Sports Journal October 12-14, 2018

10-12-18
I listened to today’s NLCS game on the radio after going to soccer in the evening.  I was surprised to find it on anywhere.  I was looking for high school football coverage, since it was raining tonight and might have been interesting to listen to. 

It was 4-1 Brewers up on the Dodgers when I came in.  Clayton Kershaw was taken out in the fourth after a two-run single by Domingo Santana with no outs.  Santana thought he was caught stealing after that and came out, but had to return to the field when he was found safe upon review.  He’d come around to score to make it 5-1 Brewers.

From listening I pieced together the previous innings.  The Dodgers weren’t having a great game with three errors and two passed balls, and a Brewer reliever, Brandon Woodruff, had hit a home run earlier.  A Manny Machado solo homer was all the Dodgers’ scoring.

Josh Hader came in and tossed three scoreless innings for the Brewers.  In the seventh, Jesus Aguilar added a home run to make it 6-1.  The Milwaukee fans did a “turbo wave” around the stadium (a quickly performed wave that just went around once).  The Dodgers came back in the eighth.  They loaded the bases with two outs.  Machado again had the big hit with a blooper that drove in two.  Matt Kemp singled in a run to close it to 6-4.

By the ninth, I was getting poor reception and was having trouble following the action.  There was a walk with two outs.  Chris Taylor drove in the run with a triple.  Lorenzo Cain may have been injured trying to make a play on the ball.  However, the Brewers got the last out and won, 6-5.  The Dodgers played an ugly game with four errors.  The Brewers played a bunch of pitchers.  Starter Gio Gonzalez only went two innings and seven total pitchers were used.  It was a rough game for the fans too, as it clocked in at four hours.

10-13-18
My personal schedule has been so screwed up, I’m actually writing this out two days later.  Today was the only LCS game I was going to be able to watch on TV this week. It was between the Dodgers and Brewers.  At the same time, Aggie Football was on the radio playing an early game.  With Joe Buck doing the baseball call, so it was an easy choice to turn down the TV sound and listen to the radio.

In Milwaukee, there was the incomparable sight of Front Row Amy sitting next to the Marlins Man.  Never imagined I’d see that.  If Kato Kaelin had been sitting by them, it would have been a fan-trifecta for the Brewers.  (Kato would have been furiously scribbling out signs and holding them up to offer instant criticism of the team.  Amy would have hit him at some point.  Marlins Man would have posted Twitter picture selfies of the fight.) 

In the first, Lorenzo Cain went over the centerfield wall and robbed a two-run homer.  I guess he was okay after yesterday’s possible injury.  Apart from that highlight, the first four innings went pretty quick.  I’d swear that there were half-innings that went faster than the commercial breaks between them.  Actually, that was the thing that was making me lose interest in the game, the extended commercial breaks.  In the third, Bob Uecker did come in and call an inning with John Smoltz, which I turned up the sound for.

The scoring got started in the fifth with Orlando Arcia hitting a homer to straight-away center.  Bernie Brewer took a trip down the slide.  After that, the bases were loaded and Ryan Braun drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, 2-0 Brewers.  Travis Shaw tacked on a solo home run at some point.  I missed it.  The commercials were taking so long, so I was flipping stations in between innings.       

The Dodgers made a comeback in the seventh with Cody Bellinger driving in a run and bases loaded walk bringing in another.  A double play ended the inning at 3-2 Brewers.  In the eighth, Justin Turner hit a two-run homer to give the Dodgers the lead and a 4-3 win.  The Brewer bullpen was worn out and with Josh Hader unavailable, they proved very hittable.

Meanwhile, the Aggies were playing the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns on the road.  Jack Nixon and Cory Lucas were very complimentary of the facilities there, but were disturbed by the small crowd.  They thought that maybe a nearby larger school’s game had drawn away the fans.

I took notes on all of the scoring in the game and I refuse to do so again in this recap.  The final was 66-38 Cajuns.  Are we sure that the Aggies weren’t actually playing LSU?  No, LSU would have had their third string guys in by the fourth quarter and not run up the score that bad.  The Cajuns scored on every possession in the first half.  The defense only held them to a field goal on their final drive before the half.  Needless to say, the Aggie offense could not keep up with that.

In the second half, the Aggies stopped the Cajuns from scoring on two drives.  Two.  The last one was on the final drive of the game where the Aggies recovered a fumble on the next to last play of the game near the Aggie goal line.  Josh Adkins and the offense put up 38 points, which would normally be enough to win a game.  Adkins lost a fumble in the fourth and was intercepted on a fourth-and-long, but those were his only blemishes.  What happened to the defense?  They’ve hardly been lock-down, but this was a complete no-show.

In the evening, I had two more concurrent events.  The ALCS was on the radio and a Women’s college volleyball game was on Stadium.  Reception was not great on the radio and I found myself listening to the volleyball quite a bit instead.   

The baseball game featured the Red Sox and the Astros.  This should be a powerhouse series of pitching and hitting.  When I came into the game, neither Chris Sale nor Justin Verlander was reported to be sharp.  The Astros got the scoring started in the second with George Springer driving in two with the bases loaded.  2-0 Astros. 

In the fifth, Verlander lost it as he walked three-in-a-row and walked in a run.  A wild pitch brought in the tying run to make it 2-2.  The Astros got the lead back in the sixth as Carlos Correa drove in Alex Bregman to make it 3-2.  And at this point, I kind of lost interest.  Frankly, the game wasn’t that interesting and it was dragging terribly.  In the ninth, the Astros put up four more runs to make it 7-2, which was the final. 
 
This game finished in a nice, tidy four hours, just like the earlier game.  I’m blaming the commercials.  Between innings and with every pitcher change (and there were plenty of those), these extended commercial breaks played.  It was almost impossible to keep following along with the game with these lengthy interruptions.  I seem to remember that I basically stopped watching NASCAR because of the constant commercial interruptions.   

