My Opinion

Tonight the NBA holds it’s player draft at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.While I do think that the NBA draft lottery is absolutely the stupidest way of determining draft order of all the sports,tonight guarantees to be an exciting night for cities  like Minnesota,Los Angeles,Philadelphia and New York.Who will go where? The consensus is that center Carl Anthony Towns of Kentucky will be the first player selected.Then it gets interesting.The Lakers have the second pick and may pass up Duke center Jalil Okafor while the 76ers are said to really like European 7 footer Kristaps Porzingis.That leaves my team,the Knicks,with a chance to get either Okafor or Ohio St.point guard DeAngelo Russell.I would love to have Russell because he is a great passer and a great shooter.If the Lakers take him then the chance Okafor is there when the Knicks pick.Also possible picks for the Knicks include guard Emanuel Mudiay, guard/forward Justice Winslow and center Willie Cauley Stein.Phil Jackson has been criticized repeatedly by the know it all New York media for the players he’s acquired and let go this year.While I will admit he hasn’t done a great job,what he has done is get rid of players who weren’t any good and cleared cap room to acquire free agents.Now his job really begins tonight.He must pick the right player that’s going to help turn the Knicks around.Then he must sign the right free agents that can play in the pressure packed environment of New York City.I’ve said before it takes a special kind of player to thrive and win in New York.Phil Jackson knows that,now it’s his job to get them.It starts tonight.That’s my opinion.

My Opinion

Dylann Roof,21 years old,has been charged with killing nine people in Charleston South Carolina.The shooting took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston.It’s being called a hate crime because all nine people were Black.One of the victims,the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney,41,was the second cousin of my sister’s husband.South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is looking for the death penalty.What made Roof do what he did? He was in a prayer meeting an hour before the shooting in that same church.Since the days of slavery Blacks and Whites have had a tension between them.I had my own experience when I was a kid and my grandmother lived in the town of Bishopville S.C.My cousin and I became friends with this white kid and after dinner we went over to his house to see if he could come out to play.To my surprise an elderly white man came out with a shotgun and told us that the kid was not coming out to play and for us to leave.When I told my grandmother what happened she told us in no uncertain terms not to go over there again.I didn’t understand it because I had white friends  in my neighborhood.I learned quickly that the south was very different.Dylann Roof had to be taught to hate Blacks,he had to come from an environment that perpetuated hate.He had spent time with the people  of that church praying while all the time he knew what was about to happen.It was cold blooded and calculated.It will be interesting to see if he actually gets the death penalty because after all,this is the south and somewhere there are some sick,bigoted bastards who like what he did.That’s my opinion.

My Opinion

The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to do something for the city that hasn’t been done since 1964 and that is win a world championship.The Cleveland Browns of the National Football League were the last team to do it,beating the then Baltimore Colts 27-0.I actually saw that game on television in 1964 when CBS had the NFL and the AFL  was getting started on NBC.There was no such thing as a Super Bowl back then.I remember watching Browns quarterback Frank Ryan throwing three touchdown passes to wide receiver Gary Collins and legendary running back Jim Brown retiring after that championship to pursue a movie career.The Cleveland Indians made the World Series in 1997 but lost to the Florida Marlins.Now Cleveland is by no means alone in waiting for a championship.The Chicago Cubs haven’t won since 1918.As a Knicks fan I’ve been waiting since 1973 for them to win another championship.Teams that go through these long droughts without a championship usually have bad decision makers at the top who either don’t know what they’re doing or pick players that just aren’t good enough.The fans pay some ridiculously expensive price for tickets but year after year they’re left wanting.The teams that are constantly near or at the top have a good organization from the owner down to the coach or manager.Also what can’t be overlooked is leadership from the players on the team.LeBron James is proving to be a great leader by his inspiring play.I remember Willis Reed limping on to the court at Madison Square Garden for game seven of the 1970 NBA finals and what an inspiration it was to the rest of the Knicks as they went on to beat the Lakers and capture New York’s first NBA title.LeBron is inspiring the Cavaliers and the city.If they do win it the city of Cleveland will cherish this championship forever.That’s my opinion.

My Opinion

When a team is considered the best in any sport,there is great pressure for them to prove it by winning the championship.The N.Y.Rangers were considered the best team and favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season but lost at home in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Tampa Bay Lightning.Last season the Rangers were not expected to go anywhere in the playoffs and therefore with little or no pressure made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the L.A.Kings in 5 games.This season they were expected to win and even had a picture in their locker room of the Cup and after every playoff game they won they put a little piece on it as a building block to their ultimate goal.The pressure was to great and consequently they played one of the worst game 7’s at home in a long time.I’ve been watching sports since the sixties and in that time I have seen teams in all sports cave in to the pressure and expectation to win when they’re the favorite.The New England Patriots were 18-0 entering Super Bowl XLll and were being looked at as the best of all time but lost to the Giants.The Seattle Mariners won 116 games in 2000 and set a new American League record but lost to the Yankees.The Denver Broncos set the NFL record for points in 2013 but lost to the Seahawks 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVlll.The Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl lll as the biggest underdog (18 points)in Super Bowl history.In all sports the pressure to win when you’re supposed to is unique and the Teams that can accomplish that feat,like the 1998 Yankees or the 1996 Chicago Bulls,who were clearly the best in their sport that year,won it all.It takes more than just talent to win a championship when you are expected to and those teams that ultimately do it are remembered forever and the ones that don’t are quickly forgotten.That’s my opinion.