Blues Even Finals With 3-2 Overtime Road Win

Take away the first ten minutes of this game where Blues’ goalie Jordan Bennington gave up two soft five hole goals and what happened the remaining fifty minutes was a clinic put on by the St. Louis Blues.

The Blues showed the hockey world fifty-three minutes or so of how you take the other team apart by checking them into submission at every opportunity. Anything in a black and gold jersey near the puck was hit in the face and with bad intent by every St. Louis player.

It was like a prize fight and the Bruins were not helped when they lost defensemen Matt Grzelcyk in the second period and had to play the rest of the game with five defensemen rotating minutes. For good measure the Blues ran Bruin netminder Tuukka Rask twice in the game and then killed the penalty afterwards.

This was a message game sent from Craig Berube to the Boston Bruins…the message being if you want an inch of space you’re going to be hit and be hit with a nasty intent attached.

Sam Presti should have watched the game. I think he might have witnessed a coach who might be able to get Russell Westbrook to turn into an honest player. Sam Presti please call Craig Berube to help your diva star turn into an honest player. For $40 million per you should get a two way player.

It was old school hockey. The Bruins first line of Marchand, Bergeron, and Pasternak were for the second game invisible. As a group they are -7 in the first two games. Some regard this as the premier line in the NHL this season—yet the Blues haven’t in the least been impressed with the trio. Both Boston goals were scored by their fourth line.

Carl Gunnarson a defenseman ended the carnage 3:51 into the overtime with a rising slap shot from the top of the slot which Tuukka Rask never saw.

Rask was decent in this game and only because of his good play did the game even get to overtime. The game was for the most part played on his end with Boston’s defensemen unable to cleanly connect passes of any variety on any breakout plays. Quite frankly…they looked scared.

Boston’s puck movement was in a word…horrific. It looked like a pee wee level clusterfuck where none of these guys had ever been checked before in their lives.

The series now goes to St. Louis where the Blues now hold home ice advantage with three of the next four games being played in their arena in front of their adoring fans. The St. Louis baseball Cardinals absolutely suck this season. Don’t for a second think the St. Louis sports fans know this is their only chance with the Blues for anything special to happen this season pro sports wise in their city.

I would think Laura Branigan was heard singing “Gloria’ late into the night in the bars of St. Louis.

Boston needs a serious attitude adjustment in Game 3 if they want to lift the Cup.

After watching Game 2 in Boston probably need to learn the lyrics to ‘Gloria’.

Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Finals Game 2 Pregame Music

Teams which win the first two games in the Stanley Cup Finals go on to win around eighty per cent of the championships. Bruins need to come out ready tonight with some jump and get all over those big St. Louis defensemen with an ungodly forecheck. Forecheck those motherfuckers to death and exact a toll every time one of them touches the puck.

Five skills of a hockey players are: 1 skating, 2 shooting, 3 passing, 4 checking, and 5 fighting (when needed). Bobby Orr could fight, pretty boy Gretzky couldn’t fight. I’ve always held that against him in my Pantheon rankings of the greatest hockey players.

Four of these skills are team skills, only shooting is an individual skill. If you can skate, check, pass and think the game you can become hockey player.

No tornadoes tonight in Deer Creek. I can focus on the game.

LET’S GO, BOYS. First goal this time. Get on them and stay on them for sixty minutes.

I’m gonna try and be a little more provocative on some of the videos in an effort to attract more of Trump’s religious right followers on here now and again so as they might occasionally read something other than the usual braindead shit they absorb on Fox 24/7. Just doing my part to help educate the country.

Donald Trump-Lindsey Graham Relationship Mood Music

You have to figure he hasn’t touched Melania since Baron was born. Someone had to fill the void after Karen, Stormy, Omarosa, daughter Ivanka and an assortment of escorts. Why not John McCain’s bud Wispy Lindsey Graham? Fairly sure Jerry Falwell Jr. and the religious right can live with this as long as the tax cuts stay in place.

Thank god there’s a hockey game tonight. I have some pent up anger.

LET’S GO BRUINS!

Lindsey Graham is a Political Whore

Two days after Memorial Day and Bob Mueller makes a nine minute statement in which he is basically telling Congress to step up and to do their job by telling the American people who there president is.

