The immigration legislation in Arizona has definitely sparked debate on both sides of the border. Mexico apparently is going to crack down on American illegal aliens in Mexico. We are waiting for the CNN footage from the Home Depot in Guadalajara with gringos looking for work scrambling away from Mexican immigration. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon went the extra mile to hear the Latin outrage and agreed to meet with Shakira at his office this week. We are not certain if Mrs. Gordon was invited to the luncheon but it certainly got her attention for many reasons beyond immigration reform.
When OKC Thunder Coach Scott Brooks chuckled about the 21 point beat down that his team put on the Lakers last Sunday, he caught Laker coach Phil Jackson’s attention. There are several members of the Buss family trying to figure out how to reach Phil. Scott Brooks DJ’ed a five second sound bite last Sunday at the press podium that sent Phil into orbit. Brooks seems genuine and a solid coach. His young team embarrassed the defending champion Lakers on that Sunday. OKC has not had too many big time sports press conferences since Barry Sanders graduated OK State in 1988. Brooks was as surprised as anyone that his team was leading the Lake Show by 29 last Saturday night and confidently chuckled at the notion. That was his last laugh of the series.
Waking the Phil is never easy or recommended. Phil spends the regular season in a bong hit elucidated Birkenstock haze. He calls less timeouts in a week than Ben Howland calls in a half during the regular season. He lets a player sit for two weeks and then they play 20 minutes in three straight games. His strategies are three dimensional while coaching a one dimensional player. He is the bow legged unappreciated genius who has never coached a team without a hall of famer in the starting line-up. The Hall of Famers he has coached had never won a championship before he coached them. The regular season is his Petri dish for the playoffs. He is an NBA alchemist who has discovered more championship gold than any other coach in history. The Yard has never understood his methods. Life is about results.
Josh Powell, Luke Walton and Shannon Brown scored tonight in harvested brilliance divined from the beakers of Phil’s seasonal experiment. Phil coaches for situations not seasons. The Lakers play in April with the Zen engrained since last November. The defending champions showed up for the first time Tuesday night. The stormed the Thunder last night to clinch the first round. It was the execution of a plan not the orchestration of play that led to the win tonight and the second round. Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks are still trying to figure out how to play into May. Phil coaches to play in June.
The NFL is the best marketed sporting enterprise in the world. With major league baseball just beginning and the NBA and the NHL becoming relevant, the NFL Draft buried all of them in the ratings during prime time. The other sports should have requested out of season respect from the NFL to allow them to garner a few ratings. Yankees versus Angels in an early season match up on Fox 2.3 million viewers. Cavaliers versus Bulls in the heartland on Sunday afternoon had 4.6 million watching. Nascar had 4.9 million watching whatever the Aaron’s 499 is. NFL draft was on several outlets including NFL.com. Every channel carrying the freaking draft beat everyone in their time slot. 45.4 million people watched the draft in prime time. The Yard would make fun of how stupid that is but we watched the draft also.
The best thing about the NFL Draft being held is Mel Kiper Jr. being shelved for another eleven months. We have no idea what he does or where he stores his hair in the off season but we are glad he and his mock drafts are silenced until after next year’s Super Bowl. He touted Jimmy Clausen all through February and March with him being picked as early as 4th but definitely in the first round. Jimmy the Edge was drafted 48th. Picking the right draft picks before the draft is not easy and really not that interesting. Mel Kiper being off ESPN for ten months, priceless.
"In basketball -- as in life -- true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way." Phil Jackson
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Goldman Deflections
Goldman Sachs is rarely mentioned at Yard staff meetings. Actually, Yard staff meetings are quite rare and Goldman Sachs permeating our sports based mitochondria would be rarer. We did take notice when Barack and the kids filed a massive indictment this past weekend against the company that he has befriended since his election. Goldman and Barack are strange bedfellows. Obama is trying to re-allocate wealth so unhealthy, unemployed people can enjoy the same benefits as the employed people who watch what they eat. Goldman Sachs is trying to re-allocate wealth to people employed by Goldman Sachs.
