Hulk Hogan Reinstated in WWE Hall Fame, And Their Is Plenty Backlash

Looks like Hulk Hogan in back in the good graces of the WWE, and though he hasn't signed a contract, they've slowly started to recognize him again.  Backstage at their last PPV, Backlash, he gave an apology backstage, and he was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame.  The drama started when audio was released of Hogan racist things.  The video was released in 2015, and the sex tape that it was part of was made in 2006.  Now what Hogan said was bad, but this was a private conversation.  Who knows the things that people say in private.  I can understand the firing of Hogan, but I think they took it too far.  There was no need to act as if the biggest star you ever had never existed.  There was no need to remove him from their Hall of Fame.  There are plenty people in there who have said, and done worse.  But we are in the era of social justice, and I sometimes think of this as the social justice era of the WWE. Now I don't watch the current wrestling product constantly, but I check on it from time to time, and the change within the company is pretty obvious.  The women's revolution is perhaps the biggest part of the change.  Women's wrestlers have been treated almost as the equals of their male counterparts, despite the fact that they aren't are strong, athletic, menacing, and they also don't draw as well.    Black people are placed very highly on the SJW pedestal, and by Hogan saying what he said, you knew the reaction was going to be swift.  The Ultimate Warrior said much worse things about gay people, and said them in public, and when asked about them, he defended what he said.  While he faced backlash it was nowhere near what Hogan faced.  Warrior was out of the fold with the WWE for a long time, but his anti gay rhetoric wasn't the reason.  That was about a personal beef between him and Vince McMahon.  

Now keep in mind that Hogan hasn't resigned with the WWE, and he hasn't made any on screen return to the company.  He simply gave an apology backstage, and was reinstated into the Hall of Fame.  These were baby steps. Yet that has offended quite a few people that don't think that he has done enough to show he has changed.  Keep in mind that this is the biggest star in WWE, and probably wrestling history, and it took 3 years for them to reinstate him into their Hall of Fame, and almost as long for them to become comfortable acknowledging him. This is all for something he said in private 12 years ago. If anything this should show how much the company is willing to bend over backwards to not offend black people.  There are black celebrities that routinely say worse things about white people and face very little backlash.  Yet some people act as if the punishment he received was enough.  How far do they want WWE to go?  

NBA Finals Preview

It's the same old song.  Cleveland vs Golden State for the fourth consecutive season, and while it does get tired seeing the same teams in the Finals year after year, these team have earned it, but this isn't two evenly matched teams.  Don't let the Warriors' 58-24 regular season record fool you, they had injury problems during the season.  Kevin Durant missed 14 games, Draymond Green missed 12, Klay Thompson missed 9, and worst of all, Steph Curry missed 31. In the postseason they had two easy wins in 5 games series during the first two rounds, before being pushed to 7 by Houston.  While Chris Paul was injured late in Houston's game 5 win, Golden State was the better team, as they outscored the Rockets by 63 points over the 7 game series.  They look really good going into the Finals.  The same can't be the said for Cleveland who are not the same team without Kyrie Irving.  During the previous 3 seasons Cleveland has been able to turn on the switch in the playoffs, and dominate the weak Eastern Conference, but that wasn't the case this year.  In the first round they won a 7 game series over Indiana in which they got outscored by 40 points.  While they looked impressive in sweeping Toronto in the second round, they had another tough 7 game series in the Conference Finals with an undermanned Boston team.  Lebron has carried more of the slack, without the type of second option he had when Kyrie was on the team.  They haven't shown that same ability to dominate the Eastern Conference competition, so what are they going to do against one of the most talented teams of all time.  It's hard to match up with Golden State.  They have, on their team, two of the top 5 players in the league in Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.  Durant, Curry, and Thompson give them 3 of the best 3 point shooters in the league, and Draymond Green is a really good all around player.

Prediction
I can't see Cleveland winning this one.  They wouldn't even have been able to match up with Houston if  Chris Paul were healthy.   Lebron can only do so much, and he barely got them past a weaker Boston team.  Cleveland's defense has been suspect throughout the season, but they got away with it as Boston's went cold from outside in game 7.  That isn't going to happen with Golden State, because the Warriors have too many weapons.  My prediction is Warriors in 5 games.  I think they could get the sweep, but since they haven't swept anyone in this year's playoffs, 5 games is a safer prediction.  As for Finals MVP, I think Kevin Durant will win it for the second consecutive year.  He was hot in the conference finals against Houston, though I wouldn't be surprised if Steph wins it.

