to me
“Good Move or Bad–for Once Great-Now Bad Franchise”

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They were great for so many years, and now it’s over.

LA Lakers basketball is at a modern day all time low.

You have to work really hard to screw up a legendary franchise, but they did.

Was it front office incompetence, or was it just the reality that the era of the salary cap does catch up to you, from a player personnel standpoint, from a draft pick standing?.

Look at where the Knicks are. What the Celtics have become.

You win, you keep drafting at the bottom, where the picks are more risk than talented.

You win, stars earn mega-contracts, get their paydays, then get old, and then you get stuck with the salary cap rules.

So the Lakers clean house. Magic Johnson is given the keys to the building as President of Basketball Operations. We know his credentials as a player, Showtime and all.

We also know he failed after he was given the chance to take over as Lakers interim coach. We also know, that his other entries into sports, as a Dodgers so-called investor, didn’t make a difference.

Gone is the heir to the franchise, Jim Buss, removed. Taken out also longtime GM-Mitch Kupchack, victimized by the Lakers success eras, and probably Jim Buss.

Dumped also was longtime VP-Communications John Black, viewed as a confidante to the others dismissed.

The Lakers are in the midst of rebuilding for the future, all while trying to live in the past. Just because Magic is now the point man, after being the great point guard, does not guarantee anything.

Will big money free agents take the LA money and and put on Purple and Gold, just because Magic said it will be better? Aren’t you better to draft quality young players, stockpile talent, and coach them up?

LA has a good college team right now. Trouble is, they are a franchise in the NBA, not in the Pac 12 or ACC.

Keep the core intatct…use another high draft pick to get a blue-chipper to add to Julius Randle, DeAngelo Russell and Brandon Ingram. It’s a starting point. Granted the end result this year, playing all the kids, will be a bad season, but net you another lottery pick.

Only come July 1st will we really see whether the lure of Magic, or the hiring of a key NBA-GM can make a difference, and help build the franchise.

Larry Bird has turned out to be a good GM, doing some good things in Indiana. Phil Jackson has not turned out well in New York with the Knicks. It took Danny Ainge ages of painful seasons to help turn Boston. Michael Jordan in Washington, then Charlotte, hasn’t done much.

Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Lew Alcindor, all part of the legacy. Magic-Kareem-Worthy part of the LA heritage. Kobe-Shaq-Phil and Dwight Howard, were the most recent contributors to Lakers lore.

But the rules changed, with the cap. Players got old. Players got hurt. The cap rules are now much more stringent. And bad leadership is why they are where they are.

(19-39) as they start the 2nd half of the season tonite. That (84-220) record over the last three years is equally awful.

Magic? Only time tells if this was a good move for a franchise that has fallen on bad times.

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“Tragedy & Terrible Stories”

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The pall over the Miami Marlins and Kansas City Royals camps is like a low cloud cover that just will not go away.

It was late last September when Marlins pitching sensation, and favorite son, Jose Fernandez lost his life in a middle of the night boat crash on a Miami Beach jetty.

It was just last month when Royals phenom Yordano Ventura died in a violent rollover crash on a back road in the middle of the night just outside Santo Domingo.

Fernandez beloved in Miami, not just for his big strikeout outings, but his personality, his charity work, his ability to come back from elbow ligament transplant surgery.

Yordano was the spirt and the fire of the KC pitching staff, that wound up going to back-to-back World Series.

Devastating losses to both ballclubs.

Equally devastating now, the post-mortems on the players.

Marlins players are stunned, and the burden of sorrow is even heavier today.

Fernandez had a blood alcohol count of (.147), nearly twice the legal limit. He had cocaine and stimulants in his system also.

No one really knows if he was at the controls of his high priced speed boat, going at more than 70mph, when it ran over a jetty at a harbor entrance, killing the pitcher and 2-friends instantly.

Fernandez had asked Marlins teammates that afternoon to join him on his late night cruise, the one that took his life at 3am.

Yordano, a free spirit party boy, died on a dirt road out in the country in the middle of the night.

Police refuse to release the toxicology report as to whether he was drunk or had substances in his system, when he was ejected and killed instantly when he hit the pavement.

