“The TEN” is not a top ten but ten items worth being included in “The TEN”)
- Las Vegas Raiders beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-11 Thursday night in the Hall of Fame Game.
- The Dodgers beat the Giants 5-3 Thursday to sweep the four-game series in San Francisco.
- NFL Hall of Fame Inductees: Bryant Young, Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, Leroy Butler, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour. Coach Dick Vermeil, Official Art McNally.
- WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Russian court Thursday for bringing cannabis into the country.
- The Boston Red Sox released outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. Thursday.
- The Angels hit seven home runs, all solo shots, to tie a record as just the second team to hit seven solo home runs and lose as they fell to the Oakland A’s 8-7 Thursday.
- Vin Scully called 3 perfect games, 25 World Series, 20 No-Hitters, and 12 All-Star games in his career.
- Vin Scully started his broadcasting career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950 and announced his last game on October 2, 2016 in a 67 year career with the Dodgers.
- Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw left the game Thursday against the Giants after experiencing lower back pain while warming up before the bottom of the fifth inning.
- “I have needed you more than you have ever needed me.” -Vin Scully in his retirement speech.
@ Tank: I was OK before this discussion started and I’m still OK now. I haven’t fundamentally changed, but I appreciate your concern. I hope you enjoy the football season.
Aw, you OK now Ron?
@RV: The pearls before swine thing comes to mind.
@ RAMS FAN: Then simply refrain from bringing up politics on a sports website in the first place. You and a couple of others usually set the tone, and it tends to be a negative one. Also, you proclaim to be a man of fewer words, which is fine, but there’s often a lot to unpack in what you do say.
With all due respect, I’m willing to put my “nonsense” up against yours any day. Facts matter, and so does consideration for others. So yes, let’s talk about sports from now on.
“All the stuff we put out”? Ron the volume of nonsense that comes out of your month is ridiculous. My original comment was 3 short sentences. Your 6 comments on this thread alone was about 60 sentences , with almost none of it having to do with sports. The rest is just verbal diarrhea. Keep it short so you don’t put all of us to sleep.
“Now back to sports.”
That’s an interesting remark, Tank, given the fact that you and Rams Fan have almost always been the ones who start in with the political comments on this site. Taking that into consideration, along with the juvenile level of discourse that the two of you frequently resort to, any reasonable person could ask who’s actually been “triggered” here. The rest of us are usually in a position of having to decide whether to respond to all the stuff you guys put out.
thanks for info
@ Regrets: I don’t think that Dr. Naismith ever thought his sport would become a big business. Things changed greatly once huge sums of money entered the picture. And, as we’ve seen, issues have developed with international basketball and the global marketing of the sport and its star players.
My intent was not to be overly harsh toward Bill Walton, an excellent basketball player who has always cared about the world outside his sport. While Walton is a free spirit by nature, he also had to deal with neck, back, and leg injuries during the course of his playing career and for years afterward.
Bill Walton is an introspective person who has been candid about his struggles as well as his accomplishments over the years. He must have been a good father, too, because he has four adult children who’ve all been successful in sports and/or business.
It probably would have been better if Naismith had never thought of attaching that peach basket to the wall.
@ RAMS FAN: I think you’re wrong about Brittney Griner, and, yes, your lack of compassion for her is appalling. Has she ever said that she doesn’t like living in the United States? Ms. Griner had been in Russia working a side job as a player on a Russian basketball team, and she was attempting to return home to the U.S.
American citizens do need to develop a greater awareness of the laws in countries to which they’re traveling. As I previously mentioned, many governments around the world aren’t as nuanced (or as understanding or compassionate) in their approaches to criminal justice.
Ms. Griner would’ve avoided a lot of heartache if she had left her vaping supplies behind when she headed to the airport. I wonder if a young Bill Walton would’ve done any better; I think that’s a fair question.
Dear welfare queen, not sure where you score on reading comprehension but I love this country hence my saying bye bye Brittney. We’re better off with out her. Now if we could just figure out how to convince Lebron to go visit her in Russia and take her an ounce or two maybe you could tag along.
@ A1: That’s true of many countries, but not all. Western countries (which are usually the more democratic ones) typically have a more nuanced approach to criminal justice, and then there’s the rest of the world.
Criminal penalties are often harsher in autocratic nations, especially for individuals who aren’t privileged or well-connected. We have the same problem here, but it appears to be to a lesser degree.
Sounds like someone is triggered again, and has a huge crush on Griner. Will Dr Phil wait faithfully for Brittney? He’ll only be 25 when he/she’s released.
Now back to sports….
Stop equating our judicial system to other countries. You go anywhere else in the world and their punishment for smuggling any type of illegal drugs is no matter the weight extremely severe. Known fact.
@ “Ayn Rand was a welfare queen:” Russia is certainly run by an oligarchy, and I’m willing to bet that Putin’s friends in the upper class can get all the cocaine and methamphetamine they want.
We can figuratively split hairs on the exact nature of their political system, but I imagine it looks pretty fascist as far as most Ukrainians are concerned (and some Russians, too). Russia has the strongman leader and a militaristic approach to its foreign policy, but without the revolutionary communist rhetoric. Its system of state-controlled or state-sanctioned capitalism is also well-suited to fascism.
At any rate, Russia’s tradition of authoritarian rule goes back centuries. Many of the czars were tyrants, and they all governed as absolute monarchs (with varying degrees of effectiveness).
Rams Fan’s lack of compassion for Brittney Griner is appalling. I wonder if he’d have the same attitude if the basketball star in Russian captivity was someone like Bill Walton, who was known to take a toke or two.
@RamsFan. Love it or leave it, dude. I’m sure that Russia or Hungary would love to have a person like you to exploit. I’m sorry that you hate America as much as you do.
@Ron Vrooman. Russia has been totalitarian since the death of Lenin. They are not currently fascist, but a totalitarian oligarchy.
@RV: Save your critical thinking for someone who does not have to check in everytime he wanders past his mamas front door.
@ RAMS FAN: If the information I’ve read about this case is correct, the Russian court sentenced Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for possessing two grams of cannabis residue in her luggage. Her admission that she was using the substance to mitigate chronic pain carried no weight with the Russians.
The amount she was carrying equals 4.4 thousandths of a pound, so such an extremely harsh sentence speaks to the cruelty of the Russian system. However, I think that’s the whole point; it’s clear that the Russians have merely exchanged one authoritarian system (communism) for another (fascism).
I believe that all of this amounts to additional bargaining leverage for Vladimir Putin, who’s angry because his invasion of Ukraine hasn’t been going too well. The U.S. will have to throw in another Russian scumbag or two along with the international arms dealer in order to secure the release of Griner and fellow American Paul Whelan. Putin is using them as political pawns, and I believe the prisoner exchange will happen within the next several weeks.
Yeah, Russia takes crime seriously, all right. That’s especially true if you’re a political dissident, a member of the LGBTQ community, or a foreigner they can hold for ransom. The organized criminals pretty much run that country.
#4 Say what you will about Russia, but at least they have a court system that takes crime seriously. Does that mean the trade for the arms dealer is off?
Bye bye Brittney.