Before we get to the mailbag, here's who we have in the contest. Please let us know if we missed you. Thanks and enjoy the weekend.
By my calculations, we have the conclusion of O.J. documentary, an improbable Game 7, and the conclusion of the U.S. Open ahead on this Father's Day weekend.
Giddy-up. On to the mailbag.
FILE - In this Oct. 6, 1966 file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax, pitches against the Baltimore Orioles in game two of the World Series baseball game in Los Angeles.In 1965, Koufax didn't pitch the Dodgers' Series opener at Minnesota because of Yom Kippur and lost to Jim Kaat the following day. Koufax pitched a four-hit shutout on three days' rest to win Game 5, then came back with a three-hit shutout on two days' rest to win Game 7. (AP Photo/File) This week's Rushmores:
Rushmore of lefties: We'll go Ted Williams, Koufax, Mickelson and Gail Goodrich.
Rushmore of real-life sports movies: Since Hoosiers and Rocky are based in reality but far from real-life, we'll go Brian's Song, Miracle, Remember the Titans (although this one stretches the details, too, but it falls just inside the line) and The Slugger's Wife. What, the Slugger's Wife was not a real-life sports movie. OK, add Moneyball then. (And we're not a big fan of Blindside, other than Saban and Fulmer cameos, that is.)
Rushmore of current sports figures we'd support as presidential candidates: Saban, Manning (all of them, including Olivia), Belichick and we'll go off the board with Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and has fought it every step of the way. He's credited with being the guy who invented the Ice Bucket Challenge, which has raised millions for the fight against the disease.
Rushmore of international baseball stars: Ichiro, Clemente, Mariano Riveria and Pudge Rodriguez.
Rushmore of twins: Sports, we'll take the Bryan brothers (who get bonus points for working together all these years), the Barbers, the Lopez brothers and the Andrettis. Non-sports: We'll go the Olsons, the Wonder Twins (power activate, shape of an eagle, form of a bucket of water), the Twin Towers, and Dolly Parton's, well, you know.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) dunks against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of Game 6 of basketball's NBA Finals in Cleveland, Thursday, June 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane) From a slew of you -
Where do you put LeBron's Game 6 performance in Finals lore?
And, what was the best part?
Gang -
That was a monster effort from LeBron in Game 6. Overwhelming in fact.
There were so many numbers to digest, let's try to put them in order:
-25 - that's the plus/minus of Andre Igoudala, last year's Finals MVP, who was battling back spasms and was rendered very ineffective. With Igoudala battling pain and Andrew Bogut out, the Warriors front court is potentially quite depleted.
0 - that's the number of points Harrison Barnes contributed Thursday in 16 minutes. Dude took eight shots - several of which were wide-open looks - and posted a bagel.
1 - Number of turnovers from LeBron. This is a huge stat, considering how much he possessed the ball and how much his lack of ball security helped the Warriors early in this series.
6 - Number of fouls called on Steph Curry, which led to coach Steve Kerr calling out officials by name in the postgame news conference and Curry being ejected from the game after slinging his mouthpiece into the crowd.
9 - Number of losses the Warriors had in the regular season. They have lost eight postseason games.
16 - Number of rebounds Tristan Thompson corralled. Dude was a beast inside, especially in the first quarter when the Cavs grabbed control of the game.
30 - That's the shooting percentage from 3 for the Warriors starters, who were 10-of-33 from distance in Game 6. It has to be at least 10 points higher for the Warriors to be successful in Game 7, and that number is with Steph Curry going 6-of-13. (The other starters were a woeful 4-of-20, for 20 percent.)
41 - LeBron's point total for the second consecutive Finals game. He did it all, and did it emphatically.
His final stat line - 41 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, four steals and three blocks - is one of the all-time performances in Finals history, along with MJ in 1998 (and the flu game before that), Magic in the clincher in 1980 when he played center and a few others.
Still, his unbelievable showing in this series will be diluted greatly if the Cavs lose Sunday night in Game 7.
Winners write the history, and despite being unstoppable in back-to-back elimination games, without winning it all - rightly or wrongly - it will more than likely reflect poorly on LeBron. (You could make the case it should reflect more poorly on LeBron the GM rather than LeBron the player, considering that Tristan Thompson' emergence makes Kevin Love, who has nine points in the last two games total, a non-factor. But we all know how this plays out if the Cavs fall this weekend.)
But what happens if they win? What happens if LeBron drops another dazzling performance and they come all the way back from 3-1 to beat the best regular-season team in NBA history?
That would be a feather in his cap that none of the other short-list GOATs can claim.
We are stoked for Game 7. (And that's with the realization that Golden State is a clear favorite pick.)
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is held back from referee Jason Phillips (23) by Shaun Livingston, left, and Klay Thompson, right, while reacting to being called for his sixth foul on Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the second half of Game 6 of basketball's NBA Finals in Cleveland, Thursday, June 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane) From Jess
Why do we have double standards for the great players? Tonight's NBA Finals was the latest example of how the media plays favorites. Thanks, and is it too late to get a US Open pick in?
Jess -
Yes, too late on the Open. Sorry. Better luck next time. (We likely will have a British Open contest, too. So, there's that.)
As for favorites, well, it's hard to say, and it's a topic we have discussed a fair amount here.
Whether it's the love for player X because he has passion or the disdain for Player Y because he loses control of his emotions/dances/you name it (and boy, that's a fine line to split between playing with passion and playing with too much passion), it's as bad now as ever.
