Some People

How many different emotions can one detect in the faces above? One sees sadness, anger, disgust, futility, shock, and denial. Entirely absent are joy or happiness. Note also the slumped shoulders, the hands covering the faces, the crossed arms, and the clenched jaws.

It's the moment in the third quarter when Sacramento Kings fans realized that the game and the season were over. Last night the Golden State Warriors defeated the Kings, 120-100, and moved on to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the next round of the playoffs.

I wonder if artificial intelligence is advanced enough to recognize what these facial expressions mean? One thing is certain: it wouldn't chuckle at them, as some people 90 miles to the south have done.

Stephen Curry is Finally Slipping

Steph Curry, the greatest shooter in NBA history, didn't perform well at the Great America basketball booth, thereby proving that these games are "rigged."

Steph just confirming these games are rigged 😂 Hit all the money balls tho 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hJBr2TaAkA

— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) June 23, 2022

Any rumor that his performance suffered due to days of hard partying after Monday's parade is just idle speculation.

Alternatively, maybe the pressure of winning a big stuffed animal was too much for him to handle.

Far from the Madding Crowd

Stephen Curry enjoys the moment (Chron photo)

Not too proud to admit that we hop on the bandwagon for local sports teams, we attended the first San Francisco Giants championship parade in 2010.

The enthusiasm for 2022's Golden State Warriors title was equally strong, but, as we noted last week, a lot can happen in ten or twelve years.

The members of our household have various COVID-19 co-morbidities, and optional gatherings such as today's Warriors parade are off-limits.

Weighing benefits and costs--and abiding by the results of that analysis--is a sign of maturity, but a part of me misses the younger person who was more of a risk-taker.

The consolation is that videorecording technology is improving substantially every year, and now I have nine hours of parade footage to watch over the next several days.

Ten Years Later

In March, 2012 we went to a sports memorabilia store in Burlingame to get Stephen Curry's autograph. He was a skinny, relatively short (6'3"), 24-year-old point guard for the lackluster Warriors, who had missed the playoffs for the past five years.

Stephen Curry was an excellent shooter but had never made the All-Star team in three years in the NBA. He was always getting hurt and would undergo ankle surgery later in 2012. It was questionable whether the Warriors were going to extend his contract. Let's go meet him before he leaves the team, said the youngster. And so we did.

With the NBA Finals MVP award (NY Post photo)

Update: Stephen Curry’s all-time legacy is undeniable — and growing

[In the series-clinching Game 6 against Boston] Curry had 34 points, seven boards and seven assists, finishing the series averaging 31.2 points, six boards and five dimes to earn the MVP award. It was the last missing piece from his trophy case after four titles, two scoring titles, an MVP and All-Star MVP.

He joins Durant, James, Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are the only others to have done so.

A lot can happen in ten years.

A Pleasant, Normal Evening

It's hard to see the live action from on high, but
the gigantic screen keeps everyone informed.

I had never been to the Chase Center, but when the alumni group bought a block of seats for Tuesday's Warriors game and threw in a commemorative T-shirt, it would have required an iron will to pass up the opportunity. (I don't have an iron will.)

Before the start of the game we saw a pale-skinned guy in shorts--clearly not a professional basketball player--running around the floor with the Warriors during their warm-up.

From the nosebleed seats I couldn't tell what was going on, but my seatmate immediately advised that it was Will Ferrell acting the part of Jackie Moon in his 2008 movie, Semi-Pro.

After the Warriors defeated the Clippers, players and coaches credited the actor-comedian for the victory.

"Jackie" and Steph (Chron photo)

When Warriors head coach Steve Kerr received an email from someone claiming to be Will Ferrell, he assumed it was a prank.

But no, the emailer assured, he was the real Will Ferrell. And after hearing that his 2008 movie, “Semi-Pro,” had helped guard Klay Thompson weather a 2½-year hiatus from games, Ferrell wanted to do something special for one of his most famous fans.

So there was Ferrell on Tuesday night at Chase Center, fist-bumping Thompson during warmups in the costume his character, Jackie Moon, wore in “Semi-Pro.” Hours later, Thompson would call Ferrell’s cameo “a huge catalyst” in the Warriors’ 112-97 win over the Clippers.

All in all it was a satisfying evening: the Warriors broke their five-game losing streak, I saw Klay and Steph do their thing, and I explored the $1.4 billion arena. I also ate a lobster roll and got a free T-shirt.

For the first time in two years it felt like things were normal, and normal can be pretty good.

