The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Podcast: I Feel Snitty Episode 166: Vax Up and Dribble! Premiere Date: 10/28/21 Length: 6:56 (1,210 words) Link:  https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/vax-up-and-dribble/ Transcript:  Welcome to I Feel Snitty, episode 166, entitled, “Vax Up and Dribble.” I’m your host, Craig Rozniecki. Yeah, I know it’s been a while. I’ve been busy working on books – one in particular; trying to raise a 3-year-old; working out more; and finding some relaxation time by watching football. I honestly wasn’t 100% certain on when I’d start writing and airing these things again, but two stories recently caught my attention and I felt the need to comment on them - the first of which I’ll be addressing in this episode. So, COVID is still a thing. We’ve now eclipsed three-quarters of a million deaths in this country due to it. That’s more than died here during the 1918 Spanish flu and the AIDS epidemic. Vaccination numbers are increasing, but it’s been more gradual than a turtle sprinting up a non-functio...

The latest episode of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled, "Vax Up and Dribble!" is now available! Here's a brief description of it:  What do NBA stars LeBron James, Bradley Beal, and Kyrie Irving all have in common? Tune into this episode to find out. I'll give you a hint: rhymes with "HOVID." The show can be heard here: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/vax-up-and-dribble/

I've been trending this way for a while, but it's now official: I'm anti-foul out in basketball. After pondering about it some more, I think it may be the stupidest rule in all of sports, especially if a game goes to overtime. In what other sport does a player get kicked out for committing five or six potentially minor infractions? In what sport do fans pay good money to watch the officials kick out a star player over watching said star player? If the goal of a season is to discover which team is the best, how is it then logical to kick out the best players because they lightly tapped an opponent on the wrist 5 or 6 times during the course of a game? Can you imagine if New England Patriots MVP Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady got kicked out of a playoff game because he was responsible for 5 or 6 false start and/or delay of game penalties? Ridiculous, right? That's how stupid the foul-out rule is in basketball. Fouls aren't objective. While referees may b...

To say the NBA off-season has been crazy would be like saying politicians sometimes exaggerate, as it'd be quite the understatement. With the Golden State Warriors having won the title two of the past three years, quite possibly being one technical foul away from three straight, the rest of the league is attempting to play catch-up. Heading into the coming season, and deservedly so, the Warriors will again be favored to reign supreme at season's end, but four teams (in particular) are certainly doing everything in their power to alter that fate: Boston, Cleveland, Houston, and Oklahoma City. Let's now run down these four teams' off-season acquisitions, how they look going into the 2017-2018 season, and how they stack up against the league-champion Golden State Warriors. Boston Celtics Off-season acquisitions: Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Marcus Morris Starting Lineup: PG Kyrie Irving, SG Jaylen Brown, SF Gordon Hayward, PF Marcus Morris, and C Al Horford Pro...

While I think the NBA Finals will feature the two best teams bar none, in the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I'm hoping the series goes 7 games and is tightly contested throughout, I'm personally getting bored with these two teams' dominance and sincerely hope other teams start competing more in the coming years, because this is just becoming too predictable to my liking.  Sure, the New England Patriots have sat or near the top of the NFL for a number of years, but in that same time-frame, the following other teams have won Super Bowls: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Denver, NY Giants, Green Bay, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Seattle. In baseball, the Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs have won the World Series in recent years. The Nashville Predators just made it to their first Stanley Cup Finals. In the NBA, though, we're about to witness the third consecutive finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. While I actually like wat...

The NBA season is finally over, so I thought I'd provide some closing thoughts: - While NBA analyst Charles Barkley is entertaining at times, the guy comes across as batsh*t crazy at others (or perhaps it's this batsh*t craziness which makes him entertaining). The man can't seem to given an ounce of respect for the Golden State Warriors, even though the team won the championship a year ago and had the best record in league history this season. The team may be drastically different to teams he played for a couple decades ago, but give credit where credit is due. Not only has he made a habit of bashing the Warriors, he hasn't been coy about bashing LeBron James. Even after James' incredible close to the finals, resulting in his third championship ring, Barkley decided it was again time to say the finals MVP still doesn't rank in his top 5 of all time. The guy isn't receiving letters from AARP just yet. He has three championships to his credit, not to mention...

Throughout Golden State's record-breaking season this year, former NBA players have continually attempted to minimize the team's accomplishments. Scottie Pippen suggested his Chicago Bulls teams of the past would sweep the Warriors in a best-of-7 series. Charles Barkley has refused to jump on the Warriors bandwagon, even after the team won the title a year ago. Now it's Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton's turn, as he recently said the following about 2-time MVP Stephen Curry: "Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were also worthy of the distinction (unanimous MVP vote) that the Curry vote was about era. I think all of those guys were unanimous decisions, too. It just happened in an era that went his way. I commend him and what he's accomplished. But you gotta think about who was voting for MJ, Kareem, in their time, why they wouldn't have given all their votes to those guys. ... If you look at LeBron, what he does for...

