Jeremy Jacobs Fought the IRS, and Jeremy Jacobs Won

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Fox Business – In Jacobs v. Commissioner, the owners of the National Hockey League’s Bruins argued the team should be able to deduct 100% of the cost of certain meals they provided to players and staff. Under current law, only 50% of the cost of many business meals is tax-deductible…

The Bruins’s owners deducted 100% of the cost of meals provided to players and staff at road games, which came to $255,754 in 2009 and $284,446 in 2010. The IRS argued the law allowed only for a 50% deduction of these expenses, and it wanted an extra $85,000 in taxes.

The Tax Court judge disagreed with the IRS and sided with the Bruins.

Jeremy Jacobs is worth $4.3 billion, but has spent almost a decade battling the IRS over $85,000. Don’t ever change, JJ. Please don’t ever change.

To put the numbers into better perspective, this is like having $43,000 on your debit card and arguing with the cashier at 7-Eleven over 85 cents. I’d say Jacobs is living up to his reputation as one of the cheapest owners in sports, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t respect the balls on this guy.

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You’re 77 years old, you’ve set your family up financially for generations, and you still want to pick a fight with the IRS. You do you, man.

Smart PR move by Jacobs, too. I didn’t expect this from the team that fires coaches in the middle of the night on the west coast and during Patriots Super Bowl parades. I would’ve expected the Bruins to sue the Little Sisters of the Poor because they painted a house black and yellow or something. But the IRS? The only better PR move would have been to sue an airline for delaying your take off. (Or Ticketmaster for their absurd fees, but I’m being  realistic.)

Now if you could get those guys who helped you beat the IRS in a room with Cam Neely and Don Sweeney, maybe they could help the Bruins beat the Senators next year and get a little bit closer to winning the Cup again.

 

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Are Now Just the Los Angeles Angels

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SportsLogos – The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim still the butt of jokes on social media and elsewhere due to their clumsy name have officially changed their name to just “Los Angeles Angels” finally dropping the “of Anaheim” part.

Apparently the Angels quietly made this change awhile ago, but didn’t make any grand announcements about it because, well, its always been a ridiculous name. Los Angeles is a cool 40 mins from Anaheim, which if you’ve ever driven around LA you know is more like 2+ hours.

That would be like Charlie Baker deciding to put a team deep on the South Shore. Might as well be the goddamn Cape League at that point.

This is the FIFTH time the Angels have changed their name and the teams only been around since 1961. Thats fucking bananas. Not to mention they’re going back to a name they already used with LA Angels. They’ve also been the Anaheim Angels and the California Angels, but its hard to top Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

I still hold out hope that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will get drunk and green light an NL expansion team in Boston. Then we could really get wild with some team names. Lets just say the Minutemen for now. The Boston Minutemen of New England. The Seaport District Minutemen of Boston. My personal favorite? The Allston Minutemen of Brighton.

The Falcons Just Cucked Jerry Jones and the Cowboys With Their New Halo Scoreboard

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Tweeted about this the other day, but I’d be remiss to not at least give it a quick shout out on the blog. Yes the Patriots destroyed the hopes and spirits of every Falcons fan there ever was and ever will be, but MY GAWD this is a stadium. The Atlanta Falcons just cucked Jerry Jones with this absolute dynamite Halo scoreboard.

Jerry’s World was famous for its absurdly “everything is bigger in Texas” 50 yard long scoreboard. That was top notch when it came out. Now compared to the Atlanta Halo scoreboard? Trash. Total garbage, might as well shut the place down like the old AstroDome.

NFL stadiums are like goddamn iPhones. They are shiny and amazing and cutting edge technology for like 12 months then the next version comes out and everyone is scrambling to sell their old piece of shit on ebay for pennies on the dollar. The Falcons may never recover from SuperBowl XLI, but they sure as shit are gonna have a baller ass stadium this year.

That is at least until the Rams open their new stadium in LA.

The Boston Celtics Are Back in Business for a Long Time to Come

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What a time to be a Celtics fan. Not only is Gordon Hayward coming to Boston, but it feels like the landscape of the NBA is starting to change. And it’s changing for the better for Celtics fans.

With the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Western Conference is still loaded. Plus, I’m always afraid the Los Angeles Lakers could become serious contenders again overnight. But the Eastern Conference hasn’t been this wide open for a decade.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are starting to look a lot like the Lakers at the end of the Shaq/Kobe years. Still a lot of talent there, but it doesn’t feel like everyone is buying in. It feels like there are some serious cracks in the foundation. I wouldn’t write off LeBron, but he might already be plotting out the next chapter of his career [like Shaq in Miami].

The Celtics were already the Cavaliers’ top challenge in the east going forward. Signing Hayward now makes the Celtics a legitimate threat to stop the Cavaliers from getting back to the Finals. And even if the Cavaliers can hold off the Celtics again next year, which team would you rather be for the next four years?

The Celtics will now be the prime landing spot for anyone who wants to come east and get to the Finals to challenge Golden State. It’s a good situation with a good coach and a young, talented roster. The Cavaliers still might be better on paper, for now, with Lebron, but the clock is a lot closer to midnight for the Cavs than it is for the C’s.

