THE NERD REPORT

Nerds around town: Comicpalooza week, Disney news and the floods are back

Nerds around town: Comicpalooza week, Disney news and the floods are back
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ

Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

Hey Nerds!

Hump Day! That's right, bust out the booty pics, the bad jokes about camels and embrace the week, cause it's halfway over. Wednesday!!

GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

Cancer sucks, we all know that. We all know someone dealing with and fighting against cancer and we all know the toll it can take on them and the effect it can have on their life both physically and financially. Cancer is a hard and expensive disease to fight and because of that Crits for Cancer is uniting nerds to help fight it. Let's all take a second, click here and let's work together to fight cancer. Some proceeds from that shirt go directly to Crits to help them in their battle against the big C. #NerdsUnite

COMICPALOOZA WEEK!

If you aren't going to Comicpalooza you are missing so many awesome and amazing things, including the college eSports championships. They will be having the championships at Comicpalooza this year for Overwatch, Hearthstone, Starcraft 2 and Street Fighter V, so get excited. Also they'll be having tournaments going on for people to compete in so that's nice, I'm registered in an NBA 2k tournament on Friday and my little brother is booked in a Super Smash Bros tournament as well, I'm going for the fun and the chip, you know what I'm saying? Seriously, how could someone not be super excited about Comicpalooza? Come get your nerd on with everyone else in Houston this weekend!!

RESPECT THE MOUSE!

Big news coming out of yesterday's Disney Movie Studio plans. They announced their plans with the last bit of Fox movies and then moved over to new business so to speak, New Mutants has pushed back again to early 2020 now, this poor movie has all kinds of people in it including Arya Stark herself as Wolfsbane and yet… no one will see this movie for a long time. Also Disney canceled the long planned but never really happening Gambit movie with Channing Tatum attached, basically he wanted to do what Ryan Reynolds did with Deadpool for Gambit, except no one else wanted that. They also made some HUGE announcements, including 8 new Marvel Film Dates and 5 new Star Wars dates and they pushed Avatar back a year. Disney is in the business now.

THE BATWOMAN

If you're a CW Arrowverse nerd you already know that they have announced that this will be the final season of Arrow. With Legends of Tomorrow always seeming to be on the edge of being cancelled or picked up, this at first seemed like a bad omen for those fans because maybe it meant that these shows had run their course on CW and perhaps as an independent universe away from the DC Streaming service. But now with the announcement of a Batwoman season staring Ruby Rose, the fans can relax. It's looking like next year the line up will be Black Lightning, Supergirl, Flash, Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow, that's pretty exciting. While I'm not a huge fan of the shows overall, I don't like the tone and the 90210 feel of the various shows, I totally dig that this whole cohesive universe exists and these characters interact and crossover and have a great cohesive world to play in. That's a very cool part of it because it's the thing that made comics cool way back in the day and I'm glad to see comic book shows embrace it as well.

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

On a personal note, yesterday during those ridiculous rains, my entire street flooded in less than two hours of rain fall in the middle of the day, and my car had water seep in. This is such a pain in the ass, seriously, now I am going through the process of drying everything out and dealing with that, it's not fun. Plus I feel like you never get it all the way clean again, I dunno, it's just one of those annoying things where you have no one to blame and there isn't anything to do but go out there and just get it taken care of. I think I like it more when there's someone to yell at.

I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Wednesday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Thursday and we'll be bringing more good times your way. Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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Cal Raleigh becomes the first catcher, switch-hitter to win the Home Run Derby. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

Cal Raleigh approached the All-Star Home Run Derby like a day on the lawn. Dad was on the mound and baby brother was behind the plate.

Only this time, there were tens of thousands looking on at Truist Park and a $1 million prize.

“It goes all the way back to him coming home and me forcing him to throw me a ball and hit it in the backyard or in the house or something probably shouldn’t be doing,” a beaming Cal said, flanked by Todd and Todd Jr. after defeating Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in the final round Monday night.

Todd Raleigh, former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina, threw the pitches and Cal’s 15-year-old brother, Todd Raleigh Jr., did the catching. A first-time All-Star at age 28, Cal became the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title. He’s the second Mariners player to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr., who was on the field, snapping photos.

“Anybody that’s ever played baseball as a kid dreams of stuff like this,” Cal’s dad said. “I dreamed of it. He dreamed of it. When you’re a parent, you look at it differently because you want your kids to be happy.”

Leading the major leagues with 38 home runs at the All-Star break, Cal almost didn’t make it past the first round. The Mariners’ breakout slugger nicknamed Big Dumper and the Athletics’ Brent Rooker each hit 17 homers, and Raleigh advanced on a tiebreaker for longest long ball: 470.61 feet to 470.53 — or 0.96 inches. At first, Cal wasn’t aware whether there would be a swing-off.

“An inch off, and I’m not even in the final four, which is amazing,” Cal said. “So I guess I got lucky there. One extra biscuit.”

Raleigh totaled 54 homers. He won his semifinal 19-13 over Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, whose 513-foot first-round drive over the right-center field seats was the longest of the night.

 

Cal’s brother, nicknamed T, kept yelling encouragement to the brother he so admires.

“His swag, the way he plays, the way he hustles,” T said.

Hitting second in the final round, the 22-year-old Caminero closed within three dingers — MLB counted one that a fan outfielder caught with an over-the-wall grab. Using a multicolored bat and down to his last out, Caminero took three pitches and hit a liner to left.

“I didn’t think I was going to hit as many home runs or make it to the finals,” Caminero said through a translator.

Cal was just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman in 2023. His dad was a righty and wanted both his sons to hit from both sides.

“Did it from the first day, when he was in diapers, literally,” Todd Sr. said. “I would take that big ball and he had a big red bat. I’d throw it slow and he’d hit it. Then I’d say stay there, pick him up, turn him around, switch his hands and do it again. I was a catcher. I played a little bit, and I just knew what a premium it was. I didn’t want either one of my boys to ever say, am I right-handed or left-handed?”

There was a downside.

“I don’t recommend it if you have two kids, they’re both switch hitters, if you want to save your arm, because that’s a lot of throwing,” said dad, who had rotator cuff surgery.

Raleigh hit his first eight homers left-handed, took a timeout, then hit seven right-handed. Going back to lefty, he hit two more in the bonus round and stayed lefty for the rest of the night.

“Was grooving a little bit more lefty so we were like, since we have a chance to win, we might as well stick to the side that’s working a little better,” Cal said.

Caminero beat Minnesota’s Byron Buxton 8-7 in the other semifinal. Atlanta’s Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rooker were eliminated in the first round of the annual power show.

Cruz’s long drive was the hardest-hit at 118 mph.

Wood hit 16 homers, including one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall. Olson, disappointing his hometown fans, did not go deep on his first nine swings and finished with 15, Chisholm hit just three homers, the fewest since the timer format started in 2015.fter it was all over, the Raleighs headed out. Stephanie, the boys’ mom and Todd Sr.'s wife, is surrounded by baseball.

After it was all over, the Raleighs headed out. Stephanie, the boys’ mom and Todd Sr.'s wife, is surrounded by baseball.

“We kind of leave it in the cage. We’ve got a cage at home, a building,” Todd Sr. said. “Or we leave it in the car on the rides home. There’s probably been a few times where she says, yeah, that’s enough.”

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