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Hi everyone. Welcome to the first Monday edition of my blog. Yes I know it’s late. I had stuff going on today. Time to talk about the NBA Finals, the Champions League Final, the PLL and a bad baseball team.
The Fly Over States’ NBA Finals Featuring Paul George’s Former Teams:
Jason Aldean’s song “Fly Over States” is a good song. The one thing he forgot to sing about, however, was how good the 2024-25 Pacers and Thunder are. Granted, the song was released in 2010.
For diehard basketball fans, this is an incredible matchup. No big market teams, talented superstars and remarkable home environments should make this an awesome Finals. Before diving into the matchup, let me talk about these fanbases.
Look, it was really stupid for the NBA to leave Seattle, everyone knows that. However, having watched basketball for over a decade now, the OKC home crowd always brings the electricity and enthusiasm to their games. Seriously, I have always been impressed by how much Thunder fans care about their team.
When I think of Oklahoma, I think of tornadoes and Oklahoma Sooners football. Yet, basketball is a staple of their culture. They root loud and proud, wear the shirts given to them and love their players.
Heading east to Indiana, basketball is literally that state’s sport. From Purdue to Indiana State, to the Hoosiers to Caitlin Clark playing for the Fever; everyone loves basketball in the 19th state. Those residents, of course, love their Pacers.
The Thunder vs the Pacers in the NBA Finals is truly a matchup where I don’t care who wins at all. Tyrese Haliburton is awesome to watch and isn’t overrated. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has developed into one of the premier guards in the sport and could be the face of the league.
It’s not just them. It’s players like Myles Turner, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, and Pascal Siakam that make them both fun to watch. It’s guys like Alex Caruso, T.J. McConnell and Aaron Nesmith who bring the energy and play hard.
The Thunder’s chemistry, the Pacers’ fast paced tempo, their brilliant coaches; there is so much to love about this series. Heck, it’s Paul George’s former squads facing off in the biggest series of the year (sorry PG).
If you're a basketball fan and don’t watch this series, you're not a true fan. As long as this series goes, I will be watching every second. One team looks to win their first title since 1979, the other wants their first in franchise history.
One more thing, thank god the Knicks are not in the Finals. *Insert the Earl dancing meme from “My Name is Earl.”
A French Takeover in Germany:
Look, I didn’t pay attention during World History so I’m not making a World War II joke here. I think Doris Burke tried to make one during the Western Conference Finals so I will set that aside.
Anyway, PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League Final. Yes, 5-0.
I thought of a few things. The 7-1 demolition from Germany vs Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semifinal match and the 2023 National Championship Game between Georgia and TCU. Also Patrick getting annihilated from some edited Super Smash/Spongebob meme.
A season after global superstar Kylian Mbappe left for Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain ended up being the Champions of Europe. In every way, shape or form, this was a historic win for France’s best team.
It was their first Champions League title; they became the first French club to win the competition since Marseille in 1993 and one tiny thing. Their massive five goal margin was the largest winning margin in a Champions League Final.
I didn’t root for anyone in this match, but in retrospect it should have probably been PSG. The starting eleven of “The Parisians” was extraordinary at all levels. Veteran Marquinhos on the backline, Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia up top, Gianluigi Donnarumma in net.
However, Desire Doue, who turns 20 on Tuesday was arguably their best player on the pitch Saturday (he was the Man of the Match). Essentially for casual French soccer viewers, this was the first time they watched him play. He’s actually been stellar in all competitions this year with 15 goals and 16 assists so more people should have taken notes (myself included).
However, while it’s remarkable to see PSG win something this grand, I feel the same way as soccer YouTuber Maqwell. Since 2011, PSG have been owned by a government-backed Qatar group which has raised questions, ethically and morally. I’m not going to dive into the political aspect of things, but this has been viewed negatively from soccer fans alike.
What’s interesting about this result in relation to Inter Milan this time, they lost to a similar team in Man City in 2023. A majority of that ownership is tied to a group from the Middle East, specifically from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). City Football Group, as it’s known, has a majority of their stake with Abu Dhabi United Group.
Long story short, PSG and Man City have a crap ton of money. Man City, Real Madrid and PSG are now Europe’s last three Champions League victors and the sport may be broken.
