Feel free to call it an implosion. After all, in attempting to continue his reign at Augusta, Sergio Garcia put an entire fist full of balls into the same body of water while tying the record for the worst single hole performance in the history of a ridiculously prestigious event. To put it lightly, going from +2 to +10 in the blink of an eye is not your average, every day, run of the mill over-par. That said, I think I'd consider it a blessing in a really, really, really good disguise. I mean, if you're going to cut short your chances of repeating then you might as well just rip the band-aid off. Flushing all the optimism down the toilet at once is the most efficient way I have found to enjoy an underwhelming day out on the links. It's entirely possible that Sergio Garcia just became the most relatable player on tour simply by rapidly sabotaging the entirety of a round in a fashion that was almost more intriguing than it was embarrassing. I'm sure he would have loved to remain competitive, but the one benefit to tying a cinderblock to your ball and leaving your odds of making the cut resting at the bottom of a newly crowded water hazard is that it allows you to play pressure-free golf. I'm fairly certain the following is frowned upon, but if I were him I would get a nice buzz on and come out to play the second half of the 36 with a smile on my face and a green jacket on my back. There's something to be said about being able to ride out his last 18 holes as the Masters champ without a care in the world, and that "something" loosely translates to whatever Sergio Garcia was thinking when he showed up to Wimbledon dressed like this...
0 Comments
I can't say I ever expected to be made happy by seeing someone I don't know get fired publicly with a lack of reasoning attached, but I genuinely appreciate that - for once - it's a professional athlete doing the firing as opposed to finding about the uncertainty of his own future on social media. If you were to consider this a show of unprofessionalism from Richie Incognito then I would first ask why you would expect anything else, but my second question would be whether or not you've found yourself just as agitated after any one of the countless times the talent has stumbled upon life-changing alterations to their careers on the internet. Admittedly, the players could use a more personable pioneer than Richie Incognito, but I'm not going to feel bad for professional parasites just because they stumbled upon one irredeemable host. The truth is that the media circus that's increasing in rings on a daily basis doesn't allow the players basic human decency, so why should literally any of the affiliates making money off them be granted occupational courtesy? The NFL is a league in which the participants are being taking advantage of almost 100% of the time, so - even if it's the smallest of moral victories - being privy to any football player taking back what little power he has in a public forum feels like a huge win. Even if it is a move that's not so coincidentally out of the self-important book of narcissism that was somehow sold as a bill of goods during an election year.
I don't think I'm alone in looking at my completely inconspicuous carry-on as if it's supplying the entirety of a cartel every time I make quick eye contact with a police dog in an airport. There's just a certain level of intimidation possessed by K-9's whose amplified senses are trained to serve as surveillance to those traveling...annnnnd it just got put to shame by this military dog. I know Mark Ingram was running with hesitancy while clad in a suit that hindered his mobility, but we're talking about someone who is basically half-man, half-Tonka truck and makes the meanest motherfuckers on the planet consistently miss for a living...
...annnd he just got flung to the ground with a technically unsound tackle while trying to dodge a dog. If a juiced up, 250 pound linebacker goes that high on someone whose center of gravity sits as low as a goddamn gorilla's then he's probably spending an entire portion of film study getting berated for laying helplessly on the ground as Mark Ingram scooted his way 20 yards upfield. Meanwhile, a pup damn near put him through the dirt with a tackle that would have qualified for the Jacked Up segments of yesteryear. I don't know that I thought differently prior, but after seeing that clip I can definitively declare that our national security is in good paws. Siena's Head Basketball Coach Is Being Investigated For Allegedly Picking On A Student Manager4/5/2018 LBS- Siena Saints head men’s basketball coach Jimmy Patsos is under investigation for allegedly verbally abusing a student manager of the team, according to a report.
The Albany Times Union shares news of the investigation Patsos is facing. The student manager filed a complaint with the school’s president, alleging that he has been the target of taunts and verbal abuse from the coach. The student, who has obsessive compulsive disorder, says he was teased by the coach. “The complaint included allegations that Patsos called the student manager “insane” and teased him about his medications and other personal issues, including in front of players and others, that person said,” the Times Union reported. A school spokesperson says the matter arose during an end-of-season review of the program. -------- Look, I don't condone bullying. Picking on a kid that has devoted both time and energy during his college years to fulfilling a thankless role as team manager is pretty messed up, especially since all he's getting out of the gig is a resume filler that's more easily overlooked than a high school diploma. OCD, while appropriately being a condition that might make someone a perfect fit for the job of tediously tying up loose ends, at it's worst is no joke and it shouldn't be treated as such by a grown ass man who looks like the type of person who might consider ADD to be a figment of a weak mind's imagination. Here's my question though, what exactly do student managers at the college level do? Re-rack basketballs? Gather laundry? Hand out water? Have towels handy? I mean, they basically sign up to be Cinderella sans glass slipper, so becoming the downtrodden target of a coach's ribbing sort of fits that bill. Sometimes you have to keep things light in the locker room, and what better way to do that than to have some fun at the expense of a person who can just up and quit whenever they want without harm or foul. Now, if Coach Patsos was hiding the hand soap and intentionally leaving things out of place before dumping this kid's medication in the toilet while maniacally laughing in a way that made his double chin giggle then I retract the previous sentiment. However, investigating him for "verbal assault" just seems like a convenient way to get out from under the following futility considering it was probably just an occasional crossing of the line from someone whose age and race make him privy to inappropriateness... Patsos, 51, went 8-24 this season — his fifth and worst at Siena. The team has gone 77-92 under his leadership.
