Grab Bag: April ends with "You" final season, Warriors in a slugfest with the Rockets, Giants holding steady, Big 49er re-signing, Alcaraz injury forces him to cancel home tourney.

Well, that was a wild week in the sports-ball department, with the Draft, NBA playoffs, and Giants surviving pretty well on a long road trip! Most shocking news though is that Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed she has now gone back to eating bread and cheese! I may be gooped by this admission, but apparently Gwyneth isn't gooping anymore! (Hard hitting news, I KNOW!) .

San Francisco Giants: The Giants came home after a long road trip, and did drop the first game of the series 2-0, to the Texas Rangers, but on Saturday's nationally televised game, the G-Men waited till the bottom of the 9th , when Patrick Bailey saw one pitch and hit it to drive in Heliot Ramos for a walk-off 3-2 win. While that was exciting, Sunday's finale would make major league baseball infamy. With the game tied 2-2, going into the bottom of the 9th, Ramos stepped to the plate, hit a squibbler down the 3rd base line....pitcher threw in to first, but the ball went to the outfield, Ramos took to 2nd, but was being waved to go to third, he beat the throw, and the throw went into left field, and Ramos huffed his way home for what is referred to a "little league home-run", which is three errors that led to an insane walk-off win! My b/f was at his first Oracle Park game, and he and the fans went nuts! I WILL find a video of this!

Absolutely bonkers! Ramos could barely breathe when he slid into home plate!

Off to San Diego (as is my b/f) for a quickie 2 game series against the Padres! Yes, Giants starters and relievers are doing quite well! But in San Diego, the Padres bullpen shut down any attempt by theGiants to come back and were swept by the Padres! Off to face the Rockies at Oracle this weekend- who have only won SIX games so far this season!

This link is for Gary, and all the Daves i know and fellow Giants fans as it's a nice and easy recap read of the last two weeks! https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/mlb/san-francisco-giants/takeaways-2025-season-stretch/1846208/?partner=sailthru

Injury Update: Second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald will miss at least two weeks due to a rib fracture he sustained when he fully laid out to catch a diving ball a few games ago. Brett Wisely called up to replace him.

San Francisco 49ers: As I reported last issue, DE Mykel Williams was the first choice of the Niners with the 11th pick. With Robert Saleh returning as the 49ers defensive coordinator, the majority of the 11 draft picks showed that. Below is a link to a nice, easy, quick read to get the skinny on those 11 players and where and when we might see them on the field when the season begins later this year....if they make the cut! https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2025/story/_/id/44532945/san-francisco-49ers-2025-nfl-draft-picks-full-list-round-depth-chart

Oh, QB Brock Purdy still has not signed a new contract as of this posting! <taps fingers>.

UPDATE: The people's tight end (TE), George Kittle re-signed for four years/ 76.4 million- 29 million guaranteed- making Kittle the highest paid tight end in the NFL!

Golden State Warriors: So no Jimmy Butler for Saturday evening's game due to the pelvic injury he sustained on Game 3. It showed in the first quarter of Game 3 as the Dubs could only muster 20 points, with Steph Curry adding just 2 points! Uh-oh! But a 2nd half resurrection was to occur, as the defense clamped down on the Rockets offense, Curry popped off for 35 points, and he got help from Gary Payton II with 16 points, and Buddy Heild (who needs to keep this up!) hitting five 3-pointers and Quentin Post, who greatly reduced the huge rebound advantage Houston has had in this series by snagging 11 rebounds himself! Draymond Green was key in the 4th quarter, as he was making life hard for the Rockets to get in position and set for their shots, and was highly motivated ( Coach Steve Kerr and Curry said after the game how huge Dray was in the 4th!) to annoy the Rockets players. With all that, but without Jimmy Butler, the Warriors pulled off a bit f an upset, defeating the Rockets, 104-93, to take a two games to one lead in the best of seven series! Monday is Game 4 at Chase, and we should know if Butler has healed enough to play! Fun fact! Curry ran the equivalent of 2.9 miles on the court in this game!

Good news! Jimmy Butler is going to start Game 4! Dubs have a much better 1st quarter than the previous three games, leading 28-26, then the wheels came off. Bad boy Dillion Brooks pushed Curry, who fell to the ground, and pointed 1-1, meaning you fouled me and I'll be shooting two free throws. Brooks than said something back, and both benches cleared , with Draymond coming in to let the Rockets players know, don't be messin with my guy! End result: Brooks with a technical foul, Green with a technical foul, and Curry (!!!!!!!!) with a technical foul. If any of these guys get a second "T", they are out of this game! Curry's T was for taunting;I've heard worse back-stage at drag shows! Draymond got that 2nd T, as the Rockets are very aware and are taunting HIM now, to get Dray tossed from the game! After all this, the halftime stats show the Rockets offense finally showed up, shooting 56% field goals, to Dubs 36% , and a similar line with the 3-pointers, but the killer was 17 Rockets points off of Warriors turnovers, hence the halftime score of Houston 57 Golden State 50. Curry hasn't even hit 10 points yet.

