PBT- The Lakers are not happy that Russell has cast the franchise in this light now—and there are those in the organization fearful that he has made himself another hurdle to be overcome in the Lakers’ effort to add much-needed proven free-agent talent. But the club is not about to give up on him over this: a foolish, ill-conceived undertaking that was at least not malicious in intent.

The Lakers believe in Russell’s talent and hope he learns a lesson the hard way here about needing to be more professional.



​Can everybody do me a favor and just relax? I know that D'Angelo Russell is a fucking idiot, but if you think he's going to be a fucking idiot that's playing for a team other than the Los Angeles Lakers in the near future then you are outside of your mind. This is the NBA we are talking about. A superstar dominated league. The only player on the Lakers roster to flash even the smallest ability to lead a team this year is D'Angelo Russell. Do I feel comfortable guaranteeing that he will be one of the best players in the league for years to come? Hell no. However, he does have the potential to do so, and you don't trade that potential away simply because he betrayed a teammate. Especially when that teammate is probably the most enigmatic, inconsistent player on a team that's full of enigmatic, inconsistent players.

​D'Angelo Russell could very easily be more important to the future of the Lakers than every other player on the current roster combined. Pro sports are a business, and getting rid of last year's #2 overall draft pick just to satisfy a bench player named Swaggy P is just about the worst business decision in the history of business decisions. I understand that's it's going to take time for Russell to gain back the trust of his teammates, but if LeBron James has taught us anything it's that you don't have to be a good person to be a productive player. D'Angelo Russell has shown the ability to produce, and when it comes to personnel moves that's all that matters. 

Well, isn't this a relief? I was over here worried that the dissension in the Lakers locker room was going to transfer to the basketball court, and it appears they are just as cohesive as ever. Did you see that lay-up that Dwayne Wade just causally made after completely botching a terrible alley-oop pass on a 3-on-0 fast break? It was damn near contested! Takes a lot of hustle to get back down the court to put a little pressure on an opponent's rebound attempt. That's the mark of a team right there. No rookie is going to cause this roster to fall apart at the seams by airing out his teammate for unknowingly confessing to fucking barely legal chicks behind his girlfriend's back. Just look at this play right here. May not look like much, but it helped the Lakers to an overtime win over the Miami Heat. I don't know how, but it did. It's too bad D'Angelo Russell didn't betray every fiber of his teammates trust earlier in the season, or the Lakers may have had a chance to make are Kobe's last game was played in the postseason before his body literally crumbles to dust...

P.S. Okay fine, maybe there is still a little bit of resentment...
​

I can't believe I am going to say this, but I owe LeBron James an apology. I thought he was the one responsible for getting David Blatt fired. I thought he undermined and emasculated him, eventually grew tired of answering questions about the Cavaliers relative struggles, and went behind his back to management to have him canned. As it turns out, I actually know absolutely nothing about being a Head Coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It became quite apparent - over the course of this 4 second video - that being a towel rack is just a part of the job description. I know it sounds ridiculous, but letting players throw dirty laundry on him is literally the only thing that Tyronn Lue has done differently then David Blatt. Considering he still has his job I have no choice but to believe that's at least part of the reason why.

How can I possibly blame LeBron here? What has he done over the course of the last 24-48 hours that would make Iman Shumpert - an average bench player - think it was okay to throw sweaty linens on the shoulder of his coach's expensive fitted suit? Nothing differently, that's for sure. Maybe he pushed Tyronn Lue out of the away and talked over him the huddle, but that's not a change in organizational philosophy. If that was causing a rift in the power structure of the team then the Cavaliers would have a new coach every single game. This is just a thing that was built into his contract. Maybe if David Blatt had the lack of self respect that Tyronn Lue does he would still be around to this day. Can't believe he let something as silly as personal pride get in the way of maintaining a gig in professional basketball. Who needs dignity when you are all but guaranteed a demoralizing NBA Finals loss? Who needs to speak, instruct, and teach when they can just collect towels and let the world's most insufferable superstar do their job for them?

