TERRY MOSHER
I predicted before the NBA finals began that the Toronto Raptors would win in five games. It appears I’m about to become Nostradamus. But rather than a barometer of my predicting skills, the Raptors are about to win in five games because they have been good but under the radar for much of the regular season and are now enjoying a birth of greatness led by Kawhi Leonard, who is simply amazing.
It helps, of course, that the Golden State Warriors have been stabbed in the heart by a series of injuries that has killed their greatness. It’s possible that their top scorer Kevin Durant may be back for Game 5 scheduled Monday in Toronto and that may kill off my prediction powers.
But if Durant is ready to play Monday, I doubt he will be able to shake off enough rust to make a difference in the final outcome, which has most of Canada going nuts with excitement, which is a good thing to see. I love the Canucks for their loyalty. I went to high school near the Canadian border and had a lot of interactions with Canadians, and I never had a bad one. The Canucks are good people, by and large.
Rainier Beach’s Marjon Beauchamp, a 6-foot-6 five-star recruit, is going to be attending his fourth high school this fall. Beauchamp is going to play his senior year for Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale, Az, which is a top quality select team sponsored by Puma.
Man, I don’t know about all of this. I get it that he can play against better competition with Bella Vista, which plays in tournaments all across the country. You get better by playing against the best. I would especially know that because I was the youngest of four Mosher brother and I got to play against my older and very athletic brothers but also their friends and became very good for somebody my age as a result.
But is this good for high school students? Or is high school just an avenue to play a sport? Beauchamp started out in high school at Nathan Hale where he was on a 3A state championship team, transferred to Garfield when Nathan Hale’s coach Brandon Roy moved there, than last year was at Rainier Beach.
Maybe we should stop the entire pretense that kids with top of the ladder talent are in school to get an education and just make it a rule if you can be rated good enough, you don’t have to go to high school. You go directly to an elite prep school where the education is more about the sport than the classroom.
I had a conversation over a long period of time many years ago with an educator who would go on to become an athletic director and he wanted to make high school sports club sports. Take away the pretense and get sponsors like Puma for your high school club sport and travel all over the region and maybe the country to play games with a highly-paid and talented coaching staff.
Maybe I’m just too old fashion. I was in school when kids played multiple sports and did it for the school spirit and not for some future pot of gold. In the fall, we played football, in the winter it was basketball and in the spring it was baseball or track and field, and sometimes both.
Oh well, life continues to change through the years, and while I may not like the way it is today, there is little I can do about it. So good for Beauchamp.
Traitor Trump bullied Mexico into accepting some responsibility for immigrants rushing to our southern border and Mexico apparently surrendered to the bullying, which was a form of extortion used by the Mafia.
We should not be conducting foreign policy on the bunt end of a large stick. That will come back to bite us someday. You bully or intimidate me, I will find the right place and right time to even the score.
This immigration problem has plagued us for decades. It’s nothing new. But to put kid into cages, take away most of their freedoms, that is not just plain wrong, it’s inhumane and against all Christian values.
The traitor has made the situation worse by cutting aid to some of the Central American countries that could use it to make lives better so their citizens don’t head north looking for a beacon of hope in our country. We should be investing in these countries in Central America where the worse conditions exist – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Help them help themselves and the worse part of immigration would be solved.
That’s it for today. I’m going to go watch the pre-race activities for the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown. And, no, I don’t have a clue who is going to win.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.
