by John Walters
Bo-Ring
Did the Lakers win the NBA championship, or did LeBron James? I’m sure Susie B. will have plenty to gush about in the comments, but we watched no more than two minutes of all six games of the NBA Finals. When the league’s flashiest franchise pulls in two of its top five players to form an insta-team, yes, we acknowledge their superiority, but it does not much fascinate us.
Two notes worth noting: 1) The Lakers were 57-0 this season when taking a lead into the fourth quarter. That’s more impressive than the championship. 2) Adam Silver pulled it off: the NBA not only got through The Bubble but did so without a single positive coronavirus test. Well done.
Spanish Bull Dozer
Another French Open, another Rafael Nadal grand slam title. This time Rafa defeated Novak Djokovic, making a nice recovery from his early U.S. Open exit, in straight sets.
If you’re snoring at home, Nadal has now won 13 of the past 16 French Open singles titles. He has won seven of the other three Grand Slams, total.
Nadal and Roger Federer are now in a dead heat for the most Grand Slam singles titles with 20. Djokovic, a few years younger, has won 17. Wait them out, Novak. Wait. Them. Out.
Hand Him The Theismann
Dallas Cowboy quarterback Dak Prescott suffers a gruesome ankle injury in the Stars’ defeat of the winless New York Giants. It looked Theismann-esque but Joe’s was even more gruesome as it took place higher up on his leg. And yes, both injuries came against the New York Giants.
Worse for Prescott, he rejected a long-term contract in the summer and took the Cowboys’ franchise tag, essentially a one-year deal. He was betting on himself in free agency next offseason. Now his career may be over. We’ll see.
Fumble-Screwski
In Auburn, Arkansas gets hosed when the referees fail to recognize Tiger quarterback Bo Nix’s backward pass spike, a.k.a. fumble. The Tigers kick a game-winning field goal moments later.
Believing Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Raiders (“YEAH RAIDAS!”) become the first team to defeat the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, 40-32. In K.C.. The Raiders and Chiefs have a long and quite hostile history so this was nice to see. Does this mean Derek Carr gets his own State Farm commercial soon?
Elsewhere, the Bears and the Browns are 4-1. What is this world coming to?
“Was I holding up a trophy?” Yes, Rondo, yes you were! 🙂 LeBron James now has his own version of “Four, Four, Four! FOUR league/season MVPs, FOUR championships, & FOUR Finals MVPs! 🙂
Sure, it was a bit weird with no LIVE fans in an arena & just “Teams” digital fans on big screens & piped-in crowd noise but you missed out jdubs because the basketball was excellent. This Finals was even more weird for me as it’s the 1st since I re-started watching the NBA (after a 13 year moratorium) on Xmas Day, 2011 that I had not watched at least 40 games that season of the ‘team’ I was rooting for. I didn’t even know most of the players when I watched my 1st entire game in the Bubble (Game 5 of the Western Conf Finals). And I hadn’t even seen more than 15 minutes/year of Sweet Pea on a basketball court in the last 2.5 YEARS. Well, I have some observations! 🙂
This Anthony Davis guy is prettee, prettee good! 🙂 Honestly, until I saw him play in these 7 games, I had not been impressed. Every prior time I saw him play (when on the Pelicans & against LBJ’s teams), I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. WELL! He’s FABULOUS! I think he’s even better than Durant. He’s definitely in the Top 5 of the current NBA. And I see a “MVP” trophy or two or three in his future.
Up until a few months ago, I couldn’t understand why ANY team would want Dwight Howard & Rondo on their teams. Well, they redeemed themselves & their careers so they will both be able to extend their playing years at least a few more years.
The ‘youngsters’ (Kuzma, KCP, Caruso ) acquitted themselves very well & my only worry for them would be that with winning a championship at such a young age, they’ll think it’s EASY & that they’ll repeat again & again, not realizing that just getting to the Finals is something most NBA players never achieve even once. Hopefully, Rondo (a champ at 21 & then not again until age 34) enlightens.
And yes, the NBA deserves tons of credit for setting up the Bubble & keeping everyone safe! (Ahem, I do believe someone here thought this was folly?). I do worry about ‘next season’, which I think they will try to play in the teams’ arenas. Maybe with no or very limited fans until a vaccine is in wide use. But those 1st couple months will be dicey in my opinion. Even with no fans. A sport played INDOORS during flu season AND COVID still rampant? Plus, they stubbornly plan to play all 82 games?! Yes, they are desperately trying to get their finances back on track but do we really want to see the NBA Playoffs in August/September two years in a row? I say they should chop 20 games off the schedule!
Of course, even though I was happy watching Sweet Pea & his fellas play once again, I doubt I’ll watch much of next year’s regular season. At least as long as LBJ is on “that team”. And since he recently bought ANOTHER mansion in LA (his 3rd), I’m guessing he’s not packing his bags anytime soon. Guess we can’t have everything. (Although buying TWLO in March apparently was a good start! 🙂 )
The bubble screen was well. Not sure if I had been missing it or this was the first but glad to have it back. Hopefully, it doesn’t test positive and have to get postponed.
Cheers