"Apology not accepted, **** you forever" is definitely a respectable stance here even though Neris deserved worse.

On the opposite end, I really like the Fritz casting. I've seen the actor play a number of bit parts, but he was also one of the leads in Mindhunters.

Zack Efron, who's only an inch taller than the other actor, is playing Kevin Von Erich. The funny thing is that he's gotten absolutely jacked. Oddly, in this movie, Kevin may be much thicker than Kerry. I guess it works if they make the entire cast below 6 feet tall. I've seen castings for Michael Hayes and Ric Flair, but not the other Freebirds. This makes me think the might be using the Freebird turn on the Von Erichs in the cage, but not showing much of the Von Erich/Freebird feud, aside from Hayes. I'm hoping Gordy is in the movie too.

Cal Raleigh makes a set of reasonable comments last night saying that maybe the Mariners should consider not treating the coming offseason like a big joke. Today he’s forced to come out and perform a hostage video, apologizing for his comments.

The Mariner organization is second-rate. No way around it.

Well, Phil Nevin is now available to manage the team if that's what he means.

Although it's good to see a terrible person get hit in the pocketbook, I admit this will turn the volume down on my boiling rage every time we play the Angels. You get rid of a Harbaugh/Nevin personality from a rivalry and it's just difficult to get the same sort of rage boner going.

Some MLB post-season thoughts nobody asked for:

1 - Orioles - If the young starting pitching holds up (big if) & pen thrives without Bautista, they could come out of the AL. (Took a small shot to win AL +290)
2 - Astros - Over-rated. Verlander & Valdez aren't as good as last year and I trust none of their pitchers beyond that.
3 - Twins - Hitting & bullpen got hot late. Might have the best starting pitching in AL. Keep it up and they have a shot, but tough 1st round w/ Jays.
4 - Rays - Their roster is built for mixing and matching. Best pen 2nd half, but did they lose too many bats and starting arms to injuries? (Small shot AL +475)
5 - Rangers - Who's going to pitch? Starting and bullpen.
6 - Blue Jays - This is the most volatile team with guys having down years (Guerrero), who could go off in post-season. Bullpen scares me too much though.

1 - Braves - Don't see any pitching staff gonna stop them mashing, though their pitching is questionable now. (Took pre-season +750 to win it all)
2 - Dodgers - How were they as good as they were this year? Pitching banged up, bottom half of lineup is junk, but top half is awesome. Never count out.
3 - Brewers - Woodruff injured now + maybe worst offense in the post-season.
4 - Phillies - Wheeler & Nola + the offense could punish anyone in a short series. Like what they've done w/ pen late in season too. May have best shot to challenge Braves w/ good pitching. Defense still sucks though, but so does Atlanta's. (Small shot NL +700)
5 - Marlins - How is this team in the post-season w/ a -50 run differential? Best 2 starters & best hitter injured. Most likely WC sweep victim.
6 - Diamondbacks - My boys! Cashed a +550 post-season ticket on them. Have +7000 (NL) and +17000 (to win it all). Admittedly, lots of questions. Maybe the
worst pen in the post-season and starters are questionable, but I like decision to start Pfaadt in G1. He came on under the radar later in the season. Playoffs could be his break out party. Corbin Carroll is a joy to watch if healthy.

Keeping my money where my mouth is, I just threw some on MIN +140 to beat HOU.

I'm set up pretty well for anyone, but the Dodgers to come out of the NL. (So get your bets in on the Dodgers quickly.)

Sure hope your Minnesota bet wins. The Astros are widely hated and still not hated enough. There should be greater intensity, a greater number of people teetering at the edge of their mental health just to wish ill on them.

Winning 100 games doesn't get you much anymore. Mets/Braves/Dodgers went out instantly last year. Orioles/Braves/Dodgers start 0-4. Only last year's Astros won 100 games and have advanced past their first round of play with the new WC system.

Feel like I did a pretty good job in the NL, while completely whiffing the AL.

Though the Twins did have plenty of chances and the Astros ran real well in that series.

Eovaldi also suddenly getting healthy was unexpected and I did mention the young Baltimore pitching was carrying a wide range of outcomes.

Some crazy post-season notes:

- Last year, 3 of 4 100 win teams went down in their first round of play (Mets/Dodgers/Braves) with only the Astros surviving.

- This year, the Orioles & Dodgers won 100 and were swept. If Atlanta goes down, that'll be all 3 again.

- The AL East had 3 teams reach the post-season and went 0-7.

- The Orioles were the 18th team to reach the post-season not having been swept in a single series all season long. Only one of the previous 17 teams were swept in a post-season series. Bruch Bochy's 1998 Padres in the World Series. So Bruce Bochy's Texas Rangers swept the O's this year.

- 3 of the 5 largest upsets in post-season history by regular season win differences were against the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Dodgers.

Twins got hosed!!

https://x.com/pitchprofiler/status/1...640333890?s=20

That is awful. Also awful is that I'm forced to root for the Rangers to go to the World Series. Not that I'm actually watching at this point; I'm just sticking my fingers in my ears and going "LALALALALA" and waiting for someone to gently put their hand on my shoulder and reassure me that goddamn Houston didn't win it all again.

That three and a half run difference is basically the difference in the series.

I can't root for the Rangers after I heard that Creed story. I'm praying the D'Backs run it through both financially and as a fan (although I profit if Philly does too, it's hard to root for them as a Mets fan).

You would think that Ezra Miller would have to be some kind of amazing actor for them to put up with all his ****. Surprisingly, that's not the case.

That said, the problem with the Flash is the Flash.

It's otherwise a fun callback to all of DC movie history, but really suffers when Miller is being too heavily focused on. I just want this annoying person off my screen, which is probably not the angle they were going for when making the movie. I'm sure they thought it was comedy, but I really only laughed once or twice.

If you're brave enough to suffer through the first half (and know your DC movie + some Flashpoint comic history from about a decade ago) the second half isn't bad.

Watching the USC/ND game and saw a familiar face. Had no idea he moved out to Tucson...



Hilarious to see him doing the news in Boston when I visited family in 2016 and now where I live

Nice win for your Huskies in that great game, LKJ. Reasonable season they're having

it was the astros not the a's, miami also gave him a bottle of rum

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/202...bottle-of-wine

I stand corrected, both the A's and Astros gave him wine

Are you trying to stick the knife in him?

Why don't you tell him that OKC is the greatest city in the world and that The Godfather sucks?

I squinted at the screen and assumed that it was an honest mistake, then closed the tab.

Once upon a time, back when I lived in WA, I entered into a fantasy football league with people from work. I named my team "Die Huskies Die." My boss, who was in the league, told me I had to change it. I am still tickled by the memory that I entered an NFL fantasy football league and just slapped that name on my team.

I hope your first response was that it was German for "The Huskies, The".

It was in my brain, but he seemed to actually be agitated by it, so it didn't seem like the best time to inject humor or to otherwise push back. Others at work, mostly Husky fans, actually tended to find my constant frothing-at-the-mouth hate for the Huskies to be amusing.

Today at work, a colleague from another department came up to me and said, "So I heard you were a major Swiftie..."

I gave her the Tommy Lee Jones look over the newspaper and said, "I have never and will never go by that term. But yes I like her." I then clarified that I do not adopt the cutesy fanbase term for anything I'm a fan of.

I liked her until she started mixing with my football and the NFL decided there was no such thing as too much coverage. Even Kelce is sick of it.

Anyway, the umpires tried to give the Astros the game again last night, but the Rangers just weren't having it.

I understand. Not that I think she's done anything even remotely wrong by simply showing up to football games, but I do find that coverage saturation to be grating too.