Month: May 2019

The hockey has been superb in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. My two favorite teams are both still alive in the East and in the West.

The Boston Bruins in six games eliminated the Columbus Blue Jays to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Meanwhile, my favorite team in the West–the Colorado Avalanche take on the San Jose Sharks tonight on the road in another glorious Game 7 conclusion to a series.

The superstars didn’t advance per se this post season. Sid and Ovi didn’t make it out of the first round. Instead—the Boston Bruins with David Pasternak, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and netminder Tuukka Rask have made it thru two rounds and in Vegas are the presumed favorite to win the Cup at this juncture.

On the other side in the East–the upstart Carolina Hurricanes with stellar vet forwards Jordan Stahl and Justin Williamson have cruised to the conference finals with good goaltending and a power play which should keep working.

Three things to always watch in playoff hockey…1 who has the hot goalie, 2 which team’s power play is converting at around 28-30%, and 3 who’s killing off penalties with consistency. And of course physicality–which team is willing to make the hit to create space and time and to set an overall tone for sixty minutes.

These clips come from home sites in Carolina and Columbus and as you can see there are passionate hockey fans in other markets other than the just the traditional powers in the NHL.

Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avs tonight in Game 7 in San Jose. The winner takes on the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Finals.

This shouldn’t be a surprise the Rockets had the Warriors at the edge of elimination last season before Chris Paul injured his groin.

It’s been a classic NBA post season series with neither team winning on the road yet. In a word, both Steph and Klay have been awful in this series and the Warriors aren’t moving the ball. The ball is stopping on Kevin Durant. He’s trying to carry the team, but that’s not what made this team special. What makes this team special is three guys who on any given night can go off on you.

Kevin Durant might take note of how brutal Kyrie is playing for the Celtics as they are down 3-1 to the Milwaukee Bucks and on the verge of their season being over.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe Oklahoma City actually beat the Rockets in that last week of the season game to screw up the standings and make this Rockets vs. Warriors a semi final instead of a conference final.

Mike Malone has a ball club the OKC Thunder fanbase wishes they had at the present. Tough, smart, and full of character. Young guys with a vet like Paul Milsap to balance the roster.

Thirty-six hours after losing in the fourth overtime on the road, they bounced back on Sunday to defeat Portland 116-112 on the road to even this Western Conference semi-final which has been very even to date and fun to watch.

It just goes to show what good general managing and good coaching look like in the present day NBA. You have to be flexible. You have to morph your style. You can’t live five years behind the curve as Sam Presti seems comfortable in doing each season in Oklahoma City.

Of the four teams left do you see a team with the player who fills the shooting guard position not being able to shoot?

Of course not.

The end.

For the first time in a while–I did not watch a single sporting event during a 24 hour span. I worked. But late in the day our son Chris sent us a picture of an “18 inch brown trout he caught in a stream on a dry fly about an hour out of Denver near a place called Deckard.

The browns don’t jump. They dart and dive. The rainbows jump.

We actually have some trout rivers in Oklahoma. I’ve stocked one our ponds out here in Deer Creek with trout for about three seasons using the same fishery which stocks both Dolese Park in Oklahoma City and the new trout stream in Turner Falls.

You can get 200 lbs. of trout for around a thousand dollars and if your pond is less than an acre it makes for some great winter trout fishing in Oklahoma. You just make sure and fish them out before it gets warm.

The fish range anywhere in size from ’12 to “20 . All rainbows from the Crystal Springs Hatchery in Missouri.

My son…the fly fishing purist will roll his eyes and say my method is like shooting fish in a barrel. Whatever.

Anyway…whenever Chris sends a pic of a trout he’s caught in Colorado stream… I always think of this. Always.

I’ll start with this…I thought it was somewhat ironic that the OKC’s Thunder ESPN beat writer Royce Young was in Portland covering this game and asked the first question of Terry Stotts in the post game presser. It must have been refreshing to walk into a press room and be treated like a professional by a NBA basketball operation after covering a game which was relevant. I’m assuming Little Nick Gallo wasn’t there and was home busy helping Russell Westbrook doing diapers and helping with their baby twin girls and Noah.

I think that’s the first NBA post season game to go into quadruple overtime since 1953 if I heard Dave Pasch and Doris Burke correctly. Those two are excellent as a tandem and Doris Burke along with Jeff van Gundy are my two favorite NBA analysts.

Portland just has that look that’s all I can write at this point. CJ McCollum wants to show the world that not only has Damian Lillard passed Russell Westbrook, but he has as well. And to me.. that’s the storyline in Portland moving forward in the event Portland plays Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. ‘

That being, have Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum both advanced to the point where they can make a series competitive against Kevin Durant and the Splash Brothers in a Western Conference Finals?

That will be tough given the Warriors’ starting five and the way they’re playing right now as they finally seem interested in playing some basketball. But you never know and that’s why you play the games.

Who picked Texas Tech vs. Auburn in the first national semi-final, right?

