PRINCETON, NJ – When you are running a sports website of passionate sports pundits working “for the love of the game,” rising with the sun and turning the phone on can often be like a less macho version of Russian Roulette. You never know if the chamber is full until you rifle through texts/emails to see which chambers will be empty. Did Cheesy Bruin fire one into the air? Is Junoir Blaber a shooting blanks? Did Different Matt take a [slap]shot to the temple? Today, yours truly awoke to a smoking barrel from Buddy Diaz’s 3AM text that said, “I just got in from Puerto Rico… I can’t think straight.” Two thoughts raced through my diminishing mind: 1) Do trips to Puerto Rico alter our thinking? 2) Do you need to think straight to write for this site? But that’s a query for pints in a pub… Let’s get to today’s headliners: Poison Ivy League, Funday With LJ, Sid Luckman, Miami Heat or… Cream?
POISON IVY LEAGUE
There will be no set-shots or chest passes or backdoor bounce passes heard or seen on Princeton’s basketball court. There will be nobody named Sid Luckman III under center for the upstart Columbia Lions. We won’t have a March Madness Cinderella Story coming out of Harvard. Indeed, it will be more March Sadness for all Ivy League fans, as Gina’s #Covid19 has canceled Smart Kids’ Sports for the fall season. The 12-school League of Extraordinary Athletes will see Bell-curves smashed out of cozy halls, libraries penalized for encroachment, as per social-distancing rules (virtually) and a spike in extended Fortune 100 internships. And you get bet “Pardon my French,” will be in full force out of frustration.
FUNDAY WITH LJ
At first glance, this read as a Grand Mamama thing with the original LJ, Larry Johnson. But being a mindful journalist doing due diligence, I read a few lines to find out it was re the budding NFL star Lamar Jackson. Seems Angry Ward’s adopted home, Florida, isn’t exactly the Fountain of Youth/healthy destination it was traditionally Trumped-up to be. What, with that #Coronavirus thingy spiking and all. The 3rd Funday With LJ is just one of the many casualties of Ron DeSantis’ casual Covid consequences, and it’s a shame. Jackson spends two full days with kids in his hometown and the activities are right up the MTM Staff’s alley: go-kart racing, a rock climbing wall, flag football, water slides, obstacle courses, game truck and a food truck. We could likely trade all of that in for a beer truck and the staff would be tickled, but still. Anyway, the Governor’s carelessness is keeping as many as 100 kids from getting great memories from a giving guy, and that ticks me off.
MIAMI HEAT OR… CREAM?
In case you missed it, Chris Bosh threw a lightening bolt of a comparison out re his Miami Heat team in comparison to Angry Ward’s Golden State Warriors. The long lad originally posted on Instagram that G.S. was more of a dynasty than his Heat and said LeBron & Co were like England’s musical super nova, Cream. Thanks to seeing this nugget on ESPN while desperately looking for something to cover, yours truly now has a man-crush on Mr. Bosh A) Because he is one of a dozen people under the age of 50 that knows who Cream is/was, B) Because he has humility despite having two huge diamond-studded NBA Championship rings on his fingers, winning two back-to-back and C) Nailing a name-change while it’s trending; the Miami Cream.
Speaking of the cream always rising to the top, come back tomorrow for the aforementioned Different Matt -who is a diehard Oasis fan, but first leave a comment below.
