Pivot to Madness

On the one-year anniversary of their brute invasion, Russian leader Vladimir Putin declared that China and Russia are deepening their ties.  It was kind of a “Xi Jinping got my back” moment for Vlade.  He went on further to say their strengthening relationship will bring stability to the world. We have seen the world become increasingly unstable since Russia invaded Ukraine.  We do think the world would stabilize some if Vlade withdrew.  Russia and China have always been wary allies.  There is not an ideological bond except for the ruler for life bromance.  They are like the Gambino and Genovese families brokering a truce.  It works well for a while and then someone ends up with two slugs in the head at Humberto’s Clam House.  China and Russia blast the West. The US is China’s largest trading partner. China needs work for their 112 million factory workers. Average annual income in the US is $97K; Average annual income for a Russian household is $16K. Do the math.

 

Florida is a bastion of conservative values and politics.  Governor Ron DeSantis has a blunt force trauma personality.  He is pro-life, anti-Critical Race Theory and finished with the woke.  He will be throwing his cap into the ring as an electable version of Trump.  He and Trump despise each other, and the first debate will be a classic if Trump survives that long. The Yard was shocked to find that Florida is passing a law that dogs can no longer hang their heads out the window of a moving vehicle.  We reached out to all our reliable sources, and it is true, no more dog heads flapping in the wind out the car window. Ruh-Ro! It is a canine catastrophe. A shocking development for all Florida pooches.  The Dog Lobby is already barking it up the tree.  Rescue dogs are demanding to be relocated to states that allow them to put their heads out the window freely.  Cats have been clowning dogs for decades for their window antics.  They are pleased with this development as part of their world domination plans. It should be a hot topic come election season.

 

Since the inception of the Yard in 2007, our publishers have posted 185 missives on the internet.  There are countless others that are spoiled by procrastinating them into irrelevance. Many never made it from the bowels of the laptop to the HTTP.  The Yard has written more blogs about college basketball than any other.  UCLA did it to us with those miraculous teams of the late 60’s and 70’s. John R. Wooden was our Yoda.  We have travelled to a galaxy far, far away since those halcyon days. UCLA is back in the national discussion under the stellar coaching of Nick Cronin.  Cronin has brought Cincinnati toughness and discipline to the Bruins much the way Wooden brought Indiana discipline to the U in 1947.  Nick has a long way to go to be in the conversation of great UCLA hoops coaches, but we like his style.  The tournament is wide open this year.  Duke and North Carolina are finding their way after their legends retired. UCONN is back in the national mix for the first time in a long time.  Houston could be the real deal or poseurs.  Alabama basketball is playing better than the football team and that does not happen often.

 

In these turbulent times when the news always seems disturbing, the Yard suggests that you pivot your attention to the NCAA basketball tournament.  The tournament begins in earnest on March 16 at 9:15 AM Pacific.  There will be sixteen basketball games that day and another 16 on Saint Paddy’s day.  The games will be coast to coast and every hamlet in between.  Big schools like Purdue, UCONN and UCLA should be dancing that weekend.  There will be Bonnies, Screaming Eagles and maybe a Great Dane also.  There will be a Cinderella team this year, maybe to the finals. There will be upsets in the first round.  Brackets will be blown by the end of the first day.  There will be a last second game winner and critical missed free throws.  We can only hope the Bruins are on the positive side of those events on their march to Houston.  Even for the casual basketball fan the local energy and enthusiasm for these 68 schools is inspiring. Some of the blue bloods are bloated with NIL laden student athletes. The rest are there for the love of the game and their degree.  They will be taking their game to another level because they won’t be playing at the next level.  For three weeks in March, heroes are born through the legends they create. Join a pool and get some skin in the game. Every game will be televised.  Work and Vlade will still be there in April.

Las Vegas, baby!

It seems that social media was not thrilled with Rhianna’s halftime show at Super Bowl 57.  Many felt her performance was very sexualized and unsuitable for family entertainment.  If anyone watching the show had previously heard her music or seen her moves, she is not shy with her lyrics or her crotch. She is three months pregnant, and she accented her growing baby bump.   The halftime shows always seem to get pilloried.  Adam Levine ripped off his clothes.  Justin exposed Janet’s right nip. Katy Perry had a renegade dancing shark. The first three Super Bowls had college bands for halftime entertainment.  Carol fricking Channing has been involved in two shows.  Up with People checked in three times to entertain the nation during the biggest game.  The show kicked into something different when Dianna Ross serenaded us all for the XXX Bowl.  Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Tom Petty have rocked it from midfield.  Yard favorite was Prince jamming Purple Rain in a driving rainstorm at SB XLI in Miami. We watched this year’s game and enjoyed the show.  The game was one of the best Super Bowls in recent history. It was thrilling from the opening drive to the first commercial and the final winning field goal.  There was a defensive touchdown, a 2-point conversion and 73 points. Prop bets were being cashed all day long.  The halftime show is a 15-minute diversion of this five-hour spectacle, get over it.

