by John Walters
A Medium Happy 85th to Jerry Hall’s husband.
Starting Five
Turn down fer wut?
1. Turning Down the Trumperature
Barely watched last night, but I hear that the latest GOP debate was basically tea-and-cucumber sandwiches. I mean, Donald Trump did say ISIS is evil, so we should act like terrorists to fight them. And Marco Rubio said that as long as China and India aren’t going to clean up their rooms, why should we? But, all in all, the four candidates were more civil to one another.
Maybe they realize that it’s time to stop throwing gasoline on the fire (especially when we should be changing over to batteries). I mean, you had the great Sucker Punch Incident of 2016 earlier this week (above) and also the great Somebody To Shove incident involve Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields (forever).
Trump is accusing Fields of making up the story. Which would be wild. What intrigues me more is not whether or not Fields was actually manhandled by Trump’s heavy, Corey Lewandowski, but that since she wrote a brief “In My Own Words” story about the event yesterday, it has received more than 7,000 comments. And she wasn’t even singing in a car with James Corden.
2. Auguste and Everything After
Auguste scored 22 points and had 19 rebounds and was just a beast in the second half versus the Blue Devils
In the ACC quarters, Notre Dame trailed Duke 64-48 with 11:08 after the Blue Devils’ Matt Jones drained a three-pointer. Then the Dookies forgot how to run a set play, or to put the ball in Grayson Allen’s (27 points) hands while Notre Dame center Zach Auguste just decided he didn’t want to lose.
The Irish went on a 19-2 run, forced overtime, and then won 84-79 in the extra stanza. V.J. Beacham sank three timely threes late in the 2nd half and OT, but Auguste, the chiseled, rooster-tailed 6’10” senior from Marlborough, Mass., was the difference. I don’t know where he’ll play next year (my guess is Europe, and he’ll be happy there) but he put on a show yesterday.
Mike Brey, by the way, is now 5-1 against Coach K since Notre Dame joined the ACC. Notre Dame meets North Carolina in the semis today at 7 p.m.
3. Totally Paula
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33dLHqkfq0
Our friend and former NBC colleague Paula Faris—once upon a time there was a Notre Dame football pre-game show from inside Notre Dame Stadium, streaming live on the web, and Paula played the role of Liam McHugh, which I guess made me Hines Ward—decided to give stand-up comedy a try. Brave woman.
Joy Behar’s right. You can’t do stand-up holding note cards. Kinda kills the mood.
4. Kobe 25.0
Kobe scored 26 and LeBron 24 last night
In his final meeting versus LeBron “Sweet Pea” James last night, Kobe Bryant scored 26 points in LOLakers’ 120-108 loss. In his last two appearance the Mamba had scored 12 and five points, and he’s averaging 15.5 points in his last 10 games.
Kobe’s career average, this morning, after 1,332 games, is EXACTLY 25.0 points per game. There are eight players in NBA history who retired averaging 25.0 or more points per contest (this would be a good trivia question if I weren’t supplying the answer): Michael Jordan, 30.12, Wilt Chamberlain, 30.07, Elgin Baylor, 27.36, Jerry West, 27.03, Allen Iverson, 26.66, Bob Pettit, 26.36, George Gervin, 26.18, and Oscar Robertson, 25.68.
Baylor was one of three Lakers (Chamberlain, West) who all played on the 1969-70 team and are all in the top four all-time in points per game.
LeBron and Kevin Durant both average above 27 ppg, but they are still in the primes of their careers. The Lakers (14-52) have 16 games remaining, and Kobe has no wiggle room if he wants to average 25 points per game for his career. Will he do it? Stay tuned.
5. Vampire Toothed
Wanted in New Haven….
In New Haven, a hit-and-run incident becomes more bizarre when witnesses describe the driver as looking like a “wolverine” and having “vampire teeth.” Did they really get that close a look at the motorist? And maybe too many people in New Haven are watching X-Men?
Music 101
Personality Crisis
If HBO’s Vinyl does nothing else, it has introduced an entire new generation—or two—to the New York Dolls. The climactic scene of the series premiere shows our hero, Richie Finestra, attending a Dolls show at the Mercer Arts Center (Broadway & West 3rd) when the building collapses. The building DID collapse on August 3, 1973 and the Dolls did play a show there, but those two events did not occur on the same day. In fact, the building collapsed in the afternoon.
The glitter rock classic was the opening song on the Dolls’ self-titled debut album in ’73. Written and sung by David Johansen, it never scored big on the charts, but Rolling Stone includes it on it Top 500 list of all-time greatest songs at No. 271.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctg5FCS1wCM
Remote Patrol
College Hoops All Day
Noon, ESPN: Michigan-Indiana (B1G)
6:30 p.m., BTN: Ohio State-Michigan State (B1G)
6:30 p.m., FS1: Providence-Villanova (Big East)
7 p.m., ESPN2: Baylor-Kansas (Big 12)
7 p.m., ESPN: Notre Dame-North Carolina (ACC)
7 p.m., SECN: Alabama-Kentucky (SEC)
9 p.m., ESPN2: Oklahoma-West Virginia (Big 12)
9 p.m., PAC-12 N: Arizona-Oregon (PAC-12)
11:30 p.m., FS1: Cal-Utah
Poeltl is Utah’s best seven-footer since Andrew Bogut
Enjoy, kids: In this cache of games you get Yogi Ferrell, Denzell Valentine, Kris Dunn, Perry Ellis, Brice Johnson, Auguste, Tyler Ulis, Buddy Hield and Jakob Poeltl. Not bad for a Friday in mid-March.
