NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Ninja, DC Comics and pre-season Texans
Aug 12, 2019, 6:48 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 and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Let's kick this week's ass!
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
Last week while talking about the Gulf Coast Blood Center, the good people reached out to me and pointed me to another awesome thing they're doing so I thought I'd bring it to your attention now. The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is working with Team Liquid through the year and eligible people can win an Alienware Aurora Computer valued at $800. The campaign is called Heal For Real, and I like it. Get involved today.
CONTENT WARS SPILL OVER
So I've often discussed streaming wars on Nerd Thug Radio and here in this column, but now we're seeing the next phase of all this, content wars. Ninja of Twitch streaming fame has jumped ship to a competitor, Mixer. Mixer, the Microsoft owned streaming option, probably paid a mountain of money to move Ninja over, it's been reported recently he was paid a million dollars cash to stream Apex Legends when it came out for the first month or so, so getting him to move streams would be a pricey prospect. Twitch has handled the defection rather poorly, instead of just showing old streams of Ninja's and simply stating that he's left the service as is their usual, they instead posted other streams they wanted to promote on his page, using his fame for their advantage. Not exactly classy.
DIGITAL WOES
DC Comics digital sales have been flat and aren't exactly good, according to Jim Lee. Their digital app does give away most of the DC Comics library as part of its package so I imagine that's taking a pretty good bite out of the sales. You can't sell something and offer it freely to the same consumer base and then expect sales to perform at all, it isn't practical. DC has to be aware of that, the real question is, how are the creators being compensated for the fact that their work is being given away instead of sold for royalty producing revenue? These are the real questions that I would be asking if I worked at DC Comics.
PRE-SEASON FOOTBALL
We just wrapped up week one of preseason football and there wasn't a lot of news making stuff except Antonio Brown is an even bigger crazy person than we thought and The Texans did not in fact improve their offensive line woes. There's an amazing gif going around from all the Houston Sportswriters where both the right tackle and the running back miss completely on two blocks letting two defenders run untouched on the Quarterback's blind side. It's an excellent sign for this season, truly.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
House of X and Powers of X is chugging along on schedule but there's already controversy. There's a HUGE moment in House of X #2 that I don't want to ruin or reveal here, I think it's worth reading, however it comes with controversy. The writer, Hickman, made a quote awhile back alluding to a book he had read that he was enjoying. The problem with this quote is that it parallels the idea in House of X #2 he wrote years later. The idea isn't exclusive to only these two places but it's similar enough in style and tone that it feels like a rip off or a homage and it got a lot of people intrigued including the writer of the inspiring work. My personal position is that there is a lot of borrowing and idea bleeding that happens in pop culture and creating, and when it happens that the idea becomes dangerously close I think honesty and apology is the right course of action.
Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office 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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Texans HC DeMeco Ryans reveals what he values most at scouting combine
Feb 28, 2025, 3:51 pm
Now that spring training is officially underway, we're able to make some observations about how the Astros 2025 roster is taking shape.
Houston's starting rotation is basically set, but we got to see Hayden Wesneski make his first start in an Astro uniform. Wesneski pitched two innings against the Mets on Tuesday, allowing one run with three strikeouts.
He's working on a curveball that's a new pitch for his repertoire, and he saw some success with it. Hopefully, adding this pitch will help keep batters off balance (especially left-handed hitters) and help elevate his game. Which is nothing new for the Astros, who have a history of helping pitchers get to the next level.
Forrest Whitley also looked good, pitching a clean inning and finishing off his final hitter with a 97 mph fastball. Whitley finally realizing his potential in the big leagues could be a huge deal for the Astros, as they're looking to lighten the workload for Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader this season.
Hader in particular could benefit from this adjustment, as he was much worse when pitching in non-save situations last season. An easy fix with Hader could be trying to limit his workload to mostly save situations. That way, you get the most out of him and achieve the goal of him pitching less innings this year.
The Houston Chronicle's Matt Kawahara wrote about Hader's struggles pitching when games were tied or Houston was trailing.
“Hader converted 34 of 38 save chances but faced more batters in non-save situations (142) than in save situations (136), a sharp pivot from his previous few seasons. Opponents slugged .271 against him in save situations and .411 in non-save situations, while his ERA was more than two runs higher (4.98) in the latter.”
And while it's easy to say “suck it up, you're getting paid a fortune to pitch,” if he's not having success in those situations, and you're looking to back off his workload, this seems like an obvious way to pivot. He's under contract for another four seasons, so the Astros are right to want to be careful with him.
Astros plate discipline
Manager Joe Espada has made it very clear that he would like his offense to see more pitches this season. And we're seeing a stark difference in the approaches from the newly acquired players (Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker) and Houston's returning hitters.
Keep in mind, Paredes was first in pitches per plate appearance last season, and Walker was 10th.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Paredes and Walker both worked a full count in their first at-bats on Tuesday, while Mauricio Dubon, Yainer Diaz, and Chas McCormick swung at every pitch in their first at-bats.
Hopefully the new blood in the clubhouse will rub off on the rest of the Astros lineup, which is full of free swingers, especially with Alex Bregman now playing for Boston.
Which is why we're so excited about Cam Smith's early results. While we're super pumped about his two home runs on Tuesday, we're equally impressed that he walked in his first two at-bats this spring. If anyone would naturally be jumping out of their shoes to make a strong first impression, you would think it's the guy that was traded for Kyle Tucker. But Smith was patient, and he was rewarded for it.
What is Dana Brown saying privately?
Just last offseason, Brown was talking about extending Tucker and Bregman while also signing Hader to a shocking 5-year, $95 million deal. Plus, the team signed Jose Altuve to a whopping $150 million extension. Fast-forward one year and Tucker has been traded, Bregman left in free agency, and Ryan Pressly was dealt in a salary dump. Safe to say, his vision for the ball club has changed drastically in one season. Welcome to baseball economics under Jim Crane!
We're just scratching the surface on everything covered in the video above. Be sure to hit play to watch the full conversation!
The countdown to Opening Day is on. 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. Click here to catch!
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