No full notes today. We spent too much time on the 90’s Bangers Bracket. To be honest, I kind of forgot that the original point of those brackets was to kill the sports-less time during Covid. Turns out time’s more limited when there are sports going on.
1. NASCAR’s Adding an NIT
On the heels of a successful* debut for the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, NASCAR announced it’ll run a head-to-head 32-driver tournament in the middle of the 2025 season. How will this work? The drivers won’t run one-on-one races. Instead, whoever finishes better within the given matchup will move on. So if Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain are opponents one round and so are Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney, and the race’s top four goes Hamlin, Chastain, Elliott, Blaney; then Hamlin and Elliott will be the ones moving on. It’s a fun little quirk. There’s not a lot of downside. But when you’re looking for gimmicks, you’re usually not very happy with your product. The NBA added the In-Season Tournament because of how little the regular season matters. NASCAR, having already added playoffs to spice up the championship pursuit, is now adding an In-Season Tournament of its own.
Still, we love a good NIT around here, and we’re excited for this. We especially like that they made this a 32-competitor event. Nice touch, guys.
*We made less fun of it than we expected.
2. Should the Oilers Change Their Name?
When I think of an “Edmonton Oiler,” I picture a brave Alberta man drilling the frontier in the hopes of acquiring wealth for his family and pride in his name.
This is not these Edmonton Oilers.
They don’t play enough defense for that.
Yes, Stuart Skinner isn’t playing well right now. (There was a motion at this morning’s Stu Council to disavow him, but it wasn’t seconded.) But the Oilers have stunk at defense for a long time. It’s kind of their thing. Brave Alberta men my ass!
What’s sad about this is that in their softness, the Oilers do kind of match the modern oil industry. Oilers used to be those brave frontiersmen. Now, they build fancy golf courses and buy their kids nice cars. At least, that’s what we see here in Texas. The Beverly Hillbillies had way more honor than some of these dorks.
Did the Oilers get soft, or did oil? The Stanley Cup may depend on the answer.
3. Burnley Got Relegated
Usually, when one of my favorite teams achieves something bad, I take responsibility and vow to “lock in” on the offseason. (By the way: The Belleville Senators, AHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators, were eliminated this weekend from the Calder Cup Playoffs.)
This time, I’m blaming Burnley. It’s true that I may have accidentally cursed them five years ago when I picked them to be my favorite team (I wrote that I wanted to pick a new favorite Premier League team every year and see them all immediately get relegated), but that excuse only flew in 2022. This time, it’s on them.
Why is this Burnley’s fault? They got away from their roots. Much like the Oilers, they ignored my own preconceived notion of what their hometown’s about. They stopped trying to prevent goals. They started trying to score them. Since hiring Vincent Kompany, Burnley has tied only two games 0–0, and one of those was in the FA Cup, so it doesn’t really count. This isn’t basketball, guys.
I like Kompany. I think he’s a good guy, and I admire how many yellow cards he gets from the bench.
But please.
I want more shutouts.
Give me my Burnley back.