Very sorry to Mbappe for basically winning nothing important this season. A Champions League trophy is in his future, but man leaving a season before your former team wins it all sucks.
The Rookies Shine Bright During Week One of the PLL:
Albany was the place to be this past weekend if you love lacrosse. The seventh season of the ever growing PLL got underway and one big take away was how stellar the rookie class looked.
While the first overall pick in this year’s PLL Draft, CJ Kirst, didn’t play, some rookies performed well. The first game Friday between the Carolina Chaos and New York Atlas saw one young guy prove why he belongs in the league.
Former attackman at Army, Jackson Eicher, came out the gates blazing with a hat trick and two assists. It was an impressive debut for a player who was outstanding in college. While the Chaos were defeated, it was a relatively close game against a squad that is full of world-class talent like the Atlas.
However, the shocker of the night came in the second game where the California Redwoods (my team) beat the Denver Outlaws, 15-12. Another rookie, Chris Kavanagh, had an impressive four goals and will be a vital piece of a team trying to compete this year.
Of course, Chris’ brother Pat plays for the opposing team and to say the Outlaws’ attack is loaded would be an understatement. The last three Tewaaraton Award winners all play for Denver which includes the aforementioned Pat Kavanagh, generational talent Brennan O’Neill and Logan Wisnauskas. The fact that the Redwoods stood tall defensively and beat a team full of riches like Denver is insane.
Then on Saturday, Utah took on Maryland which was the only game I could watch without an ESPN+ subscription. The contest was close throughout in a rematch of last season’s championship game. However, Utah came out victorious again off great performances from their stud Connor Fields and their rookie from Harvard in Sam King.
King in particular didn’t score his first PLL goal, but he looked fantastic passing the ball and created scoring opportunities with his three assists. So in summary, the kids were alright in their first weekend of their professional careers.
The league heads to Charlotte for week two where there is once again, only one free game on TV. That game is between Utah and Boston who are both 1-0 on the season and will be playing on ABC this Saturday at 1 PM.
A Rocky Start for the Colorado Rockies:
The state of Colorado has been blessed with a lot of great fortunes in sports recently. Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets won the NBA Finals in 2023 and Nathan MacKinnon and the Avs won the Stanley Cup in 2022. Bo Nix and the Broncos improved and made the playoffs last season for the first time since they won Super Bowl 50.
For what it’s worth too, the Rapids have seen improvement in MLS and Colorado football with Deion Sanders has been a cultural phenomenon. So, what about the Rockies? Ummmmm.
The Rockies are on route to have the worst season in MLB history, a year after the White Sox had a historically horrible season. Oh it can’t be that bad some casual viewer would say. Well, they still haven’t won ten games this season and it’s June 2nd.
Having observed the sport, watched Colorado native’s ThatsGoodSports’ video on the Rockies and consumed Stark Raving Sports’ content, I can talk about Colorado confidently. Basically, this team is poorly managed with all the blame directed at the executives making the decisions.
Seriously, this is not fair to the fans who have to suffer through mediocre to downright awful baseball. In their franchise’s history, they have rarely been to the playoffs and have never won an NL West division title. How this team made it to the 2007 World Series still shocks me because like how?
Also, don’t get me started on how they treated Nolan Arenado. One of the best players in their franchise’s history and they traded him for very little in return. They also sent $51 million in that trade with the Cardinals like why?
At 9-50, this team in its current iteration is a disgrace to baseball. While other teams in the Denver area perform well, a meteor has unfortunately destroyed all hope at Coors Field.
Final Thoughts:
I was at a grad party yesterday and wanted to see if there were any games going on that interested me. I saw the New York Liberty were playing the Connecticut Sun at home. Okay, I thought on paper, the Liberty should win because they just won the WNBA Finals and are undefeated currently.
I checked my phone and saw the score around 5 PM. It was 100 to 44 Liberty with 2:58 remaining in the fourth quarter. What?
The final score was 100-52 and the Liberty earned the second-largest margin of victory in WNBA history. The Liberty are now 7-0 and the Sun may be relocating soon.
In the NBA, the Thunder didn’t even beat the league-worst Jazz by 48 in any of their matchups this season. The next meeting between New York and Connecticut won’t be until August 1st, but I’m guessing that’s going to be a Liberty win as well.