It’s Wednesday National Hockey Night and I’m ready for the national mid-week doubleheader given it’s raining again in Deer Creek. Looks like the NHL is allowing some people inside of the arenas and that’s great because hockey inside of empty buildings isn’t right.
Tampa won the Cup last summer over Dallas in Game 6 with no fans in the bubble as the Cup was won by the Lightning in a pretty good Finals. This Game 7 above on the road in 2019 was actually the last time the Cup was won with fans in the building.
It broke my heart the Bruins lost at home in Game 7, but that’s life. The St. Louis Blues were a glorious story as they turned their season around in January and became champions.
I hope we get at some point to have Washington play Boston in the East because these two teams genuinely hate one another and Tom Wilson better be ready to fight.
I don’t see a clear cut favorite in either the East or the West.
Just off the top of my head I’d go Washington vs. Tampa in the Eastern Conference Finals with Colorado vs. Vegas in the West.
I actually watch twice as many NHL playoff games than NBA playoff games.
It won’t be long now before the best tournament in team sports gets going with at least some fans in the building.
The Thunder snapped their 14 game losing streak with a miraculous win over a team which did have Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown on the floor last night. Sure…Tatum was a DNP, but the Thunder were a team on the cusp of history last night if they’d lost the game….and besides that, they’re trying to lose games.
I mean…this is a Thunder team trying to LOSE games.
I don’t know what to say about Brad Stevens and his team.
Give the Thunder credit…they made some plays at the end while at the same time almost choking on a ten point lead with a minute left in the game on a sequence of bizarre Darius Bazely turnovers.
I don’t know what to say or write…so I’m going to play FuFu Ryan’s podcast on the game and that will be that.
Thunder host the Pelicans tomorrow night in Oklahoma City.
New OU head basketball coach Porter Moser hit the ground running and has but one scholarship remaining to offer for the 2021-22 basketball season.
He has added the two brothers from Eastern Washington….Tanner and Jacob Groves. He signed the All-ACC defensive guard Jordan Goldwire from Duke and then signed forward Ethan Chargois from SMU.
Brady Manek hit the portal and will play at North Carolina next season while De’vion Harmon has transferred to Oregon to play for Lon Kruger’s friend Dana Altman. Kur Kuath who was originally going to give some level of pro ball a try instead has signed to play a season at Marquette with Shaka Smart.
If my math is correct the Sooners have one more scholarship to get to thirteen.
So as to the video above that is Gonzaga’s backup point guard from last season…Aaron Cook. Aaron entered the transfer portal today and like Jordan Goldwire and EJ Harkless is an athletic guard who plays excellent defense which is the Coach Moser trademark.
Just me thinking out loud, but it would seem to me Aaron Cook and Coach Moser should have a talk. Just a thought. What could it hurt?
Here’s some of Jordan’s highlights at Duke. This will be an athletic team which should be able to play defense and score the ball.
Thank god it’s over. With two top third first round picks or the Miami pick these guys won’t be put in a position to lose next season. Props to Darius, Roby, and Lu Dort on a fun win in Boston tonight. Winning is fun.
Ten more games after tonight in Boston. Does Sam Presti have his mind made up as to who he wants to pick from this draft to build his team around?
Presti being in the ‘top five’ with a combined thirty-four first and second round draft picks plus whatever he gets for Al Horford if he trades him is certainly enough NBA currency for the Thunder to move up in the draft.
With me it’s still Cade because of his adaptability, versatility on both ends of the floor, and his personality in that I think Cade wants to win more than just feed his ego. He wants to win.
Cade isn’t Magic Johnson, he’s not Kevin Durant, he’s not Grant Hill. He’s Cade cunningham with an NBA ready body. I would guess by looking at Cade’s shoulders and arms he bench presses around 250 lbs. on ten rep sets.
Unlike Durant his body and his defense won’t be works in progress.
And like I wrote on here before with the likes of bad run franchises like Minnesota, Detroit, Orlando, and Cleveland in the mix…one would think Sam Presti could outflank these people for the rights to Cade if the Thunder don’t hit the No. 1 pick ball.
NFL draft gets going later this week. Instead of watching the Thunder lose at Boston tonight …I think I’ll do my annual watch of Draft Day with Kevin Costner.
I love these kids from the School of Rock in Seattle. The Thunder losing streak should hit fifteen tomorrow night in Boston. If the Celtics somehow lose to the Thunder …Brad Stevens should be fired on the floor.
The three games versus Sacramento will decide if Sam Presti’s squad of sustainability can close the season on a twenty five game losing streak.
Let’s go 25…bring on Cade, baby!!!
Be steadfast and be at peace within yourself as we finish the season.
