unclevlad

There's no argument that when Joel Embiid is on the court and engaged, he's one of the best players in the NBA. The key there, mostly, is on the court. Second quarter, kinda trapped in the lane. Tosses the ball off the backboard, grabs it for a one-handed slam. And lands awkwardly on his left knee. And when you're 7 foot something and around 280-300 pounds, that's a lotta force. Taken straight back to the locker room.

It also includes a condition that TikTok be sold. That's something I'm a lot less sanguine about, unless they can prove the personal/national security threats exist. No doubt this will go to court, tho, and here, the high First Amendment bar is front and center. The story points out that TikTok's already won in court on a few occasions. And now we'll see if the hard right faction tries to force Johnson out. I didn't look at all the votes, but it looked like the usual group consistently voted against all the bills.

Scurrilous, clearly malicious rumor from haters. There's no way those conferences would push for something like that. Their egos say they could go the other way...with one less player on the field...and still kick butt. They think They're Just That Good.

The Great Social Media Circus returns this week. The NFL draft starts Thursday, along with the maelstrom of comments about the idiocy of particular teams and draft picks. And the hype generated by the well-received picks. And the trades.

New rules announced. --wireless communications, finally. 1 designated player on each team will have it. Comms cut off at the 15 second mark, or at the snap. --use of tablets to watch replays from the game broadcast. --two minute warning like the NFL. They're still stopping the clock after first downs inbounds, so protecting a lead will, if anything, get a smidge tougher. It'll be a media timeout, but it won't add another. The total number won't change. Hopefully, the case where there's a score...timeout...kickoff...another timeout...are expected to be reduced. YAY! EDIT: oh yeah, and onfield...ESPN is saying that horse collar tackles inside the tackle box will now result in a 15 yard penalty. I don't recall seeing one, but...horse collar tackles are bad news, so I'm good with it.

On a side note, the man who set himself on fire died from his injuries.

Pelicans get a much-needed win tonight, IMO, to make the playoff field. Miami also gets in by goring the Bulls. Bigger loser there, IMO...the Hawks. Routed by the #9 team...who in turn got routed by the #8 team. Translation? The Hawks are still miles away from serious contention. Richard Jefferson, on the ESPN broadcast, basically eviscerated their defense. He noted that the Bulls were getting good shots after one action...say, a draw and dish...against the Hawks, but decent defensive teams, you need to go to a second or third action/pass to do so. The individual loser may be Trae Young, as the Hawks were 22-42 with him...and 14-14 without, including 12-9 to get the 10th seed. And he's due about $90M over the next 2 years. It may well be that he's not the real problem, but he still comes across as undisciplined.

I think we generally agree with you, but the First Amendment says they're protected speech...for the most part. The "COVID is a hoax" may be actionable...if said by a doctor, as a violation of professional ethics. Even that, tho, probably requires quite a bit more to it before any punishment will get handed down. And how far do you want to take that? Because you KNOW the Paxtons and DeSantises would weaponize this as fast as they could, and THEIR definition of "demonstrable lies" or "harmful speech" might well include anything counter to their manipulation of Biblical text.

That is one CRAZY sport!!!

7 teams have more wins than the Rockies, Marlins, and White Sox *combined*. 6 others have the same number, but 3 of those are barely over .500...they've just played 20+ games each. 14 teams, as of right now with the Friday night schedule just kicking in, are within 2 games of .500. Everyone but the Braves (17 games) has at least 18 games played.

City Connect unis are being used in MLB this evening. LOTS of cases where the City Connect colors are totally dissociated with the team's regular colors. It's all about selling more jerseys...so right now? They think there's no limit. The more, the merrier. Team identity be damned, they want a 2% increase in sales!!!!

OK, so when does it stop being protected speech? And who decides? How about statements like: --"Slavery is immoral"...in 1850 --"Women aren't competent to vote"...in 1905 --"Civil rights is human rights"...in the early 50s South This isn't the same thing as QAnon's conspiracy theories, as these statements are in the realm of ethics, rather than facts. The law can't readily distinguish between the two. That's even before considering that most hate speech is still protected by the First Amendment.

<sigh> Well, this one is really more on the pilots, not Meulens. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39976154/rockies-coach-posts-video-cockpit-prompting-faa-probe Meulens *should* realize he can't go onto the flight deck during a flight, but, well, it's possible he didn't. OTOH, the pilots *absolutely must know* it's not allowed. Meulens is likely to be fined, perhaps suspended by MLB for a few games, but the pilots are probably getting fired.

That was the proper term...altho I didn't realize it went back that far, or just forgot. "Ice milk" went out of favor because it slapped the consumer in the face with "THIS IS NOT ICE *CREAM*!" A lot of ice milk was also super-cheap...by volume. Because they'd beat it more to get more air in. So that half gallon container of Wal Mart junk had 20, 30% less mass. It also, IIRC, suffered freezer burn more easily, and the texture was terrible. So now they just call it "low fat." HUMBUG! If you can't handle the fat, buy a sherbet!