​h/t Busted Coverage

I guess I only got one question and that is who in the hell was responsible for budgeting this operation? You mean to tell me there was enough money to construct a 50 foot crucifix and hire a lifelike Jesus, but they couldn't put a little aside for some nails? Don't you think that if it was as easy as stringing up some rope and a pulley system then those overzealous Jews would have just saved themselves the time, energy, and (probably) lunch they lost hammering jagged spikes through the hands and feet of the eventual Lord and Savior? I know, I wouldn't want to see a real live person get crucified in front of me either, but if you are going to put that much work into making the scene Biblically accurate then you might as well sacrifice some blood, sweat, and limbs to make sure Jesus' stunt double doesn't escape like Tom Cruise in 'Mission Impossible' and render your efforts completely fruitless.

​The execution was a bit off, but I guess I can respect the attempt. I wasn't exactly present for the original, but the way I have always pictured it this is as close as it possibly gets without actually nailing someone to a cross. I would say that there are probably better ways to celebrate Easter than recreating the death of Jesus, but it actually makes more sense than hunting down plastic eggs filled with chocolate that were cleverly hidden by a gigantic bunny. Just wish someone had brought the nails...

BSO- Caitlyn Jenner is participating in her first golf tournament as a woman today as she takes part in the ANA Inspiration Pro-Am. Details on who will be eating her dust in the tournament, via USA Today:

Jenner tees off at 7 a.m. and will play alongside fellow celebrity amateur and women’s soccer legend Abby Wambach. They will be joined by amateurs Josh Doxater and Tom Abbott. Their pro-playing partners will be Marina Alex for the front nine and Danielle Kang for the back nine.



Cock or not, I support Caitlyn Jenner's decision to become a woman. I truly believe that it is a person's right to identify themselves as whatever gender they so choose. That being said, they shouldn't be able to compete in athletics as whatever gender they so choose. That's needs to be determined strictly by their biological makeup for one reason and one reason only - having a dick is a competitive advantage. Saying such is pretty much the very definition of sexism, but no one said that misogyny can't be rooted in truth sometimes. Men are just physically superior, and anatomically speaking Caitlyn Jenner is still very much a man.

I'm not saying that she shouldn't be allowed to participate in female events, I am just saying that the other females in her field should also have penises. If being transgender is as common as the new bathroom laws would lead us to believe it is then maybe we can split the women's division into two categories - the dicks and the dickless. For contact sports it could be the cups and the cupless. Sorry, but I believe in maintaining an even playing field, and there is a fundamental athletic imbalance between penises and vaginas. Whatever amount of testosterone is left in those old balls of hers is basically nature's HGH. The LGBT community says they believe in equality but their lead spokesperson is out there abusing PED's and making a mockery of women's golf? How is that fair to women that weren't born with a genetic predisposition to swinging a club? Something about that doesn't sit well with me. Am I supposed to believe that transgenderism now supersedes honesty? That chicks with dicks are allowed to play with a built in handicap swinging from between their legs?

Say what you want, but in comparison to her peers Caitlyn Jenner is a much better female golfer than Bruce was a male golfer, and that is no coincidence. You see that swing? There was absolutely some cojones behind that thing. DeAndre Jordan is a very good NBA player, but if he got himself a pair of fake tits and joined the WNBA looking like his character from 'Meet The Hoopers' he would be putting up Wilt Chamberlain-like numbers. How is that any different than Caitlyn Jenner playing in the LPGA? Short answer, it's not. We will pretend it is because it's politically incorrect to say anything bad about Caitlyn Jenner - even though her character is very much in question - but it's not. 

