Well, first, we must appreciate Michael Fulmer, who came in with the bases loaded in the eighth and struck out the side, including very bad man (in the Manny Ramirez sense) Luis Robert Jr.
Next, we must appreciate Nick Madrigal, who connected with one in the bottom of that inning with all of his might and managed to just barely get it into the basket in left field. And on an 0–2 count, no less!
Third, we must appreciate the intrepid fans of the late 1960s whose insistence on entering the field of play necessitated the introduction of that basket, Wrigley Field’s own built-in Jeffrey Maier.
And fourth, we must appreciate Cody Bellinger or his universal guide, whichever made the decision that he would round the bases as prescribed instead of just jogging over to celebrate with Morel immediately, something that would have resulted in Bellinger being called out and many laughs but not necessarily the good kind (Dansby Swanson was on his heels, and we can trust Swanson, but we cannot trust the spirit which determines the movements of Cody James Bellinger).
Fifth, though, we can appreciate Christopher Morel.
Christopher blessed Morel.
There’s an international baseball tournament every summer in our hometown of Crystal Lake, out on the edge of the Chicago suburbs. Teams come from at least a handful of countries a year, and some of them stay with families in the area, and the whole thing sits as something of a relic from back when travel ball was centered around teams made of kids from the same town, rather than revolving around big grifting corporate profit machines wrestling to monopolize the recruiting industry and box out kids whose families won’t pay the ransoms to get their middle or high schooler on the field. The event in Crystal Lake, the relic, is called the MCYSA Tournament, and it’s beautiful, and the most prominent international team to come every year is from Japan.
When the Cubs are in town during the tournament’s off-day or off-days, the folks who run the tournament offer teams the opportunity to go see a game at Wrigley, and the last two years, the Japanese team has gotten to go on the field before the first pitch to meet Seiya Suzuki. My dad was in Austin a week and a half ago to visit, and we were talking about this, and he said, “You know who was really nice to the Japan kids? I mean, Suzuki was nice and all, but you know who went out of his way to talk to them and welcome them and take care of them? Christopher Morel.”
Like all these guys, we don’t have a complete picture of who Christopher Morel is, as a person. What we see on the field, though, and in the dugout, and in the glimpses we get of the locker room, is a joy of a 24-year-old man. He’s all smiles. He’s all energy. He began a whole bunch of games last year by hugging or fist-bumping the opposing catcher and the umpire. His career nearly ended at the age of sixteen when he tried to bust open a stuck glass door to catch a bus (the door shattered, severing nerves and tendons in his glove arm and costing him a whole lot of blood). If you’d had a conversation before last night’s game about which Cub would be most fun to see react after hitting a walk-off home run, you would have landed on Christopher Morel.
He did not disappoint. Here are some videos, if you missed it.
Christopher Morel smoked that ball.
Three more little things about the night:
One of the neat things about sports is getting to see very different people work together for a greater goal. I think this is what makes the celebrations so fun. The best ones are the ones where you’d imagine the guys hugging one another would never interact if they weren’t bonded together in this eight-month, every–damn–day, physically demanding environment. Here are Morel, Nico Hoerner, and Dansby Swanson jumping up and down.
Willson Contreras has said a few things, Cubs fans have said a few things, I would still offer that Willson Contreras is a special guy who’ll be remembered with great fondness in the long run. Adding to that guess is this quote from Morel last night, through a translator: “Willson once told me in those moments just try to stay in like the eye of the hurricane, just try to make the moment just about me.” I like that a lot.
We talked yesterday about which present Cub is best to put on a jersey that’s a present for a soon to be 3-year-old boy, one whose dad is big into wanting to teach his son one day to be gritty and fundamentally strong. I was leaning towards Hoerner, with Swanson also in the mix, but I’m about to swing by the store and if they’ve got a Morel one in that toddler size, I think it’d be rude to the universe to not make that the move.
The Most Anticipated Bullpen Session in Baseball History
Joe Kelly is going to throw a bullpen session tomorrow. It’s great that they think his arm is up for this, it’s a very good sign, it points towards a minimum IL stay.
But good god am I nervous.
The Dodgers play at 10:10 PM Eastern tomorrow night, so I’d imagine Dave Roberts’s pregame media quotes should come out around seven or eight. In case you want to be alone while you frantically name-search Joe Kelly on Twitter for instant news.
Justice for Josh Pastner
Josh Pastner, beautiful soul and 2017 NIT runner up, received more justice yesterday in the extortion case, with the woman who falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her sentenced to one year in prison and three years of supervised release, which I think is parole? Her co-conspirator—Pastner’s former friend who bribed a security guard to offer false witness and tried to blackmail Georgia Tech into a hush payment (let’s throw an “allegedly” on all that in case I’m missing what’s legally confirmed and what isn’t)—has two years and nine months of prison for himself.
It’s probably good that people like us don’t have the resources to have followed the case too closely. I would have wanted to wear a battered face shield to the sentencing hearing.
Deion Sanders Wants His Players to Fight
As documented on Deion Sanders’s son’s vlog, Deion Sanders was upset with the actions of some of his players when their teammates began to fight during yesterday’s practice. Specifically, he was upset that they let those teammates fight without joining in themselves. I admire the idea here, but there’s a dissonance between telling your players that they need to have one another’s backs and letting your self-styled entrepreneur of a son post about it on YouTube. Hey Deion. Do less.
