Antonio Brown Is Being Robbed And Will Not Remember It

Antonio Brown is without question a top 2 receiver in the NFL and the league has been more pass heavy than ever. Yet he isn't even cracking 15 million/year. The NFL is easily the most violent professional sport, unless you're LeBron running on a fast break and run into a really mean Draymond. Running across the middle is child's play. Antonio Brown makes 15 million/ year while only having to deal with linebackers trying to eat his soul. 

Reggie Jackson makes 16 million/year and is mediocre at best when compared to other NBA players. This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen. If I'm an NFL player, I'm super pissed at our CBA and I'm going to lose my mind. The most vicious sport that has the shortest lifespan and they aren't making the money that basketball players or baseball players are. 

Professional football is the most watched sport, followed by baseball. Waaaaaaaaay down the list, you'll find the NBA (just behind NASCAR). It's bonkers that these salaries are able to happen. Yes, they make a ton of money and they make more in a year than I ever will in my life. I have come to terms with this, so please stop reminding me. But I'll be able to count to 5 when/if I make it to age 50, so I've got that going for me. These NFL deals coming through never cease to amaze me at the difference in them and NBA ones, but I only see the gap getting bigger in the years to come. We'll see how it goes though. Just remember Antonio, I had your back. Feel free to hook a brother up with some of that signing bonus.

All my love,

@corbeech

Apparently there was an NBA game last night

Oh wow, I guess there was an actual game last night. This was also news to Golden State because they took a massive dump on the court. They showed one glimmer of life in the second quarter and cut the Cleveland led down to 8 going into the half. This was impressive because Cleveland had come out of the gates strong and put a 20 point lead in the books early in the first quarter. Steph and Klay were tremendously terrible in the first half, and for the entire game if you want to get picky. LeBron and Kyrie were playing like their playoff lives depended on it (it actually was).

You ready for a hot take? Of course you are. The Cavs are better without Kevin Love. Oh, everyone is saying that? Well put me in the crew with the rest of them. In his two games, they lost by 33 and 15. They finally get rid of him and they win by 30. Coincidence? I think not! He has been a complete downer since going to the Cavs. His PPG is down by 3.0 and his RPG is down by 2.4. He is like Bosh in Miami. Maybe it's the curse of being a post player with LeBron or maybe everyone was right and he truly was just a big fish in a little pond while in Minnesota.

Apologies for the tardiness on this article. I have been trying to adult today and fully dreaded talking about these two trashy teams. Fuhrer Bird would have crushed them both by this point and I'm hyped for next season. GO PACERS!

All my love,
@corbeech

New and Improved Lottery

As the playoffs draw to a close, I'm no longer a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Those days are behind me. I have a new fearless leader and he doesn't sell stupid wall posters called Fatheads.

Every single day since I put my NBA fandom up for grabs, I've received calls from GMs across the country. Each one thinks they have something to offer that's better than the rest, but I had to shut out all of the noise and make the best decision for me and my family. I have enjoyed the recruiting process, but there can only be one winner and I had to break some hearts.

That being said, I am now a fan of.....

Congratulations Pacers!!!

 

You were the winner and I'm #blessed to be joining you on our path to righteousness in the coming years. Fuhrer Bird has finally found us the right man to be our coach and guide us to basketball glory. I'm glad to be a part of the organization and we're coming for you losers in 2016-2017. Get your hard hats on and get ready for war.

All my love,

@corbeech

Sixth Straight Finals For Lebron

The Cavaliers put away the Raptors 113-87 in Game 6 in Toronto Friday night. The game wasn't close at any point past the 9 minute mark in the 1st quarter. The Big 3 in Cleveland scored 83 of those 113, and dominated every aspect of the game. The Cavaliers looked good. Really good. Good enough to beat whichever team comes out of the West good. But, bigger than the Cavaliers going to the Finals looking for their first championship there was another stat that really is mind blowing.

Love that hat.

How crazy is it that Lebron James has made 6 straight NBA Finals? The last time Lebron wasn't in the NBA Finals, Kobe won his last championship back in 2010, and Lebron left town with "The Decision". Since Lebron took his talents to South Beach, he's been destroying the East. In the previous 5 Finals appearances for Lebron, he's 2-3. Both wins were with the Heat, beating Thunder in 2012 and Spurs in 2013. The losses are the Mavs in 2011, Spurs in 2014, and Warriors in 2015.
Lebron has now done something that hasn't been done since the 1960's. Lebron is the only player to do this that didn't play for Boston when the Celtics won 11 championships in 13 years (1957, 1959-66, 1968-69). None of the greats has this accomplishment on their resume. The game has changed so much, but Lebron doesn't care. All Lebron cares about is being an all-time player, and he's making the case for just that.

