by John Walters

Tweet Me Right

How does this shot drop? pic.twitter.com/QJt2euCZFD

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) May 13, 2019

Starting Five

The King In The North

We did not watch too much of the Sixers-Raptors series, but it turns out you didn’t have to. The last 5 seconds were the entire story, as Kawhi Leonard, with the score knotted 90-90, took a falling away 20-footer from the right corner that went bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, through as the clock expired.

KAWHI LEONARD FOR THE SERIES! 🔥#WeTheNorth | #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/z0yi7kdxGB

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 13, 2019

Bring on the Bucks!

The Kings From The North

Much like Daenerys’ Targaryen’s army, Manchester City came down from northern England to the coastal southern city of Brighton on Sunday to claim the throne of the English Premier League. Up only one point ahead of Liverpool when the final day of the season began, Man City fell behind 1-0 on a corner kick at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday morning (here in the States).

Fans of the Reds, who were up 1-0 on Wolverhampton at the time, were ecstatic. Only 83 seconds later, though, the Sky Blues evened the score 1-1 and then put through three more goals to take the Premiership for the second consecutive year (and fourth in eight) by a points total of 98 (to Liverpool’s 97, the third-highest point total in Premier League history).

Man City may be the Yankees or Dodgers, in terms of payroll, but give Pep Guardiola’s side credit. In order to maintain the crown, they had to win outright their final 14 matches. And they did. After all, they’re our wonderwall.

Happy Mother Of Dragons Day

In the penultimate episode of Game Of Thrones, Daenerys redefines what it means to go “scorched earth.” Meanwhile, half of Twitter seemed upset that she’d keep her starters in that late in the fourth quarter with such a sizable lead. But, as our friend Cecil Hurt explained, you gotta impress the voters.

Other thoughts:

–For the twincest duo of Cersei and Jaime Lannister, it all started in a turreted tower in Winterfell and ended in a dungeon in King’s Landing. Fitting. Though we still don’t quite understand how Jaime walked away from being stabbed twice in the torso (but yes, begging believability in this series is something of a fool’s errand).

–We are probably a day or two away from a King’s Landing truther claiming that dragon fire doesn’t destroy Red Keep bricks and that it was all a conspiracy.

–The Hound’s final scene with Arya was for us, the highlight of the episode. For anyone who grew up in a house with tough love, you knew for awhile now that Sandor Clegane was one of the good guys.

–We loved Cersei’s little “I’m just gonna scooch on past this little sibling rivalry move” just prior to the start of CleganeBowl.

–Don’t understand why fans were taken aback by Daenerys’ actions (like father, like daughter). She’d listened to their soft takes, particularly Tyrion and Jon Snow, for awhile now and all it had gotten her was a dead dragon and a headless closest female friend. And in a sense, she was absolutely right: “Mercy is our strength. The mercy that future generations won’t have to put up with [Cersei].” She’s not here to win the popular vote, or even the electoral college. She’s here to fix what’s been broken for centuries. In the words of Bruce, “Let the broken hearts stand as the price you gotta pay.”

–Although it would be fun to see Sansa take the evidence of Daenerys committing mass murder with Drogon and use it as an appeal to the rest of the people: “Lock her up.”

–For us, this sets up a Stark vs. Daenerys ending with Jon Snow hopelessly caught in the middle. So what happens? Does Daenerys simply take the South and yield the North to Sansa? Does Jon become the messianic martyr? Does Arya avenge him, or does she kill Daenerys before her Dothraki have the chance to take out Jon? Is Tyrion charred for treason, a la Varys? One thing you gotta think: That white horse and its symbolism didn’t just show up at the end of this episode for no good reason.

White Lightning

The young man on the right in the “Jesuit” singlet is high school senior Matthew Boling of Houston. On Saturday, in the Texas 6A state track meet, Boling ran the fastest boys prep 100-meter legal time ever recorded: 10.13. This less than one month after he’d run the fastest wind-aided 100-meter high school time (9.98 seconds) ever.

Boling basically already has world-class, Olympic finals speed at the age of 18. He also pulled off quite an anchor leg in the boys 4 x 400 relay final and won the long jump. He’s headed to Georgia on scholarship and you should be hearing a lot more about him.

Nurse Wretched

From The New York Times, the story of a German nurse , Niels Hogel, who may have used his position to end the lives of some 300 patients. And a suggestion that perhaps Germans’ worship of authority figures allowed him to continue his murderous behavior than far longer than he should have (as if we’re so easy on whistle-blowers here).

