In Defense Of Women's Basketball - Well, Most Of It - And Trump Changed His Mind

The Schloss-Blog is watching a lot of basketball - especially college basketball, and sees things that are good and some not so good.

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Don't get made at me, ladies, but watching the women's ACC Tournament left me disappointed. I watched women inexplicably try to play the way Michael Jordan and LeBron James play, and they can't. They just can't.

For instance, Florida State's star guard, Ta'Niya Latson, averaging 25.4 points per game this season, went up and the down the court out of control against North Carolina and looked like she was in over her head; looked like she was in junior high competing against pros.

This is one of the best players in the country and I'm struggling to see how she's leading the nation in scoring.

She doesn't shoot the ball; she throws it at the basket. Literally. She rushes to the basket, often 1-on-3, and throws up a God-awful shot without waiting for support. She and her teammates rushed shots when they should've been working the clock, holding for the last shot in any given quarter.

OK, go on, jump on me for being this critical. But watching this game unfold, I'm watching player after player make believe she's Michael Jordan.

And watching the coach let it happen; she didn't pull Latson (or anyone else) aside or take her out of the game to calm her down, to get her refocused. And it cost them the game.

Not that North Carolina was much better.

Much the same in the next game I watched, Kentucky versus Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament. Two highly ranked teams, nationally.

Kentucky had the only player I watched all day, Georgia Amoore, from Australia, who had court sense, could create her own shot, knew where everyone was around her, on both teams, and more often than not was able to generate a high-percentage shot for herself or one of her teammates.

She's 5-4; that's 5-feet, 4-inches. Far and away the best player I watched all day. Played the way all the ladies should - within herself, within her capabilities, within her game. Smart. Polished. Sharp.

I love women's basketball - covered hundreds upon hundreds of women's high school games as a sports writer for two different major newspaper chains. Lost 11-7 to a star player one time in an impromptu one-on-one contest. OK, actually, the score was deceptive - she kicked my butt. Some of the best coaches, though, are in the women's game.

But ladies, stop letting the game get ahead of you. Play within yourselves. I always loved the ladies' game because women play defense, box out, rebound and make the extra pass to hit the open 'man' and do all of that much, much more than 3-point-chucking, slam dunk-loving men do.

I'm watching the women's game trend away from that and I don't like it. Ladies, slow down. Help me keep my faith in your game.

***

In the time it took you to read that last segment, Donald Trump changed his mind about the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.

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OK, the men's game, by contrast, is the Michael Jordan derby, the race to see who can make moves that will impress MJ or LeBron, regardless of who you consider to be the GOAT.

They go crazy on every college and pro bench every time someone routinely makes a breakaway slam-dunk or an open 3.

And no, men's college varsity players, you are not the next LeBron or Michael, not even Magic or Larry.

This is what should earn a "going crazy" reaction - Larry Bird, in a 60-point performance, hits this ridiculous shot as the opposition Atlanta Hawks bench falls off the end.

Instead, guys, try taking a charge from LeBron. Try making Luka give up the ball. Try blocking out LeBron. Try making SGA take a tougher shot.

Try playing defense before the playoffs start.

The NBA game is ridiculous until the playoffs start. No defense, no boxing out, no nothing.

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By the way, unless your name is LeBron James, when you drive the lane in the NBA, you get tackled by a bunch of guys who otherwise can't play defense.

Just ask Jalen Brunson, clobbered by ... LeBron James.

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Donald Trump just changed his mind.

***.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Dawn Staley.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

***

Donald Trump just changed his mind again.

You Can DOGE This And You Can DOGE That...

The Schloss-Blog thinks that DOGE is doggin' it ... employing a bunch of consultants, accountants and guys who otherwise specialize in saying, "Fire 'em."

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It's all been part of a weird week in America, in Washington, D.C., (remember when "weird" bothered those guys?), with a lot of people who voted for Trump having buyers remorse and a lot of others wondering if they still had jobs.

Legal challenges abound to Trump's relentless slogging of executive orders, everything from the legality of some of the firings to who's gonna' run the national parks, the environment and what's left of the budget.

Keep in mind: while Trump is threatening tariffs to coerce Canada and Mexico to tighten up border security, it happens that the southern border has been quiet for quite a while - like since Biden's executive orders to limit immigration.

