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Jeremy WillisESPN.com
Here’s what you might have missed this weekend …
Forget the wild race for the NBA’s Western Conference play-in spot or the beefing between Damian Lillard, Patrick Beverley and Paul George.
The biggest competition in the bubble is happening elsewhere.
We’ve already seen many people turning to video games, even old systems and classic games, while stuck inside during the coronavirus pandemic. The same seems true for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
While the Lakers have already clinched the top spot in the Western Conference playoffs, for LeBron & Co., the biggest games might be in Madden. It was revealed over the weekend that the Lakers are holding a bubble Madden tournament.
🏈 🎮 Lakers Madden Tournament. With 3 weeks left who do you got?
📸: @KingJames#LakeShow #Lakers #WholeNewGame pic.twitter.com/Kek6ipwgAQ
— ShowtimeForum (@ShowtimeForum) August 7, 2020
Quinn Cook, playing with the Indianapolis Colts, is in first place. Poor rookie Talen Horton-Tucker, playing with the Minnesota Vikings, is winless and in last place.
Somehow, somebody somewhere will blame this poor performance by the Vikings on Kirk Cousins.
Putt for d’oh!
Last weekend’s PGA Championship marked the first golf major of the season. While Bryson DeChambeau put on a show and Brooks Koepka had more smack to talk, and Collin Morikawa won the tournament, there were some outright hilarious putting moments from Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.
Siiiiicccckkkkk @NoLayingUp @TronCarterNLU @BigRandyNLU @DJPie pic.twitter.com/GlmhqRhzNG
— Matthew Lawless (@Lawless2Lawless) August 7, 2020
Justin Thomas is every golfer missing a putt by an inch 😅
Watch the PGA Championship live on ESPN+: https://t.co/nK1PHZ8rFj pic.twitter.com/uQfnQlv7W5
— ESPN (@espn) August 9, 2020
Watch out, Beyonce
Just watch Riley Curry, the daughter of Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, dance to a song from Beyonce’s “Black Is King.” Nothing else to say.
You brought this on yourselves
There is a lot of awful in the world. A lot. And many people have been mostly quarantined since March. But never doubt the better angels of our nature, especially when it comes to rallying to get creative and still heckle the Houston Astros.
Baseball fans lost something because of the pandemic when they couldn’t go to the ballpark and give Houston hell for the sign-stealing scandal it employed to reach two World Series and win one. The booing was to be baseball nature’s way of healing itself.
But many, outside of East Texas, will be happy to see that it’s again open season for Astros haters. Actor and Los Angeles Dodgers fan Rob Lowe got them while wearing a cap with an asterisk while taping a podcast.
Then some Oakland Athletics fans escalated things this weekend, with the Astros in town, by hiring a plane to carry a banner saying “Houston Asterisks.”
— 2020 Astros Shame Tour (@AsteriskTour) August 7, 2020
The plane is over the ballpark in Oakland
A bit hard for the Astros to steal this sign
(Via @k0an) pic.twitter.com/PsXT8nSgxp
— 2020 Astros Shame Tour (@AsteriskTour) August 7, 2020
To top it off, there was a brawl between the two teams.
— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) August 9, 2020
Easy money sniper, indeed
Hey, the Brooklyn Nets made the NBA playoffs. Without Kyrie Irving, and several players who opted out, it was pretty impressive. Getting into the postseason also means Kevin Durant picks up a bonus.
Kevin Durant has earned a $1M bonus with Brooklyn now clinching a playoff spot. The bonus before the season was considered likely and will not impact his $40.1M cap hit for 2020-21. https://t.co/lwhsuuIgFR
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 7, 2020
That’s right. KD hasn’t played all year as he recovers from an Achilles injury, but still got that check. That’s a contract stipulation Bobby Bonilla would be proud of.