In a relatively pleasant surprise, considering...12 jurors have been selected for the Trump case. There's still a need for some alternates, and 2 prospective jurors were removed after having passed initially, so it's not a lock. I was worried this could take a LOT longer.

But it's also pretty easy to strip out the roleplaying material...for starters, toss out Disadvantages. Then, ditch many of the perks and talents.

The unfortunate news...both Jimmy Butler and Zion Williamson suffered injuries in their games and are out for tomorrow, and at least some time longer. The "dude, how could you be so stupid" news...Jontay Porter has been banned for life from the NBA, for betting on basketball...including games in which he played...and sharing insider info. The most egregious: he faked an injury *to his team* so he wouldn't play...and the Under prop bets involving him would be sure to hit. Banning for life is pretty much a no brainer with that nugget. The "how could you be so stupid"...he made about $22,000 from the bets...but he had a 2-way contract (NBA, G League) that paid at least $400K...and much more if he could stick in the NBA. One angle here is the insider info...from NBA.com: Ya gotta wonder...WHY? The *generous* interpretation would be "I didn't realize!!!" but that's shot to heck by him placing prop bets then sitting out so they'd be sure to hit. Oh, BTW, the bets were flagged and NOT paid out. That makes this FAR more egregious than, say, Pete Rose's violations. It's on par with the point shaving scandals in college basketball. The kid's never going to be reinstated, and this will be a black flag for any potential employer.

One of the aspects of these videos that I love is both the opportunities realized...the guy who started the braziers or the stiffer mix for the Blizzard...and the opportunities *missed*...like Oreo thinking the add-ins weren't going to pan out. BTW, if you didn't know...the difference between ice cream and frozen custard is that the latter has egg yolks included. Of course, to confuse the issue...French vanilla ice cream has egg yolks. Typical vanilla ice cream is white; French vanilla is pale yellow...from the egg yolk. The yolks add fat and help create a smoother texture...and as a source of fat, they're MUCH cheaper than using larger proportions of heavy cream. Mind...really serious, decadent ice cream has MUCH more fat overall than the usual store-bought junk. Alton Brown dropped his favorite, WAY back in the day on Good Eats...and oh my, it's RICH. And expensive. https://altonbrown.com/recipes/homemade-chocolate-ice-cream/ Note, there's NO milk per se. 3 cups half and half, and 1 cup heavy cream. AND 8 egg yolks. Done right...which is tricky, as you have to cook the mix slowly or the yolks can curdle...this is incredibly smooth, and coats your tongue big time.

Because you didn't want to spend a half hour gathering up that many team logos.

Cripes. So much petty, procedural BS. Elsewhere, the Senate dismisses the impeachment charges brought up by the House against Homeland Security secretary Mayorkas, on the grounds that they don't rise to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor, when he's following the policy laid out by the president. The votes and rhetoric are precisely as expected...well, OK, Murakowski voted "present" on one of the 2 motions to dismiss. And nearer to home, the Arizona House rejected a move to repeal the abortion ban which the state Supreme Court ruled recently was valid. This is despite only a small majority and the urging of prominent Republicans to do so. (16-14 in the state Senate, 31-28 in the state House.) It's clear that those folks are concerned about the backlash that's been seen in other states...it's plausible that the Republicans will lose both. The governor's not up. And if the backlash is bad enough, particularly combined with the clown show in the US House...*maybe* they lose a US House seat? I have no clue if the Republican districts are actually competitive or not. Heck, who knows, this could be the push to give Biden the win.

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I *loathed* John Sterling. His homer calls in particular were contrived, unnatural, and ridiculous. The rest of his game call wasn't very good either.

Warriors look old, tired, slow, and generally out of sync. Kings had stretches of making too many mistakes, but they got it together, the Warriors lost any cohesion they might've had...and starting committing lots of reach fouls. Klay Thompson going 0 for 10 didn't help. VERY limited contribution from the starters to help Steph generally. Close game at halftime...Warriors drew within 1 in the 3rd but a 9-0 run was the harbinger. From, IIRC, 61-60, Kings crush the Warriors 57-34 the rest of the way, and it wasn't really that close. Will the Warriors get blown up now? That remains to be seen, but it's quite possible. The West has too many teams that are very young and very good. This current lineup wont be competitive. Pelicans-Kings. Interesting, VERY unpredictable matchup, as both teams are young and highly mistake-prone. A major factor is likely Zion's issue. As Stan Van Gundy said, "leg soreness" does not come CLOSE to describing whatever took him off the court with 3 minutes left. Not in a tie game in the playoffs. Pelicans apparently have won the last 5 between the 2 teams, but I'm also concerned that they have ALL the pressure on them, after the late-season fade.

There certainly is plenty of blame to be distributed.

Is this death tribble in disguise?

Plausible, but can we blame the script for his constant pouting? That said, I think ALL the Star Wars movies get far less criticism than they deserve, because we so WANT to like it that we overlook the many faults. Who doesn't want a lightsaber and a starfighter??? Who doesn't want to be super-cool Han? Vader's WAY more cool as the Mysterious Villain than he is as the Fallen Savior.