If I were this kid I would get down on my knees and thank God, because the only reason this Vine isn't getting more play is because D'Angelo Russell decided to jokingly destroy his teammate's engagement. Even so, you can't do this. You just cant do this. You want to cry because your first place team blew a 20 point lead in a relatively meaningless game without their best player then go right ahead. If you're over the age of 8 then you're pretty much a huge pussy, but go right ahead. What you can't do is wear the jersey of the guy that just got publicly cheated on while you wipe tears from your face. Is that really too much to ask? If you think there is a chance that you could end up weeping in front of a camera then just leave the cheap oversized replica jersey of the player who is already the butt of everyone's jokes at home. 

Kyrie Irving is having one of the worst weeks ever. His girl banged someone that's not even remotely as rich or famous. He can't even get treated as the victim because she followed it up by attempting suicide. Then his team lost to a crappy Rockets team after being up by 20. Now he has to watch his mentions fill up because some snot-nosed little kid couldn't control his emotions? Probably rummaging through tens of thousands of "live look at Kyrie opening Instagram" jokes. Thanks a lot you fucking baby. His teams up 12.5 games in the division and he's sobbing after one March loss? I hope this kid isn't a Browns fan or he'll have a gun in his mouth by Week 2. Assuming, of course, that his heart can handle watching LeBron's 5th NBA Finals loss. 

​

Leave it to Los Angeles to break the most fundamental rule that you learn as a kid. Come on Hollywood, how many times do you need to be told that if you don't have anything nice to say you shouldn't say anything at all? I know that sometimes you have to cross certain boundaries to get the most out of your advertisements, but generally that involves insulting your competition. I don't think there's anyone out there that considers St. Louis competition for Los Angeles. That's why this billboard is just plain mean. Picking on a city that just lost their football team, and whose most recent claim to fame is being the home of a race war? Have a little self respect LA. It's like 90 degrees in the middle of March out there, why the hell are you being so confrontational? There's no reason to bully the Midwest when you have a bright, shiny new stadium on the way. I am not saying we need to stop city shaming, but at the very least could we make sure it's not so unbalanced? This is like New York sucker punching Cleveland, or Chicago ball tapping Minnesota. This is like David vs. Goliath if David was nursing a torn ACL and Goliath was taking PED's. The '>' treatment is reserved for comparisons that are relatively up for debate, not for taking something that goes without saying, enlarging it to size 30,000 font, and posting a hundred feet up in the air for all to see. Let's see if they find that math funny when they learn that Los Angeles may be > than St. Louis, but the Rams still = the Rams.



​h/t BSO

Round of applause for this chick that just proved why girls that think they know everything about sports are the worst. Honestly, if it was between a girl that couldn't tell the difference between a baseball and a soccer ball and this chick, I would try to fuck the soccer ball. Congrats Megan Brown, you are - indeed - a baseball fan. An overcompensating, pun abusing baseball fan. Swipe. Left. Thanks, but no thanks. The last thing a guy wants is a girl that can rattle off batting averages and turns everything into a nauseatingly corny joke. You can take that extensive, historical knowledge of the NL East and find someone who cares. All this guy wanted was for this girl to spitball a team name or two, prove that she's not completely full of shit, and open up the door to some more harmless flirtation. Instead, she turned into the love child of Kevin Hart and Kit Keller. Hey Meg, stop trying so damn hard. Men aren't looking to debate managerial moves with you. They just want to sit in the stands, drink a beer, eat a hot dog, and not have to explain every single play to you in detail. That's not possible is they are attending the game with someone that only takes time away from scoring it to search the stadium for double entendres. Sorry this poor bastard assumed that you weren't a real sports fan. It's not like the last 100 girls he's met - that choose their favorite team based on jersey color - haven't said the exact same thing. 

Eh, who am I kidding? I'd probably still do it...

Say what you want about Governor Pat McCrory, but don't you dare say he doesn't know what it takes to maintain a career in politics. You don't achieve success in the government if you address the controversial issues at hand. That's the easiest way to find yourself in hot water. Why would Pat McCrory's correspondent stand up and talk about the semi-prejudice laws that are still in place in his jurisdiction when he can just point to another jurisdiction's transgressions? Don't make yourself look better, make your opponents look worse. In case you haven't noticed that's all that the current Prudential election has regressed into. It's 2016. Name calling and finger pointing equates to vote getting. Sure, you can't stand up to piss in a woman's bathroom in North Carolina quite yet, but you can't do it in Houston either. Georgia might be LGBT friendly, but I bet you can't catch a quality college basketball game while you're there! 

