While the morning sports discussion shows banter about whether the most miserable looking human and millionaire in all of sports, Jay Cutler, (he's getting 10 million) can play quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, the real question is what corporate dumbass at Fox Sports thought of hiring this “I'm-doing-you-a-favor-to-acknowledge-you” sourpuss to do NFL football commentary when he is one of the most universally unlikable and disliked dullards ever to lower himself to an interview, yawn yawn.
Stephen A. Smith grows almost apoplectic while verbally despising him, homer and once defender Skip Bayless struggles to defend him and sighs hopelessly when beaten down by Shannon Sharp, who openly guffaws at Cutler's worthlessness, Max Kellerman shakes his head in wonder, and Dan Patrick plays his press conference interview which also draws horse laughs at Cutler's ongoing refusal to show a flicker of emotion, to crack even a smidgen of a smile and act as if life itself is so onerous and boring he's hard-pressed to put on his pants and eat breakfast in the morning, no thank you.
When an NFL game announces itself on the flat screen, there is always joy and big smiles in the press box at the excitement of the great event between the two shills broadcasting, an enthusiasm to draw devoted fans. Are the producers of this event going to somehow inject personality and smiles into one of the league's most colorless and unpopular players ever—even among his own team mates?
My guess is that Cutler signed to take the cash and wallow through another mediocre to terrible season instead of being forced to smile and act happy on Fox.
********
Albert Pujols should retire after this season. He once said if he couldn't perform up to his expectations, he would retire and not leave the LA Angels holding the bag of his huge contract that is bogging them down into less than mediocre and wasting the best player in the last 20 years, Mike Trout. This once great hitter and future hall of famer, a truly humble and great person, is now hitting around .230 and is being embarrassed by clueless throwers he once took to the woodshed. There are no excuses about injuries. A man of his massive size, at his age, breaks down quicker than a smaller, leaner player, Great Danes live shorter lives than border collies. He is a dead duck on the base paths, a tortured looking runner on bad wheels who has set a record for hitting into double plays. He has been relegated to the DH, where this on base percentage is below .300 because nobody pitches around him. The good pitchers blow him away, the average pitchers make him look bad, and from time to time he cripple-shoots a hanger-on.
For all practical purposes, he is finished, with a still long contract crippling the Angels, whose owner wasted big money signing Hamilton (a troubled addict) and Wilson, a pitcher with so many outside interests that pitching seemed a job at best and more often than not a hobby.
Albert is a truly proud man, a genuinely religious man, an exalted person who represents everything good about the great game, and if it's painful for dedicated baseball fans who love the guy have to watch his ongoing humiliation, how must he feel? Hang 'em up, Albert.
*******
The Dodgers are as good as their record and both leagues are extremely weak, without one team that does not have grave weaknesses, while the dodgers have none. They have an excellent starting staff even without Kershaw, great middle relief, the best closer, a balanced attack from both sides of the plate, a good enough defense, and, most importantly, they BELIEVE! They have that come-from-behind-we're-never-out-of-a-game fever spirit common to teams who “go all the way” and refuse to be denied, winning games in the last inning, on the last pitch.
They can afford to believe because they know, with their pitching, they're never out of a game, and if they can hold their opponents under 3 runs by the 6th inning, they can always come back, because their hitters stay in the count, are selective, battle with two strikes. The fact that this superb pitching keeps them in the game allows them to stay loose and always with hope, a rare escape from the grinding pressure of the game.
The Dodgers are the loosest outfit in baseball.
Unlike past playoffs and world series, which are tight and close, I think the Dodgers have become a sort of hybrid like the Golden State Warriors in basketball and will waltz through the playoffs and world series. They are that good, and nobody else has the pitching, 1 through 11. It's been 29 years. It's their turn, and watch out in the future—like the Warriors, they like playing like this and like each other—even Puig.
*******
Generally I savor the NFL football hall of fame ceremonies, because of the humble beginnings and awkward but sincere speeches by the players inducted, but this year I was mostly bored and disgusted, but for Ladainian Tomlinson, who in his own eloquent and even subtle way exposed our nation, led by Donald Trump, as grossly unfair and racially divided. His speech, though long, in the end, when he talked about visiting the sheds where his slave held great grandparents dwelt, was divine.
