-0-

“NBA-Superstars-Super Series”

-0-

It doesn’t get much better than this.

Oh yes, there have been great NBA finals matchups in decades gone by.

You only have to think of the greatness of the Celtics and Lakers to envision what this could be like tonight.

You remember, Boston-LA, Red Auerbach’s legendary teams vs the Lakers firepower. Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamaberlain and so much more.

You remember the more vintage Lakers-Celtics rivalry, Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird.

And yes, there was Michael and the Jordanaires, that Bulls dynasty, and the special Kobe-Shaq run in LA too..

Lots of other historical battles amongst talent laden teams.

But tonight the Splash Brothers face King James and his merry men, for the third year in a row. Golden State-vs-Cleveland.

The stats are almost equal.

The Warriors have wiped out alot of records over the last 48-months, and now another, ripping off 12-straight NBA playoff wins. No one has ever done that, in any year, any era.

The Cavs roll in with a (12-1) record in this postseason surge to get back to the finals.

The Warriors went (67-15) while the Cavs came home (51-31).

Cleveland is averaging 116 per game on offense in the postseason, Golden State an amazing 118 on their rampage run.

The Warriors are averaging 12-3’s per night, in typical bombs away fashion. Few realize Cleveland is hitting 14-shots beyond the arc.

The Blue & Gold grab 45-rebounds a night, the Wine & Gold 43-per game.

It’s Cleveland’s big three, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, vs the Warriors brigade of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.

Strategy says the Cavs will run LeBron with that pick and roll till they get Curry and others in foul trouble, or James wears out, of the Warriors find a way to use their fouls to stop it.

Strategy says the Warriors will come out firing threes, take a lead, and make Cleveland play their game.

The intangible though will be guys coming off the bench.

The Warriors like to talk about their “Death Squad”, a package that includes Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Sean Livingston.

But the Cavs bench bunch is very different now than the last two playoff series. Yes JR Smith can launch shots, and Iman Shumpert can run an offense, and Richard Jefferson can lay down some ‘de’, but now Kyle Korver and his 3-point artistry and Damon Williams are part of the mix.

Steve Kerr won’t be on the bench with the on-going health issues. The familiar face, ex-Cavs coach Mike Brown, will run the show. Tyronne Lue, Cleveland’s coach, will sit and watch LeBron do what he does, run the offense.

This won’t be so much about drama on the court, it will just be about shot making, defending, foul trouble, and spurts of scoring.

It’s going to be great, maybe even as great as the good old days, Lakers-vs-Boston, or Michael Jordan-vs-anybody they beat from the West.

The Splash Brothers have too much firepower. The Cavs have to rely on LeBron more than anyone else.

Golden State gets it done, but it will really be fun.

-0-0-0-0-

to me
-0-

“NHL-Truth-vs-Fiction”

-0-

They’ve never liked Gary Bettman…NHL Commissioner. But then again, they never liked any of those leaders prior, John Zielger dating back to the historic days of Clarence Campbell.

It might be an “American thing”, that one of ours is running theirs, the sport the Canadians believe is their heritage.

The NHL is marching thru the Stanley Cup finals after a glorious post season run of games decided by 1-goals, overtimes, amazing saves.

Bettman wants us to believe the NHL is at its highest point.

Don’t know if the league is where it used to be in the Edmonton Oilers great Gretzky days, or the days of the Mike Bossy-led New York Islanders, and surely not the days of Beliveau-Richard-LaFleur-Montreal Canadiens.

Yes we have had a splash of great young talent, Connor McDavid and Austyn Matthews.

Yes, the NBC-TV contract is spectacular in terms of dollars, clearances, and viewership.

Yes, the new Hockey Night in Canada-Rogers network package remains tremendous in presentation and importance.

Yes, a sunbelt team is the finals, those yellow jerseys of the Nashville Predators, in a city that once supported the Nashville Dixie Flyers.l

Yes, a new franchise just forked over 500M to play in the high desert, the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Yes, concussions are down to penalty calls, new rules, some suspensions.

Yes, Donald Fehr seems no longer the catalyst for labor strife, but then again, anything was better than the corrupt Alan Eagleson.

But all is not well across the NHL landscape.

There is bitterness over the Bettman led-owners decision, not to allow players to go the Olympics. The NHL refused to shutdown the game for 18-days, unless they got money.

The concussion issues remain, including Bettman’s feelings there is no link between concussions and CTE, evenough a number of NHL tough guys have died terrible deaths in recent years.

That concussion lawsuit is still out there, not to be ignored, just ask the NFL.

We have more officials on the ice than ever before, but we still have inconsistent hot-and-cold calls on thinks like boarding, cross checking and hits on goalies.

Instant replay and coaches challenges sometimes work then don’t work, depending on the game.

Goal scoring has been at an all time low for a 5-year run up this till winter, and the league still needs to find a way to tweak rules that might open the game up more.

Ailing franchises still dot the map, the sick situation with the near homeless Arizona Coyotes in Phoenix, the Florida Panthers malaise, the Carolina Hurricanes market-owner issues.

And still sitting out there, open markets with arenas like Quebec City, Kansas City, and the potential of Seattle.