The family wants the remaining 20M owed on his baseball contract.

But now terrible reports of intrigue in his personal life. Money, despair over a one year broken marriage, a miscarriage, a lawsuit by the woman’s former husband, and threats on his life by Latin underworld figures. Incidents in Surprise, Arizona and at his home in Kansas City.

Who knew? No one. Who knows? How can you know about player’s private lives.

What we do know is that two baseball clubhouses are devastated with the data coming out about their friend and teammate. And the Marlins and Royals are reeling because you just don’t replace talent like that.

And MLB baseball, and its security arm, is haunted by the inability to help players cope with things they get involved in off the field.

Sadly, the young talent, the money, the culture, has taken two more lives in sports. No one learns. No one can solve it.

Just another baseball stat, with far reaching implications beyond ERAs, OPS, WHIPs.

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“Padres Pitching-Sinkhole-or-Hidden Treasure”

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Padres baseball. Are they Hernando deSoto searching for gold, or are they the old goldpanners picking up gold dust-fools gold in the river?

The search for pitching for the 2017 season is taking them lots of directions.

They are giving (demanding) pitching coach Darren Balsley earn his pay this season.

The latest acquisitions are the former ace of the Angels staff Jered Weaver, he age 34, possessor of neck and shoulder problems.

Weaver slogged thru two bad seasons in Anaheim, finishing up his 20M a year mega contract. He was (19-24) over the last two years. The stats are staggering (61-homers) allowed in a 337-innings span, in which he allowed a total of 458-base runners also over the last two summers.

Yes the fiery Weaver won (150-games) in his storied career in Halos land, but he was a shell of the pitcher he used to be.

The Padres also added 35-year old lefthander Hyun Chih-Kwo, who spent 6-years with the Dodgers. He did not pitch an inning last year, after spending the 2-prior seasons back home pitching in Taiwan. He did have decent years as a long reliever in LA, but not recently.

And if those deals don’t shout ‘desperation’, how about this one?.

The Padres worked out Eric Gagne, now 41, who wants to make a comeback. He hasn’t thrown a fastball in anger in the majors since 2008.

He had 3-brilliant years with the Dodgers…with (152) saves over that time. You do remember the fastball and the (718) strikeouts in (647)innings, but that was before he injured an elbow, lost his velocity, and was named in the HGH-Mitchell Report.

The Padres are searching, or is it scrambling? They now have 38-pitchers in camp in Peoria.

The rule 5-find, the kid pitcher, Luis Perdomo is at the top of the rotation. Weaver may be second man up, then once-promising Clayton Richards, fully recovered from collarbone surgery. Trevor Cahill will attempt to go back into the rotation after finding his slider in the Cubs bullpen. Jhoulys Chacin is hoping to recapture what he once was with the Rockies.

After that, good luck. Chrisitan Friederich returns, but how can you ignore the stat he won just 1-time in his final 16-starts.

Paul Clemens Jared Cosart, journeyman Ty Jenkins, Carlos Fisher, Dodgers reject Zach Lee, White Sox castoff Adrian Rienzo and former National closer Craig Stammen are all part of a group who will get looks in b-games, minor league games, and on back fields.

Padres ownership wants to express excitement about all the young prospects, who might be delivered here in 2019.

This pitching staff will be asked to pitch 162-games in each of the next two summers.

Maybe the Padres uncover a couple of gems. Maybe Balsley waves his magic wand to recaptures health or youth.

Or maybe the search for gold, gives us fools gold on the mound.

The names on the Padres pitching staff roster right now look more sinkhole than hidden treasure.

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“NBA-Halfway Home-Halfway to Heaven-Hell”

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It’s the mid-season break, the All Star break in the National Basketball Association.

Shooting 3-Pointers and Air Balls, I am.

Lakers….Stagger-skid-sink to (19-39) record at the break, this after a (10-10) start under Luke Walton….losing 29-of-38 is pretty horrific…the pschye damage to such a young roster is evident…now they look lke they have quit…and it’s only mid-season…..Plus you have Magic Johnson trying to undermine everyone, from Mitch Kupchack to Jim Buss, saying he has to be President of Basketball Operations. With apology in advance, the last time he said he wanted something, it was to coach, and I think there was a 9-game losing streak on his watch the end of that ugly season….He’s living in the past…the Lakers need better leadership for the future.