 

 

The Yard can no longer keep pace with the Super Bowl and the whole Roman Numeral thing.  Once we get into the “L’s”, it is over.  Las Vegas Baby gets SB 58.  We will figure out the ancient numbering system before February 11, 2024.   The Yard helped bring the Raiders to Las Vegas through our marginal grass roots blog campaign.  We are hoping owner Mark Davis remembers our unflinching support of the Raiders with a few passes for the game.  It will be historic.  The Super Bowl is one of the busiest weekends of the year in Las Vegas and the game is somewhere else.  There are usually 250-300,000 revelers in town to drink, bet, drink, gamble, drink and watch the game on television.  The NFL does not even allow the casinos to advertise that they have a Super Bowl party; everything must be called The Big Game.  We can only imagine how many fans show up when the game is in town.

 

Patrick Mahomes is brilliant.  He is signed for the next ten years, and the Chiefs will be 6-1 favorites to win the title every single one of those seasons if he stays healthy.  He is not the GOAT yet, but he is already grazing in the pasture.  Patrick is a great leader for coach Andy Reid.  He talks the talk and walks the walk although we think he walks funny.  He is on his way to Disneyland, and he is ready for Tomorrow Land.  We were disappointed when the Eagles went down with that last second field goal. We wanted to lay a Benjamin but backed it down to a Grant at kickoff.  Another dead president has left the wallet. The defensive holding call at the end was questionably decisive in the outcome.  Eagle James Bradberry admitted he grabbed JuJu’s jersey a smidge.  Up to that point there had been 8 penalties called for 42 yards. Nothing major and that penalty was only a five yarder.  It was critical because it gave KC a first down that allowed them to run down the clock and kick the winning score. We know Lebron was Twitter mad for sure.  Players want consistency from the officials and that type of call had not been made all game.  So why in the last 1:57 with an uncatchable ball does the ref make an unthinkable call?  With the flag in the pocket and not on the turf, KC still gets the FG, and the Eagles get the ball back with that 1:57 and a timeout.  That would have been a potential thrilling finish as well.  You know what they say about potential?

 

Jalen Hurts is brilliant as well.  He has not signed for ten years.  He is about to have his Brinks truck moment.  He should be an 8-1 SB choice for a decade.  Hurts had an MVP season. He has the passing precision and physicality that few QB’s except Josh Allen possess.  Mahomes was leading the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl in 50 years while Hurts was finishing his college career at Oklahoma.  Jalen had already been involved in two championships at Alabama.  His freshman year for the Crimson Tide was magical.  He was the first true freshman to start in over 30 years.  Alabama went undefeated and won the National Championship.  His sophomore year he played well until the National Championship game.  Nick pulled Jalen in favor of the much-heralded Tua Tagovailoa in the second half.  Tua rallied the title from a 13-0 to a second consecutive title.  Tua leap frogged Hurts as the starter for 2018 season.  Jalen stayed with the Tide and played often but was not the starter.  Tua got hurt in the title game and Hurts helped rally the Tide, but they went down to Clemson.  Jalen went to play for Lincoln Riley in Oklahoma for his senior year.  He ended up getting drafted as a second-round back up to Carson Wentz for the Eagles.  He was not given high consideration as an NFL starter.  He proved all the pundits wrong with his 2022 season of excellence.  His fumble returned for a TD was a disaster and potential turning point in the SB.  But Hurts came right back at the Chiefs with a 75-yard scoring drive on the ensuing kickoff.  He picked himself off the mat and kept his birds in the game until a squishy penalty decided it.

 

Enough already about football.  It is over and the Yard had another solid year of not losing too much trying to predict outcomes.  The important thing is catchers and pitchers have reported and Opening Day is about six weeks out.  It is time for Dodger baseball and the other guys also.  The Dodgers were relatively quiet during the off season while the Friars have been spending money like a 1970’s George Steinbrenner.  The $100 million + deals the Padres are inking seem unsustainable.  Manny thinks so also, and he will be opting out for 2024.  The Dodgers still have the best farm system in the MLB.  Let the O’Malley’s and Cohen spend to win.  The Dodgers are built to win, we hope they win another WS title soon!  This year’s edition will be missing pieces of their collective soul.  The 2023 season will start with Bellinger, Seager and Turner all wearing different uniforms.  Mookie and Freddie are the new leaders, and we think the kids could be alright.  Over the next few weeks, we will establish our spring training cadence. We do have a three-week planned diversion into the madness of College hoops and Bruin dreams. 

 

Postscript: Derek Carr is the Raider all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns.  He has had a solid career with the silver and black.  Carr was a second-round pick in the 2014 draft and has earned his keep. Hell, the Raiders drafted Jamarcus Russell with the first overall pick in 2007 and he had 41 turnovers in 31 games and a 65 QB rating while slurping his drank.  So not sure how high the bar is set for that position on the Raiders.  Carr was ok.  He signed a team friendly contract with Josh McDaniels to lead the rebuild with the old build.  Derek is humble, religious. Better than average QB.  The Raiders are moving on and so is DC.  We will be missed but not mourned.