The Opening Tip
Hello and Happy Thursday, it's the Corner Three, sponsored by:
"It's always everyone's fault" - Mike Levin
The bubble is still Covid-free, the Sixers are bad, Blazers in 6.
I'M SO PISSED OFF AT THIS TEAM
Let's get going!
BARK IN THE PARK!
The Ricky team at the Providence Animal Center Bark In The Park raised $15,000 last year... mostly because of the shirt. The 5K is virtual this year, but the team is real and so is the shirt. The art is almost done, and we'll give you the full reveal later this week. All you need to do to get it is join the team and raise $50. Sixers sucking or not, the animals and the people who save them need us. Thanks this year to LL Pavorsky Jewelers and Big Barker Dog Beds who are sponsoring the team and buying the shirts.
MERCH PROMO CODE: JERRYLIES10 (this is for 10% off any non-sale item in the Merch Store. It's good till 9/2 when it changes again to keep you on your toes). PS: This is not good for Buddha Babe merch.
This Week In The Pod
Spike & Mike recapped shitty game 1 and welcomed Team Ricky's own Mike O'Connor for his take and how he saw things play out.
Then last night, after a 27 point blasting in essentially the biggest game of the year (until next year) the guys brought on the ever ready Andrew Unterberger to help digest and spread the blame to all culpable parties (everyone, the entire organization). Mike did this pod naked and totally in the dark so if you're into that sort of thing check out the pod on YouTube and subscribe there.
Charity Spotlight
We need to continue to the fight to balance the playing field for underserved areas of our population. The tech space is no different so I'm running this back one more week for our friends at Coded by Kids who are on a mission to provide young people ages 8-18, from underrepresented groups with education programs in the digital and tech world. Read more about their awesome programs and how you can help here!
Oh Yeah,The Sixers
Boy do they fucking suck....
They aren't good enough. They aren't coached well enough, they don't play hard enough and they aren't tough enough. Tobias, Ben, Joel, Matisse, Brett, etc. All really nice guys, but right now, really nice guys who aren't getting it done (collectively).
I'm not interested in what the rest of this series brings or what Embiid or Brett Brown have to say after. In the words of the great Mike O'Connor "I bet Brett Brown will say something like, 'this isn't who we are,' but to be clear, this is very much who they are." It's who they've always been, slow, non-communicative, gutless and barely giving a shit. You don't get beat by 27 in the biggest game of your year, you just don't. Teams that want to sell you their identity of being bully ball Monstars who are built for the playoffs, don't get beat for every 50/50 ball or let Kemba Walker rebound his missed jumpshot in traffic for an easy layup.
Let's also be clear to point out that this isn't a "if Ben Simmons was here" problem. Obviously having your second young star healthy and playing certainly helps but his absence particularly in these past two games has revealed that problems with this team stem much deeper and will take more than one very short offseason to remedy.
The Rest From The Best
Tobias Harris isn't doing much of anything well right now, especially not getting to the line. Mike O'Connor did the lord's work for us and dove a little deeper on this phenomena from a guy who went 4-15 last night and is due to make $40 million in 2 years.
Andrew Unterberger has been and probably always will be the most optimistic member of our team when it comes to the Sixers, but I think we finally broke him. AU finally hit his low point in the Embiid era and he wrote all about it.
Sixers Adam, now officially a college student and resident of my beloved North Philadelphia, got Team Ricky together for our official Sixers playoff predictions and man am I such an idiot.
Peace, Love and Process
Love you all, its Ok to be upset. Wear a mask and thank a trash man.
-Zo