As Jake Owen sings in The Journey of Life…’Sometimes you have to lose to become a winner.’ This is one of those times.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Smerconish question on my blog. Since the attempt by racist white domestic terrorists to overthrow our government on January 6th….I pretty much decided to be calm since I live in a Proud Boy state.
The question yesterday on Michael’s show was excellent. Should D.C. and the 700,000 people who live there be admitted as the 51st state so they can have senatorial representation?
By a 75% margin the vote was yes. However, I voted no, but with a caveat attached.
My rational to Michael was these 700,000 people can be be represented in the U.S. Senate very ably by the senators in either Virginia or Maryland. Neither of those states fall into the batfuck crazy category. So, in essence, these 700,000 people could be considered constituents of either of these states.
My primary caveat was in order to make the U.S. Senate functional again what we should be doing is reducing the number of senators from 100 to 90 by stripping the rights of five existing states to be represented in this once austere chamber.
The five states who would in essence be put on NCAA probation from being reprented in the U.S. Senate are Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Arkansas. We don’t need these five states states sending senators. These five have proven they’re never going to change and in no way are coachable. We could actually make it a trial probation of four years to be reviewed on say May 1st, 2025.
The. U.S. will keep military bases in operation in these five ‘state-territories’ and such programs as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will remain in place if these states so desire.
Instead of having two senators each of these five states will have one federal provost who is the conduit in matters of state and federal business.
This way nobody has to secede and hopefully the white domestic terrorists will have designated zones where they can still live in their 1866 bubble. College football and the SEC and the Big 12 will in no way be affected.
Russell and his Wizard teammates needed two easy wins this week to stay in the hunt for a spot in the NBA’s playin tournament and they got what they needed from the Thunder.
I thought Russell played well in both games. He and Bradley Beal seem to be playing with a nice symbiotic flow as the NBA’s highest scoring tandem in the league. The Wizards are in a dogfight to stay in the 10th seeding position, but as a fan of not only Russell, but the NBA as well…I hope we get to see the Wizards play Jimmy Butler, Bam, and Tyler Herro.
It’s been such an odd week for me watching Russell this week and the result of the Chauvin verdict and seeing the reation from others. As an honors graduate of the Bob Jackson School of Law I predicted there would be a murder conviction and the jury did the right thing. The law is the law and there was an abundance of evidence. CNN should have given me some run…just saying.
There is a part of Russell Westbrook of which I love. Granted, I wanted to strangle him about a half a dozen times, but there is a core there I love. If he never wins an NBA ring that’s okay with me because on every other front Russell checks the boxes for me.
Russell is the same age as my son Chris and there are some similarities.
I know Russell as a father is going to put everything of himself into Noah as Chris is going to do with Little Robert. I feel good about the souls of those two young men and their sons.
Being the father of a son in these times in which we live is a very serious business. It requires you put everything of your soul and heart into the job. Literally everything. But I can ensure you at the end of the road it’s a very gratifying feeling.
The clip from above is from the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. In reality… since this film was released some things have changed, but a great deal hasn’t changed at all as evidenced by the past four years.
Seeing Russell this week made me think of this epic scene which is probably my favorite movie scene of all-time.
Russell, Bad Little Dude…the invitation for you and the family is always an open-ended one to get the kids together for a cook-out.
Take care, buddy.
And I need to to do this for the tanking Thunder now losers of thirteen straight and headed to Philly and Boston for two more losses. It’s going to get better. This will be over in three weeks. Basketball is the easiest sport to rebuild because if you have two really good players you can fit other pieces around them and be relevant pretty quick. And the Thunder are going to have two pretty good players next season to lead all this youth.
This is awesome. Russ is my son’s favorite player even though his family now lives in Denver.
I wish there was some way Little Robert could hook up with Noah and play some time. We could play Baby Shark, High Hopes and feed the wild turkeys with the diva lab Pauli and everything. Maybe go fishing.
C’mon, Russ. Ray Jr. knows me. He signed in here on the blog once and everything. It would be fun. We could sit and talk about the Michelle Obama book…which btw was a great book.
We all just wonder if Tramel had been at this presser and asked a stupid question if Noah would have rolled his eyes looked at him and said, “Next question.”
What a great looking kid.
Russell Westbrook, you are blessed Bad Little Dude. Family is everything.
This After Dark selection is dedicated to my seventeen month-old grandson Little Robert. Don’t get me wrong….I love Baby Shark as much as any two year-old, but I’m hoping to broaden LR’s music playlist next time we see them.
Life seems reasonable right now.
I have to admit…I love Baby Shark. Some day I’ll explain to Little Robert the whole Howie Kendrick thing.
I could listen to Diana Krall and leave this earth. This seems appropriate given the cold April weather in Oklahoma. If they played Diana Krall at church…I’d start going to church. Just saying.