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!