How one tweet snowballed into the NBA's worst nightmare

This is only getting worse for the NBA. Here's a CNN timeline of the event. On 10/9, 'Every one of the NBA's partners in China suspends ties' --

All 11 of the NBA's official Chinese partners have suspended ties with the league since Monday, according to a review by CNN Business of company statements and social media posts.

CTrip (CTRP), China's biggest online travel website, said that it has "dropped all NBA-related tickets and travel products" from its platform. Mengniu Dairy, one of the country's top milk producers, vowed to suspend "all commercial cooperation with the NBA."

Fast-food chain Dicos also said it planned to suspend "all marketing and publicity activities" with the league, while the skin care brand Wzun said it would "terminate all cooperation with the NBA."

The big question is should Vontaze Burfict be kicked out of the NFL for life? I'll lay out the case and let me know what you think. To start off with, he has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the 2019-20 for this hit on Colt's tight end Jack Doyle:

Pretty brutal. Doyle was clearly down with his knee on the ground and Burfict lead with his helmet and appeared to show zero regard for player safety. If this was a one-off, it's still a terrible move on his part. But maybe you can fine him and just move on.

Problem is Burfict is the worst offender in the league since he starting playing in 2012. Vontaze leads the league with 23 personal fouls and 15 flags for unnecessary roughness since '12. He has already had 13 suspensions. This latest hit was basically the straw that broke the camel's back for the league and they felt they had no choice but to consider his entire body of work of brutal, unnecessary hits and to suspend him for a whole 12 games.

I think that's 100% warranted. Even if you want to argue, like Derek Carr tries to, that this hit wasn't on purpose. You have to consider if you are Burfict the last thing in the world you should ever, ever do is lead with you helmet ever again.

It seems clear to me Burfict has learned nothing from all the suspensions over the years and its super unclear if he comes back in 2020 if that will change. I would like to see the NFL ban him for life BUT I can't say that would be 100% fair to him. Players need to be warned of those kinds of stakes beforehand. So I would be okay if he got one more chance but was told 'hey if you do this again, you're out for good'.

But here's a great argument for just kicking him out for good as it's clear he won't ever learn his lesson and change:

Should he be kicked out for good? Or is a 8-12 games suspension enough?

PowerPlay Wrote:

I don't think Zion should even be considered for the list. He's a rookie.

I sorta agree, but the list is for the best NBA players for the 2019 season. Projecting out talent and impact of all players based on how they think they will perform this season. So in that respect I think he should be considered.

42 is quite high. I'm guessing he is higher ranked than Thompson just because Klay will be out at least 55 games with a knee injury. No way he is better than Klay if Klay was fully healthy.

If the list was best NBA players ever, there's zero chance Zion would make the top 100. Or even top 200. But if its just for the 2019 season, this makes sense. But I would personally drop him down to around number 75 with super high upside. Because Zion could be a top 20 player by the end of the year, best case scenario. And I think they factored that in when the ranked him in the top 50 - upside vs downside, and gave him the average.

Was hoping Michigan would be more competitive than they are so far this season. Losing to Wisconsin 35-14 does not bode well. Not for Harbaugh, who I think might be on the chopping block now. If they don't win out and beat the Buckeyes in the final week of the regular season I think Michigan staff will have a huge shake up next season.

Ohio State will get Wisconsin in week 8 so it'll be interesting to see which team fares better. That'll be telling leading up to the head to head in Dec.

I think every conference falls off a lot after you list their 2-5 best teams. But when you look at the SEC, its just too staked to not be considered the best. I think your argument is better if the question is 'which conference has the highest ratio of good vs bad teams'. But even then that's debatable. And I still think its the SEC.

Big 12 just has Texas and Oklahoma right now. And both of those teams would likely lose to any of the SEC's best of Georgia, Alabama or LSU. Maybe even Auburn.

