“Something Special-San Antonio”

 

 
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The second half of the NBA season starts tomorrow night, and all the attention now will be focused on the run to the playoffs and the potential record setting season of the Golden State Warriors.

 

 

Someone should pay attention to the other team in the NBA, doing spectacular things, the San Antonio Spurs.

 

 

Golden State rolls the ball out on the floor with a (48-4) record, primed to shatter the all time single season record, set by the Michael Jordan led-1995 Chicago Bulls, that roared home (72-10) in the midst of all those championship seasons.

 

 

Golden State has firepower, in two of the best long distance shooters in NBA history, in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. The apple doesn’t flal far from the tree, the sons of former 3-point shooting star Del Curry, and 1st round draft pick Mychael Thompson.

 

 

The Warriors turned the corner with the growth of power forward Draymond Green, who has become as dynamic a power forward as the league has seen in ages. Add in the toughness, the rebounding, the defense, the grit of Andrew Bogut, another high number one, and you know why the Warriors cause trouble matching when it is time to talk matchups.

 

 
Off the bench, they bring every sytle possible with Harrison Barnes, Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala.

 

 

Lost in all the conversation though is the era the San Antonio Spurs are marching through with Greg Popovich. They tipoff after this All Star break with a (45-8) record, and with all that postseason experience.

 

 

You cannot say the ‘era is over’ in San Antonio. Yes the odometer on Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli has cleared 100,000 miles for each. And yes they are the last part of the David Robinson era, the last group of great seasons they strung together in the Alamo city.

 

 

But as an organizaiton, they are superb. The next generation gem, who arrived in a draft trade, was Kawhi Leonard. Known for his defense and his rebounding, he has become an enormous offensive threat. He might be as complete a forward as there is in the NBA, at both ends of the court.

 

 

The Spurs have never been big players in free agency, but they spent once and wisely, for LaMarcus Aldridge gives then big buckets, some rebounds, and just lots of energy.

 

 

San Antonio was one of the first to explore the foreign market, where everybody goes hunting these days. Thus the rewards of the Parker-Ginobli back court for so many years.

 

 

And they do bring points off the bench, with Boris Diaw, Danny Green, Patty Mills and David West. So good, so deep, so diverse.

 

 

Golden State is all about being loud, the “Splash Brothers”, their bay area version of Showtime. San Antonio doesn’t say much, just gets it done, from the coach to the players, year-in, year out, and years after they were supposed to be done.

 

 

The NBA has been all about names in neon lights, Pat Riley and the Dream Team in Miami for three years, King James, and what LeBron is trying to do in Cleveland. But out west, these guys are really, really good.

 

 

This will be fun to watch the rest of the way, to see if the Warriors can get the record, and who will survive when it really becomes playoff time.

 

 

Golden State with its star power-firepower, and the Spurs, with its experience and philosophy of the team game.

 

 
Warriors-Spurs headed towards each other on a collission course in postseason. And the second half of the season starts tomorrow night.

 

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“Just Asking-Ray Rice”

 

 

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We’ve come thru the 2015-NFL season with all the lawbreakers on the field, except one. Wither Ray Rice?

 

 

Rice comes to mind with the report late last night that TMZ, employing checkbook journalism tactics, paid 100,000 to obtain the two videos of the Ray Rice inducement.

 

 

One of Rice dragging his then fiancée out of an elevator after she hit her head inside. Then the second, more damning video, of Rice actually slugging her and knocking her out.

 

 

We all know the end result. The Baltimore Ravens suspend Rice, then a couple of weeks later, in the midst of a natiowide firestorm about domestic abuse, terminate his big money contract, which had 36M left on it.

 

 

That was followed by appeals, hearings, arbitration cases, and then eventually a plea bargain from the player, and later reinstatement by the NFL after he missed an entire season. Of course there has been no contract offer for Rice, not from Baltimore, to bring him back, or from anyone else.

 

 

Some say he is too toxic for any franchise to want to bring on board. That’s garbage. He did something wrong, he profusely apologized, has done charity work, and has paid a steep price, emotionally and financially for a night of too many drinks with the woman he married.

