APRIL; Where The Four Major Sports Collide

April is an interesting month.

The NBA and NHL playoffs, a.k.a. the never-ending journeys, begin. MLB gets under way (sort of). And the NFL sprinkles breaking news on top of the sports world to stay relevant.

NBA Playoffs

lebron-james-pacers-ap

If you already knew the outcome of a game, or series, would you still watch?? Well you already do, so don’t lie to me. Everyone knows the Golden State Warriors are going to win another NBA championship, yet we watch the NBA playoffs anyway.

Sunday’s round 1 drama was a good excuse to watch the meaningless. While the Milwaukee Bucks ultimately fell to the Boston Celtics 113-107 F/OT, no one will doubt their effort. Check out the shot that sent this game to overtime:

Wild!!

LeBron James, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, should be ashamed of themselves. They were outclassed by the Indiana Pacers on their home court Sunday afternoon. 98-80. No need to check your spectacles. The Cavaliers scored just 80 points, at home, in the playoffs. I do, however, feel bad for the Pacers. LeBron is going to do unspeakable things to them in Game 2. You’ll have to wait until WEDNESDAY NIGHT @ 7:00 P.M.!! Hence the never-ending part.

NHL Playoffs

las vegas

I don’t really like Pittsburgh. I don’t like Philadelphia. I really don’t like Boston. But Las Vegas I like. There’s a reason to enjoy the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ dominance over the Los Angeles Kings. Have your brooms handy?? Never has an NHL team gone from expansion team to Stanley Cup Champion in one year. Maybe, just maybe, this is the year. It would make me a hell of a lot happier than Sydney Crosby hoisting another trophy over his puny head.

MLB Season

MLB: Texas Rangers at Houston Astros

Jackie Robinson Day deserves a do-over. Only 10 out of a potential 16 games were played Sunday. The rest — rained/snowed out.

Despite actually losing a game (snapping a nine-game winning streak), the Mets got right back to their winning ways:

We must give a shout-out to Big Fat Bartolo Colon!! At the ripe old age of 44, Colon flirted with a perfect game Sunday night. Colon’s perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout were erased on consecutive batters. The first baserunner of the game was Carlos Correa (8th inning walk). Followed by a Josh Reddick double. Followed by a Yuli Gurriel sacrifice fly. The Rangers would hold on to win 3-1 F/10.

Who needs 98 m.p.h. when you have 86 m.p.h. with movement and location?!

Bye-Bye Dez

Dez-Bryant-Mad

One of the more overrated “superstars” in recent NFL history, Dez Bryant, is looking for work. In an era when wide receivers exceed 1,000 yards by accident, Dez hasn’t done so since 2014. And Friday afternoon, the Dallas Cowboys sent Dez packing. This wasn’t a financial move, as the Cowboys will save just $4 million of Dez’s $12.5 million salary this upcoming season. As an unbiased outsider, I enjoy this story. Dez is easy to dislike thanks to his overtly cocky attitude, underwhelming production, and Dallas Cowboys jersey.

 

What is your favorite part of April?? Tell me all about it in the comment section below.

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New York Mets Are Dealing With An Injury Epidemic

juan lagares

It’s hard to go anywhere when every time you take 1-step forward, you take 3-steps backward. Especially when you’ve been doing that for years. That is the state of the New York Mets. It’s like they’re stuck in quicksand. And when someone finally comes along and throws them a rope, the rope snaps and they fall into the quicksand too. That is the New York Mets.

Let’s do a quick rewind to Tuesday morning (June 13th). The Mets woke up with a smile for the first time in a long time. They were riding a 4-game winning streak, and their injury riddled roster was finally starting to return to some semblance of health. Steven Matz and Seth Lugo both returned from the disabled list after missing just over 2 months with elbow injuries. They also added slugger Yoenis Cespedes back to the lineup the week prior. Well the parade didn’t last very long. Over the past 2 days, the Mets’ injuries have piled up faster than Bartolo Colon’s plates at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

  • Matt Harvey was pulled from his start early (he was getting rocked anyway), only to find out he’ll miss “several weeks” with a stress injury to the scapula in his shoulder on his throwing arm..YAY!!
  • Neil Walker has a partially torn hamstring and will miss at least a month.
  • The Mets thought the timing was right to give a stellar (?) update on Noah Syndergaard’s progress. Apparently he isn’t cleared to do anything yet, and his timetable to return has been pushed back to late August.
  • And in last night’s game, Juan Lagares fractured his thumb diving for a ball in shallow center field (as pictured above).

They also got crushed last night (8-3), losing the 1st of a 4-game set with the Washington Nationals. The Nationals dropped a 5-spot on Robert Gsellman in the 5th inning, and that was all she wrote. I know Gsellman was great last year when the Mets’ pitching staff was dealing with injuries, but man has he been bad. The only thing he and Jacob deGrom have in common is the ugly hair, because only 1 of them resembles a pitcher in the major leagues.

The Mets’ current situation begs the question: What the hell are they waiting for?! If now isn’t the time to call-up Amed Rosario, their top prospect, I don’t know when is. The Mets need to pump some blood into the body of their team. Calling up the organizations’ top prospect sounds like a no brainer to me, but again, we are talking about the Mets.

Believe it or not, I’m going to end this Mets’ thrashing on a positive note. I must give the New York Mets’ Organization major props. They are taking it upon themselves to extend the protective netting at Citi Field, increasing fan safety. They will extend the netting beyond MLB’s recommendation of 70-feet from home plate, all the way past the camera wells. This will see that 30-foot high netting will run past the dugouts, and 8-foot high netting will run all the way down left and right-field. The netting is 97% invisible and shouldn’t obstruct the view of fans. The netting is scheduled to be installed on July 14th. They will make this change throughout their Minor League stadiums as well.

Good for you Mets!!

Now fans can go back to burying their heads in their cell phones rather than doing something silly, like ya know, watch the game.

What are your thoughts on the Mets’ season so far?? Is it time to call up Amed Rosario?? Spill your guts in the comment section below. Don’t be shy….

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