Archives for May 2023

May 31, 2023

MLB Takes Over San Diego Padres Broadcasts: Diamond Sports has aired its last San Diego Padres game after the network stopped making rights payments while it undergoes bankruptcy. Major League Baseball is taking over and will air games on cable and the league's streaming app. Diamond Sports parent Sinclair paid $10.6 billion in 2019 for the networks now called Bally Sports but the deal didn't include streaming rights. It got them for NBA and NHL teams but struck out with MLB.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:52 PM - 1 comment

May 30, 2023

Attention Kmart Shoppers: Chelsea is Selling Christian Pulisic: With Chelsea looking to cut salaries, six teams are looking for a Blues-light special to acquire Christian Pulisic: AC Milan, Galatasaray, Juventus, Manchester United, Napoli and Newcastle. La Vecchia Signora is the frontrunner, reports Mark Ogden of ESPN. Chelsea paid a £58 million transfer fee for Pulisic in 2019 and may sell for £20 million.

posted by rcade to soccer at 11:00 AM - 1 comment

NBA Playoff Pickem: NBA Finals: The NBA Finals begin Thursday when the Miami Heat face the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City. For this round pick the winner and games required along with seven props and a tiebreaker. NoMich has climbed to first after scoring 27 points in the conference finals, followed by five players within 10 points. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to basketball at 10:38 AM - 10 comments

May 29, 2023

Celtics One Win from Making NBA Playoff History: No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game playoff series. The Boston Celtics would complete the feat with a win at home tonight against the Miami Heat, joining in that achievement baseball's 2004 Boston Red Sox and hockey's 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings.

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:14 PM - 6 comments

May 28, 2023

May 27, 2023

Everton, Leicester City and Leeds Fighting to Stay Up: The Premier League season ends on Sunday with three clubs scrambling to avoid being the two that will be relegated: Everton, Leicester City and Leeds. At 33 points, Everton survives with a win over Bournemouth or a draw if Leicester City and Leeds don't win. At 31, Leicester needs a win over West Ham and an Everton loss or draw and Leeds needs a win over Tottenham, an Everton loss, and a Leicester loss or draw. If Leeds beats Tottenham by 3 goals, an Everton draw also keeps them up.

posted by rcade to soccer at 03:48 PM - 1 comment

May 26, 2023

Luton Town is a Better Story Than Wrexham: Nine years ago Luton Town was in the sixth tier of English football. If they beat Coventry City on Saturday, they'll be in the Premier League. "We've come a long way from a training ground with dog walkers cutting across our pitches and getting changed in portable cabins," said midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, who has been with the club all the way up from the National League to League 2 to League 1 to the Championship.

posted by rcade to soccer at 02:22 PM - 8 comments

May 25, 2023

Texas Rangers Bats Are Booming: The Texas Rangers are leading the majors with 6.4 runs a game and second in team OPS at 118. One of the surprising sources of that massive production is a player they acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals for "cash considerations" three years ago: 30-year-old Cuban outfielder Adolis Garcia. "He has the bat speed and muscle to pulverize the league’s nastiest pitches, as he proved last week when he became the first hitter to go deep off Atlanta Braves flamethrower Spencer Strider twice in one game," writes Yahoo Sports sabermetrician Zach Crizer.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:45 AM - 0 comments

May 24, 2023

When is Olivia Pichardo Switching to Softball? Never: Olivia Pichardo is the first female to play Division I baseball, making the Brown University team as a walk-on. Her freshman season was rocky, with one at-bat as a pinch hitter, but she is undeterred. "I wasn't telling myself the odds. I was just telling myself that I was going to make the team," Pichardo said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 02:59 PM - 0 comments

May 23, 2023

Carmelo Anthony Retires from Basketball: Carmelo Anthony has announced his retirement from the NBA, which he leaves after 19 seasons as a 10-time All Star and the ninth-highest scorer of all time with 28,289 points. He also won a national championship at Syracuse, but never an NBA title, an achievement that would have been the capstone of a Hall of Fame career.

posted by rcade to basketball at 10:03 PM - 2 comments

May 22, 2023

Matt Araiza Believes He Deserves Shot at NFL: Matt Araiza was one of the most hyped college punters in decades going into the 2022 NFL Draft, an NCAA record setter with a 51.19 yard average called "Punt God" by fans. Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round and named the starter, he was released before playing a game after being accused in a civil lawsuit of gang rape at a San Diego State off-campus party. The school's investigation found no wrongdoing by Araiza and the D.A. has announced it is not pressing charges. He's fighting to clear his name and get back to the NFL. "There was a time in this country and in the world where a woman would come forward and no one would believe them, and that's not right. But the pendulum has swung to the other end. And it feels like it's instantly believed, and I don't think that’s right, either," Araiza said.

