Steph Curry and Warriors to the Rest of the NBA: Now Youse Can’t Leave

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I think the Warriors got exactly what they needed with this Thunder series; a wake up call. And they’re way better off for it. AKA LeBron and the Cavs are fucked.

The Warriors have been cruising for the past 6 months, which is something that tends to happen when you are routinely winning and winning big. Curry was dominating all year and not even playing in the 4th quarter half the time. They only had 9 losses for christs sake. And all of those losses, while disappointing, had no real averse affect on Golden State. They locked up the 1 seed and then probably thought they’d continue to roll. Except Durant and OKC pushed them to the ledge and the Warriors do what champions do, they fought back, stopped the bleeding and did what they had to do to come out on top. Now they’ve realized that they can’t cruise regardless of how good they might be. So I think the OKC series woke the Warriors up to that fact and now they’re ready to smash Cleveland right out of the gate.

I mean you had guys like Tony Mazz saying on 98.5 that the Warriors really aren’t that good and haven’t beaten anybody. Forget the fact that they won the title last season, won 73 games this season and are going back to the Finals after going through the Spurs and the Thunder. This is where Steph Curry and company become a victim of their own success. If they lose this Thunder series, they could very easily have been written off as another flashy team that was all style no substance like the early 2000s Indianapolis Colts. “Curry won the MVP just because he scored a lot on a top seeded team” people would say.

But with that grit and balls win and Curry and Klay Thompson leading the way back from the brink people are starting remember just how good this team is. And I can’t think of anything funnier than LeBron going to his 6th straight NBA Finals and losing again. 2/6.

The Kevin Durant Watch is Back On for Boston Celtics Fans

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Kevin Durant watch is back on. It definitely would have been better for the Celtics if OKC got trounced in the previous round by San Antonio, which would have made it easier for Durant to say hey it’s not happening here lets try something else. Obviously that didn’t happen. Toppling the all-time regular season wins leader in Golden State with 73 and the back-to-back MVP in Steph Curry en route to another Finals trip would have made it impossible for Durant to leave. So now maybe, just maybe losing a Game 7 heart breaker and letting another series slip away gets Durant to think about making a change. Double edged sword though because do you really want a guy who is saying screw this, it’s too hard I want to play somewhere else and get on an easier path? Not particularly. But I’d take it.

In the end it’s not going to happen. First and foremost he would be leaving a stupid amount of cash on the table. With the salary cap set to go up to from about $70 million this year to approximately $92 million after next season there is so much more money to be had out there. Also being in his 9th season Durant can only receive 30% of a team’s max cap, whereas after 10 seasons he can grab 35%. So 30% of $70 million or 35% from the $92 million cap next year? Not gonna happen. Plus he would get annihilated by the media and the fans for “abandoning” OKC and you know it. I honestly think Durant takes that to heart unlike LeBron James so I think that plays a much larger factor than people give it credit. Most likely scenario is he signs a 2-year deal with OKC with a player opt-out after 1 year and then signs a mega deal with OKC after next season.

But hey a guy can dream right? Durant watch has been reactivated. GET EM ISAIAH!

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The NFL is Moving Touchbacks to the 25 Yard Line and Devin Hester is Bullshit

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Yahoo Sports – Say, did you remember that the NFL is moving kickoff touchbacks to the 25-yard-line this year? Devin Hester did, and he’s none too pleased. “It’s like taking away a job from people,” the Falcons return man told ESPN, and by “people” he means himself. Hester is one of the most notable return men in NFL history, boasting five kickoff returns for touchdowns and a dramatic TD return to start Super Bowl XLI.

I would be bullshit too if I was Devin Hester. Dude was once one of the most electric players in all of the NFL, despite only playing in a fraction of the game. He was legitimately feared and only touched the ball a handful of times a game. Definition of an X-Factor.

So now in an effort to reduce the number of players smashing their brains in, the NFL is moving touchbacks out to the 25 yard line this season. For a guy like Hester who averages 24.9 yards per kickoff return this essentially negates his effectiveness. Sure he might pop one off for a TD, but now the difference between a bum averaging 18 yards per return and a stud averaging 24.9 yards per return is nil because teams will just encourage guys to kneel it. Kneel it and we’re 25% of the way to scoring. So kickoff return specialists are going to die a slow death until the NFL just removes the kickoff entirely. Better work on your punt returns, Devin.

