Los Angeles, A Tale of Two Owners

Most of you are already aware of the professional basketball’s recent fiasco, so we won’t exhaust that topic any more than we have to in this space. In a nutshell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned 80-year-old L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling from all team and NBA-related events for life. This happened after celebrity news site TMZ released a private phone conversation between Sterling and his ex-mistress. In the convo, Sterling can be heard making insensitive remarks about African-Americans. Now, the question is not whether or not, but when Sterling is going to relinquish his ownership of the team.

At the center of this scandal was a picture of Sterling’s ex-mistress standing next to legendary L.A. Laker point guard Magic Johnson. “Don’t put him [Johnson] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games,” Sterling told his ex-mistress. When Magic found out about Sterling’s racist remarks, the 5-time NBA Champion called for Sterling’s removal and vowed to never attend a Clippers game again as long as Sterling was still the owner. When Sterling was banned, Magic sent out a celebratory tweet.

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The 10 Best Summer Beers

There’s nothing better than drinking a cold beer in the sun on a hot Summer day.

It’s getting warmer and breweries are releasing their Summer seasonal beers. I’m a connoisseur of Summer beers, since I tend to ramp up my drinking this time of year. Don’t get me wrong, I love an IPAs, but I have a special place in my heart for Summer wheats.

Since the craft beer industry exploded a few years ago, nearly every brewery releases some sort of Summer seasonal (even Coors, Budweiser and Miller followed suit…but they didn’t make the list).

I compiled a list of the ten best Summer beers for the Summer of 2014.

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Sweetbob’s Hipster Music Playlist: May 2014

I decided to super-size this month’s playlist with 15 songs (again). May is a great month for new music. Artists begin releasing new music for the Summer.

I always keep an ear out for new music. I love discovering new bands/songs, it’s a habit from my days as a music journalist. Even though this is mostly a sports blog, I still add quite a bit of music and pop culture content.

I have been called a hipster on more than one occasion. I like indie music more than any other genre of music. Don’t get me wrong, I can rock out to Richard Marx or Ace of Base (depending on the amount of alcohol in my system).

Here are 15 new indie songs I’m currently listening to. All of the songs are fresh and most have only been released within the last two months.

Your ears will thank you for listening!

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Could NFL Now Force Daniel Snyder to Change Redskins Name?

Now that the NBA has set an example on how to handle owner racism, will the other major sports follow suit?

The NBA banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life for recorded remarks he made in private. They are pushing for the owners to vote to force Sterling to sell the team. They need 3/4ths of the owners to vote ‘yes’ in order for that to happen.

Now that the NBA has opened the ‘let’s vote an owner out of the league’ Pandora’s box, this seems like the perfect opportunity for the NFL to this as leverage to force Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change his team’s name.

Does the NFL have similar language in their bylaws to force Snyder out as owner?

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Sports Crush: WWE Diva – Lana

We’ve written a handful of ‘Sports Crush’ posts since we launched Americas White Boy a few years ago. We’ve spotlighted sportscasters, female MMA fighters, Olympians and WWE Divas Summer Rae, A.J. Lee, Paige & The Bella Twins. The response was so great, we decided to profile one of the newest WWE Divas, Lana.

Many people may recognize Lana from her previous work. Her real name is C.J. Perry (Catherine Joy Perry). She was in the movie ‘Pitch Perfect’ and was one of the infamous Florida State Cowgirls with Jenn Sterger.

She has only been under contract with the WWE for less than a year. She was signed after they had tryouts for female talent. Since she’s so new, you will not see her in the ring, but she landed a cushy job as the valet for the Bulgarian Brute, Alexander Rusev.

We are crushing on the ‘Ravishing Russian’ Lana and once you look at our photo gallery of the WWE Diva, you will understand why. We also added a very nice .gif for your enjoyment.

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Will Cowboys Trade Up to Draft Johnny Manziel?

NFL Draft rumors are swirling more than a Panhandle Twister. Teams are trying to gain any leverage they can by putting out false rumors. It’s difficult to trust anything you hear from now until the 2014 NFL Draft on May 8th.

The latest rumor getting traction is the Dallas Cowboys would do ‘anything’ to trade up to draft Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

It would be the quintessential ‘Jerry Jones’ move. Johnny Football is everything Jones wants in a quarterback. He’s talented, fun to watch and very marketable. Jones would love to have Manziel play for the Cowboys.

