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Playoffs-Teams & Storylines Worth Watching”

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The NBA and NHL playoffs are underway. and there are good team, great players, injured teams and strange matchup.

NBA

Golden State-San Antonio….This could have been a tremendous matchup of firepower but injuries have changed everything. A hurt Steph Curry, and a banged up Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant surely has made the Warriors ‘human’. Same for the Spurs, who struggled all year, without Kawhi Leonard. The wildcard guy in all this is LaMarcus Aldridge, who could haunt his old team and make the Spurs really dangerous.

Toronto-Washington…Pretty good matchup of guards DeMar DeRozan-vs-John Wall.

Boston-Milwaukee..The country gets to see Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Celtics fans wish they could see the injured Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart and Kyrie Irving.

76ers-Miami….The long suffering Philadelphia fans enjoyed a 50-win season after all those years of misery, but then lose star big gun Joel Embed with injuries and surgery. remember when the Heat had the big three, D-Wade-King James-Chris Bosh.

Cleveland-Indiana….LeBron James leads a troubled Cavs team that looks like its on its last legs. Victor Oladipo has become a star with the Paces. Might there be an upset in the making here.

Minnesota-Houston…The Rockets own virtually all the stat categories in the NBA, and should tear apart the Wolves defense. But then again Karl Anthony Townes-Andrew Wiggins could make some noise because the Rockets don’t play much defense. Somebody’s scoreboard will blow a fuse in this high scoring series. James Hardin-Chis Paul will bring the points.

New Orleans-Portland….Many thought the Pelicans would fade with a bad midseason injury to the volatile DeMarco Cousins. Instead Anthony Davis has become a beast. Poor Portland won’t last long in this series.

Oklahoma City-Utah…Russell Westbrook meet a nasty Jazz defense. I keep waiting to see this Thunder group, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George come together,and put together a big win string.. Maybe in he postseason.

(NHL)

Las Vegas-LA Kings…Golden Knights have 6-guys with 20-goals or more, led by 43-goal scoring William Karlsson in a stunning season for the first year expansion team. Jeff Carter’s 13-goals down the stretch coming off the season long injured list fuelded the Kings run to postseason, but they need more help for Anzi Kopitar.

Ducks-San Jose…Lots of history and bad blood here, but the big issue, do the Ducks have enough firepower, can goalie John Gibson stay healthy, and the loss of Cam Fowler to surgery-how big a loss is this on defense?

Winnipeg-Minnesota…Few people know how good the Jets have become, and it’s more than just Patrick Laine. They are big upfront, physical, fast and can score, and they have goaltending for the first time in years. The Wild have injury issues.

Penguins-Flyers…Cross state history here, but way too much goal scoring from Sir Sidney (Crosby), Evgeny (Malkin) and Phil Kessell. Pens have beaten them 5-in a row this season.

Nashville-Colorado….The Avs were a surprise team to get to postseason, as Joe Sakic’s rebuilding efforts finally paid off, but the Predators are so strong and deep upfront. How far can the kids Nathan McKinnon and Gabe Landeskog lead the Avs, stay tuned. PK Subban leads 10-Peds players this year with double digit goals. No superstar-just lots of good players.

Tampa Bay.-New Jersey..Steve Stamkos is ailing but there is still too much firepower with the Lightning,with Kucherov, Gourde, Pont and Hedman. The Devils got in late, they will exit early.j

Washington-Columbus….Fascinating to watch what the Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella designs defensively to slow down all everything Alexander Ovechkin and his 49-goal season. Evgeny Kuznetsov added 27-more..

Toronto-Boston…No place for the timid. The Leafs have been building under the leadership of Mike Babcock-Lou Lamoirello, led by Austyn Matthews, Mitch Marner and Kazim Nadri and a host of young forwards. But Boston is so rugged, especially with home ice advantage, and the pest Brad Marchand heads up 3-30-goal scorers. These goalies are going to have a long tough series..

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“Padres-They Were Wrong”

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It was ugly, it was uncalled for, it was dangerous.

