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“King & Court Get the Crown”

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They played 82-games…pounded their way thru 4-grueling playoff series…and then went till the final (:53) seconds of the season before it was decided.

And to top all that excitement, it wasn’t offense, but defense, that led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA title over the Golden State Warriors last night.

It was a night and a series of super-human, superman-type efforts.

The Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson put on some amazing shooting shows. LeBron James took over games and was unstoppable.

There were fire and ice performances from the likes of Draymond Green and Kyrie Irving.

People got hurt, players got fined, and the fans were in a constant frenzy. A nation watched in record setting numbers too.

But it was the other end of the court that decided this Cavalier outcome. Cleveland held Golden State wihtout a basket for the final (4:39) of the game. The Warriors stifled the Cavs offense, giving up just 1-basket, the Kyrie Irving long distance jumper, before it was determined.

The two video game offenses went a combined (1-for-17) when it counted most.. Steph Curry missed his final 4-shots of the season. LeBron James failed to convert on his final four drives to the hoop.

They were all spent when it was over. James collapsing in tears on the floor from exhaustion or exhuberation. Coach Tyronne Lue sat on the bench and wept in joy. The sulleness of Curry and Klay Thompson told the story on the other bench.

But when it was over the angry Draymond Green hugged King James, and stars and backups saluted the fans too in that Oakland arena, while the fans back at Quicken Loans Arena, watching on big screens, went wild.

For Cleveland, it was the first time to get a ring. A team that missed out last year; a team that almost got there during the Miracle in Richfield era under Bill Fitch.

The Warriors dazzled us the last two years. But in the end, live by the three, you might die by the three, and they did, when the shots that were falling early, failed to get there at there at the end. You seldom lose when you hit 15-three point bombs, but they did, because the other guys were so good too.

When you see that type of talent, that type of emotional and physical committment, you marvel. You also wonder if the Lakers or Knicks will ever get back there. You wonder if Sacramaneto or Milwaukee will ever be good. Of if the woeful 76ers have any hope.

The Cavs and Warriors gave America everything they had. When it counted, the two best played the best for all seven outings.

As former Commissioner David Stern was wont to say “I love this game”, especially when it is played by the quality of talent we saw wearing Wine and Gold and Blue and Gold.

The King & his court beat the Splash Brothers.

The Cavs win. The Warriors were just (:53) short of being winners themselves. No one lost in this playoff series.

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“Hitting Hero”

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He came here with a reputation, he just departed here with a baseball record for the ages.

I thought to myself as I stood in the press, where we are not supposed to cheer’ and clapped, whether the fans in the stands would do the same for the other guy?

Ichuro Suzuki, the ageless wonder at 42, left here with the Miami Marlins with a (.349) batting average, quite an accomplishment. He left here too with the base hit record, with an asterisk attached to it, (4,257), the combined total of what he did in Japan and what he has done with the Mariners-Yankees and now Miami.

It was a standing ovation well deserved, everywhere across baseball, except in Las Vegas, where the Hit King, the Gambler, Pete Rose felt it was important to throw cold water on Suzuki’s red hot bat.

He called the set of base hit stats Ichuro compiled in Japan ‘irrelevant’, saying if a journeyman 4A-player like Tuffy Rhodes, the ex-Cub, could hit 55-home runs there, how good could the leagues really be?

He said if we’re compiling stats, then add in all of Rose’s minor league numbers too, (301-hits) at Macon, Tampa and Geneva as he climbed the minor league ladder to Cincinnati.

25-years into his career, Ichuro is still hitting against the best. Rose played till he was 45, and yes an accomplishment.

Ichuro had an amazing response to the Rose critique, insinuating he plays the game “the right way”. Ouch, that’s like a scorching line drive right thru the box, referencing Rose, betting, suspension, lies and revisionist history.

It’s always been about Rose, his wishes, his needs, his desires, his warped takes on all he accomplished, what he did, and how he should be remembered.