In the last two years, Lebron has become sort of a pansy cry baby, and that saddens me. I was a huge Lebron fan when everyone turned on him for "The Decision". I agree that may not have been the best way to do a free agency signing, but you can't deny the charity money, and the way he changed any kind of signing for the rest of history (any recruitment signing). Ever since he's returned to Cleveland Lebron has been still ruling the NBA world. Even after writing this I'm changing the way I feel about Lebron.

I'd love to see Kevin Durant and the Thunder play Lebron and the Cavs again. That would be a battle against two teams that love to run and come right at you. Can't wait for the Thunder to beat the Warriors on Saturday.

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I, like most of America, forgot that James Jones of the Cavaliers is also in this 6 straight NBA Finals club. He has nowhere near the stats of Lebron James, but does deserve a mention.

NBA Lottery: Reborn

I'm slightly ashamed to say this, but I don't have a favorite NBA team. Up until this point, I have just cheered for LeBron and whichever team he was on by default. When he took his talents to Miami, I did too. Yes, that means I'm back on the Cavs bandwagon even though I hate them for being babies the first time LeBron bailed. As a rational human being, I see the issue with being a Cleveland sports fan and plan to remedy this.

This will not be as simple as just picking a new team and supporting them, no. I'm going above and beyond for you, our reader. I will be conducting a lottery to allow fate to decide who I should support. This lottery will be slightly different than the traditional NBA Draft lottery in that it will not be fully loaded to allow a bottom feeder to win. I want fate to decide if I deserve NBA misery or fun times.

My setup will be to have a drawing out of a hat and the last man standing is my new team that I pledge my loyalty to. I will give the bottom half of each conference 2 entries and the top half 1 entry. I'm going to do some adjusting so that I don't get an amazing team or the worst teams. For this, I will eliminate the 76ers, Nets, Cavaliers, and Warriors, passing their entries on to other teams. I will keep you updated as the lottery progresses in the coming days and we'll see where this takes us. We're in this together, so let's make it a good time.

All my love,
@corbeech

DONE with Draymond Green

This is the last time I'll utter Draymond's name. I'm #DONE with him (h/t @barstoolbigcat). I was unhappy with him for kicking Steven Adams in the sack, but I wasn't going to be completely finished with him. This is the last straw though. He overstepped his boundaries. KANTER IS AN ANGEL! 

Draymond just made the biggest mistake of his life. Aside from my #done status with him, he has also brought on the wrath of Turkey because they will stand for their favorite son and fight this injustice. I will not utter his name anymore because it is disrespectful to speak poorly of the dead. RIP in peace and sorry you screwed up. Your team will be able to join you in the afterlife soon. 

All my love,

@corbeech

Haha the NBA is a joke!

This made me chuckle. Way to be consistent with the punishments boys. Thank the lord you got the terror that is Dahntay Jones aka the Cavs last man off the bench suspended for his below the belt. It's good to see that the NBA is showing the players who is in charge and not accepting these low blows from anyone. Oh, wait. Apparently that's not the case if you're a star player. 

Glad to know the NBA is taking Draymond seriously. With this massive $25,000 fine I'm sure that he won't do this again. Much like Doug telling Shooter about Happy getting suspended, I am envisioning Adam Silver trying to justify only fining Draymond rather than suspending him because "the ratings are the highest they've ever been." I'm laying the challenge down to OKC, someone had better dropkick Draymond in the sack or else they look weak. We'll be watching, don't let us down. 

All my love,

@corbeech

The Case for Brandon Ingram

Am I campaigning for this guy to go number one? I suppose you could say that. Dug has made the case for Ben Simmons to go to the Sixers and I sort of want him to. Why do you say that as you make the case for Ingram, you may ask? Simply put, because I'm not a big fan of Ben and think it would be funny for him to go into basketball exile in Philly. However, he's not my subject, so Ben can kick rocks.

Ingram isn't going to blow your mind with his collegiate stats, but they're nothing to scoff at. He averaged an impressive 17.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.0 APG. I know what you're thinking and no, these aren't as impressive as Ben's line of 19.2/11.8/4.8, but that doesn't really matter.


My case for Ingram is that he is the guy that is going to make your team more likely to win. Yes, Ben's stats are better, but he isn't a winner. In a weak SEC, he found a way to take a preseason top-20 team that fell to the NIT and didn't even go to it, largely due to Ben. Ingram took a team with high expectations and made them go farther than they should have, considering Marshall Plumlee was their only healthy post player that could perform basic basketball moves. Ingram is a winner and he is only going to get more skilled as he ages.