Lamar Jackson

I watched some of the first round of the NFL draft, and a lot of attention was focused on Lamar Jackson. He's a black quarterback, who won a Heisman and put up huge stats in college, but there have been questions regarding his accuracy.  Some SJW football fans have been championing his cause.   This dynamic isn't new when it comes to black quarterbacks.  Rush Limbaugh caused controversy when he said that Donovan McNabb was overrated.  He stated that there was social concern, and the media was in a rush to see black quarterbacks do well.  Whether or not McNabb was overrated, it was true that the media was in a rush to see a successful black quarterback.  That same dynamic exist now.  When a white person like Bill Polian says that he thinks that Jackson should play wide receiver, people lose their minds.  Would they have done that if he were white?  Many believe no, but the most similar white quarterback I can think of to him, Tim Tebow, had to go through the same thing.

How good is Jackson as a quarterback.  Sure he put up huge numbers in college, but that's different from the NFL.  Jackson has gotten some comparisons to Deshaun Watson, another black quarterback who was having a big rookie season before he got injured, but Watson stepped up in two national championship games against Alabama.  Watson played big in big games.  While Jackson has still been able to run the ball against top competition, his passing numbers have been hurt.  During his Heisman year he was great against Florida State, but his biggest test was against Clemson.  He was 27 for 44, for 295 yards, with 1 touchdown, and 1 interception.  Solid numbers, but not special.  In the bowl against LSU, he was even worse going 10 for 27 for 153 yards.  His junior season had similar results.  He was dazzling against lesser opponents, but struggled against top notch teams.  In the TaxSlayer Bowl, against Mississippi State he threw 4 interceptions, and was just 13 for 31.  At the NFL combine he showed a strong arm, but questionable accuracy.

In the early 2000s there was talks about the mobile quarterback being the quarterback of the future.  The pocket passer was supposedly going out of style.  Most of those mobile quarterbacks were black, so a lot of it had to do with race.  In affect many were saying that black quarterbacks were going to revolutionize the game.  It's 2018, and that hasn't happened yet.  The most dominant quarterbacks are those than can destroy a team from the pocket.  While running quarterbacks do give you extra rushing yards, they also get sacked more, which brings more inconsistency to an offense.  For Lamar to succeed he's going to have to dominate with this arm. I just don't see him doing that for the long term.  I could be wrong.

Officer Who Shot Alton Sterling Fired: Let's Look Back

Another video was made public regarding the Alton Sterling situation, and the officer who shot him, Blane Salamoni, was fired.  The shooting was justified, and the officers were right acquitted.

Let's go over the situation here.  Police were called, not because Sterling was selling CDs, but because they got a call about him waving a gun and threatening to shoot someone.  It turns out that the person he was threatening to shoot was a homeless man.  The new video shows officer Howie Lake II talking to Sterling by a car, as Salamoni is walking up.  The footage is shown from Salamoni's body cam.  Salamoni puts his hand on the back of Sterling's neck in an aggressive manner, and then as Sterling wasn't following orders he put a gun to the back of his head and threatened to shoot him if he didn't put his hands on the car, and then when they got him to do that, Salamoni told him not to move of he was going to shoot him.  It is important to note that the officers were dealing with a man that had a gun on him, and while they couldn't see the gun at that time, they got a call about him showing the gun, so it was very important for him to get his hands on the vehicle, and not to move so that he didn't pose a threat.  Sterling was also clearly resisting arrest.

Going back to videos that was already release in 2016.  One video shows him in a struggle with police, and Sterling's right hand is making a movement.  To me it seems that he is reaching for the gun.  Some other people may see it differently, but the gun was pulled from his right pocket after he was shot, and his right arm was moving in that direction right before they shot him.  Some people were using the fact that the gun was in his pocket to further incriminate the police officers, and make the situation seems less threatening for them, but the fact is you can shoot a gun while it's in your pocket.  The shooting of Sterling was completely justified.  Despite the fact that Salamoni threatened to shoot Sterling in the head early on, he wasn't very eager to shoot him.  The officers tried several times to defuse the situation.  They tased him, and held him down on the ground trying to arrest him.  So even after Salamoni threatened to shoot him if he didn't put his hands on the car, Sterling still resisted arrest, and it took for him to actually reach for a gun, for Salamoni to pull the trigger.  So all of that talk about shooting him if he didn't put his hand on the car, or if he moved was tough talk, it's not an indication of how badly he wanted to shoot Sterling.  Sterling also had numerous drugs in his system, as exposed in his autopsy.  Who knows what role that played in Sterling behavior.

