The Subjects of Summer

 London was having some party this past weekend.  The British footballers navigated their way to the European Cup finals vs. Italy at historic Wembley Stadium.  Alas, the Brits lost 4 of 5 times in the Euro Cup Finals.   Novak Djokovic was across town winning Wimbledon on his third stop towards Grand Slam history.    The Brits love Wimbledon but there are very few British Champions to root for these past decades. The British are passionate about their soccer.  It has been decades of malaise at key moments since their last championship in 1966.  European soccer’s hooligan underbelly exploded like the first Alien movie before and after the championship match. People crashed the gate to gain access to the event.  After the devastating loss,  the three black athletes whose efforts earned their way to the finals, had their social media accounts blown up with racist abuse.  They all missed their penalty kicks as many had before wearing the  Union Jack in defeat.  Their crimes were missing an important shot while being black.   

The carriage of justice is meted out daily with minimal fanfare.  The miscarriages get all the attention.  One such example would be the Pennsylvania Supreme Court releasing Bill Cosby from prison prematurely.  Dr. Huxtable had a deal with the PA DA that provided him immunity during a deposition in a civil proceeding. Coz revealed that he laced cocktails with Quaaludes and took advantage of compromised females.  He did purchase the woman’s silence following his disclosures.  The DA felt there was not enough to indict the famous man who was willing to pay $3.5 million to bury Cosby’s deed. #Metoo years later the details of Cosby’s testimony were publicly released.  The onslaught of victims morphed into an army of the outraged and deservedly so.  All their stories had eerily similar narratives with Cosby always finishing on top. In court, Cosby contended that he had a deal in place that was violated.  He did not mention his repeated violations of his other accusers just of his original golden ticket deal.  His spokesperson contended that the PA Supreme Court had corrected another instance of black injustice.  That was a bold stroke with 60 women of all colors calling out the former Jell-O spokesman.  Yard sources have heard Cosby is not going back on tour but may join the celebrity bartender circuit. #NodrinksfromCosby

Yard summer interns have calculated that Tommy John has never received a dime for his world-famous surgery.  Granted Dr. Frank Jobe introduced, engineered, and performed the surgery in 1974 on Mr. John.  Tommy won more games after the surgery(164) than he did before the surgery (124).  In his second season after surgery, he won 20 games for the first time in his career.  He pitched in three World Series after the knife.  He pitched for the Dodgers while losing to the Yankees in 1977 & 1978.  He signed as a free agent with the Yankees just in time to lose to the Dodgers in 1981. WS setbacks aside,  his bionic arm allowed John to pitch until he was 46. His ubiquitous surgery lives on at all levels of baseball.  Pitchers are now strategizing when to have Tommy John surgery not if.  It is thought better to get it earlier in your career rather than wait until it is needed.  The Yard takes exception that Tommy John never got his due from his willingness to try this revolutionary procedure.  He became living proof that the surgery was effective.  Kerlan-Jobe made a fortune administering and billing for thousands of surgeries.  John did not even get the back end on the T Shirt concession.  John Smoltz, Jacob DeGrom, Stephen Strasburg, and Adam Wainwright are all pitching at Cy Young levels after TJ surgery.  John has never sniffed the HOF.  He won 288 games over his 26-year career and never got more than 32% of the required vote. He deserves to be there for the sacrifice he made that forever changed the game I love.  #TommyJohnHOF.

Allyson Felix is the most decorated female Olympian in US track and field history.  She is tied for the most ever in the universe with nine Olympic medals.  She is heading to Tokyo to hopefully break the tie with Merlene Ottey of Jamaica.  Felix is an exceptionally fast woman, devoted mother, and fierce advocate.  Nike had supported Felix for many years and featured her prominently while checking their diversity boxes.  Felix expected Nike to support her when she let them know she was pregnant.  Nike responded by telling the expectant mother that her new agreement would pay her 70% of normal.  So, while Felix was anything but normal with her first child coming, Nike wants to pay her less.  In the middle of this negotiation, Nike asked Felix to participate in a female empowerment campaign.  She was repulsed by Nike’s duplicity and deservedly so.  They asked athlete Allyson to endorse their support of females while asking Mother Allyson to take a discount because she got pregnant and could not run the 400 meters for a year.  Nike has never asked a male athlete to take the same discount.  Nike showed the level of their swope with their treatment of Felix.  Allyson Felix is the bomb, an icon, and a hero.  We will be rooting her to medals and the introduction of her new competitive shoe line. #FU-Nike.

The Yard has never followed Women’s basketball that closely except for the Olympics or when the UCLA women are relevant.  The Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA have attained our attention with their run to the WNBA finals in last year’s bubble.  They are even better this year with 6’8” Liz Cambage back from COVID Opt-out and Kelsey Plum from injury.  They have been fun to watch and lead the league in scoring.  The best thing about the Aces is their head coach Bill Laimbeer.  As a Laker Fan, Laimbeer’s Bad Boys of Detroit Piston fame were the Laker nemesis at the end of the Show Time era.  The Lake show held them off the young Pistons in 1988 but the wolves were circling the campfire.  The Pistons swept the Lakers in 1989.  Laimbeer was the scowling leader of this band of chips on their shoulders.  He seemed to have a perpetual black eye and elbows that would level MJ in his prime.  The Last Dance was a fun documentary of Michael Jordan hero worship.  Laimbeer was the one person that would not blow sunshine up Jordan’s sphincter.  He called him a whiner because the Pistons bludgeoned MJ’s Bulls and they did.  The team is fun to watch, and Aces Chelsea Gray and Aja Wilson will be representing the US in the traditional Olympic basketball.  Kelsey Plum will be representing the US in the first ever 3x3 in the Olympics.  Liz Cambage will be playing for her native Australia. Ji-Su Park will be representing South Korean.  It will be a fun summer of Women’s hoops. We look forward to watching 6’11” Bill Laimbeer coach the Aces to the first professional title in NV history. He is the scowl and the force. #GoAces.

Men’s basketball is grinding to a close.  The NBA playoffs have been a battle of attrition.  The Bucks and Suns are the two best and deserve to be in the finals.  It is sort of an is that all there is moment.  The US Men’s Gold Medal aspirations are looking shaky at best.  The players were summoned to Las Vegas to become a team.   Losing their first two games to the likes of Nigeria and Australia was startling.  Phlegmatic Kevin Durrant is the reputed team leader with his legend and gold medals from Rio and London.  The US Women look unbeatable and the US Men vulnerable.   Oh, the times are a changin.

RIP: Terry Donahue died last week after a two-year battle with cancer.  Donahue was the greatest coach in UCLA football history and the winningest coach in Pac-12 conference history.  Donahue was the original gutty little Bruin playing in the Rose Bowl as a 195-pound defensive tackle in UCLA’s first Rose Bowl victory.  They beat #1 ranked and undefeated Michigan State that beautiful January afternoon in Pasadena in 1966.  Terry would succeed Dick Vermeil in 1976 and coach UCLA for 20 years.  After losing to the hated Trojans in his first four attempts, the Bruins came through on the 5^th try.  Donahue would coach the Bruins to a record of 10-5-1 over SC for the next 16 years, including the last five straight.  Donahue coached the Bruins to seven straight bowl victories including three Rose Bowl victories.  UCLA has had five head coaches in the 26 years and has won just five bowl games in the 26 years since he retired. Those were the days for Bruin fans.  How the times have changed.