After the Lakers signed Shaq, they were relevant for almost 20 years. This could be a similar moment for the Celtics. This moment is bigger than the acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett ten years ago. Those moves instantly made the Celtics relevant, but every one knew their window was going to be short.

Even though he won’t be here for twenty years, this signing could be what sets off the chain of events that keep the Celtics relevant for the next two decades. Sign me up.

 

Gordon Hayward Joins the Celtics and #WycFireworks are ON!

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Holy hell what a start to Free Agency. Blake Griffin as a potential Celtics target was already off the table before I even had a buzz on Friday night. And then the Pacers flipped out and dealt Paul George to the Thunder for peanuts. So before I went to bed on Friday night I was already rattled and blogging in a panic as the Celtics had firmly placed all of their eggs in the Gordon Hayward basket. If Danny didn’t land Hayward then the Celtics were basically smoked.

Then comes the 4th of July and its reported that Hayward is a Celtic! Wait, nope actually Hayward hadn’t signed with anyone yet!

Was he having second thoughts about leaving Utah? Was he pissed off the news leaked before he could talk with the Jazz? Did that fucking snake Pat Riley swoop in and steal Hayward at the 11th hour? Nah, turns out he was just checking his Players Tribune article for AP style and hadn’t hit publish yet.

Burn those #20 jerseys Jazz fans because ya boy is officially shipping up to Boston.

Isaiah Thomas. Al Horford. Gordon Hayward. Avery Bradley/Marcus Smart. Ante Zizic (?)
Is that a team that can beat the Golden State Warriors? Probably not. Is that a team that can beat LeBron and his suddenly on the verge of imploding Cavs? Definitely. And thats all you can ask for. Lets get to the fucking Finals and cross that Warriors bridge when we get there. The fact that Danny has landed two legitimate All-Star max contract players in back to back offseasons without having to trade any of our top picks is a fucking feat and he should be commended for it.

BUT, as the Wolf once famously put it:


As Felger likes to say, this team may very well be the Bridgies, the team that gets you to the team that wins a title when all your young guys grow up. And that may be true, but I’d much rather have a Bridgies team thats going to the Finals and competing for titles WHILE YOU’RE STILL GETTING BETTER AND STILL BUILDING. The future is bright in Boston. The future is bright and it is green. #WycFireworks for everyone.

PS – All of this excitement was dampened a bit because we had to say goodbye to the one and only Kelly “Maple Jordan” Olynyk. C’s had to renounce his rights to make cap space. Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened.

Speaking of Don Draper, Apparently He Designed the 1975 Astros Jerseys Too

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draper astrosESPN Uni Watch – If you’ve ever looked at the rainbow uni and wondered who dreamed it up, the answer is the advertising firm McCann Erickson, which was hired by the Astros to redesign the team’s look for the 1975 season.

It would be fascinating to see the company’s original files and to know the identities of the people who worked on the project, right? The good news in that regard is that McCann Erickson still exists (it’s now known simply as McCann). The bad news is that a company spokesman said the firm no longer has any original sketches or other archival paperwork. The Astros haven’t saved any original documents, either. Sigh.

I can imagine the Don Draper pitch to the Houston Astros…

In your first 13 seasons you’ve never reached the playoffs, never won more than 84 games in a season, and never finished higher than third place. Now, you’re not even the only game in town. You’ve got to deal with the Texas Rangers in Arlington siphoning fans away from you. It’s time to change the conversation.

The Astros play in the state-of-the-art Astrodome. The Eighth Wonder of the World. Isn’t it time for the Astros to wear uniforms as ground breaking as their stadium? I give you the uniform of the future.

Baseball has never seen anything like this, and neither have your fans. People will flock to the Astrodome just to get a glimpse of these uniforms. They will get people talking. They will get people to forget whether or not you’re in the pennant race. And most importantly, these uniforms will get people to forget about your rivals in North Texas.

They said the Yankees never used to lose because the other teams were too busy staring at the pinstripes. Imagine playing the Astros, and staring at these.

BUY BUY BUY!

This uniform is audacious even by today’s standards. I’d love to have seen the reaction of the Old Time Baseball Guys when they got this pitch from McCann Erickson in 1975. But  it has aged quite well and is almost universally revered to this day. It has to be the most popular throwback out there. Some looks are dated and stale, but this look is still fresh.

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The Astros took a step in the right direction the last time they updated their uniforms in 2013. Hopefully the next time they make a change it’s a little bit further in this direction.

The Celtics Free Agency Plans are Crashing and Burning and Free Agency Hasn’t Even Started Yet

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I swear to christ, Celtics fans need their own personal J. Walter Weatherman. Blake Griffin re-signs with the Clippers, Paul George gets traded to the Thunder, and now the Celtics free agency plans are spiraling out of control.

We are now BANKING on Gordon Hayward signing with the Celtics or we are all fucked. I forgot my own rule to never get excited about rumored #WycFireworks until the pen was put to paper. This could all have been avoided if Danny Ainge had only left a note.

Friday Morning Randomness

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Don Draper – The man who invented Throwback Thursday.

He also put the Kodak Carousel in every school in America. Without it, teachers never would have been able to share photos from their 1979 trip to Mexico City with their students for the next two decades.