Curry Continues to Amaze; Holy Moses; 49ers Turn Frugal; Bleak Outlook For Pro Golf, Tiger, Uncle Sam

A few nights ago Warriors superstar Steph Curry became the first player in NBA history to hit 4000 3-pointers. 

It's a record that in all likelihood will never be broken (James Harden is second with 3,127). In fact, Curry may get to 5,000, if he plays another three or four years. He turned 37 on Friday, has two years left on his contract and said recently he plans to play beyond his current deal.

It seems hard to believe that the greatest shooter of all time was passed up by five teams when he was drafted No. 7 by the Warriors as a skinny kid out of Davidson in 2009.

For the record, these are the six fellows drafted before Steph:

No. 1 - Blake Griffin (Oklahoma) by the LA Clippers

No. 2 - Hasheen Thabeet (UConn) by Memphis

No. 3 - Harden (Arizona State) by Oklahoma City

No. 4 - Tyreke Evans (Memphis) by Sacramento

No. 5 - Ricky Rubio (Spain) by Minnesota

No. 6 - Jonny Flynn (Syracuse) by Minnesota

Imagine how those teams, particularly Minnesota, are feeling now.

It's also easy to forget that Warriors' owner Joe Lacob was booed by the home crowd after he traded Monte Ellis, rather than Curry, for Andrew Bogut in 2012. At the time, Curry was still battling ankle injuries and a league-wide perception that he was too fragile for the NBA grind.

Thirteen years and four titles later, Curry has changed the game, and in many ways, become the face of the NBA.

This season, Curry had been carrying a .500 team on his back, but things have changed recently with the addition of Jimmy Butler, the return of Jonathan Kuminga, and the emergence of Moses Moody. Now he's gearing up for a shot at the Warriors' fifth title. 

Don't count them out.

Holy Moses: We've long been an admirer of Moses Moody (as well as Jonathan Kuminga). It's great to see Moses finally being recognized. He's become a key man for the Warriors over the last month, which (along with Jimmy Butler's arrival) has corresponded with their turnaround. 

Moody has scored in double figures in 23 of the past 27 games, and established himself as a defensive stopper. His presence in the starting lineup, along with Draymond Green and Butler, gives the Warriors three premier defenders. And in many of their closing lineups, the irrepressible Gary Payton Jr. (GP2), gives them four.

49ers Get Frugal: The San Francisco 49ers, who used to spend money like drunken sailors, have suddenly become cost-conscious.

Last week they shed nine starting players, including five who have either been named All-Pro or selected for the Pro Bowl.

They released four players (pass rusher Leonard Floyd, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and defensive tackles Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins), traded one (wide receiver Deebo Samuel), and lost four more in free agency (cornerback Charvarius Ward, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, safety Talanoa Hufanga and offensive guard Aaron Banks).

Apparently, GM John Lynch wasn't kidding last month at the NFL combine when he said the 49ers needed to get younger and cheaper.

Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, back with the club after a disappointing stint as head coach of the New York Jets, can't be too thrilled with these developments. Saleh worked miracles in his first go-round with the Niners, turning the league's worst defense into one of its very best. This time, he's inheriting a defense that allowed the fourth most points in the NFL last season and now has lost many of its stalwarts. 

The 49ers have 11 picks in next month's draft, including four in the first 100. They'll need a stellar performance by Lynch and his cohorts to shore up some of the holes.

Why the Cost Cutting? Some may wonder why the 49ers, known for their largesse since the days of Eddie DeBartolo, are now tightening their belts.

The NFL's salary cap this year is $279.2 million, and each team in the league takes in $312M from the league's TV rights alone, so most teams are profitable without even selling a game ticket.

But older, good NFL teams are less profitable than younger, mediocre teams, according to esteemed Stanford economist Roger Noll, because older playoff teams have more players who've gone through free agency at least once. "If an owner sniffs that such a team is on the downside, he will get rid of older stars to begin 'rebuilding,' Noll says. "I suspect the 49ers are in this phase."

The fact that NFL contracts aren't fully guaranteed (unlike in baseball and basketball) makes it possible for teams to save a lot of money by cutting a veteran free agent before he enters the last year of a big contract, or whose skills are fading, Noll says. 

(Over the weekend, the 49ers re-signed Juszczyk to a lower salary, a two-year, $8M deal, which made tight end George Kittle, his best friend, and running back Christian McCaffrey, the beneficiary of his great blocking, very happy).

PGA/Tiger Blues: Nearly two years ago the PGA Tour and the sleazy Saudi Public Investment Fund (LIV) announced a merger to reunite professional golf.

It never happened. 

The PGA has lost some big names to Saudi dirty money, but still has all of the TV market share. LIV has billions to spend on talent, but remains irrelevant on the national sports scene. 

They've succeeded in poaching stars, building a league, and to a degree, sportwashing their human rights violations. But no one is paying much attention to their events.

While PGA commissioner Jay Monahan continues to say that the two sides are close to an agreement, the fact is, a merger seems very unlikely.

To make matters worse, the biggest name in golf, Tiger Woods, announced last week that he has torn his Achilles tendon and undergone surgery. 

So Woods undoubtedly will miss out on all the majors this year and probably won't play in a PGA tour event in 2025.

Due to his leg injuries and car accidents, Wood hasn't been a factor since his stunning 2019 Masters victory. Post '19, he's never finished in the top 20 in a major. And since his 2021 car accident, his best finish on the tour has been a tie for 45th.

With this latest serious injury, and given what his body has been through in recent years, one has to wonder if Tiger's pro career is at an end.

Chaos in Trumpistan: Less than two months in, the Trump-Musk-Putin administration continues to sow chaos, tank the American economy, put millions of people out of work, and sour our relations with the rest of the world.

Last week, on the same day Donald Trump's senseless tariffs took effect and the stock market cratered--wiping out billions of dollars in life savings for families throughout the country--Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom for co-president Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.

We now live in a nation where the oligarchs at the top have no concern or empathy for those less fortunate.

Instead, they parrot Russian propaganda, start trade wars, seek to make Canada our 51st state, and eliminate programs that fight disease and provide clean drinking water and medical care for children throughout the world.

Not too long ago we were the shining city on the hill. 

Now we're the ugly bully with a chainsaw.