Sunday, April 30, 2023
“WHO THE FUCK ARE THE FLORIDA PANTHERS?!”
The 🐻 is Woke!
🧸 0 🐆2, 13:57 2P Electronic Television Machine Timeout
🏒
What are the Panthers doing that's giving the Bruins so much trouble?
What's your final score prediction for Panthers-Bruins Game 7?
Clark: 5-4 OT Panthers. There's little reason to think there won't be tons of goals, given the Bruins and Panthers have averaged a combined 8.4 per game since Game 1. And while the Bruins were one of the NHL's best defensive teams, the Panthers led the league in most danger chances per 60 and have scored 11 goals in their past two games.
Ocal: 4-3 OT Bruins. Panthers push hard -- this one has tons of drama -- but the Bruins' record-breaking season rolls on, with plenty to unpack in the first round. I'm curious whether Jeremy Swayman starts Game 7.
Shilton: 5-4 OT Bruins. Matthew Tkachukwill lead this spirited Panthers group to a dramatic finale. But with their seasons on the line, I'm betting on Boston's experience over Florida's gumption.
Wyshynski: 4-2 Panthers. One team is playing with house money, taking on that "you guys all thought we'd get swept" mindset that Tkachuk put voice to a few games ago. The other team is watching the balloons pop at its coronation party. Do I put my faith in the best regular-season team (from a standings perspective) in NHL history or the unwavering voodoo of the Presidents' Trophy curse? I choose chaos.
This should be the last time the Cavs celebrate regular-season success
And it should be the last time I mock Pat Riley and the "Heat's" regular-season mediocrity (.544, 45-37 through nine years).
Nine times during his 40-minute press availability, Cavs president Koby Altman referenced the team’s 51-win regular season. Unless they win 74 games next year and break the all-time mark, this is the last time he or anyone else can use a regular-season win total as a point of accomplishment.
...we’ve...seen enough championship-level basketball over the last 15 years to understand the NBA regular season is mostly empty calories.
If it matters so little to teams that they can’t bother to play their stars in all of the games, then why should we celebrate the win totals when it’s over?
...
When the Cavs were winning 60-plus games during the regular season yet failing to reach the NBA Finals a decade ago, Dan Gilbert called those teams a disappointment. The same applies again. Only postseason results matter now. They don’t have to win or even play for a title every year, but another first-round exit next season is unacceptable for a variety of reasons. Youth and inexperience are no longer viable excuses.
...
If teams are going to rest their stars to prepare for the postseason, then don’t come back and celebrate diluted regular-season victories anymore. If the postseason is what matters, and it does, then that’s how we’re grading moving forward. Class dismissed.
What do fans do about paying $100 for one seat to a regular season game?
Lovey Dovey Turtle Dovey
@lukeross256
Best QB Cleveland ever had is on our team
2:36 PM · Apr 30, 2023
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1,465 Views
Underdogs again, disrespected Miami Heat quiet Garden with Game 1 upset at New York Knicks
Miami’s defense in the second half formed a wall to protect its paint, and the Knicks managed only 22 paint points in the second half.
Erik Spoelstra flat out-coached Tom Thibodeau, made the adjustments to break down the 🍎interior defense--having Lovey Dovey Turtle Dovey throw full court passes to 🔥 leakers off defensive rebounds, having Jimmy drive the paint--and playing sticky, disruptive defense, and the 🔥 slowly turned an 11-point first quarter deficit into a 5 at the half, and then took control with a +11 in the third, and never gave it back. A brilliant, cerebral game for Spo.
🏀 🍎-🔥
The (second, unfortunate) ex-Mrs Harris has invited the undersigned over to our former marital abode to watch this game on her electronic television machine. Ergo, I will not be live blogging, to Google’s relief.
⚽️ FT 1-2. That was unnecessary City.
God’s Righteous Team of Angels in Sky Blue are a legitimate first place, 76 to Arsenal’s 75 from 32 matches to the Arse’s 33. If we had not won today we would have thrown the league trophy right back in North London’s hands.
68 min: There’s a penalty shout for Fulham and I think there’s a chance. No, the check is over. Reid throws himself to the ground after the lightest contact from Walker. Right decision. Fulham though were in, through the guts of City.
I'm supposed to get nervy over FULMAN?!? Pep, why you do this to me?
Oh God Ederson
65 min: A mix-up from Ederson! Fulham have a chance. There’s no keeper in goal. Vinicius has the ball inside the area. Can he offload to a teammate? No, Ederson scrambles and gets enough of the ball and the crisis is averted.
