Deep thoughts, cheap shots & bon mots ...

When the Warriors signed Shaun Livingston in 2014, the excitement needle did not move. He was just another flopping fish caught in the Warriors’ net as they cast desperately for a serviceable backup point guard. That was a tipping point. Livingston was a superb teammate and a guy who, through the media, helped fans understand what was special about the Warriors.

One argument against robo umpires is that replacing human umps for balls and strikes would strip the game of personality. If whimsical strike zones and assorted grudges are personality, I prefer robots. The last umpire who added personality to the calling of balls and strikes was Inspector Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) in “Naked Gun.”

At the AllStar Game in Cleveland, the scoreboard flashed misspelled names, wrong player photos and incorrect team logos. Maybe MLB should forget about robo scoreboards and go back to human beings hanging numbers on a wall.

In a massive steroid bust across Europe, involving the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) and others, 234 people were arrested and 24 tons of raw steroid powder were seized. And that was just from the Russian toboggan team.

But seriously, that steroid sweep involved 33 countries and 17 organized crime groups. That’s a steroid bust on steroids.

WADA’s next major raid: The Rawlings baseball factory.

New rule: Every NBA and MLB AllStar Game must include the sport’s defensive player of the year from the previous season. Can you imagine if Matt Chapman had been left off the AL AllStar team? Baseball’s best defensive player?

Caveat to the previous note: While the NBA Defensive Player of the Year should be honored by inclusion in the festivities, he would not be required (or even allowed) to actually play defense in the AllStar Game.

Not on my reading list: Bud Selig’s memoirs. He writes that he was creeped out and depressed by Barry Bonds’ home run chase, because he wasn’t fond of Bonds. Other than that, Bud, how was middle school?

Selig often gets credit for the financial growth of baseball during his term. That growth, most of it, was going to happen even if my dog Pete was commissioner. By the way, Bud, love what you did with the A’s franchise.