all. They're handing out medals faster than your average Olympics.

Case in point. Not long ago, yours truly worked alongside a guy that used to be in the US Navy. He enlisted to serve his country, and hopefully get to sail hither and yon seeing parts of the world he would never have a chance of seeing otherwise. He was in for four years.

And never set foot on a ship.

Nope, according to my bud, he wound up doing most of his time in Norfolk -- he called it "No-f-ck" Virginia, at a big naval base there.

So while others were in the "sea-going" Navy, by his account he was in the "golf-playing" Navy.

And still he received various medals, another regular "hero", which he laughs about to this day.

Heroes, heroes, everywhere.

Everybody's the greatest -- until the next one comes along in about 15 minutes.

It not only takes away from those that are truly deserving of the honor, but is getting so watered down as to be sickening.

NFL playoff results

Two games. Both went into overtime. Pretty weird. Both visiting teams won. Weirder yet.

In the NFC contest, one thing was for sure. An Irish head coach named Sean was going to win. Also the same was going to lose.

And the New Orleans Saints got jobbed. Ripped off. About as close to cheating as you can get.

With a chance to put the game away, Drew Brees lofted a pass to running back Alvin Kamara, and Kamara got blasted -- before the ball got there by an LA Rams defensive back. It was blatant. Obvious. But no flag.

How in the world can the supposed "best" officials in the league have missed it? Sean Payton and his crew have every reason to be pissed. You'd think in a game of this magnitude, the refs could at least get it right on such an "in your face" play. Good grief, Stevie Wonder could have seen that foul.

Well OK, maybe those things happen once in a while. And all credit to the Rams place kicker, one Greg Zuerlein. With a chance to officially win the game, he nailed a whopping 57 yard field goal. To boot, no pun intended, it was even more impressive considering the ball was about as high as the top of the goalposts when it sailed through. That kick would have been good from 70 yards, maybe 75. A colossal boot it was. It's only a matter of time before the current field goal record of 64 yards falls. A team just has to be in the right position, at the right time of the game. Just before the half, or towards the end like this one.

So the Rams head to the Super Bowl, and good for them. In a few days everybody will forget about the blown call, except maybe the Saints. But it doesn't matter. What's done is done. They will face.....


The New England Patriots, who damn near needed a miracle themselves to squeak by the KC Chiefs. Between Tom Brady and his receivers, they were quite un-Patriot like. See the Pats up 7-0 getting ready to score another TD. And Brady makes a bone-headed throw into the end zone where his pass was intercepted.

As the game went on and KC finally got something going, it looked for the longest time as if that pick would come back to haunt #12 and the Pats. Maybe cost them the game. Also, his receivers kept having the ball go through their hands winding up being intercepted as well. And who's that tight end of the Pats with the hands of stone? Betcha he won't be there next year.

Still, when crunch time was on -- as in OT, old #12 pulled another rabbit out of his hat. He marched the Pats down for the winning TD. Game over.

Yet that also didn't seem fair. OK, the Pats won the coin toss and elected to receive in OT. Of course they did.

Thing is, the Chiefs and QB Patrick Mahomes never even got the ball. It's a weird rule in the NFL. If the team that initially has the ball scores a TD, it's game over. But if they only get a field goal, the other team gets a chance to tie or win the game. How can that possibly be righteous? In this case, it all boiled down to the fifty-fifty chance of winning a coin flip. So like Sean Payton, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid probably isn't too happy right about now either.Maybe the powers that be in the NFL will finally get their heads out of their arses and see now dumb this rule is. And change it.

Nevertheless,it will be the New England Patriots squaring off against the LA Rams in the Super Bowl in Atlanta.

And a dandy of a game it should be.

Bring it on.

NFL playoffs

To no great surprise, the top two seeds in each conference have made it to the finals. And a couple of good games they should be indeed.

New England @ Kansas City.

A tough call. Young KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been quite the sensation all year, even among the runners for MVP. And the Chiefs ARE playing at home, at probably the loudest stadium in the entire league. An offensive dynamo to be sure. Lots of points.

But they also give up lots of points. Not so good on the defensive side.

Once again, Bellichick, Brady and Co. seem to be getting it done with smoke and mirrors. Who is this Tony Michel running back that nobody ever heard of before? For that matter, only the Pats could make stars out of receivers like Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan. Quick, name anybody on New England's defense. I can't, but they seem to get the job done. That's some seriously good coaching.

Given home field is a 3 point advantage, the bookies listing KC as 3 point favorite means they consider the teams even otherwise.

And, as mentioned above, KC is a mighty tough place for any visiting team to play.

Still, it's Brady and it's the conference finals. Against a rookie on the other side.

Bet against the Pats at your own peril. I like them to prevail in this contest.

And now a word from our sponsors.

While channel surfing various sports shows, yours truly came across an ad from Tata Technologies. Not sure what product they produce, but given a name like that, my first guess would be some sort of push-up bras or breast implants. Would seem to make sense, but no time for that nonsense.  Click.