⚽️ Oh my goodness Fulman 1 Manchester City 2, 53'
This game should not be close, and maybe won't be by end, but 2-1 in the second half--the Angels are not taking their opponents over-seriously. MISTAKE!
Nice writing by AP for Espo :)
And maybe show a nation that doesn't always get to watch the Nuggets — you know, because they're usually on so late — what the players have known all season: They're talented and worthy of their top seed in the Western Conference. They don't mind if the Suns, as the fourth seed, are the trendy pick to beat them, either.
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Lake Conemaugh
Labeled, “…as it appeared in the summer of 1888 or spring 1889...” Credited to National Park Service/Harpers Ferry Center. Should also have been labeled “colorized”, no? If not that is the first color photo of the Lake that I have ever seen. An awful beauty. The break on May 31, 1889 occurred at the dam at far right. Only 2,208 people died.
"Requiem for the Newsroom"*
*I didn't realize that was the title Dowd gave to her column when I first posted this. I have now put it in quotes.
I'm not going to excerpt this as I usually do, it's too good, too heartfelt. Two things I will just add: Maureen Down, with a photographer in tow (or vice versa) went back to the Times building when the country was just opening up after COVID. She has been in mourning about the disappearance of the newsroom for some time. Second, the lack of lived, collegial engagement in a shared enterprise is a loss felt in all similar offices, in my field, in prosecutors' offices and public defender's offices.
Hmm, you know, no one explanation of Tucker Carlson's firing has stuck.
Some Fox employees pointed Monday to the lawsuit by Carlson’s former producer alleging rampant sexism on the show. The other subject of her allegations, producer Justin Wells, was also fired Monday. Others suggested that emails from Carlson deriding management that had emerged in the Dominion lawsuit — and perhaps other, redacted ones — were the last straw.
...
What does seem to have changed was the rate at which Rupert Murdoch is making aggressive moves on the fly.
...
...the sudden moves, the endless leaks, and the general sense of an out-of-control train has also raised questions in the middle and top ranks of the company about the elder Murdoch’s state of mind, temperament, and what the changes suggest about the path forward for the media empire he built.“There’s a long list of pretty drastic steps from him this year,” one person familiar with the details of today’s firing told Semafor. “People asking questions about whether an octogenarian should exert influence over the country should also ask whether a nonagenarian should exert influence over America’s most powerful media conglomerate."
The decisions Murdoch has made in the last year DO seem to be the decisions a really, really old person makes. Could it really be that simple? It's as good as the other explanations.
ESPN Experts Predictions 🍎-🔥
New York Knicks (5) vs. Miami Heat (8)
Kendra Andrews: Knicks in 6
Jerry Bembry: Knicks in 6
Nick DePaula: Heat in 6
Nick Friedell: Knicks in 5
Kirk Goldsberry: Knicks in 7
Israel Gutierrez: Heat in 6
Tim Legler: Knicks in 7
Tim MacMahon: Knicks in 7
Bobby Marks: Heat in 7
Dave McMenamin: Heat in 6
Kevin Pelton: Knicks in 7
Jorge Sedano: Heat in 6
Ramona Shelburne: Knicks in 7
André Snellings: Heat in 6
Marc Spears: Knicks in 7
Ohm Youngmisuk: Knicks in 7
Final tally: Knicks 10, Heat 6
HT Brentford 0 Nottingham Forest 1. Danilo in 45+1'!
TREES!!!!!!
Dave Hyde: Panthers in Game 7 in Boston, Heat in Game 1 in New York — buckle up for a Sunday like no other
SUNRISE — Forget that “Sunday Fun-day” fantasy. This is the real thing, the kind of double-decked drama that puts a pep in your step and pit in your stomach all Sunday.
The Miami Heat play Game 1 in New York at 1 p.m.
The Florida Panthers play Game 7 in Boston at 6:30 p.m.
...
If the undermanned Heat just pulled off the greatest upset in NBA playoff history against heavyweight Milwaukee — and they did — the Panthers are one game from doing the same in the NHL. It’s “Miracle on Ice” stuff without the Olympics or the Disney movie.
Think of it: The biggest regular-season point spread in an NHL playoff upset is the 29 points between eighth-seeded Edmonton in beating top seed Detroit in 2006. Boston had 43 more regular-season points than the Panthers. It set an NHL record for regular-season wins and points. The Panthers, just huffed and puffed just to make the playoffs. Same as the Heat did.
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“We’ll get to Game 7, and I want to enjoy it,” [Panthers head coach Paul] Maurice said. “I want to enjoy the hell out of it. It’s the most fun you have in the game with the pressure on like that. You’ve got to enjoy it.”
