NICK'S PICKS
Nick Sharara: Trying to sneak weed in a tea can? NBA star could use some tips from us
May 3, 2019, 6:54 am
NICK'S PICKS
Brooklyn Nets' All-Star D'Angelo Russell was cited for possession of marijuana at LaGuardia Airport in New York before catching a flight to his hometown Louisville, KY. TSA was able to find what appeared to be an Arizona Iced Tea can in a checked bag. TSA Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein gave details to Newsday.
"The marijuana was concealed inside a beverage can with a hidden compartment. It was one of those AriZona [Iced Tea] beverage cans with a screw-off lid that people hide things in."
I can't believe people would buy those to get through airport security, or maybe D'Angelo Russell is the only one dumb enough to do so. Wouldn't you use that fake Arizona beverage can with a hidden compartment to hide something from guests or people you knew would not mess with it? You may have seen the old WD-40 stash can. It has been around way too long to fool TSA and the police. If they find that can, they will inspect it. Please tell me why would one invest in a fake Arizona Iced Tea beverage stash can as your means to fool TSA? Maybe Russell has done it before and gotten away with it. It's human nature to repeat habits when you've gotten away with them in the past. In any case, be more creative D'Angelo, you're a restricted free agent now.
We've all attempted to sneak food or alcohol somewhere and more times than not, if you get away with it, it gives you the confidence to do it again. It's the only explanation I can manufacture for a multi-million dollar NBA athlete like D'Angelo Russell who may have a habit of smoking marijuana and felt an artificial Arizona Iced Tea stash can could be used to hide marijuana from TSA. Perhaps he's somehow gotten away with it in the past and has became a repeat offender. In any case, a risk I usually am not willing to take. Here are a few risks that I am willing to take. It a list of things I believe many of us are or could have been repeat offenders about.
Sneaking candy to the movie theater seems like the most common confession. It's easy to do. Nobody is really looking for it and the repercussions are minimal. Despite the fact that selling alcohol has become a trend in movie theaters, I would imagine sneaking in alcohol has become a trend to avoid higher prices.
All throughout middle school and high school the city of Houston did not have a football team. An NFL team eventually returned in the form of the Houston Texans right around the time I was old enough to drink. I'll never forget the first time I went to a Texans game. My entire goal was to go the Texans game, drink and drink on a budget. I bought the flask and quite a bit of alcohol. Skinny jeans weren't a big thing back then and you would be surprised what you could hide. I never stopped doing that until I started doing radio. I never stopped because I never got caught.
I absolutely loved sneaking in food to class when I could get away with it. Depending on where you went to school, this may or may not have been a problem for you. It most certainly was a problem for me at the middle school and high school level. I really hated eating breakfast. Waking up in the morning essentially ruined my appetite as a kid so the timing of my hunger never came at a good time. Normally I tried sneaking in food that did not have loud packaging or was incredibly loud to eat, but I was bold enough to sneak in Doritos and eat them in my day.
At one point, I believed Karaoke bars were a dying industry, but I was wrong. It's still very much a real thing and getting patrons to spend a few bucks before they yell into a microphone can be a challenge sometimes. Some Karaoke bars may even have a two-drink minimum just to participate. A two-drink minimum is also common at stand-up comedic venues. Despite it crossing my mind, I've never had the tendency to sneak in the old flask to comedic events.
Joel Blank, Barry Laminack and myself began to debate on the charm level of kickers and punters in the NFL. How well do they do with the ladies? We figured we'd call someone who's played at the NFL level. Chris Kluwe is a self-admitted geek who played eight seasons in the NFL and gave details on the success he's had with the ladies during his athletic career and the reality of that department among punters and kickers in the league. Listen HERE.
Nobody wants to get poked in the eye. It's definitely going to impact performance regardless of who you are. As a superstar in this league, you would expect James Harden to play through it, and he did. Harden has a laceration in his eyelid and the redness is very apparent. Most likely there are blood vessels that have popped which can take two weeks to no longer be visible. Furthermore, Harden's vision can return despite having extremely red eyes. So as a Rockets fan, don't look at Harden's eyes every time you feel the game is not going Houston's way. It will only make you more angry. Only Harden knows how much this has impacted him. He feels the pain and knows if his vision has not returned to what it once was. Only he knows how sensitive his eyes are to light. He still was able to perform on the road with the injury, I imagine he'll do the same on Saturday at home.