And the Padres are to blame for it.

The Wednesday loss to the Rockies was overshadowed by the retaliation, hit batsman, and then the bench clearing brawl.

On Tuesday night, Manny Margot was hit in the upper ribs by a sailing fastball from reliever Bryan Shaw. He wound up on the disabled list. Luckily, there were no fractures.

It was an errant pitch. There was no way Shaw was throwing at Margot, in a tight game, in which the Rockies were trying to stop the losing at home in an early season tailspin.

On Wednesday, the game went off track early. The Margot incident was followed by a worse incident. Luis Perdomo plunking Trevor Story early in the game. Obviously a message of retaliation.

That prompted Hunter Renfroe getting hit with a retaliation pitch from the Rockies..

Then Perdomo nailed Nolan Arenado up high in the third inning. It was a dangerous pitch, that hit him on the upper shoulder, close enough it could have hit him in the neck, on the ear, or on the side of the face.

Then came the bench clearing brawl, and five ejections.

Now there is serious bad blood that will be carried forward.

I am all for standing up for teammates, but this was wrong, it was dangerous.

Perdomo should be suspended for his stupidity. Arenado will get suspended for going to the mound.

It was needless, foolish,, and plain wrong. Plunking a guy on the legs, his backside, his feet, is different than going to the head.

It was not errant, it was intenful, and that’s not what baseball is all about.

People get hurt with beanballs. Google the sad ending of Tony Conigliaio’s career.

I’ve never understood the rationale, ‘he hit a homer off me-I’m going to throw at him’.

Maybe baseball should pass a a rule,you hit me with a ball, let me go to the mound with a bat to even things out.

That’s as stupid as what Luis Perdomo did.

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“What I See-What I Think”

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PADRES…Just when you think it is the beginning of another awful season, the Padres do a complete U-Turn, with impressive and dominant pitching performances in Houston, and then Colorado. In what could have been a disastrous road trip that might have left them at (1-12), they win in Houston, then reel off two straight victories in Denver against the Rockies. It’s early in the season, but if this is the type of pitching we see, then maybe they might be the (81-81) team I predicted.

JOEY LUCHESSI….That’s three strong outings in a row for the first prospect generated from the farm system developed by GM-AJ Preller. His numbers are impressive, a (1.79-ERA), strikeouts in bunches, few walks, and the ability not to get rattled.

THE KIDS….Luchessi was the third of the three arms the Padres picked in the first Preller draft two years ago. Young lefty Eric Lauer is likely the next in line, cut from the same cloth as Luchessi, crafty, and sneaky fast. Surprisingly Cal Quantrill, the top pick, has been slowed by bases on balls issues, and is at AA-San Antonio.

GOLD GLOVE….We all know Eric Hosmer’s ability with bat and glove. The glue guy has made a bunch of big plays two weeks into the season, talking about shortstop Freddy Galves. He’s a grinder too, so he will be tough to pull off the field, for he wants to play every inning of every game. It makes you wonder why the Phillies let him go.

BULLY-BULLY….Brad Hand is back to being Brad Hand, bouncing back from his one bad outing. and the bullpen is settling into quality roles now. Crag Stammen continues his strong showing for a second year in a row, and the kid sidearmer, Adam Cimber, and Kaz Makita, the submariner, has been dominant with his unique style. Robbie Erlin has now had 4-good outings in a row, out of the pen, rather than in the rotation. Suddenly strength in numbers.

WIL IS OUT…Wil Myers elbow injury merits concern, because it has been ten days, and he is not starting baseball activity yet, swinging a bat or throwing a ball. It’s the second episode with his elbow in a couple of years.

MIA…Chase Headley isn’t playing and isn’t hitting yet. He is making 13M a year and he’s frustrated, wanting to earn his money. He’s had old spells and long hot streaks the last three years, so time will tell when he gets back in the lineup, and what he does when he does. Tough to find your stroke while sitting. We’ll see if the rookie Christian Villanueva will continue to hit, or if pitching will catch up to him.