Clippers…As good as they are over the last couple of years, it’s just not been good enough to even get to the NBA-Western Conference finals….They still have the big 3-but that’s really all they have…and this spring will be no different…a playoff series or two then it’s over…they really need a way to created some additional cap space and get another key player.

Golden State…They did add Kevin Durant, but don’t have the dominant record they had a year ago (remember people saying 75-wins)…though (47-9) is pretty good…Not sure we have seen how dominant they can be…maybe a 7-game series will bring that out in them.

San Antonio…Life after Tim Duncan is pretty good for the Spurs (43-13)….You can’t say that to Coach Greg Popovich-he knows that already…but this is something special, and they even survived a major injury to Pao Gasol along the way.

Houston…Mike D’Antoni has reinvented himself…and this (40-18) record has been done after saying goodbye to Dwight Howard…it is James Harden’s team, but it’s just not him by himself.

Boston…It’s taken years and years of rebuilding, drafting well, stockpiling talent…but Danny Ainge has this team right there (37-19)…the Boston version of Isaiah Thomas is pretty special.

Philadelphia….At least they will win more than 10-games this year…and Joel Embid is something special….and you wonder if they ever get all their guys on the floor healthy at once, how quickly they could come…Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel and Ben Simmons still haven’t spent much time together.

New York Knicks…Nice soap opera…James Dolan-failing owner….Phil Jackson-tweeting General Manager….Jeff Hornacek-lost coach…Carmelo Anthony-selfish star…Charles Oakley-bitter ex employee…New York tabloids going crazy…All you need to know is the Zen Master is (55-84) in a year and a half.

Dallas..Sad to see this franchise circle the drain with the great Dirk Nowitzki having to finish his career with this mess.

Oklahoma City….The heroics of Russell Westbrook, left behind after Kevin Durant defected and Serge Ibaka was traded….what a great player…maybe hope they can add a free agent next off season…being above .500-post Durant is impressive

Sacramento….DeMarcos Cousins is such a talent and such a powder keg…waiting for the next big game and next big incident.

Phoenix..What a disgrace this franchise has become, considering what they were for decades under Jerry Colangelo’s guidance.

Brooklyn Nets….Guess all the Russian rubles from the oil money ownership hasn’t made much of a difference in this franchise…in fact even worse than when they were the New Jersey Nets.

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“Anybody Got Any Ideas-Any Money-Any Hope?”

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It seems awful late in the game for ‘concerned citizens’ to suddenly show up and present financing ideas for an NFL stadium, after we lost the San Diego Chargers, doesn’t it?

Questions worth asking in the hours after it became public that developer Doug Manchester has sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, pledging local financiing for an NFL Stadium.

Is Manchester proposing his group pay the entire cost of the 1.8B-stadium?

Is Manchester’s group going to bid to take over development of all 166-acres of the Qualcomm sight for a massive development?

Has the Manchester group already met with the Mayor and City Council to talk about this project?

Is Manchester’s group talking to F-S Investors about subletting the 16-parcel tract of land they have set aside for an NFL stadium, as a part of their Soccer-Rivre Park-Aztecs plan?

Is Manchester talking about co-funding local money in combination with what the City-County-San Diego State and CSAG proposed?

Is the Manchester group willing to step into the gap and come up with the 650M shortfall the Raiders have in the Las Vegas project, and put that money into the pot, if the Raiders would consider San Diego?.

Why did Manchester and his backers not step forward and try to solve financing while Dean Spanos still had the franchise in San Diego and there was a public drive to save the team?

The devil is in the details in something this big.

The disappointment is that the Chargers-City relationship was allowed to go to hell, burn to the ground, while others out there, who could have helped, didn’t help, until now.

Sadly it seems some money people came to the party too late, by accident, or by design?.

We don’t have a team…now we have people who have ideas. Too little-too late?

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