As of 9:42 Central Daylight Saving Time Friday night, the Astros (and all other baseball players) are officially the Boys of Summer, officially so far as the season is concerned anyway. When the summer solstice arrived last year the Astros were nine games off the lead in the American League West. So in addressing the rhetorical axiom “what a difference a year makes,” the difference in the Astros’ case is a whopping 14 games as they start the weekend atop their division by five games. At this point in the season last year the Astros’ record in one-run games was a brutal 5-14. In 2025 they are 13-7 in games decided by the narrowest of margins.
That the Astros are just 4-5 in road games against the two worst teams in the American League is no big deal, other than that every game counts in the standings. Still, just as was losing two out of three at the pathetic White Sox earlier this season, it is no doubt disappointing to the Astros to have only gotten a split of their four-game set with the Athletics. The A’s had gone 9-28 in their last 37 games before the Astros arrived in West Sacramento. The former-Oaklanders took the first game and the finale, as the Astros’ offense played bi-polar ball over the four nights. Two stat-padding explosion games that totaled 24 runs and 35 hits were bookended by a puny one-run output Monday and Thursday’s 5-4 10-inning loss. Baseball happens. Nevertheless, as the Astros open their weekend set versus the Angels, they have gone 17-7 over their last 24 games to forge their five-game division lead.
The New York Yankees’ offense has been by a healthy margin the best attack in the American League so far this season. The reigning AL champions snapped a six-game losing streak Thursday. The Yankees mustered a total of six runs over those six losses, including being shutout in three consecutive games. The baseball season is the defining “it’s a marathon not a sprint” sport. With 162 games on the schedule, combined with the fact that the gap in winning percentage between the best teams and the worst teams is smaller than in any other sport, making much about a series, or week or two of games is misguided, apart from all the results mattering.
The future is now
Without context, statistics can tell very misleading stories. Cam Smith is having a fine rookie season and has the looks of a guy who can blossom into a bonafide star and be an Astro mainstay into the 2030s. But it’s silliness that has anyone talking about the big month of June he’s having. Superficially, sure, going into Thursday’s game Smith’s stat line for the month read a .321 batting average and .874 OPS. Alas, that was mostly about Smith’s two monster games in the consecutive routs of the Athletics. Over those two games Cam went seven for nine with two home runs and two doubles. Over the other 14 games he’s played this month Smith is batting .213 with an OPS below .540.
Cam Smith is a long-term contender for best acquisition of Dana Brown’s tenure as General Manager. If his career was a single game Smith is still in the first inning, but if his career was a stock it’s a buy and hold. If the Astros were for some reason forced to part with all but two players in the organization, I think the two they would hold on to are Smith and Hunter Brown. Jeremy Pena would be another strong candidate, but he turns 28 in September and is two seasons from free agency (unless the rules change in the next collective bargaining agreement). Smith is 22 and under Astros’ control for another five seasons, he’s not even presently eligible for salary arbitration until the 2028 season. Brown turns 27 in August and is currently ineligible for free agency until after the 2028 season.
Angels in the outfield
Hunter Brown pitches opposite Yusei Kikuchi Friday night. Kikuchi was Dana Brown’s big in-season move last season, and Kikuchi was excellent with the Astros which set up to get the three-year 63 million dollar deal he landed with the Halos. After a slow start to his season Kikuchi has been outstanding the past month and a half, with a 2.28 earned run average over his last nine starts. Brown’s 1.88 season ERA is second-best in the big leagues among pitchers with the innings pitched to qualify in the category. Only Pirates’ stud Paul Skenes has a better mark, barely so at 1.85.
Kikuchi was a stellar rental who helped the Astros stretch their consecutive postseasons streak to eight. There was an absurd amount of vitriol over what Dana Brown gave up for him. Joey Loperfido is 26 years old and having a middling season at AAA. Will Wagner is 26 years old and back in the minors after batting .186 with the Blue Jays. Jake Bloss is the one guy who maaaaaybe some day the Astros wish they still had. Bloss is out into 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
_____________________________________________
*Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!