Hurricanes and Macchiatos

The 60^th Anniversary of the Sound of Music was last week.  Mary Jo Seber loaded up the Seber siblings into the Chrysler Travel wagon and took us to Graumann’s Chinese Theater to see it. The Oscar winning story is the musical narrative about the Von Trapp Family singers rise to fame under Mary Poppins’ tutelage.  The movie is an all-time classic.  Several news outlets went to Salzburg, Austria where their story originated. Many Austrians were unfamiliar with the story and its global impact.  It could be because there were many Austrians dressed in Nazi uniforms throughout the film. With Uncle Adolph running the show from the Reichstag in Berlin, Austria’s future looked bright in 1944. Passive acquiescence to the Fuhrer was prudent and with a potential Prussian land grab upside. The Rise before the Fall of the Third Reich was still in the rising phase. Austria was betting on the come. Unfathomable stories of paramilitary groups dragging “undesirables” off the streets without rights or due process and throwing them in detention centers occurred daily.  Austrians probably don’t want to properly recall their role as the dark undercurrent in this family classic. What lighthearted movie will morph out of the ICE family singers?

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, the New Orleans arena where the then New Orleans Hornets played was severely damaged.  The Hornets were forced to relocate their home games from 2005-2007.  The Hornets went 77-87 during this period and averaged over 18,000 fans per home game.  Having the NBA in OKC, was enlightening for the NBA and local businessman Clay Bennett’s ownership team.

In 2001, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz led The Basketball Club of Seattle and their 58 partners to acquire the Seattle NBA team and keep them in the Seattle. Schultz and his minions could not right the ship.  The Supersonics lost millions during Howie’s reign of Macchiato mediocrity.  Starbucks stock roared but the one-time NBA Champion Supersonics were dismal.  In 1979, Dennis Johnson, Jack Sikma and Gus Williams beat the Washington Bullets 4-1 for the City of Seattle’s first professional championship.  Lenny Wilkens was the head coach. By 2005, the Sonics were a Dungeness dumpster. The Puget Sound Penises could not lift the basketball prospects for the Seattle Supersonics. Schultz agreed to sell the team to Bennett’s management team with the good faith understanding of keeping the team in Seattle. The Supersonics drafted Kevin Durant with the 2^nd pick in the draft and the future was a Keyless arena away. Key Arena had to stay, and Seattle would not pay for a new facility, Bennett gleefully paid the penalty and moved the team to OKC.  It was not a happy day in the PNW when OKC won the NBA title in 2025.  There were watch parties for OKC haters all over Seattle.  There was not as much vitriol in 2005 when they left.

Seattle has become a WNBA town.  Sue Bird is a hero and icon to many and deservedly so.  Key Arena finally got redone at a cost of $1.1 billion in 2021.  The only tenant at that time was the Storm. We have our summer AI team computing how that equates in 2006 dollars, but the rejected budget was $350 million.  We have another team working on the 2025 value of an NBA team in the Seattle market.  Schultz sold the Sonics for $350 million.  The Lakers just sold part of the Lakers for $4 billion. Statues honoring basketball stars at NBA arenas have become a thing.  The Lakers have a HOF starting lineup of bronze figures with Chick Hearn at the microphone encircling Crypto. Key Arena with no NBA team unfurled the statute of Lenny Wilkens when he was a player for Seattle.  The WNBA Seattle Storm are the little engine that could, and they have kept the basketball dream alive locally.  Sue Bird will get her statue in August. Clippers have a new stadium and are waiting patiently to honor someone, anyone in their 55-year history. No one ever plays for the Clippers long enough to matter.

 

Bottom of the 9^th: The defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers are having some moments, and they are not shining ones.  The team has been horrific since a torrid Max Muncy went down with a frightening knee injury three weeks ago.  Muncy was the MLB player of June, and the Dodgers have been in a funk since his injury.  Funkmaster General is Mookie Betts.  He was 1 for 38 at one point and Roberts benched him for a game.  He is playing shortstop this season for the first time since Little League or something.  He might never be a Gold Glove SS, but he is serviceable and gets another outfielder batter in the lineup.  His batting struggles might be related to this position change.  Betts came up with two outs in the bottom of the 9^th yesterday with the Dodgers down a run.  We quickly dug an 0-2 hole and somehow squibbed a ball towards third and beat the throw.  The Twins then walked the bases loaded for Freddie Freeman’s winning hit; We hope this moment gets the team and Mookie off the snide.

Hometown Heroes and Huckleberries

The US Food and Drug Administration passed legislation to remove Red Dye 3 from all US products by 2027.  This ruling affects iconic brands like Heinz 57 ketchup and one of the M&M’s. Europe banned the dye years ago but not here.  US Secretary of Human and Health Services RFK Jr. has been a champion of the cause leading to passage.  He has targeted these artificial additives as part of his campaign to make America healthy again. We sincerely hope the first effort he makes is to remove this additive from his face. The quivering head, gravelly voice and wild eyes are not good optics on the red backdrop. Bob, just a thought to help drive your agenda. Start at home and all that. 

The Donald was channeling his despotic bad self, following his military birthday parade.  With tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue and soldiers, horses and two mules for Sister Sara, it was quite the spectacle.  You couldn’t burn $45 million faster in an incinerator. Before the bills were paid, Israel was bombing Iran and DT was war lord by proxy. We own the skies, possible assassinations, and other rhetoric roared from our strongman. We have it on good authority blabbering Pete Hegseth was kept outside the ropes for this operation.