Oh Tony. Tony, Tony, Tony. You just have to smarter than that, my man. It's never in one's best interest to tempt the golf gods with celebratory displays that are unbecoming of a gentleman's sport, but high-stepping all over the hallowed grounds of Augusta? He might have as well have been two-stepping on the graves of the legends that came, saw, conquered, and calmly fist-pumped before him on one of the most prestigious courses in all the land. Of course, I'd be liable to pull my dick out if - by the grace of blind luck - I got a hole-in-one on so much as a pitch-and-putt, but every time I step up to a tee I'm close to buzzed and far outside the jurisdiction of the PGA's holiest of thou. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that the all-seeing-eye of Augusta sent nothing more than the turf monster to do his dirty work in forcing a wince-worthy misstep that Tony Finau somehow feels comfortable playing through. I would have thought that his 'Neon Deion' impersonation would have landed him a spiteful lightning strike, a la Caddy Shack. I guess the greenest of grass and the most glorious of weeks had the golf gods feeling generous, because limping through 36 holes is the least one can do after breaking the most conscientious of codes of conduct. Let that be a warning to Tony Finau that his individualistic dance moves will not be tolerated, or - more importantly - let it serve as a reminder to tie his shoes a little tighter before sprinting backwards in the non-athletic wear of tight white pants.
I feel guilty saying the following, because - prior to the season starting - a complete thrashing of an irrelevant Rangers team by the playoff-bound (::knocks on wood::) Devils team was but a pipe dream. However, I can't shake the feeling that last night's win was kind of...you might want to sit down for this...boring. Don't get me wrong, pulling within two points of a postseason berth by way a start-to-finish shellacking of a self important rival whose championship window closed when the trade winds proved too strong for a frail foundation was entertaining, but it damn sure wasn't intriguing. In fact, after the initial 25 seconds it basically felt like I was watching a skills competition. Will Butcher handled the accuracy portion, Keith Kinkaid exerted a semblance of energy in stopping a couple dozen pucks, and Taylor Hall took good care of just about every other category in turning the Rangers into glorified parking cones and The King's throne into a goddamn shooter tutor. Maybe it's due to the fact that every goal scored in every game played over the last month has either felt like a dagger to the heart or a sniff of cocaine to the brain, but waiting out an inevitable conclusion that was reached prior to the first TV timeout served as reminder that Rangers games are a lot more fun when the aren't a late 90's-level of incompetent. Trust me, I truly appreciated them doing (or not doing) all they could to make sure Taylor Hall took home the Hart Trophy prior to the second intermission, but it felt a little wrong that he was flexing his muscles at the expense of a dead horse. Considering all he's done following his unofficial 26-game point streak is increase in value to his team when they've needed it the most, he really didn't need to continue beating a once (undeservedly) proud organization into submission to prove what's become the most obvious of cases...
I guess what I am trying to say is that I would really appreciate it if the Rangers could keep things a little more interesting as they move forward in their rebuild. Pulverizing them is fun, but pitying Henrik Lundqvist just feels like a huge disservice to all the heavy lifting he's done as a perennial puck-stopping pain in the ass. To put it bluntly, see below...