And a lot of DOGE's supposed budget cuts, in the form of cancelled contracts, were already in effect. That's right, of 2,300 or so cancellations, some 800 had already expired or the monies allotted for them had already been spent.

Nice going, Elon.

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Oh yeah, some 80 million Americans will be denied or suffer severe cuts in their healthcare if the Republican budget becomes law.

Trump said he'd never go after Medicare, but you know with President Musk calling the shots, that's next.

And then Social Security.

But Trump wants this, so there will be riots in the streets so he can declare a national emergency, call out troops and blame it on Antifa.

***

A proposed bill in Arizona would award $2,500 for each illegal immigrant reported and deported.

How rewarding.

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Meanwhile, if you've watched any Lakers games lately, you can't help but notice that every time Luka and LeBron miss a shot, every time they get a chance, they bark at the referees.

And every time they get a foul called on them too.

Tsk tsk.

***

If you're white and have a degree in journalism, might be a good time to apply for a job at MSNBC.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Diana Taurasi.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

DOGE Accounting and Hockey Fighting

The Schloss-Blog has noticed that DOGE's accounting has been off - by several billion dollars. And in hockey, if you fight, you risk losing. Which is why you see so much less of it in playoffs and championship international matches.

Plus, Trump's popularity is very unpopular.

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DOGE, the Department of Government Inefficiency, has been claiming that it has cut $8 billion out of the federal budget with the personnel moves and other cuts it has executed and recommended.

However, close examination of the claim, and its accounting, reveals it is more like $8 million. But this is most typical of Elon Musk, who, like Trump just makes things up.

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Watch the 4-Nations Face-Off?

The games were entertaining, played hard with emotion by all four teams (Canada, U.S., Switzerland and Finland).

Kudos to Canada for sticking it to the Trump-blessed U.S. team for the title, but the thing that stood out most was the fighting - or lack thereof.

Yeah, the first U.S.-Canada game featured three fights in 9 seconds to start the game, but the rematch, in the championship game, featured - none!

How come?

Well, no one wants to be lost to his team for a 5-minute major in a significant game like that. And make no mistake, it was significant - tickets at TD Gardens in Boston were going for between $2,000-$4,000.

It's that way in the NHL playoffs too - goons who fight regularly in the regular season refrain from it in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the same reason - no one wants to be lost to his team for 5 minutes.

And that's the problem - in hockey, you fight, it's 5 minutes. In baseball, basketball or football, you fight and it's an ejection and a likely suspension.

Five minutes. No wonder regular-season hockey sucks.

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Looking to buy a house?

Good luck. Home sales in the U.S. slumped again in January and you know why? Prices and especially high interest rates are keeping people out of the market, especially first-time buyers. Interest rates are as high as 7%.

Trump promised to get prices down, keep them down. How's that going?

Bought eggs lately?

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Trump's popularity, his approval rating, that is, is as low as prices are high.

At 47% in January, it has sagged to 44% in February as prices continue to soar (gas, groceries, housing) and his threatened tariffs prospectively seem to keep inflation running high.

Plus, the Fed is showing no signs of lowering interest rates while inflation runs rampant.

Now, with all the layoffs, expect unemployment to spike.

Saving money? The government is laying off people and cutting services everywhere, at the FAA, where recent air accidents have people nervous, and at national parks, where layoffs have caused the most-popular sites, like the Grand Canyon, to experience 2-hour lines at entry gates.

Wait till this summer, when America hits the road - and can't afford the gas or the wait time at the gates.

***

Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary show was a treat, especially the appearances by so many former guest hosts and original cast members.

But Adam Sandler's solo, celebrating so many ins and outs of the show, genuinely brought a tear.

Paul McCartney closed the show with an Abbey Road medley. Wish he'd done Hey Jude instead.

Paul Simon, singing with Sabrina Carpenter to open the show, was fabulous. And the Q&A with the stars in the audience, anchored by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, was a riot. They are both rumored to be in line to take over producing the show if and when 80-year-old Lorne Michaels retires.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Miley Cyrus.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Super Stupor, and Other Business News

The Schloss-Blog watched the Super Bowl and...

