Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. While Karl the Kraken is out on “assignment,” Sammy the Shark has repeatedly reminded me to let everyone know that his namesakes finally broke their season-opening nine-game losing streak on October 28, 2024, overcoming a 4-1 deficit in the third period to eventually defeat the Utah Hockey Club in overtime 5-4.
Maybe now he’ll finally get some work done around here. But I doubt it.
Anyway, looking at the sports world, the World Series thus far has quickly devolved from the expected clash of the titans to the baseball equivalent of the October 27, 2024 game between the Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans, in which Detroit had what on the surface would appear to be a rather miserly offensive output of 225 total yards to Tennessee’s 416. End result? The Lions won 52-14. Freddie Freeman has drained the life from the Yankees with his three home runs, one in each game of the Series thus far including his game-winning grand slam in Game One that is the stuff of instant baseball lore. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ Aaron Judge has had the worst timing in regard to an athlete being off his or her game since Simone Biles developed a case of the gymnastics yips during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Judge is not alone in this; aside from Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton no one on New York is hitting. The end result is the Yankees unable to overcome any kind of deficit, and the Dodgers more than happy to keep it that way.
Elsewhere, in the NFL this past weekend, there was this.
HAIL MARY game winner! Jayden Daniels found the way to lead the #Commanders to a W! 18-15 Washington with an incredible finish vs the Bears. THIS IS HOW IT SOUNDS IN SPANISH! #NFL #RaiseHail #NFL @elPoderosoDC @Commanders pic.twitter.com/uZVioTKCxC
— Moises Linares (@MlinaresDC) October 28, 2024
If you would have looked at the NFL schedule before the season started and picked the Redskins Commanders and Bears as must-see TV topped with the best game-ending play thus far, you have been more of a laughingstock than the statue of Dwayne Wade the Miami Heat just unveiled. For his part, Wade has proved he was far more adept at basketball than any current efforts at art criticism.
“If I wanted it to look like me, I’d just stand outside the arena and y’all can take photos,” Wade said Monday. “It don’t need to look like me. It’s the artistic version of a moment that happened that we’re trying to cement.”
Dude. The statue is horrible. Anyway, while the game itself was at times sloppy, Washington and Chicago put on a show at the end of the contest that will have people talking for quite some time, a welcome change from the usual conversation about both teams the past few years that has primarily focused on their mutual ineptitude.
In other sports news, the WNBA has found a way to keep its name in the headlines other than participants in same sullenly sulking over people paying more attention to Caitlin Clark than all the other players in the league combined. (Helpful hint, ladies: Try being likable.) Namely, firing the coach. There have been seven dismissals since the season ended, including in Indiana, where Christie Sides was let go by the Fever. Maybe if she’d done a better job convincing her players to come to one another’s defense when Clark was being mugged on the court by assorted bitter brooders cosplaying as professional athletes, she’d still have a job.
Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone.