NYTimes- The New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was in Texas visiting his former teammate Danny Amendola late last month when he received a direct message on his Instagram account: “Dude, there is a kid in your comment section says he s going to shoot up a school, i think you should alert the authority.” Edelman instantly thought of the mass shooting about five weeks earlier in Parkland, Fla., in which 17 people were killed. “With the emotions of what happened, and I have a kid now, I said, holy Toledo, what is going on?” Edelman said in an interview this week. He quickly notified his assistant in Boston, Shannen Moen, who looked through the hundreds of comments that followed Edelman’s most recent post on Instagram. She found the alarming message: “I’m going to shoot my school up watch the news.” Moen called 911, and a police officer soon arrived. The officer saw the screen shot, then called her chief, who sent two detectives to Moen’s house. The detectives collected some information about the person who posted the threat. They then returned to their office, where they made an emergency records request for account information, which allowed them to determine the sender’s email and IP address, which was traced to Port Huron, Mich. The detectives called police in Michigan, who immediately drove to the house where the threatening message originated. When the police arrived at the address, they found a 14-year-old boy, who, they said, admitted to posting the threat. They also found two rifles that belonged to his mother, according to Capt. Joseph Platzer of the Port Huron Police Department. Platzer said the boy’s threat was aimed at the middle school that he attends in a nearby township. The boy was taken to a juvenile-detention center, where he remains. He was charged with making a false report of a threat of terrorism, a felony that is punishable by up to four years in jail. Moen said Edelman wanted to thank the person who sent him the direct message for his vigilance. (Someone with the Instagram handle jesseyi3.) Moen has reached out to that person, but so far has received no response. “Thankfully, this kid said something,” said Edelman, who has played in three Super Bowls with the Patriots in his eight-year N.F.L. career. “We’re going to send him something, a care package, just for his work. He’s the real hero.” ------ I really, really don't want to play the pessimist here. After all, it's objectively awesome that some random follower had the wherewithal to take heed to one of the hundreds of thousands of thoughtless threats unleashed on the internet on a daily basis and alerted a professional athlete who, in turn, took time out of his undoubtedly busy schedule to act upon what very easily could have been a shameless troll. To blame Julian Edelman or the person who direct messaged him if either of them had treated that comment like the work of an anonymous attention-seeker would be hypocritical to say the least. Each and every day our eyes pass over suspicious stupidity on the on the inter-webs, and it's almost always met with the nothing more than a visit to another URL. Credit to both of the men for being vigilant enough to care, and potentially saving some lives in the process. That being said, isn't at least mildly concerning how many hoops needed to be jumped through before a person who had access to the means (multiple rifles) of a harrowing end that he foretold publicly was taken into custody? I'm not smart enough to know how, but - considering it was a six step process to confront the sick son of bitch that flat out he was going to murder his classmates on social media - we have got to find a better of way of policing the internet. As proactive and productive as this citizen-led arrest was, it was still wildly inefficient in a way that makes me fearful for the safety of society in the future. The one positive about moronic misuses of technology should be that they make the apprehension of lunatics more timely, but if that kid truly wanted to shoot up his school then no amount of alertness would have been anything more than too little, too late. The fact that "see something, say something" actually worked gives me a sliver of hope, but considering all the things that had to go right for it to do so makes me wonder if it's still a predominantly hopeless endeavor.
Full disclosure? I was a bit perturbed when the Saints, after what felt like months of not-so-silently shopping him, flipped Brandin Cooks to the Patriots for the return of the latest of firsts and a mid-round pick swap. It's not so much that I was concerned about Sean Payton finding a way to replace the 1,000+ yards and the (give or take) half dozen touchdowns yards that he brought to the table, but rather the fact that 1,000+ yards and a half dozen touchdowns should - in theory - be worth more at said table. In essence, I thought Brandin Cooks resume was more valuable than Brandin Cooks skill set. I was technically wrong, but considering that - as of yesterday - the two most consistent offenses in the NFL have traded him as opposed to paying him, I wasn't too far off the right track. Brandin Cooks is what he is. A small, speedy wideout who will make big plays, but rarely creates bigs plays. He's an average #1 option statistically, but a high-end #2 option in actuality. He'll might run past a few attempted tackles, but when it comes to taking them on head-to-head a China shop is capable of bulling him out of bounds. Remember, avoiding contact legitimately almost got him both killed and castrated in the same Super Bowl. With a good quarterback throwing him the ball and an offensive-minded coach on the sidelines, he'll continue to have the occasional standpoint performance that makes you wonder why he's become a bit of a journeyman and they'll be surrounded on the schedule by clusters of games in which his role as a footnote will clear that air. He essentially begged his way of New Orleans by complaining about touches in a blowout, only to go to the only other organization that's just as efficient at maximizing their offensive talent...and being used even more sparingly by a team that was otherwise depleted at his position. I don't mean the following as an insult to the type of person or player that he is, but - as good as he is - Brandin Cooks' legend is very much in his own mind. It was annoying that he stomped his feet into a better situation at the time, but there was nothing that led me to believe he was long for a franchise that's proven adept at navigating the salary cap. His numbers will inevitably (and deservingly) command a significant pay raise, but the same can't be said for an impact that's proven inconsistent. Being deemed expendable by two teams with quality quarterbacks in their twilight years in back-to-back off-seasons isn't a good look, especially since - on paper - Brandin Cooks is anything but a bad player. Despite him adding to the reinforcements made by a in-conference contender, the Saints' fan in me is comparable to Tom Brady in the sense that he also isn't concerned about some sort of comeuppance at the hands of a friend turned foe, and that speaks volumes about his value...