Suzuki might not be done. He could conceivably go another couple of years, and some think he might be a 3,000-hit guy here in baseball.

The Marlin was respectful, calling the Hit King, Mr. Rose, but he was right on with what he said about Rose too, the player, and the person.

Here’s the fitting climax to all of this. When all is said and done, and Ichuro is done driving his last hit down the line, might he wind up in Cooperstown, for all his accomplishments in all of baseball?

I wonder if Padres fans, and players in both dugouts, who gave Ichuro a standing ovation, would do the same now for Mr. Rose.

And I wonder, in this era where the Hall of Fame voters are so enraged at the steroid era, and baseball cheats, whether they would vote ‘yes’ to Ichuro in Cooperstown?

Wonder what Pete Rose would say about that?

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“Heaven & Hell-US Open Golf”

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They built the course at the turn of the last century.

The Oakmont Country Club, just outside Pittsburgh, hosts the US Open today, as the world’s best golfers face possibly the US Open’s toughest course.

The favorite phrase at Oakmont, ‘it will test your skill…it will test your soul’.

Oakmont is a 7,100-yard, tightly confined course. There are no rivers, no streams, not alot of trees to hit around.

But you better keep it in the fairway, or else you’ll never see ‘red’ on the scorecard or leader board.

There will be 3-layers of rough down the fairways and around the greens. The best words to describe what they might hit balls into is ‘lush and thick’. A better word would be ‘trouble’.

The fairways are tight, or according to their pamphlet description, ‘slender’. All that is synonymous with disciplined or conservative off the tee.

And then there are the greens, fast, tilted, dangerous. The best adverbs are ‘slick’ or ‘swift’. It all depends where you place your approach shot, and good luck if you think you can predict which way your ball will roll once it lands.

It’s a maddening track for sure. It was a slice of the persona of what the US Open has become historically in golf.

Sam Snead won here. Ben Hogan won here. Jack Nicklaus won here. Arnie Palmer never did. Tiger Woods never did. And none of the young guns who tee off today, have ever played here, aside from yesterday’s practice rounds.

Somehow Johnny Miller survived here and did shoot a 63 on the final round to win. But in 2007, no one put a score in red, and the winner finished 5-over par.

The best will have to deal with the toughest. But for all the wild shots that Phil Mickelson might hit, it’s no different for Rory McIlroy, or the streaky Jordan Spieth, or the budding superstar Jason Day. This is how golf’s leaders want it, at least this weekend.

The Grand Slam events are so much fun to watch. From the British Open links courses in Scotland and England, to the history and beauty of Augusta, but this US Open is a memory for the ages. You don’t necessarily win it, you may just try to survive it. Conquer it before it conquers you.

The USGA is all about ‘saving the integrity of par’, and they will over the next four days.

It’s heavenly to play at a historic place like Oakmont. It will be hell on the course however. It’s the US Open.

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“Projecting-Predicting-Bolts Football”

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It is just a very different feel right now at the Fortress, Chargers Park.

It has nothing to do with fans turning out for off season workouts, nor Mike McCoy’s litany of clichés about positive practices, or the cheerleader newspaper columnists in town.

It feels different, it looks different, it sounds different.

The misery of last year’s (4-12) Chargers season is now in the rear-view mirror. New players, new assistant coaches, and new found health seems to have put this team on a better track. Sure the first 8-weeks of the schedule are tough, but if you compare what San Diego has become, compared to the defections in Denver, the multiple surgery issues in Kansas City, and the growth of youth in Oakland, you’d have to believe things are looking up in Boltville.

Philip Rivers seems to have the best firepower around him since the last quality playoff run this team had in 2013.

The crushing number of injuries to the offensive line seem to have gone away, with the re-emergence of all five starters health, the acquisition of center Matt Slauson, and the growth of young backup lineman like Ken Wiggins and others.

