Taco Bell

holy **** this song is so good

I haven't had much time to post recently and I know the level of commitment it requires so I feel like I'm doing the MB a favor lol... but this is what I need to ask most pertinently. Why does Ryan Kerrigan have a burgundy spike coming out of his deltoid on his image framing ES?

I am definitely saying that RG3 is a happier person now, and I am definitely not putting blame or responsiblity on his wife Rebecca in any way shape or form. RG3 being wildly in love with someone else and being happy does not implicate Rebecca, the person, as holding him back, whether intentionally or passively, etc. See, the labyrinth already begins. "Rebecca holding griffin back" implies a great many things about her as a person, which is not what I am doing at all. I am not justifying him ruining his marriage, cheating on her, splitting the home up for his child, etc. I am saying that RG3 made a move that provided him a better state of mind because he's now happier. That doesn't mean I am blaming the wife, I am blaming RG3's unhappiness as a contributor to poor preparation and play, which may change because he made a change in his personal life that makes him happier. It might sound like it's splitting hairs, but it's actually a massive difference and I cannot stress that enough. Rebecca might have been the greatest person in the world and RG3 totally ruined her life. That's why I am intentionally ignoring the reasons for the split and just cutting to the emotional outcome for the football player in question that plays a 24/7 position where there is so little room for error.

I'm gonna be honest, I am happy for RG3 to have moved on into a happier relationship for himself. It gives me a slight urge to root for him a bit now, because I feel like this is one of those things that might affect his play where previously there just seemed to be an impossibility of good performance based on his practice and game tape, as well as soundbytes and internet/media content. I haven't posted much recently but I am sure will ramp up with the season approaching. I'm not saying this is what will unlock "RG3" again necessarily, but what it does do for me is show that RG3 had something holding him back personally, and made the move to change it. Why does personal life matter for the QB? The same reasons why I backed Kirk early on, the same reasons why I gave up on RG3 in 2013. Because the QB is a position in sports where there is literally no leeway whatsoever for repeated faults or mistakes on the field. Meaning, there is in reality, no limit to how hard you should work and be committing to the sport. That's why when I hear our QB Kirk say something like he has his day broken down into 15 minute intervals, I trust that he's not going to completely bomb, just like last year. I'm not saying it would never happen, but to me, just knowing his preparation acumen, I would indeed be surprised at a total KC meltdown at this point. Back to RG3, my point is, anything that was "off" or making him have to fight upstream getting removed from his life, even if it's his "personal" life, for the 24/7 job of pro QB, any positive change - in any area - is going to translate to the field somehow. And RG3 ever since the end of 2012 seemed to have tons and tons of little things preoccupying him and/or holding him back. Shanny stuff, Danny stuff, media stuff, injury stuff, and perhaps multiple elements in his personal life. Perhaps he is still so far back in his progress at QB that even small improvements won't cut it, but that's why I say that I am rooting for him now unlike before. Because there is a sign that something in his life has changed for the better, and given his style of being more of a "confidence breeds confidence" type of guy, I could see him internally happy being a massive change to his focus and execution in practice and potentially on game days. And perhaps this creates a domino effect with other things in his preparation at QB. Of course, the whole family breakup thing is unfortunate, but honestly, he's a pro QB who won a heisman trophy and ROY, so in the selfish football psyche aspect, I believe he is doing what is better for his profession by putting himself into a happier state of mind.

ugh the NBA is so image dependant and backwards... Wade should be gone if the NBA functioned properly, he's an aging veteran who's not worth the money on a team that's not winning a championship. But, because there is so little to root for at a given time around the league, a distribution of players around the league just to appease fanbases is what is necessary since teams could literally just collapse like the 6ers at any minute since there aren't enough good players to go around for however many teams this league has. It's the same source of issue with lebron in 20whatever, Durant now, Wade now, etc. This whole meltdown any time a player leaves is more about the lack of depth on teams as opposed to anything else. One player moving could destroy the whole house of cards each and every time and people need oxygen masks to get over it and move off the ledge.

based on what I saw Westbrook actually did Durant a favor and enabled Durant to do the right thing and leave given that Westbrook showed he had no intention of staying himself.. I'm sure Durant and Westbrook are still on close terms even if the ride was frustrating and tough at certain junctures

Alot of the hating on this thing (not here just the general nonsense I'm seeing) is truly the symptom of a weak league. There are too many teams in the league, which leads to this bully system of top players not being "allowed" to go to other teams because it makes things "too easy..." Literally the dumbest thing ever how the "problem" is the player doing whats best for his personal career rather than the environment surrounding him hanging by the thinnest of threads of legitimacy and functionality. There are plenty of good players in the top percentile, but just not stacked together in the way they should be, don't even remove jobs, just add to the rosters and proportionately increase the cap so not a single dollar is taken away from the players (it would get redistributed towards the top surely but the same money would exist)

I actually like 8 on Kirk... 12 reminds me too much of the other top QBs right this second, Rodgers and Brady both use it and based on what I've seen quickly it looks like it's a number historically used because of Bradshaw, Staubach, and Griese, during the Steelers, Cowboys, and Dolphins SB eras. So, unless Kirk truly liked the number 12, I'd rather have him use 8, or, the number he would rather have based on what I've seen him say since the change.

