As a yankee fan living in Canada, the Blue Jays collapse yesterday was beyond humorous to me.

Vlad's comments from the beginning of the year of "Last year was the trailer, this year is the movie", and then after a slow start saying "everyone knows the best part of the movie is the second half" - yeah, ROLL THE CREDITS, idiot!

That was an unbelievable collapse.

Hahaha.

The Blue Jays may have gone against all odds and even taught the Maple Leafs something about postseason choking.

I'm quite pleasantly surprised that the Padres beat the Dodgers in their own house with Clayton Kershaw pitching in a post-season series.

I have been a loyal Dawgs fan for life, and will stay that way until the day I die, but I just formally congratulate my Tennessee comrades for screwing Alabama yesterday. You have done the SEC proud by liquifying those trolls!

GO DAWGS AND GO VOLS!!!

Looking forward to the Georgia/Tennessee game later this year, but make no mistake, despite my congratulatory message, my allegiance will always lie with the Dawgs in red and black!

San Diego is having a great time right now. Padres are in the National League Championship Series, and the San Diego Wave FC are going to the Semifinals! I'm moving back to my desert in mid-December, and this has been one hell of a send off.

Okay, full disclaimer; I care virtually nothing about baseball outside of the San Francisco Giants home ballpark. And I've seldom rooted for anyone else. And thus, The Dodgers, over the years, have been an object of scorn and intense dislike from me.

But yet, I still got to feel bad for them. Seldom do you see such a clearly dominant team do such a horrendous choke job in the play-offs. I had them winning the World Series in four games- or at least, if they stumbled, it would be to the Braves or the Astros in the series, not in the wild-card round against a division rival who finished something like 24 games behind them. This sucks for them and for their fans, and even though I never rooted for the Mariners either, I am sure their fans can relate, after a similarly dominant regular season, yet went nowhere in the post-season.

As for football, seems like every year it's Alabama versus Someone Else (usually either Clemson or Georgia) so hopefully this will be the year it's "Someone Else" versus "Someone Else." I'm kind of hoping Michigan gets in this year, actually. Be nice to see a rust-belt college team take down one of the powers from the deep south.

Similar opinion to yours… except it involves an unusual team from outside of the Deep South being stomped by the Bulldogs.

Hopefully there will be some state diversity in whoever we destroy in the national championship, football gods willing! GO DAWGS!!

As a Giants fan, you can consider it revenge for last year, when the Wild Card Dodgers beat the NL West Champion Giants in the NLDS.

I'm also really bummed that the Astros took out the Mariners, because I was really hoping for a Padres-Mariners WS. I love both teams, though the Padres will be #1 as long as I'm living in the San Diego area (with my poor Pirates a distant third...)

I attended Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS, and the atmosphere was absolutely explosive! Even during the first game when the Padres lost, the entire crowd never lost any momentum. Sports is kinda fun.

Great start for Portland, that may be the Cinderella story of 2022/23 NBA. Loved how Simons went off against the Nuggets, and there's basically no need to say that the game against the Shitshow Lakers (Russtime Lakers?) was absolutely exhilarating

Happy Super Bowl Sunday for my American friends.

It's Monday here but if I can I'll watch some of it. No idea who the favourite is or their forms running into this game, but should hopefully be a good game.

At the beginning of the NFL playoffs, I was thinking, "God I hope it doesn't end up being Philadelphia versus Kansas City. Please, ANYTHING but those two teams!"

So, as you could imagine, I absolutely had no interest in the game or who won it. It was, for what it's worth, a good, close and exciting game, though there was some questionable officiating calls, that hurt both teams equally. People will always say "That last defensive holding call against Philadelphia was bullshit" and maybe it was, but at the same time, the K.C. fumble return for a touchdown that was negated- should not have been negated. It was a clear catch, fumble and a TD return, not an "incomplete pass."

sad that my Bengals weren't there again this year but making the AFC Championship twice in two years after being bad for so long is a big deal.

As for the Super Bowl, good game marred by a bad ending. Either way, glad it's over - already sick of the Chiefs, Kelce especially.

Even though I still think that some of those last plays in the game were nonsense, I still recognize that now, it is what it is. I was banking on Phillie (or Philadelphia), but it really didn't surprise me when KC (or Kansas City) caught up and beat Phillie during the 2nd Half of the Game.





Same here; I didn't even bother to watch the Halftime Party/Show for Super Bowl Sunday LVII - I heard that it was as crappy as ever anyway. Well, it's just back to BUSINESS AS USUAL (aka Encyclopaedia Metallum) for me here too - although I am getting ready 4 this NASCAR's 2023 Daytona 500 Weekend though. I'm banking on Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson or Alex Bowman. Who do y'all think is going to win this upcoming NASCAR race?

