-0-

“NBA Finals–Real Teams”

-0-

They tip it off on Thursday…the two best in the NBA..

A team of stars, Golden State against an individual star in Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard.

The Warriors back for their 5th straight finals, searching to actually get the respect of being a dynasty, in the tradition we used to honor greatness, the old Lakers and the Red Auerbach-Celtics.

So where does Golden State fit in?

Even the superb run San Antonio had during the David Robinson-Tim Duncan eras was never equated to Jerry West-Elgin Baylor-or Showtime. Not equal to Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen and the Bulls. Surely not the same of the teams led by KC-Sam-the Jones Boys, Bill Russell or even the Larry Bird-Dave Cowens era in Boston.

The quality of the NBA has dropped off greatly. Oh there’s no doubt about the skill level of the individual young phenolm of the game, from James Harden thru Giannis Antetokoumpo. But what is lacking is the concept of great teams.

It’s all offense most every night, not much defense. It becomes a game of highlife reel individuality but not much beyond that.

Some of it attributed to the quality of the young guns coming out of college. Some of it to be blamed on the NCAA’s 1-and-done rule, that allows individual skill to oversee completeness of the player.

But this series will be different.

As explosive and dynamic at Golden State is, it’s a team built on sharing the ball among Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and the unsung contributions of bruisers like Draymond Green and Andre Iguodola.

They can score, they can light you up, they can run and they can shoot from the next area code. But they also rebound, play gritty defense, and get everyone involved.

In Toronto, the super stardom that Kawhi Leonard has evolved into, is a credit to his amazing work ethic, his fanaticism to practice and become a complete player. He might be the best player at both ends of the NBA court these days.

What he has become on the offensive end is stunning, considering he showed no signs of that being a wing player forward at San Diego State. His 3-point shooting is superb. His ability to beat people with his dribble-drive is greater than we ever saw here. And his culture and quickness in learning how to defend players of all skill level, is a credit to his basketball intellect.

And as good as his stats are, he is not afraid to give up the ball to the supporting cast, who have helped Toronto get to where they never went before. The NBA finals.

Lots of NBA teams are disappointments, noting the Lakers-LeBron failure in every which way.

Lots of teams are floundering, see the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns.

Lots of NBA games are unwatchable; anyone watch a Sacramento-Washington game ever?

Lots of teams seem to be forever down, unable to come back, like the Bulls and Miami.

A bunch of teams just don’t have enough quality around good players, like in Portland and Utah.

But starting Thursday, this will be worth watching, not just the superstars, but the team work.

Golden State-vs-Toronto….Warriors-vs-Raptors…..The City-vs-True North.

NBA Finals…finally real ‘teams’ playing for the championship.

================

-0-

“Summertime is Here-And So is Better Baseball”

-0-

Memorial Day weekends viewed as the beginning of summer, though the calendar doesn’t actually say so.

Memorial Day is also indirectly viewed as the starting point of the baseball pennant race.

So here we are the first day of summer’s pennant race, and the Padres are in a way 3-way scrap for the two wildcard playoff spots.

Of course there’s lot of games left, and the Padres still have tons of games left against some of the better teams in baseball, including the 14-left against the Dodgers.

But good pitching keeps you in games, and the Padres have had very good starts from most of the kids in the rotation, and the back end of the bullpen.

Meanwhile, down on the farm, some good pitching, some surprise hitting, some players overwhelmed.

Here’s a look at what’s going on in the system.

——————–

El Paso: Who can tell with all the AAA numbers skewed by the use of new baseballs.
..C-Francisco Mejia (.545)
2B-Jose Pirela (.383)
2B-Luis Urias (.351)
OF-Michael Getty (.241)

P-Logan Allen (4-1)-4.01-ERA
P-Robert Stock..2.93-ERA

————–

Amarillo..Some surprising statistical seasons
OF-Jorge Ona (.348)
SS-Owen Miller (.314)
C-Luis Torrens (.243)
2B-HudsonPotts (.220)
OF-Buddy Reed (.213)

P-Adrian Morejon (0-3)..5.86-ERA
P-Andres Munoz..1.72-ERA
P-Nick Margavicius..4.50-ERA
P-Reggie Lawson..5.20-ERA
P-Kaz Makita..3.73-ERA
P-TJ Weir..6.19-ERA

———–

Lake Elsinore…pitching is the story here
P-MacKenzie Gore (4-1)..1.15-ERA…(64K-47-inn)
P-Ron Bolonos (4-1)..3.80-ERA

SS-Kevin Melean (.196)

————

Ft-Wayne…Strong pitching

P-Ryan Weathers (2-1)..1.78-ERA…(37K-30inn)
P-Henry Henry (6-0) 2.12

SS-Xavier Edwards (.369)
3B-Luis Almenzar (.216)

=================

-0-

“Indy 500-Checkered Flag to Greatest Spectacle in Sport”

-0-

It was fast and it was furious.

It was filled with emotion and it was excellent.

It was speed and it was skill.

It was a display of bravado, courage and strategy.

