Left Coast Sports Babe

ESPN headline “Oakland embracing newfound attention” (after their upset of #3 Kentucky.)

Wonder how many of the team’s newfound fans have figured out they’re not in California

Apparently the school has sold thousands of dollars worth of t-shirts to fans in… LOUISVILLE?!

(for the uninitiated the University of Louisville is the arch-rival of Kentucky, which is located in Lexington.)

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Still mad about the SF Giants not being able to work out a deal to keep public address announcer Renel Brooks-Moon.

Not so disappointed however that SF didn’t land Shohei Ohtani.

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Honestly sounds like Ohtani paid his old friend’s debts knowingly, and then someone pointed out to him or the Dodgers that such a wire transfer was a crime. Didn’t we learn that lesson about cover-ups and crimes with Nixon?

From my funny friend Paul Lander “Ohtani is looking like it’s Japanese for Pete Rose.”

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So is there any political criminal NBC won’t stoop to hire for ratings? Let’s be honest: If they could get Donald Trump as an on-air contributor to boost their ratings, they would.

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Kristen Welker will have new MSNBC/NBC commentator Ronna Romney McDaniel on Meet the Press.

If you didn’t already have enough reasons to sleep late this Sunday.

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Now it’s GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher who will step down from Congress on April 19. Which will cut the GOP majority to 217-213 since Ken Buck is also leaving early.

Maybe one of those “moderate” Republicans in swing districts could cut a deal with future Speaker Jeffries?

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Won’t get much media coverage but with Senate 74-24 vote to avoid government shutdown, only Senators who tried to derail bill w/ amendments were GOP.

Imagine if McConnell or another Republican had the gavel. Trump would have ordered a shutdown to make Biden look bad.

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Patty Murray, Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner & other Senators I probably missed posted after 2am Eastern time about averting a government shutdown. All of them worked hard on bill.

None of them will get a fraction of the media attention as Marge from Georgia who did nothing, attacked GOP Speaker, then went on vacation.

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And ICYMI -Marge Three Names filed a motion to vacate Speaker Johnson over passing the Spending Bill She said “I do not want to throw the House in Chaos.” Funeral services for satire are pending.

Bracket, that is

In fact, my favorite St. Patrick’s Day toast…

“May your troubles last as long as your perfect brackets.” #MarchMadness

How many people had Oakland over Kentucky? How many people know that Oakland is not in California but Michigan?

Story keeps changing with Shohei Ohtani and his friend/interpreter. No one at this point is accusing the star of betting himself. But if Ohtani paid Mizuhara’s debts, it would violate multiple federal criminal statutes & violate MLB Rule 21(f).- association with illegal gamblers. Remember this? When Mantle & Mays were banned from baseball. They just had “meet & greet” casino jobs..

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https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/news/today-in-baseball-history-when-mantle-and-mays-were-banned-from-baseball

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So much of GOP sham Investigation into President Biden is false allegations that he used his political position to enrich himself.

Yet Republicans have no problem with their leader fundraising for his own benefit and turning RNC into his own personal piggy bank.

Make it make sense.

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Thursday Jim Jordan actually chaired a congressional hearing right now on locker room safety.

That moment when reality is an SNL cold open

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As Trump and GOP politicians push an anti-vaccine narrative, could reporters start asking them on camera if THEY and their families are vaccinated.

Guessing they won’t risk their own children’s lives even if it’s a good anti-government narrative to spew for their base.

The University of Virginia men’s basketball team, into March Madness as a play-in 10 seed, lost to Colorado State 67-42.

Most embarrassing night for sports in Virginia? Well, until the Wizards or Commanders move to the state.

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Supreme Court said Texas can immediately begin enforcing immigration law allowing state officials to arrest & detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally. So when do police start questioning white fans outside of hockey games to find undocumented Canadians?

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“KateGate” seems to be top story in England these days, But in USA, watching former President & current candidate talk about jailing opponents, saying some immigrants are not people & throwing around word ‘bloodbath,” uproar over doctored royal family photos seems so quaint.

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On top of everything else how much taxpayer paid time are we wasting with Senate continually having to bail out House & renegotiate spending bills to avoid government shutdowns? We didn’t have this circus with Nancy Pelosi in charge & we won’t with Speaker Jeffries. #VoteBlue

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Hey CNN and MSNBC, can you just stop with these clown exit poll questions – “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?” It’s an illegitimate dishonest question and keeps the lie front and center on Trump’s behalf.

