NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: More Sharks, concrete in sewers and Jon Stewart
Jun 12, 2019, 6:47 am
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 Wednesday and I just realized, we can do this, let's attack this week like a wild animal.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
Father's Day is this weekend. Family can be a confusing thing, with ups and downs and twists and turns and sometimes you're mad at someone and sometimes you're not. Sometimes it's just been too long and now you're not talking to the person you meant to. Family can be confusing, but it's family and there's nothing like it. Some people can't be with their loved ones for various reasons and some people will never be with their loved ones, so if you see your family or if you can see your family, then go see your family. Tell your Dad happy Father's Day. #NerdsUnite
ARE WE DONE YET?
So I'm a huge nerd, I love me some pop culture. Seriously, I love all things nerdy. I love a great movie about wizards or super heroes or dinosaurs or robots or super heroes, I don't care, love it all. Can I tell you what I don't like though? Fan Theories. Some of them are neat and all, and sometimes one comes out that's really fun, but most of the time they are just such silly nonsense. There's one going around about Endgame where the reason Strange doesn't say if this is the right time line or not is because he knows if he says something they'll lose. No Duh. If Tony knows they might win he'll keep waiting for something to happen and he won't be able to stop Thanos in time. This didn't need to be said, this isn't even a fan theory, it's implied by them winning. There isn't any need to then say, he couldn't tell him or it wouldn't happen. OBVIOUSLY. Tony you die but we win, oh wait, now you don't die and we lose… oops. Seriously? That's a fan theory? Are you sure that isn't just a fan watching the movie? Come on.
ANOTHER SHARK MOVIE
So apparently they're making a sequel to 47 Meters Down. Because the world demanded it? No honestly I think it was a relatively cheap movie to make (around $5 million) and brought in good money (making over $62 million), which is every movie's goal. Mandy Moore is enjoying a great moment thanks to This Is Us and the movie was wisely marketed just enough to get on people's radars and it made everyone a good payday. This second movie features more angry sharks and hot girls in bathing suits, this time they find a sunken city and begin exploring it and find a shark in it with them. That's kind of a cool idea except for the whole, a shark has to eat a lot of food, ssssooo what was it eating first? Anyway, marine biologists tell you that sharks are good and people are their friends and they don't eat people but my eyes say, they'd eat me if they could.
Seriously?
File this one under, "stupid" but London is having to ask people to not pour concrete down sewage pipes. There is currently a blockage the weight of a blue whale and a football field in length deep in the Victorian era portion of the sewers that is made of concrete. Apparently people regularly pour concrete down their drains? I'm not sure what the logic of that is, but there it goes. Deep down the waste hole and no one ever finds it again, oh wait. Yes they definitely do. It's going to take months to chip away at this thing and will require trucks to constantly pump away the raw waste so as to not drown the workers. What exactly was the thought process with people on this one? They literally just poured concrete down the drains, I honestly don't know what to make of that.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Jon Stewart's moment on Capitol Hill yesterday was beautiful and amazing and no one in congress saw it. Five of the 14 members of the House Judiciary subcommittee were there for the speech, the rest couldn't be bothered to listen to him speak up on behalf of 9/11 first responders. 9/11, remember "Never Forget", remember how patriotic everyone got? Remember how everyone hugs flags and respects soldiers and everything we all do is patriotic? How dare that quarterback take a knee! This is service, this is patriotism, there was no lower moment in recent American history and yet only 5 of the 14 members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee saw fit to be there for the first responders. FIVE. That's a shame, Houston's Sheila Jackson Lee was one of the members who skipped as well as Veronica Escobar, Sylvia Garcia and Louie Gohmert all while representing Texas, that's a shame.