Jonny Gomes is (Not) Retiring; Shane Victorino Likely in the Same Boat

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Boston Red Sox's Jonny Gomes flexes after hitting a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, Saturday, April 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Red Sox’s Jonny Gomes flexes after hitting a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, Saturday, April 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Sports Illustrated – Despite reports, veteran outfielder Jonny Gomes is not retiring, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com….After Gomes’s 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, SB Nation reported Wednesday that he would retire. He is not currently on a roster.

SB Nation reported yesterday that Jonny Gomes is calling it a career, then Rob Bradford came over the ropes and said not so fast. Either way, this is probably it for Jonny. He may not be filing the paperwork just yet, but it’s hard to see him getting picked up after hitting .213 last season. Needless to say this is a sad day for anyone who was a fan of the 2013 Boston Red Sox. Jonny Gomes, hate him or love him helped reset the culture in the Red Sox clubhouse after the disaster that was Bobby Valentine. Hell, he started the bearded brothers culture that the entire team took on as their identity. He was loud, obnoxious and fun as hell to watch. Not to mention all his gems like the story of fighting a guy in a grocery store.

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The guy came to play every day and there is nothing in this world that people from Boston appreciate more than a dirtdog who shows up to work every day and busts his balls. And with everything that was going on in Boston in 2013 after the Marathon bombing, that team became cathartic for the city and the team really embraced that role. Gomes especially embraced that and the team fed off of it en route to winning the World Series.

PS – I’d be remiss not to mention my boy Shane Victorino who was every bit the heart and soul of that 2013 Red Sox team as much as Gomes. Victorino is likely in the same boat after being released by the Cubs’ Triple-A team the other day and Sox fans will always love him for what he did in 2013. His career more or less went off the rails due to injuries after that season, but he was another guy who really relished what it means to play in Boston. I’ll never forget the chills I got from the Fenway crowd singing Victorino’s Bob Marley walk up song in unison and of course his grand slam in the ALCS as he’s POUNDING his chest rounding the bases.

Man that team was fun as hell.

Uber Continues to Innovate; Now Mimicking Public Transportation

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This is genius, I wish someone had thought of this sooner. It’s like some sort of mass transit system. And at $40 a month plus $2 per ride for 20 rides a month you could be looking at $80 a month, which is right about the same as, oh you know a monthly T pass or a bus pass

In all seriousness, it’s not a terrible idea, but Uber is getting closer and closer to the establishment rather than further away from it. It’s basically becoming mass transit or essentially what BRIDJ has been doing for a while now. If I can order an Uber Pool and be to my spot in 15 mins for $2 bucks that’s awesome, but that’s not how this works. You hop in, ride around for 10 mins, pick up 2 people, drop some more people off and before you know it it’s a 40 minute ride to get to Fenway. Which is the same as the goddamn train.

So I appreciate the effort Uber, but if you’re gonna charge more than a T pass, I’m expecting a lot more than avoiding human interaction.

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DeMarcus Cousins Subtweets Draymond Green Because He’s Got the Heart of a Champion

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Yahoo Sports – DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t seem to like Draymond Green. Why? Well, it’s quite possible that Cousins feels his own reputation is unfair and that Green would have a similar reputation if his team wasn’t potentially the greatest of all time.

You say petulant asshole, I say a guy sick who is sick and tired of losing. Sure it might just be the rationalizing stage of Celtics denial, but I think if you get a guy like DeMarcus Cousins with a solid coach like Brad Stevens, stable ownership and a strong squad around him this guy could flourish in Boston.

Not everyone handles losing well, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s like this guy from my college flag football team. A total hero who would lose his shit on people for dropping the ball, but the guy could ball and when we were rolling I was more than happy to have him on my team. Who knows, it’s a bold strategy, but maybe not playing for a garbage lottery team year after year helps Cousins grow up and finally become a dominant force in the NBA.