I know what you're thinking, "what does basketball have to do with this?". The answer is - oh, I don't know - everything? Basketball is North Carolina's strong point, and the issue at hand is keeping a high profile basketball game in North Carolina. Politics are all about emphasizing your best qualities, regardless of whether or not they fit seamlessly into a debate. Why fix your weaknesses when you can just deflect references to them by talking sports? North Carolina is in the Final Four. THE FINAL FOUR! Why choose now to talk about the eight poorly transitioned transgenders that are going to feel uncomfortable emptying their bladder at the NBA All Star Game? I'll support equal rights for the LGBT community, but only after I finish watching basketball. This is March Madness baby! There's no time to be discussing where transexuals can and can't piss. As long as the tournament is ongoing they can be forced to shit in the street for all I care. Pat McCrory is no dummy. He knows that North Carolina has some equality issues they need to work out, but - much like everything else - it can wait until after the games.

Holy shit, before I saw these videos I was going to tell the Thunder to cry about it, but it seems that they didn't need to wait for my advice. Reggie Jackson probably took his celebration a little bit too far, but I don't think we need to act like he dropped trou and Peyton Manning'd the entire Thunder roster. I'll tell you what though, Steven Adams is right. This does say a lot about Reggie Jackson. It says that he still feels resentment towards his former team that unceremoniously shipped him to Detroit. It says that Reggie Jackson derives more joy out of beating a team that he felt didn't appreciate him enough. It says that Reggie Jackson doesn't give too much of a shit about what his old teammates think about him. Essentially it says that Reggie Jackson is exactly like every single other player that has ever been traded in the NBA.

This isn't baseball. There's no unwritten rules that need following. This isn't golf where a big victory should be only be celebrated with a fist pump and a head nod. This is the NBA. A league whose popularity is predicated upon eccentric acts of showmanship. A sport that glorifies the me-first attitude. Steph Curry is one of the best team players in the sport and I don't even remember the last time he watched his shot until it went all the way through the net. LeBron James is lauded for making all his teammates better, and he can't even sit a game out without making everything about him. As I recall Russell Westbrook didn't have a problem with staying in a game against the Clippers a few weeks ago after it was already well in doubt just to pad his stats. So that guy - the one that rubbed salt in the wound just he could reach double digits in a third statistical category - is going to bitch and moan about some arm waving? Russell Westbrook can piss off, because if we are talking about shamelessly seeking attention then pot met kettle...
​

YardBarker-  The NHL has argued that players should have put two and two together about the dangers of fighting, but the players that have sued have argued that the NHL was negligent in much the same way the NFL was. In these leaked e-mails, the players case seems to have gotten stronger.

“Do you remember what happened when we tried to eliminate the staged fights?” wrote commissioner Gary Bettman on Sept. 3, 2011, Brendan Shanahan (then NHL chief of discipline) and deputy commish Bill Daly. “The ‘fighters’ objected and so did the pa [NHLPA]. Eliminating fighting would mean eliminating the jobs of the ‘fighters’, meaning that these guys would not have NHL careers. An interesting question is whether being an NHL fighter does this to you (I don’t believe so) or whether a certain type of person (who wouldn’t otherwise be skilled enough to be an NHL player) gravitates to this job (I believe more likely).”

Daly replied: “I tend to think its a little bit of both. Fighting raises the incidence of head injuries/concussions, which raises the incidence of depression onset, which raises the incidence of personal tragedies.”

“I believe the fighting and possible concussions could aggravate a condition,” Bettman wrote. “But if you think about the tragedies there were probably certain predispositions. Again, though, the bigger issue is whether the [NHLPA] would consent to in effect eliminate a certain type of ‘role’ and player. And, if they don’t, we might try to do it anyway and take the ‘fight’ (pun intended).”