LONG REHAB LAMET….Soft toss and long toss is a long way from being ready to take the ball and jumping back into the rotation, so this rehab for Dinelson Lamet will take an extended period of time. The fact the Padres have not informed the media of he MRI on his elbow scares you, that it is more than just a strain. Can you say out till June, at the earliest?

SCHEDULE NOTICE…The Giants and Dodgers come to town starting Thursday. San Francisco is a mess with 4-starters and their closer on the disabled list. The Dodgers arrive, but take notice, Padres ownership gave up a 3-game series later in the season at home with LA. Those are the games transferred to Mexico. I don’t agree with giving up home dates that could have drawn you 130,000 fans, to go play in Mexico.

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“Hockey World Mourns-Makes a Statement”

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They call it the ‘Brotherhood of the Bus’, a life unto its own, a culture of the sport, and a bonding atmosphere that carries as much importance off ice, as practice on the ice in hockey.

In a split second, lives changed, careers were snuffed out, and emotional and physical scars arrived, that will live forever.

The grief is everywhere, in the tiny city, home of the franchise, across the entire NHL, and in every corner of every arena this week.

Hockey weeps over the tragedy that has taken 15-lives in northern Saskatchewan, the terrible bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos, a Junior A-team in Western Canada.

A winter road trip on the rural prairie highways, with a team headed to a Friday night playoff game. They never got there.

No one knows why such a violent destructive crash occurred on a Sunday cold day. There was no snow, there was no ice.

But at a 4-way intersection of two highways, a double tractor trailer truck tee-boned the Broncos coach, ripping off the front end of the bus, flipping it on its side. The truck, hauling 250-bundles of peat moss, jack knifed and flipped too.

The RCMP has not said if one of the vehicles ran thru a flashing red light stop sign, or how a tragedy of this magnitude could occur.

Lives snuffed out in an instant. A horrific scene for first responders. Debris, bodies, carnage, death everywhere.

In the world of minor league sports, from baseball to small college athletics, to minor league and junior hockey, everyone travels by coach, luxurious buses, that have a safe track record.

14-died instantly, including the Coach-GM, an assistant coach, staff members and 10-players. Another died the day after the crash. 4-more remain critical, one in a coma with severe head injuries, a goaltender with a broken spine and paralyzed.

And if the grief was not enough, came a mistaken identity where a family, who thought their goaltender son survived, had to receive a call, they had been killed in the crash, as doctors mistook one player for another on Sunday..

4-of the players were headed to NCAA schools next fall to begin their college hockey careers. Now hockey fans will instead head to their funeral services.

The outpouring has been outstanding, teams, leagues the media, countries and fans respond. Gary Bettman and the NHL wrapped its arms around the Humboldt community, leading a ‘Go Fund Me Drive’ that has raised 5.1M in the first 48-hours.

Edmonton Oilers coach Todd Krueger and Calgary Flames coach Glen Galatzan both went to Humboldt on the weekend to speak at a memorial service and met with family members. They wept while giving speeches.

So did Mike Babcock, the Maple Leafs coach, a native of Saskatoon.

The mayor cried, as did the lead surgeon, who detailed being part of the first group of doctors to try and save lives.

Teams stood in silence around all of hockey, heads lowered in prayer before opening face-offs. Teams donned black armbands. Teams stitched the name Broncos on their jerseys.

Much like what JJ Watt and the Houston Texans, then the NFL, then the fans did with the terrible floods in Texas, hockey’s family stepped up in hours of need.

Strength in hugs and words is all we can offer in as sad a moment as we have ever seen.

A year ago, the terrible plane crash that wiped out a South American soccer team. Just 3-years ago, the horrific crash that killed Pavel Dimetria and all of his teammates with the Yaroslav team in the KHL League in Russia.

In 1986, the crash that took four lives of the Swift Current Broncos hockey team in Saskatchewan.

You never forget the smell of death, the sights, the horrible sounds of this type of tragedy. I covered the 1970-Marshall University plane crash in West Virgina, and Thurmon Munson’s death in a private plane crash in Akron.

