Friday Bloody Friday

The Yard wants to harpoon the Sterling’s as they try to steal the soul of the Clippers. The Dodgers are starting to play to their potential although still struggling to stay above .500. The Lakers may never find that level again. We will get back on topic soon but none of it really matters this week. Six students will never attend another class, keg party, or graduate. We can only hope their murderer will burn in hell for the young lives that were snuffed in an explosion of narcissism. Elliot, was your life that bad with your fancy cars, sunglasses and You Tube career? You want to see a difficult world just drive south on 101 and see all of the workers in the fields. They are not fretting about not getting laid, they are picking strawberries so their families can eat. You so wanted to experience sex. You should have tried to survive and the court system would have helped you achieve that dream. To say you are a loser would be giving losers a bad name. Mr. Martinez outrage at his son being killed is understandable and something no parent ever wants to experience. Guns have been part of this culture and the economy since our fight for Independence. Our forefathers wanted the second amendment to ensure there were armed militias when the British came on land. The guerilla tactics of those militias helped gain our freedom. There was very little evidence of social alienation in 1776. It was a fight for survival not acceptance. Since that time, the evolution of guns has produced arsenals capable of taking down an army let alone a Red Coat. It is too late to put the silly string back in the canister. It will never change in our lifetimes no matter how many times events like this past weekend occur. If 26 people getting killed at Sandy Hook Elementary does not lead to change, it is doubtful anything will. We do not own a gun. We are not advocates or opponents of the gun lobby for reasons just stated. The Yard would suggest that the NSA with all of their snooping computers and advanced statistical algorithms should be working on being able to predict these events. If you believe Mr. Snowden, the technology is there just pointed at the wrong enemy. We are not analysts but there are some common themes in all of these mass killings. 90% of these lunatics are 16-22 year old white males. They are social outcasts who feel society needs to be punished for their inability to integrate into the mainstream. Most of these deranged minds documented their plans well in advance in diaries, social media, on web sites and to those around them. Every one of them does not turn into a killer but it is better to know who they are and if they are armed in advance. Everyone seemed to know that Rodgers was a ticking time bomb but there was no apparent course of action. His parents sent the Sheriffs to go visit him and he made nice and they left. Is there not a national database of registered guns? He had both handguns used in the killings when the sheriff visited. Couldn’t the sheriff query that and say, the kid seemed ok but has he recently bought any handguns? Oh look, he purchased a Sig Sauer last year. What is this dweeb going to use that for besides shooting up Isla Vista? The age of consent should be 25+ years old and the purchaser should have to bring three credible witnesses to vouch for their sanity. Whoever the gun owner was who sold Elliott the weapons should have known just looking at that kid, this is not smart. Why does a nerd like that need a weapon like this if at all? We do not think he was any less creepy that day in the store than as seen on You Tube. He did have cash. This piece may be way off topic for the Yard but it hit close to home. With random violence permeating our society it is easy to keep moving along the walkway of life after a moment of silence. 153 people have been shot and killed on school campuses since 1996 with hundreds more injured some permanently. My son is senior at UCSB. Several of our friends have children attending this fine institution. Waking up on a Saturday morning to news that there has been carnage at your child’s school and you cannot reach your child, is a harrowing frozen moment. For 12 parents, they will never hear from their child again. Ours was camping with friends and out of the kill zone. Theirs were conducting routine innocuous events on a Friday night that they will never do again. As a society, we are not going to eradicate guns or psychos but we can try to come up with formulas that identify the ones that are armed and keep the rest from getting armed. Godspeed.

Viva Los Clippers!

