NBA

I Pray For You

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In order to fully understand the story, you need to know the characters.

Brian Kevin Porter, Jr. is a 21-year-old third-year NBA player for the Houston Rockets.  He sunk a buzzer-beating game-winning three Wednesday evening at the Washington Wizards (as they are known now).

Kevin Porter (born April 17, 1950) is a former NBA player.

He played ten seasons with four different teams (the first was the Washington Bullets as they were known then) and led the league in assists in four of those seasons.

Brian Kevin Porter Sr., who is Kevin Porter, Jr’s father, pleaded guilty in 1993 for the killing of a 14-year-old girl, according to a case docket with the King County Superior Court and USA Today. Porter Sr. was shot and killed in Seattle in 2004 when Jr. was but four years old.

Glenn Consor is a former NBA player, turned scout, who finally turned to broadcasting.  Consor has more than 22 years of experience in the broadcast industry, including 20 years with the Washington Wizards (formerly the Bullets) organization in radio and television roles.

Did you get all of that?

So, as the buzzer-beater swished through the twine Wednesday night Consor assumed, incorrectly, that it was a chip off of the old block.

“You’ve got to give credit. Kevin Porter Jr., like his dad, pulled that trigger right at the right time,” Wizards broadcaster Consor said after Porter buried the jumper to give the Rockets a 114-111 victory.

It was a bad choice of words given who Sr. was, but Consor didn’t know what he didn’t know.  Consor assumed, and you know what they say about assuming.  The former NBA Porter is no relation to the current NBA Porter whatsoever.

Enter one more character.  Lebron James.  He’s The King.

“Oh, he thought this was cool huh!!?? Nah we ain’t going for this!” James tweeted. “Sorry but this ain’t going to fly! How insensitive can you be to say something like this? Beat it, man! I pray for you but there’s no place in our beautiful game for you!”

Cancel culture is an ugly game.

By yesterday morning Consor was told of the error of his ways.

Consor, on Twitter, said Thursday he mistakenly thought Porter was the son of the former NBA player who played several seasons in Washington in the 1970s and early 80s.
“I have reached out to Kevin to personally apologize and hope to be able to talk to him soon,” Consor continued.
That should do it, shouldn’t it?
But the King isn’t backing down.  He doubled down after his shootaround (probably a bad choice of a word as well, but we digress) yesterday.  “What he said — no matter if he thought that was his dad or not — was so insensitive, and the words he used — we know the words that he used, I don’t want even want to repeat it — is not even something that should ever be said.”
Come on, doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance Lebron? Or a third?  Or a fourth?
For example, King Lebron lectured Darryl Morey on how insensitive he and by extension, we are towards China.  Calling that foolish is being nice.
He further lectured us on the social injustice of the shooting of Kenosha’s knife-wielding felon Jacob Blake, and the crocodile tears of fully exonerated Kyle Rittenhouse.  Wrong and wrong again.
Thankfully, Lebron is “praying” for Consor he told all.  Sounds good.
Really?  No, he isn’t.  It’s just more grandstand theatre.
Words mean something.  And, sometimes fewer is better.  Consor learned that the hard way two nights ago.
Lebron has a ways to go.

Can Lightning Strike Thrice?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Has any city ever held more than one major championship trophy in the same year?  Yes.  In fact, when you consider the four major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL) it has happened twelve times.  “It” is owning two titles at the same time.

The city of New York dominates with half(6) of these occurrences.  Los Angeles, Boston, and Detroit share the other six times with two for each city.

The most recent is actually current.  In 2020 the Lakers and the Dodgers each took home the trophy.  Six of the years were prior to 1953, or over 68 years ago when far fewer cities had professional franchises.

But has any city ever held more than two major championships in a year(note year, not concurrently)?  No.

But, could it happen in 2021?  Say hello to the Bay Area.  Nope, don’t wave at San Franciso.  It’s the Tampa Bay area.

With one down, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady beat Kansas City in Super Bowl LV,  the city of Tampa needs two more to get there.

Last evening the Tampa Bay Lightning skated around, through, and faster in a game one rout of the Montreal Canadiens in the Lord Stanley’s NHL Finals. Winning a hockey game by a score of 5-1 is like winning an NFL playoff game by four touchdowns.  It was a beatdown.  Ah, but one game does not fill the old beat-up trophy with champagne, at least not yet.