The volleyball match was more interesting.  It was a Mountain West matchup between the SDSU Aztecs and the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.  San Diego State plays in a large gym with large fans on the ceiling.  I wonder if the ball is still in play if it hits one of those? 

I think I recognized one of the Rebels, as they did play here last year, #10 Antonette Rolda.  She’s Polynesian, which was probably why I noticed her (my thing for pretty Hawaiian girls).  (Hey, where's Thea Sweder?  I definitely remember seeing her last year.)  Speaking of pretty, #7 Hannah Turnlund on the Aztecs was gorgeous.  She was also one of their better players.  I think she was their high-scorer for the match.  (My notes were terrible, though I was watching closely.)

Both teams had an excellent server as a weapon, and they both utilized a jump serve.  Rebel Mariena Hayden is the conference’s top server.  Ashlyn Dunbar on the Aztecs not only jump served, but is a tall girl on top of it.  She was ferociously hammering the ball.  Both servers had multiple aces in the match.

Though the Rebels were on the road and this was an important game in conference, the girls were really loose.  The reserves were dancing on the sidelines for the whole match.  This team was picked for last and now they’re in contention to make the tournament.  They led all the way in Set 1 and won 25-17. 

Set 2 was more of a battle.  SDSU had an early lead, but the Rebels came back and took the lead.  Poor notes again and I can’t credit the play, but one of the girls, with her back to the net, set up for an assist and then did a no-look, behind the head spike.  Dunbar got the score within one with an ace.  She would have tied it on another ace, but it was overturned on a review.  Hayden came up and aced right after.  UNLV took it 25-21.

The Aztecs came out of the break motivated and jumped out to an early lead and held it to win Set 3, 25-17.  There’d been lots of challenges to this point.  There was an early one in Set 4.  Later in the match, the SDSU players wanted a challenge, but the coach was already out for the set.  UNLV took an early lead.  The Aztecs got it within one three times before tying it at 21.  Both teams traded set/match points and went into extras.  UNLV took it 30-28 and the match 3-1.  That was a lot of fun to watch. 

10-14-18
I woke up late today.  It’s a good thing that today’s Aggie Soccer match was later this afternoon.  I had some intention of at least watching the NASCAR prerace, but had to take a shower so I could watch a college volleyball match in a half hour.  Today’s race was in Talladega.  I’d like to have seen it, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to watch the ending.  At least the volleyball would be over before I had to leave.  Nearly every time I flipped over to check on the race they were in commercial anyway.

Today, Stadium was showing a Patriot League matchup between the Loyola Greyhounds and the Colgate Raiders.  Colgate had a couple of tough players.  Their libero #12 Katie Stansbury, had hardware on one knee, both legs wrapped up, and her hip wrapped.  She seemed to be happy to be out there though.  She should probably be happy to still be walking.  Another Colgate player had her hip wrapped too.  One of the Aggies’ opponents had a girl wrapped up like that.  Boy does that look like the end result of a nasty injury.

The Greyhounds had Katie Forsythe as their libero.  She was the national player of the week last week, and is #2 in the nation in digs.  The #1 in the nation plays for Air Force.  She had 34 digs yesterday.  (Did she get all of the digs in the match for the Falcons?)  Speaking of that, the Greyhounds also played yesterday.  This game is a bit like a tournament setting for them. 

Ann Ernst is the Greyhound’s star player.  She’s a bad server, but the coach wants her out playing on every point anyway.  The Loyola coach seemed like an extremely laidback lady.  She lounged in her seat like a disinterested fan watching the game.  When she talked to a player or the team, she was never animated or excited.  On the other side, Colgate had a very attractive young woman assistant coach who stood on the sidelines giving directions to the team for the whole match. 

The teams were playing at Loyola in a large gym/small arena.  The building had a lot of seats.  The court was also marked out for competitive basketball, perhaps for the Women’s team.  The far side stands were empty, but you could hear a crowd on the near side, which wasn’t shown on camera. 

“Unleash the hounds!”  The announcer identified himself as Christian Taylor.  He sounded like a student announcer and was very enthusiastic, not just about Loyola volleyball, but volleyball in general.  He had some national knowledge too, which is where I got those digging stats from.  He did a good job of making the match lively to listen to.  I admit I giggled when he used the term “campfire” a couple of times to describe a ball falling in between several players.  I think I’ve heard Aggie Coach Jordan use that term.   

Loyola took the first set 25-20.  It was close and tense.  I think both coaches used all their timeouts.  Set 2 went back and forth as both teams had multi-point runs.  Loyola took this one 25-23.  Loyola took Set 3, 25-20 and the match 3-0.  It was a sweep, but a very contested one.  Again, it was really fun to watch.  Ooh, but not fun to play.  Those bandaged-up Colgate players came off the court limping.         

NM State Aggies vs Seattle U Redhawks Soccer 10-12-18

Ah, my first day of vacation.  I was still recovering from my cold last week and it was raining all day here, but I was still planning on seeing today’s soccer match.  I’d missed seeing all Aggie sports last weekend, and I desperately wanted out of my apartment and away from work.  I wanted to go almost no matter what, but was fairly relieved that the rain had lessened to a light drizzle by the time I left late in the afternoon. 

Out in the parking lot, there were several people tailgating at a tent.  They had got two heavy-duty grills going.  There were people there in the stands.  (I admit, I was worried there wouldn’t be.)  There is a hardcore group of fans for this sport.  Seattle U brought some fans, who piped up during introductions and during the game.  Today’s fans were pretty vocal, though not obnoxious. Aggie Baseball came in around halftime.  They stood around at the foot of the grandstand rather sit on the wet grass.

Fearing for my metal stadium chair and foam pad in the rain, I brought a large bath towel to sit on.  It immediately got soaked, along with my rear end when I sat down.  At least the grass clippings had finally been washed off the grandstand.  It was cool out, but not cold.  The Organ Mountains in the background were wrapped in clouds.  It was very scenic, and the rain smelled pleasant.  Unfortunately, it was also kind of dark.  This place could definitely use some lights.  DJ Downs wasn’t doing the announcing.  Instead, it was Alexia, the girl PA from baseball for the last two years.  I thought she graduated?