LA Rams @ New Orleans Saints.

Lots of similarities to the AFC contest. A young hotshot QB in Jerod Goff going up against the wily old veteran Drew Brees. Both offenses can score a ton of points. And once again, the Vegas wise guys have the home team as a 3 point favorite.

Another tough call. But despite the Rams having arguably the best defensive player in the league in Aaron Donald, truly a beast on the D-line, the Saints are capable of playing some serious team defense. And the Rams have shown a few chinks in their armor in recent weeks.

Gimme the Saints to win, but not sure if they'll cover. Think it will be a close one, the proverbial nail biter, maybe even a last second field goal deciding it.

Nonetheless, these are four REALLY good teams -- nary a pretender in the bunch -- slugging it out. And that's the way it should be.

Bring it on.

The Sports Illustrated kiss of death

I admit it. I've been a subscriber to Sports Illustrated for many, many years. Hey, a guy has to have SOMETHING to read while on the "throne". And since Mad magazine underwent a wholesale "makeover", which has resulted in it being decidedly not interesting nor remotely humorous anymore, these are desperate times.

But one thing remains constant. The Sports Illustrated kiss of death. Their "cover jinx" has become almost legendary. If they feature an athlete on said cover, you can pretty much bet he or she is going crash and burn sometime soon.

The most recent issue is a good example. See SI plaster Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on the cover, replete with such lofty praise as "might be best SEC QB ever", and "main man".

See TT and the Crimson Tide get absolutely scorched by Clemson in the national title game. 44-16 isn't exactly a close call. It was a blow-out and probably should have been even worse. See TT throwing interceptions, getting sacked on crucial plays, and finally getting yanked out of the game because he was so ineffective. Heckuva job, SI. You've done it again.

See SI talk about the "playoff bound" Minnesota Vikings. BANG. See the purple gang get smoked at home in the final regular season game and find themselves out of said playoffs. Heckuva job, SI. You've done it again.

Over the years, see SI's NFL "guru" Peter King make his fearless, and most often clueless predictions as to how the playoffs will turn out. It has become evident over the years that Mr. King couldn't "pick" his nose with a power auger, let alone be a reliable handicapper of football games. Who are the nitwits that keep referring to this guy as some sort of Nostradamus? Murphy's Law would be more like it. If there's any possible way King can get it wrong, rest assured he WILL get it wrong.

And finally on the same cover SI refers to one William Nack. I'd never heard of him before, but evidently he was quite the authority on the Kentucky Derby. His "final masterpiece" contained in the issue was quite touching and inspiring at that.

Thing is, Mr. Nack has been deceased since last April. According to my math, that means it took SI nine months to get around to publishing his story after he died.

But perhaps something good, or at least not bad, is afoot here. Considering Mr. Nack has long been dead, it would really tough for even Sports Illustrated to jinx him any further.

Here's what every sports fan should hope for.

That SI does not, repeat NOT feature their favorite player or team with an article, much less put he/she/it on the cover.

Cuz if they do, one way or the other, chances are they're going down.

Perhaps spectacularly in a ball of flames, like the above-mentioned Tua Tagovailoa. See his potential NFL draft stock go from likely first-rounder to maybe even not being on the board any longer. Unless he recovers in the next year or to at Bama, no given.

Yep, heckuva job, SI.

You've indeed done it again.

More REALLY dumb things

So the NY Jets have hired former Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase as THEIR new head coach? True, Todd Bowles was a clueless disaster during his tenure there, but Gase? Isn't he the same clown that presided over the floundering Dolphins the last few years? That's like up-dating your old Yugo with an equally old Ford Pinto. Dumb.

See the talking heads already yapping about who should be the MVP of the NBA this year. Last time I looked, the season was only about half way through. Guys that had a great first half might tank in the second -- and vice versa. Guys can get hurt. Any number of things can happen before the regular season is over. To talk about this nonsense now is, well, dumb.

See the constant rumor that former Detroit Piston Chauncey Billups might be hired somewhere in the NBA as either a head coach, or, OMG, general manager. Hey, this guy can barely speak coherently on the afternoon sports talk shows. And some club is going to pay him countless millions to lead them to the proverbial "promised land"? Good luck with THAT. Dumb.

I LOL every time I hear the chant of "Tiger is back". Back from what? Being a serial wife-cheater? Acting like a royal spoiled brat away from the cameras but a perfect gentleman when he knows they're rolling? Cursing and otherwise behaving like a heathen on the course when things don't go his way? Shamelessly still taking millions of dollars in endorsements when he hasn't been remotely competitive for years? Oh wait, don't tell me. He's found love interest in something that isn't a white, blond girl. You know what's REALLY dumb about all this? The thousands of lemmings that still consider Eldrick Tont their hero. A role model even. What comes after REALLY dumb on the stupid scale?