...wonders how the NFL allows a great rap performer like Kendrick Lamer to express his personal distaste for another artist through his halftime show, the NFL's biggest stage.

And if you're wondering how Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, feels about her crip-dance cameo appearance trolling Drake, her 'ex.' Well, he thought it was a "Super halftime show," or so he said on social media.

Or so he said.

Don't know about you, but I don't ever expect to see my wife crip-dancing on the reputation of an 'ex' of hers at the Super Bowl, let alone at a Super Bowl party. Maybe in private at a girls night out, but that's about it.

Nah.

Anyway, guys, how many of you expect to see your wives crip-dancing on the reputations of an 'ex?'

Yeah, that's what I thought.

***

Just thinking that I'm not expecting to see the NFL have Morgan Wallen as its Super Bowl halftime entertainer next year.

The pregame performers this year were all terrific though, as was Jon Batiste doing the National Anthem.

The ads - Harrison Ford for Jeep, the all-star lineup of female athletes doing "So, win" for Nike and the Stella Artois ad with David Beckham and Matt Damon all killed it.

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Switching gears now, according to Ilyce Glink, one of the best sources for business news I know of ...

"Since the pandemic, inflation has hit hard. The typical new car costs more than $40,000. Housing has had an unrelenting upward trajectory and is extremely expensive for renters and home buyers. Mortgage rates are arond 7%, which means a home buyer’s dollar doesn’t stretch nearly as far. The level of consumer debt is back to an all-time high. Buyers at all ends of the home-buying spectrum (except the super-rich?) are having trouble finding homes they can afford that meet their needs."

In other words, strap in - inflation isn't letting go.

Anytime soon.

***

Why is it that every time Duke basketball is on TV, it's a home game?

And they kick ass.

How about a Duke road game, please, where the other team has a chance.

***

The penny is dead. Long live the penny.

That and all the personnel cuts Elon Musk is making will add up to about - what? - one-tenth of 1% of the federal budget.

Great work, President Musk, great work.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Grinnelville 11.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Overlap, Not Overtime, Is A Killer

The Schloss-Blog, like Mad Dog Russo, is mad about ...

...games on TV that start on time but you can't see 'em.

Don't you hate it when you tune in to ESPN to watch a certain basketball game or to CBS to watch a big golf tournament, and the message scrolling across the bottom of the screen, while you're looking at a basketball game in which you have no interest, says, "the game you tuned in to watch is airing on ESPN News, the ESPN App or ESPN.com."

WTF is ESPN News on my cable or satellile or streaming service directory?

Why don't these networks and leagues appropriate the proper amount of time for these games so they don't overlap? The Schloss-Blog is not happy that by the time the game I want to watch comes on the score is already 21-18 and the first half is half over.

And I could care less about the game they forced me to watch before they switched over.

By the way - you ever see this happen to an NFL game? If a college basketball game overlaps into an NFL game, you know it's the college basketball game that will be switched to ESPN News while the NFL game gets underway on the principle network.

The NFL wouldn't tolerate such treatment from any network and would be on the phone to network management, probably to the president, if that happened. These NFL guys are bastards to work with; trust me, I've had to work with them on a book project on which they gave me a hard time about permission to use a photo of theirs.

I said "F_ck you," literally, to the obnoxious NFL rep I was talking to and used it anyway and now, more than 30 years later, they never did come back at me, but they were effing nasty.

Thank goodness I didn't overlap a telecast of theirs. Or maybe I would've liked to. So the score though, after all these years, is still Schloss-Blog 1, NFL 0.

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Can't wait to go on vacation at "The Riviera of the Middle East." I hear the tunnel transportation is top notch, aside from the dead bodies on the tracks.

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After today's Super Bowl, it still persists and you saw some of it today as well - defensive players miss tackles, or they just can't tackle.

Know why?

They try to tackle with their heads down and y'know what happens when you try to tackle with your head down?

If you can't see it, you can't hit it.

I will always - ALWAYS - remember the late, great Buffalo Grove High Football Coach, Grant Blaney, telling me after a big state playoff game that I covered, that he reminded his defensive coaches to remind their defensive players to tackle with their heads up in a game against a school with a stud running back.

