Author: AG

Utah Jazz Clinch a Playoff Berth After Winning 28 of 33 Games

Obviously not a huge deal to clinch the playoffs in the NBA, in which 16 teams do but realistically only 2 or 3 have a chance to actually win the whole damn thing. Regardless, the Jazz were sitting at 19-28 before ripping off this huge run to clinch the fourth spot (with a chance to grab the 3 seed) at 47-33. Gotta be one of the best mid-season turnarounds in sports in a long time.

Another crazy stat? They started 5-19 on the road — they are now 20-20 with the one loss being away at San Antonio in overtime. Nobody outside of a few Jazz fanatics (is that a thing? I’m really not sure what they do out in Utah) thought they had a chance at making the playoffs when they sputtered into a 19-28 record. Led by rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell, who would win the ROY any other year that Ben Simmons was not a rookie, the hype train for the Jazz is at full speed. All this without their star player from last year.

Who they’ll be playing is a different story as the West playoffs are literally all up for grabs coming down to the last game here:

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Crazy stuff — too bad the WCF is already set as the Warriors – Rockets otherwise we could pretend that we have a fun race here. Still, hats off to Utah and I hope to see them make some sort of run.

Patriots Sign Jordan Matthews to 1 Year Contract

Towards the end of last week, the Patriots announced the signing of Jordan Matthews — the former Eagles & Bills WR. Take a quick look at his stats and you may think this is not a bad signing.

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If you’ve actually watched Jordan Matthews — you’d know he drops the ball A LOT. He cleaned up his act in Buffalo a bit but posted very low numbers for the minimum amount of games that he played. I do not like this signing but the contract details came out today:

I really can’t hate on that. This is the ultimate low-risk, low-reward that we have come to see in the Belichick era. Essentially getting a decent WR for 1/6 the cost Amendola was. Sure, ‘Dola was loved here and has 100x the chemistry with Brady but he was going to get paid way more anywhere else. This is essentially the minimum for a guy who’s only going on his 5th season in the NFL, a couple removed from a near 1000 yard season. I’m not expecting big things out of Matthews but he has shown some bright spots and was a stud at Vanderbilt. That being said, signings of Jeremy Hill & Jordan Matthews aren’t exactly the thrilling offseason moves we were hoping for.

Packers WR Arrested At LAX For Joking About Bomb

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Green Bay Packers wide receiver Trevor Davis was arrested at LAX on Sunday morning after cops say he joked about smuggling a bomb into the airport … TMZ Sports has learned. Yeah, they DON’T PLAY about that at LAX!!!

Law enforcement sources tell us the 24-year-old — a 5th round draft pick out of Cal in 2016 — was at the Hawaiian Airlines ticket counter with a female companion to check into a flight when the attendant asked the usual security questions about their luggage. 

Instead of playing it straight — we’re told Davis turned to the other woman and said, “Did you remember to pack the explosives?” 

She apparently said, “No” and tried to get him to stop. He then said, “Just kidding” — but it was too late.

We’re told cops were called and Davis was immediately taken into custody for misdemeanor criminal threats. He was booked — mug shot and all — and then released.

 

Trevor Davis — take a bow for being the biggest moron of the day. Has a bomb joke ever been funny? Probably not — so let’s give it a try at the airport! I’ve never heard of Trevor Davis, so I’m gonna take a quick assumption and say he isn’t worth too much to the Packers.

Obviously, he doesn’t have a bomb but to make that joke going through TSA and at LAX no less? Bro — be better. So much for your Hawaii trip. Gotta be a Top 5 embarrassing moment getting arrested trying to make a bomb joke in an airport. Way to go buddy.

Ronaldo With The Goal of the Year Contender Against Juventus

 

Ronaldo scored a brace yesterday to bring his scoring record to 10 consecutive CL games (15 goals) — capitalized by this bicycle kick that brought even Juventus fans to cheer for him.

