Update on the World of Sports: Sports Are Currently Being Played in Many Places
They are playing a little bit of sports in Los Angeles. Lebron James just passed Michael Jordan to reach third place on the NBA’s all time scoring list. (Kareem Abdul Jabbar is number one and Karl Malone is number two.)
Lebron is honored. Lebron is humbled. Lebron said all of the right things on the night he made history. But his team got trounced on that historic night and he’s not going to take his team to the playoffs this year. He’s not going to reach his ninth straight Finals. We will not being seeing Playoff Lebron this year.
Lebron said he had “activated playoff mode” a couple of weeks ago so that he could get his team back in contention. But then, the Lakers went on a 2-5 stretch.
Lebron tends to act passive aggressively at times, in order to get his way. Right before the trade deadline each year, he likes to mope around and act exasperated at his teammates. This is a cue to his front office that a bunch of these guys need to get traded, or it’s going to be a lost season.
It worked last year on the Cavs, as they totally remade their team mid-season and brought in George Hill, Rodney Hood, Larry Nance Jr., and Jordan Clarkson. That team was good enough to make the Finals.
This year, Lebron was out injured at the trade deadline, but he made waves by pressuring the Lakers via Twitter (and privately, as well, I have no doubt) to trade everyone for Anthony Davis. The Lakers tried, but the trade didn’t happen.
The Lakers didn’t actually look too bad early in the season, before Lebron got hurt. But now, even with Playoff Lebron activated, the Lakers couldn’t go on a winning streak to get back in playoff contention. Too little time remains, and they’re too far behind.
It turns out, Lebron’s teammates also know how to be passive aggressive. They suddenly feel uncomfortable holding a basketball, so they make sure to pass it right to Lebron every time. They now have no clue about basketball strategy, so they sit silently in the team huddle and put on blank stares. Rajon Rondo even moved down the row, one game, to sit with fans instead of with the team. Everyone’s going out with injuries at this crucial time of year when, normally, guys play through injuries if they can.
Laker coach Luke Walton is rumored to be gone at season’s end.
But Lebron passed Michael Jordan on the scoring list! That about sums it up in L.A.
Sports are getting ready to occur in Chicago. The Cubs and White Sox are currently in spring training. The White Sox whiffed in their pursuit of Manny Machado. Now, they’re stuck with Machado’s best friend, whom they signed in an effort to lure Machado. Also, they traded for his brother in law.
It didn’t work. He went to San Diego. The Sox didn’t want to pay a guy so much money and for so many years ($300 million over 10 years). At least, not a guy who recently said he’s “no Johnny Hustle.” (One thing to remember is that the term is actually “Charlie Hustle.”)
The Cubs are another story. They didn’t want to sign anybody this year. They are fine with the talent already on board. At least, ownership is. Mastermind GM Theo Epstein wanted to chase some impact players, but ownership didn’t want to spend the money. They say they already spend enough as it is, and they don’t want to go into the luxury tax.
Cubs ownership has other problems to worry about right now. Tom Ricketts’ dad had some emails come out this winter where he said a bunch of bad things about Muslims. Tom Ricketts, in his public “apology,” assured us, #1 his dad is not involved with team operations in any way (although $750 million of his dad’s money helped Tom and his brothers buy the team). And #2, he loves his dad.
So that’s good. And they’ll be looking into partnering with some organizations that promote tolerance and inclusion, but they have to do their homework first, and they’ll figure out the details sometime down the line. No rush.
So that was a great offseason for the Cubs organization. Oh yeah, and they dumped a bunch of money into unseating Tom Tunney, their Wrigleyville alderman, in the recent election. They don’t like the guy because he pushes back on some of their development plans around Wrigley. Although he helped them build a hotel across the street, put in an enormous Jumbotron in left field, and create a beer garden outside the stadium.
So I wouldn’t say he’s been a huge hindrance. Tunney did win re-election, and he had Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel by his side celebrating on election night.
Which makes you wonder, is Chicago starting to slowly turn against Cubs ownership? The Trump-supporting, Republican National Committee Finance-chairing, “let’s modernize Wrigley Field,” “let’s raise ticket prices,” “let’s build our own hotel across the street,” “let’s put in a Jumbotron,” “let’s take business away from the local bars by having our own outdoor beer garden,” “let’s take the Cubs off of WGN (free local TV) and create our own cable TV network where Cubs fans will be forced to pony up for a cable package if they want to watch their team.”
That’s right, this is the Cubs’ last year on WGN. After this season, all games will be on a Cubs-owned cable channel, not a single game on WGN.
It’s been a bad offseason for the Cubs. Will it matter once the season starts?
They’ve got Javier Baez, who tried to do it all last year but he needed more help. Kris Bryant, their second best player, was hurt most of last year and is unhappy about his contract. Yu Darvish makes a lot of money but was also hurt most of last year. Jon Lester pitches well but can’t throw to first base. Jason Heyward makes a lot of money but doesn’t play baseball very well. Forgotten ace Kyle Hendricks is still there. Jose Quintana is solid— but they gave up Eloy Jimenez to get him! No one will ever forget that.
The Cubs are definitely contenders. This team came up short last year, and they’re running back the same squad. We will see! Because after this year, we non-cable subscribers will definitely not be “seeing!”
The Chicago Bears love to play sports. They’d love to have a guy who can kick the ball through the uprights without hitting them. Not even hitting them once. Straight through, ideally. So they signed a guy named Blewitt, who has never played in the NFL. Sounds like a plan.
Will they draft another kicker to compete for the job with Blewitt?
They won’t say. They’ll have to wait and see who’s available in the late rounds. No big deal.
Sports are occurring in many, many places. Even places outside of Chicago and L.A. This has been a closer look at some of those sports.
