Jhawk

No sane person would ever want to participate in politics. Which is why we are where we are as a country. The insane run the USA. Like it or not trump has destroyed both parties and that is a good thing. Top republicans lost elections and resigned. Top dems are losing elections and influence in their party. If you like term limits then trump v. Clinton gave us a pared down version. When guys like chaffetz, Ryan, and others willfully leave government abd stalwarts are voted out it is a good thing. The trump phenomenon and the equal and opposite reaction from the dems is great for our government. It will be even better if both parties realize that neither is ever going to have enough power to completely change the path of the country and they start to come together to give and take for the greater interest. I have no delusion that give and take will happen but I am content that the traditional power brokers are losing their grip. This is a good thing regardless of what you think of trump.

Not even their coach wants to be there.

Phil has an Instagram post before the masters on his practice green. He was running 15.6-16 on them. A competition pool table is 17-17.5 o believe. Id love to put on something that fast and true.

They had so much to offer. I thought Kawhi was going to become a drama queen and mail it in this year. He’s the best all around player in the league. Kyrie and/or pick galore would have been worth it for him.

Take her to hedonism.

One of our attorneys went to Black Wolf and Whistling about 4 weeks before I was up there and he said he had the exact opposite experience as well. I think a large part of it was how good we had it at Erin Hills. We dropped $1500 for the cottage on the grounds and had an entire day of just practicing and hanging out on the course. Then 36 holes in one day, which is a lot when you're walking but we were all amped up. By the time I got to Whistling I was dead by the 12th hole. Also, because of the caddie situation on the first 2 rounds no caddie could compare at whistling. Then finally, with them kind of moving us around the course quickly we didn't get to take it in like we did Erin. Point still stands, if I go back up there I'd rather get a cheaper round at Erin and stay 2 nights there to get 3 rounds in. Also, I went back and looked and shot a 104 at whistling. Back on the course today in Tulsa. Going to play this round and then take a short game lesson tomorrow morning with the pro. I think if I really hone in on my short game to put balls within 5-8 feet from off the green then I'll drop at least 5 strokes off my game.

Tevin Mack is in the transfer portal. Maybe Shaka will bring him back for his swan song to really burn the team to the ground.

So you’re telling me shea Patterson said “we might have penalties at Miss so I want to transfer and not sit out” and it was granted???? I did not know that speculation of a penalty was a hardship reason. **just looked it up. The claim was that hugh freeze misled him. Then both Michigan and ole Miss agreed and the ncaa signed off on it. That was after penalties were already levied against ole miss. Not a chance in hell KU works with a school to say “yeah we committed penalties and he should be released” or “we misled him in his role” to let him play immediately. Especially since we haven’t even been sent a notice of being investigated. That’s hanging yourself.

I'm not sure if this is a joke or not. KU doesn't have FBI troubles. The school and the coaches were all left off the stand and the plaintiff roster. NCAA problems? We might have those but Silvio getting cleared in his appeal is certainly not bad news for the school's penalty prospects. I don't think one student athlete in the history of the NCAA has ever been granted a waiver because they went to a school that had some penalty levied against it (other than baylor). We don't even know if there will be any penalties. If we have them the most likely would be vacating games and not a postseason ban. Grimes is leaving because he isn't utilized how he wants to be. He doesn't have a personal crisis that will get him a waiver which is what the waiver system is set up for. He's going to sit out a year which is complete insanity given his stated goal of getting to the league ASAP. His best route to the NBA is to shed some weight, bust his ass to improve his quickness, shot, and rebounding, and then come back and have a breakout year at KU. Instead he is going to transfer to a lesser program with less exposure to play the game he wants to play and not necessarily the game the NBA wants to see. Then he is going to sit with no exposure for a year and practice against lesser competition during that time. Finally, he'll get on the court and probably be the best or second best player on the team but will never be on TV and will be playing against lesser competition each night. I said it earlier, this kid is really screwing up if he wants to get to the NBA. He doesn't seem capable of making rational, logical, decisions which hurts his stock almost as much as his play on the court.

Allegedly this was to drive up his price on his shoe deal. Another guy that believes his high school hype will get him a max contract. Rumor is that he sees himself as a ball dominant guard and wants to be somewhere that allows him to do that. That’s never happening on a Self team. Wish he would have come back but the truth is that his actions show that he isn’t even the slightest interested in team which means no team that is competing for a championship should want him. Good luck to the kid but I’ve got a feeling we’re going to see that mishandling your freshman season can really trash your future prospects. Dotson is our biggest recruiting win followed by Silvio getting cleared. It would be nice to have an improving grimes back but the truth is that he is more focused on personal accomplishments than the team. That doesn’t play well in big time basketball and certainly not at KU. Getting Dotson back probably means we’re top 10 preseason and we have 3 scholarships to give. Dotson agbaji garrett silvio doke is a damn formidable lineup. If we can stay healthy we have a senior Lightfoot and sophomore McCormack off the been for big man depth and then 2 freshmen off the bench for guard depth (a little scary). Hopefully we can pick up a grad transfer who can shoot and handle the ball and then Wilson from Michigan would be a great addition. We need shooting to keep the lane from getting clogged. We should be one of the better rebounding teams in the country. If we make 36% from 3 as a team we are championship level good.

