In a three-day span this week, the Preseason NIT got canceled, Joe Kelly got hurt, and I got Covid. Let’s dig into those first two things (not much to report on Covid, though we’ll probably blog about it later in quarantine—also, some housekeeping, we’ll try to have extra notes and extra posts this weekend).
Et tu, ESPN?
Ok, this is kind of a small deal. The NIT Season Tip-Off will return in 2023 and seems to have been shelved because there’s a PK-80 this year (you know you’re too far in the weeds on college basketball when you can say “there’s a PK-80 this year” off-hand like it’s El Niño or a gubernatorial election). They’re still doing the ESPN Events Invitational, though, and PK-80 takes place on the West Coast, so while this is small, it’s an authentically bad bellwether concerning the NIT. Even the name being changed to the Tip-Off was bad. This is worse. We need to buy the NIT. The NIT needs us to buy it. You guys need to start telling your friends to follow us on social media and subscribe to our email so we can grow enough to buy the NIT.
Joe Kelly’s Bicep
Joe Kelly left Wednesday’s game in Colorado with an issue he said is related to that nerve damage which hurt his bicep in the offseason. He also said, though, per Daryl Van Schouwen, that he doesn’t expect to miss any time. So that’s both incredibly concerning and thoroughly hopeful.
Great two outings for our guy in Denver. His last pitch struck out Kris Bryant, and he looked sharp on Tuesday as well. He did drill Garrett Hampson with two strikes, but Hampson stayed in the game (side note: Hampson’s from Reno, but he looks like he’s from Bakersfield and like he drove an old silver Chevy truck in high school, and I know, I know, you’re right—that does sound like Reno, I concede). His ERA’s down to 6.20, which is still eye-popping but continues to get closer to the range where nobody who hasn’t watched Joe Kelly this year would see it and assume he’s stinking. His FIP’s at 3.12, which is very good and a better indicator of how he’s actually been pitching. So, all good as long as he’s healthy. Keep an eye out for IL news this evening. The Sox host the A’s.
Burnley Begins Anew
Burnley begins its EFL Championship season today, and the situation is this: A top-2 finish gets the lads promoted. A top-6 finish gets the lads into the promotion playoffs, a four-team bracket they’d have to win to get promoted. We aren’t going to talk about what gets the lads relegated. There are some old friends around: West Brom, Norwich, Watford, and Sheffield United have all been in the Premier League during our time following the Burnleys, and Blackburn Rovers, the club’s archrival, is in the league alongside fellow Lancashire neighbors Blackpool and Preston North End.
It’s a new look club all over the place, and it got a little newer this week, with Everton surprisingly acquiring Dwight McNeil and Burnley surprisingly acquiring Vitinho, the club’s first ever Brazilian player. Maxwel Cornet isn’t going anywhere yet, but Burnley isn’t playing him, presumably to avoid him getting injured and hurting his transfer value.
Vincent Kompany’s got what looks like a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3 going today, depending whether you think of Josh Brownhill as a forward or a midfielder, and whether you think of shock starter Dara Costelloe (19-year-old Irishman) as a forward or a midfielder. Aro Muric’s in goal. Ashley Barnes is up front. Samuel Bastien, Jack Cork, and Josh Cullen are across the center line. Chuck Taylor, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ian Maatsen, and Connor Roberts are down back. The match is at Huddersfield. Would love a win, would be happy with a draw, wouldn’t be too distraught with a loss given everyone’s new to each other.
Rodgers & Cage
After the training camp entrance video this week, we have yet another insight into the mind of Aaron Rodgers, which only gets more fascinating the more you look at it (generally with celebrities, the opposite is true). Does he actually think Nicolas Cage is the greatest actor of all time, as he said on his own Instagram account? That isn’t as important to me as the possibility that Rodgers is the Nicolas Cage of quarterbacks. Both great at a specific set of things, both nuts, both at the center of a bunch of weird situations (National Treasure, the 2015-16 Green Bay Packers’ season, etc.). The biggest convincer, though? Picture Aaron Rodgers starring in an action comedy about himself entitled, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” You can picture it, and I think that’s evidence enough for us.
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Again, more notes are planned for tomorrow. Viewing schedule for today:
3:00 PM EDT: Burnley @ Huddersfield Town (ESPN2)
Burnley on basic cable. What an afternoon.
I don’t know much about Huddersfield Town, but that doesn’t mean I’m unwilling to learn. What can we discover? Well, evidently these guys were in the EPL for two years not too long ago, and they’re in West Yorkshire which isn’t too far from Burnley (it’s where Leeds is at). Per Wikipedia, Huddersfield used to be a big mill town (textiles), which might mean it’s dying. Population around 150,000, town where rugby league broke off from rugby union (evidently there are two rugbies even before you get to rugby sevens—long story), I’m getting Bridgeport vibes. Have never been to Bridgeport but I’m getting Bridgeport vibes. The soccer team was good in the early half of last century but never won a First Division title. They spent a long time in the desert after relegation in 1972. Back in the desert now, and we’re right there with them.
8:10 PM EDT: A’s @ White Sox (MLB TV, second screen)
Time to find out if Joe Kelly’s really healthy or if he doesn’t want to let the haters win. Satan presumably among them (remind us to make “SATAN HURTS JOE KELLY” a headline sometime).
10:15 PM EDT: Cubs @ Giants (Apple TV+)
Apple’s been making these broadcasts both romantic and hyper-statistical. I hope they lean into the romanticism tonight and dramatize Willson Contreras and Ian Happ’s situations with the upcoming presumed and potential trades. I want a lot of sad music and clips of them with heads hung. Maybe deep-fake some weeping.