 

 

Others say age caught up to him, probably more true that anything else, because his production had tailed off the prior two years, and running backs do get old once you cross age 30.

 

 

The NFL was reeling in 2014, Greg Hardy’s guns and punches attack on his ex-girlfriend. A year long paid suspension was followed by a free-agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Adrian Peterson sat our nearly the same season, after the child abuse incident, though he was paid during all the discipline hearings. He comes back and had a spectacular 2015 year for Minnesota.

 

 
And as we reached the end of the 2015 campaign, the latest to step into the spotlight were Johnny Manziel for his off-field escapades, or Vontaze Burfict for his violent acts on the field.

 

 

If you were to list the hideous aspects of what each of the above mentioned players did, where does Rice fall, for a 1-punch knockout? Yet no one wants to give him a chance to show if he has anything left to give on the field.

 

 

Adding to all this is now the latest chapter in the Rice story. A security guard at the Atlantic City hotel, where the drinking spree, led to arguments, led to the punch and the knockout, found the incident on security video. He taped it on his cell phone and then called TMZ and offered to sell it to them.

 

 

Nothing like profiteering is there in modern America?

 

 

None of this equals the Rae Carruth murder of his pregnant girlfriend in Carolina, which got him a lifetime sentence. Surely not as bad as ex-Rams running back Lawrence Phillips, trying to kill people with his car, and then choking a cellmate, just prior to killing himself.

 

 

But it makes you wonder why Rice has had to pay the worst penalty of the clan of 2014?

 

 

As for the security guard, isn’t modern social media great in America these days? As for Ray Rice, one mistake ruined his career. Others got away with it. He got caught.

 

 

 

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“This-That-The Other”

 

 
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Pitchers-Catchers Report…Here come the Padres hurlers and receivers. They should all wear name tags after the organization got rid of the bullpen and bid so long to starter Ian Kennedy. What once was a strength is now a weakness, unless some of these journeyman minor leaguers they acquired surpise people.

 

 
The Dodgers open camp with no Zack Greinke, though they spent money to bring in Scott Kazmir and Japanese star Kenta Maeda. The most interesting storyline, does a more mature Yasiel Puig find his missing skills and motivation under Dave Roberts.

 

 
The Angels sure have issues, the amount of money they are paying an aging Jared Weaver and the guy they want to trade CJ Wilson. How healthy and when will Albert Pujols be ready, and do they have enough help for super-stud Mike Trout.

 

 
The NBA All Star Game was a love in for Kobe Bryant as he continued his farewell tour. Don’t know if all the french pastry on offense in a 190-points outburst was worth the price of admission. Maybe the pregame and halftime rock shows made up for how shallow the game really was.

 

 
LeSean McCoy, the Bills and ex-Eagles running back, admits he made a ‘mistake’-you think. The Philadelphia mayor is enraged McCoy and his posse would get involved in a stomping incident of 3-off duty cops that caused significant internal injuries. Can you say prison time? Can you say NFL big time suspension?

 

 
Ken Whisenhunt has re-emerged as the Offensive Coordinator with the Chargers, and his first statement, ‘we will run the ball’ sounds great. Now he has to back it up. He believes, as Mike McCoy, as I do, Melvin Gordon is a star in waiting, as soon as they get him an offensive line.

 

 
Everybody has an opinion on the arrival to of Fred Maas to take over Stadium negotiations repping the Chargers. He may be a Dean Spanos advocated, but he is also a civic minded leader. No more acidic-toxic comments, just common sense bargaining and they have 6-weeks to move the dollars around, build a consensus, and prepare to get signatures for a vote. Mark Fabiani and Spanos-quite a tandem, sure accomplished alot didn’t they?

 

 
Good to see Aztecs 3-point shooter Matt Shrigley come off the bench and hit 4-threes in the first half against Air Force. They need his offense, and he needed to find his touch and skill after the seirous summer knee surgery. He really came of age last year down the stretch last spring right around tourney time.