Melvin Gordon is running with power, authority and cutting ability, bounding back from what appears to be minor micro fracture surgery.

Keenan Allen has emerged as a star receiver in this league, Travis Benjamin provides scary speed, and people are raving about big young receiver Tyrell Williams as the heir apparent to Malcom Floyd.

The farewell tour of Antonio Gates is about to begin, and his future replacement, Hunter Henry is catching everything throw in his direction.

On defense, that is a legitimate proven wide body at nose-tackle in Brandon Mebane.

And now there is speed to burn on the blitz package, with Joey Bosa joining Melvin Ingram and Jerry Attaochu.

And the secondary seems trustworthy. Jason Verrett seems to be a star in the making, but Dwight Lowery, Casey Hayward and Brandon Flowers have thousands of snaps under their belt to bring stability to what was a porous secondary group.

Sure it’s early, and yes there’s lots of football to be played. But for the first time in a long time, the positive vibes coming off that practice field, seem real, not imagined.

The Chargers have alot of banners hung across the top of their building, for winning divisional titles. There might be another one coming this season.

From (4-12) to 1st place this year. It might happen. Worst to first in the AFC-West, could happen.

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“The Future Arrived”

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The Padres first round draft pick, Calvin Quantrill, was here last night, threw a bullpen session, met with us the media, and is headed this morning to Arizona and the Padres extended spring training camp.

Some week for the wiry 6’2, 190-pound flame throwing pitcher. Drafted out of Stanford on Thursady with the eighth pick; graduated at Palo Alto on Sunday. Drove all night here tos ign his contract, and noow is headed to the desert.

All confidence all the time, and that all the time, with his 95mph fastball and vicious sinker.

He pitched one year with the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond, tore an elbow ligament, early in the second season, and has been on a 14-month rehab plan since.

“I won’t be here long, but I hope to be back here by next year”, refering his early start to a pro career in Arizona, and his hopes to make the major league roster next spring.

The Padres game plansis for him to throw in short sessions for two weeks in bullpen workouts. He threw in the Padres bullpen on Monday afternoon for 10-minutes, with 15-front office execs on hand watching.

“It was a rush to be on a major league mound in a major league ballpark”.

He will then make a couple of starts, 2-innings in length in the Arizona Summer League, and then likely report to Tri Cities, the Rookie League team the Padres have in the Class A-Northwest League, with that arrival likely August 1st.

The Padres want him to pitch only 20-innings at Tri Cities, remembering he has not pitched in a real game since March of 2014 before the injury.

“Wow” was the only word he used to describe his feeling walking into the Padres clubhouse at 3pm on Monday.l :”I hung around and followed my Dad in clubhouses during his career, but this is my career now:”

His father Paul strung together a 14-year majjor league carrer and was a strong setup man and closer for the Blue Jays.

“He told me, remember it’s a game, but have fun”, but he also knows he will follow closely the rehab plan, conservative in nature, put together by LA surgeon Dr. Neil El Attrache. “Love the game and be a pro” were his parting words, father to his son.

He had no idea the Padres would take him, though :”four or five clubs were very interested all along” San Diego made the early move.

An MLB exec told me a team right behind the Padres would have taken him if San Diego had bypassed him at eight..

“He would not have lasted till our 24th pick” said GM AJ Preller, “we knew that, and that was why we acted quickly”

There is no fear in the righthander, on the mound, or his approach post-surgery. “I know the rate of success in Tommy John surgeries. This works”.

As he left the press conference, a closing comment, “It was a relief to getup on the mound, I waited a long time to pitch, I’m dreamed about this day for 15-years.

He signed at a slot figure around 3.6M, and will begin workouts Wednesday in Arizona with an eye on ASL action by July 1st.

Brimming with the fastball and sinker, full of confidence, he is read to start for a franchise that desperately needs him, sooner than later.

The Padres future has arrived. When he begins on the mound in San Diego cannot be far behind.

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