PFT- Quarterback Johnny Manziel, a failed first-round pick of the Browns in 2014, is now blaming the Browns for not realizing that they were drafting a guy who prefers to wing it.
“If Cleveland did any of their homework they would have known I wasn’t a guy who came in every day and watched film,” Manziel said in a visit to The Dan Patrick Show. “I wasn’t a guy who really knew the X’s and O’s of football.”
You know what, there's probably a lot of truth to what Johnny Manziel said here. If the Cleveland Browns have proved nothing else since their first round pick turned degenerate drank himself out of the NFL, it's that they don't need a current drug addict on the active roster to be dysfunctional. Unfortunately, this is a case where the truth of a redemption project, whose baggage carries the weight of league-wide reluctancy, can only set him free of future interest. Consider the fact that the combine has turned into not only a physical examination, but rather a psychiatric evaluation run by those who are ridiculously unqualified to make definitive declarations based off their results. With that in mind, the Browns do deserve some blame for spending a massive asset on an immature douchebag who basically spent his free time at Texas A&M wrapping himself in caution tape... That pointed finger is well deserved, but it's best left to the hand of literally anyone other than the recently reformed jackass. If I had one piece of advice for Johnny Manziel it would be to shut the fuck up and pray that an NFL team is made desperate enough to look past his past by the league's lack of quality quarterback play, because there was no "right fit" for someone who surely aided in a toxic environment by being riddled with toxins at the time. With a 1-31 record over the last two years and enough forgotten casualties at the most important position in the sport to fill a war memorial, the Browns have been quite complicit in becoming the red-headed step child of the NFL. Unfortunately for Johnny Football, a red-headed step child is still part of the family, and thus the criticisms are more welcomed when they came from other members of that family. In sticking with that analogy, the disgraced ex-boyfriend of the red-headed stepchild that got the boot after ruining multiple holidays probably should take any and all past transgressions on the chin when he's trying to date one of her hotter sisters as a "changed man". Johnny Manziel is already fighting an uphill battle in reconstructing his reputation, and - by retrospectively blaming his former employer for unfit working conditions after he was terminated for cause - he definitely slipped on one of those 12 steps. Act Surprised, Because The Curious Case Of Goaltender Interference Remains Very Much Unsolved4/4/2018
For what it's worth, in trying to take the occupational hazard that is having a direct impact on the outcome of games out of the job description of officials, the NHL succeeded. Of course, all they really did was put that grenade in their own filthy mitts - that we are supposed to believe are being cleaned by the presence of some retired ref who would probably still be working if he gave a shit about the integrity of a sport which has presumably undergone massive changes since he last took the ice - only to see it blow up in their face. Huh, a rule that was so ambiguous that it was more likely than not to be the league's lead story during any given week of the season might have required some wholesale changes instead of a quick fix as the games became more and more significant, who would have thunk it?!
The truth is, I could see why you might think that Roberto Luongo was interfered with in a way that allowed Filip Forsberg to beat the buzzer to tie a game that was far from meaningless in the standings. Intentionally or not, Arvidsson's stick does give him a bit of a spin, and that spin did poke free a loose puck. Unfortunately, that's where the argument to overturn what was called a good goal on the ice begins and ends. On the other side of the debate table? We have the fact Luongo initiated contact with the opposing player that already had a stick traumatically tickling his taint while also having absolutely no idea where the puck, that he allegedly had control of, was in the first place. I've never strapped on the pads professionally, but we've found ourselves in a place where the legislation of goaltender interference is all about mind-reading anyway and Luongo's poker face wasn't even facing the fucking table. If playing goalie is a constant gamble then desperately looking behind you is a shameless showing of all your cards. The indisputable idea that goaltenders need to be granted the opportunity to stop the puck isn't even relevant here, because the goaltender in question told you, by way of blatant body language, that the puck had already gone unstopped. I don't want to make it sound like this excitement-dampening decision should have been cut-and-dry, because the entire problem with ruling on goaltender interference is that it rarely ever is. That said, at its most egregious, the amount to which Roberto Luongo's right to stop a puck that was just chillin' behind him was infringed upon was inconclusive, and the NHL - contrary to literally every rule they've changed since the 90's - erred on the side of less scoring in effectively ending a game that had playoff implications. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so I'm more likely to believe the NHL is dumb as opposed to devious, but the fact that it's this easy to craft a case (which is only half right in regards to Florida) where they are the latter is so typical of a league that's constantly leaking itself...