We did appreciate the shade thrown at Hitler and Himmler and Goebbels without actually mentioning their names, as they wrote that Hogel “may be the most prolific serial killer in the history of peacetime Germany.”

Music 101

Give A Little Bit

Roger Hodgson was just 19 years old when he wrote this song in 1969, but didn’t offer it up to the band he co-founded, Supertramp, until 1976. It became the band’s first international hit. In the late Seventies, the British prog rock group had more than half a dozen chart hits. This is our favorite, probably due to the jangly 12-string acoustic guitars.

Remote Patrol

Chernobyl

9 p.m. HBO

It’s strange to have a hero in a nuclear disaster film, particularly one based on actual events, but that’s who Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) was. As a viewer, if you watched the first episode, you already know Legasov’s fate and while we do consider his actions heroic, we do not approve of leaving your kitty cat an orphan and only what looks like 3 days of available food. Bad! Bad Legasov!

by John Walters

Tweet Me Right

https://twitter.com/TheStevenWeber/status/1126378850382823424?s=20

Starting Five

Sixers, Blazers, Force Game 7s: But How Will This Affect LeBron and The Lakers?!?!?!?

Had ample time to tune in to a pair of ESPN chat-fests yesterday: ATH and PTI (with Tony on one, Tony-free on the other). Then I tuned in to one segment of “NBA Countdown” (can no longer stomach Beadle). In the time I watched the ESPN hosts talked more about the L.A. Lakers, who did not make the playoffs, than any of the four teams who were playing last night.

How Kyrie walking into the Lakers locker room July 1 https://t.co/Gk0G5rsLUH

— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) May 9, 2019

And of course Tottenham’s incredible comeback versus Ajax never even was a topic on the first two shows.

Toodle-loo, Ty Lue

But as long as we’re here, the Lakers were blasted on the three ESPN shows for showing disrespect to Tyronn Lue (a former Laker player if I remember correctly) by not handing him a five-year deal. We get it, but on the other hand let’s not pretend Lue is anything more than LeBron’s coaching valet. When LeBron goes, L.A. will want nothing to do with Lue. And he won’t stay five years.

We advocated in this space three months ago that the best-case for the Lakers is to trade LeBron while he remains high value. They’re never getting out of the conference semis at this point, not with the emerging talent in Denver and Dallas (have you forgotten that Kristaps joins Luka next autumn) and the reigning talent in Golden State and Houston.

As they say in Hollywood, scrap the picture and let’s get a fresh script. I don’t actually know if they say that, but I do have two Hollywood friends who semi-regularly read this column and perhaps they can correct me.

For Womb The Bell Tolls

Alabama: The House passed a bill last week that would criminalize abortion and that doctors could face up to 99 years of jail time if convicted.

Georgia, Mississippi, Ohio: Pass “fetal heartbeat” bills, which prohibits abortions past the sixth week of pregnancy.

It’s really simple: Human life is sacrosanct from the moment of conception right up to the point where it’s a matter of that life versus my gun.

Philly Is Phor Phoodies

The James Beard Awards, the Oscars for restaurants, were announced earlier this week. Best Restaurant went to Zahav, a Phladelphia bistro not far from Penn’s Landing that specializes in Israeli cuisine. “Zahav” in Hebrew means gold, but I feel bad even insulting your intelligence by typing that. I’d call Zahav the mecca of Philly’s culinary scene, but that might be in poor taste.

For those of us in the real world (!), Best New Restaurant went to Frenchette in New York City (which, I presume, is not Israeli). But I still like my Chinese/Cuban joint on 78th and Broadway. It’s always crowded and the waiters have been there since Koch was mayor.

Milo Vs. Tyrone

Last week we noted that ’40s Hollywood leading man Walter Pidgeon bore a striking resemblance to 21st century TV star Jon Hamm. Well, we’ve got another pair of cross-century screen doppelgängers for you: Tyrone Power and Milo Ventimiglia.

We loved Milo as Jess from Gilmore Girls. You may know him better as Jack, the dad who survives Vietnam service only to die in a house fire in This Is Us.

Power is an actor you may know better as a name than for his films—start with Nightmare Alley or The Mark of Zorro—but you may be interested to learn that during World War II he was a pilot. Power had enlisted in the Marine Corps and during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa he flew cargo missions, dropping off supplies and picking up wounded.

Like Clark Gable, Power had an affair with Lana Turner and also like Gable, he had a son born shortly after he died. Power died suddenly, at the age of 44, on location in Spain.