As most people know, Indiana and basketball go together like Jared Fogle and Bill Cosby. Texas Senator Ted Cruz tried winning over residents of the Hoosier state by recreating a scene from the classic film by the same name ( Hoosiers ), but failed miserably. During his speech, Cruz said, "You know, the amazing thing is that basketball ring here in Indiana, it's the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in the country." That's right, Ted Cruz referred to a basketball hoop as a basketball ring. Going by that line of thinking, the Texas senator once gave his wife a wedding hoop. Given his obvious vast knowledge of sports, expect him to utter the following lines in the future: - "I love baseball, especially the over-the-wall ball. It's amazing how far those guys can hit those things!" - "When the Patriots kicker kicked the ball through those giant yellow chopsticks to win the game, that was awesome!" - "Why don...

Truth be told, I'm a sports nut and an over-analyzer. Even so, I still find it ridiculous to be debating the never-possible match-up of the 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors and the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls.  In the '95-'96 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls set a league record by going 72-10 during the course of the regular season. Many players, coaches, and analysts alike thought the record would never be broken. If the Golden State Warriors win at home tomorrow night against the Memphis Grizzlies, they will do just that and finish the season 73-9. So what is every NBA analyst under the sun discussing? Who would win in a 7-game series between the two teams. I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. It would have been one thing if the two teams had broken the league's regular season win record in back-to-back seasons, but it's quite another for the record-setting teams to be separated by two decades. The game is much different in 2016 than it was in 1996. In '96 teams ...

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Denile High School basketball coach Marco Rubio at halftime of his team's homecoming game, where they found themselves down by 30. When inquiring about why his team was down by so much and what they needed to do in the second half to reverse their fortune, here's what he told me: "Look, this is kind of what we expected all along. Even before tipoff, we were all talking about how, no matter what happened before it, an early 3-pointer in the second half would be all we needed to get back into the game and start thinking about winning. Just think about it, if we get the first basket in the second half and it's a 3-pointer, we go from being down 30 to just 27, and it becomes a whole new ball game. That might sound ridiculous to some people, but the speech I'm going to use at halftime is going to motivate these kids to do something special in the second half; it'll make them believe we can do this; and it's going to happ...

I have to say it's been a strange year in sports, especially when it comes to teams striving to break records. Almost exactly a year ago, the Kentucky men's basketball team finished an unbeaten regular season by winning the SEC tournament, yet questions came pouring in about how good this team was compared to previous John Calipari coached teams, how they would have ranked amongst the best teams of all time, and whether or not playing in the mediocre SEC detracted from their accomplishments. The Clemson Tigers went to the national championship game as the only remaining unbeaten team in all of college football, yet since they played in the ACC, they were often met with skepticism. When the Carolina Panthers started the year 14-0 and seemed to be well on their way to an unbeaten regular season, they were also met by plenty of doubters, in large part due to their division, the NFC South. Now we have the Golden State Warriors, who, at 52-5, are currently one game ahead of the ...

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has recently spoken out on the "hack-a-player" strategy, saying he's changed his mind on the matter, and after the season, it's quite possible we could see a rule change regarding the matter. He elaborated, saying, "At the end of the day, we are an entertainment property, and it's clear when you're in the arena that fans are looking at me shrugging their shoulders with that look saying, "Aren't you going to do something about this?'" Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appears to disagree with Silver, as he recently uttered the following: - "Will they leave him in or leave him out? How do both teams feel about it? How will they foul? Is it a new creative way, or is it just chasing? ... Does he make the free throws? If he makes one or two, will they do so again? Did the strategy work?" - "We have to realize that the number of basketball purists that aren't in the media is probably unde...

In a recent airing of ESPN Radio's Waddle & Silvy show, former NBA great and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley had this to say about the 25-1 and defending champion Golden State Warriors: "That Bulls team would kill this little team. Come on, man. Who is going to guard Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan? What about Dennis Rodman?" He added: "Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman -- let me just start with those three. First of all they would love playing the way the Warriors play. It's a much easier game now. Could you imagine how many points Michael would average if you couldn't touch him? Dennis would get so many rebounds against that team. They are a very small team." I'm sorry, but isn't this kind of silly? Why do so many sports fans find it necessary to debate impossible hypotheticals? It'd be one thing to ponder about and debate hypotheticals of a single season. In college football this year, it made sense to ask,...

For as much as I enjoy sports, there are times I'll be watching a game, hear a call made by a referee, and think to myself, "Well, that rule's stupid. Who came up with that in the first place and why's it still around?" On that note, here are the top five rule changes I'd like to see in the four major sports (in random order): 5) Hockey: Offsides - I still think approximately 50% of hockey players don't yet understand this rule. What's the point of it really? If a team is offsides, does it significantly improve their odds of scoring a goal? Does it place the defense at a great disadvantage? Or is it just one of those pointless rules that's been around for so many years, no one thinks to say, "WTF is this rule anyway? Let's do away with it!"? I'm guessing it's that third and final option. If one team is always offsides, then they'll be at a disadvantage defensively when their opponent has the puck, so again, what's th...

