After a long time away, the Friday Finger Pop is back...A little bit of this, and a bit of that...and a little bit of sweet asses, perfect for finger popping!

First off, the New York Rangers finally showed some signs of life Thursday night against the Boston Bruins...The Rangers pulled out a 4-3 OT victory on a goal from Chris Kreider, off of a great feed from Rick Nash...I've been begging for Torts to play Kreider more...The kid is a play-maker and a goal scorer, on a team that doesn't score much...He's got great speed, and slick hands...When he gets ice time, he makes things happen...

That said, While I'm a die hard Rangers fan, I have trouble seeing them winning three more straight against the Bruins....Boston has 4 solid lines...Plenty of depth...Including on the Blue line, as proven by rookie D-man Torey Krug, who has been amazing to watch in this series...

Mmmmmm, that looks finger poppin' good!

I saw a little bit of ESPN's Outside The Lines Thursday afternoon...They had a bunch of talking heads, all up in arms because Robert Griffin III's father, Robert Griffin II said he wants to see his son run less...Why would anyone be shocked by this? 1. Don't all dads want to see their sons stand in the pocket and throw bombs!?! 2. He saw his son get a concussion, and get his knee wrecked twice in his rookie season...Who the fuck wouldn't want their son run less? You'd want to see your kid have a nice long career instead of getting crippled within 3...

Somehow these jokers were appalled that a father would stick his nose into this serious football discussion...How dare he have an opinion...Only ESPN gasbags are allowed to have those! I'd be willing to bet this snippet came out, because some asshole reporter asked Mr. Griffin if he'd like to see his son run the ball less....And then let the media frenzy begin! Crap like this is just ridiculous...

Oh yeah, that's pop worthy!

I spent a couple hours Thursday pitching to my baseball team...Little Beeze is swinging the bat great...Seriously, he's looking like one of my top 6 hitters...I have 3 girls who are swinging the bat really well...two are lefties...The one has this leg kick that she starts as soon as my motion starts...It threw me off at first, but it works for her...She was cranking it...I made a number of self defensive stops...Then I have a boy who loves hitting...And he swings with aggression...He looks to kill everything....His foul balls scare people...And when he makes solid contact it's oer you or through you...Even the kids that struggled at first, took all the tips and started finding their groove...We're going to have a good line-up...Saturday morning we'll be practicing again, and that one is going to 90% fielding...I'm looking forward to that...So is my arm...

A while back I wrote THIS about sexual abuse within USA Swimming...Justice has been slow in these cases, but a small amount was served THURSDAY...Rick Curl's sentencing is hopefully just the beginning, as now even more questions are being raised...

Does it seem wrong to post another pop-tastic ass at this point...Maybe...But, what the hell!

Have a good weekend gang!

The Beeze.

Trust, is just a five letter word

Cuzzin DVT, in his blog the last Friday, asked us to decide which, if we could only follow one of the major sport teams we call ourselves fans of in our region would it be.

That got me to thinking, I chose the NE Patriots without hesitation,

Doug said he would have chosen the Red Sox if he were me.

But if I were him, I’d move to Boston!

We Pats fans can be arrogant, not unlike Yankees fans I guess. Success breeds arrogance.

Sporting success has a lot to do with sporting fate.

It wasn’t keen acumen when Bill Belicheck drafted the skinny slow kid out of Michigan in the 2000 draft with his sixth round pick at #199. The late Dick Raybine gets credit for that. 32 teams passed over Thomas Brady several times each including the five times Bill Belichick passed him by.

It was that move along with Drew Bledsoe’s bad decision to try to out run Mo Lewis to the sideline. Combine that with the “tuck rule” and you’ve got a dynasty.

The mantra became: in Bill we trust.

Trust, what is trust

Noah Webster says Trust is:

1. Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.

Our nation’s currency says, In God we trust. I do trust God, I’m not so sure about our currency!

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding says Gods word.

I trust my wife, after 27 years I believe she trusts me

I trust in some of my human abilities, I know when to not trust them.

I trust Shorty to hold me up…most of the time

I know some low level elected officials and kinda trust them as individuals but I no longer have much trust in the Federal government overall.

I trust the military to be ready and able to defend our Nation but I’m not too trusting, given recent events, in the leadership to know when to utilize the military.

This isn’t a thinly veiled political rant so back to sports…

The media, both local and national seem to defer to

“in Bill we trust”, spoken by the masses whenever an otherwise questionable personnel or strategy move is made by Bill Belichick.