Enter the Tampa Bay Rays into the conversation, please.  As the MLB 2021 season is very near the halfway mark in the regular season Tampa Bay owns the second-best record in the American League while trailing division leader Boston by one game in the standings.

The Rays do it on a shoestring budget and they do it with a lot of talent and heart.  Fluke?  Hardly.  The Rays lost in the ALDS in 2019 and in the World Series last year.  They have youth, enough experience, enthusiasm, super talent, and a very game manager.

The Bucs did it.  That’s one.

The Lightning look like a really good bet to do it.  They were 3-1 favorites to win the Stanley Cup prior to the game one dismantling of the Canadiens.  They quite likely will be two.

The Rays have a ways to go.  And, the National League is loaded with good to great teams such as the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants.

Alas, the dog days of summer are here.  And, in Tampa lightning is about to strike twice.

Can the Rays light up the sky over the bay a third time come fall?

 

 

The Jury Is Out on BOYCOTT-2020

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In the last few months for the NBA, the NHL, and MLB great preparation and an abundance of caution have been taken for players’ safety to minimize or prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease.  Lessons were learned from this an applied to try to get the NFL and NCAA football teams in camp and able to start the 2020 fall seasons successfully.

The jury is still out, but the preponderance of the evidence seems promising that success can be had.

Little did anyone know that another problem could and would spread faster through the leagues than even COVID-19 could.

It’s called BOYCOTT-20.  It’s not as deadly, but its actual root cause is to prevent deaths ironically.

It started three days back in a meeting of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks team meeting.  They decided collectively that they had had it with the continued unnecessary deaths of black men at the hands of white cops.  Indeed, that is a valid concern.

Quickly, the BOYCOTT-20 festered in the NBA bubble.  All playoff games for Wednesday were boycotted.  The Clippers and the Lakers, led by the King, decided in a Wednesday PM meeting that they were done with the season.  And, Thursday’s games were canceled as the league tried to find agreeable ways to combat the warp speed virus.

The damn thing jumped out of the Orlando bubble and hit MLB like a Nolan Ryan beanball and the NHL like Gordie Howe slapshot.  They went dark last evening too.

And yesterday the SEC Kentucky Wildcat football team boycotted practice. Other SEC teams may follow today.

The PAC 12 and the Big 10 want desperately to boycott their football practice too.  Unfortunately, they succumbed to the deadly CC-20 (cancel culture) weeks ago. Unfortunate.  RIP.

The jury is still out on the success of these boycotts as well.

As a matter of fact, the jury hasn’t even been empaneled for the state v. Rusten Sheskey, the cop that shot Jacob Blake seven times.  As a matter of fact, Rusten Sheskey hasn’t even been arrested.

But, The Movement moves fast.  They’ve seen enough.  A black man shot in the back SEVEN times.  It’s all there on video.  It’s all there on video except all of the facts that led to that moment or those seven moments.

As a society we haven’t learned yet from the deaths or shootings of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL, or Freddie Gray in Baltimore, MD, or Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA, or Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, or George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, or now Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI.

We want change and we want it now.  If we don’t get it, we’ll take our ball and go home.  No more games.  That’ll show America.

Except it won’t.

America wants change too.  America doesn’t want more police interaction with criminals who disobey their commands.  America doesn’t want chokeholds.  But, America wants peace.

Acting like a petulant child spraypainting a building, shooting fireworks, or much worse won’t help.  Boycotting won’t help.

America wants an America where The Movement recognizes that multiple time offenders like Floyd and Blake aren’t good people.  Should they have been killed or nearly killed?  No.  But, they’re bad people-period.  In fact, they are really bad.  Look up their police records if you have 45 minutes to spare.  Maybe some will want to boycott armed robbery or sex offenses.

Boycott for the next ten seasons if you wish.  But on your way to the woke walkout take a minute to realize how very bad actors put themselves in very bad positions where very bad things can and do happen.

With all of the extra time off that boycotts bring, athletes can ask their woke self what they would do in an instant when you fear for your life even when you have the gun and the badge.  Then ask yourself if it would be better for those resisting arrest to avoid the situation altogether.  Again, and again, and again.

But BOYCOTT-20 might be subsiding.  Rumor has it the NBA told the remaining playoff players that their income might be clipped by 25-30% should they cancel culture their livelihood.  Sounds like sneakers will be squeaking on the hardwood floor as soon as today.