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. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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When you hit rock bottom the only direction to go is up. Actually that's not true, you can continue to be a bottom feeder. Things are not nearly so dire for the Astros, despite them enduring one of the more pathetic weeks in franchise history. The Astros nearly had a perfect game pitched against them by a guy who had zero big league wins and a 6.70 earned run average. After managing to eke out a win the following game, they were shutout three games in a row. In the game after that Framber Valdez gave up six runs in the first inning, essentially ending the game right then and there. But hey, the Astros scored two runs in Wednesday's 7-2 loss, snapping an embarrassing run of 31 consecutive scoreless times at bat. Yet somehow over that stretch of gross, the Astros increased their American League West lead! The somehow being the Seattle Mariners saying "hold my beer" and losing five days in a row.
Reminder to those wanting to have the fat lady start warming in the bullpen thinking the Astros are done: the 162-game regular season lends itself to sometimes extreme peaks and valleys. The Astros limped out of Detroit with a record of 14-23 in their last 37 games. Over that time span only the Tampa Bay Rays and San Francisco Giants have worse records. Immediately before this lengthy garbage stretch of performance, the Astros went a blistering 29-10. Bi-polarity is part of the baseball season. The Tigers flat destroyed the Astros three days in a row to run the Motowners' recent spurt to 16 wins in 23 games. Immediately before going 16-7, the Tigers lost 12 out of 13! The longest winning streak in the American League this season is the 13-gamer put up by the Minnesota Twins. The rest of their season was so bad the Twins dealt away nearly half their roster before the trade deadline. The Red Sox had a 10-game losing streak earlier this season. The Yankees endured a miserable stretch of 6-16. Of most direct import to the Astros, the Mariners big dumped seven out of eight games directly after their eight-game winning streak had wiped out what remained of the Astros' one-time seven game American League West division lead. It's the full 162 games that tell the tale. The Astros absolutely could collapse out of the playoffs entirely. But that such is inevitable is ridiculous. In part because….
Yordan Alvarez should actually play in a game that counts this coming Tuesday. Why wait that long? He had two hits and a walk (and a stolen base...why Yordan, why!) in his first game in the minors Tuesday. If the long-injured and recovering hand is okay, having him play in the minors through the weekend is a waste of time. If Alvarez's timing isn't up to speed, so what? The mere threat Yordan represents is better than the dreck populating much of Joe Espada's batting order these days. The back-to-back games he's playing in the minors Thursday and Friday should have been in Baltimore in an Astros' uniform.
Any game Alvarez is the designated hitter removes deployment in the DH role of José Altuve. That's okay, Altuve is needed in left field because the ludicrously lousy offense from the other Astros' outfielders might not be good enough to win this week's Little League World Series. Hyperbole, but you get the point. Cam Smith has been brutally inept at the plate for almost a month and a half, arriving in Baltimore with a .137 batting average over his last 102 at bats and not a single homer in his last 149 ABs. While Smith's future can still be very bright, his present is pitch dark. Jacob Melton has been almost completely overmatched at the plate, batting .170 with an absurd 23 strikeouts in his first 54 at bats. Jesus Sanchez has stunk since coming in trade from the Marlins. Chas McCormick is a better comic reliever than he has been a hitter for more than a year and a half. Taylor Trammell's career big league batting average is .177. No one confuses Mauricio Dubon or Ramon Urias with Craig Biggio, but either guy in the lineup at second base with Altuve in left is better than Altuve at second and any of those outfielders playing.
While the Astros strive to garner at least a split of their four-game set with the Orioles this weekend, the Mariners are home for three vs. the Athletics. Since the All-Star break, the A's have the best record among the five AL West clubs. The Astros have the worst. As this column has covered, wild swings of results can happen at any time, but the Tigers crushing the Astros basically ends plausible Astros' hopes of winding up with the best record in the AL. The Tigers shoved the Astros six games behind them, and clinched the season series tiebreaker. The Astros still could run down Toronto for the second-best AL mark and bye past the best-of-three Wild Card round that comes with it. Along with playing vastly better ball period, the Astros quite likely would have to win their series over the Blue Jays in Canada next month.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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