LBS- As Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune explained, White Sox first base coach Daryl Boston decided to purchase a whistle when he was having a tough time getting outfielders’ attention to reposition them during games. Boston has since started using the whistle when the White Sox make a big defensive play and between innings.
Boston also caught wind that Donaldson isn’t a big fan of the whistle, so he decided to blow it before the Blue Jays star stepped to the plate in the sixth. Donaldson responded by belting a homer, and he mimicked blowing a whistle toward the White Sox dugout to celebrate.
“I guess he (deems) it to be appropriate, so I felt it would be appropriate if I blew it back at him when they didn’t make the play,” Donaldson told reporters after Toronto’s 4-2 victory. “As soon as I stepped into the box, he started blowing it before anything even happened. So I felt like I’d return the favor.” To their credit, the White Sox handled it well. Players could be seen laughing in the dugout, and Boston took the blame for the homer. “My reaction was he got us,” Boston said. “I was informed he wasn’t particularly thrilled about the whistle, and he showed me he was not. … So you can pin that homer on me.” -------- What's funny is that the home run that ensued after the White Sox first base coach tried to get under the skin on an opponent with an objectively infuriating sound isn't even the most tell-tale sign that acting like a little brother whose sole purpose in life is to agitate isn't the best way to interact with professional athletes. Rather, it's the fact that one of their own was mocked and Chicago's dugout couldn't help but laugh at him. Rarely, if ever, does a baseball player stray from the traditionally robotic trot around the bases and not get deemed guilty of showing an excessive amount of emotion/personality. Therefore, the fact that not only did no one facing him want Josh Donaldson tarred and feathered the next time he stepped into the batter's box, but rather went as far as finding the humor in his retaliation speaks volumes about the general consensus on the practice of whistle blowing. I can't say I blame them, seeing as being tweeted at incessantly is good way to make even the most strong-minded of man lose his marbles, but for both teams playing the most repressive of sports to be in agreement that a celebratory and sarcastic impersonation was completely justified? For a solo shot that basically screamed "shut the fuck up" to be appreciated by all, regardless of competitive affiliation? Well, that takes a attention-seeking mechanism whose ability to annoy is both unforeseen and unwelcome on the baseball diamond.
Who hit the mute button on actions? I could have sworn they spoke louder than words, but instead we are sitting here talking about some NFL coach asking a player how he might respond to getting socked in the jaw by a prospective employer instead of finding out for himself? Look, figuratively speaking, the idea that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is a reason that you should ask stupid, unexpected questions that are in no way related to football to gauge how aspiring professional athletes might react when put in stress-inducing situations. Unfortunately for this particular hard ass of a head coach, literally speaking, it's also the reason why asking an aspiring professional athlete how his plans might change upon getting punched in the mouth provides only the most useless answer in the history of instigative draft interrogations. So, since Jerome Baker saying that he'd respectfully swing back at an overaggressive superior is in no way definitive proof that he would, I can't help but think this is one of those questions that needs to be answered in shorts, so to speak. If leaving no stone unturned is as important as that absurd hypothetical indicates then why not get some fact-based feedback to it by seeing what really happens when an old white guy punches a young black linebacker in the face. If nothing else, it would be a hell of a lot more entertaining than any other type of overbearing draft coverage. TMZ- Drew Brees claims he was scammed out of MILLIONS by a jeweler who sold him an $8 MILLION diamond ring ... but the jeweler is saying Brees has no one to blame but himself.