So Alton Sterling was resisting arrest, and most likely reaching for his gun. Yet somehow according the BLM movement, he was the good guy in that situation.  Firing Salamoni is like some kind of a compromise.  What he did isn't something he should have been fired for, and he wouldn't have been fired it he did that to a white man under similar circumstances.

How Much Was This All-Star Game An Improvement

The 2017 NBA All Star Game was a joke.  It was like the Pro Bowl, except because Football is much more dangerous, at least they have a good excuse for not trying.  So the NBA decided to liven things up by going away from East, and West teams, and having the top two vote getters pick their teams, playground style.  What we got yesterday was an improvement over last year, but by how much.  Last year both teams shot well over 50%, with the West shooting 58.7%, and the East shooting 56.9%, but the true indicator for just how little defense was played was in how the teams shot from two point distance.  The West shot 63 for 80, which was 78.75%, and the East was 56 for 78, or 71.79%.  In this year's game two point field percentages were down, but not by that much.  Team Stephen shot 64% from 2, while Team Lebron shot 69%.  What I saw was two team jacking up threes.  Despite the fact that this year's game had fewer shots in total, the teams combined for 1 more 3 point attempt than last year.  I get the logic.  Three points is more than two, and the league is becoming more dominated by the 3 point shot.  From an entertainment standpoint though, I would rather watch spectacular dunks, than players hitting uncontested 3 point shots.  If the teams shot well from 3 point range it would've still been better, but neither team shot that good from beyond the arc, so there were a lot of missed three point shots.  There was more effort on defense, but I think that there is too much credit being given for the defense in yesterday's game, because it still wasn't every good.  The NBA All Star Game is still an exhibition game, and we are in an era where players are more concerned about injuries, and more concerned are conserving themselves for the stretch run.  For those reasons the game is not being played with the competitiveness that it was in the past.  While the new format bought some new energy to the game, how long will that last? 

Shithole Countries

There is a lot controversy surrounding Donald Trump's supposed comments about shithole countries.  Many believe that it backs up their feelings that Trump is racist.  Are their shithole countries?  If you judge by how countries compare to each other then there are obviously shithole countries.  There are countries that are worse than average in terms of income, life expectancy, technology, crime etc.  These types of countries exist.  There are plenty people complain about the United States.  Colin Kaepernick has gotten a lot of support for protesting the "oppression" of non whites in the United States.  Well if people of color are being oppressed here, then how do you describe what is going on in Haiti.  I looked for info in the per capita income in Haiti, and in 2014 it was $846 USD.  If someone here made that much every two months, they would considered poor.  It's a country filled with dirt roads, and a crime level well above the world average.  If Haiti isn't a shithole, then what countries outside of central Africa are shitholes?  The life expectancy in Haiti is 63 years old, while most of the developed world has life expectancy's that range from the late 70's to early 80's. 

Let's get to Africa.  What about some of the countries there.  Most of the poorest countries in the world are in Africa.  Are those countries shitholes? Trump is in a different position, because part of his job is International Affairs.  Considering that, he should be more careful with what he says, but that is part of the charm of Trump, as well as one of his weaknesses.  He doesn't have the filter that most other politicians have.  He says how he feels many times in which it offends other people.  The people criticizing him aren't making that argument though.  That aren't saying that what he said was true,  and he should have just chosen his words better.  It's like people are afraid to even admit that there are shithole countries.  If the inner cities in this country are shitholes then what is going on in most Africa, and Haiti is much worse. 

