Away: Texas, USC, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska

Home: Oregon, Michigan

I went 0-4 and 1-4 last week on 2 parlays so I'm looking at turning my dismal showing around

The kid is lightning. His last name is hyphenated. He currently bats 8th.

number of plate appearances Tony Gwynn had against those four Hall of Fame pitchers: 323

number of times he struck out: 3

Umpire’s ABS nightmare: Bill Miller has 8 pitches challenged, each one overturned
27-year veteran umpire and crew chief went 0-for-8 on ABS challenges, three by the Reds and five by the Cubs. Just nine plate appearances into the Friday matinee, Miller was charged with his first ABS challenge, on an 0-1 four-seamer from Cincinnati starter Rhett Lowder on the corner that should’ve been called a strike.
By the end of the ninth inning, eight in all were called, all overturned. Of those eight, only two were initially called strikes.

bgr & I are putting up 100$ apiece, so the winner will stick two benjamins in his pocket. My plan is to run the show for the first half of the season, then I'm going to pass the baton over to perkdog. I will post each week's schedule along with up-to-date standings. The rules are quite simple: Make sure you get your selections in before the first game of the week. Pick each game straight up, not against the line. Every game is worth a point. At the end of week 18, the individual with the highest total is the champ.

Good luck to all!

Competitors as of this moment:

galaxy27
bgr
perkdog
stevek
BLUEJAYWAY
Darin
ElMagoStrikeZone
Saint Ezzard
LandrysFedora

i asked my dad, "what are they waiting on?"

well, one of the guys i referenced was in fact called up yesterday (Sat). his name is Joshua Baez, he of 34 home runs at AAA Memphis this season. last night he made his MLB debut against the Cubs. the feat he pulled off may stand until the end of time:

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/49621155

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MVm8pm89qDQ&pp=ygUWYm8gamFja3NvbiBkYW4gcGF0cmljaw%3D%3D

I'm a huge Vikings fan (obviously). Is it because this team always disappoints? I used to watch other sports too but now hardly ever. I'm still a Vikings vintage card/memorabilia collector and that feels okay and it gives me a little pride knowing that someday my boys can have that stuff (they've already inherited the Purple Pride).

I'm not sure why - maybe because the game and players have changed? Or getting older equals more cynical and realizing it is just a business? I just don't know.

Anyone else experience this or feel the same?

I’ve been kinda addicted to this game ever since a friend sent me this link ( I promise this isn’t spam !! ) .. I think of all my 80-90s cards when choosing who to select for each category

Who is Jackson Chourio? Explaining the logic behind and ripple effects of the Brewers’ record-setting deal with their top prospect

"Chourio, who is just 19 and spent most of 2023 in Double-A, agreed to an eight-year, $82 million deal with the Brewers on Sunday."

Sports team owners are among the smartest people on the planet, so they must know what they're doing? 🤔

Pitched from 1981-1999 in the American League

4,100+ IP
3.000+ strikeouts....it just says he passed the milestone so don't know exactly.
2.95 ERA
288 wins to 186 losses

That ERA over that amount of innings pitched in that time frame puts him in the discussion for best post war pitcher ever.

For instance, Roger Clemens from 1984-1999 in the American league had a 3.12 ERA in 3,462 IP for an ERA+ of 147.

That puts Chapel's lifetime ERA+ around 155 or so for his 4,100 IP.

Clemens finished his career with an ERA+ of 143 in 4,916 IP.

In the movie, they said Chapel was having a bad year with a 3.55 ERA. That ERA would have been fourth in the AL that year and the league average was 4.86. Of course he had a sub .500 record for a bad team, so they might be alluding to that and fell victim to a poor analysis.

make that make sense. i'll hang up and listen.

Lets go Bills & Packers (as a Canadian I do not have a city I prefer I just stick with a few teams that I follow each year). I watch any team if those 2 are not on.

I also enjoy college football as well so that will start next weekend.

"USA Today columnist Nancy Armour sparked massive backlash and issued an apology over a controversial article arguing that Caitlin Clark’s reactions to referees and on-court contact put Black and queer WNBA players in danger."

The Claim: The piece, titled "Caitlin Clark's flopping isn't just annoying — it's becoming dangerous," claimed Clark's disputes with officials and dramatic reactions fed into a toxic fan dynamic that allegedly threatened other players.

The Emmett Till Reference: The column drew widespread condemnation for invoking the lynching of Emmett Till while discussing the WNBA All-Star Game location in Chicago.

Critics across the media landscape labeled it extreme "ragebait" and "the dumbest paragraph in the history of sports".