It’s a good story for Enes Kanter as well as he continues on this magical ride of his after being discarded by the Thunder and the NY Knicks. Another great move by Sam Presti in a sequence of great moves ever since that autumn Saturday when he traded James Harden for a one year rental of Kevin Martin, Steven Adams, Jeremy Lamb, Alex Abrines and if I remember correctly the draft pick which turned into Mitch ‘Weed’ McGary, who of course is no longer in the league. I need to recheck the McGary pick as that seems like a lifetime ago when the Thunder were relevant. Tell me he’s the owner of a cannabis retail store and I promise I won’t doubt you.

Every little thing is magic for the Blazers right now though. In the fourth OT…Mo Harkless started cramping and Rodney Hood entered the game after sitting for over an hour and matter of factly hit what turned out to be the game winner in overtime No. 4.

Hard to tell how each team will respond after twenty extra minutes of play with Game No. 4 slated for Sunday at 4:00pm, but how could you bet against the Trailblazers right now at least until they have to possibly hook up with the Warriors.

Here’s Mitch ‘Weed’ McGary in his rookie preview mix for the Thunder. Kind of hard to see how this guy got past Troy Weaver and Sam Presti when on his profile he noted eating cannabis brownies and playing ping pong with a buzz as his two favorite things to do outside of basketball. I think I read earlier this week Troy Weaver is interviewing for a job with the Wizards. Go figure.

Bill Russell won nine championships in eleven seasons with good players around him every season. Michael won six championships with Scottie Pippen. Kareem won six rings with good players around him both at Milwaukee and with the Lakers. Same thing with Kobe as he won five championships in his storied career, but always with good players around him.

So I’ve come to the conclusion there’s no reason for Kevin Durant to leave the Warriors especially since the national narrative has changed after witnessing the meltdown in Oklahoma City these past two seasons where Russell Westbrook and Paul George won a combined three post season games in eleven played.

The national narrative is now strong that Kevin Durant was smart to leave the culture in Oklahoma City.

Why should he have stayed? Why was any of this on Durant and why shouldn’t it be on Sam Presti and Russell Westbrook instead for not doing the things to end a failed culture in Oklahoma City?

Kevin Durant should stay put and keep winning rings. If he stays healthy—who knows–maybe he could make a run at Bill Russell?

He lives in a great city which hates Donald Trump and has a coach who speaks his mind. Not that basketball decisions should be based on your fanbase hating Donald Trump or David Duke or some other knuckleheads you’ll find in a Trump region. But when you’re at that level in your profession…why play in front of a fanbase which by a 70% margin voted for a racist when you can win historically big in front of people who have a little more ‘openness’ in the way they view the world. If I were a black star there’s no way I’d play in a Trump state. No way. Hell-if I were Durant the next time I played inside the Peake I’d wear a black glove and go all Carlos and Smith on them.

Study the history of Bill Russell with racism in Boston during his career there. Bill Russell was permanently scarred and bitter about how he was treated in Boston. He wouldn’t even allow his jersey retirement ceremony to be held openly in front of the fans…only in private. Think I’m kidding…read Gary Pomerantz’s great book The Last Pass and read for yourself.

There’s no reason for Durant to go play anywhere else now unless he just wants to experience another city for the sake of experiencing another city.

Given the thirty cities in the NBA right now…I can’t think of what city other than San Francisco that could possibly be.

Russell Westbrook and Sam Presti have made sure his legacy won’t be tarnished for leaving the Thunder to head to the Warriors. I can’t imagine Durant will ever be booed again in Oklahoma City or called Cup Cake even by the fat slob with the horn and no shirt under the basket.

Kevin Durant isn’t second anymore. He’s the best player in the world on the best team in one of the world’s best cities.

Kevin Durant should stay right where he is and chase Michael, Bill Russell, Kobe, and Kareem for his rightful place in the top ten of the Pantheon.

Why leave?

It was a big night of sports with both Boston and Colorado evening their Stanley Cup semi-final series with critical wins.

On the NBA front, Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76’ers to a 2-1 series lead 116-95 with a 116-95 win in the ECSF.

The ramifications of Toronto not advancing would seem to be that Kawhi Leonard would then join Jerry West and the Steve Ballmer LA Clipper operation.

The hockey was great…the basketball was so-so. But still if you’re a real NBA fan you’re still watching even though the overall playoff television ratings are down.

William Barr might have a problem as in it appears he might have committed perjury.

I haven’t written too much on the Mueller Report or the letter because I think we need to hear from Bob Mueller himself before coming to our own conclusions.

So here’s this chubby retired guy named William Barr who was appointed AG back in ’91 by Bush 41 and served thru the first year of Bill Clinton’s first term.

Fast forward.

I’m to assume he got bored eating too much in retirement and all the sudden out of boredom decided to write a nineteen page piece on why a sitting POTUS, even the grifter con artist Donald Trump, cannot be indicted no matter what he does.