posted by rcade to football at 01:32 PM - 5 comments

May 21, 2023

The Fight Club of Ultra-Marathons: The Speed Project is an unsanctioned ultra-marathon race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas through Death Valley spanning 350 miles. Competitors must find their own route, water, food and shelter. It began in 2013 and strives to stay low key, but brands like Nike, New Balance and On Running have sent teams. "Last year, I remember seeing a car full of bullet holes, but it had a bench seat in the back," said runner James Poole. "I was so tired, I really considered sleeping in there it but decided it was a stupid idea. It was obviously used as shooting practice by people -- can you imagine?"

posted by rcade to extreme at 09:24 PM - 0 comments

May 20, 2023

FBI: Teen Stole $600,000 from DraftKings Users: An 18-year-old hacker who allegedly stole $600,000 from the accounts of 1,600 users on DraftKings last year said in a message that "fraud is fun." The FBI claims Joseph Garrison of Wisconsin broke into accounts using credential stuffing -- trying thousands of username/password combinations obtained from other sites. Never use the same password on multiple sites, kids.

posted by rcade to general at 03:13 PM - 0 comments

May 19, 2023

RIP Jim Brown: “To the world, he was an activist, actor and football star,” Monique Brown wrote on Instagram. “To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.” Watch him in all his glory.

posted by NoMich to football at 08:24 PM - 3 comments

Ryan Brasier Will Be Missed: "I'm not here to defend Brasier's pitching ability, he was bad more often than he was good. I am here to point out that he was a goat, taking the blame for all that was wrong with the Red Sox. Maybe it was the crook in his neck, giving him a perpetually confused expression. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't seem to care, rarely showing emotion after being lifted from the game. Or maybe it was that his name is perfect for pissed-off Bostonians to say as they walk down Landsdowne: 'fahkin Brasiah'." -- Jacob Roy, Over the Monster

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:31 PM - 0 comments

May 18, 2023

Pat McAfee Talks Himself Into Timeslot on ESPN: People questioned Pat McAfee for quitting the NFL at 29 when he had a $6 million contract as a punter. Six years later, he's leaving a $120 million contract with FanDuel to move his sportstalk show and gargantuan social media following to ESPN this fall in a deal exceeding $10 million a year. "Pat McAfee has always done things differently," writes sports business reporter Joe Pompliano.

posted by rcade to media at 09:58 AM - 5 comments

May 17, 2023

Tempe Voters Reject New Arena for Arizona Coyotes: A proposal to build a new Arizona Coyotes hockey arena and entertainment district on a former landfill was rejected by voters in Tempe on Tuesday by a 12 percent margin. The $2.1 billion project would've used private funding for the arena but give team owner Alex Mureolo an estimated $500 million in tax breaks over 30 years. The campaign to vote No spent only $35,000 compared to $700,000 for Yes, which came mostly from Mureolo. A franchise move out of Arizona seems likely.

posted by rcade to hockey at 09:36 AM - 12 comments

May 16, 2023

The San Antonio Spurs win the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery: The Spurs have landed the #1 slot and will presumably draft potentially generational big man Victor Wembanyama. They will be followed by Charlotte (2), Portland (3), and Houston (4). In a lottery that saw little movement, the Detroit Pistons are the lone losers, dropping from a three-way tie for the top odds to fifth.

posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 08:39 PM - 3 comments

NFL Teams Want to Permanently Host Black Friday Game: Now that the NFL has invaded college football's turf on Black Friday with an annual game beginning this year, several NFL teams want to be the Detroit Lions or Dallas Cowboys of that day -- including the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals. The inaugural game will feature the Miami Dolphins facing the Jets on Amazon Prime.

posted by rcade to football at 11:59 AM - 3 comments

NHL Playoff Pickem: Conference Finals: There are now four teams left in the NHL playoffs. The Panthers and Hurricanes series begins Thursday night while the Stars and Golden Knights follow a day later. I'm holding on to first in the pickem but Jagsnumberone is two points back after winning the week with 42. Six of us picked Auston Matthews to score the most goals. He scored none. We won't be making that mistake again. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to hockey at 10:42 AM - 13 comments