First Half
Let’s get down to it.  At the very start of the match, I suddenly broke out in a coughing fit.  It came out of nowhere.  Lucky I came prepared with a cough drop, which I hastily fumbled to get into my mouth.  On field at 41’ left in the half, keeper Ashley Martin and an SU player collided at the top of the box.  The ball rolled dangerously past the goal.

38’ Zorena Hazen (I think) was yellow carded for rough play.  The referee was going to put a clamp down on the violence here early.  “Zo” as she was called from the crowd has very pretty silvery hair, not that that matters in play.  The free kick came from way outside the box, but took a high bounce and tucked right into the corner of the goal for a 1-0 SU lead.  No announcement was made to credit the goal.

36’ the Aggies got an attack going in the Seattle end and two corner kicks, but failed to get a shot on goal.  31’ Ash got into a one-on-one with an attacking SU player, but managed to kick it away.  30’ she fought off another attack in front of the net.  The Seattle fans were yelling, “Shoot it!”  I guess it’s not just our fans doing that.  (At one point in the game, I did hear a “Shoot it!” when the ball was five feet away from the nearest girl.)

28’ SU corner kick.  Ashley fell down trying to recover the ball.  Thankfully, another player kicked it away.  26’ there was a good Aggie attack with some impressive passing, but the shot went high and wide.  24’ another SU corner.  There was a shot in front of the net that hit the goalpost. 

20’ Katie Martinez, one of the harder kickers on the team, accidentally fired one into Audrey Chavez’s backside.  Well, at least she picked one of the few girls on the team who could have taken that shot without getting knocked down.  The crowd got a chuckle out of it.  “That’s the way to take one for the team, Audrey!”  “That’ll leave a bruise.” 

The rain was steadily increasing at this point.  The girls seemed to be melting a little on the field and play slowed.  The weather forecast had the heavier stuff coming near the end of the game, so I was hoping this wasn’t it arriving early.  18’ Corey Kizer came in as a sub.  She was now wearing a face mask.  I guess something must have happened on the road trip. 

Okay, a couple of guys behind me started discussing how to fight off a shark attack.  It must be Shark Week.  This conversation went on for a while.  As you might guess, it veered into talking about fighting off bear attacks as well.  Not quite as entertainingly out on the field, 12’ Ashley was involved in another one-on-one.  How does this keep happening?  The crowd thought the play was offsides, but Ash stayed with it and the shot went wide.

10’ shortly after Lece Aviles subbed into the game, she blocked a shot on goal with her face.  This was a terrible idea, because she’s got a lovely face.  Baby, it’s just game, don’t sacrifice your looks and end up in a face mask.  8’ Kyleigh Cox entered the game.  A screaming cheer went up for her.  Ah, her Swim and Dive team friends must be around somewhere.  Behind me, cheetahs entered into the discussion about bear and shark attacks.  I’m wishing I had a microphone for this conversation.  2’ Emma Smith was laid out on a collision outside of the Aggie box.  Insultingly, she was also called for the foul.  The half ended without further note.

Halftime
I retreated to my truck for 10 minutes to get out of the rain and to get a drink and to contemplate what the hell I was doing with my life.  In spite of the rain, I was dry, except for my butt, which soaked down to my underwear.  The PA played a Taylor Swift song in the intermission. Don’t they know I just broke up with her this week!  Yes, what a twist.  Here I was ready to let her break up with me and then immortalize me in song, and I go and break up with her first.  Sorry, but she betrayed me.  I’m already writing a song about it.  I just need a publisher.   

Second Half
Freshman Mia Montano was now in the Aggie goal.  I don’t think Ashley did bad job, so I wonder if she was injured in the first half.  Certainly the game wasn’t out-of-hand to where you’d put Mia in to get some more experience.  (And who’s the emergency goalie?  I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes an issue before the end of the season.)  Unfortunately, Mia got tested right away.  43’ she came to meet an attack and missed.  The ball rolled right in, 2-0 SU.  Jessie Ray was credited with the goal.  That was deflating.

39’ Katie made a fake out on an SU player good enough to get an “Ooh” from the crowd.  38’ after some good passing, Audrey took a shot on the SU goal.  That was the first official SOG for the Aggies in the game.  36’ SU fired a header that went over the net.  35’ Katie took a shot that was caught by the Seattle goalie.  34’ my dear Aileen Galicia knocked down a girl in mid-air.  She was mostly playing on the other side of the field, so I hadn’t seen much of her work today.  Emma took a shot on goal right after.  The SU goalie made a nice punch save. 

32’ Coach Baarts yelled out some criticism of Rebecca Mazzie across the field loud enough for everyone to hear it.  It seemed kind of random.  The rain let up a bit, so I was feeling better about the game finishing without a deluge.  28’ Aileen trampled a Seattle player.  It’s a good thing the referee wasn’t seeing this.

25’ three Seattle players attacked the Aggie net with only defender back.  I wanted to cover my eyes.  Mia had no chance on the play.  3-0 SU.  #28 Rachel Bowler was credited with the goal.  Surprisingly, the crowd didn’t leave.  Interesting stat on the scoreboard: SU 3 SOG, 3 Goals.  16’ Katie ran across the field to stop a wide open shot.  Micaela Milavec was knocked down in the ensuing melee and a Seattle player was carded. 

7’ #16 Kelsey Vogel hit the Aggie crossbar from well outside the box and the ball deflected in.  It’s all falling in for them.  4-0 SU.  A couple of people in crowd left after that.  Given the time left, I figured there’s no point in leaving now.  3’ again, there was only one defender back during a Seattle attack.  The ball just went over the net.  Aileen was subbed out here.  I’d noticed her just walking on the field after the previous play.  The coach must have noticed too.

