This is the new normal, right?

 It is devastating to see the once robust Ukrainian cities reduced to rubble and smoke. In the decades since their independence from the USSR, Ukraine has thrived. This horror is prescient and has been forecasted since Crimea. What is surprising for the rest of the world is the ineptitude of the Russian “Special Operation.” Ukraine resistance is stiff, but the Russia war machine is a shit show. Putin thought this would be over by now and he would be drinking Stoli in Kyiv. Putin is exposed as the despot he is with a second world military farce. His rhetoric about the demon Ukraine state is getting stale even in Russia where everything is stale. As a KGB legend, he watched in rage, while Gorbachev dismantled the “great” USSR and was reduced to the pitons of just Russia. He has been waiting for this long game and he is not going to retreat without negotiating real estate. China has refused to take sides. They are wondering if it might be time to make a move on Taiwan, with everyone focused on Ukraine. Not to be forgotten, Kim Jung has been launching missiles daily in a constant “look at me” attention grab. The rest of us are just trying to find normal while standing behind Ukraine from afar. Ukrainians may never again enjoy normalcy.

The Academy Awards returned with their self-congratulatory aura. The Red Carpet, the celebrities, the dresses, and  whatever the hell Timothee Chamalet was wearing was normal, right? It all seemed light and normal until Chris Rock made fun of Jada’s dome and Wilbur got on his high horse and stormed the castle. Yard interns have studied the brief clip for days and it appeared neither Rock nor Smith knew what was going to happen while the Fresh Prince was making his way up there. Rock was smiling and having a “really?” moment, then boom he got bitch slapped. Will did not even go Ali on him, it was a celebrity slap. The Academy immediately announced an investigation into the celebrity slap violence. I would suggest the Academy ask ABC for the footage. There would seem to be other violence issues in this country rather than actor vs. comedian that require attention. Letting Smith stay in his seat and then win Best Actor 40 minutes later was surreal. They should have relegated Smith to the balcony and made him wave from up there when he won.

The gateway to the new normal for the Yard seems to be the same wormhole that snapped shut in March 2020. March Madness was the Yard path back through the COVID labyrinth. The ingress back to convention began on March 17^th with eight NCAA games followed by eight more on the 18^th. There were full crowds, magic moments, and the vivid energy to our viewing experience. Sister Jean could not work her celestial magic and the Ramblers went down in the first round. Then the St. Joseph’s Peacocks flew into the Elite Eight. They took down the Kentucky Wildcats and Purdue along the way as double-digit underdogs. Having grown up with peacocks in the San Gabriel valley, they are loud and obnoxious but amazing in moments fleshed out for all to see. The Peacocks played the role until the Tarheel whopping at the precipice of basketball folklore of a 15^th seed. It would have been historic. Cinderella fulfilled the nation’s love of the underdog. In the end, basketball royalty bashed the dreams of the high seeded and returned normalcy to the Final Four. St. Joseph’s entire budget for D1 basketball is $1.6 million. UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis’s salary is $1.75 million. In the end it is still all about the Benjamins.

With the conclusion of the NCAA tournament, the Yard enters our annual sports doldrums. There is little wind in our sails as the NBA meanders towards the finals. Baseball has Opening Day and then relevance about 120 games later. The NHL has the same trajectory as the NBA with the opening playoff rounds being ordinary. The  NFL Draft is the main sports highlight of April besides March Madness bleeding into the first week. The NFL draft will be exciting this year because it is in Las Vegas. This city can put on a show and the draft will be a wonderful platform for all to witness. It is a draft, 15 minutes on the clock, put on a team hat, tell a backstory, and speculate about the future. The NFL drags it out for three nights with commercial spots, but it is still just the draft. With mock drafts and ceaseless discussions about NFL team needs, it underscores that there is nothing else to report unless another athlete screws up. If you are an athlete, you do not want to “use poor judgement” in April. You will have the whole news cycle for your sordid tale. October is a better month for transgressions.

The Dodgers were silently stalking Freddie Freeman during free agency. Dodger GM Friedman and the team knew Freeman would stay with Atlanta if the numbers were in line. The Braves numbers were not in line and Freddie packed his flip flops and headed to the west coast. His presence should offset the loss of Corey Seager substantially. Corey is a special player, and we wish him well in Texas. If we remove the COVID bubble, Corey averaged playing 111 games a season for the past five. Freeman averaged 150. The Rangers famously overpaid for A-Rod decades ago, we hope it works out for Seager. We just thought he was interested in titles and that has never happened in Fort Worth. It seems like the Dodgers will be competing for titles for next few seasons with the roster and payroll. The Rangers are more than a Seager away from competing.