Jerry Jones, on the other hand, could not get enough of himself, could not cease celebrating himself, while Kenny Easley's relentless insistence on faith was interminable and insulting. The Dane, Morten Anderson, a kicker, did manage to inject some humor, but over-all these men are out of control and I don't know how any of the old stiff hall of famers behind them nor those in the crowd could tolerate 5 hours of this drivel.
Too much sentimentality, like everything else, needs to be parceled out in small increments to make a big affect, or it gets old and lame.
*******
Lebron James seems to have done everything right in his career (except the speech when he went to Miami) with both his play and as a citizen. What he's done as a player is more impressive than anybody who has ever played the game, and what he's given back to the poverty ridden areas of his youth is unrivaled. He is funny, smart, charismatic, a magnificent human in every way, a great leader and unselfish team man who has led his teams to seven straight world championship playoffs, but lately one gets the feeling a lot of people don't like him and don't want to play with him.
A chink in his armor.
And if the Lakers are smart, Magic Johnson will take a page out of the Jerry West playbook and not give this guy any money at the age of 34. So far the Magic man has been magical and should wait for his youngsters to mature and find younger super stars to play with the kid destined to be the greatest passer ever in the NBA. Lonzo ball. Lebron might be courting LA and Hollywood, but the Lakers don't need to court him. Let the Clippers have him.
The guy the Lakers should aim for is that young center in Minnesota. He's the future. Or that center in New Orleans. Magic knows.
*******
Okay, lastly, anybody who spends a penny to watch Mayweather and the tattoed Irishman in their farcical miss-match have absolutely “NO LIVES!” Anybody who shills it or discusses it on the morning sports shows is doing a disservice to sports in general and is behaving like a corporate pimp.
And stop ballyhooing the greatness of Mayweather. This woman-beating big mouth excelled in a weak era of his weight class. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Tommy Hearns would have knocked him senseless in three rounds. Roberto Duran would have scoffed at him with more venality than he did Sugar Ray Leonard and tortured his body before taking him out in 8. Sugar Ray was quicker, tougher, and with more power, would have nailed him in 8. I think Benitez would have beaten him.
God knows what Marvelous Marvin Hagler would have done to him
A guy on the Dan Patrick Show said to bet thousands, millions on Mayweather, no matter the odds, because it's better than playing the stock market.
If you trust boxing.
Stephen A. Smith grows almost apoplectic while verbally despising him, homer and once defender Skip Bayless struggles to defend him and sighs hopelessly when beaten down by Shannon Sharp, who openly guffaws at Cutler's worthlessness, Max Kellerman shakes his head in wonder, and Dan Patrick plays his press conference interview which also draws horse laughs at Cutler's ongoing refusal to show a flicker of emotion, to crack even a smidgen of a smile and act as if life itself is so onerous and boring he's hard-pressed to put on his pants and eat breakfast in the morning, no thank you.
When an NFL game announces itself on the flat screen, there is always joy and big smiles in the press box at the excitement of the great event between the two shills broadcasting, an enthusiasm to draw devoted fans. Are the producers of this event going to somehow inject personality and smiles into one of the league's most colorless and unpopular players ever—even among his own team mates?
My guess is that Cutler signed to take the cash and wallow through another mediocre to terrible season instead of being forced to smile and act happy on Fox.
********
Albert Pujols should retire after this season. He once said if he couldn't perform up to his expectations, he would retire and not leave the LA Angels holding the bag of his huge contract that is bogging them down into less than mediocre and wasting the best player in the last 20 years, Mike Trout. This once great hitter and future hall of famer, a truly humble and great person, is now hitting around .230 and is being embarrassed by clueless throwers he once took to the woodshed. There are no excuses about injuries. A man of his massive size, at his age, breaks down quicker than a smaller, leaner player, Great Danes live shorter lives than border collies. He is a dead duck on the base paths, a tortured looking runner on bad wheels who has set a record for hitting into double plays. He has been relegated to the DH, where this on base percentage is below .300 because nobody pitches around him. The good pitchers blow him away, the average pitchers make him look bad, and from time to time he cripple-shoots a hanger-on.
For all practical purposes, he is finished, with a still long contract crippling the Angels, whose owner wasted big money signing Hamilton (a troubled addict) and Wilson, a pitcher with so many outside interests that pitching seemed a job at best and more often than not a hobby.