Simon Pagenaud from France outdueled former champion Alexander Rossi over the final 15-laps to win the Indianapolis 500.

They passed each other 5-times in the final moments coming off a red flag stop for a 5-car wreck. The daring lead changes, at 220-miles an hour left your heart in your throat, gasping for air, knowing a slight twitch, a change in the air stream, either car touching, could lead to catastrophe.

The Frenchman, with a final burst of horsepower, held off and outran the Italian to win the Borg Warner Trophy.

In the history of the 103-years of this race, seldom have we seen something end so close, the leader and the follower separated by only 2/10ths of a second at the finish line.

It was an odd day, where we had two races, what happened at the end, but also what happened in the pits. Never in recent times have we seen so many incidents along pit row.

Rossi himself hurt by a (:09) pit stop, slowed by a tire change. Then the near catastrophic pit stop (:23) long when the refueling mechanism didn’t work.

Rossi drove the wheels off his car to race from 5th to 1st and grab the lead with 3-laps to go. Only to see Pagenaud strip-stream by him with two laps left. Then the winner weaved up and down the track, blocking air flow, not letting the 2nd place guy draft him, and pulling away for the win.

A clean race for most of the day, became messy late. Sebastian Bourdais tried to block Graham Rahal low on a pass, triggering a 5-car wreck.

An enraged Rahal said post-race, someone would get killed with the tactics Bourdais. used.

Jordan King, a young driver, skidded into the pits, hitting a crew member.

Will Power, last year’s champion, nicked his fuel man, pulling into his pit box.

Kyle Kaiser, the rookie from California, hit a wall coming out of the pits.

Colton Herta, the 19-year old phenom, starting in the second row, blew a gear box early ending his day.

There was anger from Rossi over lapped cars showing no respect to the lead pack, by trying to race with them, rather than letting them pass, clogging up traffic, slowing the chase down.

But it was the spectacular finish is all anyone will talk about, that and the breath-taking passing over the final 15-laps.

The greatest finish back in the day might have been Danny Sullivan’s spin-and-win victory. This might top everything we have ever seen.

Even the retired stars, Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt, who’ve experienced great days on the track, were left speechless by what they saw at the end of the race, as they served as TV analysts.

The Greatest Spectacle in Sports, the Brickyard, did not let us down thanks to the Pagenaud-Rossi duel.

They sang ‘Back Home in Indiana’ right before the race, part of the tradition of the sport. They drank the milk in Victory Lane. They kissed the bricks at the finish line.

The Indy 500 gave us a race never to forget.

========

-0-

“Memorial Day–Flags-Family-Friends-What It Means”

Memorial Day weekend. Picnics, family, Padres games, the Indy 500, the NBA playoffs and the NHL playoffs, the Stanley Cup finals. Lots to see, experience and think about.

Memorial Day weekend is a time to remember also. We see hometown heroes amongst us in San Diego. The Padres icon broadcaster Jerry Coleman flew fighters and even landed upside down on a flight deck. The late Red Sox hero Ted Williams was a fighter pilot both in the Pacific and in Korea, survived two crashes, and came home to super stardom.

The are two Purple Hearts in my house, family members who served in our World Wars, were wounded, killed, and whose relatives’ lives were forever changed.

When you come from an extended large family of that era, you are influenced by their experiences. Influenced by those you know, those you loved, those you lost.

I’ve been to Arlington, to the Punch Bowl cemetery in Hawaii, to Rosecrans Cemetery here, and know full well about the U.S. cemetery at Normandy.

I walked Omaha Beach and Point duHoc last summer, and stood with the white crosses at the cemetery in Normandy, and was speechless at its beauty, its reverence, its meaning of those who sacrificed.

I wept when I went to the black granite Vietnam Wall in Washington and was moved by the D-Day Memorial in Virginia. If you go to the Balboa Naval Hospital you are impacted. When you know them, when you care about them, when you see them, when you ache for them and their memories, it leaves a lasting impression.

Maybe it is my Baby Boomer mortality catching up to me. Friends are passing, saying goodbyes to family members. Virtually all of them are linked to the military. In this situation, Memorial Day becomes more than a holiday.

I hardly know the full background, except my dad was a Sea Bee in the Navy, in the Pacific. He built runways as the Navy, then the Marines brought in planes to continue the assault to recapture all those islands from Japan. He told me only once about being shot at and diving under planes to avoid snipers. My dad was only 22 at the time and experiencing that.

Nick was my Godfather. He was slight of build, big of heart, with no fear. He was a point man hit by snipers in a hedgerow at Anzio. His life was forever changed. He spoke only once about it to me. Twenty-nine surgeries later, he died from wounds. They gave me his Purple Heart, ribbons, the 1944 telegrams that said he was killed in action, then missing in action, then rescued.

Jack was my uncle. A decorated journalist, island hopping the Pacific with Douglas McArthur. He wrote for the International News Service, the forerunner of UPI. He saw horror and death. He interviewed Tojo, who tried to commit suicide. He covered the Peace Treaty signing on the USS Missouri. He came home a broken man. He was never the same sports journalist covering the old Brooklyn Dodgers after that. They gave me his war photos, ribbons, and wire service stories when he passed. He never spoke of it.