And it worked. BG shut him down after he burned them on an opening drive and Blaney's team moved on to the next round of the playoffs.

Can't see it? Can't hit it. NFL players have to learn that. 

Quickly. Can't believe defensive coaches still tolerate it.

***

Good luck, Ohio State football.

We'll see if your team is as good next year without masterminds Chip Kelly and Jim Knowles.

The latter defensive coordinator moved on to rival Penn State and the former offensive coordinator has move on to the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders.

As Tony Kornheiser would say on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, "Happy Trails."

***

Jimmy Butler, by all accounts, wanted to end up in Phoenix.

He didn't.

Kevin Durant didn't want to go to Golden State.

He didn't.

Bottom line: Butler got the two-year extension he wanted at Golden State, which was the one he wanted to get in Phoenix.

Kevin Durant, meanwhile, is on a team with two other superstars but the team - the Suns - sucks. They're a team with a dynamic trio as good as anybody else's "BigThree." even the Lakers.

What's wrong with the Suns? All that talent. Why aren't they winning? Maybe it's the third coach in three years.

No, definitely, it is.

***

If you think Chicago sports is hurting (Cubs, Sox, Blackhawks, Bulls, Bears), you should move to Phoenix (Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Suns, Coyotes ... no, wait, they moved to Salt Lake without a whisper and no one cared enough to build them a new stadium; nobody wanted to keep them around). 

If you split your time betwen Chicago and Phoenix, like so many snowbirds (like me) do, it's difficult to find a winner to get behind (OK, Arizona State football, for now, that is).

Yet, hope springs eternal. "Pitchers and catchers report."

Oh boy.

***

Put Eli Manning in the Hall of Fame, please. He deserved first-ballot approval. He'll get in eventually. Just not this time.

Just ask Tom Brady about him.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Grinnellville 11.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

  

Josh Allen, Bears' Offensive Coordinators, Lots In Common (And A Stampede in India)

The Schloss-Blog has noticed that Josh Allen and Bears Offensive Coordinators have some things in common, and they're not pretty.

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More on Allen and the Bears in a moment, meanwhile, in India, there was a disastrous mob stampede at a religious ceremony that took at least 30 lives and injured many more people.

Yes, a rush of people attending the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in northern India wound up killing that many people and injuring so many more. This festival often involves as many as 100 million, so perhaps it's a minor miracle that only 30 were killed.

But it immediately stirred memories of the killed and injured at a Who concert in Cincinnati, a football game in Madison, Wisconsin, and a soccer game in Britain that also get people to act irrationally and endanger themselves and others unnecesssarily.

The crush to get into a general-admission, open-seating Who concert in Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum killed 11 people in 1979 as people rushed for upfront seats.

Also, no one was killed but 79 were injured, 6 critically, following a postgame rush to the field at a University of Wisconsin football game in 1993, when the Badgers upset Michigan. Fans were crsushed against fences at the field level designed to keep them out.

And the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in 1989 killed 97 and hospitalized 162 at a British soccer game, when fans wanting to get in, without tickets, rushed the gates and overwhelmed security.

Emotions, at a soccer game, a concert, a football upset win and a religious ceremony, get the best of us and cause us to do things that put others and ourselves at risk.

Why?

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It's called DeepSeek.

And it has U.S. markets and investors turned inside out. Tech stocks slipped 9.2% last Monday when news that the Chinese-born AI application was a less-expensive alternative to all the fancy U.S.-based  applications that were humming along so handsomely.

Oh, but the markets are so fickle. All China has to do is sneeze and stocks suffer a near-wipeout daily tumble.

They all came back in part during the week.

But wait, China is developing it's next great, displacing app - a snack that can read your astrological forecast.

It's called - a fortune cookie.

***

Trump's "inflation" tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China are here.

Hold onto your wallets.

As if that's not bad enough for the abnormal president, he's blaming DEI and Democrats for the disastrous plane-helicopter crash in D.C.

Subsequently, the Eagles and Chiefs have already turned down invitations to the White House. The NFL says it will send Aaron Rodgers instead. Just Aaron Rodgers, not the Jets.

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OK, back to the news we started with - what do Josh Allen and Bears offensive coordinators have in common?