At a bare minimum can America wait for a jury to hear all of the facts?

It worked for OJ.

 

Loud Statement, Next Step, Deaf Ears

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s always important to give credit where credit is due.

You have to give it to the NBA, they always go the extra step or three.

Years ago they loosened the rules and now three, four, and even five steps carrying the ball are no longer considered traveling.

This late Spring they actually traveled to the Orlando ESPN/Disney bubble taking the extra step of precaution to maximize player safety by minimizing outside exposure to the invisible virus.  By anyone’s measure that was a great idea that has been successfully executed.

And, yesterday they actually took extra steps to bring further attention to the systemic racism, social injustice, and the racial inequality plight that minorities (read that as black) face.  They had to because efforts to this point haven’t been enough.  The players and coaches boycotted all of the day’s scheduled playoff games.  The WNBA did as well, but no one knew that they were playing to begin with.

The Milwaukee Bucks took or should we say led the charge to boycott.  Other teams followed the Bucks lead.  Milwaukee is less than an hour from Kenosha where yet another video was shot of a white policeman and a black wanted suspect encounter going very wrong this past Sunday.

They tried hard for the prior ninety days after George Floyd’s death.  They painted Black Lives Matter on the court.  They wore it on their warm-ups.  They wear it on the back of their jerseys.  They take to an open mic to further educate America.  But it wasn’t enough.

And more steps seem inevitable after last evening’s “in the bubble” meeting.  Players from the remaining playoff teams met.  Lebron James spoke on behalf of the LA Lakers and LA Clippers.  Then he walked out.  The LA contingent followed the King.  The Lakers and Clippers say that they are now done with the season, period.  Will the league bow to the King?

And so the season that was, then wasn’t, then was, is now on the bubble while in the bubble.  Clearly the players think that this next and final step is needed to show America how serious they are about this.

But, does ending a professional basketball season do anything to aid the cause they stand united against?  It’s either a reaction or an overreaction to a video prior to all of the facts surrounding the event coming to the fore.  But The Movement moves too fast to wait.

The Attorney General of Wisconsin admitted in a presser yesterday that Blake was a wanted felon, had 911 called on him, had a knife (Blake’s own admission), was tased, refused police commands, and went into his car face first for unknown reasons prior to being shot.

Should he have been shot seven times?  No.  Should the police(all police) have body cameras?  Yes.  Should the city riot?  No.  Did they?  Yes.  Were additional lives lost needlessly because of it?  Yes.  Is Blake, the victim, at all to blame for repeatedly running afoul of the law?  Yes.  When guns and knives are involved can bad outcomes on either side happen?  Hell yes.

If 90 days of riots, and paintball guns, and looting, and shooting, and painting BLM in 2000 font on 5th Ave. in NY, and NBA messaging didn’t work then, will an all-out boycott of the players actually matter whatsoever now?

Clippers Head Coach Doc Rivers apparently thinks it might.  He emotionally said yesterday, “All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear.  We’re the ones getting killed.  We’re the ones getting shot.  It’s amazing.  We keep loving this country and this country does not love us back.”

Does Rivers have a lot to be thankful for?  He dribbled a basketball and now coaches it and is living the American dream, or so it seems.

And, be sure to always blame Trump because none of these worries existed before he took office.  So shallow.  So shallow.

Former MNF lead analyst Booger McFarland chimed in on Twitter.  “Black athletes are tired of entertaining America when that same America doesn’t seem on so many levels to give a damn about black people.  The NBA players are making a loud statement.”

Black athletes are free to stop entertaining America whenever they so chose.  All athletes are. In America, you can choose your profession.  It won’t do ANYTHING to get to the very core of the problem.  And, are the NBA players making a loud statement? Maybe.  Many won’t listen and many others won’t see any connection.

What happens when the next black wanted felon is shot or killed by a white cop?  Does the league disband? It’s the logical next and final step.

And, that is the very point.  We will say it again.  When Antifa, and the BLM, and the woke mayors of violence enabled cities want to sit down with local and national civic leaders, police unions, policemen, government, victims and victims families to make a real difference good came come of all of this.

We suppose that the NBA means well.  That loud, mostly well-intentioned, and very misguided statement likey just falls on deaf ears.

