So, Covid finally got me. Not exactly sure where, but it could have been on an international flight or in an uber. Either way, I’m at the house in isolation until it's done so I don't get any of my co-hosts sick.
So, while I’m here I wanted to put together a notebook. Get back to my roots of writing and keep in touch with everything that’s going on.
Knicks May Have Tampered with Brunson Deal
So, it looks likely that the Knicks will get penalized for tampering with Jalen Brunson before free agency began. The worst kept secret in maybe all of sports was that the Knicks were making moves to clear space for him and had a deal imminently in place.
Here’s the problem.
Doesn’t matter.
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Agents and general managers have wink-wink deals all of the time behind the scenes. The league says they want to monitor it more, but in all honesty, they can’t and even if they can, those same agents and GM’s will always find a way around it.
The other thing that doesn’t matter is the Knicks being penalized. It’s not going to be anything that lops off the head of this thing and ends tampering.
And lastly, the Mavs get nothing. Even if there is a fine or loss of draft picks for the Knicks, there is nothing coming to the Mavericks. I'd love for the Mavericks to get some draft picks or cap relief or something wild, but it's not going to happen.
Do something bold, NBA. Until there is compensation to the team who loses their player, or the actual team gets a massive penalty, the needle is not moved.
Rangers Record Takes Hit
Before I left for vacation, I predicted the Rangers would be “very above .500” by the All-Star Break.
The number for “VERY ABOVE” was about six games up. For that to happen now, they would have to win 11 of their next 12.
Maybe, just maybe Mike Bacsik will be right and they will be four games up, but they would stil have to win a ton of games.
I predicted that off the idea that their schedule was favorable, but Texas dropped two to the Nats, one to the Royals and so far one to Baltimore.
I wanted a sweep or two with these bad teams to make up for what I expected would be series losses against the good teams.
Either way, if the Rangers continue winning series against bad or evenly matched teams they could be around .500 by the break, and for me, that’s so much more positive than the subpar baseball they’ve been rolling out since 2017.
Movies and Stuff
Since I’ve been sitting around watching a lot of TV and movies, I have some suggestions for you.
Amazon Prime
Black Bear - starring Aubrey Plaza, wish I could tell you what its about, but just watch the trailer and you’ll be able to decide if you wanna watch it or not. Cory’s Cool With It Grade: B
Breaking News in Yuba County – Huge Cast, wild plot twists, funny as heck. Fell a little short for me but I still liked it. Cory’s Cool With It Grade: A-
Netflix
The Man from Toronto- Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, not a buddy cop move but kinda the same vein. Hart is his usual funny self and Harrelson plays an action character I didn’t think he could play. My oldest son loved it and I did too. Cory’s Cool With It Grade: A
Stranger Things season finale- This show has been wildly entertaining from the start and they haven’t failed to deliver so far. I only have one problem with it so far, but I don’t want to spoil it for anybody so I’ll wait on that. Cory’s Cool With It Grade: A+
Disney+
Ms. Marvel- If nothing else, the colors are electric and I like how they delicately introduce you to different cultures. The story is fun and easy to keep track of, more so than Moon Knight and the music is pretty solid too. Without getting too picky about stuff, Cory’s Cool With It Grade: Easy A