John Madden (1936-2021)

The 1970's was a miserable decade--runaway inflation, gas lines, Watergate, the fall of Saigon--but at least Bay Area sports fans could find solace in their Oakland teams.

Charles Finley moved the Athletics from Kansas City and won three straight World Series from 1972 to 1974. Both owner and players broke the mold with "Charley O the mule, orange baseballs, mustachioed players, the designated hitter and designated runners."

The Golden State Warriors, led by Hall of Famer Rick Barry, were the surprise winner of the 1975 NBA championship. They dominated the 1975-1976 season, only to fall in the Western Conference finals to the Phoenix Suns.

Both the A's and Warriors were fan favorites--let's not talk about the mediocre 49ers and Giants, who rarely made the playoffs--but by the beginning of the 1970's football was already the most popular sport in America, and the top echelon of the National Football League included the Oakland Raiders.

Celebrating the 1977 Super Bowl Win

Led by its brilliant owner Al Davis, the Raiders were a team of castoffs, misfits, and rejects. John Madden, who died yesterday, molded this unconventional roster into a championship contender and became the most successful coach in Raiders history.

Just 32 when he became the Raiders’ head coach, Madden, who quickly became known for his sideline outbursts and unruly hair, led his team to the playoffs eight times in 10 seasons and compiled a .759 winning percentage (103-32-7) that still ranks as the highest of any coach with at least 100 victories.

Every January, while it was cold and raining outside, we could count on Raider football to entertain us on weekends.

During the '70's the Raiders had to go up against a historically great dynasty, the 4-time-champion Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the Miami Dolphins, who in 1972 became and still are the only undefeated team in NFL history. Given the competition, John Madden's record was remarkable.

Tom Landry

Prowling the sidelines with his portly frame and expansive gestures, John Madden was the opposite of Tom Landry, the buttoned-down coach of the "America's team" Cowboys.

Madden's game-planning and Hall-of-Fame players made Raiders-Steelers must-see TV. The playoff game between the teams in December, 1972, was decided by the Immaculate Reception, perhaps the most famous play in NFL history. I remember watching that game on a tiny low-res TV screen in Hawaii and thought that Terry Bradshaw's 4th-quarter 4th-down pass was knocked down and the Raiders had won. Then the fuzzy TV showed a Steeler (Franco Harris) racing toward the end zone for a Steeler touchdown and victory.

Huh? What just happened? Similar to the 1969 moon landing, you could hardly see it and you couldn't replay it.

We were sad to see John Madden retire from coaching in 1978, but even in those days it was understood that he was headed for a stress-induced heart attack if he continued.

Again, much to everyone's surprise, he became the most popular TV football analyst of all time and put his name on one of the most popular sports videogames of all time.

I don't know when it was that politicians sought to become a person "you would like to have a beer with," but they should just say "I want to be like John Madden." R.I.P., coach.

A Win, A Loss, and A Controversy Ended

Yesterday the San Francisco professional sports teams dominated the local headlines with a win, a loss, and a controversy ended.

Giant architects: President of Baseball Operations
Farhan Zaidi and Manager Gabe Kapler (Chron photo)

The Win: Giants outlast Dodgers in historic NL West race, fitting finish to stunning season

The Giants got their franchise-record 107th win and wildly celebrated the clinching of their first division title in nine years, and the Dodgers — the defending World Series champs and winners of a mere 106 games — got nothing but a participation trophy as the team with the most wins ever not to finish in first place.

The Giants were expected to finish third in the division, perhaps a "tad" above .500 (an 81-81 record). Instead, they posted the best record in the history of the New York/San Francisco Giants franchise, and the fourth-most wins in the post-War era, behind the 2001 Mariners (116), the 1998 Yankees (114), and the 1954 Indians (111).

Trey Lance (SJ Mercury photo)

The Loss: 49ers' Lance shaky in relief after Garoppolo injured in loss to Seahawks

this was the most pressing question after the 49ers’ 28-21 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium: When can Jimmy Garoppolo get back on the field?

Garoppolo was sidelined for the second half with a calf injury he sustained early in the first quarter and [Trey] Lance’s work off the bench didn’t suggest he’d steal the starting job while Garoppolo rehabs.

Injuries to running backs and key defensive players had already eroded expectations for the Niners as a Super Bowl contender. The injury to starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo made fans even gloomier.

The excitement over #3 draft pick Trey Lance had been over his raw talent and long-term future, not about his ability to be a starter in the NFL today. With a 2-2 record and rookie Lance at the helm, the 49ers outlook isn't pretty, but there's still a chance for a miracle; look at the Giants.