May 15, 2023

5 Years of Legal Sports Betting Outside of Vegas: On May 14, 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a 1992 law that prohibited almost all sports betting outside of Nevada. Today you can bet in 38 states and D.C., sports gambling promotions are all over broadcasts and venues, and Las Vegas has two teams with a third on the way. "I'm kind of surprised at how big it is," said Johnny Avello, a longtime bookmaker and Sports Betting Hall of Famer who left the Wynn Las Vegas for DraftKings. "Who ever thought that there would be markets on pickleball, cornhole, the Academy Awards and the hot dog-eating contest?"

posted by rcade to general at 01:21 PM - 1 comment

NBA Pickem Week 3: Conference Finals : The conference finals are set: Lakers vs. Nuggets in the West beginning Tuesday night and Heat vs. Celtics in the East beginning Wednesday night. Jjzucal continues to lead the playoff pickem with 103, but Ufez scored a massive 49 points to trail by only three. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:45 AM - 12 comments

May 14, 2023

What Happened to the St. Louis Cardinals?: Favorites to win the National League Central again, the St. Louis Cardinals have instead gone 15-25 and dwell in the cellar of the NL. Every starter has an ERA above 4.00, relievers have blown 11 saves and for the first time since 2004, Yadier Molina is no longer behind the plate. The Redbirds signed Willson Contreras for five years and $87.5 million to succeed him, and in a sign of how that's going, he was briefly demoted to DH.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:27 AM - 5 comments

May 13, 2023

The WNBA is Kind of a Big Deal: Things are looking up in the WNBA, which begins its 27th season on Friday. Last season was the most watched in 14 years and the 12-team league is talking expansion. The women's NCAA championship game drew the largest audience in event history, creating future WNBA stars out of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:56 PM - 2 comments

May 12, 2023

BMX Rider Goes to That Skatepark in the Sky: The Scottish BMX star Kriss Kyle performed tricks on a custom BMX bowl hoisted 2,000 feet in the air by a hot air balloon. The 35-minute film Don't Look Down documents the engineering and execution of the audacious Red Bull stunt. "At over 2,000 ft you're so high up it almost doesn't feel real anymore," he told Bikerumor.

posted by rcade to extreme at 03:48 PM - 0 comments

May 11, 2023

NHL enforcers die 10 years younger than their fellow players: The study, published Wednesday in the JAMA Network Open, found that enforcers died on average a decade younger than comparable peers who were drafted at the same rank, were of similar height and weight and played the same position.

posted by NoMich to hockey at 11:14 AM - 11 comments

Major Leaguers Pfear the Pfister: Major League Baseball players who stay at the 130-year-old Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee during road trips claim the place is haunted. Adrian Beltre heard phantom knocking in the hallway and the TV kept turning itself on. Carlos Gomez heard voices in the shower and his iPod erupted with static noise. Bryce Harper said his clothes moved. Instead of staying there this week for a three-game road series, Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers is renting an Airbnb. "You can tell me what happened after," he said. "I just don't want to find out myself."

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:31 AM - 4 comments

May 10, 2023

The Night the Fan Fought Tie Domi: In 2001, a Philly fan flew through the penalty box glass and fought Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The fan filed a $50,000 lawsuit against Domi, the Maple Leafs, linesman Kevin Collins, First Union Center and the company that owns the Flyers. Domi told the rest of the story on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast and it's five minutes you won't want back.

posted by rcade to hockey at 05:25 PM - 1 comment

May 09, 2023

Joe Kapp, former quarterback and head coach, dies at 85: Football's most interesting man, Joe Kapp, the only QB to lead a team to the Rose Bowl, Grey Cup, and Super Bowl has died after a *15 year* battle with Alzheimers. (more inside)

posted by NoMich to football at 09:32 AM - 3 comments

May 08, 2023

Gene Collier: I'm Watching Less Baseball, and It's Grand: Now that Major League games are shorter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnist Gene Collier is excited to have an extra half-hour in his day -- to a point. "Who in America, other than the people who are paid to, watches baseball as a staple of their quotidian existence? Too often, the answer is old guys. What are old guys going to do with an additional 25 minutes every day? I wouldn’t presume to speculate, but of course we’ll no longer have an excuse for not having our pill organizers properly filled, and we might want to consider decisive action on those toe nails, you know, before they reach the street."

