PK Subban Will Fly to San Antonio with Some Magnesium and Kleenex. Coach.

The video below is hockey. There are many, many more examples of this kind of mental and physical fortitude. If you are not already aware of the lengths to which Steve Yzerman went to stay on the ice, read up on it. Some of the surgeries he had sound almost medieval.

Trust me, Bobby Baun did not make enough money or endorsements from his NHL career to be able to retire to luxury (or at all ) with a limp.

Tonight in pro basketball. The biggest star in the game. A guy who orchestrated transactions for his own dream team. A guy who will never ever have to have a day job again in his life.  Quoting ESPN:

"(Lebron) James exited the game with 7:31 remaining in the fourth quarter because of cramping but returned with 3:59 left for one play, finishing a driving layup. He signaled to come out immediately after, limping to the bench before having to be carried off".

I won't even put his picture up here. Anyone who gives their money to that sorry charade--I'd rather watch some B-lister play charades on Hollywood Game Night, just so ya know-- might as well launch a Kickstarter to get Tommy Lee a dick extension.
The Larry O'Brien Trophy means nothing to NBA players anymore except the sports drink endorsements that go along with them. Isn't that ironic ? These miracle elixirs that are supposed to ward off things like cramps ?
Be honest: If you're a casual NBA fan did you even know it was called the Larry O'Brien Trophy ? You know what the Stanley Cup means to hockey players in at least 8 nations: Everything.
Whatever the NBA had is lost in a sea of wealth and privilege and individual desires, not efforts.
Their biggest ambassador hung a sign from the embassy tonight that says "Why Do You Care? We Don't".

And guess what, the sports drink industry does have an opinion on the alleged "superstar":
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24581790/gatorade-twitter-account-trolls-lebron-james-over-cramping

World Cup 2014: After the US and Ghana Advance, He Wants to Meet Tonya Harding

The World Cup is just around the corner and that can only mean two things:
Guys whose moms still have their socks framed from the CYO basketball game in which they poured in 6 points will complain that there's not enough scoring, and witch doctors.
Wait, witch doctors?
{As sensitive as people are now, I'm sure there is a more polite term for 'witch doctor' that I'm completely oblivious to, so if you'd like to comment and tell me what it is-feel free, just skip the story about how your uncle the non-traditional physician with the cauldron couldn't get into Harvard Med School and had to drive a cab and got shot and now has a prosthetic bone through his prosthetic nose}.
Or whatever.

                                   Kwaku Bonsam:Probably closer to a real doctor than Phil

Yeah, I didn't make that up.
According to dozens of sources, a Ghanian witch doctor is not only taking credit for Cristiano Ronaldo's  knee injury, he claims he has dogs helping him concoct a potion to make the injury worse, and even move it around to make it more difficult to treat.
I don't think I even got my first aid ribbon at summer camp, but I'm inclined to think that Crissy's patellar tendinosis  just may have been caused by the unforgiving turf that he flails to every time a Barcelona supporter opens a beer to roughly.
I am worried the good doctor just became the Salman Rushdie of Portugal, but I applaud his efforts.
Crissy is such a sensitive head case that when (if?) the winner of the Ballon d'Or ( French for tears of a clown) gets on the pitch in Brazil he might actually be distracted by the voodoo. He may even miss a few scheduled tantrums.
The US also happens to be in Group G along with Germany, Portugal and Ghana and they are gonna need all the help they can get to advance.
In 1980 at Lake Placid, Al Michaels famously said "Do you believe in miracles ? Yes!"
Don't discount other people's belief systems just because they are different from yours and apparently involve dog urine.
In 2014 in Brazil, do I believe in Kahwiri Kapam ? Maybe.

2014 Stanley Cup Finals: Farewell Ron MacLean

Sports media and marketers love to dub everything "The Road to" or "The Quest for". Tonight is the first game of Stanley Cup Finals, and among other things, that signifies the uncharted, dusty path down to Ron MacLean's departure from Hockey Night in Canada.
The 2014 Cup final is also a coast to coast, NYC vs LA final, which not only gives the series a touch more glamour, it means the same marketers that conjure up crap like "The Freeway of Love to The Chase for The Boulevard of Glory" can keep their Cialis on ice because two huge markets is a built in hard-on for 'em. Lot's of "households" will be watching, and that's good for business.
As I type this, CBC commentator Elliotte Friedman admitted to colleague P. J. Stock that he was jazzing up his preview to appeal to viewers on both coasts "for the advertisers".

But screw that. This is the greatest team sport in North America. It doesn't need marquee stars like the ones that virtually run the Nattering Billionaire Alliance and , not coincidentally, wind up in the Finals year after year.
There are many reasons to watch that have nothing to do with Broadway, Hollywood, advertisers, or slogans.
-The winners don't just get to pose with the trophy. They get their name etched on it. Forever.
-It's the only one of the Big 4 with true sudden death overtime. (Walk off HR? Not if you're the road team).
-Ron MacLean between periods, who has never gotten enough credit for his ability to keep the beloved Don Cherry from going completely off the decorum and continuity rails.
-Warren Buffett has nothing on me.I'll bet you a triillion dollars that Wayne Gretzky's former team wins the series.

Boston "Solong"…Who Do We Hate Next ? Anyone Left to Love ?

Good Riddance tonight to the Boston Bruins, an incorrigible cadre of evildoers coached by a guy who actually resembles Gru from Despicable Me.

Told ya. 

For Detroiters and Red Wings fans everywhere, that eliminated the team they were most rooting against. I'm sure some were rooting against Pittsburgh in large part because of Sidney Crosby. I assume everyone outside of Pennsylvania, Nova Scotia and the Tim Horton's marketing department roots against Sidney Crosby. So who do you root for now, and what's the criteria for picking them ?