Riding buses in hockey is a way of life. The people, the players, the games, the stories, the time on the road. It’s part of the fabric of the game. They travel all winter long, in snow and cold, in junior hockey. The prairies are beautiful, and hockey is so important there. That’s why this is so hard.

Find a map and configure the distance from Kamloops, British Columbia to Saskatoon, and you’ll see what a real road trip is like in a hockey life. We’ve all done the 9-hour trips to go play a game, or 5-games in 5-nights in 5-different cities in the lowest of the minor leagues. They call it life in the ‘iron lung’..

The family of hockey, its teams, teammates, opponents will become the strength to bring Humboldt back on the ice next year.

But no one will forget the despair of these hours, with the loss of so many of the ‘boys on the bus’.

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:The Blackest of Times for the Blue & White”

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It was the premiere night for the showing of the HBO-movie “Paterno”, with the great character actor Al Pacino in the role of the deceased Penn State football coach.

The movie was supposed to be about the final weeks, the final month of Paterno. It missed its mark, because if was more about Paterno’s family, constantly in fight mode, and a legendary University that was interested more in protecting its brand, than protection of injured children, violated sexually by Paterno’s long time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Pacino, who gave us brilliant performances in Taxi Driver, Serpico and the Godfather, gives us the perfect examination of the sad person that Paterno was becoming in his 80s.

It was a great acting job, and it was sad from start to finish.

“I have a game to prepare for against Nebraska”. Time and time again, those were the sentiments as the sexual assault stories broke, the indictments were handed down, the media crush and student protests erupted.

Paterno comes away looking as a feeble old man, unwilling to read the documents given to him, refusing to get in the middle of the fight his family was building as his defense, unable to understand what his assistant Mike McQueary had told him happened in a shower between an 11-year old and his longtime assistant coach.

Always a believer in hierarchy, Pacino parlays Paterno’s mannerisms, his voice inflection and his personality, as he told his AD and Director of Security what McQueary told him. Passed it up and the chain of command, and then went on to prepare for the next game, as he always had.

Let it be about football with him, and nothing else. Others can deal with the non football issues, including this scandal.

There is great confusion in when Paterno found out about incidents, what Paterno understood about things like sodomy, and about his responsibility should he go to the police.

His wife was portrayed as defensive. His son Scott, a lawyer, was the only reasonable one to ask about responsibility. The football coaching son, Jay, was at war with everyone all the time.

University leadership was portrayed as all about coverups, excuses, and avoidance of reality. They wound up losing their job, and wound up in prison.

There is little portraying of McQueary, who wound up winning an 11.9-M judgements in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit case. Oddly, he wound up portraying himself a victim of all things-Sandusky, and sadly, the kids, who were abused, wound up getting 2.6M apiece in damages from the University.

So you will have to tell me who was more damaged by all this, the coach who went public, or the kids who were victims from 1976 to 2002?

The movie showed the outrage in the community of State College. Those who loved all things Pacino-Paterno did for the University. And there was rage for how the most powerful man in the university, many say Paterno, should have done more. And there was the war zone involving a probing media, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its dogged determination to sort out the seedy truth.

Sandusky will die in prison as part of this 30-to-60 year sentence. Few of the coaches on that staff resurfaced in other jobs. Paterno sadly died two and a half months after his firing of lung cancer, something else he never knew about, nor paid attention too..

The movie starts in a hospital room adorned in Blue & White, Penn State’s colors. It ends with the tearing down of the Paterno statue infront of a shadowy Beaver Stadium.

A dark story about a man who knew only one thing in life, prepare for the next game.

Nightfall brought darkness to the stadium on the final scene. The screen faded to black, much like Paterno’s career, then his life.

Pachino was solid. The story was sordid. You emerge feeling sad for everyone involved.

It’s worth seeing, just be prepared to feel like you are taking part in a never-ending funeral.

‘Paterno’, the movie…the Blackest of times for the Blue & White.

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