COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 4/3/2011

A HOCKEY FAN FINALLY COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET!

LOVE HIM NOW, BECAUSE YOU MIGHT DESPISE HIM LATER!



While Butler head coach Brad Stevens is currently the fresh-faced, Goliath-slaying darling of the NCAA Tournament, it may not be long before you hate him as much as every other elite coach in college basketball, if his success continues.

This is pretty much the honeymoon phase for  Stevens with America. Success breeds contempt. And success in college basketball, which is a cesspool of filth and deceit, breeds suspicion. Soon he could be as loathed as much as Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun, John Calipari, or any other college basketball coach you can name.

With Butler now on the national radar thanks to back-to-back trips to the Championship Game, even the slightest hint of misbehavior from the program will be seen as evidence that he is no better or cleaner than any other coach.

If one of their players gets a speeding ticket or gets caught for underage drinking or if you hear that someone on the team is taking a fairly easy major like “Art of Walking”, "The Science of Superheroes”, “Alien Sex”, “Cyberporn and Society”, “Learning from You Tube”, etc., you may then project all of your negative opinions of college basketball on the Butler program and Stevens himself, presuming what you’ve heard is only the tip of the iceberg and that Butler players are paid handsomely and hooked up with high-priced strippers under the direction of Stevens.

Stevens’ boyish looks won’t help his case either. It’s almost worse. He’ll take on a sort of Dorian Gray persona, and everyone will assume his young-looking face hides a soul full of lies, hatred, evil, and deceit. He will be seen as all that is wrong with sports.

There is reportedly only one scenario in which you will not come to despise Stevens. That’s if your school takes him away from Butler with a big contract. You will continue to think of him as a super guy who is 100-percent pure in all of his thoughts, actions, and intentions.

THIS IS A REAL "NO-LOOK" PASS!

YOU CAN FINALLY CHALK UP A WIN FOR DONALD STERLING!  

In another sports story that I didn't hear our local sports talkers mention last week, though I could have missed it, the jury gave its verdict in the Elgin Baylor/LA Clippers lawsuit in which "Rabbit" claimed age discrimination as the basis of his firing as the Clippers’ GM.

The jury took only two hours to decide that Baylor was not fired because of his age; he was fired because in the 22 years that he was the GM, the Clippers only made the playoffs four times. Please remember that in the NBA, 53% of the teams make the playoffs in each season. As a player, Baylor belongs in the Hall of Fame; as a GM, he was less than satisfactory.

Though I've been an LA Laker fan for over 60 years, it was hard for me to root for the ex-Laker player to win that lawsuit because the fact that he maintained that job for 22 years with such a dismal team performance demonstrated that he should have been dumped about a decade ago. At the same time, it is hard for me to root for Clipper owner, Donald Sterling, no matter what the situation. The only good news about the verdict is that this matter is settled, unless Baylor’s lawyers decide to file an appeal, which I don't think they will unless they can be assured that Jerry West is the appeals judge.

If you would like a thorough description of why it is hard to root for the "Donald" (as in Sterling, not Trump) in just about any circumstance, let me recommend that you read "Bad Sports- How Owners Are Ruining The Games We Love" by Dave Zirin written last year. Chapter 9 is devoted entirely to Sterling. In that nine-page chapter, the author has 37 footnotes to provide source material for his points.




TWO CANS OF CORN = ONE FREE T'WOLVES TICKET!

WILL SPORTS ILLUSTRATED JINX THE NFL?



Most everyone knows about the Sports Illustrated jinx. If your picture is on the cover of SI, you are supposedly going to lose. I hope the folks who are responsible for cover photos there realize the potential disaster they can cause if SI runs a cover with Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith on it together, maybe even in photo-chopped helmets and three point stances ready to go at each other? That would mean neither party could “win” their confrontation. That might make the creation of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement impossible until both of them are gone from the scene and that could kill off an NFL season for 2011. That is how a jinx is supposed to work.

Football fans have begun taking sides in this confrontation when the most effective thing for fans to do would be to boycott everything NFL, including gear with team logos, NFL Network, etc.

Football fans for specific teams should merely consider the merits of the two sides in this fight over the money provided by football fans:


Owners gouged football fans to the tune of $200 to stand outside the Super Bowl stadium and watch the game on a big screen TV in less than nice weather and then charged those fans $19 for margaritas.

Players claim their extraordinary salaries bestowed on them by owners who have taken the money from the pockets of football fans are worthy of those salaries because they are “entertainers”. Now go look at Washington Redskins’ film from last year and take a look at "Fat Albert" Haynesworth and tell me if anyone was entertained to the tune of $100M.


ODDS AND ENDS:

1. As suggested here yesterday, maybe it’s better that meteorologist Al Roker prepare the MLB schedule. Warm climate teams like the Astros, Angels, Padres, D-backs, and Braves all opened their season with cold-climate road trips, and teams like the Rockies, Reds, Yankees, Phillies, and Cubs are playing their first two series at home. Next weekend, the Yankees go to Boston, where they will play an ESPN Sunday night game in what will be less than comfortable conditions. Money talks!

2. Hey wrestling fans, don't forget the annual Wrestlemania will be held tonight in Atlanta, just a few miles from where in 2007, drugged-up wrestler, Chris Benoit killed his wife and son, then committed suicide. Usually, drug-reliant pro wrestlers only kill themselves, but this was an exception to the unwritten rule.

3. If there’s no NFL this season, you can expect some of the BCS Conferences to move games to Sundays for some extra loot.

