Grab Bag: Breaking News-Purdy signs! Warriors playoff run ends, Giants on a skid, Messi-Mania, Andor ends, Civil War delivers, G-20 Viola kicks it, and one airline just can't help itself as the worst!

Well, it was a rough week, for the local Bay Area teams; the only bright spot was that the GOAT of soccer/football, Lionel "Leo" Messi and his Miami MLS team visited San Jose to play the Earthquakes. It was a Swiftie-like scene outside his hotel and a sold out arena as Messi's team tied San Jose 3-3. And that ends my soccer update! Onto the Debby Downer sportsball.

BREAKING! The San Francisco 49ers and Brock Purdy have reached a deal! Per ESPN: On Friday, the Niners put significant action behind those words, as they were finalizing a five-year, $265 million deal that included $181 million in overall guaranteed money with Purdy, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Five years more as a SF Forty-Niner!

Golden State Warriors: A much better start for Game 3, as the Dubs hang with the Wolves in the first quarter, which ended in a 21-21 tie. Same for the second quarter, with the Warriors clamping down on defense, at one point, Minnesota was held scoreless for almost SIX minutes! Wolves defense was being stingy as well though, and the half ended with the Warriors up, 42-40. Jimmy Butler with 18 points, and Jonathan Kuminga continues his stellar play, dropping in 12 points. With Curry out, the Dubs were 0-5 on three-pointers- first time that has happened to a Golden State team since....2007! Third quarter: Buddy Hield makes the first Warriors 3-pointer in the first 2 minutes! Both teams found their 3-point shots, with the Dubs shooting 6-11 on threes. Both teams had an up and down the court running game, and the Dubs turned the ball over only 2 times. Dray picked up his 4th foul, so he sat for most of the quarter, and the Wolves star, Anthony Edwards showed why he is a better 2nd half player, dropping 15. End of 3rd quarter score, 73-69 Warriors.

Fourth quarter saw both teams not score for the first 3 minutes! As the game continued, the score remained close, either team had no more than a 6 point lead, usually just 2-3 point lead. Dray fouls out with 5 minutes to go! Wolves go on a 9-0 run for four minutes. After six minutes, of not scoring, Dubs finally get a bucket. Looney fouled out with 1:15 to go and the Wolves up by seven. With Edwards exploding for 35 points, and the Warriors unable to convert possessions into points, Butler's 33 points and Kuminga's 30 points were not enough, as the Wolves win, 102-97. Game 4 on Monday.

Good start by both teams, in Game 4, as Dray hits a couple of 3's, Podz hits his first two shots, Kuminga keeps up his scoring pace from game 3, but Butler held to only one shot in the first quarter, and the 1st quarter ends with the Dubs leading, 28-27. Second quarter finds Timberwolves Julius Randle with the hot hand in the 1st quarter, scoring 19 points, shut him down in the 2nd quarter. Dubs went to a zone defense for a few minutes, shutting out the Wolves offense for almost four minutes, and they closed out the last 3:15 with 10-10 on free throws, most of them scored by Kuminga. Halftime score: Warriors 60 T-Wolves 58.

Start of the 3rd quarter, a disaster for the Warriors, Wolves have 16 three-pointers (Dubs only 5) as Anthony Edwards goes off, with 20 points in the quarter, as Wolves go onto a 17-0 run, and both the offense and defense have a complete collapse, as Wolves have gone 11-13 on field goals. Absolutely sloppy, horrid quarter, with the Wolves outscoring Golden State 39-17. End of 3rd score Wolves 110- Warriors 97. I did not watch the 4th quarter, so final score was 117-110. Wolves can eliminate Warriors on Wednesday. I did see that the Boston Celtics lost their star player, Jason Tatum, who had surgery the next day to repair a ruptured Achille's tendon. Ouch! Tatum had 42 points in the 4th quarter against the New York Knicks before he got injured, and like the Warriors, the Celtics find themselves without their superstar, and being down, 3 games to 1 going into Wednesday evening. We find ourselves back in Minnesota for Game Five, and the Warriors have to win this game, and the next two games to get into the Western Conference Finals. The Dubs will have to do it without Steph Curry, as his hamstring injury is still a problem. I only saw parts of this game, and every time I tuned in, it was not good, as the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminate the Warriors four games to one. with a 121-110 victory to move onto the Western Conference finals. San Francisco Giants: Travelled to Minnesota, and promptly got swept by the Twins. The Twins pitching silenced the Giants offense in the first two games, allowing just two runs, and the Giants bullpen choked in the last game, giving up both the lead and then the loss in extra innings.