Tough year for Ku recruiting. The fbi stuff, rumor of self to bulls, Silvio uncertainty with suspension, and then all of the departures from the program and guys testing the draft. it isn’t often you have 7 scholarships to fill where 4 of the guys could return and an 8th scholarship on hold because of a suspension appeal. Technically, I believe we have zero scholarships to offer until tomorrow. If we return the same team sans the Lawsons, Moore, and vick then we had a hell of an offseason and filled all but one spot with 2 guys still making a visit to Ku.

One guy has been doing this every year or three and we always say this is going to be more popular. It’s never caught on and it won’t. The guys who have done it in the past haven’t been able to qualify academically so they had no choice. The nba is about to kill OAD too so there are really only 3-4 more years of this even being feasible. It still isn’t going to effect enough people for it to even be a yearly occurrence by the time the nba is ready to take kids out of high school. The shoe companies are tossing a lot of money around but they aren’t stupid. They aren’t going to give guys million dollar contracts to play overseas. They’ll give them something but nothing big time. Then if the guy isn’t a 1 and done type player they will abandon them in Europe or Australia. If RJ Hampton doesn’t dominate down there next year he’s going to be stuck over there. That experiment would kill any potential for lift off. This will always make sense for a guy like Zion but will never make sense for a dude that isn’t already a sensation like Zion or AD. Jennings is the best example and he got $3.65M. 2M from UA and 1.65 from the team. He was basically a bust in Europe but still got drafted 10 overall. His 10 years in the league probably weren’t worth the investment for UA. I doubt shoe companies are willing to risk that much again unless the hype is Zion level.

The one guy on Phog who called this a few weeks ago said that RJ already had a deal in had and was just working to get a shoe deal. It sounds like Under Armor is giving him some money to go to NZ. Which is a great play for UA. Instead of getting caught up in the NCAA/FBI type crap, just give the kids money to turn pro in a different country and then bring them back. Probably less risk from a regulatory standpoint and from a public perception look too. Tomorrow is the biggest day of the year for KU with Dotson and Grimes needing to stay in or pull out. We get them back and we return a contending team. Without Dotson the season is over before it began.

Back from Wiscy.... Erin Hills for two rounds and Whistling for one round. Here's my breakdown: - Rained all day Friday so we bumped our round on friday afternoon to Saturday morning. Played 36 that day. - The grounds at Erin were unreal. We stayed in a cabin for $1500 a night and it was worth it. I think there were a total of 10-15 people staying on the grounds. - We ate like kings, were served like kings, and everyone there was amazing. They handled all bags, including laptop bags and luggage. - Drinking was expensive there. They really got us on getting drinks on the course and in the irish pub that is down from the clubhouse. - 2 caddies, 2 bags each. We tipped $100 per bag per round. Our caddies (Franklin and Alex) had been out there for almost a decade each. They work for the course and they are fucking good. By the six hole Alex was handing me clubs. He knew the lines and he knew my swing enough to do that. After he gave me the line that led to a 30 foot bomb going in on the first hole I trusted him. I would highly recommend asking for these two if you make the trip. We were recommended them by a friend and they did not disappoint. - The elevation changes in the fairways are dramatic. I don't think you could use a cart there if you wanted to. Walking really let us take it all in. - I'm a 19 index but early in the year the fescue isn't out of control. I lost 1 ball in each round. The back side of the first round I went par, par, par, par, birdie. With birdie chances on all 5 holes. I shot a 95 both rounds. - When it was time to go they packed up all of our stuff into our car and we checked out. Tabs were easy as they give you a card when you get there and you tab out at the end with a cc. Whistling was a different animal. At Erin they only let 150 golfers go through a day. Whistling is trying to make money. We found out that the caddies actually get a bonus based on how fast they get you through the round. Further, the caddies work for a service and not for the course. We had two guys here that had been at the course for 3 combined years. One guy didn't even want to help read puts. The fairway bunkers are designated wasteland unless there is a big even there. So of the 967 estimated bunkers there only about 67 of them are raked. They are 100% about pace of play and it showed, big time. We never had a chance to take the course in. I'd argue that if you removed that course from lake michigan I wouldn't pay more than $200 to play it. I will say that playing 36 the day before made me run out of energy around hole 12 for this last round. I think I shot a 99 but would have to go back and check. All in all, I don't think I'll play another Kholer owned course. Just too manufactured. I'd rather take it all in if I'm going to be paying over $250 a round and that just wasn't allowed on their course. Erin Hills might end up being my favorite course of all time based on the total package, but I've got about 40 years of golf left in me to find the next best course. For the entire weekend, with buying stuff in the shops, food/drink, and flight, I think I spent around $2500. Well worth it but next time I would drop Whistling ($450 when it was all said and done) and add another night and round at Erin.

