As usual, Major League Baseball is ten years late to a trend.
1. Patrick Corbin might be a vampire now.
Yes, you’re right. The most surprising part is the “now” at the end of that sentence. This guy been here forever and claims to be 35. He hasn’t always been a vampire? You sure about that?
Evidently, active concerns started Wednesday morning. From ESPN:
Texas Rangers left-hander Patrick Corbin earned his first win of the season Wednesday night, but it was a start he nearly wasn’t able to make. Corbin and the Rangers believe the culprit was “venom” from an apparent bite on his foot two days before his start that made it difficult to walk…”It was really bad in the morning,” Corbin said. “Just a really swollen foot. … I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw that morning. My wife was really concerned. I came in early [Wednesday] to get some treatment going and [went] from there.”
Wives, am I right? Always getting concerned.
I mean, he’s a vampire, isn’t he? I feel like if a venomous snake bites you, you know. And if it’s a spider, it’s too small to see the bite mark? It has to be a vampire. Which—if I correctly understand the rules governing vampires and members of the 2019 world champion Washington Nationals—makes Patrick Corbin a vampire too.
2. Lee Corso built college football’s Main Street.
Mostly copying this from a tweet I tweeted yesterday, so apologies for any redundancy for those who follow me there. For those who missed it, College Gameday will do one last show with Lee Corso Week 1. Then, he’ll officially retire.
First thought is this: I’m sure I would’ve loved college football anyway, but so many of my early memories of the sport involve Lee Corso, either watching College Gameday or playing NCAA Football on the PS2. I wonder how many others got to know CFB through him.
Second thought is a little bigger.
It’s great that College Gameday is going to be just fine without Corso. We’ve seen it without him a lot the last few years and it’s still the same show. It definitely faces risks, mainly the risk of becoming even more of a pawn in conference TV wars, but those aren’t worse because of Corso retiring. He’s the face of the show, but its identity isn’t going to change without him. That’s impressive and good. College Gameday is the sport’s equivalent of Main Street, and while a lot of the nostalgia around quintessential Main Streets is out of perspective and misplaced, I think they’re a good thing to have. It’s good that college football has College Gameday. It’s a unifier, like SportsCenter used to be for sports as a whole. It’s a neighborhood staple.
3. R.I.P. Mad Ants
The extermination of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants is complete. Rest in power, kings.
What’s going on here:
Two summers ago, the G-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants moved down to Noblesville, a nicer suburb of Indianapolis. They maintained the name Mad Ants, but they announced they’d be changing that name soon. This week, they announced the new name. The Boom.
Thankfully, this is not about A.J., Big Justice, and the Rizzler. (If you don’t know who those people are, you’re good. They’re great, but they’re not worth becoming your gateway into TikTok culture.) The name pays homage to “Boom, baby,” the catchphrase of Bobby “Slick” Leonard, a Pacers coach and color commentator (not at the same time). Still…how do we feel about the Boom? Try dropping that ‘m.’ You had the Mad Ants and you got rid of it. What’s next? Renaming the G-League to a different letter for sponsorship reasons?
Nothing’s sacred anymore.
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