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Trump could do to the RNC what he did to all his Atlantic City casinos. What a shame.

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And a fundraising email I got today:

“Dems flipped seat in NY Special Election. GOP razor-thin House Majority cut down even further Joe Biden opened up 100 field offices in key battleground states, hired 300 campaign staff & shattered fundraising record.”

Who knew fundraising for RNC, Lara Trump would be more positive about Democrats than MSM!

Driving a couple hours to and from a board meeting heard a lot of discussion as to whether SF 49ers fans, unhappy with Jimmy Garoppolo’s tenure with the team, would support him being back in San Francisco.

Well, he might have gotten booed as a 49ers, but going to be amusing to see what the response is now if/when Jimmy G returns to Levi’s Stadium as a back-up QB for the Los Angeles Rams.

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Meanwhile SF Giants have had their third or fourth Spring Training game this year rained out in the desert. But sure, there’s no climate change… #sarcasm

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When you say woman who allegedly lied under oath about sex must be disqualified as a Prosecutor…

And also say man who lied about sex with THREE oaths, as in “forsaking all others,” & was found guilty of lying about sexual assault must be our next President.. #SignsItMustBeACult

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Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw isn’t moderate. He recently attacked Biden for saying GOP trying to “take away women’s rights.””

Uh, GOP ARE trying to take away women’s rights.

But now Crenshaw said US intel agencies don’t meddle in domestic news coverage so MAGA calls him Eyepatch McCain.

Another of those #SignsItMustBeACult

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As Russia goes through yet another sham election, your reminder “The President of Russia is limited to no more than two consecutive six year terms…”

Vladimir Putin has been in power over 20 years. Think his US puppet doesn’t have similar plans if he gets re-election?

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As many who genuflect before a serial adulterer clutch their pearls over Fani Willis and her “appearance of impropriety,” I remember Seinfeld’s line during Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. “So he lied about sex. Everyone lies about sex. Most people lie DURING sex.”

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NY Times headline: Latinos, Shifting Toward Trump, Land at the Center of the 2024 Campaign If only there were a national newspaper to cover Donald’s threats of arrests and deportation of even legal immigrants if they don’t carry papers or take part in protests.

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Regular reminder. If Donald Trump thought he’d be found innocent in ANY of his trials he’d be pushing for that trial to start as soon as possible, so he could brag about, and fundraise off of, the acquittal.

Random dose of awww…

A distant relative of the late great Flaco. (In Napa County)

Lottery balls in the NBA mean less tanking

But this year, guessing more sports fans have heard of the top WNBA draft pick than about the potential #1 and #2 for the men

(For that matter, Cameron Brink should go #2.)

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Linebacker Eric Kendricks turned down the SF 49ers to join the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent. Money? Or does Kendricks just like to have his Februarys off?

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As a Democrat and Saints fan have known for years my favorite QB Drew Brees is almost certainly a Republican. I can live with that.

Don’t have to share political views with my sports heroes.

OTOH, feeling very grateful as Stanford alum I was NEVER an Aaron Rodgers fan. #Weenies

Donald Trump on possible VP: “Not a person in politics that doesn’t want it & that includes Democrats. If I wanted, I’d have a Democrat, I’d have a liberal, I’d have anybody I want.”

Political ego version of “I moved on her like a b*tch, when you’re a star they let you do it”

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Tommy Tuberville called Joe Biden a “garbage human being”

I would call Tuberville a garbage human being but at least garbage can be useful as fertilizer or if recycled.

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This NC Superintendent of School election in November should be a bigger story. “Michele Morrow, who has 5 homeschooled children, called public schools “indoctrination centers” & attended Jan. 6, 2021, attack on U.S. Capitol. She also attacked incumbent for being endorsed by GOP Sen. Thom Tillis

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article286339975.html

What stuns me, looking at a local story, only “77% of Biden voters back Green.” How could ANYONE who supports President Biden support this scary woman?

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Remember when we could go to sleep at night and for all the stress in the world we could at least know that a good decent President was in the White House? Like last night. And every night since January 20, 2021 #ThankYouBiden

This headline “RFK Jr. eyeing Aaron Rodgers, Jesse Ventura as top ’24 running mate contenders.”

As someone who writes jokes about sports and politics it’s really hard to top that.

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Tommy Tuberville actually posted on Twitter -no joke “Joe Biden is a garbage human being.”