You see there is a thing called the law. And the law is inherit in our Constitution and how people regardless of income, race, and religious beliefs are afforded equal treatment by the law. Trust me, my father as a trial lawyer who did way too much pro bono work ingrained this in me. WE FOLLOW THE LAW. This is not complex.

Your Honor, I call Lindsey Graham to the stand and I hope the bench will remind the senator from South Carolina he is under oath and the penalty for perjury is not to be taken lightly.

If you you’re a Fox regular and can’t read like our sitting POTUS then at least click this and smarten up a little bit.

You think if a poor black dude named Jerome was as overt in breaking the law as Donald Trump has been the wispy fraud from South Carolina would look the other way? Of course not. Because Jerome is black, poor, and will never be in a position to nominate a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Lindsey Graham will never be compared to Howard Baker by presidential historians.

Bruins vs. Blues Final Evokes Memories of Bobby Orr’s Iconic Goal in 1970

It was 1970 and I was thirteen years old when the Bruins beat the expansion St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Finals. The moment when Bobby Orr flew thru the air is perhaps the greatest moment in hockey history unless you’re a Montreal Canadian fan and you’re a Canadian hockey purist.

I loved the Bruins in part because their Triple AAA affiliate played in Oklahoma City. They played their games down at the old fairgrounds and quite a few very good players came thru OKC before heading to the parent team Bruins. This in part laid the groundwork for the Oklahoma City Blazers remarkable run in minor league hockey later on which in reality laid the groundwork for the current arena in downtown Oklahoma City which now houses our diva Russell Westbrook and his now underachieving mates who lead the league in payroll and listless first round exits.

I always wonder how an NHL team would have done in downtown OKC during the MAP days. OKC actually came down to the last city standing as they made every cut with the NHL trying to land an expansion team. It came down to Oklahoma City and Columbus…and as we know Columbus now has the NHL Bluejackets.

Then came Hurricane Katrina and the rest is history as to how the city removed the Sonics from Howard Schultz and Seattle after the two years of the New Orleans franchise playing in the then Ford Center.

In reality–the Bruins are my favorite pro franchise perhaps only followed by the Green Bay Packers and Roberto Clemente’s Pittsburgh Pirates on my fan pecking order.

The Thunder are falling fast in my heart and not just because of the three straight first round exits, but more to the point because of the bullshit manner in which they have allowed Westbrook to become the ultimate boorish diva pro athlete in all of pro sport. Antonio Brown now of the Oakland Raiders would be second on that list.

Note to Russell Westbrook…despite the eternal love glow you get from Little Nick Gallo rubbing against your cock — you aren’t in Bobby Orr’s league. Not even remotely close. Grow up, kid. Watching you during a presser is like witnessing a black version of Donald Trump.

Anyway, Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final is tonight and I think if Boston wins this game they win the series in five games. Huge game for the working class St. Louis Blues who have embraced the old song ‘Gloria’ as their song.

If the Blues were playing anybody else other than my beloved Bruins—I’d be rooting for them.

Boston Bruins Win Game 1 of Stanley Cup Finals

The city of champions minus the Celtics just keeps churning with the Red Sox and Tom Brady’s Patriots already holding championship trophies in their respective sports.

On Memorial Day evening in Boston the Bruins came back from a sluggish start and a 2-0 deficit to win Game 1 of the finals with an eventual 4-2 win over the surprising St. Louis Blues.

Game 2 will be in Boston as the Bruins attempt to take a 2-0 series lead in quest of a franchise seventh Stanley Cup championship. The Bruins last Cup came in 2011 and remarkably if the Bruins win three more games against a St. Louis team which had an NHL worst record on January 3rd it will mark the city of Boston holding three of the four major league sports crowns simultaneously.

This is not a marquee matchup. Nobody saw St. Louis back in the winter emerging as a Cup contender, yet they have a decent roster which jelled under Craig Berube after he became interim head coach.

Both teams are physical old school teams which generate scoring opportunities off the physicality of their forecheck.

With Boston I would think they’ll score goals from all four lines and will need goalie Tuukka Rask to continue his solid run of play in these playoffs.

