Deal With It, The Warriors Are The Class of The NBA.

Over the course of this past off-season the established Western Conference powers got stronger and the up and coming teams had more time to mature. The undying Spurs dynasty got a boost when they landed the crowned jewel of this year's free-agency class in Lamarcus Alrdridge, while in Houston the Rockets added perennial fringe All-Star Ty Lawson in a trade with Denver to help bolster their already impressive roster. In Oklahoma the Thunder improved their coaching situation and oh yea, Kevin Durant is back! I guess that helps right? Turning our eyes to the golden coast, we find a Clippers squad with added depth and more desire than ever to capture their first championship. The West once again is a murders row of elite teams and very good teams such as Memphis and New Orleans, and they've gotten even better.

With all of that said there's a team over in the bay area who looks down on all of this in-conference movement and the only response they can muster is a disinterested "meh". I suppose they feel that way because they're coming off of one of the most dominant championship runs in NBA history. Maybe it's because they have the reigning NBA MVP who also happens to be the greatest shooter the world has ever seen. Oh! Oh! I got it! It has to be because they arguably have the league's best defensive player! No? Is it because their second best player is capable of scoring 37 points in a quarter? I mean, if it's not because they have the league's deepest team and their 6th man was last year's Finals' MVP, then I can't tell you why they don't care about what the rest of the west did this summer.

To start this season Steph Curry and crew have registered back to back blowout wins over two projected western conference contenders in New Orleans and Houston. Golden State currently has the look of a team at it's absolute apex, they're a well-oiled machine who manage to simply eviscerate the competition, no matter who is in front of them. We're in the midst of watching a team who has the potential to go on a dynastic run over the next 7 or 8 years and when you look around the league, it doesn't seem as though anyone is readily equipped to ruin those plans at the moment. They won 67 games last year, and I wouldn't be surprised if they went out and approved upon that.

This isn't a team that "got lucky" or "won on a fluke". The Warriors punched the league in the mouth and no one was able to respond, it's as simple as that, they were much better than everyone else and the proof is in the pudding, or maybe the rings. Jerry West and Steve Kerr have built a monster in the bay, and if we know anything about what happens when you build monsters in the NBA, the only thing that can stop that monster is itself.

The NCAA Has Exposed Itself Again.

LSU's star running back Leonard Fournette declared that he would auction off his Jersey to aid victims of the recent devastating floods in South Carolina after his team's win over South Carolina today. Fournette's act of kindness is one he should be commended for, but it also forces us to have a discussion that is as polarizing as it is important.

Players have had their eligibility revoked, programs have been sanctioned and heads have rolled over "student-athlete's"  being fiancically compensated for their fame/popularity, so why is it any different now? Instead of holding an auction to help flood victims, what if he sold his jersey to help his mother keep her lights on, or put some food in the house? Would the NCAA let that fly since it would be the noble thing to do? Of course they wouldn't, there would be a full fledged investigation, Fournette's eligibility would be in jeopardy and LSU would likely face sanctions.

The NCAA has once again sent the message that their "student-athlete's" are amateurs, incapable of being compensated for their work and or popularity, unless it greatly benefit's the NCAA itself, then they have no problem with bending the rules a bit. The NCAA was originally consistent telling Fournette that they wouldn't allow him to auction his jersey, then in an effort to quickly save face and prevent loads of backlash, they put out a statement saying they would indeed allow the auction.

For the people who defend the NCAA's policy of not allowing players to be compensated for their status and memorabilia among other things because they are "amateurs" and "students first", how do you reconcile that frame of thought with the fact that the NCAA constantly bends that very law for their own benefit? How is possible to defend an institution's supposed "core principles" as if it were inspired by the creator himself, while that same institution spits in the face of those principles whenever it's convenient? The NCAA's defenders are being played for fools and have been for a long time, the jig is up guys, it's' time to get real and figure out as a society, where do we go from here?

The media and honestly America itself needs to step up and stop being puppet's in the NCAA's game, the NCAA has got away with too much for too long and now's the time to hold their feet to the fire and force them to change. In a country filled with injustice, the NCAA has become a microcosm of those problems and we must fight everyday to cure our American institutions of the hypocrisy, unfairness and corruption that plague them. If a young man is allowed to sell his jersey to help needy strangers and in turn, the NCAA, then why can't he sell a jersey or his signature to help his family back home put food on the table or maybe even keep a roof above their heads? This is the dilemma the NCAA has created for itself, and if now isn't the time to challenge them on this and force them to change, then there never will be a time.