The Arizona Diamondbacks come to Oracle Park and on a cold Monday night, another pitching duel, with Giants stater Justin Verlander on the losing end of a 2-1 loss.

The next game found Robbie Ray picking up his fifth victory as the Giants offense busted out, with Willie Adames, Jung Ho-Lee and Cameron Koss all hitting home runs, Koss his first home run, which was also a grand slam! Lee's three-run shot, On Korean Heritage Night, no less, as the Giants won, 10-6. Jordan Hicks wasn't as lucky in the rubber day game, as Arizona tan Hicks out of the game after scoring five runs in two innings; Hayden Birdsong followed, and game up three more. The Giants tried to come back, scoring runs throughout the game, but came up short as the D-Backs snuck out of town with a 8-7 win.

Next up are the A's of Oakland(?) Sacramento(?) came to Oracle for a weekend series. In other MLB news, the Colorado Rockies, with a MLB league worst 6-26 record (Giants actually lost a game to them!), fired their head coach after the other team scored three touchdowns, err..runs in a 21-0 loss.

Culture Club: Andor, the series prequel to Star Wars "Rogue One" finished its planned two-season run recently, and just give all the awards to the amazing cast (led by the lead, Diego Luna, dashing and charming), the writers, the production crew on spinning off a a seemingly minor story and giving viewers a riveting two seasons leading up to Rogue One. Andor truly is a definition of a "space drama", not a sci-fi show, it could've taken place today, or in the near future, with all the scheming, rescues, mistrust, friendships, and chase scenes, Andor just does it in a galaxy, far, far away. Of COURSE after I finished the series finale, I immediately jumped to Rogue One to once again follow my favorite Star Wars movie, now armed with the backstory knowledge. Does it change how one views Rogue One? Not really, other than it gives the viewer more insight into Luna's Cassien Andor an his motivations. A definite must for Star Wars fans, and a series (and movie) a non-Star Wars fan can actually watch without knowing the knowledge of most of the Star Wars franchise. Both Andor and Rogue One are on Disney Plus.

For some escapism action movie time, G-20, on Prime Video, fits the bill nicely. Full Disclosure: I will watch just about anything with Viola Davis, especially when she gets to be a bad-ass! Not much to say here, other than its a solid script, good acting, some fun action scenes once the groundwork is laid out in the first 30 minutes, and follow one of movie's golden rules: If they ain't burned, crushed, decapitated or chopped up in a million bits, your villain is not dead yet! <grin>. Highly recommend for a quick an easy raniy/snow day good time!

I've had this film on my watchlist for a while, and considering what's happening these days, seemed to be the right time to check out Civil War on the newly rebranded HBO/MAX! The promo I added below gives the viewer a hint of what's happening when we jump into the film....I can add that 300$ US dollars will get you a cheese sammie, whereas 300 Canadien bucks will get you two tanks of gas. The film almost feels like a pseudo-documentary to me, as we follow a small group of journalists as they travel the east coast to get to DC to interview the 3- term president. The group, led by Kristen Durst' lead character, encounters literal and figurative road blocks to their destination, as the film seems to want to focus not so much on the good guy/bud guy angle, but WHY the citizens of the USA are fighting each other. The answer seems to be as horribly simple as " they shot at us, we shot back." Most of the action seen in the promo takes place near the end of the film, as the majority is more of an observational (and yes, survival) nature from the journo's POV. The scariest line is in the promo, when Dunst' real-life husband, Jesse Plemmons, asks the question: "What KIND of American are you?". If you are guessing that scene doesn't go well, you would be correct. The ending is ambiguous, which I mention because it left me kicking around ideas as to what would happen next, so not a neat tidy bow to end this war. With that caveat, I highly recommend this flick, it will make you think, perhaps uncomfortably.

Weird News: Leave it to Spirit Airlines to come thru on a slow week. Besides the icky obvious part, Spirit Air's response was just stupid and shows how cheap they are. Doesn't say which flight departure/arrival, but if you intend to fly Spirit, and fly to Newark Airport, you are definitely doubling down and going all in, brave traveller! https://people.com/cockroaches-captured-on-video-crawling-up-the-walls-of-spirit-airlines-cabin-to-trapped-passenger-s-horror-11734815

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