The New Orleans Saints QB has filed a lawsuit against Vahid Moradi -- who runs the CJ Charles jewelry shop in San Diego, the city where Brees began his NFL career. Brees claims he's been buying jewelry from Moradi for years -- and has dropped roughly $15 MILLION on some insane pieces ... including watches, earrings and rings. Problem is ... Brees claims he recently had his jewelry independently appraised and was told his collection is worth $9 MILLION less than he paid. In his suit filed Monday ... Brees says Moradi had insisted his jewelry was a solid investment that would definitely go up in value over the years -- and feels he was lied to the entire time. Brees claims the biggest hit he took was on a 4.09 carat blue diamond ring he bought in 2015 for $8.18 million ... which recently appraised for only $3.75 million. But Moradi's high-powered attorney, Eric M. George, says Brees shouldn't be pointing the finger at Moradi ... he can only blame himself. "Drew Brees aggressively purchased multi-million dollar pieces of jewelry. Years later, claiming to suffer ‘cash flow problems,’ he tried to bully my client into undoing the transactions." "Mr. Brees’s behavior and his belief that he was wronged because the jewelry did not appreciate in value as quickly as he hoped both demonstrate a lack of integrity and contradict basic principles of both economics and the law." "He should restrict his game-playing to the football field, and refrain from bullying honest, hard-working businessmen like my client." Brees is seeking at least $9 million in damages. --------- Mo' Money, Mo' Problems. Shockingly, it's not just the title of a timelessly stimulating track that perfectly encapsulates an era of hip hop, but rather a very real phenomenon that affects the wealthy. Who knew?!?! Honestly, my first inclination was to say that this makes Drew Brees look bad. Then I thought about how pissed I would be I spent $150 dollars on a watch only to come to find out that said watch was only worth less than 50% of that price. Multiple that level of disappointment by approximately 53,333 and it becomes a bit easier to understand why the Saints' quarterback was infuriated when he found out the ring he purchased was "only" worth 3.75 million dollars. If we learned anything from this story it's that rap is an irrefutable commentary on society and Kanye West seemed pretty adamant that "diamonds are forever". Therefore, there's something quite fishy about one that supposedly depreciated in value by nearly FIVE MILLION DOLLARS over the span of three years. Now, regardless of the fact that Drew Brees is more likely to impregnate than not during any given year, the claim of "cash flow problems" seems a bit disingenuous coming from someone that's made nearly 200 million dollars without even taking in account all his endorsements. Unfortunately, it's merely as ridiculous as an attorney talking about a jeweler who casually sells eight million dollar pieces as if he's the 'Joe the Plumber' of iced-out accessories. Due to nothing more than my sheer ignorance on the subject of seven-figure investments, I'm going to assume that both sides are at least a little wrong in waging a litigious war that can best be summed up with the hashtag #RichPeopleProblems.
USAToday- On Monday an old tweet from the account of Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo re-emerged just as he was being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
The tweet from August 2011 is a lyric from Meek Mill song Derrick Rose that had been released just more than a week earlier. The tweet, and lyric, in question is: “Ballin on these niggas like I’m derrick rose!” “I didn’t do that,’’ DiVincenzo said after he scored a game-high 31 points in Villanova’s victory against Michigan in the national title game. At the time of the tweet, DiVincenzo was 14 and living in Wilmington, Del., but a white kid using that racially charged word is always a problem. DiVincenzo, 21, did confirm the Twitter account on which the tweet appears is his. “It’s my account, yes,’’ he said. “But I never remember doing that.” When asked who else could have been responsible for the tweet, he replied, “That’s a good question.’’ The tweet was deleted after a reporter asked a question about it. Villanova initially released a statement saying the account had been hacked and was deactivated. ------------ Full disclosure, I have absolutely no familiarity with the adolescence of Donte DiVincenzo. That said, I still feel pretty comfortable in saying that a random, no-name white kid growing up in Delaware wasn't the victim of an internet hijacking that was aimed at publicizing a rap line that was only as inappropriate as it was unoriginal and just learned about it seven years after the fact. What I'm trying to say is that the "I was hacked" excuse has never been more laughable than it is here. Yet, somehow, that's still not as bad of a joke as media members questioning the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player on his early-teenage twitter usage moments after he helped cut down the net that he nearly set on fire, NBA Jam-style, during last night's National Championship. The internet - as an entity - has no shortage of shame or free time, so these timeline deep dives are always going to come to the surface whenever a star, be it in sports or entertainment, is born. While it takes a real loser to devote the time to do the digging in search of some cheap retweets, I can't act like I haven't found myself intrigued by some of the findings. That doesn't mean that real-life journalists, who are supposed to be bound by some modicum of integrity, trying to turn a kid's one shining moment into the bright light of an interrogation sits well with me. I get that publicly posting the n-word, no matter the time or context, is frowned upon when your skin is a shade of vanilla. I just can't say with absolute certainty that I too wasn't once young and dumb enough to carelessly let one fly in maintaining lyrical authenticity. It's just far more moronic than it is racial for a white kid whose sport of choice had him engulfed in the culture to be quoting Meek Mill word-for-word. To not understand that is to not realize that a vehicle that encourages public oversharing by high schoolers is sure to leave some ignorant and cringeworthy results. Donte DiVincenzo grew up shooting hoops, spreading the gospel of hip hop a little too well, hating a father that was failing to live vicariously through his athleticism, and being well ahead of his time sexually. As someone that owned multiple velour tracksuits and a CD case full of 'Explicit Content', I'm going to go ahead and say that's more normal than it is newsworthy. So can we just let him enjoy the fruits of his jaw-dropping labor instead of blasting him for once being just as insufferable of an asshole as every 14 year old millennial that probably deserved a punch in the face during puberty?