In a later chain, Brendan Shanahan began the discussion, “This is not the same role as it was in the 80’s and 90’s,” Shanahan wrote. “Fighters used to aspire to become regular players. Train and practice to move from 4th line to 3rd. Now they train and practice becoming more fearsome fighters. They used to take alcohol or cocaine to cope. (Kordic) Now they take pills. Pills to sleep. Pills to wake up. Pills to ease the pain. Pills to amp up. Getting them online.”




Oh my God! You're telling me the NHL knew this whole time that dropping your gloves and punching people square in the face can cause them serious head injuries?! Sue them for all they are worth. I can't believe that they have been jeopardizing the health of players that serve no purpose other than causing other players as much harm as they possibly can. Roger Goodell is getting hell for covering up the long term effects of concussions on the brain, and we are going to let Gary Bettman get away with covering up the fact that consensually deciding to beat the piss out of each other might result in more than a broken hand or a bloody lip? How dare he hide something so obvious. Just letting players with no apparent skill set go around acting like sacrificial lambs without even knowing the severity of what they were doing to their bodies? How could they possibly understand that needing prescription pills just to be able to play was a bad sign without being told so by Gary Bettman and his morally comprised cronies? 

I guess these leaked e-mails mean the players could win the case, but the case - in and of itself - makes the players look pretty damn stupid, no? Yes, the NHL knew that making the conscious decision to get hit in the head on a daily basis was bad for you, but so did every other person in the world that hasn't subjected their brain to a routine beating. It's not like we are talking about tackling in football. Fighting might be part of hockey, but it's far from a necessity of the game. I don't want the NHL to do away with it, but if they decided to it wouldn't make a significant impact on the entertainment value. I think fighting serves a purpose, but I refuse to believe that people chose to engage in it without realizing how dangerous it could be. Pretty sure it was public information that boxing could shorten your lifespan well before 2011, and being a goon in hockey is essential like deciding to be an untrained boxer on ice without gloves. It sucks that some former NHL players have fallen victim to the effects of fighting and I hope they are reimbursed for all they gave to the sport. However, let's not act like they weren't aware of the risks associated with actively choosing a career in which they were going to have to frequently bare knuckle brawl to keep their job. 

LakersNation-  Unfortunately, a video recently surfaced in the past week where a private conversation between D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young was recorded. According to Baxter Holmes and Marc Stein of ESPN, there are now trust issues between Russell and some of his teammates:

Sources told ESPN.com that trust in Russell from some teammates is eroding after a video surfaced in the past week that shows the 20-year-old former Ohio State standout and No. 2 overall pick from the 2015 draft recording a private conversation between Russell and teammate Nick Young in which Young does not appear to realize he’s being taped.

As a result of the video surfacing, some of Russell’s teammates have ‘isolated’ him according to ESPN:

At a recent breakfast meeting, one source said, no Laker would sit with Russell at his table. The source added that, in another instance, Russell came into the locker room and sat next to guard Lou Williams, who got up and walked away.



You see, this is why I love the NBA. I guess the basketball is pretty good too, but I watch the NBA the same way I watch 'Friday Night Lights'. Sure, the sport scenes are cool, but what I really need to see is teenagers (and people that act like teenagers) try - and inevitably fail - to maintain relationships. First we had Kyrie Irving's girlfriend cheating and subsequently attempting suicide on Instagram, and now we have this situation here. The #2 overall draft pick - whose finally getting a chance to play after being sheltered all season - decides to post a video of his enigmatic teammate unknowingly admitting to the world that he cheated on his pop star girlfriend with a 19 year old.