 

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets- Sports (sort of)

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Pro sports are slowly returning.  Did you notice?  Did you watch any over the weekend?  Unfortunately, the “great escape” that watching the games has provided, it doesn’t do so any longer.  Intertwined are political statements and COVID-19 rules and precautions.  Such is 2020, but hopefully not much beyond.  We’ve got some nuggets on all of this below.

  1.  Major League Baseball threw out the first pitch late last week and played hardball all weekend.  The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies in Philly yesterday to open the season 2-1.  Instead of flying home last night, the team plane remained grounded in Philly as four Marlins tested positive for “you know what.”  Jose Urena, Miami’s starting pitcher was one of them.  Updated: The Marlins positive tests now number 14 players and tonight’s home opener is canceled.
  2. The NFL is playing its own version of hardball. Its final player protocol, expected to be released as early as today, has some harsh realities built-in.  Players were told on a conference call with NFLPA leadership that they could face discipline, including fines, for conduct detrimental to the team if they are found to have contracted COVID-19 through reckless activity away from the facility.   All of the details are here.
  3.  We assume the NFL would not be happy if one of its players decided to act like NBA LA Clipper’s player Lou Williams. The NBA has placed him in 10-day quarantine after the guard was investigated by the league for what he did while on an excused absence from the Orlando, Florida, campus.  Williams was photographed by the rapper Jack Harlow at an Atlanta strip club. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story and tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.”  There is but one small problem with that story-in the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando NBA bubble campus.
  4. Williams admitted that he went to the Magic City strip club in Atlanta for a short time on Thursday, but said that there were no entertainers present while he was there.  Sure.   Don’t you go to a race track when no horses are running?  He records the first double-double of the NBA season before it even starts.  The only thing worse than a lie is a bad coverup.
  5. The WNBA swung into action as well.  Like MLB they are playing their games sans fans.  Of course, the WNBA always plays their games without any fans, don’t they?  The Seattle Storm tipped off the 2020 WNBA season in Bradenton, Fla. with an 87-71 win over the New York Liberty.  Before the opener, both teams walked off of the court and “respectfully,” per the press release, stayed in their locker rooms during the playing of the National Anthem.  Respectfully, we wonder how a league significantly subsidized by the NBA, and with no fans in the stands, exists.  If a tree falls in the forest, well, nevermind.
  6. Mike Ditka shared his thoughts on all of this kneeling and/or protesting around pro sports and the flag and the national anthem.  Iron Mike said, “If you can’t respect our National Anthem, get the hell out of our country.”  If Ditka were still relevant on the NFL scene as a coach or commentator he’d likely be fired for that statement in today’s cancel culture.  Free speech is quite costly these days, but we digress.
  7. Charles Barkley, a big-time BBR favorite, shared a thought on who should vote for whom in the upcoming fall elections.  “Poor people have been voting for Democrats for 50 years and they are still poor,” Chuckster lamented.   Like Ditka, Barkley likes to keep things simple and to the point.
  8. Swinging back to baseball, surely by now you’ve seen Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing (we use that word very loosely) out the first pitch Friday at the Washington Nationals game?  Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs got in the best of the digs.  He tweeted, “Fauci’s first pitch came closer to the plate than any of his COVID-19 predictions.”
  9. And surely you’ve heard that the NFL team formerly known as the Redskins will, for now, be called the Washington Football Team.  Some on Twitter suggested “Washington Team Football,” or WTF for short.  Kids these days.
  10.  Remember the guy that was going to be MLB’s first bigtime two-way player since Babe Ruth?  He was so good that he would bat on days that he wasn’t pitching, and pitch on days that he wasn’t batting.  That was 2018 sensation Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels.  In his first 2020 start, after 20 months on the shelf repairing an ulnar collateral ligament, Ohtani lasted 20 minutes and did not record a single out.  He did give up four singles while walking three batters though. Not to worry, it’s a long season.  Wait, no it’s not.

If you get an extra three minutes today, be sure to catch those Storm v. Liberty highlights.

If a tree……..

 

March Mad Mess

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you dribble a basketball on a hardwood floor and no one sees it, is it still an NBA game?  It is.  It’s just far less of a moneymaker.

And it just might happen.  These days aren’t normal days.  These days are rightfully consumed with controlling the North American outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.  And, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who has all but embraced sports gambling, is very near needing to push his chips to the middle of the existing arenas.  Or, he could fold the chairs, close the doors, and wash his hands on the way out.

