The NBA regular season is just about over. But there are still plenty of questions to be answered about the playoff picture. The top is set in stone. Toronto and Boston will be the 1 and 2 seeds in the East, and Houston and Golden State will finish 1,2 in the West. After that, a lot can still change. I’ll get you set with all the games over the next two nights that will still have a big impact on the season.
There are only five games on the schedule tonight to prepare for a full slate tomorrow night. Philly will have a chance to put some space between them and Cleveland as they take on the Hawks. If you’re Philly, you can’t afford to lose this game. You have to take advantage of playing one of the worst teams in the league, especially since they’ll finish the season against the Bucks tomorrow. Cleveland will play the Knicks tomorrow, and with only 1.5 games between them, Philly needs to win just one to finish with the three seed. The Wizards have a chance to move up from 8 to 7, but they’ll have to go through the Celtics tonight and the Magic tomorrow, while Miami (the current 7 seed) will finish against Toronto tomorrow night. The Bucks can’t get any higher than 6, but they could fall a spot or two if they aren’t careful. And that’s just the East.
In the West, the 3 seed is only 2 games up on the 9 seed! And with a lot of head-to-head matchups of those teams, almost anything can still happen. Utah will be the only team of the 7 in action tonight and will play Golden State. A win tonight will pull them even with Portland for the 3 seed going into the final day. But if they lose, they’ll still have a chance to pass Portland. The two play tomorrow night, and Utah would win if the two teams finish tied. The Nuggets and Timberwolves are currently tied for 8th and will go head to head tomorrow night for the last spot. The Spurs and Pelicans are currently tied for the 5/6 spot and they will also go head to head tomorrow night. OKC can still move around as well, and they’ll play Memphis in their final game tomorrow.
Moral of the story, these next two days will be filled with drama. There is still a lot up for grabs in both conferences and a lot of matchups between playoff hopefuls. So clear your schedule and break out your extra screens because there will be plenty of exciting basketball to be watched.
After starting their season with 9 games on the road, and a rainout yesterday, the Chicago Cubs will finally be playing ball on the north side. One of baseball’s gems, Wrigley Field, will finally see baseball again. The Friendly Confines on the north side of Chicago have hosted the Cubs since 1912 and is the second oldest ballpark still in use behind Fenway Park in Boston. The stadium is iconic, famous for its old school design, an outfield wall coated in ivy and its 100+ years of history. There were some renovations this offseason but the early returns are good. It is said that the stadium has been modernized (which it needed badly) without taking away from the historic feel.
The Cubs will have to have their home opener without one of their biggest stars, Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo was placed on the 10-day DL (retroactive to April 6th) due to tightness in his back. He has missed the last three games and just can’t seem to loosen up. The weather hasn’t been much help and the Cubs are playing it safe, they’ll need Rizzo for the long haul if they have any playoff hopes.
So enjoy the Cubs home opener. There’s nothing like a day game at the Friendly Confines. first pitch was just a few minutes ago, it will be Tyler Chatwood for the Cubs against Ivan Nova and the Pirates.
You guys know that I love my older hip hop. But that doesn’t mean I don’t listen to today’s stuff too. And today, I’m going to use a brand new track to teach our lesson. Flatbush Zombies released their second album today, Vacation In Hell. Now, besides Flatbush Zombies being dope as hell and the album being fire, they basically did my job for me today. So for today’s day in history, we’re going to be staying right here in 2018.Today, I want you to check out a track off the new album called “Headstone”. The Zombies break down 20+ years of hip hop history while they flip countless song titles, lyrics, and album names into a flow that is unique to the group. They use the track to pay homage to every artist that has influenced them and the game. They reference people like Biggie, Eazy E, Kanye West, Bone Thugs, 50 Cent, NWA, Nas, Slick Rick and so many more. So I’m gonna give you guys some homework for this weekend. Find the lyrics to this track, print them out and try to find all the different references they drop. Circle them up and make a playlist out of them. Its guaranteed to be a banger of a list and will walk you through years and years of influential tracks. The Flatbush Zombies break down some of the lyrics in a dope video by Genius, so I’ll leave that here for you to get started. Enjoy your weekend and may it be filled with fire hip hop.
The Red Sox have gotten out to a great start. They’ve won six straight now after dropping the opener. Hanley Ramirez delivered a pair of clutch hits to tie the game in the ninth and win it in the 12th. Now if I stopped there, you’d think I was impressed. I’m not. I don’t think they’ve been playing good at all. Boston has played five games against the Rays and two against the Marlins. Neither team is going anywhere this season. More troubling is how they are winning these games. They’ve only won one game by more than two runs and the offense is struggling big time. The pitching has been decent, but again I’m troubled by the competition. The Sox look like they are trapped in Spring Training and need to wake up. I think next week’s series with the Yankees will be much more telling. Now, I’m not saying that the Sox are bad. They are going to be a great team this year. I’m just saying that they haven’t given me anything to be excited about yet. You are supposed to beat up on teams like the Rays and Marlins. They got the job done and squeezed by, but they were in no way impressive. Their level of play will need to rise up as their competition stiffens throughout the long season.
Conor McGregor went full blown fookin’ idiot last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. McGregor somehow got into the garage while the UFC bus was leaving the arena after some pre-fight events. Conor proceeded to try to ram a security gate through the windows and then he chucked some garbage and a hand dolly at the windows. Multiple fighters were hurt during the scuffle and UFC 223 is basically done. Three fights have been pulled of the card for this weekend. McGregor spent the night in jail after being hit with three counts of assault and a count of criminal mischief. He’s expected to post bail and be out sometime this afternoon.
It is believed that the anger began to brew two days ago after McGregor’s buddy Artem Lobov got into it with Khabib Nurmagomedov in a hotel hallway. McGregor was in town to support his teammate and sparing partner Lobov and apparently felt like he needed to insert himself in the beef. Conor is also mad at the UFC in general because he is losing his belt.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC for almost two years and Dana White is sick of waiting on him. White went on ESPN’s Get Up! this morning to clear the air. He told them that he has been open with McGregor the whole time in trying to plan his return to the octagon. White said there were tentative plans to have him fight in September and that McGregor could basically pick his opponent and weight class, even fight to reclaim his title. White also said that his antics last night were, “embarrassing for the sport,” and we’re definitely not a media stunt. I’m calling bullshit on this one. Fighting is all about promotion, always has been and always will be. The UFC needs to make a big splash and McGregor is obviously still their biggest name. They are just hyping up a fight that we will see sometime in the near future. Besides, there is no way this just happened spur of the moment. It’s not easy to get access to the private garages at these venues. You can’t just walk back there, even if you’re Conor McGregor. Multiple levels of security personnel had to know that he was making his way up there. What did they think he was doing? Coming to say hi? This was staged just like basically everything else outside of the ring in fighting. But hey, I can’t knock the hustle, everyone knows this is BS and were all still talking about it. And we’ll all be watching the fight, whenever it happens.
