Sports Bric-a-brac

Kevin Garnett has officially retired. I thought Garnett had one more year of player-coach left in him, guiding a young Wolves team toward the future, getting back together with his one time mentor, Coach Thibodeau. Uh, apparently not. I assume that Thibs wasn't eager for KG's tutelage, wasn't eager to have KG hanging around and being a distraction, wasn't eager to have another voice besides his own--why else would Garnett leave? I'm torn: Garnett has been done for a while now but I was impressed with his veteran leadership last year and though I wasn't a fan of Coach Mitchell last year I thought he and KG had a great rapport with the team and keeping them both around in some capacity would have been a good move for the franchise. But once the reins got handed to Thibs, Thibs' first move was redecorating. Thibs is a rugged taskmaster and a bloodthirsty tyrant and while he's indisputably a great coach, I still think this young team needs some tenderness as opposed to an iron hand. Okay, well, the iron hand is fully in command, and apparently KG wasn't welcomed back. Garnett was one of the best I ever saw, toiled for years for crappy teams in Minnesota, finally got his glory with the Celtics, but that brief period was over a long time ago. Garnett is the kind of personality that can do whatever he wants....except play one more year for the Wolves. 1st ballot Hall of Famer, no doubt.

Chris Bosh is apparently done in Miami (and likely the NBA). Bosh's blood clots have returned and it seems that the Miami Heat have no interest in trying to bring Bosh back to basketball. Bosh wants to play, even going so far as firing his agent, but if win-at-all-costs Pat Riley wants no part of him, then who would? Bosh was a great player who never really even peaked. 1st ballot Hall of Famer, in my opinion. Contractual obligation makes him unlikely to get a chance to play at all this year. But perhaps he comes back next summer and tries to find a suitor (but I don't like his chances to ever play again).

Miami Marlins SP Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident over the weekend. There are a lot of baseball players in the world and when a young passes away (not an uncommon thing), we get the typical round of shoots and shames and then we get back to business. But this one's different. Fernandez is one of the best young pitchers in the game: 1st round pick, Rookie of the Year, 2-time All Star, top five in Cy Young voting in his 1st year (and probably again in his 4th). The dude was a legit star and still ascending. Damn shame to see him go (and I don't look forward to the sordid details of his death, which are surely still on the way). Tough blow for the Marlins and another blow for South Florida sports.

Hillary debates Trump. Honestly I found this to be a real disappointment. Reminded me of that Saints-Giants game from last week: felt like it was gonna be a shootout, both teams up and down the field, lots of points on the board...instead a 16-13 snoozefest.  Yeah, that was the 1st debate. I watched because hey, man, say what you will about Trump, he's a showman, he's a wild card and seeing him and Hillary on the stage together sounded like it could be some fun. Instead of the shootout we got the predictable snoozefest: Trump had some highs and lows, Hillary really had neither but in the end they both did what they've been doing for the last year. Trump hammered a coupla points well but floundered around on the points beyond his grasp; Hillary's job was to not look like a crazy person and, well, she succeeded. No notable drama, no substance, no one got served, which bodes well for Hillary. I suspect the next round of polls will show a drop for Trump while Hillary holds position, maybe even gets a little bounce. (A modest plea: having a debate with any moderator other than Brian Lamb is like having a Super Bowl with college referees)

Sam Allardyce out as England's manager. Allardyce just took his 'dream job' about six weeks ago, win his 1st and only match, but has already been terminated after a newspaper sting operation purports to show him circumventing rules to manipulate player movement. Uhhh, I dunno, I don't see any crime here. Sure, he kinda looks like a boastful, obnoxious jackass but I certainly don't see any criminal activity and everything he does actually do is nothing more entrapment. A bunch of reporters claimed to be Asian businessmen interested in paying Allardyce to give a series of speeches for a shit ton of money. Happens all the time, what's the big deal? He talks to the reporters about how to get in on player movement by bribing agents to convince players and managers to make certain moves. Okay, unethical if he ever actually did anything. But not illegal and in this context just philosophical talk. There's no corresponding moves that indicate a pattern of illegal behavior and, again, this is all just entrapment, none of this actually happened, nor did Allardyce try to make anything happen. I don't know how libel laws work in the UK but if I were Allardyce I'd lawyer the fuck up and sue everyone I could. It'd probably take a few years but I suspect he'd get paid off in the long run. And since his career looks to be over, its not like he's got something better to do. Personally I'm rooting for him, sure he's a jackass but he got a raw deal.