Something’s Not Adding Up With the US Open’s Balls
The U.S. Open is going to use the same balls for the women’s tournament as for the men’s this year, responding to frustrations last year that the two events used different balls. Here’s what ESPN’s report had on the matter:
- The USTA, which runs the US Open, says they let the WTA choose the balls.
- The WTA says they’ve historically used regular felt balls for hardcourt tournaments, deciding against using the extra duty ball the men use because of injury concerns. They’re happy to change if that’s what the players want, but that’s the precedent.
- ESPN says the US Open was the only major to use different balls last year.
Here’s what I have on the matter:
- The Australian Open is a major, and it’s played on a hardcourt, and it happens before the US Open on the calendar calendar but also the WTA calendar.
So. Either the Australian Open was played with different balls (meaning ESPN’s lying), the WTA was using an extra duty ball at the Australian Open (meaning the WTA’s lying), or…hmm. I guess the men could have used a regular felt ball at Australia. That would make this add up. I may have uncovered a non-story here.
Something’s Not Adding Up With the Blind Side Story
The Tuohy family, whom Michael Oher alleges tricked him into signing himself into conservatorship by saying they were legally adopting him, is not happy with their conserved son. They say he’s been trying to extort them. They also, though, are letting the conservatorship end.
There are grayer explanations, and I would love someone who’s familiar with the adoption laws in Tennessee to help me with this, but I feel like there are two poles of the explanations right now, and pardon the racial pun, but they’re black and white:
On one pole, the Tuohys have been doing this above board and there was a good reason for doing the conservatorship. They’ve given Oher his cut of the book and movie profits and they’ve loved and supported him and told him the truth, but he wants more money for his story.
On the other pole, the Tuohys took advantage of an athletically gifted homeless kid, not only riding his athletic coattails to financial bliss but then also giving themselves the first grab at his money.
We don’t know how much responsibility the Tuohys bear for Oher’s football success. It’s unclear if someone else would have given him the same environment or even a better one once he got within the Briarcrest Christian School ecosystem, had the Tuohys not stepped up first. If adoption was an option, though, and a conservatorship happened instead, that has some nefarious implications. Hence my desire to speak with someone familiar with adoption laws in Tennessee.
I Bet Chiefsaholic’s Lawyer Has Fun
Chiefsaholic (legal name Xaviar Babudar) has been indicted on charges of bank robbery and money laundering, and I feel like the money laundering should be assumed once you rob a bank, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Babudar’s attorney, Matthew T. Merryman (sounds like a fake name, but that’s beside the point), release the following statement I’ve obtained by reading ESPN:
The government’s announcement today of its 19-count indictment provides an unfair and unjust portrayal of Xaviar. The truth is that since 2018 Xaviar Babudar, aka “ChiefsAholic” has entertained, inspired, unified and motivated Kansas Citians, the Chiefs Kingdom and hundreds of millions of football fans around the globe. It’s now the fourth quarter of the most important game of Xaviar’s life, and his legal team believes his innocence will ultimately be proven to the public and we are confident that once all of the facts are known that he will be redeemed in the eyes of his supporters, admirers and the Chiefs Kingdom.
I feel like bank robbery cases are, pardon the racial pun, pretty black and white. That’s not one of those crimes you maybe sort of committed. It actually seems clearer to me than murder. It’s not like the bank could have been the initial aggressor. You do not stand your ground against a bank. So, maybe Merryman (again, no way that guy’s birth name was Matthew T. Merryman) is right, but when you start calling this the fourth quarter of the most important game of Xaviar’s life? I think you’re just having a good time. And/or trying to get every Arrowhead Stadium season-ticket holder to show up to the trial and tailgate outside. Which gets us back to the ‘having a good time’ theory.
Ben Brust Doesn’t Like the Packers
Packers fans were a little mad online yesterday because Ben Brust, he of the 9.3 career points per game for a Wisconsin team that never even made the NIT, wore an Aaron Rodgers Jets jersey to Packers practice and asked Matt LaFleur to sign it. Brust is a radio host now for ESPN Milwaukee, having flamed out in Lithuania because he was too spoiled to play professional basketball at the meager level for which he was qualified, and maybe he’s addressed this on air or pretended to change his tune, but Brust is a Bears fan. He’s from Arlington Heights (went to Hersey for a year but then transferred to Mundelein—maybe the IHSA should look into that). He tweeted in 2013 about wanting a cheese grater hat to use on cheeseheads.
So, just remember that about ol’ Big Shot Benny. Maybe ESPN Milwaukee listeners are cool with it, but it did not seem like a lot of Packers fans understood this context. And yes, I think that if Milwaukee has self-respect, it will tar and feather Ben Brust. I don’t endorse mob violence, I’m not encouraging Milwaukeeans to do this, but if Milwaukee has self-respect, Ben Brust will be returning to Chicago tonight on the Amtrak Hiawatha wearing nothing but tar, feathers, and a bunch of cheddar cheese. Sliced cheddar cheese. Not grated.