The Apology: Nancy Armour posted a statement on social media acknowledging that she made an "inartful comparison with the murder of Emmett Till", though the apology itself drew further criticism for failing to quell the outrage.

The Reaction: USA Today quietly added an editor's note stating the column was updated for "context and clarity", as public figures and sports commentators heavily blasted the editorial decision to publish the piece.

I probably have one of the most eclectic tastes in music around -- I can appreciate most genres. Groups like The Beatles, however, have never been able to whet my appetite. But for the first time in a very long time I heard this song on Sirius by George Harrison when he went solo, and I had forgotten just how much I like it. It's an anachronism to my ears -- hard to believe he churned this out before I was even born.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eEQ4J6Lnrs

When does the first real college football game start?

Opening kickoff indicates Fall is not far off.

Andy Reid was a great head coach, no doubt about it. A first ballot hall of famer for sure. However Andy is now old and washed up. He should have gracefully retired after last season. But instead he decided to go out on his sword.

Before the end of this season, even Taylor Swift will be howling in her irritating voice, that Andy needs to go. She may even write a song about it called, “Goodbye Andy.”

One thing Andy does have going in his favor. Patrick Mahomes does seem revigorated and possibly ready to return to his old form. However I doubt if that will be enough.

Jalen Williams rookie deal has just this '25/26 season left on it and if he gets voted All-NBA again (2nd time over a 3yr stretch) he then becomes eligible for a Supermax on par with that historic recent contract extension that SGA just signed. The Thunder would then be facing some difficult roster decisions similar to what Boston has dealt with this offseason due to the NBA's idiotic second apron restrictions.
With SGA & JDub each in that 70M range and Chet in the high 40's, those three would likely account for almost all of OKC's entire salary cap number. They basically have a two year window before all of these extensions kick in fully and at that point, its either give up one of your homegrown stars from the three names above or jettison the rest of their playoff rotation role players (Hartenstein/Caruso/Dort/joe/Wiggins) that just helped you win the Finals. Its possible that they could end up going both routes.

Its a real shame that some teams can do everything right by putting together a championship winning roster and as soon as you reward the players for their part in helping you win, it automatically starts a countdown clock to when you'll need to start trimming salary or face heavy tax fines & numerous trade restrictions. Most NBA owners are too cheap to do what is needed to see their own team be successful but they sure as hell hate seeing other teams have prolonged success which likely means the age of dynasties are pretty much over as long as the current CBA is in effect. This is the first offseason where the league's new tax provisions are all on the table and the players group as a whole saw their total salaries number drop by close to 500M. IIIRC it was just over 480M-ish but may drop a bit with some mid level free agents still on the market.

Its ironic that the owners cried about parity for years to the point that they changed the rules around roster building to help create more parity, yet by the time those rules fully kicked in, the league just watched the 7th different champion over that 7 year stretch. Talk about cutting off one's nose to spite one's face lol, its really not that surprising to see so many teams change ownership in recent years, might as well cash out while the getting is good. The Portland Trail Blazers are now the most recent team to go up for sale and once sold will mean that 1/3 of the 30 team league will have changed ownership since 2019-20.

cant stand either the player or the team

i guess i double hate them now!!

and they'll have an extended period of time to celebrate with the impending lockout

i would legit like to know how anyone can get on board with this sport

imagine splurging on tickets and this is what you see

he was 21 when he rose to #1 in the golf rankings

since that time, a decline..........and it's picking up steam. i love the guy, but he's nothing more than a JAG on tour now.

can you guys think of other athletes who reached the summit early on, then drove down the mountain?

Is he injured? have the hitters figured him out? is he not as good as everyone thought?

https://oilersnation.com/news/mcdavid-ties-gretzky-best-nhl-player-ninth-straight-year

"Crosby or Ovechkin? Ronaldo or Messi? Brady or Manning? The title of “best player in the world” is a source of endless debate in the world of sports. But in the NHL, we haven’t heard many of those debates in a while. That’s because Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is the league’s undisputed king, and it’s been that way for nearly a decade.

Each year, Daily Faceoff analyst Paul Pidutti selects the best player in the NHL with a title he calls “The Torch.” The purpose of The Torch isn’t to crown the top player in a single season like an MVP award, but rather to name the player who is widely accepted as the best in the world at a given time. On Wednesday, he declared that The Torch is remaining in McDavid’s hands for the ninth consecutive year."

Read on and enjoy. 9 years..............

This means that after residing in the basement of the NFL’s AFC North Division for what seems like decades the Browns will now be able PLAYING in the basement.

Poetic justice!!!

Maywood.