Traina Thoughts: LaVar Ball is making everyone look like a fool
The best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina.
1. I couldn't care less if someone sells a pair of sneakers for $495. I also don't care if someone buys a $495 pair of sneakers. If the seller can get that kind of money and if the buyer can shell out that kind of cash, good for them. That's how a free market works. But the sports world was in complete uproar yesterday because of Lonzo Ball's new sneakers. What people should really focus on is that Lonzo's father, LaVar, is using the Donald Trump strategy to perfection: Say outrageous stuff, behave terribly, piss off half the people, appeal to others, strengthen your base. This tweet is straight from the Trump playbook.
LaVar Ball is not the fool. We are the fools. I'm writing about him now, he trended all day on social media Thursday, tons of athletes weighed in and he dominated the sports news cycle from the minute he announced the price of the shoe. If Trump proved one thing, it's that there's no such thing as bad news or bad coverage or bad attention. Ball is proving the same thing. Every sports media outlet bashes him, but they'll all bend over backwards to capitalize on anything he says. This is a perfect example of "don't hate the player, hate the game. LaVar is dominating the game.
2. I strongly believe the most underrated thing in baseball is when a team doesn't react at all after a player hits his first Major League home run. Brewers pinch hitter Jesus Aguilar launched his first career dinger last night to give Milwaukee a 5-4 lead over St. Louis in the seventh inning. When he got back to the dugout, he had to resort to air high-fives.
3. Once again, Steph Curry put on a show before the game even started last night.
4. Charles Barkley was on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night and talked about how he can't control himself when he drives by a Krispy Kreme and sees the "HOT" sign lit up.
5. Congratulations to Manny Machado. The Orioles third baseman hit a 466-foot bomb out of Fenway Park in the fourth inning last night (and took his sweet time rounding the bases) and the Red Sox didn't throw at him or hit him in any of his next at-bats.
6. More proof that Veep is the funniest show on television: A member of Australia's House of Representatives was laughing so hard during the premiere episode this season that he started choking and then fell and hit his head on the corner of a cabinet, which left him unconscious and bleeding.
7. THE DAILY ROCK: We go back 18 years to when The Rock held a "funeral" for Stone Cold Steve Austin.