Andrew Wiggins (USA Today phoo)

Controversy Ended: Warriors' Andrew Wiggins reverses course, gets vaccinated to play home games

In an unexpected reversal, Warriors starting small forward Andrew Wiggins got vaccinated against the coronavirus and will be allowed to play home games at Chase Center...

Under San Francisco’s indoor vaccination policy, which goes into effect Oct. 13, Wiggins could not play home games if he remained unvaccinated. The Warriors’ home opener is Oct. 21 against the Clippers, and Golden State plays nine of its first 12 games at Chase Center.

Wiggins would have forfeited more than $350,000 per game he missed.

Compelling individuals to be jabbed is an issue far beyond basketball, but the celebrity status of NBA unvaccinated players made the topic highly visible. It came to a head over the weekend when Warriors (vaccinated) teammate Draymond Green stood up for Wiggins' right to make his own vaccination decision. None of the societal issues has gone away because of Andrew Wiggins' change of heart, but for the Warriors at least, it's one less worry.

New Year, New Steph

In February the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, which was the last time this humble journal posted anything about the Bay Area teams. Though not even a year has elapsed, the months-long suspension and de-prioritization of all sports has made last year's pre-COVID Super Bowl seem like ancient history.

In the regular NFL season just ended, the 49ers were plagued by injuries to their biggest stars and finished with a record of 6-10, last in the NFC West.

Turning to baseball, the San Francisco Giants ended their schedule out of the playoffs with a 29-31 record. The Giants had only three players (Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt) remaining from their 2014 championship team and will need several rebuilding years to contend with the 2020 World Series Champion L.A. Dodgers, who are in the same division.

Damian Lee celebrates Steph's
performance (Chron photo)

The Golden State Warriors, after their June, 2019 defeat by the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals, finished dead last in the 30-team NBA during the COVID-abbreviated 2019-2020 season, when they lost almost the entire team to trade, retirement, and injury. Future Hall-of-Famer Stephen Curry showed only flashes of his 2016-MVP form as teams focused all their defenses on him.

The new basketball season began dismally as All-Star Klay Thompson suffered a season-ending injury for the second year in a row. With only five games completed through Friday the Warriors were already declared by CBS Sports as "quite possibly, the worst team in the league right now."

With mutterings from the rest of the league that Steph Curry is not good enough to carry his team to the playoffs without other star players helping, Steph Curry put up 62 points last night as the Warriors beat the Trailblazers.

After 11 seasons in the NBA, two MVP awards, and three NBA championships, Stephen Curry at the age of 32 scored the most points in his storied career. The feat made him the second-oldest player (behind Kobe Bryant, 37) to score at least 60 points in an NBA game.

For one game Steph Curry reminded us of the joy that fans used to find in sports and gave us hope that a New Year will chase away the clouds of 2020.

Winning by Losing

QB's Mahomes and Garoppolo after the game (Chron photo)

When the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs on February 2nd, Bay Area fans were, of course, disappointed.

But not too badly.

The 49ers had far outperformed expectations for the season.

It was a terrific game that wasn't decided until the final minutes.

The 49ers have a good, young team that should make them contenders for years.

2017 Warriors parade, Oakland (WSJ photo)

Now comes the report that many lives were possibly saved because the 49ers did not have a victory parade:

It’s impossible to know precisely how many people would have packed the streets to fete quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, coach Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers. But it’s possible to offer a rough estimate: a lot of people.

When the Golden State Warriors won their three recent championships, the parades in Oakland attracted reported crowds of between 500,000 to 1.5 million fans.

But wasn't San Francisco's gain Kansas City's loss? Not this time.

...the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl turned out to be a public health savior. Kansas City happened to be one of the last NFL cities to report its first case of the virus, and the hundreds of thousands of long-suffering fans who celebrated on Feb. 5 were about six weeks behind San Francisco. Not until March 18 did Kansas City report its first case. Bay Area residents had been ordered to shelter-in-place by then.

San Francisco fans lamented that Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes was perhaps the only player in the league who could have overcome a 10-point lead against the 49er defense in the fourth quarter.

Thank God he was there, as both cities won.

21st Century Fullback

In the build-up to the NFC Championship game between the 49ers and the Packers the WSJ profiles Kyle Juszczyk (YOOZ-check).