And then as Trump finally gets rid of the completely unqualified Jeff Sessions as his AG–Donald Trump and William Barr somehow become one in the political swamp known as the Trump White House.

So unless you have the brain of Lindsey Graham or have attended Trump rallies in Oklahoma, West Virginia or Alabama and still have your MAGA ball cap still on… you might have taken notice when Kamala Harris basically destroyed William Barr on cross examination during this recent Senate hearing.

This is what lawyers live for. This cross examination by Kamala Harris was like a hockey player getting a hat trick or basketball player getting a triple double.

This was textbook. Watch the video from the first question to the last question. She never once allowed Barr to completely answer a question and completely took him apart by never allowing him to draw out an answer or get into a comfort zone of any kind.

This was a TKO. He couldn’t even answer the first question and didn’t.

Bob Mueller, do you swear to tell the truth and the whole truth?

I think we have a moment coming.

As the Thunder season has mercifully ended without any known deaths at this point, I’d like to pivot just a bit and include a new weekly segment on my blog called My Smerconish Question of the Week.

Like Michael Smerconish—I’m a former Republican who left the party disturbed by the way the party was headed towards the rogue right guardrails. We’re both now Independents. He’s a lawyer and I thought about becoming a lawyer. So–I have some things in common with Michael Smerconish and his show on Saturday morning is the only cable political show I’ll watch any longer. Fox is complete trash and the cheerleading on MSNBC isn’t much better.

Because of the Trump stuff I do on my blog…I get quite a few private messages on some of my comments in regards to Donald Trump.

I think what I’d like to do is pick one question a week and reply to it on here as we head into the 2020 presidential campaign.

Heidi from Newark, NJ asks:

Q: Mike, I enjoy your blog. If you had to pick between Donald Trump and Bush 43 who would you pick and why?

A: Heidi, thank you for the great question. I was a harsh critic of George W Bush during his eight years in the White House and thought the decision to invade Iraq was one of the worst decisions in American history ever made by a sitting president of the United States.

However…my views on W have softened and a big part of that happened when I read his touching memoir titled ’41’ in which he told from his perspective the life his father lived and why he loved his father so much.

I have to admit—the book changed the way I looked at W. I still think the decision to invade Iraq was horrible, but given what we see every day from Donald Trump–there’s no comparison at all from my view. I like both of his daughters and I’ve always been a fan of Laura Bush who was actually a Eugene McCarthy supporter back when they met and fell in love.

Even though I never voted for W, he’s a guy I could sit down with and enjoy having a beer with and talk about some things and feel that at least there was a decent human being on the other side of the conversation.

So…in answering your question, if I was voting and had to pick between Donald Trump and W…I’d vote for Bush.

Thanks for the question.

I think if you read my blog you know I won’t be voting for Donald Trump. It’s not that I’m a liberal given the fact I was a registered Republican from 1976-2000, but more to the point, it’s just the simple fact I have no respect for Donald Trump as a human being. He shouldn’t be the leader of the greatest democracy in the history of the world.

It has nothing to do with ideology because I’m pretty vanilla ideology-wise. I’ve been an Independent since 2000, yet in my presidential voting record I’ve voted for more Republicans than Democrats.

I could vote for Bill Weld the former GOP governor from Massachusetts, but I would think his chances of unseating our pussy grabbing prez are slim and none. Melania would like him because he’s never been a bully on the internet or on a bus with Billy Bush–but I’m guessing even she and the biblical Mike Pence will vote for Donald Trump.

Michael Bennet is a sitting Democratic senator from Colorado who has served since 2009 in the Senate. He’s a lawyer and attended Yale Law School.

His resume includes a tenure as Director of the Anschutz Investment Company. If the name Phillip Anschutz rings a bell it should because Anschutz’s company bought the Daily Oklahoman from the Gaylord family before recently unloading it to a New York group called Gates Media Company. If you still read the Daily Oklahoman you’ll notice the paper is pretty much down to nothing–so I’m not exactly sure what Gates Media does with newspapers after they acquire one and strip them down to basically nothing.

Anyway, Bennet also served as the chief of staff to then Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, who by the way is also running for president.

Bennet also served as Superintendent of the Denver School System which is good because I’m guessing that’s where my wife and I will end up at some point in retirement or at least in Crested Butte. The diva lab Pauli can’t wait.

Michael Bennet’s chances are slim, but he’s still getting my early endorsement in the 2020 presidential race.

But I want to be fair on here and give both sides equal time and coverage — so here’s something for the Trump supporters who put the marginal tax rates above anything else in their presidential considerations.

Great skiing and trout fishing. Hiking and biking galore. Plus, golf balls travel forever. I should gain thirty yards off the tee. Some great restaurants and the best Italian place I’ve ever eaten at called Michael’s Garlic right on the Gunnison River. I can assure you… once the word gets out to these little annoying dogs on the streets that Pauli is in town—-these little yappers will not bother us on the sidewalks of Crested Butte ever again.