Goldman is not building railroads, creating jobs or fighting in Iraq. They are playing high stakes poker with sophisticated investors to identify derivative sources of new wealth that Goldman can charge fees for creating. Goldman made sure that their best customers profited when regular American people defaulted on their mortgages. Regardless if it was ethical or if these actions constitute fraud, Goldman created ways for their clients to profit from the collapse of the mortgage industry which lead Barack to write checks our grandchildren will never be able to cash. They gave home court odds to the wealthy few while the huddled masses will never again breathe free. In Las Vegas, we get what they are doing and we pay as we go. On Wall Street, are we happy that venerable Goldman Sachs created wealth for a few by betting against the American dream?
Barry’s approval ratings are plummeting and Goldman is a strategic deflection. There are mid-term elections and a hostile electorate. Barry needs a diversion because his policies are not the ones he demonized to get elected. He put GS Executive Henry Paulson in charge while John Paulson (not related) profited from his measures. Goldman Sachs alumni Gary Gensler and Time Geithner work in the Obama administration as well. Obama needs the dearly deflected. Goldman will play that role warmed in the $23 billion Barry covered them with during the depression that apparently hit the Hamptons harder than elsewhere. No one at Goldman is ever going to jail. Obama is just trying to get healthcare off the front page of our newspapers and our mindset.
This past Sunday in Los Angeles was golden regardless of the value of the yen, the pound or another complicated Goldman Sachs derivative. The Lakers will struggle towards the finish line this season. The Dodgers may not get that close and there may be an NFL Franchise before either team wins another championship. On the Sabbath, the Lakers flipped the switch and the Dodgers stole one from the City by the Bay.
The Lakers will emerge in the West but it is not going to be pretty. Kobe has played more games in the past two years than the average NBA player does in a lifetime. Kobe is a 30 years old but his body has already played in as many games as Jordan had by his 36th birthday. Since 2008, Kobe has played in back to back NBA Finals with the Olympics sandwiched in between. He has played almost another season without an off-season in the past two years. He is not hitting his jump shots and this could be Lebron’s year. Kobe can flip the switch like no one else but James is a beast in his prime.
Ron Ron Artest did what he was brought in to do in Game 1, shut down the scorer on the wing that Kobe usually has to cover. Phil got in Thunder superstar Kevin Durant’s head all week in the papers. Then Artest worked his mid-section all game. Ron with his yellow follicles had a hand on Durant from the time he stepped on the hardwood. Artest inhaled Durant into a 7 for 24, 4 turnover game. Phil dug a trench all week across Durant’s psyche and let psycho Ron go golden hair on the kid. Durant looked like he was playing March Madness, not the April Mayhem that is the NBA playoffs. Durant got his 31 in Game 2 but he still missed 14 of 26 shots and turned the ball over eight times.
While the Lakers struggled to put away The Thunder, the Dodgers broke into the Giant’s psyche and stole a piece of September from them. April games are not as relevant but this one sure felt good. The Giant’s pitching staff is going to be backing down Yard fluff feathers in 2010. That is a core group of great pitchers that rivals the Smoltz, Glavine, Maddux Brave teams. Lincecum shut out the Blue Crew in the Saturday sun 9-0. On Sunday, Clayton Kershaw pitched his best game of the new season but left trailing 1-0. The Dodgers had not scored all weekend and that is never fun. Barry Zito had pitched a gem for 8 innings when he was pulled after walking the Russell Martin with one out in the 8th. Joe Torre called Manny Ram who had not played since the 4th inning Friday night to pinch hit. Manny watched the first two pitches, fouled off the third and put the 4th into the left field pavilion. It was worth a few million of the $25 million he is getting this year.
Jamie McCourt has demanded $988,000 per month in support from Frank McCourt. With that salary, Jamie would be the third highest paid Dodger after Manny Ramirez and Hiroki Kuroda. Frank already tried to release Jamie and offered her salary arbitration but Jamie’s demands are limiting the Dodgers ability to sign the #1 starting pitcher that they desperately need. The McCourt’s were interlopers we all despised who worked hard to become owners we just did not like who have morphed into a reality show no one wants to watch. We would welcome back Fox at this point but neither McCourt mutton head deserves ownership of our city’s Dodgers.