During the first weekend of March Madness, I learned that... - ...Villanova likes playing in March about as much as Pope Francis likes playing with himself. - ..., if referees starred in their version of the film The Princess Bride , "goaltending" would be the term they'd frequently misuse. - ...Wichita State is as much a #7 seed as I'm a woman named Flo. - ...Enterprise still picks people up. - ..., playing 6 games in 10 days, Dayton appeared to lose some kind of bet. - ...Michigan State may be attempting to get the month of March nicknamed Izzo History Month. - ...Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan will likely audition for the next Grinch film. - ...Charles Barkley would make a "turrible" poet. - ...Kansas coach Bill Self will one day write a book, entitled, Always the Favorite, Rarely the Winner . - ..., almost overnight, people went from saying, "You know who I haven't heard about in a while? Christian Laettner,"...

I'm amazed by what Vanderbilt head basketball coach Kevin Stallings yelled at one of his players following the team's 73-65 victory over Tennessee on Thursday night, but am even more amazed by the majority of people's reactions to the situation (commentators on websites anyhow). As Stallings was shaking hands with his opponent after the game, a Tennessee staff member informed the Vanderbilt head coach about one of his players, Wade Baldwin IV, clapping in the face of Tennessee forward Armani Moore after the Commodores sealed their victory. Kevin Stallings then went up to his player and angrily yelled, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" This occurred in front of most everybody holding a camera, so after the inevitable backlash, Stallings told ESPN the following: "I handled it completely inappropriately and I apologized to Wade -- and I need to apologize to our fans and the Vanderbilt administration. Having said that, and it may seem as though I'm...

I read an ESPN article this morning, entitled, "Kobe Bryant sets mark for misses." When first reading the headline, I thought to myself, "Wow, did Kobe have the worst game of his career or something? Here I thought things couldn't get any worse for the Lakers." But, no, that wasn't the case. In the Lakers 107-102 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Bryant scored 28 points, collected 7 rebounds, had 6 assists, and 4 steals. No, the headline was with regard to Bryant's career. In his 10-26 shooting night, Kobe Bryant eclipsed John Havlicek atop the leaderboard for most missed shots over a career, which is now at 13,421. Since this is Bryant's 19th season, he's collected: Five championship rings, one MVP award, two Finals MVP awards, he's been a member of the All-NBA team 15 times (1st, 2nd, or 3rd team), has been a member of the All-Defensive team 11 times (1st or 2nd team), has been named Player of the Week on 33 occasions and Player of the Month...

Indiana Pacers All-Star Paul George recently posted a series of tweets defending former Baltimore Ravens tailback Ray Rice, and I'm not sure which is more offensive, the actual content of George's tweets or the grammar. George started his controversial tweet-a-thon with this: "Keep it 100 lets act on this police violence like we actin on this Ray Rice case! Stay strong homie!" He followed that up with this: "I don't condone hittin women or think it's coo BUT if SHE ain't trippin then I ain't trippin.. Lets keep it movin lol let that man play!" Last but not least, George tweeted this: "If you in a relationship and a woman hit you first and attacking YOU.. Then you obviously ain't beatin HER. Homie made A bad choice! #StayUp" I'm now going to try and translate the before-mentioned tweets before deciding if their message or grammar was more offensive. Paul George: "Keep it 100 lets act on this police violen...

Team owners crack me up sometimes. Remember how Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert reacted when LeBron James fled Cleveland for Miami? Now James is back in Cleveland and Gilbert has since apologized for his (over)reaction. Since James signed back with the Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Kevin Love asked to be traded to the Cavs, officially was this past week, and now Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is speaking ill of Love. Somewhat ironically, Taylor said this not too long ago about his former All-Star: "Kevin and I have always had a good relationship. Kevin has always said I want to win. I said I want to win, too, stay here and let's do it together." As soon as Love was traded to Cleveland, however, Taylor's comments became less positive, as he made the following remarks on ESPN Radio 1500 AM in the Twin Cities on Tuesday: - "I think where maybe he got away with some stuff not playing defense on our team, I'm not sure that's how it...

I'm not a huge fan of NBA basketball like I was years ago as a youngster (yes, that made me sound ancient), however I like to tune in during the NBA Playoffs, and especially the Finals. The Finals have been a bit odd this year (with a pair of blowouts and another on the verge of being one), but outside of a bad call toward the end of Game 6 last night, that had to have been one of the best NBA games I've seen in quite some time.  However, even though Ray Allen tied the game at the end of regulation with a desperation 3-point shot, and LeBron James seemed to choke several times towards the end of regulation as well as in overtime, ESPN writers seemed to hail King James as the main reason for the Heat's series-tying victory. I have nothing against LeBron James. I think he had an incredible season this year - one of the best in recent memory. However, if it weren't for Ray Allen's 3-pointer at the end of the 4th quarter and some great defense in overtime by Chris B...