KD Sweepstakes Vol. III
Kevin Durant has requested a trade from the Nets. Durant wants out less than 24 hours after Kyrie Irving decides he wants to stay in Brooklyn. As of now, I have no idea where he is going to end up. An all-time great player but this will be his fourth NBA franchise and he is leaving the Brooklyn Nets in the play-in purgatory. They can’t tank because they don’t own any of their first-round picks for the next 5 years and so they will be retooling this roster on the fly.
This is probably being covered ad nauseam everywhere you look for sports. Never been a big fan of the constant offseason NBA turnover. Right now if you turn on ESPN, I can almost guarantee you they have a panel of talking heads going on about some ridiculous Lebron James hypothetical.
At least the two finals teams this year were built through the draft. Call me old school but whatever happened to Gary Cooper?
Jalen Brunson to the Knicks
Scouting Report: Won two NCAA Championships at ‘Nova. Plays like a men’s slow-break stud. Left-handed so he is automatically crafty. Has elite basketball footwork and instinct. Knows how to nonchalantly throw his hip or elbow a certain way to create space when looking to score. Precision beats power and timing beats speed.
USC & UCLA → Big Ten
Both LA teams will join the Big Ten conference in 2024. This is a seismic shift in NCAA sports, modern-day manifest destiny if you will.
Big loss for the Pac-12. The conference has already not made the College Football Playoff since 2017 and it has been 17 years since a Pac-12 team won a national championship (USC in 2004 - Reggie Bush mixtape).
Expect this to lead to much more conference shifting. Have to think this inevitably leads to one or two Super League-style conferences.
What to Watch
Wimbledon
The Women's and Men’s singles tournament will be televised on ESPN all weekend. 21-year-old Polish player Iga Swiatek is the current women’s favorite while Novak Djokovic is the favorite for the men. When Djokovic wins the first set at Wimbledon, he has gone on to win the match 71 times and has never lost.
Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
Monday, July 4, 11 AM- 1 PM ET on ESPN. Witness History.
MLB All-Star Finalist
Leading vote-getters in their respective leagues’ Aaron Judge and Ronald Acuna have already been selected for the 2022 MLB All-Star game. The game will be played in Dodgers Stadium on July 19. Here is the Phase 2 finalist that you will be able to vote on next week starting July 5th to July 8th.
Baseball Brawl
Angels took exception to Mike Trout previously getting plunked.
Yankees No-Hit
The Houston Astros no-hit the Yankees last Saturday. MLB’s #1 run-producing offense was blanked collaboratively by Cristian Javier and Houston’s bullpen. Yes, this also came on the heels of last week when I danced on the Astro bullpens’ grave, but we’re not going to talk about that.
Hand-up, I didn’t realize last weekend that my TV volume was on an odd number. I take full responsibility for the bats going cold. I need to be better on my end.
Some Things Are Bigger Than Sports
See… Yankee bleacher creatures aren’t all that bad.
Judge Watch
77 games into the 162-game season, Aaron Judge currently has 29 home runs and is on pace for 61. No American League player has hit the 60 homerun benchmark that Babe Ruth set in 1927 since Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. Over his last 62 games played, Judge has hit 28 homers - a 73-homer pace.
Judge hit his 28th homerun in a walk-off against the Houston Astros last Sunday.
YouTube Rabbithole
Sandlot 4th of July
Happy 4th of July, God Bless America!