Tuesday, November 09, 2021

They Might Be Warriors

 The San Francisco Giants' great star Buster Posey announced his retirement last week, formally ending an era.  He chose to go out on a high note: leading his team to the best record in MLB, hitting for average and with power as in his best years, and perhaps more than ever, handling each pitcher from behind the plate to maximize their game.  Several years back, the thought was to move Posey to another position to extend his career, but he's just too good as a catcher, and the pitchers depended on him.

Posey left with MLB and Giants records, but he also leaves the team with a huge gap at a key position.  His leadership in general will also be sorely missed.  Any chance of the Giants repeating the kind of year they had in 2021 is deeply diminished.

But teams can regenerate, with the right managerial leadership and a good deal of luck.  Witness the Golden State Warriors, rebuilding for the past few years after losing KD (to injured pride) and Klay (to injury.)  Young players shuffled through, some were retained and developed, and more were added, including several lucky finds.  

The results so far are impressive: the best record in the NBA with one loss in overtime and nine wins, many of them by double digits (including a recent game they won by more than 40.)  Credit is owed the coaching staff--if this season continues this way, nobody will be able to question if Steve Kerr can coach players who aren't already superstars.  Steph Curry of course, but also Draymond Green who kept working with young players in the lean times.  Now Andre I. is back, adding his veteran leadership.  The team is the best mixture of youth, veterans and players at their peak since the championship years before KD joined.  And Klay returns maybe as early as next month.  They might be those magic Warriors again.

There's no doubt however that Steph Curry is magic again, with the first 50 point game of the NBA season in which he also had 10 assists.  Steph appears to have bulked up in the upper body, and can't be as easily backed down and thwarted by swarming defenses or individual bullying.  That was clear in just one play, in which an opponent bumped him hard but Curry bumped back, and then hit a 3.

Meanwhile the NFL is a real mess.  Not much about it makes sense, and players are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.  My hereditary team the Pittsburgh Steelers are an enigma, but they aren't alone in that, not even within their own conference.  All those teams are enigmas.  I was not even slightly surprised when the heavily favored Steelers lost to the Bengals.  Their Monday Night performance showed rust (their week+ off hit just as they were building momentum) but the question remains just how good they are.  I'm not sure it matters.  It's a depressing season so far.

And oh yeah, the Atlanta Institutional Racists won the World Series.   

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