Sounds like Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, doesn’t he?
What a Sunday this will be. What a sports surprise. Separated by six-and-a-half hours and 231 miles, the Heat and Panthers will begin one dramatic series and end another. ...
SUNRISE, Fla. -- The team that posted the best regular-season record in NHL history, facing a team that needed to fight and claw all the way to the end just to get into the playoffs.
On paper, it was a mismatch.
On ice, it's going to Game 7.
The wild-card Florida Panthers -- by prevailing in an absolutely bonkers third period -- fended off elimination for the second time and sent the mighty Boston Bruins into a winner-take-all contest.
..."It's fun to be a part of this, for sure."-Alexsander Barkov
The real fun comes Sunday: Game 7 in Boston.
"I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
Do you get it? A HEAD COACH saying he's going to "enjoy" a game 7--win or lose. That is rare, rare, rare in professional sports.
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Boston finished 42 points ahead of Florida in the standings this season, the biggest gap between playoff opponents in nearly 30 years. The Bruins had the best regular-season record in NHL history, and they had one-goal leads on two separate occasions in the third period -- and couldn't hold either one of them.
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The game started along the exact sequence that Game 5 in Boston did on Wednesday night: Florida took a 1-0 lead, Boston tied it, Florida took a 2-1 lead, Boston tied it, Florida took a 3-2 lead, Boston tied it.
Evidently, that's when the teams decided a repeat performance was boring.
They combined for four goals in a span of 6:56 -- this time, with the Panthers answering the Bruins.
"They're a determined group," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of Florida.
Yes, they are.
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To Sunday they go, Florida on the brink of a surprise and Boston trying to avoid a collapse.
Florida has given Boston a tic, like the Miami 🔥have given Milwaukee a tic over the years. Florida has Boston spooked, confused, and doubting, just as 🍺was. For the "Panthers" this is all fun, but for the 🐻this is no fun, the pressure is all on them. That's what you want when you're in Florida's position. "The real fun comes Sunday."
Friday, April 28, 2023
Some Weird Harmonic Convergence in South Florida!
The 🔥 beat the best team in basketball 4 games to 1. Now the 🐆 have beaten the team with the best record EVER in 🏒 to even their series 3-3. Both as 8th seeds who limped into the playoffs. There is some harmonic convergence going on in South Florida!
@PuckWave
Not sure The Bruins want to win. #TimeToHunt | #NHLBRUINS
8:12 PM · Apr 28, 2023
Yeah, I'm not sure either, that's a good point from someone with a steel plate in their head.
Former PSU and Kentucky QB Will Levis was not selected in the first round of the National Concussion League draft last night. Teams were concerned 1) with his big toe (seriously) and 2) his personality. “Not a leader,” “cocky,” “arrogant”, “unlikeable.” Those are the adjectives team execs applied to Levis AFTER MEETING HIM. I don’t know who is handling Levis’ PR but whoever it is needs to be fired. As if to prove the accuracy of all of those labels Levis has decided that the second round is really beneath him and will not be present tonight when his name is called.
Who Shot Bambi?
I have been to Disney World twice in my life, obligation visits for my two kids when young. I don't like it at all. I despise Republicans, so here, when you multiply two negative numbers you get a positive. I want DeSantisMan to continue flailing away at Bambi so that Disney pulls out of Florida. It would send the economy of Florida into depression, red-flag the state for other businesses, cause resident Floridians to flee, permanently kneecap the tax base, destroy DeSantisMan and implode the Republican Party of Florida.
Manchester City 4 Arsenal 1 (4/26)
I didn't watch the highlights of that game for some reason.
I have never--No, never!--seen a second-place team so thoroughly dominate a first-place team. You could have convinced me that was Inter Miami CF out there at the Etihad Stadium so completely did City dismantle Arsenal. City were doing whatever they wanted against no effective resistance. Erling Haaland played server for Kevin DeBruyne in this match and delivered dishes to King Kev that he wolfed down. Erling should have had two or three goals, rather than the one he had, himself. It didn't look to me that Arsenal gave up, just that they were so outclassed. There is no team, at least in England, perhaps the world, who are Manchester City's equal--None!
DeSantisMan
All successful bullies win the fights they pick with the weaker. DeSantisMan can’t beat up Bambi.
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Through 19 picks in the NFL draft, Anthony Richardson, selected 4th, is higher graded than six selections, at 10th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th; tied at grade 91 with 6th, 13th, 14th, and lower graded than 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, and 17th: Higher graded than 6, none before he was picked, same grade as 3 lower picks, and lower rated than 9 selections, 6 of which came after he was selected. A disastrous reach by Indianapolis.