If I had to handicap the series…I’d say Boston in five or six games.

In the NBA Finals…I’ll go with the Warriors in either five or six games. I actually hope Durant doesn’t play so we can see Kawhi guard Klay Thompson instead of Kevin Durant. Bottomline…even without Durant the Warriors have three all-stars and a former Finals MVP in Andre Iguodala.

Sissy Fairy Lindsey Graham & Lyin’ Ted Cruz Followers…This is For You

Since we know how many of you are ‘true patriots’ this is for you as a Memorial Day afterthought for all the real patriots who have served our country and given all of us the chance to pursue individual freedoms. Free patriots work thru the bone spurs… just saying.

Real American patriots serve their country regardless of the marginal rate their CPA has worked them into and serve their country with honor.

Ask Bush 41, ask John McCain, ask former Senator Webb, ask Congressman Moulton. You people have become an embarrassment to America and our educational system. Turn off Fox and read a book every now and again.

Is it about genuine patriotism or the marginal rates? You’ll notice for the most part the same 1% or so still own most of the country’s assets. So how did it trickle down for you so far in relation to real fixed long term net asset gain?

This is for you.

Smerconish Memorial Day Mailbox

The Stanley Cup Finals and the NBA Finals both get started this week and I wanted to have a special mailbox question for Memorial Day on my blog. I’d like to give thanks to all the brave men and women who have served our country and made the freedoms we all enjoy possible. Don’t ever take our Constitution or our freedoms for granted.

Thank you.

Unlike Donald Trump, who used every nuance of the deferment ruse to avoid serving his country–John McCain was a bona fide American war hero and my question on this Memorial Day Mailbox centers on John McCain.

Q: Gene from Reno, Nevada asks: Mike, I like the blog. You seem fair and not partisan to one ideology slant from the far left or far right. What do you think of Lindsey Graham’s behavior since the death of his ‘friend’ John McCain?

A: Gene, thank you for the excellent question. Oh, boy. What I think is Lindsey Graham has become a national embarrassment and is close to challenging Ted Cruz as the most unlikeable current member of the U.S. Senate.

His overt political alignment with Donald Trump is a disgrace to his friend John McCain. If I resided in South Carolina —he would not be a source of pride to me in any manner possible. He has become what I would describe as a pure political whore in the purest since. Hopefully–at some point we don’t see him on Fox kneeing in front of Trump with our president’s pants on the floor.

I hope my answer isn’t vague or ambiguous.

That’s what I think of Lindsey Graham and it’s sad for me because he used to be one of the GOP senators I actually thought was somewhat interesting.

Thanks for the excellent question, Gene.

Golden State Wins the West 5th Straight Time

For the fifth straight season the Golden State Warriors are the champions of the rugged Western Conference. In another week we’ll get to see if the Warriors are NBA champions for the fourth time in the past five years.

We are witnessing historic things from these Warriors. Things which remind one of the Boston Celtics during their dynasty years with Red Auerbach and Bill Russell.

Comparisons are being made suggesting Steve Kerr is a top ten coach of all-time. Steph Curry by some is being hailed as the greatest point guard since Magic Johnson. I’d tap the brakes on both of those statements, but by the same token let’s see what unfolds the next five years in San Francisco as the Warriors move into their new arena.

These Warriors have a chance to be historically elite with or without Kevin Durant. What if Kawhi replaced a departed Durant? What if Paul George joined the Warriors in a few years? What if a player like say Marcus Smart or Chris Middleton replaced Andre Iguodala? It should be easy for the Warriors to attract a quality piece even if Durant leaves for the Knicks or the Clippers.

Would it be too much to say the Splash Brothers plus Draymond Green are the NBA’s version of Tom Brady and Gronk?

I don’t worry about Durant. He’s a different cat. He is in fact like a cat in that he seems to keep on the move and not let his emotions dictate his decisions. Personally, if Jerry West won him over once what would make me think Jerry West won’t do it again only this time for the Clippers in Los Angeles.

