Sports! (General Thread)

I was happy to see 3 players from the University of Tennessee get drafted. It's good for the program to see three 3star players come in and turn into NBA draft picks.

re: the womens world cup:

I dont think there was any controversy about USA tonking Thailand by 13 goals. It's a tournament, goal difference is a factor in determining who advances, so you score as many as you can, every game, no questions.

The issue was the USA team's silly and over the top goal celebrations. The first few goals, sure, get excited, but once you've established total control of the match, celebrating every goal like you've won the whole tournament reeks of rubbing it in. The USA women are the best team in the world, the Thais were hopelessly overmatched, IMO the Americans should've acted like respectful professionals with slightly more muted celebrations after say, the 5th goal.

My $0.02

also, yay Raptors. Last time I watched a basketball game, Spud Webb was still playing for Atlanta.

Man, the “Beautiful Game” sure can be ugly at times. VAR is some bullshit, and the “simulations”, I know they’re tactical and all that, but wow, pros taking dramatic dives that disrupt the flow of a match really ugly shit up. Cameroon vs England was not a pretty match. The offsides called were legit, and shit didn’t go Cameroon's way and they were frustrated, but it was an ugly reminder of how at times overused or under-utilized VAR has been in FIFA sanctioned events. There has to be a way to standardize VAR utilization amongst refs so that it’s not so subjective, or just turf it all together.

The ref was driving me nuts in this match, she was constantly in the way of passes and plays, I got a laugh when the Cameroon player shoved her out of the way at one point. Obvious act of frustration, but at a World Cup level, you need to be more aware! (OT: back in my rugby days I had run ins with refs a LOT. One particular little weasel kept getting in the way of my teams plays and passes, I got tired of it and warned him to stop or I would include him in the play. Got in the way again as the ball went to the ground so I grabbed him and pulled him into a ruck. Heard a pathetic tweet of his whistle from the bottom of the pile, touch judges were peeling players off of the pile, I was expelled from the game and handed a suspension but got lots of laughs from both teams. Refs are in the game, too! 🙂).

Yeah, cool to see these women generating such heat, but yeah, those prices are outrageous (especially when some working families can’t feed their kids or pay their bills, but that’s for another thread...). Hopefully the ticket demand and revenue generated rolls over to the highly skilled athletes who have dedicated their lives to the game and they can start being PAID like the top draw stars that they are instead of the small fraction of what their male counterparts make. 🙂

I could only imagine any meeting Durant had with the Knicks immediately made him the smartest person in the room. After the Knicks parted ways with Carmelo (and arguably before that as well) they put themselves in a pretty bad "shituation" that they couldn't escape with current ownership. Basically, whoever they drafted or acquired with big money would automatically be forced to become the "savior" of their franchise because fuck all logic when it comes to actually building a team, right?

Durant comes out of this as the realist here. He's currently on the road to recovery after a career-altering injury and won't be playing next season. I don't doubt for a minute that he'll also lose a step in his game because of it. These facts do not bode well for the position that the Knicks wanted him to assume.

Brooklyn on the other hand IS in a much better position to acquire his services. He's joining what is already and budding supporting cast for the Nets along with Kyrie and DeAndre coming over as well to hold the fort down until he returns to the court and serve as added benefit for a team that did make the playoffs this season without either of them. This is an obvious no-brainer situation for Durant and, even if he comes back at 80% of his potential, it would still make him one of the most dominant players in the Eastern Conference which has the easier road to the Finals (for now). 

NBA free agency just gave me vertigo following where everyone went!

Kawhi is the big finish and I really hope he doesn't go to LA.  Just for "balancing" purposes and parity with other teams, that feels almost obscene and worse than anything the Warriors put together as they still had to rely on bench depth more than huge "A" level superstars joining up.  Kawhi + Lebron + AD seems even more of a squash than Lebron + Wade + Bosh with the difference curently being the Heat had more roster depth than the Lakers have right now.  Though reports of Iguodala joining the Lakers is just even more horrifying for parity.  I feel like Kawhi wants to lead his own team like he did this season but it also seems he just wants to be in LA and I don't think the Clippers make sense when the Lakers are already loaded with two icons. 

I'm glad Durant left the Warriors cause it just felt like he needed to go elsewhere. I hope he can heal as well as possible and comes back as much like himself as anyone could after that injury. I also hope that Kyrie doesn't alienate himself from the Nets as much as he did from the Celtics and then leave before Durant returns 🤦‍♂️

Horford on the 76'ers is a pretty big move.  Not only does that meant he will no longer check Embiid but it also means that Embiid can rest more which he drastically needs.  Philly losing Redick will hurt them though. They no longer have reliable outside shooting to pair with Embiid's inside threat.

Rose on the Pistons is interesting and if he continues his slow return to effectiveness, he could be an interesting teammate with Griffin and Drummons.  

 As for the Knicks... their fans are basically having as much fun with them as Homer Simpson did in NYC.