The NFL’s Unlikeliest Millionaire: He Went to Harvard and Plays Fullback [bold added]

Kyle and Kristin Juszczyk

By any modern standard, Kyle Juszczyk shouldn’t be playing in the NFL. He went to Harvard, a school that was important in football about a century ago. And he plays fullback, a position that was important when teams ran the wishbone toward goal posts that were planted at the front of the end zone.

But there’s one team that feels differently. A few years ago, the San Francisco 49ers didn’t just sign Juszczyk. They made him the highest-paid player in the entire league relative to other players at the same position. Juszczyk makes more money than the second- and third-highest paid fullbacks combined and carried the ball a grand total of three times this year.

The 49ers' use of their fullback would seem inexplicable to football traditionalists. He very rarely carries the ball. Yet he is in on many of the offensive plays. His value lies in his versatility.

Although technically a fullback, he played tight end and H-back in college, giving the 49ers the flexibility to motion him out and place him in any number of roles. It allows San Francisco to completely change the way the offense might look without changing the actual players on the field, a tactic that can prevent the defense from substituting and frustrate defenders schematically.

Kyle Juszczyk sounds like the Draymond Green of the 49ers: very good at seeing the whole field, can play a variety of positions, talented but not blessed with superstar physical abilities, and most importantly understands his coach's complicated schemes and recognizes on any given play where and in what role he's needed the most. On another team he wouldn't be as valuable, but like the Warriors with Draymond, he is integral to their scheme and is paid much more than another team would pay him.

Or maybe coach likes him because his name is Kyle.

If I Can Do It, You Can Do It

It's a familiar sports story: an athlete becomes associated with a political position, some fans object, and boycotts ensue. In this case the athlete is Draymond Green, and the politics are about being pro-Israel, not anti-American.[bold added]

Chef Reem Assil (Chronicle photo)

[Palestinian-Syrian chef] Reem Assil, who has been praised by publications like The Chronicle and Food and Wine, has played a vital role in sparking Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood as a food destination. One of her signatures at her Arab bakery, Reem’s California, has been the “Draymond Green,” a seasonal vegetable wrap.

The chef’s decision to stop selling the dish is linked to Green’s 2018 visit to Israel. While there, Green posed for a photo holding a military rifle as though he were a sniper, during a stop at the base of an Israeli Defense Force counter-terrorism unit, the Yamam.

Draymond Green was one of the leaders in having the Warriors reject a visit to the Donald Trump White House after the team won the NBA Championship, so I'm sure he has empathy for Reem Assil. In his words

“In order to effect change, you have to stand for something. If you go about it the same way, you do the same things you do if everything is normal, then you won’t effect change.”

Strangely Comforting

All good things...(SI's 5/20/19 cover)

Like other bandwagon riders, I started following the Golden State Warriors again when they made the playoffs in the 2012-2013 season and had one player, David Lee, named to the All-Star team for the first time in 16 years. Under new head coach Steve Kerr the Warriors won the NBA championship in 2015, lost in the 2016 Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and signed superstar Kevin Durant after the 2016 loss.

Entering the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons, they were prohibitive favorites to win the title and did. Kevin Durant's last committed season was 2018-2019, and, while the Warriors were again the championship favorite, most of the discussion around the NBA water cooler for the past year was about Kevin Durant and other free agents' next teams, changing the balance of power in the league and likely ending the Warriors era.

In Game 6 of the Finals last night, the Toronto Raptors dethroned the Warriors, who, beset by season-ending injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, refused to make excuses and praised the winners.

Though the final result fell short of pre-season expectations, the Warriors' performance during the playoffs displayed character and drive under great adversity, drive that few suspected was there after five years of continued winning.

Just as the loss in 2016 led to the signing of Kevin Durant and the disruption of the NBA, so will the Raptors' victory, the Warriors' loss, and the injuries to K.D. and Klay cause changes that no one can foresee. No one knows anything, and we find that strangely comforting.

Let’s Plan to Make a Plan Dept.

James Harden, after the Houston Rockets were eliminated from the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors:

“I know what we need to do," Harden said. "I know exactly what we need to do. We'll figure it out this summer."

Warriors: The Last Performance?

When I see the Golden State Warriors, I think of the Beatles: individual talents who came together to produce magic that will be talked about 50 years after it's gone.

When the Warriors are at their finest, such as the 51-point first quarter against the Nuggets last month, or when they made 24 of 25 shots in the the middle of the Spurs game last week, Warriors basketball is beautiful. All five men are constantly in motion, the ball flits around the court until it finds the open man, and the shot is buried, either from 3-point distance or from above the rim.



