Thursday, June 24, 2021

Sports this 'n' that

 The NHL's NY Islanders are planning on leaving Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum again, this time for a shiny new arena near Belmont Park in Elmont.

However, the team's fans, unsure if the Isles can get past Tampa Bay to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, pelted the ice with empty beer cans after the Islanders forced a game 7 in their semi-final series Wednesday night, 3-2.


The Islanders briefly had relocated to Brooklyn a few years back, sharing the Barclays Center with the Nets while the Coliseum underwent renovations and/or the team raised money for the new arena. It's been 40 years since their golden era as one of the premier franchises in the NHL, and their comeback story has flown under the radar while the Nets & Knicks made playoff runs of their own in the NBA. But, with the basketball season over in New York, the Islanders can contend for the back pages with the Mets & Yankees just a wee bit longer.
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Ms. Moldy Peaches has struck again.

We're referring, of course, to Georgia airhead Marjorie Taylor Greene, who came out in support via Twitter of NFL players, including Buffalo's Cole Beasley and Carolina's Sam Darnold, the latter of whom came over from the Jests in the off-season, who are refusing to be vaccinated for COVID-19, even though the NFL has regulations in place.

Unsurprisingly, MTG got roasted yet again on Twitter for her ignorance. You've heard the expression, "children should be seen and not heard"? In Ms. Peaches' case, she shouldn't be seen or heard. And you know what she gets for this.....


This was too easy. We'll send a peach-colored Dunce Cap to Washington.
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On Monday, Major League Baseball began cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances in order to get a better grip on the baseball. Mets ace Jacob deGrom had no problem with it, and handled it with a smile. On Wednesday, however, the same fans booed the umpiring team for giving rookie Tylor Megill one last inspection as he left the game in the 5th inning of a 7-3 win over Atlanta. Megill handled it like a pro, same as deGrom, but the fans weren't having it. They have to get used to it, though.

While deGrom and Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani treated the umps with respect, Oakland's Sergio Romo and Washington's Max Scherzer, the latter of whom is on a Players Association committee on the subject, turned it into a theatre of the absurd. Romo dropped trou, and Scherzer threatened to do the same after being asked for a 3rd inspection by Philadelphia manager Joe Girardi.

Girardi was subsequently ejected when it looked like he was ready to throw down with Scherzer, which would've only made things worse for both the Nationals & Phillies, as if MLB hadn't already been embarassed.

Another MLBPA committee member, the Yankees' Zach Britton, has suggested that the starters should be inspected before the game, out of the fans' view, and he's right, especially after the unplanned theatrics on Tuesday. Either the umps, or an inspector from MLB assigned to the game, can meet with the pitchers on each team before the game, say, about 5-10 minutes before game time, in a neutral area in the ballpark. If a player has to be ejected for having a foreign substance on his person, it gives his manager time to make a change before the game. Simple as that.

Speaking of Girardi, who was a fan favorite as a player and manager with the Yankees, expect the Citi Field faithful to boo him out of the building this weekend when the Phillies come to Queens, especially if he tries to play his gamesmanship card, as he did with Scherzer and the Nationals on Tuesday.



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