Texas already lost to LSU 45-38 this season. But Oklahoma doesn't play any of the best SEC teams so we won't know for sure unless its a playoff game. So you could say for the 2019-20 season the Big 12 just has the Sooners left carrying the torch.

Totally agree. One player doesn't make a team. But just to carry the discussion on, it does depend on the position and how many pieces that team is away from being complete.

Adding a star WR to a bad offense with a terrible offensive line and a subpar QB wouldn't do much except make some stat lines here and there more impressive.

But if you add a really good receiver to a team that has a really good o-line and a very good QB, suddenly that can equal much more wins. Prime example - the Cowboys adding Amari Cooper in 2018. They were in the exact situation when they acquired Cooper. They were 3-4. The first game Amari played they lost. But after that, once he settled in, they went from a 3-5 start to a 10-6 finish, winning 7 of their last 8 games. And in large part due to adding a missing piece to the offense that was sorely needed. They went to the playoffs and won their first playoff game. Gotta give a lot of credit to adding one player to the roster there.

So, does depend. Sometimes a team just needs a star left tackle. Or a great WR to stop the defense from stacking the box against the run game. Or they need a ball hawk safety to sure up their defense from constantly getting burned. Or, the biggest part of the puzzle, a great QB.

Adding a QB can make all the difference. It can turn a losing record into a winning one. But only if the talent of the team otherwise is up to the task.

So it all depends on how good that one player is, and how close the team otherwise is. A really good player can make a decent team good, a good team really good, and a really good team great. But they can't make a bad team great.

This is a prediction post. The Dallas Cowboys will win the NFC East in 2019, making them the first NFC East team to win the division in back-to-back years. That hasn't happened since 2004.

Here's how the division has been had over that time:

2004 - Eagles
2005 - Giants
2006 - Eagles
2007 - Cowboys
2008 - Giants
2009 - Cowboys
2010 - Eagles
2011 - Giants
2012 - Redskins
2013 - Eagles
2014 - Cowboys
2015 - Redskins
2016 - Cowboys
2017 - Eagles
2018 - Cowboys

Both the Cowboys and Eagles have won it 5 times a piece during that stretch. The Giants 3 times and the Redskins only twice.

The Redskins are in serious rebuilding mode and no one expects them to have a winning season for at least a few seasons to come. Same could be said about the Giants. Eli is in his final year and might not be the starter the whole year. Outside of Barkley they are seriously lacking talent.

The main competitor to the Cowboys is of course the Eagles, which most pick to win the East in 2019. And that could happen but hinges on their newly contracted QB Wentz staying healthy all season, something he has yet to do.

On the other hand the Cowboys QB Prescott has never missed a game. The only impediment to Dallas' season is if RB Elliott plays. He is currently vying for a contract extension and threatening to sit out if that doesn't happen. He wants to be the highest paid RB in the league. Something he does deserve but will hinder the Cowboys when it comes to paying other players. Though Jerry Jones has a long history of paying stars so it's likely to happen before the season starts.

Stacking the offense and defense of both the Eagles and Cowboys and you can argue a dead heat of talent, all said and done. But I give the edge to Dallas as they have a superior running game, linebacker crew and a head coach that is in serious prove-it mode, and I don't think Wentz stays healthy all season.

Think the Cowboys can finally break the trend and win back-to-back? Or will the Eagles play spoiler?

Definitely growing in popularity - they just announced LLWS is expanding from 16 teams to 20 in 2021:

The expansion is set for 2021, bringing the number of teams at the Baseball World Series from 16 to 20. Also, four teams will be added to the Softball World Series, raising that total to 12.

Cuba, Panama and Puerto Rico are to gain direct entry to the LLWS on a rotating basis, with each having a chance two out of every three years.

The expansion will also allow for two more U.S. teams every year. Those bids will come from two new regions: the Mountain Region will include Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada; the Metro Region will be made up of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

That Alabama-LSU game will be one of the most telling games for the SEC this year. Good chance whoever wins will go to the playoffs if they also win the championship game.

I think this is LSU's year.