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/25-poorest-countries-in-the-world/ss-BBFYCst#image=23







http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview

Michael Jordan vs Lebron James

Who is the greatest basketball player of all time?  Well, based on consensus it should be Michael Jordan.  Lebron has gained some more supporters in the Jordan/Lebron debate since he called Donald Trump a bum.  Recently Lebron played his 1072nd career regular season game, which is the same number that Michael Jordan played.  ESPN was treating it like an apples vs apples comparison, and so has plenty of people on twitter.  The problem is, it isn't.  Lebron came into the league out of high school, and Jordan played two seasons with the Wizards, which he was 38-40 years old.  Lebron James is closing in on his 33rd birthday, and is either in his physical prime, or pretty close to it.  That makes the comparison, which still is in Jordan's favor statistically, less fair.  Given the different circumstances of their career, I decided to try and make some fair comparisons.  Looking at them at similar stages in their life.  Now what if we started with Lebron's 4th season, and make comparisons, which wouldn't count those two seasons Jordan played with the Wizards.  Lebron turned 22 years old a couple months into this 4th season, while Jordan turned 22 about 3 and half months into his rookie year, so the age comparison is fair.  What isn't fair is that Jordan was a rookie, while Lebron had 3 seasons of NBA experience.

       
1st comparison looks at Lebron from his 4th season until now, and compares it to Jordan during his first 11 seasons.  The ages they were are close enough. PER is Player Efficiency Rating, and True Shooting % factors in field goals, and free throws, and gives the extra point for 3 point shots.

Regular Season

	PER	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TS%
Lebron	28.8	27.3	7.4	7.2	1.6	0.8	.598
Jordan	29.6	32.0	6.4	5.7	2.6	1.0	.586

Playoffs

	PER	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TS%
Lebron	28.2	28.3	8.9	6.9	1.8	1.0	.575
Jordan	28.9	33.9	6.4	6.2	2.3	0.9	.577

The slight edge in PER goes to Jordan.  You have to give Jordan credit for being such an efficient scorer despite being a high volume shooter.  The rest of the comparison goes as someone should expect.  Jordan averaged a good deal more points, with Lebron having the edges in rebounds, and assists, while Jordan averaged more steals.  There are still a couple of issues here.  Jordan's teams played a slightly faster pace, while there's a slight difference in minutes per game.  So I decided to depend on basketball reference, and their PER 100 possession statistics.

Per 100 possessions

Regular Season

	Pts	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO
Lebron	37.6	10.2	9.9	2.2	1.1	4.7
Jordan	41.6	8.3	7.4	3.4	1.3	3.8

Playoffs

	Pts	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO
Lebron	36.6	11.5	9.0	2.4	1.3	4.5
Jordan	43.4	8.2	7.9	2.9	1.2	4.2

The comparison is similar to the per game statistics.  While Lebron was great all around, Jordan was the better scorer, and turned the ball over less.  Turnovers are something the goes along with high assist numbers.   

Now what about the fact that Lebron already had 3 season of experience by the time he got to his fourth season?  What about the wear and tear factor of Lebron's games played (though it hasn't had much effect on him)? Lebron by his second season was already and  grown man, and well adapted to the game.  His one season of NBA experience probably meant as much, and maybe more than all of Jordan 3 seasons of college experience.  So I wanted to look at Lebron from his 2nd season until now, and compare it to Jordan's career with the Bulls.  I won't go the the tables like I did previously.  In terms of PER Jordan has the edge at 29.1 to Lebron's 28.4.  He also get's the edge in the postseason with a PER of 28.6 to 27.9 for Lebron.

Now other parts of the comparisons between them are about their team accomplishments, and are usually unfair.  Jordan fans point to his 6-0 record in the Finals, while Lebron fans point to how Lebron has beaten, and played better teams in the Finals.  Both are team accomplishments.  If you want to argue about who's teams were better (Jordan's, just my opinion), then you can bring up those arguments.  It's not Michael's fault that he never played a team as good as the last 3 Golden State teams in the NBA Finals.  During the late 90s, it was Jordan's Bulls that dominated like Golden State has recently.  Should that be held against Jordan that his team was the juggernaut? Lebron has gotten to 8 NBA Finals, but the East has been soft during most of those seasons.  Overall Michael's teams faced better competition on their way to the Finals, while Lebron's faced better competition in the Finals.  Lebron's teams lost 3 of their 5 NBA Finals, before they even met Golden State, and their competition in those series' was similar to what Jordan and Bulls faced in the Finals.  It's just that the Bulls won all of their Finals so their opponents appear weaker, because they didn't win the title.  Also San Antonio 2014 domination of Miami, helps the reputation of the 2013 team.  In terms of individual numbers the edge goes Jordan.  Lebron is pretty close though.