If I’m a Warriors fan do I want Durant to play in the Finals? Of course I do in that Giannis will wear himself down defending Durant. Who else on the Warriors’ roster has the tools to test Giannis when he’s on defense. Not Green and not Iguodala. That would be Kevin Durant grinding down Giannis as he did LeBron these past two season.

And that’s why it was so smart for Bob Myer to lure Durant to Oakland. Because in Durant he has his closer when the Warriors are opposing an uber elite player such as LeBron or Giannis.

But ask yourself this if Durant leaves and is replaced by Kawhi wouldn’t it be fair to say the Warriors could win four out of the next championships as well.

Legacies and narratives will be a flow in the coming weeks. But I do know this —even without Kevin Durant the Warriors with Steph, Klay, Draymond and Andre will be the Vegas favorites to fourpeat if they beat the winner of the Bucks-Raptors series.

It’s like with Tom Brady. When I see somebody beat him/them–then I’ll pick someone else to win the NBA championship.

Here’s Steph after the overtime road win in Game 4 to close out the Warriors. Notice the professional questions and adult like answers.

Draymond Green Leads Warriors to Comeback Win in Game 3, 110-99

For all practical purposes these Western Conference Finals are over and the Golden State Warriors have advanced to their fifth straight NBA Finals with a 110-99 road win in Portland in Game 3 on Saturday night.

Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins did not play. Andre Iguodala only played 17 minutes in this game. This was the organic version of the Warriors which featured Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and a 2nd round draft pick from Michigan State named Draymond Green. Throw in an affordable bench which in this game scored 33 points and you still have a Warriors ball club which in all likelihood will beat Milwaukee or Toronto to complete their threepeat and hoist their fourth O’Brien Trophy in the last five years.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are still awaiting a return trip to the NBA Finals since their lone visit in 2012.

I heard Berry Tramel on the Sports Animal this week claim the championship window is still open in Oklahoma City for at least two more years. The only thing which could validate that comment would be the Warriors losing Draymond Green and Klay Thompson in free agency and around at least five other teams in the West losing key personnel.

What window is Berry Tramel alluding to? It was stunning to hear from the lone adult sports writer in the market. Jim Traber was on vacaction is all I can figure or else that never would have been allowed to go unchallenged. So.. I’m doing it for Traber on my rogue blog. Berry Tramel needs a vacation from the Thunder.


The real question is if the window in Oklahoma City has closed to winning a Northwest Division banner…the other goals beyond that goal are of a pipedream nature unless you see Russell Westbrook turning into Jason Kidd 2011 sometime in the next two years and someone coaching the team Westbrook would listen to when the games matter.

I don’t know what’s up with Tramel of late. It’s as if he’s writing soft content to make up for all the negative attention the Thunder received from those low class post game pressers between he and Westbrook. Quite frankly—he almost reads like something from a Nick Gallo piece of late. I hope it doesn’t continue. Be honest and allow the readers to get something honest from a local writer…Berry Tramel.

In this game, the Warriors fell behind by as many 18 points in the first half as Terry Stotts started Myers Leonard in place of Enes Kanter. And for a half it worked as the Blazers led 66-53 at the intermission break.

But then came the second half and it was a train wreck for Portland as the Warriors won the second half by a score of 57-33. In 24 minutes of play the Trailblazers scored 33 points in their most important second half of these playoffs…at home.

Draymond Green was superb with a clutch triple double of 20 points, 13 assists, and 12 assists Steph Curry was the NBA Finals MVP version with 36 points. Klay Thompson kicked in 19 points and the bench of no names assembled by Bob Myers were clutch with 33 points and quality minutes provided on the road in a high pressure situation.

Enes Kanter only played 7 minutes in this game so this was the adjustment Terry Stotts finally made and it wasn’t enough as even without Durant and Cousins the organic Warriors are still the best team in the NBA.

This ‘purported’ window which Sam Presti and now Berry Tramel claim still exists will have some miraculous work needing to be done if the Thunder in a sober state of mind think they belong in the same breath with a team which still has Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Green and Iguodala.

And even if the Warriors are hurt in free agency there’s still Houston, Denver, Portland, Utah, the Clippers, LeBron perhaps paired with another star, and what should be a vastly improved Dallas team– and who knows what Minnesota and Sacramento could turn into next season .

What window?