by John Walters
The Starting Five
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Yankees Sweep! Thuuuuh Yankees Sweep!
Wild weekend in the Windy City for the New York Yankees as they take three from the World Series champs, the Chicago Cubs. Friday: Down 2-0 in the ninth with two outs and two strikes, Brett Gardner strokes a go-ahead three-run homer. Saturday: The Yanks explode for five runs in the first and cruise to an 11-6 win. Sunday night: Yanks blow a three-run lead in the ninth and need nine more innings to escape with a 5-4 win.
New York is 20-9, baseball’s 2nd-best record.
The Cubs are now 16-15.
To be continued in October?
Mud Run
At Churchill Downs Always Dreaming, a 9-2 co-favorite, won by nearly three lengths in the slop. Fellow co-favorite Irish War Cry finished 10th. RIP your exacta.
3. Morning Joe-Mance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZXNqic_Zi8
SNL skewered Morning Joe, then pretty much took the rest of the show off. Michael Che had a good line about that White House photo op of white dudes looking so happy, “you’d think they just discovered sickle-cell,” but the rest was lame. Am I the only person tired of hearing Leslie Jones work through her sexual issues on TV? We get it: you’re a big black undersexed woman. What’s the funny part?
4. Ace In The Hole
A day or two from now, “The Dark Knight Returns” will be the go-to New York tabloid hed. The Mess suspended Matt Harvey three days after he failed to report to work on Saturday (he was scheduled to pitch Sunday). In fairness, how many of us have had to choose between getting out of bed with Adriana Lima to watch someone named Robert Gsellman pitch or hitting the snooze button?
5. War Of The Words
As awful as the new health care bill is, ask yourself 1) Is my diet garbage? 2) So I exercise 3-4x a week? 3) Do I get enuf sleep?
— Medium Happy (@jdubs88) May 5, 2017
That time I suggested maybe Americans could eat better, exercise more and get enough sleep and got more than 1,100 replies, not all of them suggesting I ingest male genitalia (Is that the only food available in a “food desert”).
@jdubs88 @MurderBryan there are people who are born with diseases, dipshit
— michael transaction (@optimuscack) May 8, 2017
Listen, if you’re going to come at me with words like “ableist” or “victim shaming,” I’m coming back with Darwin’s thoughts on natural selection.
“Go outside and take care of yourself. The government isn’t going to save you.” https://t.co/dtHGF31VaZ
— Outside Magazine (@outsidemagazine) May 5, 2017
And for the LAST TIME, if it isn’t overtly obvious to you that recommending better diet, exercise and sleep does not mean the person doing the recommending is oblivious to factors such as genetics, I don’t know what to tell you. It SHOULD be obvious that you cannot do much to change your DNA, but you can do a lot to change your diet, exercise and sleep habits.
(FWIW: I lived without any health care from 2009-1013 and also from 2003-2006; that ’03-06 frame is more intriguing, as SI hired me back to write for SI On Campus and told me they could not provide health care. Then my boss at SIOC proceeded to hire kids right out of college and did provide them health care.)
Music 101
The Ghost In You
One of John Hughes’ favorite bands, The Psychedelic Furs released this soft-New Wave tune in the spring of 1984. It only reached No. 59 on the charts, but I always liked it more. That’s lead singer Richard Butler with the velvety, haunting voice.
Remote Patrol
Game 4: Dubs vs Jazz
9 p.m. TNT
I’ll be watching Better Call Saul, of course, but some of you may want to watch the Warriors attempt to finish off the Jazz, although it seems the NBA postseason has been distilled to the Dubs and Cavs doing their “Anything you can do, I can do better” routine. If Golden State wins tonight, the two repeat NBA finalists will be 16-0 this postseason.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 “THE KING IS IN THE BUILDING!” 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Actually, the King is home resting after his team’s 2nd SWEEP of the 2017 Playoffs. I have to give the Raptors some props though because unlike many 0-3 teams, they actually played HARD in Game 4 & gave the Cavs a contest. They played well in the 1st 3 quarters of Game 3 too but then fell apart within 6 minutes of the 4th quarter. I’ve watched that quarter 3 times now & still can’t figure what happened & why except it was NOT that the Cavs suddenly played that much better. I was thrilled with the win & the eventual sweep though! 🙂
About your recent twitter dust-up : WHY did you write that tweet when you did (i.e. right after the House Nazis began their gutting of healthcare in this country)? What exactly was your INTENT? Did/do you truly not understand how it & you would be perceived? And sure, reminding everyone we need to eat healthy & exercise to be proactive in one’s health is a true statement but stating it WHEN you did is like throwing gas on a freakin fire. It comes off as mere trolling or nasty Nazi-GOP. YOU are better than that!
Perhaps you know the stats – are most serious illnesses in this country caused by lifestyle “choices” or genetics, old age or luck? Plus, if one is born into a certain environment where unhealthy food & lifestyle is the norm, when does the “offender” become responsible for his/her “choices”? Why should a non-adrenaline junkie pay for all the healthcare issues of their opposites – the broken bones, blown-out knees, hip replacements, etc?
One’s health (or lack of) is determined by 3 factors – genetics, luck, & lifestyle choices. Why should someone not gifted by genetics & luck be discriminated against as if their fate were merely their FAULT? Like many who probably responded to you, I could list countless examples of folks who did everything “right” & yet succumbed to illness. I could also list some who were vastly overweight their entire adult lives, smoked cigarettes for 40 years & yet lived till 90s. LIFE IS A CRAPSHOOT, jdubs! I believe that healthcare that does NOT bankrupt an individual &/or family is a RIGHT THAT SHOULD BE ACKNOWLEDGED & PROTECED IN WHAT IS SUPPOSEDLY THE RICHEST FREAKIN COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
And that you did not have health insurance for all those years & did not get hit by a bus or have to deal with a painful or debilitating illness means you should get down on your knees EVERY DAMN DAY & thank God or just plain dumb LUCK.
The best way to extinguish a fire? Don’t give it oxygen.
Related: SNL’s “Where in the World is Kellyanne Conway” spoof was spot on.
Who’s trying to extinguish it?