How excited are you right now? Right? You never thought you would see the day. You believed the glory days were over. There was a hole in your soul that would never be filled again. But alas, today is your lucky day. The hole is filled. The glory days have returned. That’s right! It’s time for another installment of my world famous This and That column! Try to contain your excitement. If you are new, welcome. This is my way of writing about a bunch of smaller topics from around the sports world and well, sometimes other places. Let’s jump in.
Big Bad Bruin—. The Boston Bruins’ rookie Justin Brazeau needs to play on a top 2 line. I don’t know why it took him so long to make the NHL, but with his size (he is huge for a forward) and his hands in front of the net, playing with skilled guys will make him more effective. In just 15 games he has 5 goals and 2 helpers getting only 11:29 of ice time. The Bruins don’t have a lot of consistent offense outside of Pastrnak, they need to see if this kid can provide some. And put him on the number 1 PP unit. It’s been struggling for a while now. His net front presence can help. He has 2 PP goals already on the second unit. I understand wanting to take it slow with a kid but he is 26 years old not 19 and the Bruins only have 10 games left. Get this kid on the ice.
We’ll Have To Wait—In my WrestleMania 40 Preview (which I am sure you have read) I mentioned that the next big money match in the women’s division is Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill. I just wasn’t sure how long the WWE wanted to wait before making the match. Well, we got our answer. It was announced on the latest episode of SmackDown that Jade will be joining the Blue Brand starting this week. With the WWE keeping her away from Rhea it seems as if they are looking to hold off on the clash of these titans. My guess is the spend the year building Cargill up and we get the match at next years Mania. Barring a roster shake up that puts them on the same show, that is. This makes it a little more likely that The Man will go over at Mania but I still think Rhea retains her title.
A Rose By Any Other Name—It seems to me that Major League Baseball really didn’t want to investigate this stuff with Shohei Ohtani and his now former interpreter Ippei Mizuhari They really wanted to sweep it under the rug. If you believe the story Mizuhari is telling, which he already changed once, it’s not that big of a deal. But if there is more to this and Ohtani is involved in the gambling, it’s going to be a big, big deal. If it turns out he bet on baseball, he’s done. They can’t possibly let him keep playing. Pete Rose would sue them so quickly. I wounder what will happen if it is proven he had nothing to do with the betting but Mizuhari bet on baseball. That is a quagmire MLB does not want to step in. If Mizuhari was making the bets for Ohtani or if he is just a scape goat, I would not be surprised in the least if he is willing to take the fall for Shohei. Greg Anderson went to jail for Barry Bonds multiple times. I’m not someone to just assume the worst but it’s hard to believe a guy who already admitted to lying. We will see how this all turns out.
Behind The Scenes—If a docuseries about the biggest franchises in movie and TV history seem interesting to you, I have the series for you. It’s on the Vice channel and it’s called Icons Unearthed. They just started their 6th and 7th seasons. The first one was all about the making of Star Wars. Then they did the Simpsons followed by the MCU. They have also done James Bond and the Fast and the Furious. Each season is at least 6 hour long episodes and they talk to people around the movies (and show in the Simpsons’ case) but not the main people you would expect. So it’s not the usual interviews and all the same info. It’s from a different point of view. It’s been really good. I highly suggest it. The only problem is each season has a different name (Icons Unearthed: Star Wars, Icons Unearthed: The Simpsons, etc) so it is a separate entity on a DVR. If you are going to record it like I do, you have to do each season individually. It’s a bit of a pain but worth it. I am really looking forward to the newest seasons, Batman and the Lord of the Rings.
Not Exactly Free—The San Francisco 49ers did not have a ton of money to spend in free agency even after reworking some contracts, and well, they don’t have a lot of needs. Thus, there were no splashy signings this year. That is fine. They had to cut Arik Armstead since he wouldn’t redo his contract so there was a need at DT with Javon Kinlaw leaving as well. They filled in the DL by signing Jordan Elliot and trading for Maliek Collins. They signed Buffalos’ Leonard Floyd to try and fill the pass rusher opposite Nick Bosa role. Maybe he will finally be the guy. Of course, does it matter if the other team is just allowed to tackle Bosa on every play? Like say, oh I don’t know, in the Super Bowl! Sorry, I’ll get back on track. They didn’t lose anyone else of consequence after Armstead. They replaced Sam Darnold with Josh Dobbs, the two of whom switched teams. Aside from that and signing a tackle from the Raiders they did not do much on offense. Clearly, they are leaving that to the draft.
Rookies? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rookies—The Phoenix Mercury traded their first-round pick, the 3rd pick in the draft, to the Chicago Sky for guard Kahleah Copper. This move was bitter sweet for me. I like the trade and Copper, who averaged 18.7 pts, 4.4 rebounds, and 2 assists last season, is a good player and will make the Mercury a contender this season. It’s bitter because I spent all of last season watching the Merc lose game after game with the dream of a top 2 pick and either Caitlin Clark or Cameron Brink making it worth wild. That all being for nought kind of sucks. However, once the Merc had bad luck in the lottery and ended up with the third pick, trading the pick became a lot less painful. At least now, I don’t have to watch the draft.
I Stand Corrected—The Yankees have announced that Luis Gil will be the fifth starter to begin the season. Other wise known as Gerrit Cole replacement. Gil has definitely earned the job. Not only was he better than the other options but he was really good. In my writing about Cole’s injury, I mentioned Gil as a replacement candidate but said he did better in small doses. Since I wrote that, he’s been dominate. He only gave up a two-run homer in his last 3 outings. Most importantly he only walked 4 batters in 11 innings while striking out 17. If his control holds up in the regular season, he may not just be a place holder for Cole, he might stake a claim to a starting job all season.
Well, I think that’s about it for now. Till next time…
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