Sunday, October 6, 2019

Sports this 'n' that

When Notre Dame & Navy travel to Ireland to start the 2020 season, ESPN's College GameDay will be tagging along, marking the first time that the series has gone abroad since it began its traveling road show several years ago.

I wonder how they'll react to Lee Corso's schtick with the mascot heads.....
==================================
The Mets waited four days before dismissing Mickey Callaway after two seasons. Speculation has already started in regards to his replacement, and many are still calling for Joe Girardi, currently with MLB Network, to leave that gig and come to Flushing after a decade plus in the Bronx with the Yankees, in which he won just one World Series.

On a message board I frequent, I had a different idea, and that was to move Keith Hernandez out of the Mets' TV booth and into the dugout. Since Hernandez, who was on the Mets' 1986 World Series title team, stresses fundamentals, or, as he calls them, fundies, while on the air, I'd think he'd be a fit.

However, there are those that believe this will not be the case. They believe that owners Fred & Jeff Wilpon and/or GM Brodie Van Wagenen interfered with Callaway during the course of this season, and would be a problem with anyone else that takes over. The Wilpons thought they could get a bargain basement clone of former Boston & Toronto manager John Farrell, now with ESPN, and his name's now in the hat for the vacancy. Stay tuned.
==================================
As seen on Smackdown on Friday, Brock Lesnar needed just seven seconds to dethrone Kofi Kingston to win the WWE title.

Why?

An old MMA nemesis, Cain Velasquez, who's gotten his feet wet in wrestling competing for AAA in Mexico, has been brought in to avenge an ambush attack Lesnar administered to Rey Mysterio and his son, Dominic, four days earlier on Raw. It's been said that the Fox network wants to put more emphasis on athletic competition (read: real sports) over the gimmick-centric "sports entertainment" that Vince McMahon has force-fed his audience for 35 years, and wanted Lesnar. I suspect they will put up the up-front money as an incentive to get Velasquez on board, but the last thing fans want is not so much an absentee champion, as Lesnar appears and/or fights when he feels like it, but another part-time contributor, unless Velasquez is willing to make more frequent appearances.

But by having Kingston lose in a squash, McMahon is sending the message that he values the money coming from Fox more than the talent he already has on the roster. He always has, and always will.

The October 11 show will be part 1 of a 2-part allocation draft, finishing on Columbus Day on Raw, that will cement the rosters for the foreseeable future. However, it would be to the benefit of both WWE & Fox that Lesnar be more of a regular, a team player this time, instead of continuing with the limited dates on his contract that he first signed 7 1/2 years ago.

Velasquez will face Lesnar in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel on Halloween. Beyond that, no one's sure if Velasquez will be around for the long term. If not, it's a wasted investment.

No comments: