Summertime Sports Shorts

By Mark Bacon

For a night in August, when usually the only game being played is on a diamond, last evening offered a few very pleasant diversions. College and Professional basketball were available for viewing or listening pleasure, and NFL Preseason tilts were being aired as well.

Team USA Basketball: Coach Mike Krzyzewski closed out this year's mini-camp with a Blue v White scrimmage. LeBron James and Stephen Curry weren’t on the floor or bench. Other players excused from playing included Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, James Harden and John Wall. And no Paul George. Remember a year ago, when the U.S. men's basketball team ended mini-camp with an exhibition in Vegas, where the Indiana Pacers All-Star broke his leg in a horrific fashion, after crashing into a backboard stanchion. The game was halted. This year, memories of that event led to many of the 34 camp attendees to withdraw or were not cleared by their respective NBA teams. Instead, Thursday evening was a light-hearted pro pickup game, reminiscent of the NBA All Star game. It was highlight reel followed by highlight reel, little defense, and it was evident those between the lines were having fun.

Sacramento Kings All-Star, and former UK great DeMarcus Cousins dominated, scoring 24 points and grabbed 11 boards to lead the White team to a 134-128 victory over the Blue team. Mason Plumlee added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the White team. Andre Drummond led the Blue team with 27 points and 16 rebounds, and Victor Oladipo added 25 points.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski said "I feel so good about these four days. ... I thought our guys really responded tonight (with) a lot of effort (and) enthusiasm, they had fun. They all want to be a part of USA Basketball. We had so many guys who could not play, for a variety of reasons, but even those guys throughout the week were at practices even when they weren't supposed to. Everyone did a little bit more than what they were supposed to do, and they all fit well under the USA umbrella."

College Basketball: One wonders if Coach Rick Pitino made the right move taking his young, unproven University of Louisville squad to Puerto Rico (PR) to square off in many games against the island nation's Junior and National basketball teams? It gave Pitino a chance to evaluate both Louisville's basketball team, and the Puerto Rican Men's National squad. To date, Louisville has not won a single game, and a particularly nasty 36 point smack-down at the hands of the PR National team left the Cards demoralized, and their play described as "horse shit" by Coach Pitino. That should do wonders for frail psyches. The reality is the Cards are playing against professionals in hostile venues, faced with the head scratching reality of International (FIBA) officiating, and undergoing a grueling schedule of games. Yesterday's undercard against the Junior team was scratched, and Pitino dropped that a move was underway to cancel Sunday's last game. My only comment, besides the horrible streaming service, is we're going to hear the name Damion Lee a lot this coming campaign.

Speaking of college teams headed overseas, Georgetown University is preparing to depart for a 10 day trip to play in Italy. The Hoyas are set to play four games against European professional teams during this trip. The first two are scheduled for Rome, and the final two games will be played in Florence and Lugano, Switzerland.

The Italian trip brings to mind four years ago this month, when the Hoya’s basketball team visited China on what was intended to be a goodwill trip comprising cultural exchange and exhibition games. Several days into the journey, a benches-clearing brawl in Beijing between the Hoyas and a Chinese professional club turned into an international incident with officials from both countries engaging in full damage control, including Vice President Joe Biden, who attended a game the night before the fight. One doubts similar events will take place this year, but FIBA ball is rough; some say rougher than the NBA.

NFL Preseason: When in DC, one cannot escape the cultural phenomena that is "The Skins." It's everywhere.  And the 2015 season will bring even more intense scrutiny of Washington QB, Robert "Bob" Griffin III. For the record, I'm not a fan of the man. The sideshow that follows and surrounds him has been a detriment to one of the worst teams in the NFL. They don't need it. Yet every year, he's going to be a changed man. What changes are his plummeting stats. They keep sinking. Bob was shaky, uneven, but "did what he needed to do" in coach speak. To be fair, RGIII had some relatively nice throws, and made some drive-extending plays. He completed 4 of 8 passes for 36 yards, in 19 snaps. But he came away from his quarter of action without a touchdown pass.

Backup quarterback Kirk Cousins led Washington to 17 of its 20 points. Will there be a QB Controversy in Our Nation's Capital? No. The franchise is committed for playing Griffin for now. But Cousin's comfort in Gruden system is evident.

A good sign was watching several rookies shine, notably Matt Jones, the Redskins’ third-round pick out of Florida, who can play. New faces Terrance Knighton, Stephen Paea, and rotational players Chris Baker, Ricky Jean Francois and Kedric Golston stood out, too. On a very bad note, starting TE Niles Paul suffered a season ending injury, as did backup RB Silas Redd. One of the reserve TE backups went down, too, an area where Washington cannot lose another player.

The Skins' opponent, the Cleveland Browns, has two good QBs, including Johnny Manziel, who scored a touchdown on a run, and DID NOT flash his signature money sign. "Johnny Football" showed considerable poise and maturity; "Johnny Sober" may be a very good thing.

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