Bryce Harper
It's been a roller coaster few days for Nationals slugger Bryce Harper.
First he sets a MLB record for intimidation with 13 walks in a four-game series against the Cubs, including an absolutely stunning six-walk performance on Sunday. Then he reportedly got off the team bus Sunday evening in Chicago and hand-delivered a jar of money to a homeless woman on the Chicago streets. Here's the story.
Then Monday during the day, there was a lot of national debate about whether walking Harper that much is good for baseball. Is it smart baseball? Sure. Is it good for the sport, which is supposed to be about entertainment and excitement? Not at all.
People want to watch Harper hit, not walk. So it goes and until the Nationals can protect him in the order, that's on them. (Side note: We are universally against changing the rules for the fan interactivity. It completely devalues the product and the sport. You can't make pitching around Harper illegal just like you can't make the Hack-a-Shaq strategy illegal. You want other teams to stop doing it? Then Ryan Zimmerman needs to start hitting more than his weight and your team's 7-foot-2 monster in the middle needs to shoot 65-percent or better from the foul line. Period. OK, glad we got that off our chest. We feel better.)
As for Harper, this all led to Monday night and the Nationals slugger getting ejected from the dugout a few pitches before teammate Clint Robinson hit a walk-off homer.
That's a crazy 36 hours, no?
And as Harper, the still surprisingly youthful slugger who will turn 24 during this year's postseason, continues his quest to make baseball fun again, know this: He has become the biggest star the game has seen since arguably a young Ken Griffey Jr. and the most entertaining hitter since Barry Bonds in his peak Giants years in the early 2000s.
Hamilton County commissionersEverything is bigger in Texas
Well, the Hamilton County Commissioners and the school board will put their collective heads together today about budget concerns and infrastructure needs.
There certainly are a lot of them, considering the overcrowding at some schools and the needs/wants of others and the like. Also of discussion will be the sad state of affairs of the football stadiums around the county. We all know that East Ridge's home stands were unsafe and demolished. There are others, too, that find themselves in a state of disrepair.
It will take checks with multiple commas to fix all of this. It's sad and a real issue, so please know we're not making fun.
In fact, the pride a school can feel about on-campus facilities being nice and, in turn, when those teams are successful, mean a lot in real time and in our memories. At the other end of our public problems is this story about a town in Texas building a $63 million football stadium that will seat 12,000 people with luxury suites and the whole shebang.
It passed a public vote - it got 63 percent of the vote in McKinney, Texas, for Pete's sake - and will be on the horizon sooner rather than later.
Also of note in that story is this stadium is four miles from the stadium in Allen, Texas, which seats 18,000 and was the previous record holder for most expensive high school football stadium in the country.
(Man, that's serious case of peanuts envy, no?)
A quick reminder
OK, we'll admit it. After eight straight playoff wins and a stretch of shooting excellence that will stun you, we were ready to believe the Cavs were right there as the favorites with any team out of the west to win the NBA playoffs.
Seriously, the last eight games - four wins vs. Detroit in round one and four vs. Atlanta in the semis - were statistically better than any eight-game stretch the record-setting Warriors put together this season. The Cavs have been that good.
Then, with five overtime minutes of sheer brilliance, Steph Curry reminded all of us that the Warriors simply have a different gear when he's prominently involved.
Curry - coming off a two-week hiatus after tweaking his knee - was noticeably off in his return during regulation. He was 10-of-25 from the field and a ghastly 2-for-13 from 3.
Then, with the series looking like a stalemate with the overmatched Blazers, heading into overtime on the road, Curry went from rusty shooter to robots superhero. He dropped 17 points in the five-minute extra session as the Warriors prevailed 132-125.
He was outrageous and generated the highest of comparisons.
"The obvious answer would be Michael Jordan," Curry's Golden State coach and former Jordan teammate Steve Kerr said. "And Steph does it so differently from Michael. I guess the similarity is just the awe-inspiring plays, the jaw-dropping plays, that bring the house down even on the road. I remember those same sounds when Michael did it."
So there you go. Right when we start to convince ourselves it's anyone's race for the NBA title, Steph comes back and does Steph-type of things. In fact, three of the top 10 trending topics on Twitter this morning were #StephGonnaSteph, Curry and 17 in OT.
That's Mister Curry if you please.
This and that
- OK, one more time for clarity, finding birdies on a golf course is good. Finding and handling snapping turtles on a golf course is not as good. Enjoy.
- Speaking of Mister Curry if you please. Gamblers who had the Warriors minus-5.5 loved Curry's epic overtime performance and covering the number.
- After making headlines by not 'respecting' the Canadian national anthem, Dwyane Wade apologized and then ripped Toronto's heart out. He scored 30 points and got very little help from his Heat teammates all things considered in a 94-87 Game 4 win over the Raptors. The series is now tied at 2. The numbers behind Wade's performance were incredible. He scored 11 of his 13 baskets by creating his own shot, and his 80 unassisted made shots are far and away the most in this postseason. Want more proof on how much Wade is flying solo? In the last two playoff games, Wade is 4-of-8 from 3 and the rest of Miami is 1-for-25.
- The Braves lose to the Phillies tonight. It is probably on TV, but we'd suggest you get an early start on those 2016 tax returns instead. The great stat circulating Monday was the Braves have the seventh most wins at Turner Field this year. Here's the order in number of wins at the Braves' home park: Cardinals 3, Mets 3, Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 2, Nationals 2, Red Sox 2, Braves 1. Ouch-standing.
- Here is J.J. Watt making a regulation driver look like one of those plastic things you stir your coffee with. That's a big dude.
- The Nationals signed Stephen Strasburg to a seven-year, $175 million extension. That's a lot of cheddar for a hard-throwing righty who has had arm issues. Also of note in that deal is the Nationals have eight of super agent Scott Boras' clients on their roster. Also of note down the road, soon-to-be the highest paid team sports star on the planet, Bryce Harper, is represented by Scott Boras.
This Sept. 10, 2012 file photo shows Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.Today's question
Man, lots happening, right? Not to mention that today's date is 5/10, so there's that too.
OK, there has been a ton of movement lately at ESPN.
Curt Schilling was fired, and he has certainly not gone quietly into the night. (That said, according to this, dude was making $2.5 million per. Man, we need to find a way to Bristol, stat.) Mike Tirico left. So did Brad Nessler. Each taking their talents to other networks in all likelihood to be the future replacements for Al Michael on NBC Sunday football and for Verne Lundquist on CBS's SEC football, respectively.
Now comes word that ESPN is parting ways with Cris Carter and Ray Lewis, adding Randy Moss, and moving Mike Ditka off Sunday Countdown. (We're pretty pleased with those decisions for what it's worth.)
This now intersects with the fact that today would have been the 86th birthday for Pat Summerall, who was one of the best announcers of all time.
So, with that in mind we are taking nominations for who's on the Rushmore of best national sports TV personality (be them play-by-play, game analyst, studio expert, you name it). This one might get so big we have to have have a bracket vote.
Whatcha' got? (And remember the mailbag.)