Jake Tapper was the talk of the conservative media sphere on Sunday, but not for the reason CNN anchors or hosts are usually the buzz in that town. In this case, it was out of praise, effusive in some cases, for his interviews on Sunday's State of the Union.

And rightly so. His tussle with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow over Trump rallies in light of the pandemic was just right. His own commentary on those events was likewise in the appropriate tone.

But of course, that's not what made him a hit for the CNN-skeptical masses. It was his unrelenting and rigorously prosecuted interview with Joe Biden's campaign deputy manager and comms director Kate Bedingfield that got the ink flowing.

Tapper hammered his points. He repeatedly challenged and chased for the simple answer to the simple question he sought - something Mediaite's Joe DePaolo notes this morning much of the media is simply not doing when it comes to the former Vice President.

But it isn’t just the technical aspects of the performance upon which the judges must base their scores, but also degree of difficulty. This earned 10s for how important it was for this to even take place. The mere fact of his delivering a relentless and uncompromising interview of a Democrat.

If journalism is about facts then journalists should face the fact that they are perceived by a huge portion of the population as irredeemably one-sided and biased. A reporter can either turn their nose up at that and demand respect, or they can earn respect by demonstrating that they are who they say they are.

This was an important demonstration, even if the journalists involved would claim to the last breath it wasn't necessary or that this is what they always do. Tapper delivered. It's a must-watch.

The Los Angeles Lakers predictably won the NBA Championship Sunday night, beating a scrappy Miami Heat team in the sixth game of a seven-game series. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani tried to ridicule the LeBron James-led team afterward.

Unfortunately, for the personal attorney to President Donald Trump, his tweet earned more derision than praise in some blue-checked quarters of Twitter.

Since the NBA restarted their season and playoffs in an Orlando, Florida “bubble” to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Commissioner Adam Silver has earned broad praise for his successful continuation of the season that basically saw zero outbreaks of the coronavirus.

But conservatives have relished meager playoff ratings, pointing to Black Lives Matter-related social justice messages on players jerseys and the court.

The NBA playoff ratings have indeed been much lower than typical, but the games are being played in the Fall and are often going up against NFL games and MLB playoff games (like Sunday night.)

But conservatives, like Giuliani, seem to blame the ratings on the political messaging Silver has allowed his player-base to embrace, the vast majority of which are men of color who take very seriously the civil unrest that emerged after the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.)

Giuliani tried to mock the NBA champs with juvenile mock surprise. “Wow the lakers won the nba championship?” he joked. “How about a big parade in Communist China, Beijing” apparently misunderstanding the basic geography of the massive Asian nation. 

It went downhill from there.