What were you hoping for out of the Devils this past weekend? To see them put an end to the scratching and clawing by hitting the pesky Panthers with a tranquilizer dart while kicking the habit of playing both up and down to their competition in a fashion fit for a bi-polar drug addict? To see them put pressure on the teams that precede them in the standings so as to not be the ones left sweating the result of every out-of-town scoreboard like it might flash the test results for an unplanned pregnancy? To see their upstart goaltender continue to save everything including the daylight in pushing back midnight on his Cinderella spring? To see if Blake Coleman's offensive awakening had eyes for the opposition when it wasn't clad in black and yellow? To see if Nico Hischier and Will Butcher would make a conscious and deliberate effort to force maturation faster than a 19 year old giving his first fake ID thee old college try? To see if Sami Vatanen could stomach the very same minutes that kept triggering the gag relaxes of Damon Severson and John Moore whenever they had the puck on their stick? To see if Taylor Hall could recapture the magic that had the hockey world in Hart Trophy hysterics for weeks on end? I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that you'd have to greedier than the all-too-ambiguous y'all that's had DMX barking up a storm since his debut album if you were left wanting more out of the Devils this weekend. That's not to say they played some flawless brand of hockey because they most certainly didn't. However, when Mirco Mueller is leading soon-to-be game-winning shorthanded rushes and late-game 5-on-3 penalty kills are merely setting the dramatic stage for a goal unlike any Taylor Hall has ever scored in the NHL you tend to realize that the fake grass ain't greener on the other side of the Easter basket. The team that's had its fanbase in and out therapy by trending higher than a Snoop Dogg video shoot and lower than an episode of Intervention has (::knock on wood::) maintained some sort of consistent equilibrium that has them in a place that could only appropriately be referred to as Cloud 9. Speaking of...
No need to put up the Do Not Disturb sign, because apparently no distraction can deter the dominance that more than likely has Taylor Hall playoff-bound for the first time in his career. He made an entire Islanders' line look like it was sucking wind during triple OT of a dek hockey game, and I didn't even stand up to celebrate the goal because my legs were tired from the 3-4 times he had nearly completed plays that were just as impressive the period before. There aren't many times that he's touched the ice in which his case for MVP hasn't been strengthened, and the Devils have needed each and every rep to bulk up their point total to a place where they no longer have to hold their breath nightly. Sidenote: You're really pushing a nonsensical agenda if you're criticizing John Hynes for making Damon Severson the sacrificial lamb of a defensive pairing that needed to be put out to pasture weeks ago by healthy scratching him instead of John Moore. I'd presume the better player sat because the better player has been playing just as poorly as his worse counterpart and needed a fire lit under his ass. I can't believe a guy that has gotten career years out of castoffs, seamlessly infused a bunch of rookies into the lineup, and is well-respected throughout an incredibly cohesive locker room that surpassed expectations by mid-season still gets shit for every unpopular lineup decision. A young, inexperienced team with crappy coaching would have fallen apart during a season-defining 6-game road trip. It most certainly wouldn't have come together and ridden it's backup goaltender to the verge of a playoff spot following a come-from-behind win that was preempted by stellar situational awareness from behind the bench...
Starting at 27:00... TheScore- Jordan joined NFL Network's "Up to the Minute" on Friday to discuss a variety of topics surrounding the Saints' offseason including what they should do with the 27th overall pick. Jordan mentioned Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki and LSU pass-rusher Arden Key as potential targets before alluding to a certain Heisman-winning quarterback.
"If you're looking for an heir apparent, maybe give him the Aaron Rodgers treatment. Let him learn from the best for a couple years and then send him on. But I'm not putting here nor there, I'm just simply saying," Jordan said, according to NFL.com's Nick Shook before clearly mouthing "Lamar Jackson." ------ I know this may come as a huge surprise, but I have absolutely no idea whether or not Lamar Jackson will be a quality passer in the NFL. Granted, the process of draft analysis has required less and less analyzing as of late, but still. I don't have the knowledge of the position that Chris Simms used to declare him the most talented quarterback in his draft class nor do I have the unrelenting hypocrisy and borderline racial biases that Mel Kiper has used to imply that he's a glorified wide receiver in comparison to Josh Allen. What I do have, however, is Cam Jordan's endorsement of Lamar Jackson as both a prospect and a potential heir apparent to Drew Brees' pocket. Considering he's just about the only person that believed in the Saints' ability to turn around a defense that was regressively historic in its own incompetence, I'd be liable to bid on the Brooklyn bridge if it were the apple of Cam Jordan's eye. Of course, I'm glad he's not making the final call on who to select 27th overall, but I do see why he might find the Heisman Trophy winner to be worthy of a rolling of the dice in the crap shoot that is the NFL Draft. I mean, if there's one NFL coach that would embrace the opportunity to develop an unproven and non-protypical quarterback while simultaneously proving a large faction of the media to be dead fucking wrong then he resides in New Orleans. His offensive genius has definitely been made more apparent by the twin-esque telepathy that he shares with a future first ballot HOFer, and you just know that Sean Payton would love to prove it exists independent of Drew Brees with a player that couldn't possibly be more his polar opposite. Now, that doesn't mean I want the team whose scouting department has gone HAM with the BPA strategy the last couple seasons to select Lamar Jackson if he's not a top their list at the time, but it does mean that I would follow in the gargantuan footsteps of Cam Jordan and be very excited if they did come to the conclusion that he could eventually take the reigns after some tutelage from one of the best to ever take a snap.
