Fans everywhere in a world shrank by technology watched or streamed the sports events that could have easily grabbed the headlines this week.
But a tweet on absolute executive power by President Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte’s American counterpart and supporter, trumped the major sports news.
These include the Golden State Warriors’ convincing Game 2 victory in Oakland, California, over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals; Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn’s playoff victory in the US Women’s Open in Alabama despite a back-nine collapse; and Serena Williams’ withdrawal in the French Open in Paris that prevented a fourth-round match with her long time rival Maria Sharapova.
For good measure, Potus (shorthand for President of the United States) injected himself into the sports news cycle by suddenly calling off a White House celebration Tuesday to honor the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles .
Trump disinvited the Eagles after nearly all their players and coaches said they would not attend.
The boycott was an offshoot of Trump’s beef with many black players of the National Football League who chose to kneel during the playing of the national anthem at last season’s games despite Trump’s demand to stop the act.
Their protest to draw attention to racial injustice and police brutality against blacks reflects the divisions in the US over race, patriotism and Trump, who is described to the press by Philadelphia’s Mayor James Kenney as a “fragile egomaniac.”
Trump has really gone too far, said critics, after he declared in a tweet Monday that he had the “absolute right” to pardon himself of any crime.
No president has ever attempted to pardon himself. But Trump’s tweet is earthshaking while the investigation continues whether he tried to obstruct the inquiry about Russia’s influence in the 2016 US presidential elections.
Quickly, LeBron James and Stephen Curry joined the political fray prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals in Cleveland Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
Both superstars are saying Trump shouldn’t bother extending an invitation to the eventual winner.
“I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants the invite anyway,” James responded to reporters. “Certainly not the Cleveland Cavaliers.”
“I agree with Bron,” Curry told the media Tuesday. “Pretty sure the way we handled things last year, we’d stay consistent with that.”
Curry said publicly he didn’t want to go to the White House after Golden State won the 2017 championship. Trump responded saying the Warriors weren’t invited.
The Warriors are in the driver’s seat with a commanding 2-0 lead after a 122-103 win at home Sunday. They could be on cruise control to claim their third title in four years.
While the Cavaliers made the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history from 3-1 down to beat the Warriors in 2016, no team has ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win the crown.