This is where sports and film/TV entertainment differ so greatly. Kevin Spacey can play a villain, and you generally root against his character, in most cases, but you leave the theater saying "Kevin Spacey is an amazing actor", and you root for him when he's playing K-Pax, unless you're Milan Lucic and you're so dumb you think K-Pax is what your sister buys once a month. {I could have really made that a much more vulgar reference and next time the Wings play the Bruins I'm probably gonna regret not sprinting down that path}. In sports, you're pretty much pulling for the real human being at his real job.

And unless your name is Stu Grimson, you probably aren't a whole helluva lot different out of uniform.

So we know who we hate, and some of 'em are gone. Who do we root for now, Detroit ? Three Original 6 franchises left. Or the newbies from the west coast ?

The Norris Division Is The Space Between the Kidney and The Spleen

Major League Baseball's season is longer than the night before a prostate exam, so why do pitchers throw at the very next batter after they give up a home run ?
The Baltimore Orioles starter Bud Norris plunked Torii Hunter tonight after Ian Kinsler hit one so hard Barry Levinson bitchslapped his Oscar.
He was immediately ejected, then went in to a performance that looked like he wanted an Oscar of his own.

                                         Bud Norris, we don't really like you. Sally is cool though.

Dude. You hit Torii Hunter so square in the ribs that some orthopedic residents at Johns Hopkins took notes. You had to know that there was a good possibility you were gonna get tossed. Don't give me that "but it was a breaking ball" nonsense. Lots of major leaguers have sliders that crack 90 on the gun and they could hit Eddie Gaedel in the tear duct with 'em. 90 is gonna hurt whether it's a slider or the age of the last chick available at The Chicken Ranch
Tonight was the first freakin' game of the series. How about a little stealth and intrigue ?
Don't tell me about tradition and "sending a message", especially if you're not just gonna cop to it and walk to the clubhouse.
Pitching traditions change. So let's change this one. Brush back the guy who hit the home run with the first pitch thrown to him the next game. Sure, the starter who gave up the home run won't have that opportunity, but should you really get the little glory tantrum for screwing up in the first place ?
Don't get me wrong. Any drama injected into this new MLB that's watered down like Daddy's vodka after prom night is great with me. The other day, in the current video mediator MLB, Ron Gardenhire actually had a real argument and got tossed. I haven't been that happily nostalgic since I got to meet
Susan Olsen.

                                       L to R Didrik Davis, Cindy Brady, Me. Sam the Butcher 
                                            not pictured
So I'm not calling for anyone to outlaw the brushback, the occasional plunk, The Randy Johnson behind the back mindfuck, etc. I'm just wondering why pitchers aren't a little more patient about venting their frustrations.
And I don't know who your baseball agent is, Bud Norris, but stick with him. You really don't need a theatrical version.

Too Bad the NFL Banned Stickum,Because The Slope Can't Get Any Slipperier

Openly gay Missouri defensive standout Michael Sam got drafted by the St. Louis Rams. He's a helluva football player and I was 99% sure someone would draft him. ESPN had cameras present when he was notified and if you didn't think that was gonna happen please never apply to Specs Howard School of Media Arts. Don't even apply for Shemp Howard School of Anything.
Sam celebrated by kissing his partner. I saw lots of kissing and hugging when people were drafted, but of course Sam kissing his white male partner became its own little news item. I'm sure many people applauded or maybe even got choked up.
2nd year Miami Dolphins linebacker Don Jones was not applauding. He tweeted "Horrible".
Now Jones's bosses wanna have a little talk with him. And I wanna have a talk with them:
Dolphins GM Dennis Hickey, your team has lately been a purple blemish on the neck of the NFL and you and your league have much greater things to worry about than reprimanding people for one word tweets.If you allow your players to have twitter accounts-which is a huge source of free of charge marketing for the league-you must allow them some freedom to express themselves when they aren't helping your sorry ass team sell tickets.
I don't agree with Don Jones's assessment of Michael Sam being drafted and the subsequent celebratory kiss. If Michael Sam wanted to kiss a frog and make the ESPN crew sit there and wait for it to turn into a fucking Prince, he has the right to do so.

And Don Jones has the right to not like it. All he said was "Horrible". He didn't use a slur, threaten anyone, mention the NFL or any "corporate partners". He just said "Horrible". Some people think caramel is horrible, that doesn't mean they are gonna take it out of Twix bars.
Let me refresh your memory, Dennis. This weekend as all the players were drafted, your headmaster Roger Goodell,who I happen to think is horrible, stated the name of the college that they played football for. Do you really think that all the players coming out of all those different schools are going to have the same opinion on everything ? You have players in the league from Southern Methodist and BYU. The various military academies don't even see eye-to-eye on every issue. You cannot promote the ethnic and religious diversity of your league and turn around and slap someone's wrist for speaking their mind when it doesn't fall lockstep into your brand spanking new National Enlightenment League. I wouldn't blame you for banning Twitter accounts for all new contracts, Dennis. That crap last year with your O-Line made General Hospital look like Shakespeare. But until you ban Twitter and all its positives for your league, expect some opinions and respect some opinions, Dennis. It's a discussion, not a concussion.
Your league has to aggressively campaign to get kids to go out and play your sport, because many kids would rather sit on the sofa playing Madden, where they get to control every single action of every single player. Maybe you oughta give that a try, Dennis, and leave the real live football players to someone else.

Richie Parker Has a Cooler Car Than You and Probably Drives it Better

It will be difficult, if not impossible to tell yourself you cannot do something after watching this.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9499560
If you find inspiration in it, that's great. Though it might shame the shit out of you first.