Is there any truth to this rumor?

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Review: “Wooden: A Coach’s Life” by Seth Davis

I was sent “Wooden: A Coach’s Life” two months ago and it took me quite awhile to finish the 608-page behemoth. I usually avoid books this length, not because I hate reading, but I often read a few books at a time. I thought this would be a pain to read due to its length, but I found myself really looking forward to my time with the book.

John Wooden is the best basketball coach of all-time. Not just the best college basketball coach, but I believe he is the best basketball coach at any level. His X’s & O’s were great, but he made boys into young men. His ‘Pyramid of Success’ is more about life than it is about basketball.

CBS Sports college basketball analyst Seth Davis really made a work of art. He was able to get inside the mind of Wooden. He’s a talented author and this book is on par or better than his great Larry Bird/Magic Johnson book, “When March Went Mad”.

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Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F*ck/Marry/Kill – Week 4

This is the first installment of “Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F*ck, Marry, Kill” of the young baseball season. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer all of them. You can email me at bobbymcrib@gmail.com.

Welcome to “Sweetbob’s Fantasy F*ck, Marry, Kill”…

Before I begin, let’s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys I list under “F*ck” are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. “Marry”, are guys that you need to stick with, even if they are struggling a bit. “Kill”, are guys that you need to think about dropping for better players in the free agent pool.

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Blue Jackets Win First-Ever Playoff Game

I’ve been waiting fourteen years to say this, but the Columbus Blue Jackets FINALLY won a playoff game. They have only made the playoffs one other time since they joined the NHL as an expansion franchise in 2000. They were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in 2009

After losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first game of the series, the Blue Jackets beat the Penguins in double-overtime on Saturday night. Matt Calvert scored the winning goal.

The series now goes to Nationwide Arena in Columbus tied 1-1 for games three and four.

Can the Blue Jackets pull off the upset and win the series?

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Toy Crazy: The Definitive WWF LJN Checklist

I know we all had toys as a kid that either got destroyed or sold by your parents at a yard sale. Well, a lot of those toys now go for big money on eBay. In particular, the WWF LJN line of toys from the 80’s.

The WWF LJN line had figures of recognizable fame (Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Bret Hart, Macho Man, etc). They made standard 8-inch figures, Bendies, 16-inch figures, thumb wrestlers & even Stretch Armstrong-like toys.

Many collectors like collecting LJNs because there are many variants in the line. Many aren’t widely-considered variants, but just slight production errors. Once LJN went out of business in 1989, Canadian toy company Grand Toys took over production for the last series.

I contacted a few hardcore WWF LJN collectors and spoke to them about variants and decided to make a definitive list for those collecting action figures and the posters that accompany the standard figures (yes, there are even poster variants).

Here is the definitive WWF LJN checklist with all the widely accepted known variants for the standard figures, Bendies, Thumb Wrestlers, 16-inch figures, Stretch wrestlers and Posters.

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Ranked: All 95 Weezer Songs Ranked

Rolling Stone recently ranked every Nirvana song as a tribute on the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. This inspired me to do the same with a few of my favorite artists.

I’ve been a fan of Weezer since I heard my brother playing his “Blue Album” cassette tape. I’ve saw them in concert a few times since and they are still one of my favorite bands of all-time.

We’ve ranked all 95 songs Weezer have released on standard albums. If I added all their B-sides and covers, this list would be a lot longer…and their track “Susanne” would be very high.

Here is our ranked list of all 85 Weezer songs in descending order…and we’ve included some videos.

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2014 NBA Championship Betting Odds

Now that the NBA regular season is over, ‘real’ basketball begins. We will no longer hear about tanking or listen to Bill Simmons flip every NBA discussion into something Boston Celtics-related.

The NBA Playoffs should be fun this year. The Miami Heat have looked vulnerable during the regular season. There’s handful of teams that have a realistic shot at winning the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The first round has some nice matchups. Warriors/Clippers, Grizzlies/Thunder and Trail Blazers/Rockets all have my interest peaked.

Can the Pacers rebound from a late-season slump?

Here are the 2014 NBA Championship betting odds.

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