I was in my daily cocoon of sadness sitting in soul crushing traffic this morning when I opened up YouTube and went down the Lupe Fiasco rabbit hole. It wasn’t long before I came back to the 2006 mixtape heater “Switch.” In addition to the 10,000 pound bass booming throughout, this song is incredibly clever and shows just how slick Lupe was back in the day. Lupe himself even describes the song as “a little science experiment” as he literally switches back and forth from subject matter without missing a beat.
In the song Switch, Lupe runs an “Experiment” during which he lays out for the listeners several different facets or niches that all rappers tend to fall into. Every time the background says “Switch”, Lupe will change the flow, meter, cadence, vocab, and topic to correspond to another niche of rap. – Genius
So turn up your factory ass system or pop in your headphones and let this Lupe classic bang.
I’ll be sharing some interesting stories that have taken place through the years and will hopefully have some guests in the future too. #PhiresidewithPhilpic.twitter.com/4NDVTPNKmt
Phil Mickelson is the most interesting dude in golf hands down. Completely unprompted, just launching a webs series so he can break out old stories of a phantom shitter on the golf course. I had zero idea where he was going with this, but I gotta say Phil has a real knack for storytelling. Sets the scene, introduces key characters, builds up the suspense, then BAM he drops the punchline and gets the hell out of dodge. As the infamous George Costanza once said: always leave on a high note.
Danny Ainge refused to include Jayson Tatum in any Anthony Davis deal (as he should have). Kyrie Irving is as good as gone. Al Horford just opted out of his last year. Look around guys.
The Celtics now belong to Jayson Tatum.
If you had asked me two years ago (23 months ago but whos counting) I would have traded “every player on the Celtics roster” for Anthony Davis. But so much has changed since then. AD shot his way out of New Orleans, he demanded a trade to the Knicks or the Lakers, his agent Rich Paul tried to strong arm a deal to LA mid-season and then made it wildly clear that AD would not re-sign with Boston. Now I get it that it’s Danny Ainge’s job to call that bluff and pull the trigger on a trade because A. Davis may end up loving Boston like Kevin Garnett did and B. Davis suddenly would be sacrificing $50 Million dollars to leave Boston for LA. But, by landing in LA, Davis and Paul both get exactly what they wanted. Maybe it was a bluff, maybe it wasn’t. All I know is I’m not trading Tatum and the rest of the team for a guy who may or may not play in Boston for less than 12 months. I’m just not doing it. Tatum has shown way too much promise and you’d have to throw in heart and soul guys like Marcus Smart *just* to make the money work. Pass.
As for the Kyrie situation, I have been going back and forth on my thoughts because I hate reacting to news that hasn’t happened. I don’t want to bury a guy for a decision he hasn’t made yet. BUT, it sure seems like Kyrie is already out the door. There are reports that the Celtics are resigned to losing him in free agency. In fact Adam Himmelsbach wrote in the Globe that Kyrie has essentially “ghosted” the Celtics leading up to free agency, which would be the least surprising shit I’ve heard about him if true. Kyrie has shown that, despite all his grandiose speeches and delusions of grandeur as this elder statesman, he is just immature. A leader, or even a grown ass adult for that matter, handles last season very differently. I’m 30 and even I know that publicly criticizing younger, more impressionable co-workers is a piss poor way to inspire confidence and improve performance. Read a management book on one of your 6 hour flights for christ’s sake. Even Cleveland.com is criticizing Kyrie for making the same mistakes as the guy he so desperately wanted to get away from on the Cavs.
That doesn’t mean I think things are beyond repair though; I honestly believe Kyrie could come back, show a little embarrassment at the way everything has been handled the past 12 months, put up a good month of basketball and all would be forgiven. But, I just don’t think thats the way he’s wired.
And this is why the Boston Celtics do not kowtow to superstars. The C’s did everything they possibly could have to appease their young superstar in Kyrie Irving and he still is less than two weeks away from likely leaving them at the altar. You may need to do that in order to win an NBA title, but I’d rather live and die with guys like Marcus Smart and Isaiah Thomas than beg a superstar to please come play for our historic franchise. Why?