The curious case of Trevor Bauer will play out over the next few months. He has an oversized spot in the Dodger payroll and has not pitched since last June. He has not been charged with battery or sexual assault, but the optics were never good for TB. Bauer admitted that he punched and choked out a woman for their consensual sexual gratification. Most baseball fans cannot grasp what that is all about and Pasadena PD would not prosecute. MLB will suspend Bauer for games in 2022, but he will be back in the Dodger clubhouse this summer. Trev has never been beloved in any of the clubhouses he has hung his uniform on. Even back to his days with the Bruins, he was a talented A-hole. He has not changed but he will pitch this year. He might be a difference maker or a major distraction. The Yard thinks both but winning changes perception and he can pitch even if he is weird. Grienke was a strange one but not a sexual miscreant. Deshaun Watson is getting all the love in Cleveland, and he has twenty-two women coming forward about his predilections. Bauer almost seems like a poser compared to Deshaun. They are now both hashtag brethren forever.

Playoff Time:  Kyrie Irving is the man who said the earth was flat and vaccines were not to be taken. He backed off the world being flat, but he won the vaccine battle with NYC.

The Tournament Edition

 It is hard to maintain the mirth and folly that are Yard staples as Russian tanks roll down Ukraine highways. It is a shocking scene to see Vlad the Bad ordering his forces to overthrow their former satellite state. COVID isolated Putin is displaying the patience and anxiety of an adolescent wearing a face mask. He is sitting so far away from his people in news footage he must think they have Ebola. Putin spins misinformation better than Facebook. Or in addition to FB and Twitter with Russian sponsored campaigns to discredit Ukraine and its leaders. It is hard to understand the justification, but Ukraine is not the poor stepchild Gorbachev spun out of the Soviet orbit decades ago. Ukraine is a prosperous nation with famous people and other trappings. Hell, they paid Hunter Biden $500,000 a year for who knows what. No one stateside is paying the artist formerly known as Hunter that kind of cake but Ukraine’s Burisma did. God bless, the Ukrainian people! They are fighting hard with the world watching in disbelief. We hope they all get out on the other side of this travesty.

Madness has already erupted in the Yard Board room. Tournament white boards and newspapers are strewn haphazardly while ESPN illuminates the room in the background. Gonzaga is everybody’s favorite after making the championship final last year. They barely beat the 11^th seed UCLA Bruins in the national semifinal. The Bulldogs got scorched by Baylor in the championship game. They lost serious talent from the LY team to the NBA. Head coach Mark Few got a DUI over the summer and they are now led by a 7-foot first-year student, all 197 pounds of him. Everybody wants to see the Zags finally bring a title home to Spokane. Thirty-one percent of the brackets have the Bulldogs doing just that. They are the leader in the locker room. Lots can go wrong on the road to New Orleans. Historically, most of Yard experience has been things can go awry once in NOLA. It is madness.

The NCAA basketball tournament erupts each March except 2020. We all know what happened that year and we have been living a Groundhog Day existence since. In 2020, team bids had already been awarded. Every team had played a full season, but the COVID wolves were circling and before a single game, the tourney rug was pulled. Teams that had built their squads for that tournament in that year, it was devastating. The 2020 Dayton Flyers had one of their greatest teams ever. This year they did not even get into the tournament. Everyone got a bonus year of eligibility. There are a lot of sixth seniors playing important games. Experience is usually a big advantage at the dance, both in life and in hoops. The Mid-Majors have shined through the madness these past several tourneys. Bluebloods have thrashed about during the uprisings although it did seem to affect Illinois or Kansas primarily.  

Baseball broke through the loggerheaded logjam. The fans hardly knew there was a strike going on and, in the end, it was just noise. The owners and players get a bunch more dough and the fans get $12 hotdogs and $20 beers. The money is flowing with massive contracts for Corey Seager and Max Scherzer as they exited LA. We hope that Freddie Freeman is on his way to Dodger town now that Atlanta cut ties from their post Chipper legend. Freddie led the Braves over to the Dodgers and their first title since the 90’s. Do not let the door hit you, big guy. Come on over, the weather is nice and with you, Muncy, Trae Turner and Ginger in the infield, another title could be on the horizon.

The Lakers this year are one of the bigger disappointments in not only the NBA but the entire sports continuum. They were the favorites at the beginning of the season and now are not even going to make the playoffs. Lebron is playing hard most nights, but the Lakers got old fast. They traded their best young talent Kyle Kuzma for a square peg in Russell Westbrook. Westbrook plays hard but now he hardly plays at all in this aging round peg of a team. King James finally got to play with his friend Carmelo and Anthony is chipping in thirteen points a night. Melo never has played defense and 2022 is no exception.

The Laker docudrama Winning Time is a fun ride. There have only been two episodes so far but well played. John C. Reilly is fantastic as the open shirt, womanizing swashbuckler Jerry Buss. Jerry West cannot be happy with his portrayal by Jason Clarke. West always had a love/hate relationship with the Buss family. He was already in the job when Buss bought the team and they butted heads from the start. Even with all of years of service, Jerry never paid him big dough. Magic, Kareem, Norm Nixon, and the rest of the Showtime era are starting to emerge week to week. It was the best era of Laker Basketball and only surpassed by Jordan’s Bulls of the modern era. It was more fun than the Lebron era. We thought there would be more than a bubble title but here we are.

Go Bruins!