But as with the Beatles in the late Sixties, the joy of playing together is dissipating. Superstar forward Kevin Durant didn't sign a long-term contract at the beginning of the season, which will prompt half the teams in the NBA to bid for his services in July. Sports reporters are hectoring him weekly about where he will go, creating cracks in the team's camaraderie. Other key players are also not locked in to long-term contracts and could well leave.

Basketball has made them rich and famous, and without joy it's increasingly tempting to pursue individual goals, whatever they may be.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo went on to varying degrees of success in their subsequent careers, but none achieved the acclaim they had as a group. The young men who comprise the Golden State Warriors have many choices to make and conflicting goals to prioritize in the months ahead.

Not even on their list is the regret they could feel at age 60 if they break up the band too soon. Fans, appreciate them now; sometimes you don't know it's the last performance until it's come and gone.

Front Runner, C'est Moi

I thought I was a sports fan, but it's become clear that I'm a front runner, aka bandwagon-jumper (on when my teams are winning, off when they're losing).

I followed the 49ers and Raiders through the 1980's and mid-90's, after which both became perennial losers (the Raiders somehow made it to the 2002 Super Bowl but were blown out 49-21 by the Buccaneers). I didn't regularly watch football again until Jim Harbaugh coached the Niners to three straight Conference championships and one Super Bowl in 2010-2014.

Klay Thompson and fan in 2014

I first went to see the Giants in the Oughts to see Barry Bonds hit home runs in the new AT&T Park. I continued to attend games during the championship runs in 2010, 2012, and 2014 but gave up on the Giants after 2016.

As the football and baseball teams faded, the Golden State Warriors picked up the slack by winning an NBA title in 2015. After losing in the 2016 finals, the Warriors astounded the basketball world by signing Kevin Durant, one of the top-three players in the NBA.

The Warriors were champions in 2017 and 2018 but this year seem to have found another gear. Their two superstars and shoo-in Hall-of-Famers, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, have regained their MVP-level form.

Tonight the team's third- or fourth-best player, Klay Thompson, set the record for three-point shots by making 14 in a game against the Chicago Bulls. Sports Illustrated: Klay Thompson Scores 52, and Now the Warriors’ Death Star is Fully Operational

Thompson’s 52 shows what the Warriors can do when they are singularly focused on maximizing their talent on a night-to-night basis, and not taking a long-term view about saving it for the postseason. We aren’t even two full weeks into the NBA season, and we’ve already seen top-level performances from Curry, Durant and Thompson.

The Warriors appear to be fully living up to the hype placed on them in 2016, and at a more sustained level than we’ve seen in the past, at least during the regular season, and certainly never this early. We don’t even need to discuss what that means for the rest of the league. It’s the same as what they feared the moment this team was put together.

Experience has shown that I can't be a fan the entire year; work and family (sigh) have their own demands. Thank you, Warriors,--and 49ers, Raiders, and Giants, too-- for allowing this front-runner to strike the right balance.

Appreciate What You're Seeing

Stephen Curry bellows in triumph; his teammates are
happy but a bit more subdued (Chron photo)

The Golden State Warriors are the 2018 NBA Champions, sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers four games to none on Friday night.

Monday morning quarterbacks are saying they've known this would happen since last year's Finals, but winning it all looked far from certain to this non-expert. Stars Iguodala and Curry missed playoff games with injuries, and the mighty Houston Rockets for a while seemed to have their number in the Western Conference finals.

Kevin Durant repeated as Finals MVP.

At the highest level of any sport a "minor" injury or a family issue or jealousy of a teammate or a problem with a coach is like a grain of sand in the gears of a Porsche. The finely tuned engine easily loses its edge and becomes entirely normal. In other words the Warriors are human beings, and nothing is guaranteed.

Just ask Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, or Hillary Clinton.

The Series Starts Ends When the Home Team Loses

(Still from si.com video)

Warriors superstar Kevin Durant almost single-handedly won Game 3 of the NBA Finals as he scored 43 points in Golden State's 110-102 victory over Cleveland. The Warriors have won the first three games of the Finals.

Out of 130 instances, no NBA team has ever come back to win a 7-game series after losing the first three games.

So the series is over, and it's impossible for Cleveland to win.

[Hey, anything can happen---didja forget that the Cubs won the World Series after a 108-year drought? La la la, I'm not listening.]

NBA Finals Game 1

Wow. What a game.

Possible game- or season-ending injury to Klay Thompson (it wasn't).

Overturning of an offensive foul by Kevin Durant in the last 40 seconds; the review perhaps was contrary to rules and cost Cleveland the game.