He's a long 6'9" and can shoot the ball well, defend, and has a strong mentality, unlike that Aussie who is also vying for number one. I'm going to assume Philly has done their due diligence and know what they are getting into with their selection (putting faith in Philly is idiotic. Oh well.) If they want to continue tanking like they have for the previous two seasons, then by all means draft Ben. I see Ben as a Carmello type player. Yea, he gets his numbers, but winning the title is NEVER going to happen with him. So the choice is yours Philly. You can actually try to field a competitive team or you can keep playing the lottery.

All my love,
@corbeech

Thursday Morning Wake Up

 

Almost Through Another Week

And a good Thursday morning to you. This blog is almost a week old, and we are having more fun than you can imagine. Thank you so much to all of the readers who work behind the scenes to make this enjoyable for us. (Hint: Comments are welcomed and appreciated!) Let's check out what happened while you were asleep and what we can look forward to tonight.

St Louis Advances, Finishes off Dallas

St Louis absolutely dominated Dallas on their own ice. After the second period, they led 5-0. Hell, this one was over after the first when the Blues were up 3-0. Dallas played groggy the entire game. One goal in the third period doesn't even help their case. It is one thing to lose in a Game 7, but a completely different one to get pants on your own home ice. St Louis will face the winner of Thursday night's Game 7 between Nashville and San Jose in the Western Conference Finals

Toronto Takes Game 5, Leads 3-2

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry combined for 59 points as the Raptors take down the Heat in Game 5   No leading at any point, Miami seemed out of sync from the get go. Trailing 28-18 after the first quarter, Miami had been called for more fouls (8) than made shots (6). More bad news, Luol Deng left midway through the third quarter with a wrist injury. X-Rays were inconclusive. Game 6 sees the series headed back to Miami where it's do-or-die for the Heat. 

Golden State Advances

The Portland Trailblazers are officially done. Golden State held on for a 125-121 victory last night to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year. Before the game, Steph Curry was honored as the league's MVP. However, on this night, it was another star who shined the brightest. Klay Thompson went for 33 points while shooting 13-17 from the field. He also connected on six three-pointers to lead all scorers. Golden State now awaits the winner of SA-OKC. 

Max Scherzer K's 20

20 strikeouts, are you kidding me?? That's what Max Scherzer was doing last night while you were asleep. In the first time he faced his former team, Scherzer showed us exactly why the Nats are paying him so much. He tied the nine inning record for strikeouts and now shares it with the likes of Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood, and Randy Johnson. That's pretty good company to share anything with. What might be more impressive is that of the 119 pitches he threw last night, 96 were for strikes. 

Looking toward tonight, there are two playoff matchups that you definitely should keep an eye on. The first is Game 6 between San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Spurs will look to fight off elimination with hopes of returning the series to San Antonio for a possible winner-take-all Game 7. 

The other match-up is a Game 7 in the NHL between Nashville and San Jose. The home team has won every game throughout the series, and oddsmakers are leaning toward the Sharks tonight by a large margin. Look for complete coverage of this one tonight. 

That's all for now. Check back throughout the day for updates

-Dug

@chansm1th

Golden State Ruined the NBA

 

Hear me out on this one. Yes, Golden State plays the fun brand of basketball that we all loved as kids where we could line up and jack 3s all day long. Does that make me jealous? Slightly. It reminds me of a time back in elementary school when my team had 4 shooters who lived behind the line and an overgrown 7th grader who lacked coordination. We were essentially the Dwight Howard teams in Orlando. We had strong performances and played the fun style of basketball. Did we win the title? Nah bro. We were just out there shooting 3s and having fun.

How does this relate to Golden State? Funny you should ask that. You aren't supposed to be able to have that much fun and dominate like they are. Have all of these years watching the boring Spurs dominate taught them nothing?! I want an investigation into the Warriors because something should be illegal out of this. These guys are jacking shots up that I don't even throw up in games of 21. It's madness!!

LeBron is my boy, but I don't see him even being able to mess with these Warriors barring a Steph injury. Coming off back to back MVPs, it seems like an injury is the only thing that could keep Steph from having his way with the league for years. The only other option would be a massive scandal that derailed him and the Warriors. I'm not recommending that you start a rumor about Steph, but I'm not going to stop you if you make that decision. Feel free to send all hot tips to smithbrossports@gmail.com.

All my love,

@corbeech

Late Morning Wake Up

Get Out of Bed!!

Good Morning! Yes, it's almost afternoon, but we're getting a late start today. Lot of playoff action on the table, including a pair of intriguing baseball games today. Let's get started with what happened while you were asleep. 

Pittsburgh Finishes Off Washington

The Penguins beat the Caps in overtime last night to win the series 4-2, but it wasn't easy. Pittsburgh watched as their 3-0 squandered before the Caps forced overtime. With the win, they are now 8-1 all-time in the playoffs against Washington. Next up will be the Eastern Conference Finals where they will face a Tampa Bay team that they went 0-2-1 against during the regular season. 

