How can Cleveland and Golden State be the two best teams in the NBA? Both teams basically have one incredible player surrounded by role players. The normal consensus is that you need three good players to win the title. The Cavs, who lead the series, have Lebron and NO OTHER SCORING THREAT. Whenever they have the ball, it’s in Lebron’s hands. Yet they could win the NBA championship.

Think of past champs, and the multiple players who, on any given night, could light it up. Boston (Bird, Parrish, McHale, Johnson). The Lakers (Kareen, Magic, Worthy, Wilkes, Cooper, Scott). Chicago (Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc). The Spurs (Duncan, Parker, Ginobli). Houston (Olajuwon, Drexler, Smith, Cassell, Horry).

How in the world did the Cavs and Warriors reach the top? What has happened to the NBA?

In any given year, 1 in 40 NFL players is arrested for something more significant than a traffic violation, according to the NY Times (32 teams x 53 players each). None of the persons I’ve worked with during my 35-year career have been arrested. Do 1 of 40 persons in your workplace get arrested every year?

Since 2000, there have been 713 such arrests among NFL players, a 2.53% rate. Interestingly, the NY Times says that’s below the national average for men in that age range.  The current 2014 is shaping up to have the lowest number of arrests on record.

Of those 713 arrests:

• 202 – driving under the influence.
• 88 – assault and battery (which is their job description).
• 85 – domestic violence.
• 82 – drugs.

The teams with the most arrests, in order: Minnesota (44), Cincinnati (43), and Denver (40). At the bottom were St. Louis, Houston, and Arizona, all with just 11 player arrests.

The perceived Bad Boys of the NFL are the Ravens and Raiders. But the Ravens are right at the league average of 22 arrests, and the Raiders are a bit below it with 19 arrests.

It’s really hysterical reading about how unprepared Sochi is for the Olympics. It sounds like quite a mess.

Here’s something from the New York Times: “To appreciate the hotels in this area, it is probably a good idea to think of them not as hotels but rather as a rare opportunity to experience life in a centrally planned, Soviet-style dystopia.”

The US has granted visas to several online gamers as “internationally recognized athletes.” That way, these professional gamers–that’s what they do for a living–can come to the US for tournaments, just as tennis players do.

What’s next, “World of Warcraft” as an Olympic event? Will US high schoolers be able to letter in Starcraft II? Full-ride college scholarships for League of Legends?

When I was in high school in Arizona, they were working on making chess a varsity sport. Wearing a letter jacket for chess is basically telling real athletes, “Please beat me up.”

I was on the chess team, but I was also on the basketball team, which put me in that gray netherworld between Jock and Nerd. Perhaps I could have gotten away with sporting a chess letter. Alas, we moved before I could obtain a chess letter jacket (which would have happened before I got a basketball letter), so I can only wonder.

Did you know the NFL is a nonprofit business? That’s right. Each year, the 32 teams collectively pay $250 million in “membership dues.” That’s tax-exempt money. The NFL office, as a nonprofit trade association, supposedly exists only to organize and promote football. Roger Goodell, as commissioner, gets a salary of just under $30 million. Not bad for the nonprofit world.

The NFL earns $9 billion a year from TV contracts, jersey sales, and other revenue sources. That money gets funneled back to the teams, where it CAN be taxed by the IRS.

Major League Baseball had a similar tax exemption for its league office, but gave it up in 2007. The NBA has never been tax exempt.

The National Hockey League has a tax exemption like the NFL. But let’s face it–hockey probably needs it.