Four, that's what.

Allen is 0-4 against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the playoffs. The Bears, meanwhile, had four offensive coordinators through the rookie year of  quarterback Caleb Williams through this past season.

Five if you count the hiring of Declan Doyle for new head coach Ben Johnson. But kinda' think he's gonna' design and call all the offensive plays anyway.

Now then, about the offensive line, Ben...

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, John Calipari (nice win at Kentucky).

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show (and get over to shop.radiofreephoenix.com and buy a T-shirt, mug or poster - guys, buy the black T-shirt with the white lettering and wear it out to a bar on a Friday night and I promise you that an interesting woman will start up a conversation with you).

 

OMG! Bannon, Musk and Hot Hosts on ESPN

The Schloss-Blog wants to know ... where does ESPN find all those hottie blonde anchors on Sports Center?

And most of them dress like they're going to or coming from a hot night out at New York's finest clubs. I mean, a lot of them don't dress appropirately for national TV news (Run away with me, Nicole Briscoe). Seriously, they almost look a little too "red carpet" (Kelsey Riggs, I love you). I mean, I think about changing the channel when one of them is anchoring (You and me, Shae Cornette, forever). 

Just kidding.

Or am I?

***

On a lighter note, the inauguration of the 47th president has to be moved indoors due to the extreme cold weather in D.C.

Shucks, that cancels any chance of a record-breaking crowd, but you know '47' will say it was anyway.

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OK, OK, Elle Duncan - I know you're not blonde but you make my "hot Sports Center anchors" list anyway, OK. 

And don't call again to complain.

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Have heard - Steve Bannon is out to stop Elon Musk, who he calls "truly evil."

Really, never though I'd see the day Bannon would start tossing around generous compoliments like that.

***

Been watching TGL - The Golf League? It's the Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy-inspired indoor game of teams playing on a high-tech wonder of a wild golf course in a studio arena transformed into the most insane simulated golf course ever.

So far ... meh.

While the technology is incredibly impressive and the players among the world's best, I'll be more into it when Tiger and Rory make it available to the masses at an affordable "greens fee."

That means the masses, as in 'me.' Hey Tiger, Rory, get some of those built around the country. Please.

I would love, during winter in Chicagoland, to go to Tigerland (OK, Rory/Tigerland) and hit a few balls, play a 'round of golf' and have a few cold ones with my buds.

Of course, it doesn't have a hottie cart girl driving around with snacks and cold ones, it doesn't have real water traps (although it does have sand, real sand) and it doesn't have other bad golfers like yourself hitting into you, no, literally, into you.

But really, the only thing missing is ... Elle Duncan.

***

Inflation isn't the only thing down in Phoenix lately (1.6% the last 12 months). Check out the murder rate, down 28% in 2024, year over year.

Donald Trump had us believe crime is rampant in America, but the only thing rampant is his wild tendency to lie obsessively.

***

America's soon-to-be Secretary of Death, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tried to have vaccinations halted for COVID during 2021, when we needed it most.

He's going to try to kill us America, or die trying.

***

I always get stoppers for my drinks at Starbucks, to keep them from splashing inadvertently. 

Ask for stoppers at a Starbucks in New York though and guess what? They ain't got none.

It's a New York thing, my wife tells me.

So is a $9-and-up 'congestion' fee for driving your car into Manhattan south of 60th Street. For New Yorkers, if they have to or want to come into the city, they'll pay the various fees and not even blink, even if it costs them as much as $2,000 a year.

A New York thing? It's called money.

***

Notre Dame versus Ohio State on Monday night.

I despise both.

But Ohio State will win, and for my Cleveland-native wife, they better.

***

Speed limit in Chicago is going to be reduced from 30 to 25 on city streets.

They must have heard I was back in town this week.

However, the move got blocked in the Ciy Council for the time being.

I'll take as many MPH as I can get.

***

Yes, the Sports Center anchors are professionals, broadcasdt predigrees with poise, sophistication and fluidity on air.

Who often dress like it's girls night out at the NY clubs, or maybe a bachelor-ette night out. I'm sorry, but they do.

***

Good night Mrs. Calabash. Heres' to you, Jordan Grinnell.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.