Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …
* After Thursday night’s NBA Draft, we can finally begin evaluating the Mavericks-Hawks 2018 trade: Luka Doncic for Trae Young and Cam Reddish. Not such a lopsided win for Dallas, is it? A year ago the Mavs acquired the No. 3 pick (Doncic) in exchange for Young (the No. 5 pick) and a top-five protected first-round pick in the 2019 draft. The pick wound up being No. 10 Thursday night, and the Hawks used it on the Duke forward, Reddish. On Monday, we expect Doncic to win Rookie of the Year and his impact on the Mavericks’ present and future is empowering. But Young will likely finish a close second in that voting, and Reddish has the skill set and pedigree to be a star in the league. As a Mavericks fan, sure, we’re thrilled to have Doncic. But no doubt Hawks fans think their 2-for-1 swap is also a slam-dunk win.
* Michael Young was a better Ranger for a longer period of time than Adrian Beltre. 10 shoulda been retired before 29. Young was the best player, professional face and classy mouthpiece of some really bad teams. And he was a productive bat on some really good teams. He should cut in front of most every player to ever wear a T on their cap. The right numbers are being retired in Arlington, just in the wrong order.
* Amazed by how many people are going spicy-ketchup crazy over Whataburger being sold to a Chicago company. I get it, it’s cool that Whataburger is a Texas thing. But, seriously, it honestly makes you mad that the restaurant chain plans to expand beyond our borders? I love a fast-food cheat every now and then, but I’ll never waste time passionately debating which hamburger is superior and I’ll never contemplate boycotting Whataburger because it’s now owned in Illinois. By that warped rationale, you stopped rooting for the Cowboys the day they were bought by an Arkansas oil man and the Mavericks when they were purchased by a Pittsburgh tech tycoon.
* Speaking of drafts, the Stars have the 18th overall pick in Friday’s NHL Draft. Here’s a link to the mock hockey draft I most trust … Yeah, riiiiiiiight.
* Dallas Cowboys. No news, really. They’re on break until training camp opens July 27. But no Whitt’s End would be complete without those two words.
* Had the joy of jury duty this week. It wasn’t the $3 parking whittling away the $6 “income” that had me perplexed. And it wasn’t the ancient instructional video that warned us against posting anything about our particular case to “Myspace.” (Video’s gotta be 10-plus years old, right?) It was this simple order from the judge as we were sworn in: “Raise your right hand … .” I get that we are a right-handed country, but why? I’m right-handed, but I do not condone discrimination against lefties. Shouldn’t it be “Raise your preferred hand … ”?
* Get yer guns up for Texas Tech, circa 2019. The basketball team played in the national championship game. Track and field won the title. And now the baseball team is still alive in the College World Series. How’s that for incoming pressure on new football coach, Matt Wells?
* Hot.
* Not.
* As expected, the Mavericks’ draft was underwhelming. Without a first-round pick for the third time in six years, they patiently waited into the second round and then traded down with the Pistons to acquire two future second-round picks before ultimately selecting Nebraska forward Isaiah Roby at No. 45. But now the real fun begins: They have $31 million of salary-cap space to spend when free agency begins June 30.
* Industry experts estimate that legal sports gambling will arrive in Texas in 2021. The outlook for Oklahoma? “Not in sight.” So, let me get this straight: In two years I’ll have to drive across the Red River to put $5 down on a Blackjack hand, but then drive back across into Texas to make a $5 bet on the Mavs-Thunder game? Got it. Brilliant.
* Not a fan of soccer. Especially women’s soccer. But ESPN analyst Julie Foudy is fantastic. A rising star in a sport that repeatedly bumps its head on the ceiling of American interest. She’s smart without being smug or trying ohhhhhhh so hard to be clever. Hear that, Neil Everett?
* Craziest part of the Raptors’ NBA championship? Last summer – in the wake of his team leading the East with 59 wins – GM Masai Ujiri traded his best player (DeMar DeRozan) and fired his recently minted Coach of the Year (Dwane Casey). Here’s to not living by present results, but future potential.
* On credentials and title and topic alone, Dr. Eleanor Frajka-Williams of the National Oceanography Centre sounds like someone who’d talk waaaaaaay over my nincompoop noggin’. That’s precisely why this quote delights me so, so very much: “The data from Boaty McBoatface gave us a completely new way of looking at the deep ocean – the path taken by Boaty created a spatial view of the turbulence near the seafloor.” That’s right, because 124,000 Brits – who I assume were/are huge fans of Monty Python – voted with their humor in 2016, the serious doctor must address England’s $300 million research submarine by its official name: Boaty McBoatface. There is hope for us yet.
* Awakened the other night to violent explosions out of my mouth and otherwise. The culprit? Mayonnaise. Not only had the bottle expired in March 2018, we also forgot – oops – to throw it out last week after the storm cut electricity to our refrigerator for 72 hours. I wholeheartedly recommend avoiding expired mayo that has risen to 90 degrees and then been re-cooled. Yeah, yuck. Not sure if I’ll ever eat mayo again.
* Dear Mavericks, Clint Capela > Al Horford. Please.
* Paul McCartney played a three-hour show last week at American Airlines Center. I mean, I have minimal interest in him or his music, but doing anything other than sleeping for three consecutive hours at age 77 is impressive nonetheless.
* If you send your young(ish) children to summer camp, there’s a better-than-zero chance they will play the game “Ring Around the Rosie.” If you think that’s cute, please stop reading. Now. Because I’m now going to remind parents the genesis of that “game.” “Ring around the Rosie” refers to the first physical sign – a raised, ringed, rose-colored rash – that people living in the 1300s had contracted The Plague. Yes, the disease that wiped out 50 million humans or, at the time, 60% of Earth. “Pockets full of Posies” is because the lame immunity against The Plague was thought to be flowers. “Ashes, ashes” is because the dead, to stop spread of the disease, were burned in huge pits. “We all fall down” is, duh, death. Now, how the eff did that morbid portrayal of a sweeping disease turn into a cutesy nursery rhyme? Check that, there is no hope for us.
* This weekend? Swimming pools are great. Especially when they are someone else’s swimming pools. As always, don’t be a stranger.
