NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Punk Rock, The Predator and the Jets
May 16, 2019, 7:22 am
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!
Here comes the weekend, so get ready! It's Thursday and here comes that all so beautiful Friday night.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
Sunday at noon, at Exit 73 there will be a benefit raising money to help Michael Almendarez and his family fight the costs of his cancer diagnosis. There will be a bounce house and kid friendly things as well as BBQ plates for sell with the benefits helping to offset some of the costs of his treatment. #NerdsUnite
HAVE YOU HEARD?
There's a band I discovered the other day called Skating Polly, I love them. It's well produced poppy but not pop punk. It isn't that California punk, it's almost more Seattle grunge punk of the mid 90s and it's so much fun to listen to. I recommend getting on your internets and checking out Skating Polly, it's a small, simple band with a woman lead singer but they really nail some songs you have to check out Camelot if nothing else.
THE PREDATOR
So I just watched The Predator that came out last year, I'd never seen it because honestly it didn't look all that good. Turns out, it wasn't. It wasn't bad and it does a good job of violence and plot twists, like it wasn't unbearably bad or terribly written it just wasn't very good. Olivia Munn is ok, and the unit of crazy soldiers was ok, and the government guys were ok, it just was a bunch of ok all shoved together in a movie. Also it has one of the worst end credit scenes in recent history where there's like an Iron Man super suit left off that they could have used to fight the big bad Predator previously. Also a couple of times, the smaller, less evil Predator who has already shown a high propensity for violence has his hands on people and chooses not to just rip them apart for various plot reasons. The whole experience was underwhelming.
WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE
One thing that's been happening a lot that I've really started to question is the decision makers in organizations. The Jets fired their General Manager like three weeks after the draft and after he spent $200 million on free agents, what? Dallas Keuchel is still a free agent, who were his advisors, the movie The Predator was not great, who approved it at what budget level? Sometimes I seriously wonder about the people doing the dollars and sense of things in the world, if they only spent about $45 million on Predator then great, if they spent $90m and another $30m to market it, now it's not looking great. HBO spent $70+ million dollars on a 6 episode season, who decided that? Why not an 8 or 9 episode season so some of the things people have been complaining about could be addressed and maybe you only show the dragon burning two or three city blocks instead of all of downtown King's Landing. There were places to pick better but hey what do I know, I'm not a decider.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
I don't get too political but I have a real question, how are these abortion laws supposed to be interpreted by independent voters? Even evangelical Pat Robertson said this law is too extreme. Also giving a longer sentence to people who get abortions than the people who committed the initial crimes against them in the first place of rape or incest truly shows the hierarchy of importance. The rapist gets a stiff 30 year penalty, the woman who is a victim of rape but doesn't want to keep a rapist's baby gets 99 years? That's an incredibly unjust and bizarre overture to the middle ground voters. What are you asking women to think of this? What are we telling mother's and daughters of Alabama? Don't be victims of crimes? Don't be fertile? These are truly odd times we live in.
I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Thursday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Friday 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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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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