Discussions in the league office occur daily on the best way to continue to play the games, engage the fans, and minimize the risk of being accused of putting economics ahead of players and fans.  Several options are seriously being discussed.

One option is to move games to the city of what should be the visiting team if the risk of spread in that city is far lower than the home team’s city.  Take Golden State.  Please.  The Warrior’s home games gross about $3.75 million.  But the greater Bay Area and its governments might soon dictate that any sporting event played in a closed area be done so without any fans in attendance.

Other cities could soon follow.  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended that indoor teams in that state play without fans for the immediate future. The Cleveland Cavaliers are on a six-game road trip and don’t return home until March 24.  They have some time to evaluate the recommendation and decide how to proceed.

LeBron James weighed in last week when asked about playing in an empty arena. “I play for the fans; that’s what it’s all about,” James said. “If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans there, I ain’t playing.”

Upon further review, James had a beautiful verbal crossover dribble on the subject yesterday.  “If they feel that it’s best for the safety of the players, safety of the franchise, safety of the league to mandate that, then we’ll all listen to it.”  How noble of him to now listen to a mandate. Maybe “adhere” is just a three-point shot away.  And, how nice of him to speak for “all.”  Kings do that.

He also spoke when he lectured Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey back in October.  Remember Morey had tweeted out support for Hong Kong protesters, and essentially against the Chinese government.  Way back then James said that Morey was “misinformed and not educated on the situation.”

Now the day is very near that James and the entire league that all but defended China (and its immense economic effect on the league) might play in empty arenas due to a virus that started in China.  The bats that came home to roost are now in the soup.

And, March Madness is set to tipoff.  We should ask LeBron if we could rename it March Mad Mess.

 

 

The Grind

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It actually started Monday.  Do you know what it is?  It’s the grind.  It’s the sports grind.  What is it?  It’s the time basically known as the month of February for sports fans.

Sure, there is the NBA and the NHL.  Both leagues are going full regular season throttle right now.  The NBA is already through 50 plus games per team in its schedule.  So is the NHL.  But, both leagues qualify so many teams for the playoffs that the regular season’s importance is significantly lessened.

Since October we’ve had MLB baseball playoffs, World Series, NCAA conference championships, bowls, CFP playoffs, the CFP Championship Game, NFL playoffs, and the grand finale-the Super Bowl.

Now what?  Did you watch the Toronto Maple Leafs skate against the Arizona Coyotes last night?  You didn’t for two reasons.  First, a midseason hockey game has nowhere near the interest of a Thursday Night NFL game as an example.  Second, the Coyotes and the Leafs didn’t drop the puck against each other last night.  Gotcha!  How about the Denver Nuggets v. Utah Jazz?  Well, at least they really did play last night.  NBA All-Star Game anyone?

But, for some cities this season is one that they cannot wait for.  Who are those cities?  What cities in North America have only the NBA as one of the four major sports?

  1. Orlando, of all places, is one.  It’s surprising given its population.  Though Tampa is a stone’s throw and a half away with the Bucs (if you call them major) and the Rays.
  2. Salt Lake City (Utah Jazz) is another.  New Orleans, you messed up.  Utah, change your damn nickname.
  3. Oklahoma City makes three.  How did they get a major sports franchise?
  4. Memphis sings the major sports blues save for the Grizzlies.  Formerly Vancouver, the nickname fits the midsouth city.
  5. Portland only has the Trailblazers, but they’ve strongly supported them since the franchise’s inaugural 1970 season.  It’s a woke town.
  6. San Antonio loves the multiple time NBA Champions Spurs.  But for all of the other months, it’s “remember the beautiful, beautiful Alamo.”
  7. And Sacramento only has the Kings.  And, that’s not much to brag about.

In the NHL nine cities have only a hockey team to call their own.  Though in fairness, there is the Canadian Football League.  That would reduce the list significantly.  Six of these NHL teams call Canada home.  They are Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, and Ottawa.  The three US teams follow.

  1. Las Vegas is one, but that ends this year as the Raiders of Oakland make the move to Sin City.
  2. San Jose has the Sharks and a Greyhound Bus stop as far as we know.
  3. Columbus(OH) has only the Blue Jackets.  Some would argue that THE Ohio St. University is a professional football team given how well they play and how well they are paid.