4. Friday (4/1) was April Fool’s Day. An acquaintance told me that the New York Jets required that half his yearly PSL/ticket money must be in by that date, though it’s possible the games may not be played starting in August. Delinquents faced legal action. WTF? I remember Commissioner Goodell saying PSLs were good investments and that it’s all about the fans. Maybe he was bullshitting us?

CRIER’S CORNER



BASKETBALL ACTION


Yesterday’s Record ATS: 4-1
W - MILWAUKEE* (+2) over PHILADELPHIA
W - GOLDEN STATE* (+5.5) over DALLAS
L - OKLAHOMA CITY (-5) over LA CLIPPERS*


NCAA FINAL FOUR (at Reliant Stadium, HOUSTON, TX)
W - BUTLER (-2.5) over VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH
W - CONNECTICUT (+2.5) over KENTUCKY


Cumulative Season Record ATS (excludes “pushes”): 591-357


Today’s Action (for reading purposes only):

UTAH (+6) over SACRAMENTO*
The Jazz are looking to sweep the season series with the Californians here. In an overtime win about a month ago against the Kings, the Jazz spread the ball with six guys in double figures and they were also a plus three in forcing turnovers. The Kings had no answers for Al Jefferson in the post. SACRAMENTO, 110-109


CLEVELAND at NEW YORK* (TOTAL UNDER 217)
Baron Davis will likely phone in the rest of the season. He will not be around next year. The guy makes movies in L.A. in the off-season and don’t be shocked if he hangs up the sneakers. The Cavs faced another blow when up and coming project Semih Erden hurt a shoulder and could miss the rest of the year. NEW YORK, 100-89


CHARLOTTE* (-8) over WASHINGTON
The Wizards are winding up one of the worst, if not the worst, road performances in NBA history. For fans of the D.C. club, you have to worry if it will hurt the young players like John Wall mentally. The Bobcats will go as far as Stephen Jackson can take them. CHARLOTTE, 102-88

PORTLAND* (-4.5) over DALLAS
It’s all about the post-season in the NBA, especially now. Dallas had a fourth-quarter against the Lakers to try to overtake LA for the #2 seed in the West, and failed miserably. With that goal pretty much out the window, they went out last night and lost to a team they’d beaten by 28 points last time out, and twice more earlier this season. Portland has won eight straight home games. Dallas is playing the last game of a long road trip and the coach is searching the NBA encyclopedia for a goal to manufacture to get his team up for the second of back-to-backs at the tail end of a road trip with the post-season nearing. PORTLAND, 100-89

BASEBALL



Yesterday’s Record ATS: 1-2 (-3.6 units)
L - MINNESOTA TWINS (-120) over TORONTO BLUE JAYS*
W - CHICAGO WHITE SOX (-135) over CLEVELAND INDIANS*
L - ATLANTA BRAVES (-160) over WASHINGTON NATIONALS*


Cumulative Season Record ATS (excludes “pushes”): 5-3 (+3.5 units)


Today’s Action (for reading purposes only):

CINCINNATI REDS (Arroyo) -130 over MILWAUKEE BREWERS* (Wolf)

The Reds showed just how explosive their offense can be on Thursday as they stunned the Brewers on a two out, three run home run by catcher Ramon Hernandez. The Reds trailed all day, but they kept it close enough to give their offense time to get them the win. Their powerful offense should be on display today as they take on the soft-tossing lefty Randy Wolf. Wolf posted a 4.12 ERA last year, but a high 1.39 WHIP shows he was a bit lucky. The Reds have a slew of righties with pop ready to face Wolf. Brandon Phillips, Drew Stubbs, Scott Rolen, and the aforementioned Hernandez all possess the ability to go deep at any time. The Brewers also have the power to take advantage of the launch pad that is Great American Ball Park, but with funky Bronson Arroyo on the mound that shouldn’t be an issue. They were poor vs. righties last season and Arroyo has held righties to a fantastic .239 batting average in his career. That should effectively neutralize the Brewers strength. One thing to keep an eye on is an appearance by Aroldis Chapman. The Cuban lefty features the best velocity in the majors and should be able to shut down the Brew Crew in the later innings.


LA DODGERS* (Kuroda) -140 over SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (Zito)


We try not to be injury chasers around here, but tonight is one such instance where the matchup is as favorable as the circumstances. While we likely would be looking to go against Zito anyway, the fact that he got into a car accident on Wednesday and was seen wearing a neck brace as late as Thursday makes us like it even more. Zito impressed many last year, but much of that was due to his early season performance. His second half ERA was more than one run higher than it had been in the first, leading us to believe that any strides he made were strictly temporary. Hiroki Kuroda has been very solid and very consistent in his three seasons, posting ERAs in the mid 3.00s in each of them. Kuroda’s strikeout numbers also went up last season, leading us to believe he is becoming more comfortable with the league. The Dodgers should secure a series win in primetime tonight.


NEW YORK YANKEES* (Hughes) -155 over DETROIT TIGERS (Scherzer)

The Yankee offense has been as good as advertised, scoring 16 runs in the first two games. This trend should continue this afternoon vs. the young righty Max Scherzer. Scherzer gave up 11 earned runs in his last spring training start vs. the Orioles, leading us to believe he may not be quite ready to start the season. The Yankees will counter with their young righty, Phil Hughes, who was very impressive before tiring late last season. The Tigers were very poor vs. righties last season, especially on the road as they went 19-29 in road games started by righties. A Yankee sweep is definitely in play.

 
 
MIKE IN DA

HMW