With less than a minute left, Mia came out and missed another attack, but thankfully the shot missed as well.  The PA Alexia gave a very unenthusiastic countdown of the final seconds.  If this was her first time calling a soccer match, I’m sure she found it unpleasant.  A Seattle corner kick was the last play of the match as the rain suddenly started increasing, right on schedule.  4-0 Seattle U was the final.

The Redhawks came out to midfield and waved to their fans.  The Aggie girls again retreated to the sidelines and started stretching.  Me and some other Aggie fans were left standing at the rail, hoping they’d come back and wave.  Hey, I’m not here to watch soccer.  I’m here to see you girls.  Okay, forget that.  It was actually raining, not just sprinkling.  I’m gone.  When I drove back by, I could see the girls were still on field getting a postgame talk.  Couldn’t you do that in the locker room, rather than risk pneumonia? 

I stopped at Schlotzsky’s and picked up a mac and cheese brisket dish.  Seemed like a good time for a hot meal.  I know they got rid of the ice cream, but can they at least turn on the lights in the restaurant?  It was like a cave in there.  At least the food was good.  (I wished they’d put a little barbecue sauce on it.)  Back at home, I immediately changed into dry underwear and pants. 

I hope the weather is better for Sunday’s game.  They’re playing Chicago State, the team the Aggies beat 8-0 on the road last year.  If they don’t win, I wonder if Coach Baarts makes it to the end of the season.     

Artifacts: Pop Up Books

More interesting goodies from Ron's old books.  These are "pop up" books for those of you who have never seen such a thing.  I'm not sure if anyone still makes these.  Simply, you open a page and the picture pops out at you in three-dimensional-ish form, kinda.  The artwork in these volumes were pretty impressive.

Comics Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

While I missed the first and second Guardians of the Galaxy movies in the theaters, I’ve been really interested in the group.  This group of Guardians looked fun.  The previous version from the 70’s, which I’d had some exposure to, never caught on with me.  Their struggle in the future against aliens who’d conquered earth never resonated.  Starhawk was the only character that was interesting.    

With the modern group, I’d missed their original series from a few years ago (and I keep trying to get a trade of it).  It didn’t feature exactly the same cast as the current series or movies.  It even somehow included Bug from the Micronauts.  (Don’t ask me how or how he became full-sized.)  I was unfamiliar with Starlord, Gamora, and Drax, though they’re long-standing cosmic characters.  I once had Rocket Raccoon’s mini-series from the 80’s.  That dashing romantic character (yes, even as a raccoon) is a far cry from the tortured and sarcastic Rocket from the movies.  Still, it seemed like an interesting group from what I’d seen and I wanted to at least read about them, even if I couldn’t get anyone to see the movies with me.  

So, I kept trying to buy various Guardians comics.  I’d like to say I liked them, but ultimately what I ended up with was a bunch of frustration.  You’d think Marvel would have made it easy for new fans to just pick up issues of Guardians comic books who were intrigued by the movies.  Not so fast.  They kept renumbering the series, and the story picked up from the original series, which was an out-of-print trade.  The potpourri of variant covers was very nice.  In fact, I ended up with a couple of copies of a couple of issues by accident because I couldn’t identify the issues.

The artwork was very, very nice.  Unfortunately, the story was lacking and decompressed.  It was completely unsatisfying, but ever so tantalizing.  The trade paperbacks should have been a salvation in getting a whole story at least.

Not so fast.  The trade with the above issue, which I wanted more of, only comprised a couple of issues.  The rest had lesser art and the vague story didn’t seem to be coherent.  I never even bought it.  I ended up eventually getting the individual back issues I wanted (a couple times over in fact, thanks to the alternate covers).  But I kept looking at the trades, hoping for something better to come up.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Through the Looking Glass

This looked promising.  It contained an annual featuring Frank Cho’s excellent artwork.  (If you want to complain that he keeps drawing the same two women, namely Brandy and Jen from Liberty Meadows, at least he does so very well.)  The rest of the volume had a story with the X-Men.  It might have been interesting.  I couldn’t tell.  If I was willing to track down three other trades, I could have gotten the whole story.  Instead, all I got was a tease.  

Later, there was this scene, which was kind of funny and at least seemed to capture what I was looking for.  (Yes, a pile of puke.  No, some humor and having fun.)  Kitty Pride, one of my favorite characters, was hooked up with Peter Quill here.  Kitty being in space isn’t foreign territory for her, but did seem a bit weird (much like Tony Stark being with the group, as shown above).  The relationship should have been fun, but wasn’t, as I saw in other issues.

Kitty, Venom, and the Thing (Ben Grimm) joining the group were more of a movie marketing ploy, than a story one.  Specifically, those characters’ rights were owned by other studios, so Marvel was broke up their groups to make them less valuable by not promoting them in their comics anymore.  Along with the Agenda (the socio-political one), their insistence on spreading out all stories over multiple titles in mega-crossovers, and their movie policy (which doesn’t involving tying into their own movies, but sabotaging other people’s movies with their characters), Marvel comics are virtually unreadable.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Communications Breakdown

Finally, several years later, I got what I was looking for.  Here we have a Guardians of the Galaxy comic book that looks good (very good), tells a whole story (albeit the intro to a larger story), and is fun.  Congratulations to Aaron Kuder and Gerry Duggan for creating most of this trade.  You guys somehow slipped under Marvel’s editorial radar and made a good comic book.

The artwork was perfect.  It was like a Moebius story from an issue of Heavy Metal, absolutely appropriate for a science fiction setting.  Even a fill-in issue didn’t disrupt the flow.  The characters were well-handled in their personalities.  The story made sense for the group to be involved in.  Even Quill’s terrible beard didn’t hurt the look of the comic.

Unfortunately, the next trade didn’t seem to follow the story in this one and Marvel went right back to what I didn’t want, a pointless crossover.  This volume being so good just makes it more hurtful that they’re not producing quality material like this on a regular basis.  The formula for success is right there and they already know it: develop iconic characters, get a good writer with a story, get a good steady artist, and leave them alone. 