It may have taken nearly four whole years and spanned the entirety of the Huskies' 111 game winning streak, but the joke - and #whatajoke it has ended up becoming - is officially on Geno Auriemma. I suppose the college coach had already long made himself a punchline by subtweeting quite possibly the first recruit who has ever completely spurned his advances in a way that's fitting of the douchey spoiled brat that feels entitled to the hands of the hottest girls in school. However, with two heroic heaves, Arike Ogunbowale added a ba-dum-CHING to a laughable tweet from a grown ass man that not-so-roughly translates to "Oh, you don't want me? Well, I never even wanted you anyway, so HA!". Congrats to Geno Auriemma for having the wherewithal to quit after he got fired. He and his program have obviously come upon a great deal of successes since, but profiting from the the rising stock of the company he swears he never wanted to keep is undeniable not one of them. It may not last longer than this one offseason, but Arike Ogunbowale retroactively made the architect of the preeminent powerhouse in women's college basketball look as though the castle built on ego starts crumbling when met with just a litttttttle bit of competition. The UConn coach's resume definitely speaks for itself, but so does his twitter timeline and it's quoted as implying that nobody turns down Geno Auriemma without ruing the day. It took a Final Four performance for the ages, but that currently couldn't seem any further from the truth...
For as infantile as it is for a professional baseball team to be up in arms about having an already imperfect stat line tarnished by the employment of a strategy that was merely reactionary, I can't help but sympathize with the Minnesota Twins here. I mean, who doesn't hate when a simplistic time-saving scheme backfires in the most predictable of ways? I wouldn't go as far as saying that opposite field bunts to the part of a field that has been vacated by presumptuous fielders is hurting baseball, but that particular one definitely hurt the confidence of a team that now has to question the deftness of their defensive shifts. Have you ever cut through a parking lot thinking you were shortening your commute only to run into a heavier dose of traffic, or slightly increased the size of the font to make your paper seem longer only to learn upon grading that there was a word requirement? Well, if you have then you too should realize that outsmarting yourself sucks in a way that makes it particularly easy to point the finger at others. In this case, "others" happened to be Chance Sisco who had the gall to safely take a base that was basically given to him in a desperate attempt to kick start a late-game rally. It's a good thing the Orioles have strong veteran leadership that's liable to to either suspend him or spank him for getting a rare runner on base at the expense of a team that has ironically appropriated a common piece of drug paraphernalia as the name for an unwritten accomplishment in a repressed league that only blows smoke up its own ass. If not, the Twins may have had to take justice into their own hands by pegging his teammate in the temple for playing fundamentally sound baseball.
I don't want to be too critical of the philosophy of a new head coach sending a "message". In fact, I think there is a lot to be gained respect-wise from making an unpopular decision in hopes of showing a team whose underperformance got you employed that you mean business. Unfortunately, there is not too much to be gained yardage-wise from cutting your All-Pro punter because he has an endearing personality. Therefore, I think this message should have been sent via text and spurned a dialogue rather than a dismissal. I get it. Attitudes generally run contrary to culture change, but said attitudes typically aren't overwhelmingly positive nor do they belong to a player who is willing to come into the office on an off-day to introduce himself to his new boss. I guess I'm just wondering exactly how much an old school coach like Jon Gruden has to hate the occasional dance move for him to pop, lock, and drop someone whose prowess was in positive field position. The contagious smiles caused by viral tweets must make the Raiders' redux sick to his damn stomach if the fact that "Patient Zero" was responsible for the most special of teams didn't prove to be the proverbial Pepto Bismol. A top flight punter getting paid approximately the going rate for a top flight punter should be favored by a coach who is almost guaranteed to start training camp by incessantly harping on the fundamentals, so I'd imagine his charisma truly had to induce constipation to get him canned. I would envision Marquette King walking into Jon Gruden's office and telling a harmless joke before being met with a patented snarl and his walking papers, but - as every middle-school breakup has shown - the most effective messages are sent by way of an innocent third party. I just can't wait until Jon Gruden's antiquated wishes get granted and video replay gets abolished so we don't have to worry about disgusting displays like the following sabotaging our viewing experience on Sundays...
|
Categories
All
Archives
January 2020
|