Rock and Roll lost two industry visionaries in Brian Wilson and Sly Stone this past week.  The Beach Boys and Wilson cultivated the Southern CA beach sound.  With images of sports cars, surfers and hot girls, Wilson lyrics with his family band was beyond the Yard youth’s orbit.  In the Glendale suburbs, surfing was for cool kids with access to cars.  Hot girls were with those surfers and those cars. The Beach Boys sang of a world that was foreign to this youth.  Sly and his Family Stone preached to me.  I wanted to go higher with them.  I was an Everyday People.  The funk, rock gospel impresario colored my soundtrack of suburban life. He was the coolest band leader I had ever seen with his multiple instruments, dancers and alternating lead vocals.  The Beach Boys were clean cut white kids in frigging cardigans.  Sly was a force of nature that rocked until he didn’t.  The Beach Boys influenced the Beatles among others. Sly influenced generations of artists from multiple genres that still resonate today.  Pet Sounds they are not. We were shocked they both lived to 82!

The San Diego Padres are officially now the Dodgers’ Huckleberry. Just like the late Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday sweating and pale taking out the bad guy.  The Dodgers did the same last fall when all seemed lost in Paradise on the border.  San Diegans cheering wildly for their only hope in professional sports.  It was excellent to see them dashed. The great mustard colored hope flailed when it mattered.  Dodgers off the mat and to the title.  Watching Fernando Tatis at the plate is terrifying.  Watching Tatis play right field is hilarious.  Yard played a lot of RF back in the day for the same reason Tatis does.  Where do you play that glove? He thought he was a shortstop.

Fifty years ago this month, the Glendale Hoover High Tornadoes baseball team beat mighty Lakewood High school for their first CIF-SS Title.  Ricardo, a Yard Patron, was on that team. We all grew up together playing Little League around town.  The Yard was a big observer even back then.  We were at that championship game at Dodger Stadium. Lefty Chuck McMichael pitched the greatest game of his life in the 2-1 victory. It was astonishing to watch these local legends lead Hoover to the title that night. It has not happened since, but it was a special night for the kids from Glendale.

 

Controlling interest in the Lakers being sold for $10 billion to Mark Walters was a surprise today but not shocking.  The Jerry Buss progeny have been sucking on the family teat for decades.  When Doctor Jerry was still alive, he hired basketball people to run the basketball operations.  He put everyone else on the payroll and there were many. The boys could shadow him, and Jeannie could do community outreach. The cousins could find their niche. Jerry West saw the future without Jerry Buss and departed at the top. The leadership abyss following Jerry’s passing has been comically tragic.  The problem is too many Busses on the payroll sucking operational cash flow and not providing value. The Lakers are not the same cash cow for the Buss family that they were a decade ago.  With this deal, everybody gets paid and off the payroll.  Now the Lakers can move beyond the Buss family and write the next chapter.  The Buss Family still owns a third just like Frank McCourt still owns the Dodger parking lot. Magic will be everywhere from the Ravine to Crypto and back. Jeannie’s husband Jay Mohr is thrilled.  Courtside seats with cake.

 

Extra Period:  Hockey is the national sport of Canada. It has been some time since Lord Stanley’s trophy has crossed the border for a visit.   1993 to be exact was the year.  South Florida has won four titles in the past six years. Las Vegas has one also.  Oh, hail Canada but what the hell happened with your national pastime? Even Florida man is kicking your ass!

All Hail South Side Bobby

An outbound shart was intercepted before it hit cotton with a quick clench Sunday morning.  It was a symbolic event on the 45^th anniversary of Mt. Saint Helens eruption.  Helen did not clench that day, and it forever changed the region. The stakes were minimal Sunday but a laundry crisis with the missus was averted.

The World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers just got swept at Chavez Ravine by the Los Angeles Angels from Anaheim. Mike Trout was not playing, while Ohtani was. With their off season moves and a WC in the bag, the Dodgers should be ahead by 5-6 games by now. We figured out a magic number by mid-July.  Swept by the moribund Angels of Arte Moreno at home is alarming.  We think Dave Roberts' job is safe for now.

The world had the shock and awe of South Side Bobby Prevost becoming the first American pope in Catholic church history.  Pope Leo is an Augustine for the world with his dual American and Peruvian citizenship. No one ever thought that an American born priest could ever be the pope.  America already tried to influence everything else globally, but the church has remained provincial.  Now if we can get an American’s Men Soccer team to do something in the World Cup, that would be something!

Decades ago, the NFL broadcast networks realized that female sideline reporters had a better chance of getting a head coach to stop and talk rather than a dude in a suit.  Female reporters are very qualified in their efforts but there is not an on-camera slouch in the bunch.  It seems like President Trump has used these qualifications for his appointees. Tulsi Gabbard, Kristie Noem, Pam Biondi and Karoline Leavitt all play key roles and are camera friendly. We could not determine if Noem had fake eyelashes or hair extensions when she killed her dog, Cricket?  She has her smoky eye shadow and extensions when she stares into the TV while letting illegals know she is coming for them.  Trump does not care about approval ratings, but he does care about who he must look at in cabinet meetings.

The NFL has been at the top of the sports mountain top for public mindshare. They conquered TV over the decades. No other sport has the ratings numbers for just about any NFL game. A Jacksonville – Cleveland NFL skirmish will outdraw an NBA playoff game in viewership.  The Super Bowl has become a national day of excessive celebration.  It was no surprise that it was national news when the NFL released their schedule last week.  It was major news that the NFL released their 2025-26 Schedule five months before one of those games would be played.  Major networks' sports departments spent airtime analyzing this schedule before it is relevant.  The NBA Conference Finals, the Stanley Cup are in full swing.  Baseball is getting more interesting for some fans.  Quality airtime was given to discuss a football schedule without real games for months. Wow!