We guess no one ever told Ben Roethlisberger that nothing good ever happens after midnight in the women’s restroom with a drunken coed even if no charges are filed.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."Albert Einstein
Goldman is not building railroads, creating jobs or fighting in Iraq. They are playing high stakes poker with sophisticated investors to identify derivative sources of new wealth that Goldman can charge fees for creating. Goldman made sure that their best customers profited when regular American people defaulted on their mortgages. Regardless if it was ethical or if these actions constitute fraud, Goldman created ways for their clients to profit from the collapse of the mortgage industry which lead Barack to write checks our grandchildren will never be able to cash. They gave home court odds to the wealthy few while the huddled masses will never again breathe free. In Las Vegas, we get what they are doing and we pay as we go. On Wall Street, are we happy that venerable Goldman Sachs created wealth for a few by betting against the American dream?
Barry’s approval ratings are plummeting and Goldman is a strategic deflection. There are mid-term elections and a hostile electorate. Barry needs a diversion because his policies are not the ones he demonized to get elected. He put GS Executive Henry Paulson in charge while John Paulson (not related) profited from his measures. Goldman Sachs alumni Gary Gensler and Time Geithner work in the Obama administration as well. Obama needs the dearly deflected. Goldman will play that role warmed in the $23 billion Barry covered them with during the depression that apparently hit the Hamptons harder than elsewhere. No one at Goldman is ever going to jail. Obama is just trying to get healthcare off the front page of our newspapers and our mindset.
This past Sunday in Los Angeles was golden regardless of the value of the yen, the pound or another complicated Goldman Sachs derivative. The Lakers will struggle towards the finish line this season. The Dodgers may not get that close and there may be an NFL Franchise before either team wins another championship. On the Sabbath, the Lakers flipped the switch and the Dodgers stole one from the City by the Bay.
The Lakers will emerge in the West but it is not going to be pretty. Kobe has played more games in the past two years than the average NBA player does in a lifetime. Kobe is a 30 years old but his body has already played in as many games as Jordan had by his 36th birthday. Since 2008, Kobe has played in back to back NBA Finals with the Olympics sandwiched in between. He has played almost another season without an off-season in the past two years. He is not hitting his jump shots and this could be Lebron’s year. Kobe can flip the switch like no one else but James is a beast in his prime.
Ron Ron Artest did what he was brought in to do in Game 1, shut down the scorer on the wing that Kobe usually has to cover. Phil got in Thunder superstar Kevin Durant’s head all week in the papers. Then Artest worked his mid-section all game. Ron with his yellow follicles had a hand on Durant from the time he stepped on the hardwood. Artest inhaled Durant into a 7 for 24, 4 turnover game. Phil dug a trench all week across Durant’s psyche and let psycho Ron go golden hair on the kid. Durant looked like he was playing March Madness, not the April Mayhem that is the NBA playoffs. Durant got his 31 in Game 2 but he still missed 14 of 26 shots and turned the ball over eight times.
While the Lakers struggled to put away The Thunder, the Dodgers broke into the Giant’s psyche and stole a piece of September from them. April games are not as relevant but this one sure felt good. The Giant’s pitching staff is going to be backing down Yard fluff feathers in 2010. That is a core group of great pitchers that rivals the Smoltz, Glavine, Maddux Brave teams. Lincecum shut out the Blue Crew in the Saturday sun 9-0. On Sunday, Clayton Kershaw pitched his best game of the new season but left trailing 1-0. The Dodgers had not scored all weekend and that is never fun. Barry Zito had pitched a gem for 8 innings when he was pulled after walking the Russell Martin with one out in the 8th. Joe Torre called Manny Ram who had not played since the 4th inning Friday night to pinch hit. Manny watched the first two pitches, fouled off the third and put the 4th into the left field pavilion. It was worth a few million of the $25 million he is getting this year.
Jamie McCourt has demanded $988,000 per month in support from Frank McCourt. With that salary, Jamie would be the third highest paid Dodger after Manny Ramirez and Hiroki Kuroda. Frank already tried to release Jamie and offered her salary arbitration but Jamie’s demands are limiting the Dodgers ability to sign the #1 starting pitcher that they desperately need. The McCourt’s were interlopers we all despised who worked hard to become owners we just did not like who have morphed into a reality show no one wants to watch. We would welcome back Fox at this point but neither McCourt mutton head deserves ownership of our city’s Dodgers.
We guess no one ever told Ben Roethlisberger that nothing good ever happens after midnight in the women’s restroom with a drunken coed even if no charges are filed.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."Albert Einstein
Monday, April 5, 2010
Beyond the Yellow Brick Road.