I'm not sure if anyone is into cricket, but did anyone catch the test match between New Zealand and England?

The craziest ending to test cricket I've ever seen.

Yea, I like sports. I don't play any, unless you count Taekwondo as a sport, but i do watch them whenever I can. Living in canada, we really don't get alot of football matches that aren't Man U vs. Chelsea, but oh well.

I didn't watch any of it, but Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to end the World Baseball Classic seems like the best they could've hoped for.

I don't watch the WBC on the admittedly spiteful rule that players are constantly getting hurt and missing time/running out of gas earlier in the season because they participated. But I did watch the replay of the last inning today and yeah, it seems like that was almost scripted.

After the Edwin Diaz injury (durr, he gets hurt during the celebration) and Altuve, I get it that some fans/owners aren't thrilled about the risk attached to those games. I tuned into the last game and watched every inning, and I usually don't watch a full 9 until some point in June when I'm at the ball park. But what a game. I was a skeptical with Ohtani being anointed the best player in MLB but his performance cemented it. He made one of the baseball's all-time greats look foolish to end the game. We won't see the likes of a player like Ohtani, who is equally feared on the mount and at the plate, for a very long time.

I've been afk for a bit. I visited Pittsburgh for the first time earlier this month, and caught the Pirates home opener against the White Sox. That ballpark is absolutely gorgeous, McCutchen's homecoming was incredible to see, and the experience in general was just fantastic.

Witnessing what was nearly an inside-the-park grand slam (3 RBI Triple, batter scored on an error throw to third) was phenomenal, too!

I finished that trip by watching the Penguins lose to the Blackhawks and not make the playoffs for the first time in 16 years, so it wasn't all happy times.

I've heard so many great things about the Pirates ballpark. This September, the Yankees (my fav team) are there the same week Springsteen is playing the hockey arena. Might have to make the trip for that one.

Absolutely worth the trip. The city itself is a lot of fun, too - great views if you take one of the inclines up Mt. Washington, too

NBA Playoffs: Stick a fork in the Warriors: They're done.
Watching Game six (almost over as I speak; Los Angeles has an insurmountable lead) and the Warriors just look like a tired, burned out shell of themselves. I dunno man, all great teams eventually have to end. But to me, they just look...tired. Thompson was injured for most of last year and in my opinion, he was just never the same. He can't make his shots as consistently as he used to, for one, and seems a step slower and more timid. Durant and Igoudala are both long gone, and their replacements, Poole and Wiggens are a slight step below them in terms of overall talent. Plus Wiggens has had some undisclosed health issues this year (presumably long Covid, though this was never officially acknowledged.) Meanwhile Curry is trying to carry the team on his shoulders but one guy just can't do it; even he doesn't seem to have the stamina and he isn't consistently making his shots like he used to. Green is, well, giving it his all, when he isn't being called for one of those infamous "Your Name Is Draymond Green" fouls. (like,f or example, if an opponent runs up to Green from behind, knocks him down and starts pummelling him with his fists, and they call the foul on Draymond Green because, he obviously must have provoked it.)

So.... Warriors are over. I don't really follow any of the other teams.

Yup.

The biggest question seems to be whether the front office will have the guts to pull the actual rebuild trigger. As much as it seems unthinkable, pretty much all of the veterans should be on the chopping block - maybe apart from Steph (but definitely Dray). It'd be a bizarre spectacle to see Curry tear it up for another team.

It's a really good position for a rebuild too, apart from burdensome contracts (Draymond's is really bad); lots of young assets.

In other news, Jokić is pissing all over every single "critic" out there. I'd love a Denver v. Philly finals, but that's probably not going to happen. Still, I'm going to enjoy the evisceration of the Lakers.

Nuggets are in!! Kind of vindicating to see LeBron James and the Lakers go down in four games. I'm not a huge fan of the Nuggets or anything but I'd still like to see them bring home a championship.

I feel sorry for Philiy fans. The Process didn't really yield them much in terms of success. The only real talent they came up with in all those years of losing was Joel Embiid who now has his newly minted MVP award questioned by fans and critics alike for his poor play in the last 2 games against the Celtics. The best the Sixers could show for all the years of The Process were 2nd round Playoff appearances all of which ended in defeat. This latest one was the most damaging. Doc gets fired. Harden wants to jump ship and leave for Houston. Can they build a winning team around Embiid and Maxey?

As for the Celtics, after their much celebrated comeback win against the Sixers they faced a very determined and hot shooting Heat team that dealt them 3 straight losses. This not only brought the Celtics back down to earth but to the brink of elimination hell where they would be the source of ridicule among sports pundits and analysts. Thankfully they showed up in game 4, got a win and proved they're the better franchise than the pathetic Lakers team. Can they win game 5? I'm a Celtics fan obviously and I see greatness in this current team. And it's in these tough times that greatness prevails. So we'll see.