February has 29 days this leap year, not 28.  So, there is a need to grind out an extra day before Spring pops, NBA and NHL playoffs begin, and other sports (the Masters, MLB, etc.) bloom all over again.

March 1st is 24 long days away.

Why the Connection?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday morning in unusually foggy conditions for the greater Los Angeles area nine people perished in a violent helicopter crash in Calabasas.  Two of the victims were a 41 year old father of four and his 13 year old daughter.

It’s always tragic when a death or deaths are so sudden.  It’s even worse when life is cut shorter than the average life expectancy age.  And, it’s down right awful when it’s a child with so, so much life to live in front of her.

But, based on the global outpouring of emotions ranging from shock to sadness to anger to grief, this was no ordinary 41 year old and his daughter.  This was a beloved figure.  Of course this was Kobe Bryant.  His list of accomplishments on the highest stage of the most accomplished basketball league, the NBA, places him on a short list of the all time greatest.

The BBR staff frankly was a bit surprised by the outpouring of emotion from those near and far.   Everyone has a right to speak, feel, and react as they darn well please.  But, the outcry made us wonder aloud, “why are so many so affected by the death of someone we don’t know?”  Our best answer is “because apparently so many were so affected by the life of someone we don’t know.”

And then we wondered why would one’s life be so affected by someone you don’t know.  And the answer of course is because one feels a connection to that person.  Isn’t it fascinating, for whatever reason that connection is felt, that one could be so moved?

Did you know Kobe personally?  Did you shake his hand?  Are the Lakers your favorite team?  Did Kobe do something off of the court for a cause that moved you?  Did you grow up idolizing him for his on court wizardry?  Did you dream in your backyard to dribble, drive, shoot and score like him?

If the answer to any of the above is yes, then you have that connection in you mind.

But BBR submits that there has to be more to it even than that.  Does his sudden death make you stop and realize how fragile life is?  Does it make you look a bit deeper into the “passage of time mirror?”  Does it, dare we say it, make you think about “what if it was you  or your daughter and you on that helicopter?

And if it really is more about you and your realization of human frailty, then so be it.  There is nothing wrong with it, but maybe it helps explain some of it.

Sometimes we just wonder, and wonder.  Seven others died in the same crash.  Do you know their names?  Do you care?  Maybe so.  But do you really, really care?  Maybe not.  Maybe there is no connection to them.  And, there is nothing wrong with that either, but maybe it helps explain some more of it.

Kobe connected, apparently, with millions in many thousands of ways.

Sports, the will to win, the excellence, the drive, the passion, and the fear of losing drove him.  And, maybe through him it drove you.

His passing might be a reason for you to examine why you had the connection.  And, whatever that reason is mystifies us on one level.  But if it drives us on another level to another level that is a good thing we suppose.  But, understanding the connection’s origin might be a healthy exercise as well.

May all nine victims rest in peace.  And, may ESPN give it a rest as well.

The King and His Court.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

LeBron James exercised his right to free speech yesterday.  King James was holding court with reporters in LA after a workout on the court.  In a 45 second answer to an inaudible question James said Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, he of the tweet of support for the protesters in Hong Kong, “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand.”

He went on to say that Morey’s foray into pro democratic support could have caused people to be harmed “not only financially, but physically, emotionally, and spiritually.”  He reemphasized that we do indeed have freedom of speech, but we must be careful with how we use it because there can be a lot of negatives that come with it.  And, he also said that he didn’t want to get into a war of words or sentences with Daryl.

The NBA received tremendous bipartisan criticism for their initial response to Morey’s tweet, when they responded by calling the post “regrettable” for the offense that it caused. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver eventually tried to tamp out the firestorm by recognizing Morey’s free speech rights.  China canceled exhibition games and a number of business deals with the Rockets, and the NBA as well.

Now, with the league representatives and players back from their tumultuous trip to China, LeBron, who has never shied away from social justice issues or criticism of American leadership weighed in.

And, all of this makes us wonder.

How does LeBron know that Morey is not educated on the “situation at hand?”  Or, is it more of LeBron exercising his right to free speech by expressing his opinion of Morey without knowing the depths of his study or concern of the subject matter?  LeBron said that we “need to realize that there are ramifications to what we tweet, what we say, and what we do.”  Does basically calling someone “uneducated” qualify?