Woj also tweeted earlier today that Horford has reportedly opted out of his contract.
Boston Celtics center Al Horford will not exercise the $30.1M option on his 2019-20 contract and become an unrestricted free agent, league sources tell ESPN. Horford and the Celtics both have interest in working toward a new deal in July, sources tell ESPN.
To be completely honest, I fully expected this from big Al. He is 33 years old with one year left on his deal in a suddenly barren free agent market. This is his last chance to get a long term deal. So he could opt in and cash the $30M check, or he could opt out and potentially negotiate a 3-year $60M deal to stay with the C’s and secure the bag for another $30M. Nobody is going to pay Horford $30M per on his next deal so it makes perfect sense for him to opt out. Orrr he could see the writing on the wall in Boston and try to take a lesser deal to jump ship to a more clear cut contender. Except, theres not so many clear cut contenders out there now with Golden State’s rash of injuries, Kawhi’s uncertainty in Toronto, LA’s revival with AD, Philly’s 3 starters heading towards free agency [plus Ben Simmons needing a max extension next summer], Milwaukee lurking, not to mention the apparent turmoil in Houston. So theres a whole lot of second tier teams that think they have a legit shot at a title next year.
So to Tatum, Brown and the other young guys: you all privately and publicly battled with Kyrie last year for mostly petty reasons. Kyrie is definitely to blame for that, but Tatum, Brown and co. aren’t without fault. Either way the team suffered as a result. Tatum, Brown and the young guys reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals without Kyrie (and Hayward) so I get it. Well now Kyrie is all but gone so here you go. It’s your team now Jayson. Jaylen can be your 1A, but this is your team.
Tatum has the best pedigree, the highest ceiling, has shown the most elite offensive flashes, and has the length to play D, can be a spot up shooter or get to the rim. I am excited to see what a 3rd year Jayson Tatum looks like with the ball in his hands a lot more. I think Tatum will be an All-NBA player before long….but he better be. Danny just bet the next decade of the Celtics’ fortunes on Tatum being that good. Because if he’s not, we have become the Atlanta Hawks.
What if I told you that the LA deal for AD has been in place for months but because @MagicJohnson openly tampered multiple times the only way that the @NBA / Adam Silver wouldn’t be forced to veto the trade would be for Magic to step down?! Hmmmmmmmm
It helps if you read the above tweet in the ESPN 30 for 30 voice, but this is the most outrageous yet completely based in logic conspiracy theory I’ve heard in a long long time. So from here on our I will act as if this is fact.
In reality I know the Lakers get generational superstar talent every few years like we’re living in Groundhog Day despite completely mismanaging their entire franchise. They just always have and always will. Players like to be in sunny Cali, near beaches and models and other famous elites. I get it. Doesn’t mean it won’t forever piss me off though.
Whether its AD or Dwight Howard (when he was good) or Pau Gasol or Chris Paul or Shaq and on and on we go. The Lakers always fall ass backwards into supreme talent because they were fortunate enough to move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, where there are no lakes.
But Magic Johnson has tampered his ass off for years while pretending to be a legitimate basketball executive for the Lakers. The league has gone pretty easy on him in my opinion, but I’ve already written too many words about Earvin being bad at his job to get into it all over again.
This theory goes right up there with MJ retiring to play baseball because of a gambling suspension and the Knicks using a frozen envelope to land Patrick Ewing. It just makes too much sense to not be true.
Thanks again to Cage Titans for hooking us up with the front row seats and to all the fighters that gave us a bit of their time leading up to the fights as well as the night of the event. We’ve still got some post fight interviews from Joey B as well as the full stream of consciousness play by play that we’ll probably drop in a podcast too. So keep an eye out for the rest of that sweet sweet fight #content.
I gasped when I saw this video late last night. Patrick Reed was in great position to make the cut at the US Open on Friday as he got to the 18th hole. Well, then things went sideways for the former Master champ.
He was even par for the tournament, with the cut line at two over par. A double bogey would be enough to survive and advance. He seemed pretty safe.