The movies should be making the comics more popular than ever.  Instead, there’s almost a complete disconnect between what’s published and what’s onscreen.  They don’t have to be exactly the same, but they need to be recognizable.  Actually, Guardians is maybe the only one that even comes close.  I just can’t understand this idiotic discontinuity in marketing from a Disney company.  Fire everyone at Marvel Comics and start over with a synergy plan to connect with movie audiences.

Sports Journal October 6-9, 2018

10-6-18

I went to work for two days with a cold.  It wasn’t too bad, but on Saturday I wasn’t feeling up to going out to see Aggie Baseball’s fall scrimmage.  Later in the afternoon, I felt well enough that I could have gone, but it was too late then.  I felt bad about this missing it, even though the game didn’t matter.  It was kind of fun last year sitting in the center section seats with the players’ families. 

Certainly, I didn’t have anything better to do.  The baseball playoffs were not on local radio or TV, even Mexican TV.  (I have watched World Series games on Mexican TV when I couldn’t take anymore of Joe Buck.)  The Astros beat the Indians 3-1 to take a 2-0 series lead.  The Yankees beat the Red Sox 6-2 to tie their series.  I felt lucky to have even gotten the final scores (thanks, Stadium). 

I was not shut out of baseball today, no sir.  In the evening, we had the Mexican League Championship series.  I could tell it was the playoffs because they had the red, white, and green bunting out.  It was the Monterrey Sultans versus the Oaxaca Warriors.  OMG, that Sultans’ uniform looks like a NASCAR firesuit with all the sponsorship patches.  That’s not even a fair comparison, NASCAR doesn’t put patches on their drivers’ butts like the Sultans do.  I recognized a couple of players.  Ramiro Pena, a former El Paso Chihuahua, was on the Sultans.  Yuniesky Betancourt was on the Warriors.  The Sultans won tonight 3-2.  I don’t know where the series stands though.          

Before I’d gotten sick, I’d mentally flirted with the idea of going to see Aggie Football after the baseball scrimmage.  I don’t think that actually would have worked out timing-wise, and I probably didn’t want to go to a football game by myself again (12-2-17), though that did work out pretty well last time.  In two different interviews, Coach Martin didn’t seem very optimistic about this game with the Liberty Flames.  It was Homecoming, so there wasn’t promotion going on that I knew about to bring in more fans. 

I annoyingly missed half of the radio pregame show, where they usually talk to the coaches in other Aggie sports.  While I had the radio on for the game and it was on TV too, I found myself not really into taking decent notes today.  In the first quarter, the Flames looked good on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead.  On their second drive, the Aggies forced a fumble and converted in short order to tie it at 7. 

Late in the second quarter, the Aggies started moving the ball better.  Josh Adkins would hit Anthony Muse for a touchdown to make it 14-7.  They got the ball right back and Adkins hit Dan Drew on a deep strike, which set up a two-yard rush by Jason Huntley for a 21-7 Aggie lead.  The Aggie defense held just before the half, but a roughing the kicker penalty gave the Flames another set of downs.  The very next play was a bomb for a touchdown.  21-14 Aggies at the half. 

Even with five touchdowns in the half, it was pretty much a defensive battle for the first half.  The second half felt much more offensive-minded.  In the third quarter, the Flames got a good runback on a punt, and they converted on a short field to tie the score at 21.  The Aggies marched efficiently down the field on their next series.  Adkins would find a completely wide open Drew for a touchdown, 28-21 Aggies. 

DeMarcus Owens on the defense would come up big with an interception, which he returned to the Liberty 31.  Adkins hit tight end Bryce Roberts for another touchdown, 35-21.  Here I got a ten-minute phone call from Ron, and I was away from the TV and radio.  When I got back, it was 42-28 Aggies in the fourth quarter.  I told you this half was offensive.  Hmm.  Somehow, I think I’m not using the best word there.

The Flames came back and pounded it in for another TD, 42-25.  I hope most of the fans there stuck around to this point.  Aggie running back Christian Gibson, on a third and one, broke loose for 66 yards and a touchdown, 49-35 Aggies.  We’re still not done.  The Flames got a late touchdown, but the PAT was blocked by a high-jumping Cedric Wilcots.  And now we’re done.  49-41 Aggies.  Alright!

I made some effort to listen to the postgame stats, but just didn’t do a good job.  (Maybe I was sicker than I thought today.)  Here’s one great stat line: Josh Adkins 400+ yards passing, 4 touchdowns, no interceptions.  He also spread the ball around well.  Christian Gibson rushed for over 100 yards and two touchdowns.  OJ Clark had 10 catches for over 100 yards and a touchdown.  The defense, in spite of giving up 41 points, did get two crucial turnovers that were converted to 14 points.  Leon McQuaker’s name was called on a bunch of tackles for the defense.  Special teams had two bad plays, but that blocked PAT could have been the difference in the game if the Flames had gotten another touchdown. 

It was a team effort tonight.  I didn’t get a good sense of the crowd from the TV pictures, but it looked a lot less than the last two games.  [It was just over 8,000.  Ouch.]  Hopefully, this rather exciting game will inspire a bigger turnout next time, but their next game is on the road, where the Aggies haven’t fared well.  Right now, Coach Martin is likely mentally beating himself up that he didn’t pick Adkins at the beginning of the season to start at quarterback.  They’d probably have at least beaten the Lobos, which would have won over a lot more fans for the team. 

Hey, there’s Kayla Green working on the sidelines, I thought as I watched the local news report of the game.  I feel like I’ve been seeing our senior Softball team pitcher everywhere.  She’s certainly been busy as heck this fall.  [And retroactively, this is all I got to see of her this weekend as I was still too sick on Sunday to see the softball team’s exhibition double header.]

Amazingly, this wasn’t the end of my sports night.  Later, I was flipping around the stations and noticed a UFC match on a Mexican station, instead of their usual boxing.  I tuned back to a F1 “race” (high speed parade) that was going on live from Japan, but then I remembered something about a Conor McGregor fight this weekend.  I turned right back to the fight.