OKC Takes 3-2 Over San Antonio

The Spurs had lost only one game at home through the entire regular season. They have now lost two straight in a single series to the Thunder. Last night was Russell Westbrook's night. Westbrook torched the Spurs for 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. Game 6 sees the series return to OKC on Thursday where the Thunder will try to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2014. 

Looking to tonight, we have two Game 5's in the NBA. Miami heads back north of the border to take on Toronto while Portland limps on their last leg into Golden State. Game 7 of the NHL Western Conference second round match up between the St Louis Blues and Dallas Stars will also be on the slate. 

Looking to baseball, we have two intriguing match ups. In one, we have two undefeated pitchers facing off. In the other, opposing pitchers facing their former team. 

The Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers combined last night for 24 runs. Today, the two starters meeting are each undefeated and have a sub-3 ERA. Mat Latos (5-0, 2.62) takes the mound against Cole Hamels (4-0, 2.68) in what should be a great game. First pitch is at 2:05. 

In the night cap, we turn our eyes toward our nation's capital again for another match up between the Tigers and the Nationals. Jordan Zimmerman (5-1, 1.10) faces the team he spent the last six seasons with for the first time tonight. His opponent on the mound will be Max Scherzer (3-2, 4.60) will also be facing his former team in the Detroit Tigers. Both pitchers have recently signed huge off-season contracts with their current teams. Should you watch this game, you will be seeing a combined $320 million worth of pitching arms out of the two starters. 

That's all I have at the moment. Keep a lookout for posts throughout the day. As always, thanks for reading. 

-Dug

@chansm1th

Life as a hero

Watching the movie Chronicle today and it got my creative juices flowing. If you haven't seen the movie, I don't anticipate that this will ruin any of it that a preview already hasn't. In the movie, three young men gain supernatural powers and document their transformation. The friends include Andrew (an odd teen who is socially awkward), his cousin Matt (basically his only friend), and Steve (the popular kid in school aka Michael B. Jordan).

The thought that ran through my head was along the lines of picking out a crew of athletes that I could be a superhero with. For the sake of keeping this standardized for everyone, I'll set a couple of  rules:

1) You must pick an athlete from each the MLB, NBA, and NFL.

2) You cannot have two athletes who play for teams in the same city (i.e. no picking one city's teams and going all in)

My crew would be Kris Bryant (MLB), Willie Cauley-Stein (NBA), and Aaron Rodgers (NFL). You may ask yourself "why in the world would you get these three for your crew?" The main logic that I'm bringing is that I think they would be the best combination to have around for an extended period of time. Only Bryant was extremely highly rated out of high school, and even at that was an 18th round selection. Cauley-Stein was a top-50 prospect, but was at best a project. He developed well and found himself going #6 in the past draft. Rodgers is the biggest outlier, He did not even have a Division 1 offer out of high school and found himself at a junior college until getting the opportunity at California. He then found himself projected to go number 1 overall but falling to 24.

All of this played a role in my selecting of the three athletes. Nobody wants to be hanging out with people who have always been given everything they want. Hanging with the boys who fought their way to the top and likely do not have the diva complex of the normal stars sounds better to me. I feel like these three are cool enough to hang with that I wouldn't go insane. And if we're being honest, that's what we'd all want from our superhero crew. Just hanging with the boys, tormenting strangers, and living the dream.

 So who is in your crew? Comments are always welcomed!

All my love,
@corbeech

Steph Curry Goes Back-to-Back

Curry Wins Second Straight MVP

As if there were any doubt, Steph Curry will be announced the NBA's Most Valuable Player for a second year in a row. Curry posted mind-boggling numbers that would be hard to replicate in a video game. A more impressive two year run would be hard to find. 

In the 2014-15 campaign, Curry averaged 23.8 PPG, nearly a career-high, but hit an NBA record 286 three pointers. He led his team to a league-best 67-15 record. Pretty impressive, huh? Oh, and they also won the NBA Finals. 

Fast-forward to this year. Considering that the Warriors rested Curry considerably this year, he still expounded on last year's results. Despite only averaging 34.2 minutes per game, Curry led the league in scoring with 30.1 PPG. For comparison, James Harden (next on the list) averaged 29 PPG while playing four more minutes per game than Steph. 

Remember the 286 threes he hit last year that set the NBA record? He dropped 402 this season. The Milwaukee Bucks hit 440 for the year. Curry hit threes at a .454 clip also. The next most made belongs to Splash Brother Klay Thompson who hit a respectable 276. 

Whether you like it or not, Steph Curry is quickly becoming the best player in the league. He topped last year's NBA MVP season with other worldly numbers. At 28, he's on the brink of most players' prime years. What more can, will, he do?

-Dug

@chansm1th