But then the fun began. Reed’s tee shot found the right rough, 250 yards from the hole. He proceeded to hit his second shot only 140 yards, into the left bunker that runs next to the the seawall along the Pacific Ocean. OK, no big deal. Hit it on the green, two putt and have a nice dinner.
Reed’s third shot, however, missed long of the green into the thick gnarly rough. Trying to hit a flop shot on to the green to a front-right hole location, Reed proceeded to hit his fourth shot back over the green into more thick rough.
Then with his fifth shot, he flubbed a chip, leaving the ball in the rough again.
Hilarious and probably the most relatable thing I’ve seen from Patrick Reed. After having a meltdown on the 18th green of Pebble Beach he still had to finish the hole. Its not like that shot totally killed him so it was a bit of an awkward situation when he finally squeaked in.
To the man’s credit, he steadied himself and hit his sixth to just outside two feet, and then rolled in the putt. With a wry smile, he shook the hands of the other two in his threesome, went off and signed his score card.
Patrick Reed; the people’s golfer for people like me who sometimes flip out on the course.
Golf Digest – Jordan Spieth had played his first seven holes Thursday at the U.S. Open in even par when he hit what he thought was a perfect tee ball on Pebble Beach’s par-4 eighth hole.
However, Spieth’s ball went long, rolling through the fairway and off the cliff. Making matters worse, Spieth’s third shot into the green went long, setting up a difficult chip from well above the hole.
That’s when Spieth appeared to blame his caddie, Michael Greller. He was picked up on camera saying, “Two perfect shots, Michael. You got me in the water on one and over the green on the other.”
Spieth went on to bogey the hole.
Not a good look for Jordan here just throwing his caddie right under the bus. Now I know it was picked up by a hot mic and its not like it came in an interview, but thats almost worse. He’s just dragging his caddie because he hit a shitty shot. I mean this is Shooter McGavin type stuff here.
Obviously PGA caddie’s a paid very well to advise their golfers on strategy, but thats the key word; advise. You’re still a wildly successful professional golfer, you should be able to stop and think about a shot approach if you don’t agree with the advice.
Damn you people. This is golf. Not a rock concert.
What an absolutely devastating loss in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. So, so disappointing because it is ridiculously difficult to win the Stanley Cup. Even reaching the Finals in hockey is the hardest of any sport because it is such a grind. The players know it too.
Brad Marchand w/tears in his eyes and says it’s worst loss of his career. Says he’ll never get over it. Charlie McAvoy was speechless for a number of questions. Jake DeBrusk just sat w/a towel on his head, dejected. Most stunned locker room I’ve covered since 2010 loss to Flyers
And like the sick fuck that I am, I took a seat at the bar and just watched the Blues players celebrate and parade the Stanley Cup around TD Garden until after midnight.
I should have known this was not going to go well after nearly getting trampled on Canal Street. I legitimately felt like Jon Snow in the Battle of the Bastards when he’s just suffocating under the pile of bodies.
Or maybe I should have known when the bar I finally ended up at for puck drop had a guy in a 2011 Bruins champs shirt drinking a glass of red with the game.
That goddamn enigma Jordan Binnington was on his game last night and completely changed the series with his save on a Marchand shot in the first, which absolutely goes in if Binnington is wearing a jersey thats one size smaller.
There were just so many missed opportunities in this game. The Bruins dominated the first period and had nothing to show for it but an 0-2 hole. They just could not bury their chances.
Tough break for Tuukka Rask who played out of his mind for the past two months, but gives up four goals in the biggest game of his career last night. Its hard to pin the first two on him since the first was a deflection and the second was when Marchand left him out to dry (we’ll get to that in a second). Tuukka did not have a great game, but he did make a save that would’ve been played on the championship DVD highlight reel if the B’s came back.