Conor was fighting the defending champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov (don’t ever expect me to write out that whole name again).  When I came in, it was the start of the fourth round and Conor was not doing well.  They were both tired, which kind of made me sorry that I didn’t watch this from the beginning, but Conor was getting the worst of it.  Finally, Khabib got him in a choke.  I saw Conor trying to tap out three times, before the ref had to step in and break them up. 

That was my first clue that there was some bad blood.  My second was that Khabib clearly didn’t want to stop choking Conor even after winning the fight.  At the point he jumped out of the octagon to attack people in the crowd, I could tell he was angry.  Khabib was ready to take on the crowd and, I think, they felt the same.  Someone then jumped into the octagon and attacked people there.  Wow, this was way more fighting than I was expecting for the match.

Conor and Khabib had to be escorted out separately under heavy police escort.  Joe Rogan told Khabib that he couldn’t hand him the belt, because he was afraid the crowd was about to riot.  The winner was announced after the fighters were gone.  Khabib definitely won the match, but frankly, for what he did afterward, he should have been disqualified from winning the title (thus setting up a lucrative rematch).  Expect a rules change before the next UFC match.  Monday, I found out that Khabib had taken Conor’s prefight jabs at him way too personally apparently.  Somebody needs to explain “hype” to Khabib.  

10-7-18

While I finally more or less got over my cold today, it happened too late for me to think about going to today’s scheduled Aggie Softball exhibition.  Also, the weather had finally turned to fall outside, as it was cool, overcast, breezy, and tried to rain late in the afternoon.  I wasn’t going to be able to sit out in that in my iffy condition.  I really felt bad about not going.  I felt like I disappointed the girls.  (I’m comfortably sure they couldn’t care less or were glad I wasn’t there.)  I won’t be seeing them play again until next year.

Not to mention, there was nothing on TV in the afternoon and I had absolutely nothing to do (not that I felt like doing anything).  Turned on the TV anyway and tried to watch some more of Alias Season 3.  I gave up 10 minutes into the next episode.  What a terrible show.  (It’s not even worth the effort to review.)  So much for binge-watching.  I did watch a couple of episodes of Community Season 1 as long as I had the DVD player on, so at least I enjoyed some use out of it. 

On Babylon 5 later on Comet, Walter Koening made his first appearance as Bester today.  Anyone thinking that he was just a one-shot stunt casting is going to be real surprised later on.  I wonder what people who haven’t seen the show before are thinking about it (beyond the dated CGI).  This is the first time I’ve seen these Season 1 episodes since I’d seen the rest of the series.  The show is awkward in places, but I can now see how clearly things are being set up for later.  This is a show meant for binge-watching and re-watching.    

Once again, I was shutout of MLB baseball.  The Brewers beat the Rockies 6-0 to advance to the NLCS.  That was their eleventh win in a row.  The Braves won 6-5 over the Dodgers, so their series continues.  I think the Braves were up 5-0 early, so they nearly lost.  Once again, I felt lucky I even got the scores.  

But, I did get to watch some baseball today.  The Monterrey Sultans were again playing the Oaxaca Warriors in the Mexican League Championship series.  When I tuned in, the Sultans were up 5-1 in the fifth and I almost turned it off, but decided to keep watching while I was eating dinner.  In that time, the Warriors came back and tied it.  Well, now it’s a game.  I guess I have to watch. 

Unfortunately, neither team could score in nine innings.  The Warriors did have runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but hit into a double play and couldn’t get a run in.  The large crowd there in Oaxaca was doing a Braves-like tomahawk chop chant during the rally. 

In the bottom of the tenth, rain suddenly started coming down in sheets.  There were two outs and two on at the time, so the umps must have been reluctant to stop the game.  The Sultans catcher kept having to towel off his face between pitches.  With bases loaded, a single delivered the winning run.  6-5 Warriors.  I still don’t know what the series score is.  Oops.  I think one of the Warriors players got injured during the on field celebration.  I hope he wasn’t a starter. 

There was one other sporting event I briefly watched on Mexican TV earlier.  There was a bullfighting recap show on.  (I have covered this sport before.)  I guess they were highlighting some of the top bullfighters.  Or not.  One of the guys I saw got gored between the butt cheeks.  That’s kind of funny until you realize they don’t bunt those horns before the match.  Ouch.  The guy had to crawl away holding his hand over the rip in his pants.  Sometimes the bull wins.      

10-8-18

This has been one crap of a three-day weekend for me.  I’ve been cooped up for three days when I had some places I wanted to go.  I haven’t been able to get a decent night’s sleep and can’t quite get rid of these coughing fits.  I’m been so close to being well, but not quite.  I couldn’t even chance going out nearby to go get lunch with it being cold and wet outside (and I haven’t gotten my appetite back either).  Maybe this happened because of all of the Aggie sports I went to last weekend and further exhausting myself recapping them.   

It didn’t help my mood that KROD didn’t carry the early game on the MLB playoff schedule today or any of the other games.  The Astros won 11-3 over the Indians to advance to the ALCS.  The Dodgers beat the Braves 6-2 to face the Brewers in the NLCS.  But the shocker of the night was the 16-1 thrashing of the Yankees by the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium no less.  Well, the Bleacher Creatures wanted to see the Red Sox.  The Red Sox went up 2-1 in their series.   

Did you know that there’s a new remake of Magnum p.i. on?  I didn’t until I saw it on the schedule.  I sort of indifferently watched it on Monday night.  They’ve made every effort to call back to the original series.  The red Ferrari has never looked better.  I can’t believe the original helicopter is still in service.  There’s the estate and the bungalow (more or less).  There are the Lads.  Thomas is wearing his Cross ring, his father’s watch, and a Tigers hat. 

But then Higgins is now a woman, and she went along to help Thomas on the case.  Them bickering with each other has more of a Moonlighting vibe than the original characters’ adversarial, yet close, relationship.  I’m conflicted on this, because it definitely changes the whole dynamic of the show.  But then again, the woman is really attractive. 

