GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

Feeding America is one of the biggest and highest rated and well reviewed national charities in America. It sounds tacky to say but when it comes to Food Banks, more than your canned goods and non perishables, the thing they need more than anything else is cash. They negotiate great deals from food vendors and are able to use the tax laws and incorporated laws to their advantage and turn that money into as many meals as possible for the hungry. This is just one of the hard truths of charity, that while it's a great thing for people to give them canned goods they really need your donations more than anything, so please please please, donate to Feeding America! #NerdsUnite

NBA FINALS

The NBA Finals start this Thursday night and that is exciting. I am honestly excited about what might happen. I think the Raptors win, I've honestly been of the mindset that it's just too hard to win four out of five and be in five straight at all. The Warriors are in unknown territory already in modern NBA, when the Celtics won eleven in a row it was pre free agency, and really it was a prehistoric NBA, now everything is different and these guys have a lot to prove and a lot on the line. The five appearances I didn't believe would happen as it's just a lot to keep getting back but they are one of the most talented rosters in modern sports and with that comes this opportunity. I think the Raptors will win it, I've been doubting them the whole post season as well but this feels like a scenario where there's enough trouble in Golden State that Toronto can surprise people.

ALL OF THE LAKERS PROBLEMS

So this story about The Lakers becoming dysfunctional, I think it's unfair to say it's because of Magic Johnson and these other people. I honestly think this franchise went in the wrong direction with the last few years of Kobe's run with the team. The Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Kobe era I think is really where the issues come up. If you recall, in the meeting to get Dwight Howard to stay Kobe sat in the meeting and then there were meetings with other great players and Kobe basically made an ass of himself and Lamarcus Aldridge doesn't sign with the Lakers and goes to San Antonio and Dwight Howard leaves and Steve Nash is just too old honestly. The team had leveraged tons of picks and cap space to try and get Kobe some temporary help to chase one more title and the end result is the team we have in front of us today. A team that needed all this time to rebuild anyway, and I do agree that Luke Walton isn't a great coach and Lebron isn't enough on his own to carry a team in the West, but the idea of a part-time president? That's a terrible idea, and the idea that a sport's agent can be a general manager? That's an even worse idea. This was a bad set up but it's all built on an even worse foundation and I think people are forgetting that.

THAT'S CRAZY

So a weird stat appeared yesterday, there is an active streak of 36 seasons in a row that a player in the NBA finals has played with Shaquille O'Neal. That's a statement on a couple of things, first it's a statement that he and his team did a good job surrounding himself with talented players. It's also though an indication of how many rosters Shaq has been on. Orlando to LA to Miami to Phoenix to Cleveland to Boston, did you remember he played in Boston? I did, but I've looked it up before because I even doubted myself on that one once or twice. He's been out of the league since 2011 and still the streak is alive. Now Lebron helped there but Danny Green is on the Raptors and he's a former Shaq teammate so the streak is alive. It's an interesting facet of a massive basketball legacy that Shaq has built.

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

I hate "Baseball's Unwritten Rules." Seriously. They don't make any sense and one I hate the most is no showboating. There is no other sport where people say "no showboating;" there just isn't. The Reds and the Pirates have a series going on and a kid named Dietrich is jacking homeruns like nobody's business and likes to stand in the box and admire them. I don't mind that at all, I would admire homecruns too, especially if I struck out as much as this guy does. He's a classic power hitter, just as likely to strike out as he is to hit a home run and so yeah he showboats but he also strikes out. This is a professional league, if you don't want him to gloat, then strike him out. If he hits a home run he should gloat, he should take 12 minutes to round the bases, because I promise you, I would take 20.