Earlier this month, the National Hockey League held its annual draft, four months later than normal due to the pandemic. The Arizona Coyotes wasted a 4th round draft pick on Mitchell Miller. I say wasted because earlier this week, the Coyotes renounced their draft rights to Miller after the backlash over the selection.
Four years ago, Miller and a friend had bullied and harrassed a disabled African-American classmate, taking advantage of his disability. The friend has since apologized to the victim, something Miller hasn't done. Since he'd made the decision to turn pro, he's not likely to play in college, where he'd be under scrutiny again.
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Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash is bringing his former coach with Phoenix, Mike D'Antoni, back to New York.
D'Antoni was hired by the Nets to serve as an assistant under Nash for next season, this after D'Antoni had been fired by the Knicks several years back, one in a series of coaches who could not co-exist with man-child owner James Dolan. Major boss move by Nets management, and if the Nash/D'Antoni combination leads Brooklyn to the playoffs next season, it's going to make Dolan look worse than usual. Karma, y'all.
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After dismissing Rick Renteria following a 1st round playoff exit earlier this month, the Chicago White Sox decided to go back to the future, if you will.
On Thursday, Chicago hired Hall of Famer Tony LaRussa, whose first managerial job was with the White Sox in 1979, and netted him an appearance on To Tell The Truth a year later. The hiring comes 9 years after LaRussa had retired from managing following a World Series run with St. Louis. He's been in the front office with Arizona since then.
What's next? Luring Ken Harrelson out of retirement?
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Nebraska may not be long for the Big 10.
The Cornhuskers' game vs. Wisconsin was cancelled due to coronavirus concerns, so the school booked a non-league replacement without vetting it through the league in the first place, so the league cancelled that game.
In all honesty, Nebraska didn't feel like a perfect fit to begin with, moving from the Big 12 to chase the money, getting little in the way of success in return. I think school suits are looking to move out of the Big 10, and either move back to the Big 12 or to another league, and that may be true.
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As reported on Wednesday, Dodgers 3rd baseman Justin Turner was removed from the World Series clinching game 6 on Tuesday night after testing positive for COVID-19. Now, Major League Baseball is considering investigating the entire scenario, as an earlier test came back inconclusive.
My take: the Dodgers let their quest for vindication get in the way of common sense. At the start of the season 3 months ago, Turner was the one reminding teammates to follow the protocols set by MLB, and then, he goes and violates them himself. Even with an inconclusive test, Turner should've been pulled sooner, and left out of the Game 6 lineup. The blame has to be shared between Turner, manager Dave Roberts and his coaching staff, and team management.
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Turner's not the only high profile COVID case.
Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence also tested positive, and will miss Saturday's game vs. Boston College, and possibly could sit out the November 7 game vs. Notre Dame, both important ACC games for the top ranked Tigers. Now, the question is whether or not there were any other players that were also infected. Stay tuned.
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Mets fans have reason to cheer today.
Major League Baseball's other 29 owners approved by majority vote the sale of the team to billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, ending Fred Wilpon's ownership of the team, either whole or in part, after 41 seasons (1980-2020). Wilpon became majority owner in 2002 after buying out original partner Nelson Doubleday, but after the Bernie Madoff mess, Wilpon and son Jeff were villified by fans and media alike for taking the same cheapskate approach that the Payson family had until Wilpon & Doubleday bought the team in 1980.
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With his suspension over, AJ Hinch will be back in the dugout in 2021.
Hinch, on whose watch the Houston Astros ran their cheating scheme in 2017-18, was hired today by the Detroit Tigers to replace Ron Gardenhire, who retired last month. All that's left is for the other shoe to drop, and Alex Cora resurfacing either in Boston or elsewhere. And you know that'll happen.
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