WCS 12 Will Smith, P. Diddy & Berner in hip hop's worst week since BIG got murdered

Plus: Tears for Austin Reaves, a sideline reporter fabulist & Draymond's latest heel turn

In more ways than usual, the work aspect of thinking about the NFL had me in its clutches. Then on Friday, Raw Story published my lengthy indictment of the “not racist” NFL. It’s a relief to have that work off of my plate. Between that reported commentary and these emails that I send you and a book proposal that I somehow pushed out midweek, I have been dying to focus on my fantasy team, Tight Windows.

It’s been mentioned here—I think—that my Coastal Elite League features a lot of notable weed people. Dominic Corva, whose Weed Professors I expect to see in the playoffs, is founder of the Cannabis Studies program at Cal Poly Humboldt. Ngaio “Smoke a Super Bowl” Bealum is that guy you’ve heard joking about weed all across the planet and in that Netflix series Cooking on High. And I’m not sure whether Marcus wants me to use his name, but he’s a brilliant cannabis chef. Gotta say though that his squad Chicken Wingz N Titties hasn’t been the force I thought it would be. Fantasy’s a tough game and the season is long. Injury bugs are a thing, I count out no one in the CEL.

My old WeedWeek boss Alex Halperin is bringing up the rear. He’s putting his thought and effort to more impactful use, like revealing the increasingly flammable impresario Berner’s pimp nonsense. Alex has let a female-empowered legal cannabis scene know what it’s dealing with.

Bizarro Ballers’ Jordan Rubin isn’t a cannabis figure, but his book Bizarro—out in paperback this spring—covers “the synthetic drugs war.” The league’s sole East Coast player told me about getting DeVonta Smith and Mark Andrews in a trade for Deebo Samuel and Trey McBride. Straight away, Andrews started the Thursday night game with a 14-yard catch. On the next reccption broke his leg and found his season over.

“The sweet and the sour,” of fantasy football, Rubin explains. The name of the team that Andrews fell down on is The Keta-mean Girls and is the real reason you are hearing this fantasy football injury story. Makes me laugh every time.

Keta-mean Girls.

This week I’m facing off against The Cliffs, helmed by Cliff, my sports editor at Sacramento City College, all the way back in 1986. He’s clung so close to me that I almost regret inviting him to play. But with Kansas City and Philly playing the Monday night game—with Tight Windows mainstays Jalen Hurts and Travis Kelce leading the way—it looks like I’ll wake up tomorrow in first place, alone. And it’s a pleasure to reconnect with Cliff.

And now, let’s deal with these facts and notions banging around my brain.

10 Who will cry for Austin Reaves?

Big contracts come with big expectations. After a great and very visible playoffs showing, Reaves got paid in ways that not every player can be compensated, but that every opponent notices.

More often than you know, mental health issues accompany those fat deals. Duncan Robinson has talked about it, and anyone who’s watched the play of left-field phenomenon Reaves knows that he’s breaking down, too. Last night he had a big fourth quarter. Maybe the shitshow is closing?
Locked on Lakers

• The roller coaster began with the undrafted third-year player from Flyover Central University signing a four-year, $54 million deal, then getting picked for Team USA initially and starring against international competition and—in the end—being thoroughly exposed by Canadians, who abused Reaves in the low post. When he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel the night before the season opener, you could sense the goose cooking to come.

• It’s hard not to feel sorry for the kid. There’s a lot of Great White Hope built into being a foregrounded white NBA player.

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