Part of that is because of the media cycle that runs non-stop and the instant feedback avalanche that is Twitter and the rest. (Side note: Uh, Mrs. Curry, maybe you should put the Twitter down for a while. After making huge mistake and saying that the NBA fix is in for the money of a Game 7 moments after last night's loss, she deleted that Tweet. Here's betting the NBA brass has something to say about that one. She followed that up with saying Cleveland security 'racially profiled' her dad for holding his credentials because he looks a lot like David Aminzadeh, the guy who has become famous for sneaking into big-time sporting events.)
As for the favorites, well, everyone is entitled to their view, and everyone has players, teams, etc., that they like and enjoy. The media should be above that in every regard, and most times they/we are.
That said, a casual observer could ask this question and the answers would be quite interesting. Flip a handful of Warriors and LeBron last night on any number of plays and things and what happens:
If LeBron loses his cool and got tossed, he would have been crushed. Curry was passionate.
If LeBron had thrown his mouthpiece into the crowd, he would have been crushed. Curry made a mistake. (And we think the suspension talk is silly, and in truth, Curry did just make a mistake and quickly apologized, but that doesn't change the fact that if it had been LeBron, that would have been the centerpiece photo from last night.)
If LeBron had left the court before the game was over after going on a "It's a man's game" press conference tirade like Klay Thompson did, he would have been crushed.
If LeBron had gone on full blast on the referees like Steve Kerr did, he would have been crushed.
Game 7 answers everything, right or wrong.
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White (84) celebrates with teammates guard Justin Blalock (63) and offensive tackle Tyson Clabo (77) after making a catch for a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Atlanta.From Stewwie -
Is it not hypocritical to push the NFL for a safer game and also support more 2-point conversions? Do you now support Goodell's XP change? I still oppose it, not for safety reasons, but I think it's a bad and unnecessary change overall. And wouldn't the AFCCG have been a better ending with the Pats tying it up at 20 with an easy XP and going to OT rather than force Brady* into a horrible 2-point conversion failure (due to the Pats' missed XP earlier in the game)? Sadly, those types of results will be more common going forward in the playoffs especially at cold, windy outdoor stadiums.
Stewwie -
That's a great point about safety and one we have not thought about it.
It's 100 percent hypocritical because the league is going to entice extra meaningful snaps - some of which will be ultimate do-or-lose moments that raise the competitive stakes - on a play that used to be an after thought.
We hated commissioner Roger Goodell's extra-point change primarily because it was an Ali-level Rope-a-Dope distraction used during the height of the NFL's scrutiny for its callous and awful handling of its domestic violence situations.
And you're right the change is unnecessary.
But the change happened, and it today's analytical world of sports, the math has even changed.
From Pro Football Talk: "For the 2015 season as a whole, kickers made 1,146 extra points on 1,217 attempts, a 94.2 percent success rate. That's far worse than last year, when kickers went 1,222-for-1,230, or 99.3 percent."
In true efficiency stats, now teams only have to convert two-point tries at a 47.2 percent clip to be better served than the league average of kicking extra points.
Over the past five years, the NFL average is right at 50 percent for converting two-point tries, heading into 2015, and last year the league went 45 of 94 (47.9 percent). Stewwie, your point about the playoffs is a fair one, and while we support Ben Roethlisberger's contention that teams should make the two-point play it's No. 1 option, it comes with caveats, not unlike the current sheet that tells teams when to go for two as opposed to kick.
A tie game with seconds left? Of course you go for the higher-odds play of kicking the PAT.
But the rest of the scores - and the added intrigue both in the moment and in the mathematical calculations going forward - would add excitement to the game. Plus, there's the statistical edge of preparation.
Say you're the Steelers with a big, mobile quarterback, one of the three best wide outs in the league and one of the three best runnings backs. You practice five or six two-point plays everyday and get to the point where you are supremely confident. (Pittsburgh led the NFL in two-point attempts with 11 and conversions with eight last year.)
So you feel confident converting way more than 50 percent of your two-point tries. If you score first and get the two, you are now directing the flow of the football game into an area in which you feel you have a big advantage.
That could force teams who are far less comfortable going for two into trying to keep up with something you prefer to do.
And isn't dictating the flow and the style of play a mark of great coaching?
This is really not unlike the embrace of the 3 in the NBA.
It's a profit deal.
Referees perform the coin toss before Chattanooga FC's NPSL national championship match against the New York Cosmos at Finley Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.From Spy -
5, worse officiating - the NBA or international soccer?
Spy -
Three of the biggest sporting items of the week all shared the following:
Officials not doing their job right, and in turn there are bodies everywhere. That describes the flop-fests that are international soccer and the NBA playoffs and the O.J. documentary.
We'll lean toward the soccer officiating being the worst of the two you asked about, but sadly it's too close for comfort.
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2000, file photo, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, left, jokes with boxing great Muhammad Ali during a photo session with U.N. Messengers of Peace at the United Nations. "U.N. Messengers of Peace" are distinguished people from the arts, music, literature and sports who agree to focus world attention on the work of the United Nations. (AP Photo/Shawn Baldwin, File) From Sportsfan -
For the mailbag - What was Ali's approximate net worth when he passed? We hear so much about how promoters (Don King for example) take advantage of young boxers. How did Ali avoid the trap?
Sportsfan -
Ali's net worth ranged between $50 million and $80 million depending on which website you trust.
The fight game was so much more structured - and followed - during Ali's day, that the presence of the con artists such as King were greatly diminished. King preyed on the young fighters not long after the sanctions split into an alphabet soup offering of different associations and title fights.
That gave King credibility and flexibility.
Another point is that people were generally more honest then than they are now for whatever reason.
But swindling Ali, considering he was the most famous athlete in the world, would have been like bilking Jordan or Tiger Woods of their fortunes in current times.
Yes, it happened to Tyson, but a lot of that was after Cus D'amato died and his life was in complete turmoil.
Great job with the questions this week, guys. Way to go.