I know I've said it a few times in this thread already, but now that we have a nice set of pictures nearby my explanation will make more sense. I know that, in addition to misery, the idea of "going back" to the 80s era unis always sounds good to me, but then I also remember that we had that combination in the 90s and 2000s and they even then still didn't feel right. The main visual reason why our jerseys never translated to those 90s/2000/ and contemporary "fitting" uniforms is because there is no longer the amount of space necessary to include those thick double stripes on the sleeves anymore. Which is what "makes" those 80s unis to me. One reason is of course they are so thick that there's almost nothing you can do to prevent shrinking them which is at odds with the double striped pants and socks, the other key part of that look, but the other thing is we are one of only 2 old teams (the raiders) that still keeps their jersey numbers on the sides of our sleeves instead of on top of the shoulders, like every other team that used to have their numbers on the sides pre 90s. So, we end up with cramped microscopic sleeve striping totally at odds with the rest of our 80s unis. That's why, these current patchwork unis to me are better in actuality, while I totally long for the "theory" of the 80s unis myself. And actually, I truly love our burgundy helmet, white shirt, gold pants combination. I feel like it looks clean and has a great balance of our team colors. The other major thing is, a white shirt doesn't require as much reliance on striping as a burgundy shirt does without looking like "too much" burgundy, making all the striping issues more pronounced with that current color combination.

haha he's probably been saving that shirt up for so long

Kyrie was amazing and totally won me over permanently with his playoff performance (I wasn't a hater or anything and was always an outsider to the redskins/wizards centric Kyrie vs. Wall type stuff)... he was a ****ing monster JR smith's post game presser was legit stuff too about his family... wow

That would be awesome and sort of unfair. But tonight I'm drinking some champagne not gonna lie. So happy for Lebron

wow I can't believe it! Great game though

great energy so far on both sides, but Draymond is too good right this second

I'm rooting for Lebron, but whoever wins tonight will probably be my top rooting interest starting next year. Rooting for Lebron at 32 years old to rectify his finals W/L feels a little too pointless vs. rooting for a GS threepeat at that point. I have to go to the grocery store right now **** THAT (the *'s were capped)

I only got to see the game starting the final 4 mins of the 3rd, but followed it on my phone for the first quarter because my gf had a major hip surgery today (no she's not 80,) but that 4th quarter was exactly what I always dream of how LeBron can play and was the first time I got genuine chills watching him perform since that detroit 25 point in a row game. I'm sure because of all of that they won't win game 7, but of any season where lebron seems capable of moving mountains, its this year... Steph still ended up with 30, and I do legitimately trust him and the warriors more to win it all, but I'd love for lebron to win 1 chip that he truly pulls out of his ass, this one would either nullify the mavs finals, or count almost as 2 chips given the opponent.

Well in my case of saying it's not a large difference it's more about the change in the series outcome not being a large percentage difference, but I can see why people would think that he's not a big loss just as an asset on the court as well, myself included to a certain extent of course (mistakenly). Obviously the defense is much worse overall and gives the Cavs more free reign for one of their major strengths of applying pressure down low with Lebron, TT, and Kyrie all attacking. But I'm sure Draymond will do his best to pick up the slack

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2639749-andrew-bogut-injury-updates-on-warriors-centers-knee-and-return so it looks like Bogut is out if that ends up having merit... probably not a large difference but wonder by better GS experts here what it would change

I wonder if the Cavs decided to wear those sleeved jerseys so they could vow not to lose the finals while wearing those things. That was the first time they wore them all playoffs too

Ok lebron time to start driving to the basket instead of worrying about the high road or whatever you're doing