Some of the Hoodie’s moves have worked… and some have not

From not giving Drew Bledsoe his starting job back in 2001

cutting Lawyer Malloy before the 2003 season because Lawyer wouldn’t take a pay cut for the good of the team.

Signing Rodney Harrison to replace Lawyer netted consecutive SB’s

 trading Richard Seymour to Oakland for a first round pick (that became Sebastian Vollmer)

To letting Super Bowl MVP Dionne Branch head to Seattle

To signing Bengal’s problem child Corey Dillon and trading for Oakland’s problem child Randy Moss and seemingly over paying for Miami’s all purpose kick returner- slot receiver Wes Welker

To passing on 4^th and 2 from about his own 20 vs the Colts giving Peyton Manning his winning trip to the SB

To signing guys like Ocho Stinko and Albert Hainsworth while not trying to keep Asante Samuel

To trading up and trading down to trading out to trading back again

To letting Wes Welker go to Denver for relatively short money

To taking the oft-injured Rob Gronkowski in the 2^nd round and taking the often in trouble Aaron Hernandez in the 4^th.

For being a nice guy to being a jerk

To being loved in the media by Glen Ordway and being hated by Ron Borges

Loved by Peter King and hated by Charlie Casserly (mutual feelings by the way)

BB usually gets the pass on whatever decisions he makes because in his NFL career as a coordinator and as a head coach he’s been to the SB seven times and come away with five rings. Two as Defensive coordinator of the Giants under Duane Charles Parcells and three as the the HC of the NE Pats.

But…The last of those three was way back in Feb 2005 with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

The two he didn’t win, ’07 & ‘11 were by a catch and a drop

It wasn’t BB’s fault that David Tyree’s helmet caught that ball (I still cry when I think about that)

It wasn’t BB’s fault that Welker didn’t. (Giselle still cries when she thinks about that)

Bill is a very private person; some of his off field life does get out.

Bill had his Dad, Steve on the sidelines with him for years and now, after his Dad’s passing he has his son, Steve at his side as part of the coaching staff.

He goes fishing with the likes of Jimmy Johnson and Jon Bon Jovi

He lives on an Island…both figuratively and physically

He has made some head scratching out of the tough guy character moves like

Letting Doug Flutie drop kick his way into the record book and letting Vinny Testeverde throw a TD pass in the only game he played that year to set a record of TD passes in 20 consecutive seasons.

He has a failed marriage; both sides blame the other as they always do in failed marriages. I have a failed one… from way back. Wasn’t my fault either!

Bill is loved and adored by some former players, hated by others, respected by others

Ted Johnson has nothing good to say even blames Bill for his multiple concussions,

Tedy Bruschi loves Bill and credits Bill for his many of his successes in the NFL, Richard Seymour hates him, Asante Samuel, hates him, Tom Brady respects him, Corey Dillion loves him, Lawyer Malloy gives Bill the number one salute, Drew Bledsoe is cordial with Bill but hasn’t sent Bill any of his fine wine from his vineyard. Rodney Harrison loves Bill, Ty Law respects his record. The late Junior Seau loved Bill.

And so it goes.

Did these guys trust him?

With game planning they did.

Should a guy that broke the rules and got caught be trusted? Was his huge fine and knock On his record be considered punishment enough…

Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Belichick talked about the taping incident, with Kraft asking how much it helped on a scale of one to 100. Belichick said, “One.”

 “Then you’re a real schmuck,” Kraft said.

Kraft likes Bill, respects Bill, went way out of his way to hire Bill, pays Bill handsomely, honors Bill’s achievements and his place in NFL and Patriots history but as far as trust…has this been restored? how far he can throw him?

Personally, I don’t really trust in Bill’s integrity and character but I don’t personally have to deal with him, I’m just a fan of the team.

But I do trust in his ability to have his team ready to compete this season.

They will win the AFC East.

Probably finish 12-4 if Brady stays healthy

and maybe get to the AFC Championship game.

Maybe win the AFC championship game

And maybe go to the SB again

And maybe, just maybe win it.

Bill will someday end up in Canton as one of the most successful Head Coaches in NFL history. The best decision Bill could make with the rest of his career is to retire with that  skinny slow QB he once took at #199.

I trust Bill and his agent will make the right call on that decision.

Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. Well, after recently complaining of the cooler than average May weather, Mother Nature responded by flipping the switch. Cool and wet has been replaced by warm and humid. Of course, with the increased humidity, there are issues. May has historically been a time for very extreme weather in the Texas area. Warmer days bring the potential for massive thunderstorms, which sometimes bring very scary weather…as we saw in Oklahoma recently. My thoughts and prayers go out to those families in Moore. Is there really anything more terrifying than envisioning a tornado dropping on your home? How about the AAA Astro’s Redhawks hearing of the massive tornado hitting home while playing in California? Team officials opened Bricktown Ballpark to allow wives and family to take refuge in the underground clubhouse. Players are anxious to get home to help with the clean up. As manager Tony DeFrancesco said, "We're ready to volunteer. Anything we can do when we get back, we're willing to help out. It's a great group of guys that care about the community. When you play in that city, you're part of it now."

Kevin Durant gets it as well. Oklahoma City is not just where he plays basketball, it is home. Durant pledged  $1 million on Tuesday for tornado relief. His idea was to prime the pump so to speak. Apparently his idea is taking hold as the Thunder, NBA and player’s association also donated $1 million each. This is the sort of thing that I strongly believe in. In times of trouble communities pitch in to help those in need. This is not about a hand out, but lifting people up that have lost everthing. As BOB mentioned yesterday, our government is off track. We lose focus on the things that really matter. This is what matters. As Durant so accurately says…”playing for the Thunder, we mean so much to the state. So many people support us and I just want to go back and support those people.” This is one reason that I really enjoy seeing teams like San Antonio, OKC or even Sacramento survive and thrive. No offense to the large cities, but New York and Los Angeles have so much other activities, how can teams possibly mean what they do to the fans of Oklahoma City? We see so much negative in professional sports, it is important to remember that there are players that do still care. In times of need, too often we rely on our government to send aid. Communities and states are capable and I think better able to step up to take care of their own...

For some strange reason, Sergio Garcia just could not let the incident at the Player’s Championship with Tiger Woods die. Actually, that is not true…the media would not let it die. Prodded by the media, Garcia had this to say…”He called me a whiner. He’s probably right. But that’s also probably the first thing he’s told you guys that’s true in 15 years. I know what he’s like. You guys are finding out.” Okay, it looks like Garcia is just unloading some pent up anger at Woods, right? Here is what bothers me…as I am reading the article by Dan Carson…”Reporters mentioned to Sergio that Tiger had told members of the media Monday that he will not reach out to him in order to end the beef.” How is this different than a group of middle school kids running between two kids with he said this, what do you say? Really, it is freaking ridiculous. Garcia is a dumbass for being drawn into this and the longer it was drawn out, it was inevitable that Sergio would totally step on his dick. Garcia’s immediate response was this…”First of all, I don’t have his number,” Garcia told reporters. “And secondly, I did nothing wrong and don’t have anything to say to him. And he wouldn’t pick up the phone anyway. But that’s okay, I don’t need him as a friend...Like I have always said, I try to be as truthful as possible. Tiger doesn’t make a difference to my life.” Okay that’s enough Sergio. Leave it at that and let it go. Tuesday night, Garcia appeared at the European Tour Awards dinner in London. He was asked if he would be inviting Tiger for dinner at next month’s US Open. Oh no…Sergio, don’t do it!  "We'll have him round every night; we will serve him fried chicken”. This was according to multiple media sources. No doubt…these scumbags have been goading Garcia into saying something really stupid…Fuzzy Zoeller stupid; for the past two weeks. What a dumb ass. Of course, Garcia looks like a racist now and with a remark like that, how can he not? Truly, do I think that Sergio Garcia is a racist? No. But he allowed the press to push his buttons until he gave them what they wanted…a big story. How long did it take his comments to make it across the ocean? Maybe 30 seconds is my guess. Can you imagine how fast those “multiple media sources” left the dinner to report their “news”? When I glanced at the article Tuesday night, there were 5000 plus comments. I did not read one. I did not need to read the comments to know what the public is doing to Garcia.  There is no doubt that Garcia pulled the trigger, but the press loaded the gun.