Class moment from the Juve fans especially after realizing they’re going to lose the tie to Madrid, who knocked them out in the final last year. Ronaldo with the thankful reaction too and went on the praise the Juve fans in his post-game presser. Awesome goal, awesome moment all around. If you don’t believe me, let’s take a look at everybody’s favorite athlete’s reaction:

Patriots Trade Brandin Cooks to Rams For First Rounder

Nice little bombshell dropped by Schefty on a fine Tuesday night — The Patriots’ trade their #1 (maybe?) WR for the Rams’ first round pick.

My first reaction was of course why the hell would the Patriots do that? Cooks was that deep threat that the Patriots always seemed to lack since the Randy Moss days and had a pretty solid season. But then on a closer look, Cooks was still on his rookie contract. If there’s anything I’ve learned from Bill Belichick, it’s that players will rarely get that big second contract with him unless they absolutely deserve it. Was Cooks good? Absolutely. Good enough for 14 million a year potentially? Hell no.

The Patriots shipped him off to LA for a higher draft pick than they traded for him essentially making him a rental and an upgrade in the next draft. Not a bad piece of business. Though after dealing Amendola, the Pats look to be heavily relying upon Edelman returning from an ACL tear and Gronk — who god knows what is going through his head these days.

 

 

The real question is if Cooks has even woke up from this yet. All jokes aside, Cooks was a fun addition to the 2017 Patriots team and a guy you wanted to pair up with Brady to win a Super Bowl. I’m sure he’ll slot in right as that DeSean Jackson type mold that McVay was looking for and it’ll be interesting to see if the Rams can take that next step into winning a playoff game. Thanks for the ride Cooks.

Tom Izzo Proves Once Again To Be The Most Overrated Coach in College Basketball

Michigan State started off the tournament as one of the most popular picks to win the title — what a JOKE. Syracuse weaseled their way into the tournament, as they always seem to do as of lately and keeps justifying it. Michigan State took a 30-5 record into this game and well..

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Of course, everybody this weekend is talking about Virginia so not much will be focused on the poor job that Izzo did here. Syracuse, which came into the game playing their zone defense as they always do were able to stifle and shut down Michigan State.  The Spartans missed their last 14 (!!) shots and did not record a FG for the last 5:43 of the game.

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The only way to beat that Syracuse zone is to attack it, which Sparty did a horrendous job of doing so. Miles Bridges, one of the premier players in the country, was not properly utilized as they should have had him cutting to the glass. This isn’t all on Michigan State losing as Syracuse firmly deserved the win but this is just another notch into all of those people who refer to Izzo as someone to fear in March. He won one national championship all the way back in 2000, which I’m not sure if you realized was 18 years ago at this point. Michigan State has made the final four 3 times in the last 15 years which isn’t a bad thing but Izzo is constantly referred to in the Coach K category. Let’s get this straight — he’s not. He’s a good coach but the Spartans will not win another title with him at the helm.

Kudos to Syracuse, they did what they came out to do which was win an ugly game. They have Duke on the horizon who looks damn good but there’s no way we can’t justify their selection at this point. Fouling at the end of the game when up three is probably my least favorite thing about basketball but a win is a win.

Are the Lakers and Nuggets Rivals If Nobody Actually Cares?

 

The Lakers played the Nuggets last night past the east coast’s deadline of caring about NBA games and were able to upset them with a 112-103 victory. The game was definitely chippy and was highlighted by one of the loudest chants during some late game free-throws.

I’ll give credit where credit is due — that’s a pretty loud chant. Count on Lakers fans to do it while their own player is shooting free throws and not even the Nuggets’ players but I guess baby steps?

I had no idea where the Murray hate came from but a few minutes digging around on the internet and here’s the reason the Lakers fans (& players) were butthurt at Jamal Murray.

