NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: New Found Glory, patriotism, instant replay
Jul 10, 2019, 6:52 am
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ
NERDS
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 and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
Wednesday is the halfway point and we're there now. Don't let this week slide away from you, let's crush it.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
The Stixx and Stonez Sundresses and Summershirts party is this Saturday and they're having a donation drive, so bring socks for men, women and children as well as toiletries for the needy. It's a good cause and sounds like a heck of a party. Head out there from 3-11p and have a good time on karma's dime.
HYPOCRITE ALERT
So I've been seeing a lot of people mad about the US Women's Soccer team still. A lot of salty memes and a lot of people playing the "patriot" card on them and hating on them for their critical positions of certain things most notably asking for equal pay from US Soccer. Keep in mind many of these people have never cared about soccer ever, but now they're experts. Some people didn't like that a few of the players let the flag fall to the ground and some of the players stood on it. I'm not ok with people walking on the flag, I think that's disrespectful but I also completely respect people's right to want to make a political statement with the flag, believe it or not, America is based on people making political statements. It was a political statement that our founding fathers made when they wrote a letter to a King, it was a political statement when some tea was dumped in a harbor, and it was those political statements that eventually started a revolution that formed our great nation. Forgetting those facts discredits anyone's "patriot" card, they should argue for equal pay, hell they should argue for unequal pay in their favor, they're doing things no one else in the world is doing, and we're having a dumb conversation about revenue? Pay them.
HOT TAKE
If a sport has instant replay, and a set number of challenges per team, then late in the game you need a challenge and you're out of them and the sport lets a bad call stand, why have instant replay? Letting bad calls stand simply because one team is out of challenges or something along those lines, goes totally against the spirit of using instant replay. The NBA is toying with a limited trial run of instant replay and they listed a bunch of things that won't be reviewable like uncalled out of bounds calls, traveling at all, and uncalled fouls or goaltending. What's the point then? If you can't point out that someone went out of bounds and should have been called out or called on a travel or a goaltend that wasn't called, what's the point? This is going to encourage referees to stop games more times because better to call it and be wrong than to not call it and it changes the outcome of a game, you know? This is the wrong way to do it.
NEW FOUND GLORY
New Found Glory is playing at the House of Blues tonight, which is awesome! They were such an important part of my teen years and early twenties. They also were an odd intersection of pop culture, the lead singer married the lead singer of Paramore, then very quickly afterwards they divorced, while they were married, they played a party cruise. I have to think that was a weird party cruise if they were already having problems. Also they just released an album and they cover a song from The Greatest Showman on it, it's such an odd intersection of pop culture this band is in the center of. Anyway, check them out tonight.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Just a quick tip to the world, White People of the world, you look foolish when you call the cops on black people in public. It's a bad look. Also, stop complaining about fictional characters changing gender or race, they're not real people or things lost, they're fiction. Seriously. Fictional.
Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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The Astros and the Yankees in the Bronx this weekend. Fun! And important. Both teams have been in results ruts for a while. The Astros have gone 9-16 over their last 25 games while the Yankees’ funk is longer extending, producing a 19-29 mess over their last 48 games. Despite the Seattle Mariners closing in, the Astros still lead the American League West. The Yankees’ hopes of again winning the AL East are fading toward the point of no return. They have tumbled six and a half games behind the Toronto Blue Jays and also lag three games behind the rampaging Boston Red Sox. Hence, the Yankees are under clearly more pressure than are the Astros this weekend. The pitching matchups in the first two games strongly favor the Astros. Friday night it’s Hunter Brown opposite rookie Cam Schlittler who makes his fifth big league appearance. Saturday afternoon it’s Framber Valdez versus Luis Gil, who was the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year, but missed the first four months of this season with a lat injury. Gil made his 2025 debut Sunday, and was terrible. The Astros’ quality rotation depth beyond Brown and Valdez is non-existent at this point. Their Sunday starter will be a lesser starter than the Yankees’ Max Fried. Of course, in one game you never know.
The Astros have thoroughly owned the Yankees in their most meaningful meetings over the last decade. In 2015 the ousted the Yankees in a one-game Wild Card matchup. Then came the real soul-crushers with the Astros vanquishing the Yanks in the 2017, 2019, and 2022 American League Championship Series, with it getting easier for the Astros as time went on. The 2017 series went the maximum seven games, 2019 took six, 2022 was a four-game Astros’ sweep. The regular season has been a different matter. The Yankees have beaten the Astros in 11 of 14 games over the last two years. Last season the Yankees walloped the Astros six wins to one. They only play six times this regular season: the three in New York this weekend then three at Daikin Park in early September.
Here comes the Judge
While the Astros (and their fans) endure a seemingly never-ending wait for Yordan Alvarez’s return to the lineup, the Yankees have Aaron Judge back after a 10-day stint on the injured list. Judge carries the burden of soft career postseason stats (though he has 16 home runs in just 58 postseason games and his career playoffs OPS is just 21 points lower than Alex Bregman’s), but this is a legendary player. Judge’s career OPS stands at a whopping 1.024. That number will drop during the decline years remaining in his career, but here’s the list of all time Major Leaguers higher than 1.024: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, and Jimmie Foxx. Those are arguably the four greatest offensive players in MLB history, plus Foxx who probably rates in the top 20. If he holds up the rest of the season, Judge is a cinch for his third AL Most Valuable Player Award in four years.
Turn back the clock
Should they choose to check it out, the Astros can watch the Yankees’ Old-Timers' Game Saturday. Though most of the greatest of Yankee legends have died, there will still be a fabulous cast of alumni who soak up cheers during introductions, with many of them then taking part in a two or three inning game. The Yankees are by far the most storied franchise in MLB. The Astros have plenty of history and beloved players over multiple generations to copy the concept, and have their own Old-Timers' Day at Daikin Park. Would it not be a blast to see Roger Clemens pitch to Craig Biggio? Roy Oswalt to Lance Berkman? As I said during our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast this week, I wouldn’t bet against 78 (as of Friday)-year-old Jose Cruz squaring up a ball for a line drive. Make Astros’ Old Timers’ Day happen in 2026 Jim Crane!
Angry birds
The best team in the American League is Toronto, best for now anyway. The Blue Jays have been the best over the last two months-plus. The Jays woke up May 29 at 27-28. Since then they are 41-20. Over that time frame the Astros have the third-best record in the AL behind the Jays and Red Sox. A notable part of Toronto’s success the past month is Joey Loperfido. He didn’t make the Jays’ big league squad coming out of spring training, and wasn’t called up until July 6. Over 72 at bats since getting back to “The Show” Loperfido is batting .389 with a .978 OPS. Reminder that Loperfido hit .372 over his first 43 at bats with the Astros. Full credit to Joey for a magnificent month. Still, there is no reason for the Astros to be wracked with regret for having included Loperfido in last season’s trade for Yusei Kikuchi.
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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