The last four teams have made it to Oz. These last basketball warriors have hung on to their red shoes, navigated the poppy fields, found the courage embedded in their hearts while avoiding the winged monkeys. On the last March weekend of March Madness, four teams fought through to their April finish.
The oldest basketball dynasty left in the dance is Duke. In the Yard Pool, only 5% of the Yardiots picked Duke to get past Baylor including the chief Yardiot. Duke had not won a regional since 2004 and never looked like they would win this one until their 22nd offensive rebound against Baylor. Baylor’s zone never figured out how to grab that high bouncing three point miss that turned into a two point lay up or another three. Baylor had better athletes. Duke had a better team that afternoon.
Butler is a great story and the Hoosier’s angle was picked up everywhere in America before last Saturday. We made over 7,000 tournament picks and the greater American pool, has 1.6 gazillion times PI. Not one person has Butler in the Final Four in any pool outside the Indy city limits. The Bulldogs were #8 in the first basketball pool of the season. They have not lost in 2010. It is a great story but Butler is a very good team and if we had picked them in any pool, this is a whole different blog.
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo does not get the “genius” label that Coach K will get with another trip to the final. Izzo does get the “I can take yours and beat mine” coach vote. He does more with less in a football conference from a beleaguered region. He has been to six final fours and never has had an air of impropriety, arrogance or entitlement. He makes 50% less dough than John Calipari and returns more. Sketchy Johnny will ever understand that basketball defines him.
Izzo and the rest of the coaches in the Final Four are defined by who they are not just basketball. Every coach left in the dance, has coached with integrity that begets impunity. John Calipari got sent home before he could vacate another final four.
Trinity College aka Duke University has a proud basketball tradition built on the academic investment from the Duke family. It is a compelling story of the south, tobacco road and cigarettes. The Blue Devils are like the Yankees, loved or reviled. The Yankees have re-tooled over the years because of the economics of baseball. Duke will struggle when Coach K retires because of the economics in college basketball. 7,000 seat Cameron arena works because the school hired an assistant coach who became a hall of famer transporting their legend to a land far, far way beyond anyone’s expectations. No one will ever want that job in the post script. UCLA found that out in 1975.
West Virginia is going to win. This is their first title game since 1959 when Jerry West was their star. The Mountaineers lost that night to the Cal Bears. In our research, we were not sure which was more shocking Jerry losing or the Bears winning. Jerry was a snake bit basketball player when it came to “the game”. He was on the losing side to the Celtics more than any intestinal tract is clinically allowed. West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins is throw back coach with a sneer. He is not snarky by design. It is his DNA. If your team is going to march through the madness, there needs to be an enemy. Bob is fighting more than most. There will never be a thought from him or his team that they can lose in any game. They grind down better talent as the Kentucky Wildcats learned. The will grind down the Dukies and whoever scores last in Game 1.
CBS has hit the ratings home run this week with the NCAA tournament final on Monday and The Masters on Thursday. Tiger’s first tournament after his brief road rally career will be huge. Tiger would really prefer to get back to being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN than US, Star and Vanity Fair. It is ironic that the historically segregated Augusta National will provide Tiger safe haven from the traditional media swarms. Hootie Johnson is retired but Augusta bows to no political correctness regardless of color, gender or whoring around on the bride.
The Masters is strong arming the Tiger camp to meet with the press before the tournament begins on Monday. Of course, Monday of Master’s week will be overshadowed by the start of the baseball season and the NCAA Final. It will be news but the 24/7 news cycle will be on overload with real sports news.
Tiger had figured his domestic pathology could be effectively stonewalled into irrelevance. He is playing this like a Kennedy at a less forgiving time with an inferior skill set. Tiger has had so much expectation fulfilled that he has never apologized for anything since he was on the Mike Douglass show in 1978 at age 2. Tiger can have a personal life and it should be insular. Tiger cannot market a message of family values and have a secret life. He ran with MJ and Sir Charles and those boys are players. Michael committed all of the same sins before text messages and e-trails. Jordan was pre-TMZ and he still ended up with largest divorce settlement in US history. Charles should have gotten married because he pissed all of his money away on liquor and gambling. He would have been better off finding someone to give half rather than giving Las Vegas all of it. Tiger cannot will this away. He needs to go on Oprah, take her beat down, ask for absolution, and win a major.