You probably heard that Nick Saban’s former assistant coach Tom Davis called Saban “the devil”. When I read of these comments, I just assumed that Davis did not enjoy working for Saban and was just voicing what others have said about Saban being a task master. After reading a CBS article by Tony Barnhart, I sort of had a change of heart. Davis was talking to a group of Florida boosters when he made the comments regarding Saban. I sort of agreed with what Barnhart stated, “My first reaction was that it was a backhanded compliment recognizing, quite begrudgingly, that Saban is the very best at what he does. I thought it was acknowledgment -- a bit sloppy perhaps -- of where Saban has set the bar and that everybody in college football is chasing him.” Others had a much more critical opinion of the comments. Mark May called Davis a “classless, backstabbing coward”. Saban found the remarks to be “terribly disappointing”…Barnhart asked a very good question in his article…since when did anyone take what coaches said to booster clubs seriously? He remembers a time when the old ball coach stood in front of Florida boosters and  said FSU stood for “Free Shoes University”…everyone laughed, even Bobby Bowden. Barnhart wonders if college football has reached the point when there is no longer a sense of humor? Are coaches to be banned from speaking in public? Do we want coaches to be even more robotic than they are now? Great points and I totally agree. Barnhart goes on to ask if Florida meets Bama in the SEC championship in December will we still be talking about this? Hopefully not, but given the long memory of the media, probably so. Barnhart has a few suggestions…anything said at a booster function does not leave the building. Reporters are required to leave the smart phones at home. It is simply off the record. His second suggestion is that if something does leak out, the press promise not to lose their mind. Coaches promise not to be offended and recruits promise to ignore what they hear. Barnhart finishes with a ominous statement…it is no longer enough to beat a team on the field, we now have to embarrass them on Twitter. As sad as that is, can anyone dispute this? I know that I can’t. The game is no longer the most important thing…and how sad is that?

That's all I have today, but I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey...

 Laugh clown, laugh. That is what I tell myself when I dress up like Bozo the clown.

 One thing that makes me believe in UFOs is that sometimes I lose stuff.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own...

Welcome to the tantrums where Uncle B.O.B. was sure it couldn't get any worse in Washington, DC, but hey...these guys find newer lows with each passing month.  It seems the abyss just continues to grow.  The shit going on in DC is starting to remind me of the fall of Rome, and we are inching our way in that direction.  No guys, this isn’t about Republicans or Democrats, they’re both equally guilty.  I fear that if folks don’t wake up soon…

A lot of celebrating going on in Sacramento as the Kings (against all odds) are staying put.  Within hours of the announced sale of the team from the Maloofs, fans were already renewing season tickets and the Kings put out help wanted ads to bring in ticket sales reps.  I've never in my life seen a city come together for one common goal then what I saw here.  The ole barn known formerly known as Arco Arena will be rockin once again while the city builds a new arena downtown that will open in 2016.  Golden State Warrior fan ain't got shit on Kings fans in terms of loud and crazy (in a good way) behavior!  Bottom line is that Sacramento can now move forward and have a vibrant downtown rather than a dead one.

But there are things that resonate outside of Seattle and Sacramento that can turn off a sports fan.  We fans learned far too much about Bankruptcy law, contract law, lawsuits in general, business ethics, arena issues and downtown development, city budgets, accurate and inaccurate media sources, TV contracts, expansion, and many other subjects that don’t have anything to do with what goes on the court. 

MLB.   All this yappin' about the teams that people expected to do well, but oh snap, look whose quietly creeping up the standings -  the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Eight games OVER .500 and 8-2 their last ten.  Will they fall apart down the line?  Probably, but give the Bucs their props - nobody believed this!

San Francisco Giants went 1-5 this week after dropping two in Toronto then three at Coors Canaveral.  Way too inconsistent.  They’re now in third place in the NL West one game behind the Snakes and tied with the Rockies.  It’s only May, so its tough to be concerned, but damn…pitching needs to seriously wake up.  Cain got rocked.  Vogelsong is struggling hard, and Zito is hitting a rough patch.  With that injured bullpen, its gonna be a tough few weeks.

Oakland A’s had a better week going 4-2, dropping two at home to Texas (no shame there) and sweeping the Royals.  Though there was no shame against Texas they kept Texas offense fairly well in check, they are just over .500 and 6.5 games back in the AL West.

NHL.   I caught the overtime on Sunday of Game 3 between Pittsburgh and Ottawa.  Man, the Senators looked a lot slower and a hell of a lot sloppier than the Pens.  How they pulled it out in double OT is absolutely beyond me, but I guess that’s the beauty of the NHL, eh?

Did Detroit really go into the big bad Black Hawk house and sneak out with a win?  Yet another example of why the NHL may have the best playoffs out of all the sports - YOU JUST DON'T KNOW!

NBA.  Is this picture a sign of the two teams who will be playing in the NBA finals?  Perhaps...there's a damn good chance at it.

