An advice column for people who live with people who live for sports
What happened on Thursday, December 11, 2014?
Football game mercifully ends, one team wins: Even though it’s not statistically true, it’s become normal for people to complain about the low quality of Thursday Night football games. The argument is that there’s not enough time for coaches to plan or players to recover from the last game. Those arguments were bolstered by last night’s dreadfully played game between the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals won 12-6 which is exactly the score you might expect when two teams with good defenses and incompetent offenses play each other. Line: The Cardinals lost another starting quarterback last night. By the time they limp into the playoffs, they’ll not just be limping, they’ll be in a walking boot, on crutches.
LeBron is human, Cavaliers lose: One of the strongest signs of LeBron James’ dominance is that it’s hard to remember him ever being injured. Oh, sure, there was that little issue with cramps in last year’s playoffs, but everyone gets cramps. It’s pretty amazing that someone who is 6’8″ and plays at something between 250 and 280 lbs can run and jump as hard as him for so long and not suffer some kind of real injury. We were reminded of this last night when he sat out the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of some knee soreness. The Cavaliers without James lost handily, 103-94. Line: I can’t ever remember LeBron actually being injured, can you?
Harden loves overtime: It’s almost as if James Harden, who was traded to the Houston Rockets from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a move that has been pilloried by the basketball intelligentsia, knew he was going to be on TV after his old teammates and wanted to remind everyone that he’s still a great player in his own right. He scored 44 points, ten of them in five minutes of overtime, to help his team beat the Sacramento Kings, 113-109. Line: Harden just said, “Remember me? I’m still here!”
