TERRY MOSHER
TOP OF THE TOWN – Maybe it’s just me, but the trend of superstars in professional basketball jumping from team to team and bringing along their buddies or joining other superstars to form a superstar team really bugs me. I guess it’s my loyalty. I’m a loyal person to a fault. When I buy in, I buy in. When I was younger I played on some bad football teams and I only wanted to make us as good as I could. I remember playing a midget football game against the league’s powerhouse and it fired me up. I played as hard as I could and even though we got beat 68-0 I thought we did as much as we could and I’m not embarrassed all these years later to admit the huge defeat. We had never in our 8 league games forced a team to punt, but we did against this powerhouse. It shocked me because I didn’t know what to do. I ordered my middle linebacker to go back and field the punt and when he refused my repeated request, I decided I had to do it. I thought I would get hit by a herd of elephants, but I fielded the punt, took a couple steps, got drilled, and jumped up still alive and well. For weeks now the shock jock sports shows on cable TV have talked over and over about Kevin Durant requesting a trade out of Brooklyn. This morning some were talking about how much the Celtics would have to give up for KD, and was it worth it. Heck, I wouldn’t give a nickel for him. Durant seems to move around like running water. There is no loyalty. None. If that was me I would have stuck with Oklahoma City, even though I dislike Oklahoma City because it stole the Sonics from Seattle. My youngest son likes OKC and I tease him by calling the Thunder the Blunder. I remember a long time ago reading a featured story on Durant and he repeatedly said he loved Oklahoma City. Yeah, right. He jumped to the Golden State Warriors and then to Brooklyn so he could play with his buddy Kyrie Irving. I shouldn’t be picking on Durant, he’s a good guy. He donated $1 million to the Red Cross in addition to other charity endeavors. But I don’t like guys jumping form team to team, or LeBron running the show with the Lakers. Again, LeBron is a good guy. He does a lot of amazing charity stuff. But I would hate to coach his teams because you wouldn’t be able to win a public relations fight with him. How do you coach a guy who is worth $1 billion? Part of the reason why I don’t watch NBA regular season games is because there is a definite class divide in the league. There are the superpower teams – Warriors, Celtics, Bucks, 76ers, the middle class teams and then the Magic, Pistons, Pacers, Wizards and Knicks. Maybe the NBA should be like soccer, divided into divisions and you have to win a certain number of games to be considered in the first division. If you fall below that number, you drop down to the second division. The Knicks, of course, would always be relegated to the third and last division. Baseball is becoming a lot like the NBA. The top teams have their suitcases stuffed full of money. Yes, I’m talking about the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets, the Padres (the Mariners are 25th in salary out of 30 teams). It’s almost impossible to contend against the top salaried teams. They are buying the best players and if you are the Mariners you pray for rain when you play, say, the Yankees, which the Mariners will do six times soon – Aug. 1-3 and Aug. 8-10. That’s enough for today. Stay safe.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.