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Dribbling around their golden boy — I actually loved the move when he did it. Completely unnecessary but got a cheap laugh out of it. Regardless, this was the reason for the chant and count on the smallest and pettiest player on the court to stick his nose in the drama:

Has there ever been a quicker turnaround of going from being loved to hated than IT? Crazy. He throws the ball at Jamal Murray to end the game as kind of payback. We got this little skirmish between Jokic and Randle to end the game as well.

I’m all for a little bad blood between teams but this one just seems so random? Does anybody really care if the Nuggets & Lakers get in a fight after midnight eastern? I don’t know. I am a bit intrigued on their next matchup to see if anything happens but I’m not circling it on my calendar.

Packers Cut Jordy Nelson & Bring in Jimmy Graham

 

Yesterday was the most wild day of free agency I can remember in a long time as the NFL continues to dominate headlines even in the middle of March. One of the bigger moves of the day saw the Packers cut ties with their longtime #1 target Jordy Nelson.

The Packers of course however would not release Jordy without a reason. And that reason was due to a former basketball player (if you haven’t heard 30 times every season)

FINALLY, a weapon for DeShone Kizer (jokes). The leader in red zone TDs for tight ends has found a new home in Lambeau. There was a massive amount of talk of a reunion in New Orleans for Graham but they were unable to agree on a number. The Packers took this opening and swooped in to sign the dangerous TE to add an interesting weapon in Aaron Rodger’s arsenal. I actually like the move because Jimmy Graham was being wasted out in Seattle. They refused to throw to him and then would toss a fade every time they got in the end zone. Painful to watch. The Packers are going to be a pretty fun offense to watch now (their defense is still garbage — but hey who cares!). However, the fallout from Jordy Nelson is sure to hurt Packers Nation.

Jordy Nelson had unreal chemistry with Aaron Rodgers which I think will hurt them a bit. Nelson no doubt will be a hot commodity on the open market, despite being 32 years in age. If he’s looking for a new home, there’s another cold weather team that wouldn’t mind having him suit up — and it looks like it’s mutual.

Titans Sign Malcolm Butler & Dion Lewis In Attempt to Become Patriots Lite

I’m not going to hate on the strategy because the Patriots are always able to find and maximize talent. The Titans were able to combine Malcolm Butler with Logan Ryan in what is starting to look like a pretty solid secondary with Byard in the back. The Titans closed the day with another pick-up in one of the premier free agent RBs Dion Lewis.

We all knew Butler was gone. I guess 30 mil guaranteed is the equivalent of not playing one snap in the Super Bowl? Part of me hopes that we never find the real reason he got the bench during the biggest game of the year. It just adds to the mystique that is Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Would he have made a difference? Doesn’t really matter at this point. I’m happy for Butler because going from undrafted to making this play:

And cashing in after. I’m not too sure how Butler will actually be in a Titans uniform because his production has kind of tapered off a bit. The kid from West Alabama always plays with a chip on his shoulder and that’s always a great quality to have.

Losing Dion hurts. Amendola is already gone and now we lost another fan favorite in Dion Lewis. Lewis opened up the 2015 coming out of nowhere and becoming one of the best Patriots’ play-makers highlighted by this play against the Cowboys:

Lewis however, as he has in the majority of his career saw his season end to injury. Though a partial comeback in 2016 — he was able to show some of that shiftyness and highlight play ability in 2017. The Patriots have a crowded backfield with James White and Rex Burkhead both as do-it-all backs but it’ll hurt to have Dion walk away.

This No-Look Pickoff Is Already the Baseball Play of the Year

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So nonchalant — I love it. Yeah, it’s only spring  but this is still a crazy play. Highly doubtful that anyone outside of hardo baseball purists knows who Willians Astudillo was before this play but they do now.  The Twins’ catcher knew the man on first was leading off a little too much and caught him before he even expected it.

I’ll keep an eye out for this kid now because this was a dope play. Shit like this will get people more interested in baseball — which like it or not is losing popularity. I NEED to see someone try this in the regular season.