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:07 PM - 0 comments

May 07, 2023

Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon fired after link to suspicious bets: Sportsbook surveillance video indicated that the person who placed the bets was communicating with Bohannon at the time

posted by NoMich to baseball at 10:20 PM - 3 comments

Nick Gilbert, Son of Cleveland Cavaliers Owner, Dies: Nick Gilbert, who represented his father's Cleveland Cavaliers at the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery that gave the team the first-overall pick that became Kyrie Irving, died Saturday at age 26. Gilbert suffered from the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis. His sartorial style and sense of humor made him a fan favorite across the league.

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:33 PM - 0 comments

May 06, 2023

That's Not the Name of the Negro League Museum: In a pregame segment Friday in Kansas City, longtime Oakland A's play-by-play man Glen Kuiper wanted to tell people about his great visit to the Negro League Baseball Museum in the city. But he called it something else entirely. He's apologized and been suspended. Museum president Bob Kendrick had this reaction: "I welcomed Glen to the NLBM yesterday and know he was genuinely excited to be here. The word is painful and has no place in our society. And while I don't pretend to know Glen's heart I do know that my heart is one of forgiveness. I hope all of you will find it in yourselves to do the same!"

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:58 PM - 3 comments

May 05, 2023

Sports Illustrated Scribe John Underwood Dies: John Underwood, one of the last sportswriters from the golden age of Sports Illustrated, has died at age 88. Underwood wrote for SI from 1961 to 1985 alongside Frank Deford, Dan Jenkins and other notables. He cowrote autobiographies with Ted Williams, Bear Bryant and Alvin Dark and a father-son memoir by Archie and Peyton Manning. Underwood also wrote his own books about injuries and violence in football (The Death of an American Game, 1979) and the pernicious effect TV and big money were having on sports (Spoiled Sport, 1984). "Many felt he had lost his love for the games long ago," wrote Michael MacCambridge of Underwood's departure from the magazine.

posted by rcade to media at 03:28 PM - 2 comments

May 04, 2023

'Squarely in the Top Three Best Players Ever': Meet Dan "Jungleman" Cates, one of the most colorful and talented players in professional poker. He was attending the University of Maryland on scholarship after attaining a near-perfect SAT. And then he discovered online poker.

posted by rcade to poker at 08:58 PM - 0 comments

May 03, 2023

Leafs-trolling father-daughter duo has been at it for years.: Twitterer rufus_mcdaniel noticed the same pair of fans sitting in the lower bowl of ScotiaBank Arena during both rounds of the Playoffs (so far) first wearing Lightning jerseys and then Panthers. Turns out they're Toronto-area father-daughter season-ticket holders and diehard Canadiens fans who bond over cheering for their biggest rival's opponents.

posted by Ufez Jones to hockey at 08:14 PM - 2 comments

Seattle Kraken 5, Joe Pavelski 4: Joe Pavelski became the oldest player in NHL history to score four goals in a game Tuesday night, a losing effort by his Dallas Stars in the playoffs against the plucky Seattle Kraken. Pavelski did not celebrate the way Joe Thornton once said he would if he put four in net.

posted by rcade to hockey at 01:52 PM - 4 comments

May 02, 2023

Chess Moves: The Indian Behind the Indian Opening: How a now-forgotten Brahmin in the mofussil of Calcutta,' unbeaten on his turf in the mid-1800s, went on to change the royal game. (New Lines Magazine is an excellent publication and all stories/essays are very much worth your time)

posted by NoMich to other at 09:16 AM - 5 comments

May 01, 2023

NHL Playoff Pickem Round 2: Kraken Released: Three of the four matchups are set in the Stanley Cup playoffs, so it's time to submit picks. Florida visits Toronto at 7 p.m. Eastern to begin the round. With the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils in a game 7 tonight, I'm leading the contest with 64 and Ic23b is three back. Make your picks and quaff a Molson Golden for the Bruins and Avalanche.

posted by rcade to hockey at 01:38 PM - 26 comments

NBA Playoff Pickem: Warriors vs. Lakers: The final semifinal playoff series is the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Golden State Warriors and can now be prognosticated in the NBA Playoff Pickem. The leader after the first round is JJzucal with 85 points. Howard_T and Rumple are in second with 69. Make your pick.

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:41 PM - 2 comments

Bruins in Ruins: Fantastic Season Followed by First-Round Flop: The Boston Bruins amassed 65 wins and 135 points, the best single-season record in NHL history. The Florida Panthers were not impressed, sending Boston home Sunday night to a game-7 overtime defeat and first-round ignominy. Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe blames "days of uncharacteristic missteps, second-guesses and logic-defying gaffes " all doled out by their greatest foe, themselves."

posted by rcade to hockey at 11:41 AM - 13 comments