Boston
This has not been the week the Boston Chamber of Commerce is going to reference any time soon.
After Adam Jones told reporters that he was called the “N-word” on Monday night, the stories flooded in about the city’s checkered history in terms of racial attitudes. Players detailed other stories, including some racial insults tossed toward Red Sox players.
All of this was happening as the Sox and the Orioles decided to mix in some dodgeball, MLB-style, so the backdrop was crossed between the racial overtones of the “old school, unwritten” rules. The city was quick to say, “That’s not us” in terms of racial issues, even going as far as giving Adam Jones a standing ovation before Tuesday’s game as a sign of good will.
Hogwash.
Minutes before Jones was given a self-serving, “See, WE’RE not racists” ovation, a fan at Fenway was tossed for using a racial slur to describe the rendition of the national anthem sung by a Kenyan woman.
That fan was tossed from the game and banned for life by the organization. (Side note: That’s a joke of a self-righteous and look-at-us-being-tough gesture. How are they going to enforce that type of ban on that type of jack wagon? If dude pays cash for tickets, how are they ever going to know if he’s there or not? Anywho.)
There’s that. Then there was Adam Jones getting tossed last night as tensions rose and the umpires tried to control the hot-running emotions.
In the back ground as Jones and the umpire are arguing there are a couple of Red Sox fans throwing the ol’ one-finger salute. Sure, that’s universal and there’s no racial implications – and fitting that Boston – the city of Bird – embraces the bird finger – but it’s a clear message.
Boston fans are awful. Period. (Here’s the latest story, and down near the bottom, Boston officials share that 34 fans were ejected Monday, including the guy who dropped the N-bomb on Jones. Thirty-four seems like a lot, right?)
Exercise rider Martin Rivera gallops Kentucky Derby hopeful Classic Empire at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, May 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)Derby
OK, who’s in for the Doing the Derby – not a Roller Derby – Derby optional?
The rules are simple. Pick the winner and the loser. First-place gets a point; last-place gets 1.5. The cost is, as always, nothing’ and you can win stuff. We have about 10 or so entries. If you want in, we need your best guess by close of BID-ness Friday.
Here are the starting spots and odds for Saturday’s Run for the Roses:
1. Lookin At Lee – 20-to-1
2. Thunder Snow – 20-to-1
3. Fast and Accurate – 50-to-1
4. Untrapped – 30-to-1
5. Always Dreaming – 5-to-1
6. State of Honor – 30-to-1
7. Girvin – 15-to-1
8. Hence – 15-to-1
9. Irap – 20-to-1
10. Gunnevera – 15-to-1
11. Battle of Midway – 30-to-1
12. Sonneteer – 50-to-1
13. J Boys Echo – 20-to-1
14. Classic Empire – 4-to-1
15. McCracken – 5-to-1
16. Tapwrit – 20-to-1
17. Irish War Cry – 6-to-1
18. Gormley – 15-to-1
19. Practical Joke – 20-to-1
20. Patch – 30-to-1
Greatness again
We are in on these NBA playoffs.
Good stuff and great players. (Side question: Is this the greatest level of talent since the mid-to-late-1980s? Think about the teams and the overwhelming skill sets we have. Yes, the rules have been flipped to aid offenses, but still.)
Here are the series updates:
Boston leads Washington 2-0, with Game 3 tonight at Washington.
Cleveland leads Toronto 2-0, with Game 3 Friday at Toronto.
San Antonio-Houston are tied at 1, with Game 3 Friday at Houston.
Golden State leads Utah 1-0, with Game 2 tonight at Golden State.
The semifinal round has been filled with blowouts, but we would be remiss to not highlight the showcase performances that we’ve seen.
Isaiah Thomas has been jaw-dropping for a lot of reasons.
The Rockets’ style has been awesome or awful, leading to 20-point wins and losses in the first two games of their series with the Spurs. (Side note: Will be interesting to see how the Spurs handle the leg injury to Tony Parker, if he has to miss multiple games.)
The Warriors have looked every bit the part of Finals favorite, winning their five playoff games by an average of 16.8 points.
And then there’s LeBron.
Ah, LeBron. Regulars around these parts know we’re partial to LeBron and his amazing talents. (And, he’s so athletically gifted, we still believe if he had entered the NFL draft at 24, he would have been a top 5 pick.)
That said, what he’s done in the short sample size of these playoffs is pretty dang impressive, even for his standards.
In five games – all wins, James is at 34.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 2.7 steals. If he’s this efficient – last night he scored 39 points on 14 shots; he’s shooting 56.6 percent overall and 48.4 percent from 3 in the playoffs – it’s hard to see anyone in the East, or anyone this side of Golden State, preventing James from another title.
“If you can find somebody to stop LeBron in these moments,” Toronto star DeMar DeRozan said after last night’s blowout loss at Cleveland, “I’ll give you $100.”
This and that
* Speaking of James, LeBron is now second all time in postseason points. He passed Kareem last night, and is 210 points behind Michael Jordan, meaning he’ll pass him sometime this postseason, barring injury. LeBron is fifth in points per playoff game for guys with a minimum of 1,000 points in the postseason. The top five is Jordan (33.45), Allen Iverson (29.73), Jerry West (29.13), Kevin Durant (28.5), and LeBron (28.18).
* The back-and-forth of unwritten rules and throwing at hitters got one Baltimore pitcher tossed last night because he got loose with a 77-mph deuce. Silliness. That said, great details from Lookouts pitcher Kohl Stewart on Press Row on Wednesday about throwing at hitters and those rules and details of being a professional pitcher. Here’s the podcast replay.
* Aaron Judge is pretty good at this hitting thing. The Yankees slugger has 13 homers in 26 games, and the shot Tuesday was massive.
* Jim Harbaugh being Jim Harbaugh on Twitter. Good times. This one was a minor dust-up with FSU assistant Tim Brewster and did not get to a Pete Finebaum level.
* The odds on winning Super Bowl LII are out. Yes, the Patriots are the favorites, sitting at a mind-numbing 3-to-1. The draft move that ranked best in Vegas’ eyes was Houston adding Deshaun Watson. The Texans were 40-to-1 to win it all before the draft, and they are 20-to-1 after adding the former Clemson star quarterback. On the other side, Vegas really thought the Jets needed to go a different direction than for LSU star Jamal Adams. The Jets were 75-to-1 to win the Super Bowl before the draft; they are 200-to-1 now.
* Speaking of Vegas, here’s a social media photo of Floyd “Money” Mayweather holding roughly $400K after Isaiah Thomas’ big night in Game 2. Sitting in a private jet with that much cash in your lap? Buckets, that’s a different world.
Today’s question
There can be a few questions today.
On this day in 1959, the first Grammys were handed out. Moe Howard – the lead Stooge – died on this day in 1975.
Either of those could be Rushmore generators.
But today is May 4, as in Star Wars Day, as in May the Fourth be with you.
Let’s do Rushmore of secondary Star Wars characters. Luke, Darth, Han, et al., are not included.
Whatcha’ got, and remember the mailbag.