THE NBA IS CHEATING FOR THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS AND THE NUMBERS PROVE IT

 The Lakers are one of the oldest teams in the NBA and a team that gets the most favorable calls. Is it Lebron Basis.  These are the numbers as of 2/16/23.

The Lakers have shot 1532 free throw attempts and their opponents have shot 1286 free throw attempts for a difference of 246. The largest in the league. A comparison to other teams.

Lakers +246

 Mavs +70

 Warriors -345

Bucks +104

Celtics +81

Nuggets -70

As a player gets older they tend to slow down and commit more fouls and draw less fouls. Not the Lakers. 

STOP CHEATING NBA

Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks - - this happened faster than a balloon being shot out of the sky.

     In one of the riskiest moves of all time, Mark Cuban finally pulled the BIG ONE and got Luka another star. 

    In todays' NBA you cannot win a championship without at least one superstar and one or two all-stars around him. 

    Giannis in 2021, won a championship with the least supporting cast since Olajuwon in 1994 (Of course Jordan's retirement helped him).

    It took Lebron James 9 years to win his first championship and he had to form a super team to do it.

        It was a risk to get him he is talented but weird.  

He quit on coach K at Duke, he quit on Lebron in Cleveland, he thinks the earth is flat, He quit on Boston and Brad Stevens, he did not want to play so he decided to be an anti-vaxxer, he did not want to play so he posts antisemitic videos, He quit on Steve Nash, Kevin Durant, Jacque Vaughn in Brooklyn.

He is a renaissance man who probably, though good a it, does not have his heart into basketball.  

However, if Dallas could get one more piece, Luka is so talented and if Kyrie could be normal just for a few months. The Mavs could win the NBA Championship. 

 

  

Who is The Greatest Band of the 21 Century - Maroon 5 or Nickleback

         I know I can't believe that I wrote that - but we are now some 22 years into the next century and so far the Beatles, Rolling Stone, Led Zepplin, The Who, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Earth Wind and Fire, The Who, U2 etc......are not walking (through that door or) up on to that stage.

As I sit here today, I can't think of 2 bands who have more hits this century than Maroon 5 and Nickleback. The scary thing is I don't think there are any other bands that are close (though possibly Destiny's Child except they had a lot of late 1990s music hits). 

Music of the 21st century seems to be dominated by the solo artist, I don't know if that is going to change soon. 

If I had to pick I would lean toward (yes, the hated) Nickleback as the greatest band of the 21st Century. 

Anybody else to nominate?

What Topps could do for one last hurrah

 This is based on the assumption that Topps will not be able to print cards of Individual Players after 2022.

What Topps should do is dump all of its product lines and produce one set. Select 600 individual players. (no all stars, league leaders etc).

But here is the kicker. For the 600 players put them each on a different Topps design from the last 70 years.

Yes, that's right a 42,000 card set (600 player x 70 years).

Say for Card Number 1. Mike Trout you would get him on a 1952, 1953, 1954.....2021 design.

(I know  it would suck getting the 2021 design two years in a row).

Put the cards out in 10 or 20 series throughout the year.

Make the cards cheap and affordable as possible.

This would be the ultimate chase set. You could try to collect. many ways

You could try to collect all 42,000 cards.

You could try to collect one years card (i e 1965, 1979 etc...)

You could collect one player all 70 years.

or since each player would have the same number throughout each set you could complete a 600 card set with each number being  any one of the 70 different designs. For example:

1. Mike Trout 1956

2 Vla Guerrero 1983

3. Fernando Tatis 1995 etc....

Its a pipe dream but of course I could be dreaming that there will not be anymore Topps baseball cards

Will 2022 be the Swan Song Topps Baseball Cards

 How can Topps print cards of individual players if Fanatics own the exclusive right to them starting in 2023.

Will we be seeing Topps Baseball in Action cards (Similar to Fleer Football in Action (circa 1975-1987), game action without the individual players identified

OH NO. THE END OF TOPPS BASEBALL CARDS (THE END IN 2026)

 Looks like we are not going to see that 1977 Topps Heritage set design 

IS TOM BRADY THE GREATEST SPORTSMAN EVER.

 

With the above title in mind here are my list of the top 3 greatest from every sport.

Football

Tom Brady

Jim Brown 

Jerry Rice

Baseball

Babe Ruth

Willie Mays

Hank Aaron

Basketball

Michael Jordan

Bill Russell

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Hockey

Wayne Gretzky

Gordie Howe

Bobby Orr

Tennis

Roger Federer

Pete Samparas

Jimmy Conners

Golf

Tiger Woods

Jack Nicklaus

Arnold Palmer

Boxing

Muhammed Ali

Jack Johnson

Rocky Marciano

From That list I would present the final 8.

Tom Brady, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Muhammed Ali, Jim Brown. Willie Mays:

The Playoff

Tom Brady defeats Willie Mays.  Brady is the statistical leader in his sport and winning leader.

Babe Ruth defeats Jim Brown. Both are the greatest/dominant but Brown only won one championship.

Michael Jordan defeats Wayne Gretzky. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup after they traded Gretzky

Muhammed Ali defeats Tiger Woods. Ali is just a bigger iconic figure.

Semifinals

Tom Brady defeats Michael Jordan. Brady's been to the conference championship 14 times, Jordan had to wait for Bird, Magic and Isiah to fall before he soared.

Muhammed Ali defeats Babe Ruth. Ruth has the stats but Ali has even bigger Aura. 

The Finals

Ali is iconic but Brady's dominance started with 9/11 and now 20 years later in the Covid Pandemic. If Brady loses the Super Bowl, I think an ever slight edge goes to Ali but if he wins, I think He is The Greatest.