Monday, August 13, 2018

Sports this 'n' that

Sometimes, sports editors don't know when to shut down the hype and promote reality.

For example, Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship on Sunday, but the headlines were more about the guy who came in second. You might've heard of him. Some fella named Tiger Woods.

The hype machines stopped short of declaring that Tiger was back. This was his highest finish in Lord knows when, and he was just 2 shots shy of catching Koepka and forcing a playoff. If Woods can play consistently in each tournament he enters going forward, then we'll conclude he's completed his comeback from injury.
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Before sweeping the Vermont Lake Monsters on the road, and I neglected to mention this the other day, the Tri-City Valleycats added some new video footage to hype the crowd. You might've heard of this guy, too.......



That's a vintage tape of Ric Flair at the peak of his powers back in the day. Like most of the videos the 'Cats use on their scoreboard, they pulled it, as I did, off YouTube. Guessing the above clip is from the early 90's, when he first adopted the short-hair look he has now. When the 'Cats come home on Wednesday, we'll see if it finally brings good fortune.
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The local NBC affiliate has carried NY Giants preseason games the last several years. No one wants the Jets, it seems, so the Fox affiliate decided to experiment by picking up the feed for a Buffalo Bills preseason game on Thursday. Rookie QB Josh Allen was impressive, but the Bills ultimately lost to Carolina. The Giants, by the way, lost, too, dropping their preseason opener to Cleveland, which picked up Ex-Bills QB Tyrod Taylor in the offseason.
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It's going to seem weird seeing the Mets and Philadelphia play their Sunday night game this coming weekend. Why?

The game is being played in Little League country. Williamsport, Pa., where the Little League World Series was scheduled to begin today. The Phillies do have a NY-Penn League team in Williamsport, and that's where the game will be played, not on a Little League field. ESPN's Karl Ravech will be calling the Little League World Series this week, and likely will anchor Baseball Tonight from there, too.
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Ignored as usual by the press, the Troy Fighting Irish went about their business on Saturday, spanking Broome County, 49-0. The Irish are 7-1 with 2 games left in the regular season. While the Valleycats get the majority of the local fans for their home games, Saturday had to be an exception with the 'Cats out of town. Since El Cheapo Media can't be bothered to do anything more than a pre-season preview every year, the Irish are always going to be treated like the red headed step children of local summer sports.
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We have to close with some sad news from WWE.

Former 2-time tag team champ Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart passed away earlier this morning from complications caused by Alzheimer's disease at the age of 63. It's believed that Natalya, Neidhart's daughter, who was scheduled for a feature match on Monday Night Raw tonight, is headed home and will be scratched from the card. We have more on this over at Saturday Morning Archives, including this 1989 promo....



Rest in peace, Jim.

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