“I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, you're no Jack Kennedy.” Lloyd Bentsen
The oldest basketball dynasty left in the dance is Duke. In the Yard Pool, only 5% of the Yardiots picked Duke to get past Baylor including the chief Yardiot. Duke had not won a regional since 2004 and never looked like they would win this one until their 22nd offensive rebound against Baylor. Baylor’s zone never figured out how to grab that high bouncing three point miss that turned into a two point lay up or another three. Baylor had better athletes. Duke had a better team that afternoon.
Butler is a great story and the Hoosier’s angle was picked up everywhere in America before last Saturday. We made over 7,000 tournament picks and the greater American pool, has 1.6 gazillion times PI. Not one person has Butler in the Final Four in any pool outside the Indy city limits. The Bulldogs were #8 in the first basketball pool of the season. They have not lost in 2010. It is a great story but Butler is a very good team and if we had picked them in any pool, this is a whole different blog.
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo does not get the “genius” label that Coach K will get with another trip to the final. Izzo does get the “I can take yours and beat mine” coach vote. He does more with less in a football conference from a beleaguered region. He has been to six final fours and never has had an air of impropriety, arrogance or entitlement. He makes 50% less dough than John Calipari and returns more. Sketchy Johnny will ever understand that basketball defines him.
Izzo and the rest of the coaches in the Final Four are defined by who they are not just basketball. Every coach left in the dance, has coached with integrity that begets impunity. John Calipari got sent home before he could vacate another final four.
Trinity College aka Duke University has a proud basketball tradition built on the academic investment from the Duke family. It is a compelling story of the south, tobacco road and cigarettes. The Blue Devils are like the Yankees, loved or reviled. The Yankees have re-tooled over the years because of the economics of baseball. Duke will struggle when Coach K retires because of the economics in college basketball. 7,000 seat Cameron arena works because the school hired an assistant coach who became a hall of famer transporting their legend to a land far, far way beyond anyone’s expectations. No one will ever want that job in the post script. UCLA found that out in 1975.
West Virginia is going to win. This is their first title game since 1959 when Jerry West was their star. The Mountaineers lost that night to the Cal Bears. In our research, we were not sure which was more shocking Jerry losing or the Bears winning. Jerry was a snake bit basketball player when it came to “the game”. He was on the losing side to the Celtics more than any intestinal tract is clinically allowed. West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins is throw back coach with a sneer. He is not snarky by design. It is his DNA. If your team is going to march through the madness, there needs to be an enemy. Bob is fighting more than most. There will never be a thought from him or his team that they can lose in any game. They grind down better talent as the Kentucky Wildcats learned. The will grind down the Dukies and whoever scores last in Game 1.
CBS has hit the ratings home run this week with the NCAA tournament final on Monday and The Masters on Thursday. Tiger’s first tournament after his brief road rally career will be huge. Tiger would really prefer to get back to being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN than US, Star and Vanity Fair. It is ironic that the historically segregated Augusta National will provide Tiger safe haven from the traditional media swarms. Hootie Johnson is retired but Augusta bows to no political correctness regardless of color, gender or whoring around on the bride.
The Masters is strong arming the Tiger camp to meet with the press before the tournament begins on Monday. Of course, Monday of Master’s week will be overshadowed by the start of the baseball season and the NCAA Final. It will be news but the 24/7 news cycle will be on overload with real sports news.
Tiger had figured his domestic pathology could be effectively stonewalled into irrelevance. He is playing this like a Kennedy at a less forgiving time with an inferior skill set. Tiger has had so much expectation fulfilled that he has never apologized for anything since he was on the Mike Douglass show in 1978 at age 2. Tiger can have a personal life and it should be insular. Tiger cannot market a message of family values and have a secret life. He ran with MJ and Sir Charles and those boys are players. Michael committed all of the same sins before text messages and e-trails. Jordan was pre-TMZ and he still ended up with largest divorce settlement in US history. Charles should have gotten married because he pissed all of his money away on liquor and gambling. He would have been better off finding someone to give half rather than giving Las Vegas all of it. Tiger cannot will this away. He needs to go on Oprah, take her beat down, ask for absolution, and win a major.
“I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, you're no Jack Kennedy.” Lloyd Bentsen
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