The Yard coalesced into an all-inclusive excursion via Cancun this past week. It was a gradual filtration into a tequila fueled Mexican ambience. Relaxed nonsense was the way and the light. Tony at the Yard was a pineapple wedge away from the next Negro Modelo most days. Our thoughts were far from the last blog that went to press. It was not from lack of keystrokes. The Laker 2014 mess was written about long before Phil got dissed. Another John Calipari coached team missing free throws on the way to losing in the finals was another stored diatribe. The relevance of thought expired before we executed the post. Then Donald Sterling was recorded with his whiny ass racist rant. The Yard’s most hated target since our first syllables of Yardiot was being flayed publicly. It was a beautiful day at the Yard. Animosity festers the breathy words of contempt. God Bless you TMZ! In this turd storm, no one is coming out well. Yard contempt for this Donald is well documented. He showed his true colors a very long time ago to anyone who followed the Yard or any other major media outlet. This is a reality show more compelling than the Kardashian’s and more disturbing than Duck Dynasty. There is an 80 year old lizard, a 20+ year old rat, the NAACP, and the estranged wife all distilled to us through the spigot of TMZ. WTF! Los Angeles has never been a Clipper town since the Lizard King moved them up on the coat tails of Jerry Buss. He followed Jerry’s every move like a creepy uncle with a Polaroid camera. Los Angeles never embraced Sterling and he really never seemed to care. McCourt was as reviled and the more he cared the more we hated him. Sterling figured it was best to yell from the sidelines not in the newspapers. He gave interviews as often as he gave depositions...never. Many of both were requested, never were they granted. Apparently, the 20 year old mistress with the $1.8 million home had the best access to his soul or whatever was there as a placeholder. It seems fortuitous that these coerced Sterling sentiments hit the internet with the news of his mistress’s pending lawsuit by Mrs. Sterling. Shelly Sterling launched a preemptive strike to retain her 50% of any community property Sterling gave to another woman outside of their estranged marriage. She never expected it to jeopardize their most valuable asset-The Clippers. She chased her $2 million from Donald’s mistress. The mistress blew the $1.2 billion palace up. As outrageous as Sterling’s recorded comments were, is that surprising? In 2005, he is the primary owner of a corporation that was fined by the US government $2.7 million for directing corporate property managers not to rent to minorities and young parents. This was not a guideline, it was in the policy manual. They were also charged $5 million in legal fees to the plaintiffs. Sterling’s company vigorously fought “these baseless allegations” and then settled without admitting guilt. Apparently $7.7 million absolves a lot of sins. The Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP gave Sterling a Lifetime Achievement award in 2009 and another was slated for next month. It is unclear to us how the Donald would deserve any award let alone an award for his body of work in the advancement of colored people. If the NAACP wants to recognize a lifetime achiever, recognize Elgin Baylor. He toiled away for a lost decade with the Lakers beginning in Minneapolis and then being the first star in Los Angeles basketball history. Jerry West and Elgin fought the Celtics often trying to bring a title to Los Angeles. Elgin retired at the moment the Lakers went on a 33 game winning streak on the way to Jerry West’s only title in 1969. Jerry built Laker championship teams as an executive. Donald Sterling bought the Clippers for $13 million dollars. He made more money than any owner every year while making improvements like a landlord under rent control. Sterling figured he might try hiring a Laker Legend to spread some pixie dust across his moribund franchise. When Sterling rarely re-signed lottery picks, Baylor was left to loyally explain why insanity was best for the team. Baylor was one of the lowest paid executives in the NBA. Sterling let Baylor twist in the marginalized air of his private convictions. Sterling needed Baylor to enhance the public persona he advertised in the Los Angeles Times three times each week. In his 22 years of service, Elgin understood who and what Sterling was and is. He sued and alleged discriminatory practices and beliefs by Sterling. His case was dismissed. NBA Commissioner David Stern sat by and let the legal system its due process during each of Sterling’s discrimination lawsuits. He never questioned or faulted Sterling while the Federal government was finding his corporation guilty of egregious crimes against minority and low income renters. The NBA was silent when Elgin brought suit and claimed that Sterling was the man we all know so well now. David Stern rewarded Sterling by voiding the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers and handing him to the Clippers. This is not bitter Laker fan, this is NBA fan wondering what the beloved Stern was thinking. Sterling is a bad guy. He is despicable and this not a revelation. Stern enabled him to finally succeed as an owner in spite of his well-documented discriminatory corporate practices. We have heard the last of Donald Sterling, we think not. We do not expect a mea culpa with Oprah or Al Sharpton on network television. The Yard legal team surmised he will pursue legal action against the NBA if he is forced to sell the team. He is not going to go quietly into the night and disappear. Sterling has acquired many assets in his fortune. He has never sold any of them. He is not going to sell the Clippers without a fight. He will never again be on the sidelines at a Clipper game in his Jabba the Hut starter suit but these are early stages of this LA tragedy. The Yard has adopted the Clippers as our new favorite team. We hate Sterling and all he stands for but this is proud solid team with a world class coach. Doc Rivers has to be in the toughest position of his career. He is being asked to coach important games while being asked questions no coach should have to answer ever. Rivers is a distinguished coach, in a major market, doing an outstanding job for man who does not want to be associated with his kind. The Yard will root the Clippers on as far as they go. We will not attend a single game but we were not going to do that anyways. We hope they rally behind our common enemy, their owner, in a fight to the finish. It is a good team and we will cheer from our sofa. Clipper season ticket holder, you are all in already. Donald has your money, go to game and root for that team. Clipper Fan, we are with you! The Donald does not need any more of your dough but this team deserves your support. Would there be no better moment in the history of sports than to have a championship team spraying champagne, holding aloft the trophy while giving this dickhead the one gun salute?