Music 101

West End Girls

On this day in 1986 this song from London’s Pet Shop Boys went to No. 1 on the charts. The synth-pop duo took their cue about class pressure from T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, which we never quite appreciated in high school. But then it’s high school: there’s so much you won’t appreciate about it for decades.

Remote Patrol

Yankees at Rays

7 p.m. YES (or MLB Network)

Whaat? It’s still just early May, but two of the most impressive young pitchers this season have been New York’s Domingo German and Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow. The lanky 6’2″ German, slotted as a reliever out of spring training until the injury to ace Luis Severino, shares the Major League Wins lead (6-1) and has a 2.35 ERA and an impressive 0.89 WHIP. Glasnow, a 6’8″ hurler who also has 6 wins (and no losses), entered the season with a 4-16 career mark. He leads all of baseball in ERA at 1.47.

Tampa Bay leads the Yanks by 1 1/2 games in the A.L. East race.

by Wendell Barnhouse

Less than a minute into the first episode of the HBO mini-series “Chernobyl,” these chilling words were uttered by the actor Jared Harris, playing Valery Legasov:

“What is the cost of lying? … The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then? What else is left but to abandon even the hope of truth and content ourselves instead with stories.”

Legasov was a leading nuclear scientist who helped build the Soviet Union’s power-generating nuclear reactors. He also knew of the dangers and shoddy designs, the lack of oversight and inadequate preparation for emergencies.

When the Chernobyl disaster occurred in April of 1986, Soviet officials were more concerned about saving face than saving lives. The seriousness of the situation was glossed over with “nothing to see here, citizens, move along.” The State ignored the potential for a core melt down that would have become a Hiroshima/Nagasaki conflagration.

Legasov turned whistle-blower and recorded his version of the events. The cassette tapes were sent to the BBC and thus the Soviet Union’s initial mitigation of the disaster’s consequences were exposed. Miraculously and thankfully, the death toll was “only” in the thousands, not tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions.

HBO’s presentation is, of course, a mini-series “based on actual events.” There are actors, a script, drama and conversations that “represent” what was actually said but are not verbatim. Still, were this a book, it would be non-fiction.

In last Monday night’s premiere, as the Soviet officials lied (even to themselves), the genesis of Legasov’s opening words became obvious. And ominous. What happened over 30 years ago to our top foreign adversary is what is currently happening in the United States.

Your Humble Scribe admits that he spends way too much time with the laptop on his lap and the Twitter function open. That means that YHS observes the daily blathering that goes on regarding our Tweet King. The “president,” the dishonorable Donald J. Trump, can claim in less than 240 characters that his first two years have been the most successful in presidential history while also bitching that the Mueller investigation has “stollen” two years from his four-year term.

With over 10,000 false statements – OK, lies – since his inauguration, Trump has sullied and stained this nation’s highest office. That should be expected from a con man who has cheated, bullied and concealed his entire adult life.

We should all expect politicians to not tell the truth. That’s what being a politician means. What we should demand is that politicians not lie.

There is a massive difference.

There can be debate and difference of opinions on policy. There should be no debate or difference of opinions on facts.

The Mueller Report was clear regarding Russian interference with and influence on the 2016 presidential election. William Barr, the Attorney General (lawyer for America, supposedly), lied and disputed that finding. Lying to Congress – to the elected representatives of the citizens – is no big deal with no consequences.

In the summer of 2016, the FBI and other intelligence agencies became aware of Russian meddling. President Obama met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and sought a bi-partisan announcement about the threat. McConnell refused. Without McConnell’s support, Obama decided it would appear politically motivated if he made the announcement alone.

https://twitter.com/gregpmiller/status/1125776406577844224

On the Senate floor Tuesday, McConnell blamed Obama. “Maybe stronger leadership would have left the Kremlin less emboldened. Maybe tampering with our democracy wouldn’t have seemed so very tempting.”

While Robert Mueller followed “the rule of law” in declining to indict a sitting president (despite enough evidence to charge with obstruction), the Trump/GOP strategy is now to claim the entire investigation was a Deep State conspiracy. They claim that the FBI investigating Russian influence was actually “spying” on the Trump campaign.

“Well that’s not the term I would use,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said this week. “Lots of people have different colloquial phrases. I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity and part of investigative activity includes surveillance.”

Lying now includes word-parsing. “Surveillance” to uncover criminal behavior is now “spying.” And never mind that to surveil an alleged guilty party also means surveilling the alleged innocent party.

