Lamb and Sheep Trash Talk
Here we are in the Ides of December, and there is some Trash to be talked. Because someone accused me of not knowing or caring about the NBA in the last trash, let’s open with that.
The Phoenix Suns were once a model franchise, started and run by Jerry Colangelo. They never won a championship, but they were always pillars of the community, always competitive and the precursor of the Warriors as the consistently most fun team to watch. Then Colangelo sold the team to a banker jerk named Bob Sarver, who has proceeded to turn the once proud Suns into the worst team in the league, and a laughingstock in Phoenix and the NBA. He recently tried to arrogantly extort the city for improvements to the city owned arena, and that has not gone well. Last night was yet another humiliation as the Suns tried to execute a trade and didn’t even know who they were fucking trading for. Seriously, Bob Sarver makes former Clippers owner Donald Sterling look like a good owner. And the Lakers still suck. So there’s your NBA coverage for you.
I will add one more semi-NBA thing in here, because it is a seriously fantastic story. I can’t say I am close friends with Charles Barkley, but I have been around and talked to him numerous times, whether at the Suns Arena, in Scottsdale bars or the local grocery store (he lives not far away from me and, yeah, actually goes grocery shopping). He has always been nice, and pretty funny to talk to. But this story from a young lady whose late father stumbled into a truly deep and good, if unlikely, friendship with Chuck is just wonderful. Read it, you will be glad you did.
Okay, back to our staple of football. There are several small time bowl games today including The Air force Celebration Bowl (NC A&T v. Alcorn State), New Mexico Bowl (North Texas v. Utah State), Auto Nation bowl (Tulane v. Lousiana), Mitsubishi Las Vegas Bowl (Fresno State v. Arizona State), Raycom Camellia Bowl (Georgia Southern v. Eastern Michigan), and the R&L Carriers Bowl (Middle Tennessee v. Appalachian State). The only one that interests me is the Las Vegas Bowl with ASU in it at 3:30 pm EST on ABC. Fresno State is not a bad team, and it could be an interesting game.
In the pros, there are two Saturday games today. First up is Houston Texans at the Jets. I keep thinking the Jets Jets Jets are going to pull things together, but hard to see them stopping Deshaun Watson and the Texans, who are on a serious roll. The later game is Cleveland at Denver. Both teams have a thin hope for making the playoffs if they win out, but the loser here is done. Cleveland has really been playing better lately, and last 4-5 games, Baker Mayfield has been actually fairly impressive. Mile High tough venue though, even if the Broncos are a little beat up on defense. I’ll call it a tossup, but am rooting for the Brownies for a slight upset. The Chargers already edged out the Chefs (in Kansas City!!) in a thrilling Thursday night game. The Bolts came back from a 14 point deficit late in the 4th quarter and won by executing a 2 point conversion after a TD, with four seconds left on the clock. It was well worth staying up for.
In the Sunday games, Cowboys at Colts could be a pretty good game, but I’ll take Oliver Luck and the Colts at home. Packers at Bears in Soldier Field should be really interesting. Bears defense has the edge on a battered GB O-Line, but Aaron Rodger ain’t gonna roll over and this oldest of rivalries is always hard fought. Pats at Steelers is probably the best game of the day. Stillers are desperate for a win at this point, but the Pats are desperately trying to maintain a first round playoff bye. Both teams have been uncharacteristically inconsistent this year. That’s a tossup. Lastly, the Eagles at Rams is a must win for the Iggles, but hard to seem them pulling that off at this point.
Well, that’s it. Music today is courtesy of Punaise who made me remember a very old Blue Oyster Cult song from their first album way back in 1972. Enjoy I’m On The Lamb, But I Ain’t No Sheep, it truly rocks.