Saturday, May 8, 2021

Sports this 'n' that

 James Dolan, New York's worst sports owner, was at it again earlier this week.

With the Knicks heading for a NBA playoff berth, and the Rangers eliminated from Stanley Cup contention, Dolan, who usually doesn't involve himself in Rangers business, decided to scapegoat team president and former star goaltender John Davidson on Wednesday, dismissing Davidson, who has also been a broadcaster for the team.

We get it. Dolan is another thin-skinned man-child who's gotten most of his negative press for meddling with the Knicks. The guy's never played hockey or basketball that we know of, plays in a garage band in his spare time, and has been cast as a blase villain to sports fans throughout the five boroughs. In short, this George Steinbrenner wanna-be felt he just had to get a back page headline this season.

We don't know if the Knicks are a one year wonder under Tom Thibodeau. The Rangers are in a down period, the #2 team in the city after the Islanders for the first time since the Isles' golden years of the 80's. With Radio City Music Hall soon to reopen, maybe Dolan, who also owns that property, can chill.

Meanwhile, the team raised a stink over the NHL refusing to suspend Washington's Tom Wilson for dirty play vs. the Rangers earlier this week. The statement from the team, making the rounds of social media, was also rare, and a sign that Dolan was taking an interest in the team for a change.

Let's see how long it takes before they start chanting "Fire Dolan!" at Rangers games.
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Gatorade's new ad campaign has track star Usain Bolt and soccer icon Abby Wambach in a battle of the sexes to the beat of "Anything you can do, I can do better". But who is the golfer with Michael Jordan? Inquiring minds want to know!

Meanwhile, Megan Rapinoe is making it seem like a soccer ball can have an effect on cell phones in ads for Subway. Special effects, y'all.
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The Cleveland Indians may be feeling a wee bit snakebitten this season.

Three weeks after Carlos Rodon of the Chicago White Sox tossed a no-hitter at them, the Tribe fell silent again, this time against cross-state rival Cincinnati and Wade Miley.....


To MLB suits, that's four no-no's this season, but it's really five if you count Madison Bumgarner's 7 inning gem vs. Atlanta, which MLB won't count, as we've discussed, because of changes made 30 years ago, and that's going to remain a topic the rest of the season unless commissioner Rob Manfred can tell the stat nerds to chase themselves and give "Mad Bum" the credit he deserves.
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Multi-tasking announcer Matt Vasgersian (MLB/ESPN/Fox) may have caught a bad case of homerism when he signed on to call a select number of Angels games for Bally Sports this season. As a result, some of his calls on Sunday Night Baseball are a little more over the top than before.

Maybe after the season, Disney can have him do some simulated games at Disneyland.

Speaking of ESPN/Disney, Tuesday's Yankees-Astros game broadcast was way over the top on purpose, since May 4 is now "Star Wars Day". Cross-promotion, you know. Could've been worse. Tim Kurkjian could've been given the night off in favor of America's Moron, Stephen A. Smith, who polluted a Monday NBA broadcast the night before.

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