NBA moves
Let the Super Team machinations and possibilities begin.
Chris Paul pulled the strings to get to Houston, forcing the Clippers to deal him to the Rockets for Patrick Beverly, three guys from your church league, two sneakers and a used ball rack. The Rockets are still not in stratosphere to compete with the Warriors - who on that team is guarding KD? - and you can't help but wonder how CPIII and James Harden will co-exist.
Yes, Mike D'Antoni is a point-guard coach and he can figure out how to maximize their skills, but that's two guys that prefer to have the ball in their mitts.
We'll see.
As for the rest, the rumors and discussions now center on LeBron James' collection of aging NBA superfriends. Carmelo Anthony is looking for a buy-out. Dwyane Wade is going to be an unrestricted free agent after this year. So will CP III for that matter.
And so will LeBron.
After spending a postseason with pretty much predetermined outcomes, there was a ton of hand-wringing about "Super Teams" and competitive balance. There was even talk of putting rules in place to prevent "Super Teams" which would be the first time that dynasties and the pursuit of over-arching excellence was directly regulated.
Now it appears that not unlike the expansion of NBA offensive to beyond the arc, the approach to competing against Super Teams is trying to form Super Teams. Which means that right now, there are at most eight of the 30 teams that have a core group that could be viewed as a contender for the next three seasons.
There's Golden State, Cleveland and San Antonio.
We don't think Houston is done dealing and we'd include them. Boston has added a top-three draft pick and we expect Gordon Hayward to head there next week when free agency starts. We love the young collection of talent in Philly and Minnesota.
Anyone else?
Of course, that's until next season when the James Gang looks to form an alliance somewhere.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Bartolo Colon works in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres Sunday, April 16, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)Bye-bye Bartolo
We can admit the Bartolo Colon experiment is done, right?
After his stint on the DL, Colon returned to the mound Wednesday night and was shelled by the Padres. A Padres team that is hitting an MLB-worst .227 - 15 points behind Philadelphia for next to last in the NL, mind you - and an MLB-worst 281 runs scored in 78 games, mind you.
And that group of dish-ragging swinging clergymen hammered Colon, who right now would have a hard time lasting five innings in against a competitive 14U travel team. Here are the bloody numbers:
Colon gave up eight hits and three walks in four innings, meaning a team hitting less than .230 on the season was 8-for-20 against Colon's array of puss and junk. Seriously, his fastball was clocked around 83-85. That's a No. 2 or 3 starter speed for a good - not great - high school team.
His numbers total will make your head hurt.
He has an 8.14 ERA. Teams are hitting .338 against him. As bad as those are - and they would each rank far and away last if he had enough innings in his 13 starts to qualify - let's look at who is next to last.
Cleveland's Josh Tomlin has the highest ERA among qualifying pitchers with a 6.09. Kevin Gausman of the Orioles has allowed opponents to hit .327 against him.
So Mr. Colon is more than two runs and 10 batting-average points worse than the worst in the majors. That leaves really only one more thing to say.
Bye.
Battle of the Network stars
We are going to give the "Battle of the Network Stars" a chance to night.
We enjoyed the original, and in this day and age that could mean a couple of different things.
We as a society get nostalgic. Be it TV shows or the monster creek that we jumped our big over back in the day or that huge slide that seemed to start in the clouds, things from our childhood are always better and bigger and more impressive in our memory.
Will the dunk tank and the canoe race and obstacle course play with C-list celebs like Joey Lawrence and that guy from that show you can't recall be enough to carry the event like it did back in the day? Who knows?
We're hopeful for sure, because the campiness and the connection with celebrities has changed as much as anything in this ever-changing world. Think of it this way, back in 1978, we got a glimpse of Scott Baio and Mr. Kotter and that guy from the battery commercial doing everyday things in "Battle of the Networks Stars."
That's way more of the "real" Chachi than we ever had before.
Now we know more about Scott Baoi than we know about our cousins for Pete's sake.
Will it be a hit? Who knows?
But we are a sucker for game shows and nostalgia, and this has some of each. (Plus, there's nothing else on.)
This and that
* Did you know that 10 years ago today, the iPhone debuted. Apple has averaged selling 329,000 of them a day since then. Yes, it's good to be the king.
* Currently without teams, former NFLers Karlos Williams and Steve Smith Sr. are facing suspensions for either failing or missing drug tests.
* Tim Tebow got promoted to High-A St. Lucie last weekend. He debuted on Wednesday. He played a doubleheader. He went 3-for-5 in the two games with a walk and a homer. Tebow-mania. He currently is leading the High-A circuit in average (.600), slugging (1.200) and OPS (1.887). Jokes. We wrote earlier this week that, yes, this is a BID-ness decision and Tebow moves tickets and merchandise unlike any minor leaguer since some dude named Jordan. To wit, St. Lucie averaged 1,420 per game last year. In a doubleheader with Tebow, 2,315 fans attended the game. Again, we do not believe he has a chance to be a MLB contributor, but has anyone floated the theory about the benefits of having a leader with the work ethic of Tebow being around your future prospects in the minor leagues? Just a thought.
* Speaking of double-dipping, here's the story about Steph Curry getting invited to play on the Web.com Tour in August. It's a great publicity stunt - wonder if there will be the "Oh, he's taking the place of someone trying to make a living" like there is with the Tebow stuff - for a tour in need of it. But hold no illusions of grandeur. We had former Baylor School and UTC golfer Stephan Jaeger on Press Row on Wednesday and asked him about playing Curry. He embraced the chance to play against an MVP and a world-class athlete. And then said he would wear Curry out.
* Couple of Cubs tidbits. Here's a story with a Cubs outfielder denying he flipped President Trump the bird. Yep, you read that correctly. Secondly, we mentioned Miguel Montero's struggles throwing out would-be base-stealers and how he pushed starting pitcher Jake Arietta into traffic for his inability to hold runners on. To the surprise of few, Montero was designated for assignment on Wednesday.
Today's questions
Sorry for the delay in flipping on the comments on Wednesday. That's on us.
Today, we are wondering whether you have submitted a mailbag question. If not, why not? As for June 29, happy birthday to Rick Honeycutt, who is 63 today.
Happy birthday to Pepper Johnson, who is 53 today.
It's been five years since Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise divorced.
On this day in military news, it was a big day in 1863. George Custer was appointed to Brigadier General and Robert E. Lee ordered his Confederare forces to concentrate near Gettysburg, which led to the bloodiest battle in U.S. history.
In 1940 on this day, the Flying Graysons were killed by mobsters in Batman Comics, leaving one Dick Grayson an orphan and therefor joining the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin.
We'll go there. Be them sports, music, acting, you name it, who's on the Rushmore of duos.
Go, and remember the mailbag.