by John Walters
Starting Five
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSrc7AYlzIg
Stephen Carry
Did Stephen Curry carry the ball not once but twice on this play? Perhaps. But no one with a whistle seemed to care (that said, it WAS beautiful).
Six NBA MVP awards between them on this play. Dubs win, 132-113, go up 2-0 in series.
Qatar Off
Six Middle East countries —Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Maldives and Yemen (yes, Yemen) have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar a tiny (2.35 million) extremely wealthy nation that juts out like an upside-down tear drop from the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula. They are accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region (yes, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are saying this; I KNOW!) and working with Iran.
Qatar is supposed to host the 2022 World Cup. It was always a terrible idea, but now only more so.
3. Wonder Woman
The Comrades Marathon is one of the world’s more renowned distance runs, a 56-mile jaunt between the South African cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg (each year, they reverse directions). It is the world’s oldest and most popular ultra.
This weekend, Camille Herron of Oklahoma became the first American to win the female portion of the race since all-time ultra great Ann Trason (the godmother of the ultra) did so in 1997. Herron finished in 6 hours and 27 minutes.
Herron, 35, can now add this to her other major achievement: In 2012 she set the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon (2:48) ever run by a woman in a superhero costume (Spider-man; why didn’t she go with Wonder Woman? The boots?). She did that at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa.
4. A(riana) Grande Gesture
The One Love Manchester benefit concert this weekend was something else. Kudos to Ariana Grande for making this happen less than two weeks after the terrible terrorist bombing took nearly two dozen lives after one of her shows in this same city. This was such an uplifting Whoville response to the hate of ISIS.
There were 14,200 music fans who attended Grande’s concert the night of the bombing on May 22nd. Less than two weeks later, there were at least five times that many who attended the show in a display of solidarity and courage. Listen to the prescient lyrics of the Black-Eyed Peas here. It’s a far more evolved foreign policy than say, this…
We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
5. Lawnmower Man
Is this the Photo of the Year? This is Theunis Wessels of Three Hills, Alberta, who has more important things to do than worry if that twister is going to smoke him. His wife, Cecilia, snapped the photo.
Music 101
Love The Way You Lie
Eminem. Rihanna. More than ONE BILLION YouTube downloads.
Remote Patrol
Better Call Saul
10 p.m. AMC
Back after a one-week hiatus. Phew.
This year’s NBA Finals is not a “fair fight” & the NBA is responsible. They have allowed an ‘arms race’ between superpowers & by allowing KD to slink to the Dubs last summer, the NBA has in effect, tipped the balance heavily toward that team. If that team stays together, I see only 1 of 2 ways they can be defeated in a Finals over the next few years – if Durant or Steph incur an injury which removes them from play OR Kawhi joins the Cavs. 😉 Seriously, a healthy Kawhi on the Cavs right now would be an AWESOME Finals, right?!
Since the likelihood of Kawhi joining the Cavs is lower than my chance of winning Mega Millions this week, who would be the next best Kawhi substitute? I can’t think of anyone! 🙁
FTR, this Finals is going pretty much how I expected except I thought Kyrie & the rest of the team (everyone except LBJ & Kev who have both played good-great) would have played much better. IF they make more adjustments & the guys ALL start playing up to their abilities, we have a CHANCE of winning 1-2 games. Not even Sweet Pea can keep the 2-headed MVP monster that is the Supervillains from winning the championship this year UNLESS some bad luck befalls GS. I am a LeBron superfan for life but I’m not delusional. And I saw what happened in 2014 & 2015 – one man, even my magnificent Sweet Pea, cannot win an NBA championship by himself.
Of course, after Game 2 last year, I was very down in the dumps & look what happened! Hope (if not Tristan) springs eternal. 🙂
Susie B,
Didn’t your Cavs already have Sweet Pea and Kyrie Irving, two of the best players in the East, when they persuaded a FREE agent named KEVIN to be a part of their super team? Sorry, kid. This is fllat-out hypocrisy on your part.
I would rather Durant still. E with OKC but it was his choice and he has that right. And there’s. Othomg preventing other players from working on their games as hard as Curry has worked on his.
jdubs! Did you SEE the Cavs record before LBJ came back to join them? There was a reason they were able to draft another #1 pick – they sucked! WITH Kyrie! And Kev also had never even played in a single Playoff game before he came to the Cavs. This is hardly the same as allowing the 2ND BEST player in the NBA to join a 73-win/Finals runner-up team! Come on!
I was not a fan of the Warriors last year but at least respected how they developed into the juggernaut they became. I do NOT RESPECT the Supervillains now because of their recruitment of Durant & think the NBA has CREATED an ARMS RACE. How will the Cavs or any team now beat the Supervillains? They will have to “improve their roster” – well, how the hell do you improve to beat a 2-MVP/4-Allstar team? You need to go get yourself the next best player available too. Like I said – “arms race”.
If Durant had joined the Clippers or even the Spurs, I would have respected the decision of all. Even if I also think it’s too bad that Durant left the Thunder. I truly do understand his desperation to be acknowledged as one of the greats of this generation. IF he does not win at least one championship, he’d be looked at like a Derrick Rose- a one-off MVP that flamed out, hampered by repeat injuries. But that Durant went to a recent championship team disgusts me; it’s a gutless move. I will never acknowledge his championship(s) with that team. But even more than blaming him, I blame GS & most of all, the NBA for allowing it to happen.
Weren’t YOU one of those complaining about the “boring playoffs”? If the Cavs actually were able to add Kawhi & thus also become a Supervillain team, laying waste to the entire next season, compiling a 74-WIN record, on their way to a fo-fo-fo Finals matchup with the fo-fo-fo West coast Supervillains, would YOU be fine with that? Would you not complain even once about the lack of suspense in the Playoffs?
BTW, I’ve come up with an idea to save the Finals right now! Forget having Kawhi come to the Cavs for next season! Just allow a “short-term player loan-out” during the Finals to either team who is in a 0-2 hole. Said team can pick any player from any team defeated in the Playoffs by either Finals team. Thus, this not only helps the team it helps the loaned-out player potentially get ‘payback’! The one snag is what does the loaner team get in return? Hmmm, money? Or how about the recipient team’s 1st draft pick? Yeah, that’ll work. 🙂
Do you think Kawhi’s ankle is okeydokey by now? Welcome to the Cavs, Kawhi! It will be a “working vacation” with the potential for retribution. Think of the ratings! 🙂
Susie B, you are arguing degree of stacking the deck as opposed to the practice itself. I don’t think u were all that upset until u realized your beloved legume of sweetness was in danger of losing his 3rd NBA Finals in four years.
jdubs, make like Jacob & go back & read my comments RIGHT HERE from last summer on how I felt about Durant going to the Warriors. I was LIVID & shocked that the NBA was actually going to allow it. Adding Durant was NOT incrementally “improving one’s roster”; it was a scorched-earth response by a team’s owners/ management that had just crowed a few weeks earlier how their blasted SYSTEM & team was “so far superior” to every other team.
And for goodness sake, I’ve been calling them Superteam Villains ALL season! Wasn’t that a tip-off? 🙂