There is no more tenacious team in the NBA than the Chicago Bulls.  The Heat might have won that series 4-1, but it was a crazy battle and Miami had to work for it against the undermanned Bulls who fought the Heat (literally) every way possible. 

Memphis polished off Oklahoma City 4-1, but I have to ask the Oklahoma City Sonics (wink, wink Seattle trolls!) where the hell were your bigs?  Memphis ate you up.  Nobody with even half a mind should be putting this on Westbrooks injury - this early exit lies at the feet of OKC's bigs.  Where was Ibaka and Perkins?

San Antonio is on what I believe is its last run, and it’s turning out to be a good one at that.  Now they face Memphis and although they are up 1-0, its gonna be tough.  I want San Antonio to win it all so that Tim Duncan can go out with five rings and very quietly ask Shaq how his ass tastes.

Indiana put the Knicks out of their misery finally.  Good.   Now I don't gotta see Spike Lee acting like an ass on my TV.

Memo to the media:  What is your fascination with Dwight Howard and his drama?  What, the playoffs aren’t good enough because its all small market teams remaining?  Are you seriously going to subject the fans to a third straight year of his garbage?  I can’t count the number of stories about where he is supposedly “intrigued” about where to go this past weekend.  Supposedly Houston.  Then it was Dallas.  Hey losers, nobody turns down playing for the Lakers, especially when he can earn $30 mil a year and there’s a good chance they can sign Chris Paul.

Yeah, some people want you to keep quiet...I know plenty of people want me to be quiet...But we know that just isn't going to happen...Sometimes shit needs to be said...Even if it upsets people...Why hold it in?  'Cause some one on facebook may unfriend you?  They aren't your friend if they can't take you telling the truth, or sharing how you feel about something...

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist caught some shit for venting his frustration after the Rangers lost game one to Boston Thursday night, in OT...Lundqvist was upset with himself for the 3-2 loss...But he also voiced his frustration with the teams lack of offense so far in the playoffs...He said what every single Rangers fan has been saying for weeks...But people thought it was wrong for him to call out his teammates...Why?  Why can some hack write about how horrible the power play is, but the guy carrying the team can't?

I'm not joking, I read a blog that pointed out that Lundqvist hasn't been good in OT...Well, couldn't that also be pointed at the rest of team for defensive breakdowns, and lack of scoring!?!  There was even a comment that Thursday night Lundqvist wasn't at his best...Well, the 2 previous games he threw shutouts...And yeah, if you watched closely, he wasn't at his best...And with that said, he made 45 saves on 48 shots...And his teammates blocked over 20 shots that night...If not for Lundqvist, Thursday night, the Rangers would have been destroyed...So he blew off some steam, and rightfully so!

But things got worse...Sunday the Bruins blasted Lundqvist and company 5-2...I had hoped Henrik popping off would have charged them up...And actually some of the Rangers did look like they took it up a notch...But the Bruins had a lot more jump...The series goes back to New York now...I'm not worried yet...The Rangers just need to do what they did against Washington...They'll be alright...

-Saturday horse racing took a ding again...They've been dying for a Triple Crown winner but it won't happen again...Just as favorite, Orb started to make his move, Titletown Five and Departing tried making their own moves, and pinched Orb in...He got stuck in the pack and couldn't do a thing...I had Departing winning, (Thanks Eddie Olczyk) but no one was catching Oxbow...That horse ran a hell of a race...With that said, I'll still be watching the Belmont...there are a number of exciting horses, and this thing should be wide open.

-Saturday morning Little Beeze and I headed off to our first baseball practice...Things are running behind this year...New organization running the league, and they're trying to figure it out...The practice was good...I've got a lot of good hitters...And my two best fielders, are girls...They both have great baseball sense...I can already tell it's going to be a good season...Had a number of parents that stuck around and helped out...Nice change of pace!

-Cleveland weather update...We have officially skipped Spring and are into Summer...80 degrees this weekend and my kids wanted to go ice skating Friday night...

And when we weren't at the Rink, or Baseball practice...Little sis, wouldn't leave big brother's side...

-And lastly, The Cleveland Indians...I'm shocked...There has been a lot of rumbling about the Tribe having low attendance...Well, considering a 24oz Pabst cost $10, Parking $20...And every road in the City is ripped up or closed...and the last two seasons the team fell apart after the All-Star Break, I'm guessing people are playing it safe with how they spend their money...It also doesn't help that while the Tribe is playing great, all the Sports talk shows in town are talking about the fucking Browns for some reason...

Have a week...

The Beeze.