One of the many differences between Sweet Pea & Kobe (& why I adore the former & dislike the latter) is that LeBron did NOT want to trounce &/or humiliate Kobe in their final match-up on Kobe’s home floor. In fact, it was just the opposite. LeBron makes all his teammates look/play better & did the same for his main opponent last night. Kind of unusual but I found it fascinating. (And if LBJ wants to go to Miami for a short sun-seeking family holiday/body tune-up while the team has a BREAK, can YOU tell me why that’s a problem? It’s not like he was in Vegas, boozing, gambling (etc) & up till 4AM each night! Harrumph!)
Oh & when the Sainted Dubs lose by over 30 (THIRTY) to the Blazers, it’s a curiosity & when they lose to the LOLakers by more than 20 (!), it’s humorous, while when the Cavs lose to the 2nd place team in the East (AT Toronto) after leading by 9-14 points the ENTIRE GAME until the final 4 minutes, the Cavs are suddenly road kill & “falling apart”? Does LeBron look frustrated & maybe a bit too unhappy for my worried psyche? Yes, but that’s because ALL the weight is on him & he’s been trying for 1.5 years now to whip that group into championship butt-kicking shape. He must be tired! And how could he know that an ‘historical’ juggernaut would plop down in his title-seeking way in year 2? But hey, a new TV mini-series just started called “Of Kings & Prophets” , about David beating Goliath. Coincidence or prophesy? Just call LeBron ‘King David’. 🙂
“LeBron makes all his teammates look/play better…”
Yes, LeBron plays in a manner – contrary to Kobe and most pure scorers – that gets his teammates involved. But c’mon Susie B., LeBron and his “posse” (read: agent; select few teammates) are behind the biggest drama in the NBA. David Blatt, fired. Kevin Love, not making friends. Kyrie Irving, perhaps he is unhappy. LeBron knows Cleveland is wrapped around his finger (and that is alright. This is a business. Maximize the time you have.).
And for what it is worth, Golden State is 57-6. So yes, you get the benefit of the doubt when you lose every once in awhile (even if it is to the Lakers).
I’m fan of neither teams, but do enjoy ego-free, fundamental basketball. LeBron is a really good basketball player. Let’s not be bitter because there are other good players, too.
Jacob, Jacob, I thought we were buds : Two against MH’s excessive female flesh shots! 🙂 Seriously, you don’t think the media shrieking/trashing of LBJ & the Cavs every time something goes even a little wrong is ridiculous? And WHO CARES if LeBron went to Miami with his family when the Cavs gave the players 3 days off? Kyrie went to visit his family out of state but is THAT a team “in crisis” story? Heck, it wasn’t even reported.
LeBron is not perfect & I do wince at some of his actions & passive-aggressive tendencies. And yes, his current shooting efficiency is far below (especially the woeful 3pt shot) what I’d gotten used to in Miami, which is either indicative of a temporary shooting “slump” or the ravages of time. But does ANY ATHLETE in any pro sport carry more of the weight/responsibility/blame of not just his team but the entire sport than LeBron James? Steph Curry may currently be the NBA’s MVP, but it is LeBron who is still the spokesman for the sport, into whose face the media thrusts a recorder/camera for a response/opinion not just about basketball but about current social issues. And this has been true for at least the last decade.
When news broke about Blatt’s firing, I was shocked & angry. The latter because I’d had no idea things were not “fine” behind the scenes this season. In fact, unlike last year when the media incessantly wrote & spoke of tensions, etc, between LBJ & Blatt, this year there was almost none of that. It’s impossible for a fan to know what goes on at practices & in the locker room/plane rides so I have little idea of how the team was feeling & thinking except how they produced on the court. Which they were doing pretty damn well until the GSW home debacle. I still don’t quite understand what happened there. They’d just come off an almost 2 week road trip so maybe they were tired? Or just had an off night? OR if they really wanted to get rid of Blatt, maybe it was “planned”? I have no idea if Blatt was truly a good coach but I’d thought from the DAY LeBron wrote that damn letter that it would be next to impossible for a guy who’d never played or coached in the NBA to have LeBron’s respect as someone to tell him what to do on the court. Maybe if GSW hadn’t suddenly morphed OVER NIGHT into possibly the sport’s “best team of all time, blah, blah, blah”, the Cavs mgt would have waited until after the season to jettison Blatt if they didn’t win the title. At least that’s what I thought was going to happen. But the Dubs sped the ‘timeline’. And LeBron ain’t gettin no younger (sniff, sniff).
As for Kev, I like ‘Dr Love’ quite a bit but think he seems a bit of a loner & doubt he & Sweet Pea will ever be besties. I do think the team doesn’t always utilize him to his fullest potential. My opinion of Kyrie is currently harsher – except for flashes of iso brilliance, his play is often why the Cavs do NOT perform up to their ability. Again, since I have no idea how these guys interact privately I could be completely wrong but from my viewing, Kyrie does NOT look like a guy who could ever LEAD a team to a championship. He desperately WANTS to be the lead dog but I think he is at most the best of the rest of the pack. And THAT could be why he & LeBron don’t truly mesh & could be holding this team back from greatness.
Roas-ted! Susie, B 🙂