 

 
What’s the real future of USD athletics? Football plays so well but get no notice in our town. Basketball cannot get out of its losing tailspin, and empty seats outnumber the student body at home games. Not a good sign. Outside of Gonzaga, BYU and the St Mary’s Gaels, it’s like the conference does not exist. Maybe it’s the bi-product of being really a Division III program, though I know Division III programs across the country that draw fans. Maybe it’s being Division III in a major league market.

 

 
The San Diego Gulls may have to make the AHL playoffs without leading scorer Nick Ritchie and veteran goalie Anton Khudobin, both called up by the parent Anaheim Ducks. Ritchie could be gone 4-to-8 weeks after Chris Stewart suffered a fractured jaw in a fight. Khudobin replaces an injured John Gibson in goal for the short term.

 

 
What a weekend for the LA Marathon, and San Diego icon Meb Keflezighi, finishing a strong second behind Oregon superstar Galen Rupp, to earn his 4th trip to the Olympics. Meb, the former Uni-UCLA star is 40-years old, and came in just (:68) behind Rupp in the Olympic qualifier.

 

 
I told you the fiery Miguel Herrera would do a good job with the Tijuana XOLOs, after they hired the deposed Mexican World Cup soccer team. They’ve lost just 1-of-7 games since he took over as head coach. Wish the XOLOs could play some home games in San Diego, to test the real outdoor market here, for a potential MLS team.

 

 

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“Padres Head out of Town-Has Season Gone South”?

 

 

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It was a strange feel yesterday out-front of Petco Park. So different than a year ago.

 

 

You remember a year ago, don’t you? When the Padres and their brash General Manager ‘won’ the winter baseball meetings, by making 7-trades, including the Matt Kemp-Justin Upton deals, and then shocked the world the night before the season began by dealing for relief ace Craig Kimbrel.

 

 

That was a long time ago, and alot of disappointing losses ago too. A year ago this morning, as the Padres headed to the Cactus League, the buzz in the town was something. Season tickets had rocketed . Ticket sales overall had gone up 600% from where they were the year prior heading into 2014. Yes, 2015 was to be different.

 

 

It was, oh it was, a real let-down of a season. It takes us now to where we were yesterday outside Petco Park.

 

 

The Padres tried to create some energy with the loading of their equipment trucks, taking some 17,000 pounds of baseball gear to Arizona for the start of spring training. Bats, Balls, weightlifting equipment, boxes upon boxes and jerseys, shoes, hats, bubble gum and sunflower seeds.

 

 

What I thought would be a fun thing to see and cover for Channel 6, turned out to be just like last season, a disappointment. Hardly anyone showed up.

 

 

The Padres put single game tickets on sale yesterday, and the most fans standing in line at any one time I counted, was ten, ten, ten. Granted you can also buy tickets via their website, and most people wanted ducats for opening day at home vs the Dodgers. But there were no long lines in the 3-hours I was there.

 

 

Compare this off season to last off season, and it was night and day, North Pole-Equator etc, etc. Last year, during the off season, the Padres held four big press conferences. The arrival of Kemp, the Upton trade, the James Shields signing. This winter, not one press conference, aside from the new manager Andy Green. . Guess the deal for Cardinals outfielder John Jay doesn’t merit such.

 

 

Whereas there was so much buzz this time last year, this winter sounds like a bat hitting a ball in the inside cages at Petco, echoing off the walls in an empty building. That’s the feeling you get from what the front office has done, strip-mine the roster, import a ton of prospects (suspects), who will be in the minor leagues to start the season.

 

 

 

Nobody wants to use the word ‘rebuild’ around the Padres offices, but it sure looks like that. The club isn’t tanking like Houston did for 3-years, or like the Cubs did, but there are not alot of starts on their roster right now aside from the names Kemp-Myers-Ross-Shields..