 

Opportunity for Jimmy Garoppolo Could Have Huge Payoff for the Patriots

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Yahoo Sports – Jimmy Garoppolo finds himself in a good situation. He can prepare all offseason as if he’ll be the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback for the first four games of the season, thanks to Tom Brady’s deflate-gate suspension…Think about Brock Osweiler, who was looking at the possibility of going into free agency with almost no regular-season snaps on tape. But Peyton Manning got hurt, Osweiler showed enough in seven starts with the Denver Broncos last season to get a $72 million deal from the Houston Texans, and now he’s their starter.

It’s tough to admit, but the whole Deflategate witch hunt may end up being a good thing for the Patriots. Regardless of all the other shit, it’s looking more and more likely Tom Brady is going to miss 4 games. It’s unlikely that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to play well enough for Belichick and the Patriots to give Brady the Drew Bledsoe treatment, but that’s why this may pay off even better for the Pats. Most people kind of scratched their head when the Pats took Garoppolo in the 2nd round back in 2014. For one, it was the highest Belichick had ever drafted a QB with the Patriots and two, it seemed a year too early.

We all know the Brady decline is going to come eventually, but it doesn’t seem like we’re quite there yet. So the Pats wasted a draft pick right? That may have been true if NFL head coaches didn’t get borderline aroused about young QB’s with potential. I mean look at all the absolute scrubs that have swindled huge contracts from teams based on nothing but potential and limited snaps. If you don’t have a great QB in this league it’s damn hard to be successful so coaches and GMs are willing to roll the dice continuously hoping to strike gold. That’s how guys like Matt Cassel, Matt Schaub, Matt Flynn and most recently Brock Osweiler have landed mega deals with virtually no real playing experience.

Which brings me back to Belichick, this guy is always five steps ahead of the rest of the league. Sure he couldn’t have known Brady would get suspended and give Jimmy G a 4 game audition as trade bait, but we all know TB12 ain’t retiring any time soon. So the Garoppolo pick was definitely made with the ulterior motive of flipping him for even more draft capital. If Garoppolo comes in and plays well, you could very easily get a 1st round pick for a young, promising QB who’s spent the past few years being groomed by the best coach and QB in the game. Jimmy gets paid, Belichick gets TWO 1st round picks in 2017 (giving Gooddell the finger in the process), Brady continues doing Brady things and we start this process over again with Jacoby Brissett, who is more likely on the track to eventual Patriots starter down the line.

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The Washington R-Words Live to See Another Day After Latest Report

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ESPN – A new Washington Post poll found that 90 percent of Native Americans aren’t offended by the Washington Redskins’ nickname and an overwhelming majority consider it an unimportant issue.

Daniel Snyder is definitely just sitting in his office laughing like a maniac rubbing his hands together. “See NFL? Native Americans don’t give a shit what we call our crappy football team?” Reports don’t lie (unless it’s of the Wells variety). Super racist name? Of course. But if they change the name, that will deprive me of referring to them as the Washington R-Words and I’m not ready to give that up just yet. In all seriousness this name should absolutely be changed eventually because it is blatantly racist, but if 90% of Native Americans don’t care, I don’t think people need to push their Irish Guilt onto those that this truly might matter to. Snyder and his politically incorrect collection of trademarks live to see another day.

Tyronn Lue Wins My Heart: Tells LeBron to Shut the Fuck Up

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Yahoo Sports – Tyronn Lue changed that the moment he first told James in a huddle, “Shut the [expletive up]. I got this,” according to a person who heard the exchange — and a few others like it. If Lue was going to get the stars and the role players to buy into the strategic changes he was determined to implement — play faster, space the floor, move the ball, take full advantage of Love’s versatility — he was going to have to restore order first.

Love this move and what makes it even funnier is that it probably cuts LeBron down to his core because it’s some bum ass former player telling him to pipe down. No one’s talked to him like that since he was 12. Just burning through coaches, not even pretending to listen, running his own plays. Then Tyronn Lue struts into town after Blatt gets dusted and promptly tells LeBron to shut the fuck up. Shut that shit down like you’re late on the cable bill. Shocked we haven’t seen a mopey Instagram post from LeBron about doing unto others or something. Team Ty all day.

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