Mueller following the “rule of law” appears quaint and naïve. Now that he has been “totally absolved,” every day the Tweet King edges closer and closer to dictatorship.

https://twitter.com/damianpaletta/status/1125517366920609792

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin broke the law regarding Trump’s tax returns. Barr lied to Congress. Trump is blocking lawful subpoenas to prevent key witnesses from testifying to House committees.

Short of Mueller dropping a bomb when/if he testifies or the House starting impeachment proceedings, there will be no stopping the stonewalling, the tap dancing and the lying.

Eric Levitz summed things up in a New York Magazine article last month. Here is a key section of that story:

“If there is no bipartisan consensus against allowing Republican presidents to flout the law, then what good is bipartisan consensus? Why should Democrats be compelled to forever and always give the GOP input on making laws when the two parties do not even share a commitment to the rule of law? … Congressional Democrats’ fatalism about impeachment — and their reverence for institutional norms and the ideal of bipartisanship — are irreconcilable.”

Is it worse to lie to the American people? Or lie to themselves?

Chernobyl helped lead to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Mr. Gorbachev tore down that wall. The Red Threat went away. No more domino theories about communism, no more bomb shelters or hiding under desks.

Nature, though, abhors a vacuum. As do former super power countries. The Communist Party was replaced by the Mob. The Godfather (Vladimi Putin) has declared a cyber war that we’re basically ignoring because no blood has been spilled. Putin’s puppet is the Tweet King, who laughs at the rule of law, wipes his ass with the Constitution and thrills his rallies with tales of infanticide and the sun rising in the West.

In the first episode of Chernobyl, Harris as Legasov closes his whistle blowing tape with the cynicism born of decades of watching his superiors lie in the face of obvious truth.

“They’ll deny it of course. They always do.”

Editor’s Note: As always, I’m truly grateful to Wendell for volunteering his talents and time. Also, a good book regarding his “nature abhors a vacuum” line and Russia’s false glasnost is Once Upon A Time In Russia by Ben Mezrich. Finally, we also watched the Chernobyl episode recap and while we concur that it was a good idea to lead with Legasov’s death, the Mad Men fan in us was jarred by the sight of Jared Harris hanging himself yet again.

by John Walters

Tweet Me Right

If you were offered 1 million dollars to watch ONE movie repeatedly for 24 hours straight, what movie would you choose ? 🤔

— Action Jackson © (@JaYxCeE) May 8, 2019

There’s no film we wouldn’t watch 24 hours straight if $1 million were waiting for us at the end of the movie marathon. You?

Starting Five

Lucas Moura!

If Tottenham were not dead at halftime of yesterday’s second leg of their Champions League semi at Ajax, then you would have needed a trained health-care professional to detect a pulse. Down 2-0 in the match and 3-0 in aggregate goals, Spurs needed nothing less than 3 unanswered second-half goals on a foreign—literally—pitch to advance to the final in Madrid.

Then, faster than you can say, “Come On You Spurs!” they got it. Off the leg of one man: their 26 year-old right wing Lucas Moura. The brazen Brazilian scored goals in the 55th and 59th minute to tie the match, but Hot Spurs still trailed in aggregate. Then, in stoppage time he squeezed through a brilliant strike, stunning two Ajax defenders and the keeper by not placing the ball but by striking it as it came rolling to him.

.@SteveNash was in tears at full-time of Tottenham's win pic.twitter.com/ifEZEbinYR

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2019

(Noted two-time NBA MVP and Spurs supporter Steve Nash had quite the visceral reaction to Moura’s third goal)

Let’s reflect a moment on the May Hem we’ve just witnessed from Champions League the past 48 hours. Barcelona, arguably the best team in the world, squandered a 3-0 aggregate lead after one match to fall 4-0 at Liverpool (and 4-3 aggregate_). Ajax forfeited a 3-0 aggregate advantage after 1 1/2 matches to fall, via Away Goals, 3-3, to Tottenham. The Champions League will have its first All-England final since 2008, and neither club may be this year’s Premier League champion (if Man City holds on this Sunday).

Brilliant!

Ladies And Gentleman, Your 2015 Golden State Warriors!

Four years ago, the Dubs won the first of three NBA championships in four seasons with a starting five of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut. Their top two reserves were Andre Iguodala (the MVP of that NBA Finals even though Sweet Pea truly deserved the award) and Shaun Livingston.

