Chip Shots: Saturday Morning Potpourri
June 16, 2023 at 9:44 p.m.
Chip Shots: Saturday Morning Potpourri
By Chip Davenport-
The high school sports activity in the area has wound down, and boys’ baseball and boys’ golf are the closing sports of the IHSAA scholastic sports year this weekend.
Thanks to the athletes, fans, coaches, and athletic directors for the part each of you played in a very fun scholastic sports year.
I’m already excited for fall sports to start, but I also realize these folks I mentioned all need a very welcome break, so I’ll stop tapping my foot and wagging my tail, and once again remind myself to enjoy summer.
The NBA crowned the Denver Nuggets as its league champion. It’s interesting that the year Nikola Jokic did not earn the league MVP award he, instead, earned a championship ring to be presented to him in the 2023-2024 season opener.
Jokic, the unanimous Finals MVP, must head straight to Serbia after each season is complete, but his postgame interview of the title-clinching game 5 win shed light on how matter of fact he is about life and basketball.
He was asked by a reporter about looking forward to the championship parade in Denver celebrating the Nuggets’ first-ever NBA title. When he had to ask, and then discovered in turn the parade was Thursday, he said, with a genuinely exasperated tone, “I want to go home.”
Jokic didn’t even want to stay two additional days for the celebration. He told the press he had a job to do, and he was finished. It was funny and thought-provoking at the same time.
I only want one more thing in the upcoming NBA seasons. I want TNT to get a contract to cover The Finals so we can see - each pregame, halftime, and postgame – Inside the NBA. In the “as-is” state of NBA postseason coverage, we sadly bid Ernie, Kenny, Shaq, and Chuck farewell.
This farewell each late May doesn’t make the finals completely anticlimactic, but it’s comparable to watching a season (series for you BBC binge watchers) series of your favorite show when the penultimate episode is where all the best stuff happens, and the finale feels like a workout’s cool-down.
I’ll use Twitter to keep looking for great local and national sports tweets, tributes to pop music past and present, and movies and decade throwbacks. I’ll stay away from the political tweets, though.
Aside from the high school sports tweets and the tweets about the decades when we were growing up, the rest of Twitter has become garbage. Its market cap value is reported to be one-third of its value when Elon Musk purchased it.
On a lighter note, thank you Roger Grossman for your tweet longing for a soaker this last week. We got one on Tuesday, and it was much needed, and now we could use a few more here and there.
Roger’s tweets never give me agita.
I had to dig deep, but I found some summer rugby on television this past weekend. I must sit for about 10 to 15 minutes once per week to search, select, and record, though. Unfortunately, my favorite tournament, Super Rugby in the Southern hemisphere, still seems available only in YouTube highlights.
Tomorrow morning Warsaw freshman high-jumper Jordan Randall, who cleared 6’9” to clinch the 2023 Warsaw boys’ track and field regional, will compete in the Nationals meet. He is the only freshman competing at the nationals in this event. Randall battled walking pneumonia and rallied for a progressively strong May showing.
Randall’s dad, James, has been serving as the Tigers’ high jump event coach throughout this season. What better way to enjoy Father’s Day than engaging in some elite competition with your son. Good luck, gentlemen.
Randall’s event will be streamed Sunday on New Balance.
With this said, again, I wish all you dads out there a happy Father’s Day.
E-Editions
The high school sports activity in the area has wound down, and boys’ baseball and boys’ golf are the closing sports of the IHSAA scholastic sports year this weekend.
Thanks to the athletes, fans, coaches, and athletic directors for the part each of you played in a very fun scholastic sports year.
I’m already excited for fall sports to start, but I also realize these folks I mentioned all need a very welcome break, so I’ll stop tapping my foot and wagging my tail, and once again remind myself to enjoy summer.
The NBA crowned the Denver Nuggets as its league champion. It’s interesting that the year Nikola Jokic did not earn the league MVP award he, instead, earned a championship ring to be presented to him in the 2023-2024 season opener.
Jokic, the unanimous Finals MVP, must head straight to Serbia after each season is complete, but his postgame interview of the title-clinching game 5 win shed light on how matter of fact he is about life and basketball.
He was asked by a reporter about looking forward to the championship parade in Denver celebrating the Nuggets’ first-ever NBA title. When he had to ask, and then discovered in turn the parade was Thursday, he said, with a genuinely exasperated tone, “I want to go home.”
Jokic didn’t even want to stay two additional days for the celebration. He told the press he had a job to do, and he was finished. It was funny and thought-provoking at the same time.
I only want one more thing in the upcoming NBA seasons. I want TNT to get a contract to cover The Finals so we can see - each pregame, halftime, and postgame – Inside the NBA. In the “as-is” state of NBA postseason coverage, we sadly bid Ernie, Kenny, Shaq, and Chuck farewell.
This farewell each late May doesn’t make the finals completely anticlimactic, but it’s comparable to watching a season (series for you BBC binge watchers) series of your favorite show when the penultimate episode is where all the best stuff happens, and the finale feels like a workout’s cool-down.
I’ll use Twitter to keep looking for great local and national sports tweets, tributes to pop music past and present, and movies and decade throwbacks. I’ll stay away from the political tweets, though.
Aside from the high school sports tweets and the tweets about the decades when we were growing up, the rest of Twitter has become garbage. Its market cap value is reported to be one-third of its value when Elon Musk purchased it.
On a lighter note, thank you Roger Grossman for your tweet longing for a soaker this last week. We got one on Tuesday, and it was much needed, and now we could use a few more here and there.
Roger’s tweets never give me agita.
I had to dig deep, but I found some summer rugby on television this past weekend. I must sit for about 10 to 15 minutes once per week to search, select, and record, though. Unfortunately, my favorite tournament, Super Rugby in the Southern hemisphere, still seems available only in YouTube highlights.
Tomorrow morning Warsaw freshman high-jumper Jordan Randall, who cleared 6’9” to clinch the 2023 Warsaw boys’ track and field regional, will compete in the Nationals meet. He is the only freshman competing at the nationals in this event. Randall battled walking pneumonia and rallied for a progressively strong May showing.
Randall’s dad, James, has been serving as the Tigers’ high jump event coach throughout this season. What better way to enjoy Father’s Day than engaging in some elite competition with your son. Good luck, gentlemen.
Randall’s event will be streamed Sunday on New Balance.
With this said, again, I wish all you dads out there a happy Father’s Day.
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