Enjoy the games, Sir Sidney Crosby, Doc Emrick and Don Cherry, but don’t buy into the slap shot sales pitch the NHL is doing great. Still way too many things unresovled.

Some truth. Some fiction.

Guess for hockey fans on both sides of the border, another reason to dislike Gary Bettman, these NHL playoffs not-withstanding.

-0-0-0-0-

0-

“Tiger in the Tank”

-0-

On a scale of 1-to-10, 10-being the absolute worst, this is about a “3”

But because it’s Tiger Woods, and because it again goes against all the norms we would want from our heroes, it’s getting covered non-stop.

The mugshot, taken at 3am, shows a bleary-eyed, looking half asleep and intoxicated, Woods, the former golfing icon and this ‘driving under the influence’ arrest..

He spent 7-hours in jail. Then 9-hours later, he issued a statement, it was not alcohol, but a negative reaction to a mixture medications for his on-going back surgeries.

Odd, the man who sends things out on twitter, and who pays a high priced PR firm to handle his media dealings, would have to wait 9-hours after his release from the jail in Jupiter, Florida, to make that statement, explanation-excuse..

Police have not issued an updated report. So we don’t know what he blew on breathalyzer, or if he just blew lunch because he got sick on his meds.

A real fall from grace for Tiger Woods.

Gold legend, marketing entrepreneur, the slick salesman.

You know, buy my clubs, buy my clothes, buy my cars. And buy the song and dance about what a great guy I am.

All that prior to his SUV wreck, when his wife caught him having affairs, here-there-everywhere, with all types of women.

End of marriage, end of reputation, cost him his sponsors, and 176M for her share of what he had built.

Then of course, the back injuries, the knee injuries, the surgeries, the collapse of his game.

Lots of golf fans were rooting for a comeback, but the last time we saw him was here at Torry Pines, failing to make the cut, and then shutting it down, for a 4th back operation, including 3-in a 14 month span.

If you are keeping score, on that scale of 1-to-10….Tiger’s philandering nights at home and on the road, rates a “10” in terms of negative things.

The back surgerird, cruel for any athlete to deal with, rates a “7” in terms of lifetime impact..

And this junk out of Jupiter is probably a “3”, unless police tell us something different.

A real fall from grace, with real bad implications because Tiger lied to all his fans, the media, and corporate American, about who he was, what he stood for, during all those years of greatness.

Sad to see ‘Tiger Tank’.

-0-0-0-0-

“The Old Brickyard-No Longer a Graveyard”

-0-

The Indy 500 has always been about speed, daring, nerve, bold passes and bad wrecks.

Once upon a time it was also about death, but no longer.

At 220mph, in traffic, if a driver got in trouble, he would likely die in the 500.

Some horrific crashes, cars airborne, cars hitting cars, cars hitting walls, and then fires.

75-have been killed in all at Indianapolis, including fans hit by debris, mechanics, who used to ride in cars, and then people involved in pit accidents.

Big name veterans, like Billy Vukovich, little known drivers like Pat O’Connor. Grizzled experienced guys like Eddie Sachs.

They died in 15-car crashes during the race, the most horrific the fires that engulfed Swede Savage. Three drivers died in one day in a tragic marred 1973. Scenes you never forget..

Sunday was as scary as we have seen. Not the outcome, the amazing come from behind win of Takuma Sato of Japan, not the attrition, 14-cars not finishing, not the scintillating run of Formula 1-champ Fernando Alonso, getting to first, before his engine quit late, but what happened to one of the leaders.

Former 500-champion Scott Dixon is alive because of all the deaths from before.

He climbed out of the tub of his car, the back end having been ripped away, without a major injury.

That after a crashed car bounced off the wall into his path, at 190mph. Dixon ran over the tire of rookie Jay Howard, went airborne, started to roll, hit the inside wall, the retaining fend, flipped upside down on the track, flipped rightside up, and stopped wit the engine on fire.

Rescue workers were there within :30.

The destroyed car’s driver cockpit stayed intact. The HANS, neck device prevented the driver’s head from snapping side to side. The 5-way seat belt, locked him into the seat. The cushion padding around all sides and beneath him, shielded him from the force of the crash, diffusing the violence of the impact. Fire no longer a fear because of a different type of Sunoco fuel.

He went driver side into that catch fence. It scared me, for the exact same crash a couple of years back claimed the life of Indy car star Dan Wheldon in a terrible tragedy in Las Vegas.. The safer barriers play a role too as do the catch fences, so cars do not go into the stands.

Dixon was secure in his car as it cart-wheeled along the fence.

Much like NASCAR, it took the death of Dale Earnhardt-Senior to lead to radical changes in driver protection. Ditto for the Indy car series.

Speed, passing, drafting is what makes the Indy 500 the spectacle it is, and it’s why 300,000 fans comes to the race on Memorial Day weekend.

These are special guys, with special traits, to climb into these cars, designed like rocket ships.

Sports medicine has saved lives. Sports technology has made these cars even safer.

It is the Great American Race. Back Home in Indiana, but it is better now than it has been in a long time, with apologies to AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti and the calvalcade of all the great names.

The Old Brickyard, no longer a graveyard. Scott Dixon can attest to that.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Flags, Friends and Family

By Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton

CW 6-Sports

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 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-