Flooding, Tornadoes and Lakers

I grew up in a small town in Southern Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Our rivals were them damn Sparta Bulldogs. I remember the floods in High School
and would always volunteer to sandbag -- simply to get out of school for the day.
River Rats. We stuck together in times like this, and every few years there would actually be fist fights at the Friday night football game between fans of the mighty Yellowjackets and lowly Bulldogs. Them Bulldogs would call us River Rats, we would turn into Popeye and the fight would be on. Thirty years later I remain proud to be a River Rat -- and I would like to take the time to offer my sympathies to all those who have suffered from the storms, the tornadoes and the flooding in the central states.

The Fucking Los Angeles Lakers. It is seldom I stray away from poker or gaming related posts in this blog. I am going to make an exception today, based on what I saw Sunday night. Let's dismiss this as an article about sportsmanship. Back to the game, the Mavericks swept the two-time defending Champions. They owned the Lakers and pretty well kicked the shit out of Phil Jackson's squad. Somehow, how I don't know, I think Phil Jackson's imminent retirement affected the Laker's performance in the series. Or maybe the Lakers are infected with character-flawed characters.


Do you know why Ron Artest left the game early? "To beat the crowd" 

That joke was all I could think of when Los Angeles signed Ron Artest (link to video). Back in 2003 Kobe Bryant was accused of sexually assualted a young woman named Katelyn Faber. This case was settled out of court and included Bryant publicly apologizing, but admitting no guilt on his part. No one knows what really happened between Bryant and Faber (only they do), but the fact remains, the married Kobe Bryant admitted having a sexual encounter and Faber refused to testify after settling out of court. Obviously, Kobe must have done something wrong...

Losing with class. Dallas was up 94-68 with 9:06 left in the game. Then Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were then both ejected from the game within the span of 45 seconds. First Lamar Odom, obviously suffering from the insanity of marrying into the (Khloe) Kardashian family, decked Dirk Nowitzki with a blatant cheap shot near the three-point line. Odom was given a flagrant foul and ejected. Andrew Bynum replaced Odom on the floor and he had the audacity to flagrantly butcher Jose Juan Barea as he drove the lane. As flagrant as Odom's foul was, Bynum's hatchet job was ten times worse. Not only that, Bynum ripped his jersey off, exiting like some kind of "warrior". WTF was that? Magic Johnson said he was embarrassed to be a Laker this night. The immortal Phil Jackson will retire, deserving a much better showing from his team...

And I never rooted for the Lakers again.