Guess what? After last night’s pyrrhic win at Oracle, in which the Dubs likely lost Super Duper Star Kevin Durant to a strained right calf for the remainder of this postseason, that 2015 championship squad (minus Barnes) is going to have to find their old magic. KD was averaging an otherworldly 35 ppg while shooting above the mythical 40/50/90 line this postseason. You don’t just replace that.

https://twitter.com/jdubs88/status/1126480273640697856?s=20

However, as you witnessed last night, Golden State’s core trio of Curry, Klay and Draymond can and must step up their games to take one of the final two from Houston. And yes, this somewhat mirrors last season’s CP3 injury in the fifth game, the difference being that KD is a far superior player. To anyone.

(No Kevin, but they still have Kevon)

Can Golden State advance? And if so, how do they stop Nikola Jokic with a faded Bogut?

Oh https://t.co/O9LbLOP9Pl

— Rich (@piff_da_god) May 9, 2019

(Kind of a big deal. Nobody, not even TNT, caught it.)

Last thing that needs to be said, and both us and Tim Legler said it last night : Golden State does not win Game 5 without the contributions of Kevon Looney, who could probably tell you all the different ways one is able to serve shrimp as an edible dish.

L.A. Guns*

*The judges note that any allusion to an ’80s hair-metal band in that hed is purely intentional

No, this is not the opening scene from the next Bruce Willis film. In Holmby Hills, the ultra-exclusive neighborhood within Beverly Hills, LAPD and the ATF seized an arsenal of weapons were seized yesterday. Reportedly they were not only being stored there, but also sold and shipped from and perhaps even assembled or manufactured.

The stories we read did not release the name of the person (s) whose property had more than 1,000 weapons, many of them assault-type rifles and Browning machine guns. Nor did the stories note that this is the same extremely wealthy area where you’ll find the Playboy Mansion, or that it’s just a very short bike ride east of the campus of UCLA.

Kind of odd that no suspect’s name has been released yet. Even if it’s not a celebrity, it’s someone with a lot of wealth. And a lot of power, perhaps. Firepower, definitely.

Fail Blazer

You planned on spending next week partying in Ibiza, but your private equity firm has a meeting to restructure (insert name of beloved American brand whose stock price is disappointing its board members, even though the quality of the product has not suffered, here), so you’ll have to do a pass-through in the board room and hence can only make it to Amagansett this weekend. Sucks to be you.

You board the Blade chopper at the 34th Street pier with a copy of Barron’s under your left arm and two bottles of Chateau Minuty in your carry-on (babe magnet). Forget anything?

Yes, my good sir, you have! Nothing says “Jay Gatsby” in the summer of 2019 quite like the Beach Blazer (only $325) from Marko Andrus. To Marko’s credit, he’s not a designer but just a swell (and a web developer) who realized he wanted something to don that dried you off like a towel but that you could wear for a post-beach glass of Aperol Spritz at 75 Main in Southampton. He’s already manufactured 10,000 of these bad boys and has a marketing deal with Dos Equis.

This is an article of clothing that Kramer would’ve eventually gotten around to designing if Seinfeld had remained on a a few seasons more. In fact, he sort of wore one around that entire Hamptons episode, no?

L’Orange

Above, that’s Frenchman Jean Jacques-Savin, 72, who built and skippered this giant orange barrel you see. On December 26, Boxing Day (hey, that’s British, not French), Savin set off from the Canary Islands. Traveling at roughly 2 miles per hour (or 1.7 knots per hour), Savin made it to the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius last week. That’s a 2,900-mile plus voyage.

Savin traveled solo and fed himself largely off fish he caught, though he did pack some foie gras (really). And a bottle of wine. Naturally.

Music 101

This Is The Time

Billy Joel turns 70 today.

Remote Patrol

Chernobyl

HBO Now/Go

Bummed about the fact that one million species are near extinction, our government is more hopelessly corrupt than it has ever been, and Kevin Durant may miss the rest of the playoffs? Cheer up! It could be worse. Watch this 10-part series on HBO, the cable channel’s most apocalyptic show of the season not featuring Euron Greyjoy.

by John Walters

Starting Five

Up The Reds!

With the Premier League’s leading scorer (Mo Salah, above) out with injury and trailing 3-0 after the first leg, few gave Liverpool a chance against Barcelona yesterday afternoon at Anfield. The Reds would need at least a 3-0 shutout just to force the issue into extra time.

But we told you to watch yesterday (Did we not tell you to watch? We did!). And so what happened? The Reds took a 1-0 lead into the half, then scored two quick goals within three minutes early in the second half—both by Georginio Wijnaldum.

