by John Walters
Whoomp! There It Is
Let’s give some credit to Tag Team, whose Geico ad “Scoop! There It Is” is the happiest thing on television right now.
And let’s also throw out some props to Fulton County (Ga.) district attorney Fani Willis, whose office has opened an investigation (and potentially a can of whoop-ass) into then-president Trump’s alleged actions regarding election fraud involving Georgia election officials in December and January (we say “alleged” to behave like a journalist, but y’all heard the phone call).
As one pundit on The 11th Hour said last night about the impeachment trial, President Trump isn’t so much on trial as the Republicans in the Senate are. Why? Because the impeachment case is open-and-shut. That more than 2/3 of the GOP will not vote to convict is probably a foregone conclusion, and thus that stain will forever be on them. They’ll have announced who and what they are going forward: The party of power at the expense of democracy and the U.S. Constitution (this is their chance to rescue themselves, and they will most likely not).
But what Willis is doing—and she’s only doing it because every Georgia law enforcement agency with greater jurisdiction than hers are potential witnesses in this case, as Trump directly appealed to them—may lead to a possible criminal trial. With jail time. That Trump no longer has any power to absolve himself from.
Again, however, it will come down to a jury. Will you be able to get 12 Georgians to convict Donald Trump? Good luck with that, D.A. Willis but as rock-solid as your case is, Whatchootalkinbout!?!
Steph’in Up
(Keep your eyes on Juan Toscano-Anderson, the man who made the assist)
We are spoiled by the continued brilliance of Stephen Curry, who followed up last Saturday night’s 57-point game with a 40-point outing last night in which 75% of his points came off threes (you do the math). There’s no one more automatic from behind the arc, there’s never been anyone more prolific from beyond the arc, than he.
Curry leads the NBA this season in 3’s made (131) and 3’s per game (5.0). No other player has even drained 100 yet. In the last nine seasons Curry (6x) and James Harden (3) are the only two players to lead the NBA in threes.
Haley’s Comment
In an interview with Tim Alberta of Politico, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley excused her erstwhile boss’ incitement of the insurrection by comparing his “belief” that the election was stolen with colorblindness. Really.
Haley also backtracked on her support of Trump’s actions on January 6th, saying, “We shouldn’t have followed him.” By the end of his profile on the South Carolina politician, Alberta made a blunt assessment of the forked-tongue woman:
Feb Foreigners
Before we get to March Madness, let’s take a moment to recognize all the blue bloods who will not be getting A) No. 1 seeds, B) high seeds and/or C) even a berth in next month’s NCAA tournament.
The top 10 winningest all-time NCAA hoops programs are, in order from top to bottom: Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, Temple, Syracuse, UCLA, Notre Dame, St. John’s and Indiana.
Currently not a single one of those schools is ranked in the Top 25 and many of them will not be playing in the NCAA tournament—even though 68 teams will be invited to Indianapolis next month.
Here are the Top 10 ranked teams right now: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Ohio State, Villanova, Illinois, Texas Tech, Houston, Virginia and Missouri. From a personal standpoint, I don’t understand how four Catholic schools can be rated in the Top 25 and the Irish are not one of them. Not saying this Irish team deserves to be… not even close. Only that with the school’s prominence, it should always be in at least the top 3 hoops schools among Catholic universities, no?
(Wow, wasn’t that elitist of me.)
K.O.
In which sometimes news anchor/sometimes sports anchor Keith Olbermann pens an Op-Ed in The New York Times titled “Is This The End Of Obsessively Hating Donald Trump?”
I agree that it is hard to believe that Notre Dame has underwhelmed on the hardwood as it has for decades. While Football glory has been less than what I’d like to see, we’re at least a factor most years. There have been some good years in the ACC, but joining that conference hasn’t led to the recruiting success I expected. My son was a Zag, and that program is amazing. I’m continuously puzzled by our alma mater’s poor performance.