Again, Nick Saban, you kicked his derriere on the field, please enjoy a couple years off and then run for US Senate in Alabama and kick it again.

https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-college-football-sports-alabama-crimson-tide-football-jerry-west-eb9b7b0a33e81f7f3661ad528959cf1c

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-Even smallest things. NYTimes headline. “Trump and Biden Clinch Nominations, Setting Up November Rematch Former President Trump & President Biden secured delegates necessary to get their parties’ presidential nominations.” Uh, shouldn’t POTUS come first?

@NYTimes loves Trump

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But apparently one of 50 plus RNC officials just fired by Lara Trump says he never thought the Trump family would betray his years of loyalty.

We are watching the scorpion and the frog story play out in real time.

So what’s next for Robert Hur? A gig at Fox News? Or running for office as a Republican?.

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And does Judge Cannon think Donald will put her on SCOTUS or is she hoping to be wife #4?

NAACP asking Black student-athletes to reconsider Florida colleges due to DeSantis’s efforts to get rid of DEI.

Good start- but what about asking WOMEN student-athletes to reconsider Florida colleges due DeSantis’s efforts to make pregnancies a potential death sentence?

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Kirk Cousins agrees to deal with Atlanta Falcons. Actually think this is good news, for the New Orleans Saints.

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Seeing a lot of complaints that the Oscars were boring. So i guess it would have been better if the Academy paid someone to slap somebody?

Washington Post Headline – RNC fires dozen of employees after Trump-backed leadership takes over.

Uh, “Trump-backed leadership?” Donald’s daughter-in-law, with no real political experience, is co-chair

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Imagine if President Biden had so much as a distance relative appointed to the DNC.

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But yeah, reports that Donald Trump’s newly installed leadership team at RNC fired over 60 staffers, including 5 senior staffers. Presumably all of them who objected to Donald using RNC as his personal piggy bank.

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Kari Lake, running this time for Senate in Arizona, is now trying to pretend she wasn’t full on MAGA.

Except Lake’s been a Trump acolylte for years. Sorry, Kari, you are well past 15 weeks which even your cult leader at his most moderate would say is too late to terminate.

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John Fetterman on Bob Menendez refusing to resign after latest indictment my colleagues are “okay with having a sleazeball in the Senate.” Well, there’s not just one sleazeball in the Senate. But NJ is a blue state, Schumer could take away his committees & force him to resign.

Several fans, so far, who were at the January 13, Kansas City Chiefs win over the Miami Dolphins, have had to undergo amputations from frostbite.

Sort of puts all those old Croix de Candlesticks in perspective.

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Now there are investigations into both Loyola Marymount and Temple men’s basketball programs for unusual betting activity.

Nothing against Mid-Atlantic Conference basketball but if you wanted to cheat under the radar wouldn’t you pick games where presumably any serious betting is “unusual betting activity?”

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Now not only will VIctor Wembanyama, with a sprained ankle, miss Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, so will Steph Curry.

Fans who spent big $$ for the game might be almost as unhappy as TV advertisers.

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One reason you know Biden made a great speech. Lots of unhappy MAGA types on social media today But if your Twitter bio calls yourself a “common sense conservative” and you repost Marge Three Names, well, you’ve already lost credibility.

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And maybe it’s just me… but if you show up to the State of the Union Presidential address somewhat underdressed for a Little League banquet, well, you’ve also lost credibility. Not that she already had any.

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GOP Senator Lankford, along with his staff & & others worked for MONTHS on bipartisan bill & invited participation from his colleagues. Can some reporter please ask Republicans ranting about border security why they didn’t tell James one word from Trump would make them vote “no?”

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Mike Lee wants an amendment to the government funding bill to block DOJ funding for federal cases involving political candidates.

Since Trump was reportedly trying to reach Senator Lee on January 6 does Mike really want to remind Americans of his possible role on that day?

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Some number of GOP Senators are voting to eliminate Congressional earmarks in the Government Spending bill. Of course those same Senators will all take credit when the earmarked money gets spent in their states.

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An International Women’s Day reminder, we need to talk more about women in politics who actually get job done.

Am always Amy Klobuchar fan but kudos now for Senators Patty Murray and yes though it pains me to say it, Susan Collins, the chair & ranking member on Senate appropriations committee, for steering the bipartisan bill through for now to avoid a government shutdown.

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Meanwhile for Progressives still not happy with our President, this tweet today

“Only one candidate understands that we must address the threat of climate change; that women have a right to control their own bodies; and that our economy must work for working people and not just billionaires. That candidate is Joe Biden.”

The writer? Bernie Sanders.