Called it!

When you choose Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris over Jimmy Buckets*, I'm not particularly inclined to feel sorry for ya.

Okay okay, to be fair, I don't think many people could predict the utter magnitude of the Ben disaster that was yet to unfold back then.

*Not sure how much credence to afford those narratives about Jimmy being a locker room problem specifically in relation to Ben (if I recall correctly, he was all chummy with those dudes from Minnesota that got their figurative asses handed to them by Jimmy). As the story goes, there was absolutely no issue between him and Joel.


Got ourselves a serious series all of a sudden
Can't wait to see how this plays out. In my heart of hearts, I want Jimmy in the finals, but I wouldn't be miffed at all if Boston made a historic comeback.

Australia snatching victory from the jaws of defeat to be 1-0 up in the Ashes is a highlight of my three night shifts. Condolences to England but not really.

It's set up a genuinely exciting series. Both sides looked very evenly matched. England probably should have won the game but poor fielding and keeping cost them dearly. Bring on Lords in a few days time Mikey!

Today's race in Chicago was probably the best auto race I have ever seen, and I don't say that lightly. I don't follow auto racing as closely as I used to, but it was really fun seeing stock cars, and the usual cadre of drivers (Truex, Larson, Elliott, Bowman, etc.) racing on the city streets. Definitely different from the rather mind-numbing racing you typically see on all those generic oval tracks. It was also pretty cool seeing an outsider like Van Gisbergen show up and just totally school all of those guys, and win the race. I guess Van Gisbergen has already been hugely successful down in Australia and New Zealand, but this proves he is certainly a bad ass, world class race car driver .

The car control of a few of the drivers in the Australian Supercars series is just insane, especially in the rain or at street races where they practically jump them over the chicane kerbs between concrete walls. If you liked Chicago, you'd surely enjoy watching some. Shane Van Gisbergen's struggling with his new car this year, but for him struggling still means picking up wins and podiums. In the previous generation car they had not one but three levers (gears, brake bias, and anti-roll bar adjustment). Shane would be missing those as he was often the one shown working all 3 levers a crazy amount. Kinda like watching an extreme metal drummer given racing drivers have their own heel-and-toe technique going on.

Anyone watching the FIFA women's world cup? Getting a lot of interest in Australia. Not just because we're hosting it, but Australia made it through the group stage. Dispatched Canada 4-0 to make it to the round of 16, then defeated Denmark 2-0 last night. Absolutely wild scenes. Now we play the winner of France v Morocco in the quarter finals. Can't wait to see it and cheer on the Aussies again.

Australia v France in the world cup. What an unbelievable ending that thankfully ended in our favour. Longest world cup penalty shoot-out in history. My heart rate was through the roof watching it. Now we play England for a spot in the final. Win or lose, very satisfied with how far we have gotten in this competition.

The bulk of the game was not the most exciting but massive respect for the Australian keeper. Missing her kick which would have won them the game (dumb idea for any team to put their keeper in the first 5 takers btw) and then going on to be the hero with her saves would take a shitton of calm and determination.

Australia bows out of the world cup, losing 3-1 to England. No hate to England at all - they were the better team on the day and controlled the ball expertly, starving Australia of a lot of quality possession. Sam Kerr kicked a screamer of a goal for us to make it 1-1 and give us hope, but lapses in concentration proved fatal, especially for England's 2nd goal. Despite the result, very happy with how our team went. Win or lose against Sweden to claim 3rd place, this is still the best result Australia has achieved in the world cup, men or women. That's something to celebrate. England v Spain in the final. That will be a fantastic game.

The Royals are so annoying. Any time they play the Mariners, no matter how bad they are, they become a huge pain in the ass. Luckily Julio Rodriguez is hotter than the sun. NINE hits in two games!

With 5 innings complete against the Astros, Julio Rodriguez now has *12* hits in his last 14 at-bats, with 2 home runs and a double. Last 3 games:
4-6
5-5 (Yesterday)
3-3 so far today

What on earth.

I'm not that into national team football at all (men or women) but I've seen parts of it. It is very good to see how much the sport has developed. And I'm not talking primarily about the media coverage or the amount of people watching but about the actual game. I first noticed giant leaps about 10 years ago or so. For a long time the quality really wasn't very good. Now, probably because more countries and clubs put more money and effort to ladies football, the actual game play has become so much better than it was. I really think this is the most important factor in keeping the interest the media has created. With a good product they will retain more of the audience.

I can only take you at your word regarding the quality over the last 10 years, but this world cup has been awesome. It just finished a few hours ago (congratulations Spain!) and I would deem it a success. It's put women's sport in the spotlight and shows the talent is there for many countries. I'd be keen to watch the next one wherever that will be held.