That's almost too unbelievable not to be scripted. If this happened in Dillon, Texas it would test my ability to suspend disbelief, and this is an actual story that is taking place in PROFESSIONAL sports. This story would make more sense if D'Angelo Russell sat next to Lou Williams in the lunch room and he got up and walked away, yet it's happening in an NBA locker room. No wonder all these players are only going to college for one year. Other than the level of basketball being played, going from high school to the pros is almost a flawless transition. Why waste time in college becoming an actual adult when you can just continue to be a child in the NBA? That's what gets the people going anyway. If the league really wanted the Lakers to be relevant again they would stop worrying about draft picks and give them their own reality show. How could a show that features Swaggy P as the second most immature person in the room possibly fail? Fuck 'Basketball Wives LA', give me 'Basketball Boyfriends LA'. Throw that shit on HBO and the Lakers are sure to become must watch television again. If men watch sports because they are the male equivalent of soap operas then why wouldn't dudes tune in to watch the Lakers become 'The Young And The Restless'. 

​
P.S. I need a D'Angelo Russell/Iggy Azalea revenge fuck like I need air to breathe...

P.P.S.  No wonder Kobe Bryant has changed his attitude this season. He has no choice but to be a carefree, happy-go-lucky dude. If he was was flipping out over every little thing he used to flip out about this year's Los Angeles Lakers would ave given him a brain aneurysm by December.

Last night also marks the 11th time the Devils have won a game this season that Cory Schneider wasn't starting, and coincidentally it marks the 11th time that people with no sense of how to build a successful hockey team have preemptively put him on the trading block. I would have to do a little digging into the record books, but if you ask the right (wrong) people they will tell you that Cory Schneider is the first potential Vezina Finalist to have two guys playing behind him that are capable of providing everything that he does. Amazing how that works. Two weeks ago Scott Wedgewood was in the AHL and Keith Kindaid was giving up 7 goals to the Ducks, now they are the best goaltending duo in the league and reason enough to ship Cory Schneider out of town for far less than he's worth. 

P.S. Hey Boston, thanks for the draft picks, but since you guys aren't doing anything with him do you mind if we have Lee Stempniak back now? Pretty please...

YardBarker- Phil Kessel is a great player, there’s no doubting that, but getting some respect from his peers hasn’t been so easy.

The Pittsburgh Penguins right winger was voted as the NHL’s most overrated player, according to Postmedia’s latest players poll. It’s not the first time he’s been No. 1 in this category.

Kessel received 29 percent of the vote, with Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and Ottawa Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf coming in second place at 11 percent. No other player cracked the 10 percent threshold.

​

Overrated? Overrated?!? Let me take this time to remind the players that the question wasn't "who is the more overweighted?", so maybe we can stop fat shaming and realize that it's a minor miracle that Phil Kessel can even bend over to tie his skates. If anything, Phil Kessel is under-appreciated, not overrated. A consistent 60 point a year player that looks like he ate his way through a midlife crisis and has a flat out addiction to hot dogs? How can you look at this guy, recognize he's a productive offensive player in the best hockey league in the world, and consider him overrated...
​

I am absolutely mystified every time I see Phil Kessel fly through the neutral zone with the puck. Whenever I watch a Penguins game I pay close attention half expecting him to put his hands on his knees and start desperately panting in the middle of his shift. Phil Kessel should be commended for walking up the stairs without having heart palpitations, and he's competing against some of the world's best athletes. How can a marvel of modern science be overrated? The guy is singlehandedly transcending physics. I'm starting to think the rest of his peers are just jealous that they have to eat healthy and actually workout to perform to the best of their abilities, instead of just regressing into a fat, sloppy, balding mess that somehow still has a steady scoring touch. I think that's what it is. The NHL - as a whole - is envious of Phil Kessel's success. I would be too if I was eating bland grilled chicken and kale every night, while Phil Kessel was crushing fully loaded Nathan's hot dogs and outscoring me.You can call Phil Kessel a lot of things but considering I would be impressed by anyone else of his body type doing more than 10 pushups, overrated is not one of them. 
​

And that marks the first time I have ever been in interested in watching Brian Windhorst on television. Seriously, I can't stop watching him blatantly fall asleep mid-question. It showed a complete lack of professionalism, not a single ounce of awareness, and - more importantly - an undying dedication to the nap game. 