The Dubs come out hot to open the 3rd quarter, going on an 18-1 run to take a 10 point lead, but Draymond picked up his 5th foul (six and you're out), and sat for the remaining eight minutes of the quarter, which Houston used to their advantage to stay even with the Dubs. Brandin P. (Air Podz) went off though, to counter-attack, and and the end of three, the Dubs were up, 82-80! The 4th quarter was a back and forth affair, and came down to the last seconds as Dray made the defensive stop of the game to secure a 106-103 win in a thrilling, nail-biting PLAYOFF game! While Steph was quiet by his usual numbers ( 17 points), but Curry's Batman had his Robin back, as Butler scored 27 points, with several points in the paint, and playing in pain in those last few minutes! Both Butler and Podz, who scored 27 points in his first playoff series, played 40 minutes, only eight minutes off the court! Houston helped by having another awful stat on the free throw line, shooting 19 out of 31 chances at the charity stripe. The only stat where the Dubs excelled, but this was a team win for them! Off to Houston for Game 5 on Wednesday, in what will be a very physical game!

Game 5 in Houston, and it was UGLY for the Warriors from the start! Three early fouls on Dray, Steph and Butler had them playing limited minutes.The Dubs bench outscored the Dubs starters, Houston finally learned how to hit free throws, 17-20 for 85%, Dubs 7-10, Rockets 69% on field goals, Dubs 33%, 10 turnovers, and besides poor shooting by the starters, no sign of any defense by the Dubs, which led to a 76-49 score in the first half! Yikes! I did not see the 2nd half, just some highlights. Coach Kerr threw up the white flag in the 3rd quarter and rested all his starters, with only Curry breaking double-digits in scoring (13). Then something unusual happened- the bench players caught fire, narrowing the Rockets lead to just 12 points before the Rockets coach, who had rested his starters after Houston was leading by 30 points, had to bring them back out to fend off the Warrior upstarts! The Dubs bench players, led by Moses Moody and Pat "head butt" Spencer (yea, he got ejected for that), scored an NBA playoff record 76 points, and out-scored Houston in the 4th, but the damage in the first half was too insurmountable to overcome, and Golden State lost, 131-116.

Here is the altercation between Spencer, Rockets player Sangun, and Spencer's "I got your back" teammate Trace Jackson Davis, courtesy of Bleacher Report:

Back to Oracle for game 6 on Friday night. Should be a spicy affair!

Culture Club: Pretty quiet for me this past week, but one show DID get my attention with it's 5th and final season: "You" on Netflix. Synopsis: "You" is a psychological thriller-crime drama about Joe Goldberg, a charming but intensely obsessive man who will go to extreme lengths to be with the women he is fascinated by. The series, based on Caroline Kepnes' books, explores the themes of obsession, manipulation, and violence as Joe navigates his relationships and often commits horrific acts to achieve his desires. Joe is played by Penn Badgley, who also serves as narrator of the series.

The synopsis does a nice job of nailing the premise. Besides the themes mentioned, I would also add extreme gaslighting and most importantly, the White Knight toxic masculinity that Joe believes in to justify his actions; that he and only he can "fix" the woman he is so obsessed with. While the series does make note of Joe's childhood trauma, it also makes no excuses for his actions; while Joe thinks he has good intentions (and sometimes he truly does, making him a much more interesting character.), the show does not let him off the hook that his White Knight "bottom line" are all HIS choices, accidental (hey, he put himself in that position!) or not.

Using Season 1 (and being careful of what I know with the following seasons), as my springboard for my flow of consciousness regarding this series, I'll start off as to what compelled me to watch it: it's great writing and acting is fascinating! Living in New York, Joe spots a young woman, Beck, and immediately becomes obsessed with her (hence the show's title-You)- a trait that continues thru five seasons. Besides stalking his new paramour Beck, he also has to deal with a fellow schemer much like himself (though that person isn't murdery) who the viewer kinda wanted Joe to off this vile possessive person. Have to admit, that battle was fun to watch as the two rival for Beck's affection keep escalating their game to oust one another from Beck's life At his apartment, Joe tries to assist a young boy, Paco, cope with the problem of having a drunk, abusive stepdad, and a co-dependent mother. That storyline helps the series "humanize" Joe, as he really does care for the welfare of Paco, and similar storylines thru the five seasons show this side of him that makes you say, "He's a nice guy, who's troubled, accidents happen.". Sure, Jan. The dark humor the show swirls around in is how in each season there is at LEAST one character that you are rooting for Joe to defeat, bloody or otherwise. I can tease the season 2 finale threw a whopper of a twist that carries all of season 3! I can only tease about the final season, as my younger sister may not text me again, as she is behind a couple (and hence the season one trailer below). Suffice to say, it's brilliantly written and acted, with some great twist and turns this show is known for, a return or cameo by previous characters (One that made me shockingly happy, as me and the fans didn't see THAT happening), and yes, Joe get his comeuppance in the best way possible (justice over vengeance) for a character who...nah...I'll just leave the teaser as is! :)

Late breaking tennis news! Carlos Alcaraz is getting treatment for a hip abductor strain, and had to miss his home tourney in Madrid and Barcelona. I posted on my Facebook a post he wrote about how he and we are not invincible, and not everyone can see the pain people go thru, whether they are famous or not...he is a very thoughtful young man! Fingers crossed he will be 100% for the French Open later in May!

I need to apply for this job! Enjoy the weekend....you! Comments are open. :)