Talladega may have disappointed for the first few hours, but we got a nice finish, and the aftermath was about as good as NASCAR can do. The Jumpman car looked cool. Tyler Reddick is fun to watch run around all happy, especially because he’s comically short. Also, we got to see the most Michael Jordan we’ve seen since…The Last Dance?
I’m probably forgetting a Michael Jordan appearance somewhere else, but in terms of getting to hear from MJ, this felt like the biggest look we’ve had at the guy in four years, and because it was impromptu, it was naturally more transparent and authentic than a series of interviews in a documentary. The takeaway? He seems happy! Mostly because a car he owns just won one of NASCAR’s biggest races of the year, but also because he seems to be enjoying the stock car owner life. He says he’s been watching all three of the big NASCAR series. He clearly has a relationship with Reddick’s family. He told his friends they were going to get really drunk on the plane home.
Michael Jordan is one of those people you can sometimes worry about, because his brain is not exactly built to enjoy retirement. It was fun to see him doing well.
What if the Rockies Get Grounded?
I don’t see the big deal about United letting the Rockies’ assistant coach fly the plane. He works for the Rockies, so there’s no chance he’s competent. If he turned out to be terrorist, he’d probably miss his target.
Still, I like the thought of the Rockies being banned from air travel. A season on a bus. Probably pretty eco-friendly, too, since everywhere in the league is downhill from Denver.
Rob Manfred (and or the Federal Aviation Administration) has a chance to do the right thing.
Joe Kelly’s (Bad) Luck
No, not a great weekend from Joe Kelly. Let some soft contact eat him up on Friday night, then needed some help to get out of the inning on Saturday. At the same time, though, the guy is allowing a .423 BABIP.
For those unfamiliar, BABIP stands for Batting Average on Balls In Play. It’s what percentage of grounders and fly balls turn into hits. The league average is something like .300. Joe Kelly’s is .423. Among the 300-ish guys who’ve thrown as many innings as he has, that’s eighth-worst in the league. Almost always, an especially good or bad BABIP for a pitcher is the result of a funky string of luck.
Sometimes, a bad BABIP can happen because batters are hitting the ball hard. But this happened to Kelly in 2022, too, and that year, his xERA (a measure of what your ERA should be based on strikes and walks and how hard you’re letting batters hit the ball) was great. Add in last year’s weird left-on-base rate, and Joe Kelly is into his third season in a row of some wildly bad luck. I’m starting to worry it was something I did.
The Broncos’ (Bad) Look
Usually, when a new set of uniforms gets made fun of into oblivion, there’s at least a fraction of people who like them. The new Broncos uniforms? Nothing of the sort. They took the Broncos and made them extra generic. That’s it.
Normally, we wouldn’t care enough about this to mention it on the blog, but I don’t like Sean Payton, so two theories:
First, I wonder if the Broncos wanted to do a big return to those awesome uniforms from the 80s and 90s but Sean Payton vetoed it out of sensitivity that John Elway’s a big deal and he isn’t.
Second, I wonder if the Broncos wanted to keep the horse small and the blue navy so that nobody would connect the dots between this team and Blucifer, the giant royal blue horse with flaming red eyes that guards the Denver Airport.
Toss those about amongst yourselves.
Etc.
Chicago:
- The Bulls are done for the year, and while that’s merciful, they left us hanging. We expected one last heroic effort to close the gap that fell just short. That was their thing all year! They came out for an encore and didn’t even play a hit!
- The Bears are allegedly going to announce on Wednesday that they’re building a new stadium on the lakefront. TBA on whether it’ll be possible to get to it from outside the Loop in less than two hours.
- Bad weekend for the Cubs, and they still split the series? This team is rocking. I am obviously terrified of the Brewers, but if I had to choose between trailing the Brewers and trailing the Cardinals, I’d choose trailing the Brewers. The Cardinals are always trying to win. With the Brewers, you never know if they’re playing that game where teams try to make the playoffs by the slimmest margin possible. You know. The game the Bulls play.
Burnley and the Ottawa Senators:
- Burnley got a big win on Saturday and is suddenly only four points back from safety? They’re still probably doomed, because goal differential is making it four points instead of three and because their schedule is tougher than Nottingham’s from here, but fun to have some life.
- Speaking of Nottingham Forest, they went nuts on Twitter of all places on Saturday after their own loss, which is funny because 1) I’m pretty sure they only tied Burnley in September because of a wacky call, 2) they’re only close to relegation because they broke financial rules, and 3) they pretended Premier League VAR is a conspiracy to help Luton Town? We’re all about calling out the EPL’s bullshit, but nobody is trying to help Luton Town succeed, Nottingham. You at least have Robin Hood. All Luton has is a budget airport and a history of hats.
- In the other Burnley news, manager Vincent Kompany was loosely linked to the Brighton job that might open up, but owner Alan Pace squashed it, at least to an extent. The funny thing that came out here was renewed “well, you know”-ing which holds that Burnley didn’t fire Kompany when it was clear his team was overmatched because they thought he could probably win again next year at the Championship level. I think that’s true and I endorse the thinking, but it’s a funny spot to occupy, and it’s unclear why Brighton would be enthused.
- In Sens world, Belleville did make the playoffs, and they even got themselves home-ice advantage in the little play-in series. They’ll host the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday in Game 1. Friday, the series goes to the big city. Sunday, it’s back to Belleville if a rubber match is needed. I have not checked who the winner plays. Focused on Game 1.
- At the big-league level, Steve Staios said Josh Norris will be back in time for the start of next season. First victory of the offseason, secured.
IndyCar, F1:
- While everyone was yelling at NASCAR for accidentally incentivizing intense fuel-saving, Scott Dixon was intensely saving fuel in the IndyCar race and it…was cool? It’s not as great as a back-and-forth duel, but seeing someone fill the commentators with awe while holding off a good runner-up is a fun plot for an open-wheel road course race.
- In China, Max Verstappen won. Big shock there. But Lando Norris finished second, matching his career best and earning his 15th appearance on the podium. Eventually, someone will break the Verstappen/Red Bull stranglehold. Might even be Verstappen himself, by leaving. Norris is a fun possibility, though. Nice that drivers’ careers can be so long.
Austin FC:
- I’m seeing Austin FC beat Houston on Saturday, so that’s neat. As advertised on Friday, I was with soccer fans during the game, and no mention was made of it. I wonder how ticket demand’s going. Are the Longhorns taking back Austin?? Big spring game from Arch Manning, folks.