LeBron expressed concern for the harm the tweet could have caused.  He then led with “not only financially.”  Hmm.  Seems like “financially” was top of mind over the physical, emotional, and spiritual concerns.  Words mean something we were told.  The order in which you use them does as well.  We also wonder how the pro Hong Kong tweet could have caused “spiritual” harm, but we digress.

And, King James wants no war of words (or sentences) with Daryl.  If that is the case, why speak out on it a full 10 days afterwards?  We wonder if James could have picked up his “smart” phone to call the “not smart” Daryl to discuss the matter privately and at some length versus the 45 second sound bite?  In yesteryear the world’s occupants actually used to talk to one another.

And most of all we wonder.   Does LeBron recognize that the “fight for freedom” that Morey was championing is the exact freedom Morey had when he tweeted and was the exact freedom that LeBron exercised when he called out Morey for doing so?  Burger King, not King James, once had a tag line.  “Have it your way!”

This “woke” society that we live in needs to wake up.

 

 

 

Morey’s Three Second Lane Violation

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Did you know who Daryl Morey was prior to last Saturday?  The Houston Rockets General Manager brought analytical concepts similar to MLB’s Money Ball approach to the Rockets organization over a decade ago.  Under his leadership the franchise has won plenty of games, acquired James Harden, but hasn’t won it all.

But, Morey’s tweet of support of the pro democracy movement/protests in Hong Kong, and vis a vis against The People’s Republic of China, threatened to take money from the NBA, it’s owners (specifically Rockets new owner Tillman Fertitta), and it’s players.  So the NBA, Fertitta, and Harden acted quickly.  They whistled a violation.  It’s the golden rule.  He who has the basketball makes the rules.  Morey was in the NBA lane (and out of his) for three long seconds.

In a statement Sunday, NBA chief communications officer Mike Bass called Morey’s tweet “regrettable” and said the league had “great respect for the history and culture of China.”  “The NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together,” Bass said.

Fertitta tweeted that Morey’s tweet did not reflect the views of the NBA organization.  He went on to state that their presence in China is to promote the NBA internationally and that the Rockets were NOT a political organization.

Rockets superstar James Harden also pushed back on Morey’s statements. “We apologize. You know, we love China. We love playing there,” Harden said in Tokyo on Monday at practice, ESPN reported. “We go there once or twice a year. They show us the most important love.

“The most important love” actually might be “the most important money.”   You see a Chinese sportswear maker, two banks that sponsored the Rockets and a Chinese broadcaster that aired games bailed on the team, according to a Reuters report.

The sportswear maker, Li-Ning, expressed “strong condemnation” of Morey’s tweet, saying that it had suspended cooperation with the Rockets, and one of the banks, SPD, said it had halted marketing and publicity activities with them, Reuters reported.

So, yesterday, Morey under what we assume was intense pressure from the Chinese dictatorial government, China manufacturers and marketers, the NBA, his boss Fertitta, and his other boss James Harden, tweeted that he had contemplated his position on the matter a bit further. “I was merely voicing one thought, based on one interpretation, of one complicated event,” Morey said. “I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives.”

And so, in the real world span of time equivalent to a 24 second shot clock, the tweet heard round the world clanged off of the Pacific Rim.  For the NBA the only thing more important than defending this three point Morey shot was getting the rebound and starting a fast break the other way.

Last year Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner, addressed the media for a state of the NBA union.  He lamented the fact that the NBA had too few women in coaching positions and refereeing.  “There is no reason why we shouldn’t have women in 50% of these jobs,” he continued.  It’s about all about equal opportunity in the NBA.

A few years back, in his first as said commish, Silver strongly condemned the then LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling.  Sterling was caught on tape tossing around a few racial epitaphs.  Sterling got a lifetime ban for speaking in a hateful manner.  It’s all about equal opportunity in the NBA.

Ah, but over the weekend, social justice broke an ankle as capitalism pulled a crossed over dribble on it.  The NBA is just like many causes, movements, organizations, and individuals these days.  They align with all of these great ideals until those ideals don’t align with what’s in their best interest.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Or, not.  Alas, there really are no free throws in the NBA.

Fertitta made his fortune acquiring and expanding several restaurant chains.  Then, last year he acquired the Rockets.  His restaurant portfolio lacks a Chinese chain.  Perhaps he wants to put a full court press on Panda Express.  With all of the pandering that the NBA has done to appease the Chinese, it should be a slam dunk for him.

And, Morey has a far better understanding of money ball than ever before.