"Chippiness": "The Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson challenged [Draymond] Green to a fight after the two engaged in a brief skirmish in the final seconds."

Blunder by Cavalier J.R. Smith in the final seconds of a tie game:

Only good things could happen, and Smith had three obvious options. He could attempt a game-winner, by lofting a quick put-back or dribbling into a turnaround jumper. He could call for timeout and let coach Tyronn Lue draw up a play. Or he could pass out to LeBron James, who had already scored 49 points on Thursday and who had hit two game-winners earlier this postseason.

Instead, J.R. Smith, thinking the Cavs had the lead (according to his coach), dribbled out the remaining seconds, and the Warriors won in overtime.

Overtime.

Great performance by Stephen Curry, who rained in 3-pointers and took it to the rim with balletic grace.

One of the all-time greatest Finals performance by one of the all-time greatest NBA players, LeBron James, who scored 51 points. The Warriors threw everyone at him but couldn't stop him.

Art imitates life. LeBron James is the super-being Thanos, who an army of super-heroes couldn't take down in Avengers: Infinity War.

I’m not saying LeBron James and Thanos are the same person, but have you seen them in the same room together? #StayWoke pic.twitter.com/gGKWfcGOE8

— Kierre Luat (@KierreLuat) May 6, 2018

Naming the Players

A contest easier to understand and more quickly resolved

Economist Tyler Cowen opined (see yesterday's comment) that Washington, DC, and the San Francisco Bay Area are "power centers" on a collision course. This is an example of the "coming clash of the titans" (CCOT) type of prediction.

One sees the CCOT most commonly in sports; for example, Las Vegas bookmakers favor the Houston Astros to meet the New York Yankees in the 2018 World Series, though neither team, at 5-1 odds, can be considered a heavy favorite. A better sports example is professional basketball, where most experts thought a fourth straight championship match-up between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers was inevitable; both teams have performed worse than expected this year, and a Warriors-Cavaliers Finals is far from assured.

In the business world your humble blogger recalls 1970's newspaper and magazine features about the looming battle between AT&T and IBM, as communications and computers began to converge. Both companies were so dominant in their respective fields that the Justice Department pursued antitrust actions against both. AT&T was broken up in 1982, and IBM, which introduced the PC in 1981, lost control of its invention to Microsoft and Intel. Today Microsoft and Intel are each more valuable than AT&T or IBM, and the clash of the 1970s-tech titans never occurred.

In 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville foresaw that Russia and the United States would battle for world supremacy.

Their starting-point is different, and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.

For half a century de Tocqueville's prediction was spectacularly true, though today the principal rivalry seems to be between America and China.

Picking #1 is hard enough, picking both #1 and #2 is tougher.

Politics Ruins

The first title for Zaza Pachulia and Kevin Durant (slam photo)

I try to avoid political discussions. They ruin many a happy occasion. Bystanders are pushed into a corner and forced to take a position about matters that they may not have thought much about. Or maybe they only have a modest preference for one side and feel it's not worth the energy to argue, or even run the risk of sacrificing personal relationships. So they keep quiet and retreat if they can.

When you are a big-time celebrity it's almost impossible to be noncommittal. Inquisitors harangue you for an answer. And if you don't give them one, they say that you did, steering you to confirm or deny the assertion. Only a few hours after the Golden State Warriors had won the NBA championship they were forced to take a position on Donald Trump: [bold added]

Two reporters published unsubstantiated tweets after Golden State’s Game 5 defeat of the Cavaliers, that said the team “unanimously” had decided to boycott a visit to the White House.

The team released a statement Tuesday morning saying that no such decision had been made.

The Warriors may find this situation more difficult than any that they face on the basketball court. They have become a national team with fans across the political spectrum. While it's true that some of the team's leaders (e.g., Stephen Curry and coach Steve Kerr) are outspoken against Donald Trump, there's a difference between an individual protest and the entire organization doing so.

It won't help their "brand" to alienate half the country. And it well may be more than half who would disapprove of a White House boycott, since there are still many Americans who can disagree with the man and his policies, yet honor the Presidency.

Another thought: there are nine players new to the roster who did not go to the White House in 2015. To Messrs. Curry and Kerr, who have been there many times, not going won't be a sacrifice, but it may be the one chance for some players, coaches, support staff, and their families to go. Of course, all will accede to the Warriors leaders' decision due to social pressure, but I doubt 100% of their hearts will be in it, no matter what they say.

As I was saying, politics ruins many a happy occasion.