Here's what I want to know. If the Green Bay Packers are indeed owned by their "fans", then who decides who their President, GM, and other front office personnel will be? As in, has the power to hired and fire coaches. Do they have an annual caucus? Town hall meetings? Or has this always been a farce, a scam played on the gullible fans? After all, apparently they can "buy in" but never "sell". What kind of shyster scheme is this? Would you invest in that? I love the city of Green Bay, but this is dumb, and quite possibly illegal.

But the REALLY dumbest thing of the week?

Yours truly.

I thought Alabama would easily defeat Clemson.

So OK, I'm an idiot.

But it did my heart a lot of good to see Nick "the prick" Saban and his Tide machine get so thoroughly trashed on national TV.

Love ya, Dabo Swinney, and the way you're going about things with such unbridled joy, happiness, and enthusiasm.

Nothing dumb about that at all.

Just old-fashioned good stuff from the heart.

And it's kinda catchy.

All hail Clemson. National Champions!!!

Yours truly had to see it to believe it. Yeah, I knew Clemson was a really good team, but beating mighty Alabama for all the marbles seemed to be a bit much. Even the bookies saw it that way, with the Tide going off as about a 5-6 point favorite.

What NOBODY expected was the absolute beat down the Tigers put on Nick Sabin's crew. 44-16 speaks for itself.

This, with star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence out of the game and a true freshman quarterback in Trevor Lawrence. No relation, pretty sure. They certainly don't look anything alike. LOL

So Clemson becomes the first and only team in the "playoff era" to finish a perfect season at 15-0. With a resounding thrashing of Alabama to cap it off.

True, Clemson had a couple close calls along the way. They barely got past Texas A&M on the road, and curiously enough lowly Syracuse gave them a scare at home. But those sort of things happen during the course of a long season. True champions find a way to win when they're not playing at their best.

The two game playoff itself showed a whole different story. In the semis they throttled a previously undefeated Notre Dame team to the tune of 30-3. Roughly four touchdowns worth. Yeah, I know. The Irish are typically over-rated, but they'd clawed their way up to #3 in the national rankings, so that's saying something.

Yet most thought #1 ranked Alabama was the best team in the country. Maybe Clemson could "hang" with them, but knock them off? Highly unlikely.

And then BAM. Along comes the 44-16 slaughter mentioned above. Speaking of four touchdowns worth.....

So yep, all hail Dabo Swinney and his mighty orange Tigers.

Worthy champions indeed.

And the Alabama faithful notwithstanding, count me among those that got a great deal of satisfaction watching one Nick Sabin and his bunch get taken to the woodshed.

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Kinda gets ya right -- urp -- there -- ya know?

NFL Wild card weekend

So there I was, sitting at a local watering hole playing a video game, and minding my own business. Full disclosure --  my significant other, sometimes known as a girlfriend/old lady,whatever, is the bartender at that particular establishment on Saturdays until six. Which means I normally get pretty good service, unless I've pissed her off about something. Today was not one of those days. I was in good standing. Thank you for small favors, lord.

Then in walked a stranger who plopped down next to me and asked if he could change the channel on one of the TVs closest to us. I didn't care. Wasn't watching it anyway. Turns out, the Indy/Houston game was getting underway.

DAMN!! I forgot all about wild card weekend in the NFL. Saturday games. Only one thing to do. Pay up, go home, nuke something, and settle in. Bye hon, but gotta go. You know how it is. XOXOX.

First was a game I had a hard time rooting against either team. Who can muster much hate for a guy like Andrew Luck, that's suffered through so much, or a guy like J. J. Watt, who has contributed so much to worthy causes? So I didn't care which teams prevailed. (Turned out to be Indy). Not at all sure how well they'll fare at KC next week, but we'll see.

The good news was -- one of these teams had to win. The bad news was, one of them had to go bye-bye until next year.

The later game was the exact opposite. Dallas and Seattle?  I have a really hard time finding a reason to root for either.

Seahawks' head coach Pete Carroll is a loathsome creature. A few years back, he ran a crooked program at USC, it got busted and slapped with various "sanctions", but Carroll didn't care. He bailed north to Seattle for the big bucks in the NFL leaving the Trojans to deal with the mess he created in the first place. And every time I see him with his little bitty teeth (never trust a guy with rodent choppers -- there's a rat lurking not far under the surface) and chewing gum rapid-fire like your average shyster used car salesman, it makes my stomach turn.

OTOH, there's Dallas. That entails the equally loathsome Jerry Jones, the farce of them calling themselves "America's team", and the bimbo cheer-leaders, who, if you added all their IQs together, might equate to maybe your average potted plant.

The good news is -- one of them has to lose. See ya. The bad news is, one of them gets to play again next week. Arrgh.

It's unknown where one of these unlikables will play next week. Either @ LA Rams, or @ New Orleans. Depends on how the Philly/Chitown game turns out tomorrow.

But regardless, I'll know for sure who to root for, and against, in THAT game.