Weekend Sports

I finally saw the devastating overhand right knockout that Canelo Alvarez delivered to the jaw of Amir Khan in the 6th round of a boxing match a week ago. Khan went down, completely out for the count, blessed to regain his senses and be able to walk and talk after such a powerful knockout. Khan was able to stick and move early, but you saw Canelo's power run out of patience and catch up with his elusive opponent. In the end power trumped speed this time.

In the professional world of baseball it was another overhand right that lit up the sports pages as Texas Rangers Rougned Odor landed one of the best overhand rights ever delivered in baseball, flush on the jaw of Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista. Bautista's knees buckled as sunglasses flew and helmet spun around and off his head.  But the battered Blue Jay stayed on his feet and held his ground long enough for another player to grab him away and possibly save whatever pride and poise the blow hadn't sucked out of him.

D'wade and the MIAmi Heat went toe-to-toe in game seven. The Toronto Raptors jabbed jabbed jabbed away at the Heat for three quarters before landing knockout blows in the 4th that advanced them to their first ever Western Conference Championship series. And just who the heck is Bismack Biyombo?

It'll be the Raptors vs Cavaliers and Thunder vs Warriors. The NBA is hot right now.

My San Jose Sharks lost a close NHL Western Conference Championship game 1 against an evenly matched opponent in the St. Louis Blues 2-1. Was there any brawling on the ice as usual? well some aggressive  beard pulling was highlighted but what really cost the Sharks were turnovers. I give the Blues credit though, they can play some defense. Penguins are down 1-0 in their seven game Eastern Championship series against the Lightning.

You gotta love the exciting and unpredictable roller-coaster ride that year around sports brings to an otherwise pedestrian existence. And what would it be without the threat of an over-hand right landing flush on the jaw of a competitor; classic.

My One & Only Trump Post

A picture truly is worth a thousand words. The article in the New York Times "Mystery Solved," says more than I ever care to mention about the wannabe fuhrer. At least the artist carved in a forgivable christian cross.

So what's missing in that tombstone dash? Reverence!

From the book Reverence; Renewing a Forgotten Virtue 
by Paul Woodruff:

"Simply put, reverence is the virtue that keeps human beings from trying to act like gods.

To forget that you are only human, to think you can act like god - this is the opposite of reverence. Ancient Greeks thought that tyranny was the height of irreverence, and they gave the famous name of hubris to the crimes of tyrants. An irreverent soul is arrogant and shameless, unable to feel awe in the face of things higher than itself.  As a result, an irreverent soul is unable to feel respect for people it sees as lower than itself - ordinary people, prisoners, children. The two failures go together, in both Greek and Chinese traditions. 

If an emperor has a sense of awe, this will remind him that Heaven is his superior - that he is, as they said in ancient China, the Son of Heaven. And any of us is better for remembering that there is someone, or Someone, to whom we are children; in this frame of mind we are more likely to treat all children with respect. And vice versa: If you cannot bring yourself to respect children, you are probably deficient in the ability to feel that anyone or anything is higher than you.

Reverence has more to do with politics than with religion. We can easily imagine religion without reverence; we see it, for example, wherever religion leads people into aggressive war or violence. But power without reverence - that is a catastrophe for all concerned. Power without reverence is aflame with arrogance, while service without reverence is smoldering toward rebellion. Politics without reverence is blind to the general good and deaf to advice from people who are powerless. And life without reverence? Entirely without reverence? That would be brutish and selfish, and it had best be lived alone."

Respica te, hominem te momento

Warriors Take Game 4

Steph Curry returned, Shaun Livingston was ejected and the Golden State Warriors prevailed in Portland over a motivated Trail Blazers team trying to tie the series up. Instead, the Warriors take a 3-1 series lead heading into game 5 in Oakland on Wednesday.

The game was a tale of two halves and an over-time period. The Trail Blazers came out scorching in the first quarter and it took at least three quarters for the Warriors to douse the fires and get a handle on the game.  

Then came the 4th quarter, crunch time with the two teams slugging it out to a 111-111 tied that sent the game to over-time; Steph Curry Time.

'Curry returned from a sprained right knee to score an NBA-record 17 points in overtime, finishing with 40 as the Warriors rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals with a 132-125 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.'
ESPN

And there you have it. The Golden State Warriors with MVP Steph Curry are a basketball force that just overwhelms some of the best teams' good intentions. They're now one game away from returning to the Western Conference Championship.  

Curry Returns!

Warriors

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
D. GreenPF	44	5-9	2-3	9-10	1	8	9	5	4	7	2	5	+8	21
H. BarnesSF	29	4-10	1-4	1-2	2	3	5	0	0	0	1	2	-2	10
A. BogutC	26	0-1	0-0	3-6	2	7	9	1	2	2	2	6	-1	3
S. LivingstonPG	12	2-5	0-0	0-0	0	3	3	1	1	0	2	2	-17	4
K. ThompsonSG	42	7-18	5-10	4-4	1	3	4	2	2	0	1	3	+8	23
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
A. IguodalaSF	38	2-5	1-2	2-3	2	1	3	1	1	0	2	2	+19	7
F. EzeliC	9	3-4	0-0	0-0	1	2	3	0	0	1	0	1	+5	6
M. SpeightsC	9	3-4	3-3	2-2	0	3	3	2	1	0	0	2	-2	11
S. CurryPG	37	16-32	5-16	3-3	1	8	9	8	0	0	4	2	+21	40
I. ClarkSG	10	1-3	0-0	1-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	-2	3
L. BarbosaSG	9	1-4	0-2	2-2	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	-2	4
A. VarejaoPF	DNP-COACH'S DECISION
B. RushSF	DNP-COACH'S DECISION
TEAM		44-95	17-40	27-33	10	39	49	22	13	10	14	27		132
		46.3%	42.5%	81.8%

The Dead Calypso

Strange that those lewd lava lips, once so alluring and mocking,

Wear such an innocent smile, chaste as a maiden's in sleep !

Nay, but they wither and change, livid they seem unto blueness,

Shrunk in their soft silken skin, as when the tropical sun

Drinking the life of the grape, leaves it abandoned and shriveled,

Gibbeted on its own vine, swinging like felon forgot.

Louis Alexander Robertson