This is on repeat for the rest of my life…. #LIVBAR #origi #YNWA https://t.co/51DLjZSAnm

— Declan Rogers (@ReclanDogers) May 7, 2019

Finally, with the aggregate score still tied 3-3 in the 79th minute, Liverpool pulls out soccer’s equivalent of the hidden ball trick on a corner kick (above). Goooooaaaaaaaaal! Up the Reds!

https://twitter.com/brunozra/status/1125902442657386498?s=20

For the second year in a row—last year in the quarters, this year in the semis—Barca blows a 3-goal advantage after the first leg and is knocked out of the Champions League.

Yesterday marked Barcelona’s first defeat in the entire tournament. What a bad time for Messi & Co. to not answer the bell.

Reds fans know: You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Down The Reds!

In Oakland, A’s pitcher Mike Fiers forgot about his 6.81 ERA this spring and tossed—wait for it—a complete game versus the Cincinnati Reds. Okay, yes, if you want to be technical about it all, it was also a no-hitter.

Fiers is now tied for the MLB lead in no-hitters, complete games and shutouts this season with….1.

Fiers, a 34 year-old journeyman hurler with a career 57-58 record in nine seasons, has now tossed two no-hitters. Pret-tee, pret-tee good. The previous one came in 2015.

Fires threw 131 pitches last night, which is the most pitches tossed in a no-hitter since he threw 134 in his 2015 no-no. He also needed two incredible fielding plays in the sixth inning (above) and had to overcome a 98-minute delay due to a lighting issue. Yeah, we spelled that correctly. Lighting delay, not lightning delay.

Blues!

It was a total splash of color on both sides of the Atlantic in sportsball yesterday. In St. Louis, the Dallas Stars and Blues played the 3rd seventh game-overtime tilt of this Stanley Cup postseason. The Blues emerged victorious 2-1 in the second OT after St. Louis native Pat Maroon scored on a rebound off a face-off versus Stars goalie (and fellow St. Louis native) Ben Bishop, who is 6’7″ by the way.

Bishop faced 54 shots in the contest and only allowed two past him. A heroic effort in a losing cause.

In The Red

Not that any of his acolytes will care (or accept the truth), but The New York Times dunked on Donald Trump once more yesterday. Using ” printouts from Mr. Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994,” the NYT was able to uncover that the president, a man who famously will not allow the public to see his tax returns (the first president in modern history to be so, I dunno, obstructional about these figures), lost more that ONE BILLION DOLLARS through poor business management in that decade.

The story was released on the same date that Secretary of the Treasury and fellow Trophy Wife Aficionado Steve Mnuchin refused to comply with a House Ways and Means Committee request to view Mr. Trump’s tax returns, something that it is legally authorized to do. Now you see why.

Ernie’s Kids

I hope we all realize how lucky we are to have Inside The NBA shepherding us through two full decades of NBA playoff springs. Last night during halftime of the Blazers-Nuggets game we got a time-capsule worthy edition of the program:

–Charles Barkley visibly annoyed that they had to interrupt his viewing of Game 7 Stars-Blues hockey in overtime on another network. The announcers on the hockey game even got wind of this and made mention of it during their broadcast.

–Shaq referring to Nikola Jokic of Denver as a “mini-great player” because he’s only shown his greatness for one season (he’s a second-year player), which prompted Chuck to chide him about living in the present. “It’s the present, that’s why they call it a gift,” said Chuck, getting the aphorism backwards, which caused studio host Ernie Johnson to put a palm over his face.

–Kenny the Jet, not wanting to be left out, noted that Denver’s Jamal Murray had some wonderful moves around the basket and allowed that he had no idea Murray had such maneuvers in his “repertoire of bags,” which caused Ernie to swivel his chair 90 degrees away from The Jet.

Vintage stuff.

Remote Patrol

Champions League

Tottenham at Ajax

3 p.m. TNT

An All-England Champions League final is still on the table. To get there, Spurs must overcome a 1-0 aggregate score heading into the second leg versus the Dutch dynamo. A 1-0 win buys extra time and any other win gets them to Madrid versus Liverpool.

Game 5: Rockets at Warriors

10:30 p.m. TNT

What a sports day for TNT, which is also sandwiching Celtics-Bucks between these two contest. By the way, Chuck declared that the Bucks are going to win the NBA Finals in June. Is America ready for a Nuggets-Bucks NBA Finals? Honestly, I kinda am.