THE NERD REPORT

Nerds around town: Endgame spoilers, Game of Thrones, Overwatch

Nerds around town: Endgame spoilers, Game of Thrones, Overwatch
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!

It's Tuesday and it's time to get this week going, I purposefully held off doing a blog yesterday because so much of what I wanted to talk about I needed to leave off for a day because this was such a crazy nerd weekend.

GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

This week I wanted to focus on one of the big ones because I feel like they have gotten a bad reputation. The American Red Cross, now hear me out before the groans overpower everything, the thing I do like about Red Cross is that they go to all of these places and disasters and try to help out. I know a lot of times there are people who are critical after the fact and a lot of people don't trust them after the scandal from awhile back where it came out that a lot of money went towards execs and administrative costs instead of helping people, but times have changed and now most charities tell people what percentage of a donation goes towards helping people and being used as intended. #NerdsUnite

ENDGAME THOUGHTS (SPOILERS)

So a billion dollars later, it's been four days and Avengers is the highest grossing movie in Marvel History as far as opening weekends go, and it also set an opening weekend record in general. The Marvel Universe has now grossed over $19 billion dollars over these last ten years and that is an amazing run of films. So there are some things from the outcome of this movie that would be an issue I would think, when the movie starts the world is basically in a funk from half of all life in the universe being snapped away, and by the end of the movie everybody gets unsnapped and now return to the world of the living five years later. So what about the economy? Think about it, the world lost half its work force overnight and had to deal with that financially, things got produced and shipped slower and production slowed down as a result and therefore less money was made worldwide. Housing would have become an issue, banks and mortgages would have collapsed, life insurance companies, insurance in general, how many car crashes and issues erupted after half of everyone just vanished in an instant. So now the whole economy of the world is in ruins and slowly begins to recover, except over night, three and a half billion people come back to life. They need housing, food, clothing, materials and supplies that would immediately screw up supply and demand. Stores would struggle to keep things in stock as production begins to ramp up and job hiring slowly ticks back up. Credit would be slow to re-lend to people because well, they are five years behind on their payments. Also, technically, how old are these people now? For example, I was born in 1983, I am 35 right now, but if I just returned from five years of being snapped, am I 35 or am I 30? The Marvel Universe is going to suck to live in for the next few years and we haven't even gotten to marriages, divorces, affairs and people who were pregnant during the snap.

GAME OF THRONES

Literally one of the craziest and most amazing things ever filmed in the history of television just aired this weekend. The longest battle ever recorded in the history of film, longer than the Battle of Helms Deep from the Lord of the Rings trilogy which was kind of the standard epic battle for most film people. Although the Battle of the Bastards was an epic battle on film also, this battle, The Battle of Winterfell, was incredible on a whole other level. There were so many great moments in this episode from the music choices, the quiet moments amid the chaos of a massive battle. The Red Witch coming to fulfill several prophecies and settle several seeds that had been planted by her throughout the series. One thing that is fascinating to recognize when I rewatched the series in the buildup for this final season, was how everyone's storylines all weave together and tell an incredible story where people have all come together now but were all over the seven kingdoms as the story started. The other thing was the few key deaths in this episode, there were tons of people who seemed likely to die if you follow television tropes. Things where usually in war movies if there's a scene where someone reveals things in their backstory they die in the upcoming battle which put several people on the chopping block. Oddly only a few characters died in this particular episode which is fueling some speculation that the rest of these characters have bigger moments ahead of them. Also, Arya Stark is now the baddest bee on the block.

A MURDER IN DALLAS

Once again it was another rough weekend for the Houston Outlaws who lost two matches including the big finale Sunday against Dallas where all the matches were held in a special homecoming weekend. For those who are a little lost, as a new league, Overwatch hosted everyone in LA for last year's debut season and this year planned a few road trips where all of the teams traveled to a few key cities for a few key weekends to help spread the game. Next year all of the teams will be in their home cities from the beginning of the year and travel will begin to be a factor for teams. The Outlaws finally played the lineup in the last match that the fans had been clamoring for where they let their six players play their strongest characters. There's a lot of data that goes into decision making and a lot of our players wind up playing various characters depending on how the map favors certain abilities instead of just playing whichever character they're best at but at about halfway through the match they played one where the team got to play to their strengths, they wound up losing the match but the overall play was much better and it is hopefully a sign of things to come. With this loss against Dallas we are now out of the Stage 2 playoffs already with a few weeks left on the schedule for this Stage.

I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Tuesday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Wednesday 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 $.50 from every shirt is donated to a good cause 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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The Astros are cooking! Composite Getty Image.

The Houston Astros have looked like one of baseball’s most dangerous teams in recent weeks, riding a hot streak fueled by dominant starting pitching and a red-hot offense that’s erupted for double-digit runs in four of their last eight games. But behind the current success, there are fair questions about whether this pace is truly sustainable as the grind of the season continues.

Yes, the Astros are winning — and winning big — but context matters. Many of their recent victories have come against struggling clubs like the White Sox and Athletics. Even matchups against the Twins and Guardians, while respectable, don’t exactly represent championship-caliber tests. That soft stretch of the schedule has certainly helped Houston pad its win column, but it may not be the best predictor of long-term performance. Houston will be tested in the upcoming series against the Phillies and Cubs.

On the pitching side, the numbers have been impressive, but how repeatable is it? With Lance McCullers Jr. sidelined for at least a couple of weeks, the Astros are relying on a patchwork rotation that includes unproven arms like Colton Gordon, Ryan Gusto, and Brandon Walter. While each has shown flashes, asking them to shoulder the load deep into the summer may be a tall order.

Offensively, Houston is firing on all cylinders. But scoring 10 or more runs every other game simply isn’t sustainable over a 162-game season. Regression is inevitable; the question is how the team responds when the bats cool down or the bullpen is asked to carry more weight.

Amid all this, rookie third baseman Cam Smith continues to shine. Just a few months into his major league career, Smith is producing at a level that suggests he’s not just a key piece of the future — he’s already one of the team’s most valuable players. His batting average sits just a point behind Jose Altuve’s, and his OPS is even higher. If the Astros were forced to choose two players to build around long-term, factoring in youth and contract status, the logical duo might be Smith and breakout pitcher Hunter Brown.

So what about the big picture? Is this team a true World Series contender?

Oddsmakers currently have Houston with the seventh-best odds to win it all, and only the Yankees and Tigers rank higher among American League teams. The core is still there, the experience is undeniable, and if the pitching continues to hold — especially with the anticipated return of Spencer Arrighetti and a healthy McCullers — the Astros have every reason to believe they’ll be in the mix deep into October.

But that’s a big “if.” The ceiling is still high, and with Cam Smith emerging as a star in real time, this team might just have another gear. Whether they can reach it when the competition stiffens, that remains to be seen.

There's so much more to cover! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!

The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.

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