The new Magnum frankly isn’t as masculine-looking or as ruggedly handsome as Tom Selleck.  The character, in spite of good looks and being very capable and experienced, is still a hard luck case in his personal life.  They definitely emphasized that aspect.  Overall, I’m kind of ambivalent.  I’ll watch again, when I get the chance.  I can easily predict a crossover with the new Hawaii 5-0, something that the original Magnum wasn’t able to do.

10-9-18

I’ve seldom been happier to be wrong.  Tonight, the Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-3 in a thriller.  I had picked the Yankees to win it all this year.  Don’t worry, they’ll pick up Bryce Harper and Clayton Kershaw in the offseason.  Surely, they can’t lose at that point. 

I have no recap here, because I don’t really like either team.  I was just watching so I could see some baseball.  But then in the later innings, the game became very dramatic and drew me in.  These two teams did the impossible; they made me care who won.  With some tremendous crowd support behind them, the Yankees scored two in the ninth and very nearly pulled off either tying or winning.  Gee, now I’m almost sorry that the Yankees have been eliminated.  Almost.

The league championship series start on the Friday.  That’s when I start my vacation, so I won’t be posting for a week.  Hopefully, weather and health permitting, I’ll return with some Aggie sports reports.  I’m definitely pulling for the Brewers over the Dodgers, though I may not get to watch or listen to any of their games.  I should get to watch some of the Astros and Red Sox.  That should be a good series and something to look forward to.

Sports Journal October 1-5, 2018

10-1-18

The NL West and the NL Central needed another game to settle their business.  And I completely missed both games.  I didn’t know when they were on and they were over by the time I got to work.  I’m not sure if either were on national ESPN radio or not.  (It’s a bad sign when your fans can’t find your product.)  I did find the results at least.  The Brewers beat the Cubs at Wrigley to win the Central, and the Dodgers beat the Rockies in LA to win the West. 

10-2-18

The NL Wildcard game was between the Rockies and Cubs at Wrigley.  I was able to start watching it late in the game.  Nolan Arenado had scored the game’s only run on a sacrifice to make it 1-0 Rox.  The pitching matchup was between veteran Jon Lester and Kyle Freeland, making his first postseason appearance and on short rest.  Surprisingly, Freeland outlasted him and went six 2/3. 

Adam Ottavino came on in relief in the seventh.  One of the Cubs drew a walk from him and celebrated in a way that would have gotten somebody pegged in the regular season.  A rare catcher’s interference call by Drew Butera loaded the bases for the Cubs.  Ottavino struck out Jason Heyward to end the inning though.

Javy Baeza would get an RBI hit in the eighth to tie it.  ESPN’s Matt Vasgersian made an hysterical, overwrought call of the play and any other dramatic play.  Why would any baseball announcer model themselves after Joe Buck?  In the tenth, Arenado made a great dive, stop, and put out.  Like you weren’t going to get a highlight reel play from him in a game?  In the eleventh, Baeza got caught in a rundown and hugged Arenado on the tag.  It was pretty blatant runner’s interference, but it wasn’t called since Nolan didn’t try to make throw a throw to either base with runners.  I’m going to say that he likely didn’t think he was going to get either of them and chose to eat the ball and hug it out instead.

We go to the thirteenth.  Trevor Story singled.  “That’s a win for the Cubs,” said Jessica Mendoza on the theory that if he didn’t hit a homer it was a good result for the Cubs.  The only thing dumber than that statement is that she was parroting something Matt had already said a couple of innings before, and it was dumb then.  Backup catcher Tony Wolters would get an RBI hit to give the Rox a 2-1 lead.  Matt was screaming like a schoolgirl calling the play.

In the bottom, the umpire was hit on a cross-up hard enough for everyone to hear it.  He stayed in the game though.  Scott Oberg struck out the side to end it 2-1 Rockies.  Rockies have played three games, in three days, in three time zones, and this game took nearly five hours.  When will it catch up with them?  [Admittedly, I added that last line after they’d already been eliminated.  Spoilers.]   

10-3-18

I looked back at my MLB Season Preview.  I was so wrong in places, I was literally laughing at myself.  I did actually get most of the teams right.  I don’t really care about making any more predictions for the postseason.  I’m just going to watch and listen.

 

The Yankees took batting practice on the A’s in the AL Wildcard game.  The final was 7-2 Yankees and it was over early.  The Bleacher Creatures started chanting, “We want Boston!”

10-4-18

Here was a dilemma.  Aggie Volleyball was on at the same time as the Rockies were playing the Brewers in one of the NL Division series.  I also had a bit of a cold and I was at work, doing work.  I kind of settled for peeking in at both games.

The Aggies were in Kansas City to play the Roos.  The Roos have a better record and were undefeated in conference.  That said, the announcer mentioned that they were missing their top scorer.  It showed.

Megan Hart went on a serving run in Set 1.  The Roos took a timeout and Megan promptly aced them coming out of the break.  The Aggies took it 25-15.  In Set 2, the Aggies had a good lead to start, but the Roos came back and got it to 10-9.  Coach Jordan took a timeout and the Aggies stormed back ahead to take it 25-19.  Set 3 was close throughout, but the Aggies took it 25-20 for the 3-0 sweep.  The announcer was really impressed with Tatyana Battle, who led with 13 kills.  Julianna Salanoa may have had her best game ever with 10 kills and 9 blocks.

In Milwaukee, it was 2-0 Brewers in the ninth, but the Rockies got two on, including a pinch hit by Matt Holiday.  Front Row Amy was there standing and cheering on the Brewers.  Charlie Blackmon just missed a ground rule double into the corner by an inch, but would get an RBI anyway.  An error by Orlando Arcia loaded the bases.  Nolan Arenado sac’d in a run to tie it at 2.  “It’s a win coming out of this tied,” said AJ Pierzynski.  What is with these playoff announcers saying dumb things?  I know AJ is better than that.  It would have been an actual “win” if they’d kept them from tying the score.

