
Here’s how easy it is to get on the Golden State Warriors’ payroll as director of motivational services:
I really think Boston can beat them Friday night. They’re due for a letdown.
I’ll take cash in lieu of direct deposit, Joe.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
[INSTANT REPLAY: Klay's huge night paces Warriors to win No. 23]
X X X
That said, how do you take a 32-point third quarter lead and have to scrape to cover a six-point line? Maybe they’ve stopped listening to whoever the head coach is.
X X X
News
Of all the things Dusty Baker said in his Winter Meetings presser Tuesday (and he will learn that the rules are different about public speaking than even three years ago, when last he managed), the hilarious one that got unnoticed was when he was asked if he would have considered hiring Barry Bonds to be his hitting coach in Washington.
“I had him for 10 years,” Baker said. “That’s enough.”
Oooh. Bulletin board stuff when the Nats and Marlins get together. Sigh.
[RELATED: Baker under fire for domestic violence, minority comments]
X X X
As for his Aroldis Chapman assessment, a few people pointed out that Baker's apparent equivocation about Chapman’s alleged domestic violence issue might have been colored by the death of his friend, former major leaguer Darryl Hamilton, who was allegedly killed by his girlfriend in August.
That said, it’s still a good reminder to Baker that specifying rather than generalizing plays better, which is probably why he later said to Pedro Gomez of ESPN, “Apparently I'm in hot water for what I said. What I should have said, and what I was trying to say, is that 'Hey man, I don't condone violence at all. Because, I mean, I wasn't raised like that. I don't know anybody else that should've been raised like that. The thing that I really, really want to tell everybody is that you have to wait to see what happens. And, I'm not one to judge prematurely.”
But judging without reading the reports is exactly that. Lesson learned.
X X X
Danny Kanell, the ESPN college football analyst, decided to politicize concussions with this tweet referencing a New York Times editorial postulating outlawing football before age 18:
“The war on football is real. Not sure (the) source but concussion alarmists are loving it. Liberal media loves it. Doesn't matter. It's real.”
I eagerly await the Times’ op-ed suggesting banning wingnut opinions on anti-football conspiracies.
X X X
David Shaw, the Stanford coach who can best be described as a staunch traditionalist, finds himself boldly on the side of expanding the college football playoffs – especially since his team was one of the last two forbidden entry into the four-team bracket.
“I do believe at some point it’s going to be an eight-team playoff,” Shaw said Sunday. “I think it’s going to be unavoidable. I’m not upset by any stretch of the imagination. I just know this year is a part of the process where you have these teams in Stanford and Iowa and Ohio State that you could make a case could be in a playoff, and it would be a phenomenal playoff. So I have no problems with where we are now. I just do believe eventually, it will become an eight-team playoff because it’s the only thing that makes sense.”
No word yet from Jimbo Fisher and the ninth-ranked Florida States.
X X X
Johnny Manziel has learned his lesson, if you’re sucker for dogs. After watching Austin Davis guide the Cleveland Browns to a 3-37 near-win against Cincinnati, he went straight home and snuggled up with his dog, with photos.
I guess it beats waving bottles around like an entire battleship on shore leave, but using your dog as a beard . . . well, let’s just say I remain unconvinced.
X X X
The news that the NBA might very well have pushed the Philadelphia 76ers to hire Jerry Colangelo to supervise the meth lab fire that the franchise has become is intriguing, because it certainly demands that we ask the question, “Why doesn’t Adam Silver care about the Los Angeles Lakers?”
X X X
Today’s advancement in behavioral correction comes from Germany, where Fortuna Dusseldorf midfielder Kerem Demirbay got taught a series of lessons about gender equity.
Shortly after being red-carded during a recent game against FSV Frankfurt, Demirbay reportedly (by The Telegraph) told female referee Bibi Steinhaus that women have no place in men’s football. At that point, Fortuna decided that men have a place in women’s football by making Demirbay referee an all-girl’s game.
He is also facing a maximum five-game suspension, and has already been fined two weeks’ wages. Demirbay telephoned Steinhaus after the match to apologize and also issued an apology via social media, but we suspect being told by some bright girl in that game, “You don’t belong here” might be equally sobering.
X X X
And finally, also from Germany, Augsburg goalkeeper Marwin Hitz was seen deliberately scuffing the penalty spot at the RheinEnergieStadion moments before Cologne striker Anthony Modeste slipped and fluffed a penalty kick to help Augsburg win the game 1-0. Not unusual.
Cologne’s stadium manager Hans Rütten, though, did go full unusual by sending Hitz a bill for around $135 U.S. (€122.92 euros) to cover turf replacement (one square meter), two hours of later and sales tax.
This causes me to wonder who the hell needs two hours to put down a square meter of grass?