Welcome to the latest edition of my World Famous “This and That” column. This time around we hit on some NFL stuff, some Celtics stuff, some Yankees notes, and even the Phoenix Mercury. So without further ado or gilding the lily, let’s jump right in.

USA! USA!–I haven’t had a chance to weigh in on the USA basketball stuff yet.  This was the perfect situation for the Celtics.  The most important thing was that no one was injured.  One of the reasons this happened is because Brown was left off the team and Tatum hardly played.  And that brings us to the second-best thing, motivation.  After years of knocking on the door of a championship, the Jays finally broke through and won banner 18.  After all that it would have been easy for them to have a letdown season this year.  All the pressure is off and they proved they could win the big one together. However, after being completely disrespected by team USA and Steve Kerr, the Jays have all the motivation in the world to prove themselves to the rest of the league.  To prove that not only do they belong in the top 12 of NBA players but that they should be the guys the team is built around (in 4 years the Lebrons, Currys, and Durnats will be done so it probably will be them anyways). Now, this could go bad if they try to do too much and play very selfish ball, each trying to prove that they are the man, but I don’t see them doing that.  It’s been instilled in them that the best thing to do is to make the right play and win as a team. Hopefully I’m not wrong and they focus on being the first team repeat as champs since 2018.   Or even better, make a run at the wins record set by Kerr’s Warriors. 

A Minor Upgrade–Okay, here’s my idea. The NFL needs a true minor league. If they had a minor league instead of just practice squad guys, those guys would develop better because every now and then they get to actually play a competitive football game. If they split it up into two separate minor leagues, AFC and NFC, then you have each league play on every other week.  So that each team would get two weeks of practice in between games.  I would think that would increase their development.   They could play on Saturday afternoons.  People would pay to watch that.  There would be a lot more interest in teams that are associated with NFL teams than random teams like in the UFL.   The practice squads are now up to 17 players (it was only ten before Covid), so they are headed closer and closer to full teams.  If you go to a full minor league system, you can have a 22 or maybe like 30 man roster.  It’s not a full squad but you have enough to play offensive and defense and then a couple of subs each.  It’s the minors so you don’t need separate special teams players (aside from kickers and punters).  And then not only would those guys get more practice and develop better, but more guys would have a chance to make it to the NFL.   And this way when a team has an injury to a kicker or punter, they already have one in waiting as well as any other position. 

Not only would this be good for players but also for coaches.   So you would have to have an offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator, a head coach, and Specialties coach.  So, you’d have guys getting experience at those positions that they couldn’t normally get. So they’ll be better off when they get when they get promoted. And then if you have a team where your offensive coordinator, or your defensive coordinate gets hired away to be a head coach somewhere else, you can just promote your minor league coach.  You already have a guy in the system. That’s your next guy in line.  You will all be on the same page, so you don’t have to go out and find a new guy or change your offense because your offensive coordinator left. You, you always have guys in the pipeline. That just seems like the perfect idea. And one that actually solves a problem.

The Hialeah Kid—In what would be a major development for the New York Yankees and their dreams of winning their 28^th World Series, it looks like Nasty Nester may have returned.  In his last three outings Nester Cortez has given up just 1 run in 20.2 innings.  The first two outings he pitched 7 innings of scoreless baseball and in the third he went 6.2 innings giving up a solo shot with one out in the 7^th.  Given, two of the outings were not against the greatest competition, the White Sox and Washington, but the middle outing was against the team with the best record in the American League at the time, the Cleveland Guardians.  That’s impressive.  I never figured Nester would get a start in the playoffs with Cole, Rodon, Gil, and, if healthy, Clarke Schmidt getting all the post seasons starts.  But if Cortez continues to look like the dominate pitcher he was 2 years ago, I would think he would see the mound in October.  That would mean either Schmidt or Gil could be used in the Bullpen. There is no such thing as too much pitching.  Hopefully it is a problem the Yankees will have the rest of the season.   

Mercury in Retrograde? –In their 6 games since returning from the Olympic break the Phoenix Mercury have alternated wins and losses.  They stand at 16-15 with 9 games to go in the season.  They are currently in 6^th place and have a 4-game lead for a playoff spot.  Even with the Merc having 6 of their 9 remaining games at home, I figure they are all but locked into the 6^th seed, though if they go into a slump they could fall behind the surging Fever.  The Mercury could really use Bec Allen back in their lineup.  Still recovering from a hamstring injury (fuck the Olympics), I have not heard of a possible time line for her return to action.  They really need her on both ends of the court.  The Phoenix offense, while streaky, is top 4 in the league.  Their defense is what will cost them games.  It is a bottom 4 defense in the league.  Hopefully, if Allen can return, she can sure up the defense a bit and take some of the streakiness out of the offense.   They have 4 straight home games coming up so with some luck maybe they can get on a winning streak and ride that momentum int a long play-off run.