 

 

 

The other thing that struck me odd, in a winter of discontent, with all the self-destruct things the Chargers did to their reputation, the Padres missed a window to grab this town by the shirt-collar, and create excitement. There should have been a press conference a month. Introducing Mark McGwire. Bringing in John Jay. Importing the hot rookies they got from the Red Sox. Could have created interest. Instead nothing.

 

 

Smart people run that organization, from Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler, to Mike Dee and Wayne Partello. Those guys have made Petco Park a fun place, a destination point, to be in the summer. They missed an opportunity to further sell baseball, especially when the NFL team was creating enemies everywhere. Buzz became zzzzzzzz.

 

 

So the trucks are off on their 10-hour trip to the Cactus League. Pitchers and catchers report, then the full roster, then all the phenoms who will probably make the San Antonio Missions a Texas League champion.

 

 

For all the excitement yesterday could have brought, it was a letdown, like the winter, like last season, hopefully not for the season to come.

 

 

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“They Just Don’t Learn”

 
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You can pass all the rules you want. You can meet with them time and time again. You can remind them of what has happened in the past.

 

 

They just don’t remember-do they? They just don’t learn-do they?

 

 

The NFL, a year removed from the hideous trifecta of off field incidents with Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy and Ray Rice, now has to deal with more and the off season is just three days old.

 

 
We have the violent outburst of a brawl in a restaurant involving Buffalo Bills big money running back LeSean McCoy. And we have the continuing saga of the off the field issues that Johnny Manziel drags himself into. And we should have an NFL at its wits end trying to preserve the integrity of its shield, its game, its rosters.

 

 
Adrian Peterson, child beater, sat out a year, was paid nearly his full salary, and got back on the field this year. In Minnesota I guess memories are short, so they forgave or just forgot about the Peterson whupping of his son, as he led the NFL in rushing.

 

 
Hardy threatened to sit kill his ex-girlfriend, slapped her around, threatened her with a gun, sat out 2014, but yet was paid. He wound up in Dallas this year, with a full salary, though not much of a season. They cheered him in Dallas as only Cowboys fans can do.

 

 
Ray Rice’s sins have never been forgiven, the knockout punch of this fiancee, caught on video. Cut loose by the Baltimore Ravens, no one has forgotten the incident, and no one has picked him up. Maybe more because he has lots of mileage on him and running backs wake up old men pretty quickly.

 

 
So McCoy is about to be charged likely with felony assault for his part in a restaurant stomping incident. At the bottom of the pile were two off-duty police officers, End result, broken ribs, fractured orbital bone and a fractured skull. McCoy and at least one other former NFL player, and two other men, all caught on video in the midst of mayhem.

 

 

And then there is Johnny Manziel, the Browns young quarterback. Johnny Football, Johnny Drunk, Johnny in trouble. He hasn’t been disciplined by the league in his brief one and a half years in the league, but today’s mail has not yet arrived.

 

 

71-days in alcohol rehab last summer, and now four incidents, all involving either alcohol or possibly drugs since last October. Caught on video binge-drinking. Questioned about an off road incident with his girlfriend, while drinking. Now the probe of him slapping her three times, from a hotel lobby, to their car, to their condo. She suffering injuries. She pulling a knife trying to defend herself. He refusing requests to enter rehab for further evaluation. And the reports he showed up drunk for team meetings the last week of the season, when he was the starting quarterback. We think we know where this is headed.

 

 
For the NFL, I assume there will be some strong discipline. If I’m Roger Goodell, I don’t even pick up the phone if the Union calls. All they try to do is get whatever the sentence is, reduced. Instead of protecting their clients rights, they should be reminding their clients of the law.

 

 

Hey, LeSean McCoy can do whatever he wants in any bar in America. Good luck evading a ‘stomping’ conviction of an officer of the law. Johnny Manziel obviously would rather drink than be sober. His call also.

 

 

But for the NFL, no longer taking their money, or suspending them a game or two seems to have no impact whatsoever. Throw them out of the league as repeat offenders. Rid yourself of the criminal element who think ‘rules’ are for someone else.

 

 

They just don’t learn do they? So they shouldn’t be in the NFL any longer. Should they?

 

 

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