Albert is a truly proud man, a genuinely religious man, an exalted person who represents everything good about the great game, and if it's painful for dedicated baseball fans who love the guy have to watch his ongoing humiliation, how must he feel? Hang 'em up, Albert.
*******
The Dodgers are as good as their record and both leagues are extremely weak, without one team that does not have grave weaknesses, while the dodgers have none. They have an excellent starting staff even without Kershaw, great middle relief, the best closer, a balanced attack from both sides of the plate, a good enough defense, and, most importantly, they BELIEVE! They have that come-from-behind-we're-never-out-of-a-game fever spirit common to teams who “go all the way” and refuse to be denied, winning games in the last inning, on the last pitch.
They can afford to believe because they know, with their pitching, they're never out of a game, and if they can hold their opponents under 3 runs by the 6th inning, they can always come back, because their hitters stay in the count, are selective, battle with two strikes. The fact that this superb pitching keeps them in the game allows them to stay loose and always with hope, a rare escape from the grinding pressure of the game.
The Dodgers are the loosest outfit in baseball.
Unlike past playoffs and world series, which are tight and close, I think the Dodgers have become a sort of hybrid like the Golden State Warriors in basketball and will waltz through the playoffs and world series. They are that good, and nobody else has the pitching, 1 through 11. It's been 29 years. It's their turn, and watch out in the future—like the Warriors, they like playing like this and like each other—even Puig.
*******
Generally I savor the NFL football hall of fame ceremonies, because of the humble beginnings and awkward but sincere speeches by the players inducted, but this year I was mostly bored and disgusted, but for Ladainian Tomlinson, who in his own eloquent and even subtle way exposed our nation, led by Donald Trump, as grossly unfair and racially divided. His speech, though long, in the end, when he talked about visiting the sheds where his slave held great grandparents dwelt, was divine.
Jerry Jones, on the other hand, could not get enough of himself, could not cease celebrating himself, while Kenny Easley's relentless insistence on faith was interminable and insulting. The Dane, Morten Anderson, a kicker, did manage to inject some humor, but over-all these men are out of control and I don't know how any of the old stiff hall of famers behind them nor those in the crowd could tolerate 5 hours of this drivel.
Too much sentimentality, like everything else, needs to be parceled out in small increments to make a big affect, or it gets old and lame.
*******
Lebron James seems to have done everything right in his career (except the speech when he went to Miami) with both his play and as a citizen. What he's done as a player is more impressive than anybody who has ever played the game, and what he's given back to the poverty ridden areas of his youth is unrivaled. He is funny, smart, charismatic, a magnificent human in every way, a great leader and unselfish team man who has led his teams to seven straight world championship playoffs, but lately one gets the feeling a lot of people don't like him and don't want to play with him.
A chink in his armor.
And if the Lakers are smart, Magic Johnson will take a page out of the Jerry West playbook and not give this guy any money at the age of 34. So far the Magic man has been magical and should wait for his youngsters to mature and find younger super stars to play with the kid destined to be the greatest passer ever in the NBA. Lonzo ball. Lebron might be courting LA and Hollywood, but the Lakers don't need to court him. Let the Clippers have him.
The guy the Lakers should aim for is that young center in Minnesota. He's the future. Or that center in New Orleans. Magic knows.
*******
Okay, lastly, anybody who spends a penny to watch Mayweather and the tattoed Irishman in their farcical miss-match have absolutely “NO LIVES!” Anybody who shills it or discusses it on the morning sports shows is doing a disservice to sports in general and is behaving like a corporate pimp.
And stop ballyhooing the greatness of Mayweather. This woman-beating big mouth excelled in a weak era of his weight class. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Tommy Hearns would have knocked him senseless in three rounds. Roberto Duran would have scoffed at him with more venality than he did Sugar Ray Leonard and tortured his body before taking him out in 8. Sugar Ray was quicker, tougher, and with more power, would have nailed him in 8. I think Benitez would have beaten him.
God knows what Marvelous Marvin Hagler would have done to him
A guy on the Dan Patrick Show said to bet thousands, millions on Mayweather, no matter the odds, because it's better than playing the stock market.
If you trust boxing.
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