While memory and age are big in the political headlines these days, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards had to come off the bench tonight because he missed the game’s opening tipoff.

He “lost track of time.”

Edwards is 22.

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Approaching conference tournaments before March madness, have to think this might be the first year that many casual sports fans actually are invested as much in the women’s college basketball tournament as the men’s. Or heck, at least name more than 1-2 teams.

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Scott Boras says interest is up in his pitcher clients Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Up from what?

Thinking if Boras was willing to entertain reasonable offers they might both be signed now.

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Just read up on Louisiana, where IVF embryos are considered “persons.”

They must be “transferred into patient, stored forever at patient’s expense or donated to married couple.” Single people who want a baby cannot be given an embryo.

It’s not about life, it’s about control.

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Trump talking this morning about ANY President needing full immunity.

So this means President Biden can do whatever he wants…including arresting someone he believes to be a traitor to our country? Got it.

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As Trump pledges not to give money to schools with any vaccine mandate should the GOP’s motto really be “Books are more dangerous than viruses?”

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Rachel Maddow tonight talks about a new bill in Oklahoma that would create a database of women who have had abortions. No joke. What could possibly go wrong?

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Your regular reminder.

Prosecutor having sex with staffer isn’t smart, but it is not “conflict of interest” in case about trying to overturn an election. What IS a conflict of interest? Being married to an insurrectionist & being a judge in case about overturning the election.

Lara Trump says when she becomes co-Chair of the Republican Party, “anyone” who doesn’t support Trump and MAGA will be told to “leave” the party.

Well, if any of them are left, Democratic phone lines are open.

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Media talking about how Nikki Haley finally won a primary. In DC. Not exactly a bastion of Republicanism.

These are the vote totals, no, no zeros have been dropped. She got 1,274 votes, Donald got 676. I’ve seen TSA lines with more people.

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Trump actually just said he would not “give a penny to schools that have a vaccine mandate.” Great news if you’re pro-polio, measles, mumps, etc. And how many pregnant women will miscarry if/when they get German measles/rubella?

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And Trump also claimed as President he took out some very big people, the “leading terrorists we’ve ever seen,” would some reporter ask him to name them? Actually to name even one of them. I’ll wait.

So the A’s are out of their Oakland lease after 2024. Looks like sharing their stadium with the SF Giants isn’t feasible. There are minor league stadiums in Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas.

What about a return to the baseball history days of barnstorming? Not completely kidding. They’d probably draw more around the country at various retired stadiums or AAA ballparks than in Oakland.

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Tickets for Iowa women’s season basketball final game now against Ohio State,- with Caitlin Clark poised to break Pete Maravich’s all time college scoring record, start at about $500 to get in the door, with ticket prices going up over $5,000.

For those of us who aren’t going to Iowa, the game will be televised on ESPN.

Love the fact that these ticket prices are higher even than Ohio State football bowl games.

You go girl.

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Meanwhile, Susan Collins, on Mitch McConnell, “I felt compelled to thank him for devoting his life to public service for all the right reasons, to improve the lives of people in our great country** Well, unless you’re a woman who counted on reproductive rights. For starters.

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Mitch McConnell stepping down almost guarantees a Trump supporter will lead Republicans in the Senate. This would be a great time for Lisa Murkowski to become an independent & work out how to caucus with Democrats. Yes, she’s conservative on most issues, but she’s not crazy.

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Remember that old joke about a guy who murdered his parents and asked for sympathy from the court because he was an orphan?

Well, Donald Trump has been delaying his trials for over a year and now wants sympathy from the courts because those trials will be too close to the election.

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Brett Kavanaugh on bump stock prohibition on guns: “Even if you’re not aware of legal prohibition, you can be convicted…That’s going to ensnare a lot of people who arent aware of the legal prohibition.” So Brett wants to strike down all laws people can claim to be unaware of?

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So MAGA Mike Johnson kicked the can down the road to avoid a government shutdown for another week. If course if the Speaker really gave a damn about keeping the government open he could have cut the House’s two week vacation short.

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SCOTUS will somewhat unexpectedly take on Trump immunity case. Unintended consequences? If they rule for absolute Presidential immunity, Joe Biden can claim regardless of the election results, he can stay in White House himself if he feels Trump is threat to our democracy.

In California, voting by mail is straightforward and easy…. they verify signatures & also track your ballot. So far, 6 days before election, fewer than 10% of ballots have been returned, which is considerably lower than average. Hoping for a good election day turnout.

Even in blue state there are close races, We need to do better. VOTE!