I'm not going to get too hyped in the whole blowout thing, I think Cavs winning a close game with contextually right moves down the stretch (mostly to see how Lebron and Kyrie play in those pivotal possessions) would be more indicative of the Cavs chances for this series. My money is on GS in 5, but I'm rooting for the Cavs/Lebron to pull it out. I don't think it can be overstated enough the fact that when Lebron is being aggressive towards the basket whatever team he's on entirely transforms. I've come in this thread and dropped the Lebron is a playoff underachiever take in the ilk of Peyton Manning or Clayton Kershaw, but because he's probably the naturally most gifted player in any sport of all time, and the fact that it's basketball - one of the universal sports of our world, he's at the top of a billion person pyramid pecking order of basketball greatness at any given moment (steph might be the top right now but same difference). So when the guy at the absolute pinnacle of the sport, becomes apprehensive on the court, it's noticeable, because people know what the equivalent of being "scared" on a basketball court looks like. Passing the ball away, pretending to try to get open but not so covertly positioning yourself to make it unrealistic, being scared to drive forward, etc. It's not a big mystery. So bla bla bla - Point is, when Lebron is playing "like he should" - everyone knows the difference, including his teammates. That's why when he's playing "distributor" - everyone usually seems to suck - it's because everyone else's morale goes down because they sort of know he's not doing "what it takes" to eventually win a game and it rubs off on everyone else. So, when Lebron plays like how he did last night - that's exactly what it takes to make GS look vulnerable. He kept going down the the basket, genuinely making guys open because the D has to truly close in instead of expecting the kickouts all the time, gets guys like Tristan a better chance for offensive rebounds, and gets guys like JR smith more space to get going. Kyrie scored 30 but Lebron being aggressive most of the night is what sustained their lead due to everyone else contributing and is the correct process for the Cavs to win the series if they want to have any chance. And GS is tremendous at making clean blocks, so if Lebron started getting some foul calls it could be even more of a threat. I'd say the most telling thing if you ever wanted to hear an NBA player try to psyche out another "with subtlety" was seeing that Draymond said "Lebron is at his most dangerous as a distributor" - Yea ok - if it's opposite day. That's the problem though, I think Lebron believes it to a degree and prevents him from accepting his true most dangerous form - the locomotive - which is why it makes sense for Draymond to sneak that out there. I do think, like all pros in all sports, Lebron definitely keeps an eye on how his game evolves as he ages so that he can deteriorate as slowly as possible. But damn - it's the finals - a championship will be worth the wear and tear on your body of throwing yourself at the basket and rack up fouls and FTAs. Especially this one. To me if Lebron somehow won this series this would count as 2 championships essentially when it came to "all time ranking" type stuff, but it's not going to happen unless he plays the rest of this series like these are the last 4 games of his career. -------- All that said - I still think GS wins this in 5, maybe 6 based on my assessment of the likelihood and frequency of these things occurring. Just the inner workings of my rooting for Lebron and what I hope I could see.

going into the series my money would have been on GS in 5 but game 2 is the one that could change things. I don't think it's possible to go down 2-0 against GS and have any prayer of finishing 4-1 (and nevermind 4-0) in the series unless Steph and Klay both get severe injuries in games 2 or 3. I am a mets fan and in the WS last year one of the extremely noticeable things was just how different the team chemistry was for either team, the Royals were truly together and played with a certain unity, while the Mets had a ton of talent but just seemed to have a more disjointed "business like" approach that doesn't have the same special-ness that the Royals were coming with. That's just like these two teams. GS, despite in my opinion having the best player on the planet anyway, regardless of if he won MVP this year or not (which he did unaminously), also happens to have an extremely unified team where the Cavs just feel emotionally cold from top to bottom. I am indeed rooting for the Cavs however, because many of the particular reasons for me thinking Lebron is a playoff underachiever are the same reasons why he's not likely to explode for a 60 point game and "do what needs to be done to win" and which is why they will probably lose in 5 or 6, but I still root for him to "change" that. This might be the final year though to root for him at 1a of the pecking order. He will be 32 next year and if Curry at 28/29 and on a much more stable team also has 2 rings, Curry will probably usurp him as the player who has the greatest chance of the greatest legacy of this generation (which is what I root for). I guess lebron could still break the tie next year so I will probably get sucked into rooting for him again next year too, but that would be the final final year unless he wins the chip this year (or next year).

I think that personally what Klay did in game 6 was the most impressive display of shooting I've seen live, which starts essentially in the post jordan bulls era right when guys like Duncan, Kobe, AI, Shaq, were taking over. I'm not the biggest basketball guy so I'm sure I'm neglecting certain stretches, but the only thing that really comes to my head would be those ~25 straight points lebron had against the pistons way back in the day, but the stakes were nothing compared to this. The stakes were so high, and they needed every one of those points. Also - I'm talking specifically about impactful/clutch stretches of shooting/scoring, I'm sure there are better "overall performances" of course. Like - take that ray allen shot that saved the heat, but done repeatedly over and over for a team that had the best regular season record ever and fighting for their lives to repeat, with just about as much necessity for each individual shot to be made as the last.

I don't see how the Cavs have a chance in the finals other than if somehow GS is lethargic mentally and physically from this series (yea right)

I think when GS is down by anything less than 12 they essentially feel like they are winning... when Klay is shooting like he is no lead is safe