If it ain’t broke, fix it
Not sure how crazy I am about that mini headline, because the NBA All-Star Game most definitely needs to be fixed. But you know what nobody has ever said, ever? “Man, this thing would be so much better if the players were all mixed up instead of on teams organized by conference.” I mean it would be one thing to suggest that the All-Stars should be selected irrespective of arbitrary conference lines but that’s not the change that was made. Instead, the league office just decided to stick to twelve All-Stars from each conference and then mix and match them accordingly. Whoopee. Hey, at least the top vote-getters from each conference got to act as captains and choose their teammates like a good old-fashioned schoolyard pick’em, that’s pretty cool! Oh wait, it wasn’t televised? We didn’t get to see LeBron tap a fraternity paddle menacingly as he named Kyrie? Or watch him take five minutes to select Kevin Love to his team even though he was the last guy remaining? Or enjoy Kevin Durant’s single tear as the snek watched his three OG Warrior teammates laugh and reminisce and make fun of him on the other team? What was the point of even making this a draft if you decided not to show all the gory details??? Anyway, I’d love to end this by ranting about all the All-Star snubs but I honestly thought the picks were spot on. I might have swapped out the much-improved Andre Drummond for increasingly overrated blackhole Kristaps Porzingis, and DPOY candidate Paul George was a snub before he was added to replace the injured DeMarcus Cousins. But that’s not much to go on about. Whatever. The game will still suck.
Didn’t I write this last year
I won’t pretend that I watched a single set of the Australian Open this year, so I can’t say much about the quality of the tournament. Come on, it’s not my fault! I’m a busy guy and everything is happening at 2:30 a.m. Anyway, I’ll just leave this here as my annual “How the hell is Roger Federer still doing this” piece. Let me remind you that the man won his first Grand Slam in 2003. He appeared with Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods in somewhat cringeworthy, somewhat amazing Gillette commercials because the three were athletic contemporaries. We’ve been saying variations of “He’s getting too old” and “This is finally it for Fed” since all the way back in 2010. And yet here we are, eight years later. Roger Dodger is 36 years old, and he just won his 20th major tournament. At this point you have to stop doubting the guy. He’s not done till he says he is.
In Memoriam
Two former Tulsa student-athletes – quarterback Jerry Keeling and basketball center Greg Stewart – passed away last week. Keeling was named to the first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference 1959 and ’60 and was inducted to the Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He went on to play 15 years in the Canadian Football League as both a safety and QB, earning entry into the CFL Hall of Fame as well. Stewart was a dominant big man who led the Golden Hurricane to the NIT championship in 1981 and was named the MVP of the tournament. He was later drafted by the Boston Celtics and enjoyed a 10 year career in Spain. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these TU legends.