Tuukka had zero support from his best players yet again as Marchand and Pastrnak were complete no shows in the Stanley Cup Finals. Really disheartening to see as we kept saying for the past two weeks that if the first line could just wake up the Bruins would cruise. Well, that line never did wake up as Marchand finished with two goals, one of which was an empty netter and the other came on a 5-on-3, while Pastrnak had two, and Bergeron had one. Maybe it was injuries catching up to them, I don’t know, but for guys like Pasta, who had 38 g’s in the regular season, and Marchand, who had 100 points in the regular season, to only notch two goals apiece in seven games had the Bruins dead in the water.
It boggles my mind how Boston lost this series. Despite a no show in the Finals, Marchand still finished the season as the league leader in playoff points with 23, the Bruins had a historic power play at 32.4% (nearly double the league average), and led the league with a 2.12 Goals Against Average in the playoffs. And they still lost.
I don’t get it. This series made less sense than Birdman. I just don’t get it.
Not to completely bury Marchand, but he also was responsible for the second goal when he picked the absolute worst time to change lines I’ve ever seen. Even worse, this came just a few nights after the B’s lost a game on another poorly timed line change. Tony Amonte ripped Marchand for his lack of awareness on the play.
Tony Amonte explains why this play by Brad Marchand may have cost the Bruins the Stanley Cup pic.twitter.com/k45vlA8vxM
ESPN – Both managers and Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi were ejected from Texas’ 9-5 win over Boston on Tuesday.
Benintendi and Red Sox manager Alex Cora were tossed in the fifth inning by first-base umpire Vic Carapazza, and Texas manager Chris Woodward was booted by plate umpire Angel Hernandez in the sixth.
I was about to turn off the Sox game last night once the Rangers started putting up crooked numbers, but sometimes those blowouts provide the best entertainment and boy did it ever. First off, Angel Hernandez and his flunkies can kick rocks with that sideshow of a baseball game last night. It was just another example of MLB umps inserting themselves into the game in completely unnecessary situations.
After grounding out and getting thrown out at first, Benintendi was pretty heated about a missed call by homeplate umpire Angel Hernandez earlier in the at-bat. Benintendi glanced in the direction of home plate and swore to himself basically. Well in steps the shining knight that was the first base ump Vic Carapazza who took it upon himself to defend Angel’s honor by ejecting Benintendi. Benintendi by the way was’t even looking at Carapazza when he quietly motioned for the ejection so Red Sox first base coach Tom Goodwin had to break the news.
Andrew Benintendi got thrown out of a Major League Baseball game for … being mad at himself for grounding out? pic.twitter.com/MrRCJiChLn
The ump definitively makes the safe call before changing his mind and pumping his fist to signal the out call. All of which happened in the span of 2 seconds. The Sox got the call, but that whole series of events is a joke. It also led to the Rangers manager getting chucked too as Angel Hernandez remains the smuggest official in all of sports.
Hernandez said Woodward apparently didn’t hear when he was told time was running out to challenge the call.
“We were not going to review the play once time expired,” Hernandez said. “These are rules. It’s my job to enforce them.”
And here’s Hernandez on the Benintendi ejection:
Hernandez spoke to a pool reporter following the game but said little to explain the ejection.
“He violated the rules of the game,” Hernandez said. “I’m not at liberty to discuss anything until I submit the report tomorrow.”
Lets be done with this. Just fire them all into the sun and bring me the robo umps.
“I just want to live in the moment. Go have my lunch. Enjoy that. Take a nap. Enjoy that. Then just go step by step throughout my day, and just be there. Be in the moment. Then get here tonight, and play.”
Bro, you just described my daily existence in college. Go to class for an hour, grab a sub, saunter back to my apartment and crush a nap. Just sounds like a delightful day. Something I would do for free, let alone for millions of dollars. Granted I don’t have the pressure of a Stanley Cup Game 7 on my shoulders at the office today, but Chuckie does get to take a nap in the middle of the days so he’s got that going for him.
PS – Does Charlie McAvoy need a side hustle coming up with t-shirt ideas this summer because this is also an A+ quote from the young defenseman.
“I mean, you gotta live in the moment. I guess dreaming is fine. It’s all good. But it’s fiction until it’s reality,” he said.
The 300s 