I’m the luckiest man on earth
I still blink my eyes over this:
“…the Heat claimed a series victory that sent the Bucks, the favorite to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy for a second time in three years, crashing out of the playoffs in shocking fashion.
And my mouth has just begun to water over this:
“They'll face the New York Knicks in a renewal of one of the classic rivalries in NBA history, which will tip off Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.”
About three-quarters the way through this comprehensive Chris Fedor column I put my phone down to go to the bathroom. I chuckled out loud to myself, “This is a beat-down of the entire organization.” I then finished (after I finished). The penultimate sentence:
“It was a total organizational failure that should sting.”
Deadspin 🔥 (This will be my last post for awhile. Google has locked me out again.)
Which Jimmy Butler are the Knicks getting?
Heat’s chances hinge on his ability to stay in Super Saiyan playoff form
Jimmy Butler is the validation I needed that NBA playoff basketball is America’s fifth major professional sports league among the “Big Four.” From the pace to the way games are scheduled as a series to the effort, it’s almost a parallel Association. ...
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During the regular season, Milwaukee was 51-3 when leading after three quarters. 😮...
Coaching comes into play more heavily in the playoffs than it does in the regular season when teams play a new opponent every two days, while bouncing between cities. A seven-game series allows coaches to layer game plans, adjustments to those game plans, and counter-moves to those adjustments until both have played their entire card deck.
Great point.
Erik Spoelstra is one of the NBA’s craftiest after-timeout artists. Gabe Vincent’s parabolic inbounds pass to Playoff Jimmy...
Mike Budenholzer is a regular season don whose playoff coaching shortcomings were mitigated in the past by Giannis Antetokounmpo being a unicorn version of Iso Joe. However, Budenholzer subbing out Brook Lopez on the final defensive possession of regulation, saving his timeouts on the final play of Milwaukee’s season and wasting Antetokounmpo as an inbounds defender on the lob play to Jimmy were harebrained decisions.
Deadspin 💀
You knew the season was over within five minutes of watching Game 5.
The players deserved so much better.
My guess is a scapegoat will be named very soon, and I wouldn’t feel great if I were JB right now.
I agree with that. Stiffsucker…Fluffnstuff…Bickerstaff somehow lost this team all series long. After winning 51 games I don’t know how that happens but it happened. I think he gets canned for this embarrassing “performance” and I think Bulldozer…Budenhoffer…the “Bucks” coach gets the axe in 🍺.
So, yeah, Cleveland, you dodged going viral because Milwaukee showed its ass on NBA Twitter, but you need to get your shit together just as much as they do.
Well, that IS Cleveland’s best side. Great writing by Deadspin on these two abortions.
Deadspin is really good
Rings are supposed to provide a team with chill and poise. The Bucks were kindergarten recess
I won’t pretend to be any kind of basketball expert, and my brethren here will spend the day breaking down the Milwaukee Bucks coughing up a curd-ridden hairball in the first round to the Miami Heat. But I know a deer caught in headlights look when I see one, and Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer spent all of Game 5 with that look on his face. That’s when he didn’t have both hands wrapped around his throat.
It’s de rigueur these days to let your players play as the clock winds down, and maybe catch a defense a little scrambled. But not when your team has spent the last minutes of regulation in two games — and overtime in this one — throwing the ball around like it was on a detonator, and your star player is terrified of having it because he can’t throw it in Lake Michigan from the free throw line. The Bucks blew two huge leads in the fourth quarter of the last two games to a team they’re supposed to have completely outgunned. This is not a team that can be trusted to run on autopilot with the shot clock turned off.
No wonder their season ended with the ball in the hands of a dimwit like Grayson Allen as he Euro-stepped to nowhere, which also happens to be my favorite Ozzy song.
A screenshot I took of the “Eurostep to nowhere” showing red-outlined time expired before Grayson ever got shot off.
The Bucks can point to the banner in the rafters as proof of what they can be, but it’s a real wonder how they ever got it. Budenholzer watched along with the rest of us as Bam Adebayo was allowed to direct the offense whatever way he wanted as Brook Lopez sagged somewhere near Fon Du Lac. It happened over and over with no adjustment.
When the Bucks got the ball there didn’t appear to be any plan or anything they could call on to get a good shot. They just hoped, the play-calling consisted of, “I don’t fucking want it.” They were waiting for someone else to conjure something. They panicked. The wilted. They choked.
MILWAUKEE -- — Jimmy Butler was an extraordinary playmaker while leading the Miami Heat to one of the most stunning first-round playoff upsets in NBA history.