In the tenth, Adam Ottavino was pitching for the Rockies.  I heard his name pronounced in a way I hadn’t heard it before.  JDH417 throws up his hands in confusion.  Mike Moustakas would get an RBI hit with runners on the corners to win it 3-2 Brewers.  Between him and Lorenzo Cain, this team has some serious playoff experience.

Later, the Dodgers beat the Braves 6-0.  Max Muncy had a three-run homer.  It’s already not looking good for the Braves.

    

10-5-18

I was pleased to hear one of the AL Division series on the radio this afternoon.  It was the Astros versus the Indians, and Justin Verlander against Corey Kluber starting.  Alex Bregman got the first hit of game in the fourth with a home run that nearly hit the roof.  (If a ball is fair and hits the roof, it is in play.)  Josh Reddick drove in another run to make it 2-0. 

In the fifth, George Springer homered and Jose Altuve followed him with another to make it 4-0.  Kluber was knocked out of the game.  In the sixth, Verlander, who hadn’t given up a hit in the first five innings, was knocked out after loading the bases.  Ryan Pressly came in and spiked his first pitch, which brought in a run.  Another scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 4-2.

The Astros added on in the seventh as catcher Martin Maldonado homered and Bregman had another RBI to make it 6-2.  In the eighth, pinch runner Miles Straw scored, making it 7-2.  “While America abandons the use of straws, we’ll keep using this one,” said one of the announcers.  That was a tortured analogy for the sake of the Agenda.  (F you, ESPN!)  Even the announcers seemed a bit incredulous that they used it.  Roberto Osuna came in for the ninth and we were regaled with a recap of his domestic abuse controversy (charges dismissed, by the way).  I’m surprised they didn’t tie it into the Kavanaugh nomination.  The Astros won 7-2.

Rockies started playing the Brewers about halfway through this game and it clipped along very quickly.  It was 1-0 Brewers until the eighth when they put up two more runs for the 3-0 win.  Once again, Mike Moustakas drove in a run.  What has happened to the Rox’s offense?

I have a co-worker who over-the-moon about the Yankees winning and playing the Red Sox.  I’m glad somebody else at work cares about baseball, but why does it have to be a Yankees fan?  The Sox went up 5-0 to start Game 1 of their series, thanks in part to a JD Martinez’s three-run homer in the first.  They didn’t score again in the game after the third. 

Chris Sale came out in the sixth after giving up two hits.  Luke Voit brought in the first Yankee run, another came in on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-2.  In the seventh, the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs.  Giancarlo Stanton struck out, and the Yankees had to settle for one run by Voit again on a fielder’s choice RBI, 5-3.  Aaron Judge homered in the ninth off Craig Kimbrel, but Kimbrel struck out the rest of the heart of the order for a 5-4 win.

The late game in today’s quad-header was the Dodgers versus the Braves.  Manny Machado hit a two-run homer, Yasmani Grandal hit a homer, Clayton Kershaw went 8 innings, and Kenley Jansen closed in out in the ninth for a 3-0 win.  The end.  (That was a bunch of baseball.  If only I could have just sat and watched it all.) 

Comics Review: Jughead’s Time Police and some other Archie Comics

Jughead’s Time Police

When I saw this volume at Barnes & Noble, I couldn’t resist picking it up and looking at it, even though I’d had no interest in the title when it was first published.  After looking at it, I had to get it.  It looked fun, wacky, and colorful, and after I read it, that’s exactly what it was.  

Unexpectedly, it was more than that.  These stories busted out every concept from the time travel toy box.  It was Dr. Who-ish even.  Further, Jughead was more passionate and active than I’d ever seen him apart from his pursuit of food.  There’s even romance in the form of fellow time agent, January McAndrews, Archie’s far distant descendant.  I don’t know how far this concept could have really gone, but they made the most of it and even gave it some closure at the end.  There was a recent story at the end that homaged the Time Police, so it still works today.

Best of Betty &Veronica #2

I only bought this volume so I could finally get the third and final issue of Adam Hughes’ Betty & Veronica series.  When I found he was doing an Archie series, I definitely wanted it, but apparently production delays hampered their original publication.  Getting them after the fact has been a teeth-pulling exercise.  I think I’ve got all three issues in three different formats. 

Hughes’ series was poignantly hurtful.  Well known as a great illustrator of the female form, he clearly loved and relished the opportunity to draw the iconic duo.  Moreover, it was really funny and clever.  However, his run only lasted three issues.  I don’t know if it was mostly Hughes’ methodical pace of work or cash flow problems at Archie that caused some lengthy production delays.  The book was also viciously criticized because he made the girls look too good.  “It wasn’t appropriate,” or some other such nonsense puked by critics, who’d obviously never read an Archie comic.      

All that said, the rest of the volume, especially the 40’s and 50’s material, was a lot of fun.  The main problem is I don’t know how much longer Archie can keep repackaging the same material like this.  You could argue they’ve been doing this for decades with their digests, but there’s only so much quality material they can put in these trades.  Archie’s done a bunch of crap over the years that isn’t worth reprinting. 

Archie Meets the Ramones

I’ll toss in a couple of other Archie comics I bought last year.  First, this crossover with the Ramones is a classic.  Gisele Lagace, a comic artist with an immensely appealing style, somehow talked Archie Comics into publishing this story.  If you’re a Ramones fan, you might feel a bit cheated, as the story focuses more on the Archies, as you might expect.  However, Gisele does a great job with the story and has probably does the best classic-style version of Archie and the gang.  Don’t pass this one up if you ever see it.  

Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica

This, at least, was an interesting concept.  Strangely, these two duos actually pair up fairly well.  The inside artwork wasn’t as appealing as the Adam Hughes’ cover though.  I had assumed this was a one-shot, but it was actually a mini-series.  I wasn’t intrigued enough to track down the rest.  This comes off more as a marketing gimmick than a labor of love, like the Ramones meet up.  Perhaps if I hadn’t bought these two books at the same time, I might have judged this one a little less harshly.