It takes a true commitment to getting your rest to be awake for the start of a question and try to sneak in a few Z's before it's your turn to respond. That's just a veteran napper right. An artist of the craft. Did you see how quickly he sprung back into action once he woke back? People are going to question whether he was asleep or intently reading something, and that just a testament to how skilled Brian Windhorst is at catching some midday shuteye. There was no hesitation. No fogginess. Not even one second of noticeable confusion. Brian Windhorst said "fuck this question, it can wait until after my catnap", and oddly enough he is actually right.

Who wouldn't rather watch Windy use his second chin as a pillow instead of comparing and contrasting two players from completely different eras? The twelve people that have been alive long enough to watch both Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook play basketball aren't tuning into ESPN in the middle of the afternoon. They are either catching up on 'MASH' reruns or doing exactly what Brian Windshorst just did. So yeah, there were some technical difficulties unnamed ESPN anchor, because technically Brian Windhorst has difficulties staying awake when you ask him senseless questions that no one really needs the answer to.


h/t Uproxx

I can't stress this enough, there is no reaction that would be an overreaction to this woman's lack of respect for her fellow passengers. I would say at the very least she needs every stand of hair that she carelessly flung over her headrest to be chopped off immediately, but if the person in 23B reached around with a ginsu knife and slit her fucking throat he/she would be completely justified in doing so. I have had other people's children crawl across my lap while I was sleeping and this is the most obnoxious betrayal of airline etiquette that I have ever witnessed. I have kept my mouth shut while sitting next an Indian family that didn't even dry the curry off their back after their last bath, but there's simply no passive aggressive act that would truly help this woman understand how disgraceful her actions were. There's no "excuse me ma'am" when you have blocked my 6 inch television screen from a row away. There's no pleasantries. There's no asking nicely. The only way to make sure this woman never does anything like this again is to do something she can't possibly forget, and I am pretty sure turning her ponytail into overhead storage does just that. If we are being honest, I am not even sure I would have the patience to think things through if that hair came flying off the top rope and tried to pin me to the back of my chair. I think I would instinctually pull it as hard as I could. Not because that's the most mature way to handle things, but because hair pulling is universally understood - much like the basic rules of human decency while airborne should be. 


h/t Metro

I didn't even want to post the video of the actual goal in this blog, because I thought it would take attention away from the real star of the show, and that star is NHL official Wes McCauley. Something tells me the poor guy missed his calling as a color commentator, but I am glad he still found a way to work his flare for the dramatic into his current profession. Not too often that hockey fans are acknowledging officials for a positive reason seeing as it is unquestionably the most thankless job in sports. That's why I am glad that Wes McCauley pandered to the fans of the home team by building the suspense before sending them into hysterics with the final payoff. It was unnecessary and some may say it even bordered on obnoxious, but I'll be damned if it wasn't entertaining. No matter how crappy your job you have to find a way to have fun with it, and nothing proves that like an oft-chastised official turning a routine goal announcement into a climactic melodrama. You know, as long as he never, ever announces a goal like that for the visiting team.


h/t BustedCoverage

You know what's funny? As badly as this kid "needed" to get a hug from his favorite player, his favorite player needed that hug just as badly. This outgoing little dude just provided a public service. Just take a look at that face. Yes, I am talking about Carmelo Anthony's. He hasn't felt that type of appreciation all year. The Knicks stink (again), and the only praise that New Yorkers are willing to give is to a 7'3 rookie from Latvia. I'm not saying that Carmelo Anthony deserves to have his ego stroked. However, he's still one of the better scorers in the NBA and he gets treated like a goddamn pariah by his own fans. Some of that is his own doing. Some of that is his contract's doing. Some of that is the doing of piss poor asset management. That doesn't change the fact that Carmelo Anthony has been given very few opportunities to smile this season. So I am glad that this kid took his dreams into his own hands and ran out onto the floor to embrace his "hero". Not only it was a pretty cool moment for anyone that has a warm beating heart in their chest, but because it reminded an oft-criticized NBA superstar exactly how blessed he is to play basketball for a living. Even if the city he does it for collectively hates his guts.

Oh Kehlani, you sly dog you. There's not many ways a person can become a sympathetic figure after cheating on someone on Instagram, but posting the aftermath of their ensuing suicide attempt might just be the best one. I fail to see how a girl - with unmistakable tattoos - can be pictured in bed with her ex-boyfriend while she's in a relationship with someone else and consider it a "misunderstanding", but that's neither here nor there.

We aren't in a place where we can be questioning Kehlani's side of the story. She's in a hospital bed for Christ's sake! She's trying to get healthy after committing the only selfish act she's ever committed in her entire life. Don't believe the blogs everyone. They don't know what happened. No one got cheated on. Just two former lovers laying in bed hand-in-hand. That's as innocent as it gets. I can't believe we forced Kehlani into trying to take her own life over an implication of foul play. Everyone on the internet calling her a whore and a slut when they didn't even witness penetration. Kehlani isn't a bad person. We are the bad people. We took a platonic moment between friends and made it out to be so much more than it was, and in the process we made a young, sick girl question her will to live. How could we do such a thing? 

Hey, someone not named LeBron want to do me a quick favor and throw their arm around Kyrie Irving and tell him it's going to be alright? It might hurt pretty bad now, but he's definitely better off in the long run. The type of girl that openly cheats AND openly attempts suicide for the whole world to see on the same damn day isn't exactly marriage material. Those are like two of the most vulnerable situations a person can be in and Kyrie's ex just used them to get 'Likes'. If laying in bed with an IV in her arm after trying (and failing) to die made it through Kehlani's Instagram filter then anything will, and that's not the type of chick that an NBA player - with far too much to lose - should mourn over.

LBS-  It all started Friday night after Seth Curry dropped 12 points in 26 minutes, looking quite like a capable player in the process. Despite that, Karl’s praise wasn’t exactly effusive.

“I think Seth will be a combo guard, play both 1 and 2,” Karl said after the game, via Blake Ellington of Sactown Royalty. “I think usually those guys when I look at them, I see them probably trying to score a little bit too much and I think he probably should become more of a playmaking point as much as a scoring point. But he’s going to be around for a couple years. He’s definitely going to have a few more years of someone; I think we have him for one more year. I think he has a tenacity to him and a good basketball feel to him. Now he’s just got to be confident and consistent.”

I have a stupid question, how is it possible that George Karl is still employed by the Sacramento Kings? Is there something I am missing? He is in one of the most fickle, least forgiving occupations in the world, correct? Does the Sacramento Kings head coaching job come with tenure? Is that how they convince people to take it? Did they accidentally slide George Karl a government contract that guarantees him three years severance when he decided to come aboard? This situation is so bad that if it happened at an accounting firm then Human Resources would be asked to step in. It's like they are just sitting around waiting for just cause even though all his employees hate him and company morale is at an all time low. Sorry DeMarcus, doesn't matter how unsuccessful Coach Karl has been, the Kings are going to need a full blown scandal to let him go, because apparently publicly losing the locker room doesn't get you canned in Sacramento.

Remember when LeBron James was bossing around David Blatt and essentially making all the Cavaliers organizational decisions? Then when those decisions backfired he went out of his way to get Blatt canned. That situation was exponentially more healthy than this one. At least that team was winning. At least LeBron was a little bit subtle about it. George Karl is a well respected NBA coach and he has bench players - with no more than 4 games experience prior to this year - taking not so subtle shots at him on Twitter. He's got his best player blatantly mocking him on camera postgame. I know a coaching change isn't going to spark a turnaround so late in the season, but George Karl is the most disliked person on a team that features Rajon Rondo. If that's a not a valid reason to hand over the reigns to an interim head coach than I don't know what is.