Absolutely he was the problem, that's why I said he was delusional. But the real point was that if superstar players (real superstars) felt they could win in NY they would go to NY. Davis saying he would go to NY if he felt he could win there is what every single player in the league would say. That comment of his shouldn't be taken as "I want to go there and win as long as they enable me to be successful," it should be taken as "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole because they won't enable players to succeed, otherwise I would consider NY."

If he isn’t even sniffing on court activities then his season is done unless this series goes to six or seven. If GSW wins without him then his legacy is taking a hit. Even though it’s still a great legacy.

He isn’t even expected to be drafted. Staying in the draft would be incredibly dumb regardless of what he wants or sees himself as. That being said, I’m not sure if I even want him back unless he really commits to getting better. I don’t think he felt he had to put in the work because he was a top 10 recruit. Transferring isn’t an option because he isn’t going to sacrifice another year. If bill allows him back (we need depth) and he has an ounce of rationality in his body then he should be back. I’m not betting that he will but I wouldn’t doubt it.

Huge. Rumors are Dotson and grimes are coming back. Hanpton and jalen Wilson decision coming soon. Could go from zero to hero real quick.

Sitting in the clubhouse. Seeing the price of food and booze and this is a $2500 three round weekend. That’s with a buy one get one half off round at Erin. This place is awesome.

Supermax was put in place solely to get Lebron and CP3 paid. If others got paid for it that's fine too but it was to get CP3 his money and to let Lebron get compensated as he should since he is the #1 asset the league has. CP3 helped negotiate the CBA and his only prerogative was to make sure he personally could make the most amount of money for the longest amount of time. He didn't really have a conflict of interest, but all of his interests were taken care of first and foremost.

There is no doubt about any of this. Rings are rings. The asterisk is that Durant had to completely upset the balance of the league to get his and it will always be noted when talking about him and winning. For a guy who gets bent out of shape with the smallest amount of criticism, he didn't do himself any favors in the glory department. He'll be Bill Russell's age and will be complaining that he never got the respect he deserved because that is how he acts.

This is kind of an odd thought process. The Warriors won before him in the regular season and the post season. The warriors are 31-1 without durant (looked it up for us) and 6-0 without him in the playoffs this year. The warriors are 28-18 when durant plays and curry doesn't (just tossing this in here). I'd argue that the sample size showing they can win without him isn't just recreating magic in small spurts. They flat out have a better winning percentage both in the playoffs and the regular season when he doesn't play.

The problem is that if he could accept that he isn't the best option on even just 20% of the possessions then he would have beat GSW and OKC would probably have a ring. Neither he nor Westbrook accept that they might not be the best hand to have the ball in. That's why there was so much turmoil in the first place this year. Durant is acting like it is his team and some people on the roster (green) don't like that. His legacy really is at stake and he might do more for it by becoming a roll player in the finals than to try and win the finals by himself (or not play in it).

Iggy won an MVP too. No one is going to say he was the best player on the team. He went to the best team in the history of the league. They didn't need him to win 2 more championships. He just piled on. I'm not saying he isn't a great player and I'm not saying he didn't contribute. I'm saying that his 2 MVP's don't mean shit because someone from that team was going to win those anyway. Everyone else on the team just agreed to give him more usage. This was the year after Curry won UNANIMOUS MVP for the first time in the history of the league. Let's not act like it is or ever was Durant's team because he got a finals MVP. Durant wouldn't have even been in the position to get a finals MVP if he didn't run to the bay so he could get into the finals.

If KD doesn't come back and the warriors win the finals then he doesn't really have a legacy other than ring chasing while in his prime. Unless he goes to another team and carries them like Lebron did with cleveland for so many years. Sure we'll call him a champion but the fact will remain that he left a team at the cusp of beating the best regular season team of all time and went to the best regular season team of all time. He'll never escape that without winning big at a place like NYK and we all know that isn't going to happen during his career. I actually think the only way the warriors don't win is if they get KD back at less than 100%. At 70% he'll try to be himself and the ball will stop and he will be a slightly better melo because he isn't getting the same lift on his shot and can't move on D with a calf injury. You play him because he's KD but him doing too much while injured could sink the team.