The Tuesday Slider Special (Vol. 1, No. 1)

I know...you're getting hungry, but please try to focus and wipe that drool off of the side of your mouth.  I don't want you getting committed somewhere by accident because you're reading this post.  Anyway, do you ever go out to eat and just want appetizers?  Specifically, do you ever have a taste for a burger, but you don't want the heaviness that comes with it or to have to split it in half--knowing the hassle that comes along with reheating a burger and recapturing the essence of it from the restaurant?  If on the menu, do you opt for the sliders instead to give you that taste for burgers without the need to be trotted out on a wheel barrel?  Well, in an effort to cover a wider array of topics without a five-to-seven-paragraph soliloquy for each one, I bring to you a brand new posting series: "The Tuesday Slider Special".  Quick takes from your soon-to-be favorite blogger that are easier to digest, but still filling nonetheless.  So without further ado, let's eat...

YO HILLARY...YOU GOT THE JUICE NOW.  After Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich tag teamed to gang up on Donald Trump, allowing Cruz to focus on Indiana while Kasich would concentrate on later states, Cruz announced that previous dropout Carly Fiorina would be his running mate if he won the Republican nomination.  Well, Fiorina's viral fall off of a stage at an Indiana rally proved to be an unfortunate harbinger for Cruz's campaign as Trump took Indiana and mathematically made it impossible for both Cruz and Kasich to reach 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.  Knowing this, Cruz announced the suspension of his campaign last Tuesday night: "We gave it everything we've got, but the voters chose another path."  Kasich's camp, however, insisted that he would stay in the race until Trump reached the magic number: "Our strategy has been and continues to be one that involves winning the nomination at an open convention," said John Weaver, Kasich's chief strategist.  Maybe they realized that whopping 1,000-delegate lead that Trump had on Kasich because he had a change of heart the next day: "As I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life."  Welp, considering that Hillary Clinton only needs 178 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, it appears that many of us will be voting for the lesser of two evils come November 8th.  In the immortal words of former New Jersey Nets forward Derrick Coleman, "Whoop-de-damn-do!"

FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET...OR AT LEAST BLACK GIRL MAGIC.  Black people in general have had it harder than any other race in the United States for centuries, but Black women are often raked through the coals even more harshly than any other demographic in a myriad of ways.  So as if Beyonce's support of the women of the Black Panther Party at Super Bowl 50 in February didn't generate enough controversy, sixteen West Point cadets slated to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy received some backlash for their pose with raised fists in one of three pictures as a possible "political statement"--which the academy prohibits.  Leading the charge was former officer John Burk on his blog, where he said assumptively, "This overt display of the black lives matter movement is not, in itself wrong, but to do so while in uniform is completely unprofessional and not in keeping with what the USMA stands for."  Despite the outcry, the young ladies were all cleared earlier today after a probe concluded that they were not promoting anything; the pictures were simply a nod to the Academy's 19th-century predecessors.  However, the major who conducted the probe still considered the pose "inappropriate".  During a panel discussion on NewsOne Now, Transformative Justice Coalition president and founder Barbara Arnwine said, "Sometimes I think just being a Black woman in this society is a political statement.  That people just see us and whatever we do gets interpreted in a political way."  While I understand the USMA's position of being aware of perception as a military officer, the fact that their actions were characterized as "inappropriate" is further evidence that America will always take issue with any display of Black power, pride, patriotism and/or solidarity--especially when it comes from Black women.

STEPHEN CURRY...YOU'RE DA REAL MVP!!!  So let's talk about the litany of feats from the now two-time Most Valuable Player of The Association.  During the 2015-16 NBA regular season, Curry became the first player in league history to make over 400 three-pointers in a season (402) as well as set nine additional records for most amount of games with at least a certain amount of made shots from downtown.  He became a member of the 50/40/90 club (50 percent from the field, 40 percent from deep, 90 percent from the free throw line) that only includes nine other players, having the highest scoring and most efficient 50/40/90 season of them all.  He had the highest Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of any point guard in NBA history at 31.5, nearly beating Wilt Chamberlain's all-time record set in 1963 (31.8).  He had the best "extended range" shooting season of all time, hitting nearly 45 percent of his shots beyond 25 feet.  Oh, and let's not overlook the Golden State Warriors becoming the first team in NBA history to win 73 games.  After coming back from a knee injury and scoring 40 points and eight assists in a 132-125 OT win to give the Warriors a 3-1 advantage in their series against the Portland Trail Blazers, it was only right that he became the first unanimous MVP in NBA history.  So when the first thing out of Tracy McGrady's mouth is "For him to be the first player to get this unanimously, I think it just shows you how watered down our league is", it's not giving Curry his due.  No, Curry isn't playing during the Jordan or Shaq era, but unlike LeBron James, he plays in the much-tougher Western Conference and will probably face the Spurs in the Conference Finals.  That's about as "top-notch competition" as anybody in either conference is going to face.  Come off it, T-Mac...Jordan can't have everything.  

THE DEEP PLAYOFF RUN DROUGHT IN D.C. CONTINUES.  As soon as I saw how the Washington Capitals went from scoring twelve goals in their first three games against the Philadelphia Flyers to only two in their last three games in that series, I knew they were in trouble going into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the second-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins--who knocked them out in the second round in 2009.  After being sloppy in a 4-3 OT win in Game 1, the Caps lost 2-1 in Game 2 at home and I knew that the series was over.  Looking sluggish and outmatched on the ice against the seemingly-faster Penguins, they dropped two more consecutive games in Pittsburgh before coming back with a 3-1 win in Game 5 to send it back to Pittsburgh.   Although one of my coworkers said that he had a "good feeling" about Game 6, I still wasn't sold.  Despite overcoming a 3-0 deficit and sending the game to OT tied at 3-3, the Caps never truly had the momentum and the Penguins were just too much for Braden Holtby as they won 4-3 in OT to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  In short, this is what happens in D.C. regarding the four major North American professional sports as of late: they get to the dance, but they move with two left feet.  Just considering conference championship appearances alone, the Bullets/Wizards haven't been since 1979, the Skins haven't been since 1992, the Caps haven't been since 1998 and the Nationals are still looking for their first NLCS appearance since moving from Montreal in 2005.  So you're talking nearly 20 years since the last major sports team in D.C. made it to a conference or league championship game--and that Caps squad got swept by the Detroit Red Wings.  As far as this lost season goes, what's the point of being the best team in the NHL if you can't even make it to the Eastern Conference Finals?!?!  They're starting to make me rethink my favorite color as they're making it more difficult to "Rock the Red".