Danny was another uncle. I never knew much, except that he was a teenager who died on the Bataan Death March. I found his name on a plaque, but like so many others, nothing else. Gone at 19.

Vin was a paratrooper. Jumped into the dark behind the Normandy lines. He was 24 and part of the glider brigade. He was wounded twice, but did come home. His Purple Heart is in a glass case, with a piece of autographed fabric from a crashed glider that went into the woods when they missed the landing zone. Virtually all with him perished.

Vito was in South Africa, chasing Rommel across the desert. All that heavy infantry fire led to his loss of hearing.

Joe was a medic in the heat, humidity and suffering in the Philippines. His lasting memory before he died was malaria and quinine.

Smitty was 19 and a turret gunner on B-17 and B-24 raids. The average life span of those crews was 13 flights. He made 35 missions, over places like Ploesti and Dresden. He laughs that his pilot was only 19, old enough to drop bombs, but not old enough to get a drivers license in Michigan. He told stories till dementia took over his mind.

Curt was a gunner on board a Flying Fortress when 60-planes in all went down in one day over Regensberg, Germany, flying without fighter support.

Memorial Day touches friends too. Seven in my tiny graduating class on Long Island were lost in my war, Vietnam.
Murph was a wrestler and a jokester. A land mine ended it all very quickly for him. Lew was a basketball player taken out on a ridge by either sniper fire or friendly fire. Charley went off on night patrol in the jungles; he never returned after the firefight. Three others were done in not by the VC, but by Agent Orange.

Memorial Day is also about brothers. One who is a career officer, with service time in Iraq and Afghanistan. He struggles with seeing wounded men booby trapped when our medics go to treat them. He angered many by saying “if you fire on my soldiers from a mosque, it is no longer a mosque.” He has sat on transports with the caskets and body bags of his soldiers.

The other brother is in anti-terrorism, who never forgot 9/11 and what he sensed the minute the second plane went into the towers. He won’t speak, but he knows much, and this weekend means much to him too.

I will visit a cemetery to say thanks and to remember. An aging friend, who landed on Normandy, told me the only thing missing from the movie Saving Private Ryan was the smell of diesel fuel. Another in a rest home was part of the Royal Air Force and the heroism of the Battle of Britain, with burns and ribbons as remembrances.

Fly a flag this weekend. Enjoy the picnics, the Padres, the Indy 500, the NBA and the NHL, but remember the past.

Many went and came back. Many went and never came back. Many went, came back, never the same.

Memorial Day is a hard time for me. Two Purple Hearts are in my house. A thankful heart. A heavy heart too.

-0-

0-

“Chargers-Pay Day Coming–Will You Pay the Price?”

-0-

The Chargers are two years removed from leaving San Diego.

They’re in 2-places few ever thought they would wind up.

One, in Los Angeles, where they will move into the Rams-owned stadium a year from now, being a tenant, not an owner of their future financial destiny.

Two, having to prepare to fork out the most amount of money they will eve have to pay, to two of their star players.

Dean Spanos has been in the LA market for two years, has hardly ever spoken to the LA media, and his franchise remains on the outside looking in, in terms of acceptance in a market owned by the Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams.

Progress has been slow , but the franchise is winning. A year from now they go into the new Hollywood Park Stadium, being built by Rams owner Stan Kroenke.

Spanos will also venture into the new territory of having to pay his star quarterback and running back mega contracts.

Philip Rivers is in the final year of his contract. The future Hall of Famer has a salary cap figure of 23M this season.

His new contract will likely be (3Y-70M) with probably 30M of it guaranteed and upfront, if you consider what Kirk Cousins, Drew Brees and others are earning. The starting point for Rivers could be 26M a season.

Rivers has never been about the money, but even he might not be willing to take a radically lower priced contract, heading to the twilight of his career.

Add to that, running back Melvin Gordon is headed into free agency too. The state of the art deals for players like him, revolve around the 14M a year package the Jets just gave Le’Veon Bell.

The Spanos family like to think of themselves as wheeler-dealers in the NFL, but the truth of the matter, they are among the poorer owners in the league financially, despite playing in the 2nd biggest market the country.

Spanos net worth is reportedly 1.1B. Compare that to Kroenke’s net worth of 12.8B according to Forbes Magazine.

The Chargers can franchise tag Gordon next year, but even that brings a guaranteed 13.6M figure, and who knows if he’d play under a 1-year deal, or sit out and demand a multi year package and a huge signing bonus, which other star players earn.

So the Chargers owners may think they’re doing well in the LA market, but the financial ledgers don’t show that. Remember Spanos had to borrow the 500M territorial fee from banks to make the move into the LA market.

Didn’t have the money two years ago. Most doubt he has the money now either, for what is coming.

And now a bigger challenge. Are they willing to pay ‘state of the art’ money to their best players,?

Or maybe the real question, where are they going to get the money to pay their stars.

==========================