Braves believin'
Fun time for the Atlanta Braves. They are young, exciting, competitive and energetic. That makes the game fun and their games fun to watch.
Opportunist time for the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are a half-game back of the Phillies and five clear of the Mets. The Braves are one of three teams in the NL with winning records both at home and on the road.
And, the Braves' 12-5 come-from-behind win over Pirates started a 10-game stretch against sub-.500 tandem of Pittsburgh and the New York Mets.
That's before a very interesting series at home against the Phillies, who ended a five-game slide last night in San Diego.
While we are here, last night's results - Max Fried was roughed up in four innings; the bullpen did not allow a run in the last five - show the Braves could use either of the free agent pitchers still out there.
It would be a huge shot in the arm to the moral of the club and a testament - or a counter theory - for the fan base that Liberty Media knows how good this team is and that they are ready to contend now.
And while we are discussing 'shots in the arm,' uh, Austin Riley is a dude. A three-run, go-ahead homer last night continues Riley's staggering three-week torrid streak that has lave whispering, "Man, that Riley kid is super hot."
If, despite missing the first quarter of the season - Riley has played in 18 of the Braves' first 60 - and realizing Riley's sample size is comparatively limited, if he gets 500 at-bats and stays on this pace, well, here are the projections:
A .324/.368/.732 slash line, 63 homers, 176 RBIs and 106 runs scored.
Yeah, that would work.
Ridiculous by comparison
We mentioned it briefly on Tuesday, but NBA teams are considering doing away with the words "owner" because it is racially insensitive.
Hey, I can never say what does or does not offend others. Not my place.
It is my place to have an opinion on things, and if this is coming from the teams, then it's my opinion that fighting white privilege with white guilt is silly.
It is my place to share an opinion that the word owner - whether you are white or black (Michael Jordan is an owner, remember) - is completely fine for every other industry everywhere apparently. It's a truth, not a stereotype, and certainly not a throwback to slave times.
In fact, if that is the thinking, and unless we are looking at changing the entire lexicon that the word owner is done away with completely, then this line of thinking is downright silly more than stereotypical.
Do you think an NBA player making anywhere from the minimum of $385,000 to LeBron's $37-plus million are comparable to slaves? Really?
Yes, there are issues in our country that we need to confront, call out and correct.
Take the knuckleheads at two Smoothie King stations in North Carolina who thought it would be funny to put racial slurs on receipts and they were rightly and promptly fired.
A must win?
Where does 'must win' rank on overused/misused sports terms?
Pretty high.
But is tonight's Game 3 a must-win?
Well if Klay and KD are out and the Raptors can't find a way, it feels pretty cooked right?
Now the numbers.
When an NBA Finals series is tied 1-1 the winner of Game 3 is 31-7 in winning the series.
Sounds like a must win, no?
This and that
- Speaking of the Phillies, last night's win came with the news that former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen is out for the year with a torn ACL. That makes the deal for Jay Bruce, who had three hits, two homers and six RBIs last night, even more important.
- Who in a million years would have thought Randy Quaid's roles as Cousin Eddie and the alien-abducted dude in Independence Day would be far more stable and under control than his real life? Randy Quaid is on the mini-Rushmore of "Anything from death to murder charges to everything in between is possible when their names trend on Twitter."
- Le Anne Schreiber, the first female sports editor of any major U.S. major newspaper and the only female sports editor at the New York Times, died Friday. She was 73.
- I enjoyed this interview in Chatter with a full-blooded Chattahooligan.
- Jeopardy James Holzhauer now has some free time on his hands. Here, the professional sports gambler offers some tips on betting, such as: He loves betting halftime odds because he thinks Vegas is not as prepared at the half as they are before the game; Betting Super Bowl futures on teams poised to get a first-round bye; betting multiple sides on a football spread around a key number. (Love that last one, and for those of you who have been a round a while, you know I buy the half around 3s, 7s and 10s, well James is suggesting that if one book has Pats -7.5 and the other has Bills +6.5, bet both sides and risk the juice to double up on the Pats winning by 7.)
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way.
Should there be more, less or about the same amount of NBA Finals y'all around these parts?
Ballpark, what will Austin Riley's final rookie numbers look like?
Is the word owner racist?
As for a Rushmore, let's go with Rushmore of female sports media people. Go and remember the mailbag.