1.The Baltimore Orioles were a perennial laughing stock in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has shortened, quite possibly ceased operations for the 2020 campaign however in the oft chance that play gets resumed, the Orioles are in better shape then the average pendant will have you believe. Case in point, third basemen Renato Nunez. Manager Brandon Hyde has vowed to give every opportunity for Nunez at the hot corner and it's my perspective that Nunez is due for a breakout. He's an average defender, sure, that will test the patience of Hyde but that swing for the fence mentality that has clamoured the world of baseball is in Renato's wheelhouse. Pencil in Nunez in for forty more this year presuming a good chunk of this season gets filled because while many consider the O's core of Jonathan Means, Adley Rutschman, and Anthony Santander, Nunez is every bit as deserving to be included in this mantle.
2.Space Jam 2 has a tentative July 2021 release date and this blogger who was a mere ten years of age when the original Space Jam was released, is stoked to watch the sequel. One issue I have with it though after perusing through the purported cast is they failed in capitalizing on the country of Canada by excluding the bubbly Pascal Siakam, star of the 2020 champion Raptors. Siakam has personality, is the face of basketball in Canada and if Warner Bros would've thought this through, it would of catered to all of North America by including the flamboyant, yet exceptionally talented Siakam who is a budding superstar.
3.COVID-19 has obviously absorbed the masses in 2020 and by extension, the sporting world. Major League Baseball and Rob Manfred seemingly are taking a proactive approach on this pandemic. Is it the right one however? The proposal which was done with the approval of the players association is to target a May 2020 start date by having all organizations convene in Arizona whilst playing in front of empty spring training facilities. As a sport afeniciado, while taking the sensitivity of this pandemic into consideration, I'm craving sports on my tube again thus would be in favor of the attempt but it's short sighted as all it will take for this to be shut down is ONE person to become symptomatic and this is abruptly shut down. Heck, a bat boy, assistant camera operator, anyone.
4.Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes? This pause in professional sports has a lot of experts weighing in with their "best of" lists and pertaining to the best young defenceman, with all due respect to Dallas Star property Miro Heiskanen, the consensus is between either Hughes or Makar. For me, and this may be considered a hot take(which will become a norm of this blog), it's an easy answer of Cale Makar. The reason for labelling this a slam dunk is the trepidation I have with Hughes' defensive escapades. I look at both Hughes actually currently employed in the National Hockey League, and they both struggle with handling one on one battles. Hughes, similarly to Makar is a magician with the puck but where the difference lies is the 200 foot game. When watching the Avalanche, it astonishes me the confidence Jared Bednar has in signalling #8 in a key defensive zone face-off. It's his calmness in making the first read out of the zone combined with his blazing speed to join the rush creating matchup problems. Hughes upside is Phil Housley which is admirable in it's own right whereas Makar will be the best defenceman in hockey within two years. Philadelphia and New Jersey executives currently huddled up in their home office shuttering in disappointment over the 2017 draft blunder.
5.Canadian Hockey League interleague. This is something I've long been a proponent of and in a previous blog, advocated for the idea. To me the idea is financially justified as the revenue stream it would bring in for some of the smaller Canadian Hockey League markets, ala the Swift Current Broncos or the Val'dor Foreurs would exponentially benefit from such a concept. Hear me out, it's a Tuesday night in December and the 4-16 Swift Current Broncos are due to host against the equally scuffling Red Deer Rebels. As a Swift Current and area resident, what motivation is there to attend such a duel? However, on that same night, if the Windsor Spitfires from the OHL came to town,all of a sudden it's a marquee draw. To make my proposition sustainable, the home team should host back to back games against the same interleague opponent and then the following year go to that teams barn. Every two years you would then re-draw the matchups. Brilliant idea!
6.The other night I tuned into a documentary on the MLB network chronicling the 90's Atlanta Braves. A tidbit that I found fascinating among numerous others that throughout the 1992 campaign,the Braves had agreed in principle to acquire Barry Bonds from Pittsburgh. Imagine an organization, who was the model franchise of that decade bringing in Bonds to a lineup that already featured David Justice, Terry Pendleton and Otis Nixon. Not to mention that pitching staff that laid claim to a couple Hall of Famers. Who do Braves fans have to blame for the reneged deal? None other then legendary manager Jim Leyland. He was so disgruntled over the developments that he threatened to quit.
7.The art of small ball in baseball has gone by the wayside which is unfortunate. I'm a baseball purist and while all big league managers have mostly adopted the same strategic principles, this swing for the fences or strike out era, not dissimilar to one Renato Nunez I summarized earlier, takes some of the complexities away. I vividly remember in the 2015 Toronto Blue Jay post-season run I would scream at the television begging for John Gibbons to put on more sacrifice bunts, hit and runs etc etc. What major league baseball analytics will eventually indicate is that while the offensive brethren has never been more powerful, pitchers will soon make up the difference and runs scored will become ever more precious.
8.When growing up, my favourite NFL team was the Atlanta Falcons largely because of back in my video game fandom, playing Madden '96 and constantly being the Falcons and there was this one play in particular, the 'Birden Bomb' that I was infatuated with. Throughout the years, my attachment with the Falcons faded but will admit the signing of Todd Gurley peaked my interest. Upon first reading the news, my initial reaction was filled with skepticism but as I've thought about it over the last two weeks, Gurley is out to prove the doubters wrong, many of whom perceived him to be on the wrong side of the hill. He's a north-south runner which equates to a shorter career span but now given the fact that he goes to a team that possesses a deep play receiver, because if we're being honest the Rams didn't have that, it'll force defences to keep honest. Gurley accumulating over 1000 yards again isn't farfetched.
9.Throughout this pandemic, watching some of these classic games has brought back all the nostalgia one humanly needs. On that note, I believe it was Michael Farber who tweeted out bemoaning how some networks determine "classic" games. I'm sorry but watching a 2018 Pittsburgh Penguins v Washington Capitals tilt in April of 2020 is not classic. I need to see more actual vintage classics. Give me replays of the 1995 World Junior Hockey Championships so I can serenade in the sounds of my broadcasting idol Paul Romanuk, or the 2002 British Open in which Frenchman Thomas Levet was robbed a Claret Jug by Ernie Els. National networks must do better!
10.The Masters has been moved to November(assuming we're all systems go by that juncture) and out of all years, this year may be the year where a sleeper can rise to the occasion and secure a green jacket. Generally the late fall/early winter portion of the schedule is the time where a lot of the superstars in the game of golf play to a reduced schedule and are not in peak form. In the traditional April time slot, the contenders manipulate their schedule to be in prime form for Augusta but now in November it seemingly opens the door to a wide variance of possibilites. Brendan Steele is someone who historically flourishes in the fall season so if you want a darkhorse, the California native may be supreme value.
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