THE NERD REPORT
Nerds Around Town: SNL, craft beer and Lil Pump
May 14, 2019, 5:42 am
THE NERD REPORT
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 once again the most important day of the week, it is Monday! So let's set this week up for success and make sure that we crush this week!
It's a frustrating thing to think about, but we live in a great and powerful nation of intelligent and wonderful people and yet, when we get sick, as a nation we all just shrug and think, welp, I'm screwed. We can do better and I wish we would but since we haven't here is where we are. My friend is sick and Exit 73 is holding a benefit to help him raise money this Sunday at noon. There's a BBQ plate you can buy and an auction with proceeds going to help him in his fight against cancer. Exit 73, this Sunday at noon. #NerdsUnite
This weekend, one of my favorite and in my opinion one of the most massively underrated comedians is coming into town, Kevin Nealon. He's a former anchor on the weekend update desk from SNL and obviously was in tons of great sketches and he's always just been a great comedy guy. He's got fantastic timing and he used to do this bit where he would insert subliminal messages in his conversation, it was a hilarious SNL sketch. Anyway this Friday and Saturday at the Houston Improv, if you're out and about, I say check him out.
So on Friday both Dave Matthews band and the rapper Lil Pump are performing. Dave Matthews has won Grammys and has had a 20+ year career, Lil Pump has made music for a couple of years. Tickets to see Dave Matthews at The Woodlands Pavilion are $45 and tickets to see Lil Pump at Revention Music Center are $45. Wait what? The same price? What the heck is going on? Who is paying Dave Matthews money to see Lil Pump? And who told Lil Pump he's worth that much money? Are all concerts just $45 and there's no way around it? What is going on here? I'm not a fan of either honestly but if you told me these two shows cost the same amount of money I would laugh at you for an hour. Is there no pricing structure in live music? That's weird.
Saturday there's a Music to my Beers fest. It's a craft beer and music festival. This sounds amazing. Featuring the craft breweries from the south side of Houston and music from Beat Root Revival and other bands I honestly haven't heard of, it does still sound pretty cool. It's at the Pearland Town Center and it's always nice to say Pearland without having to say something is burning. I think there should be more stories like this one, anyway, live music and craft beer. Sound good?
So this will be an unpopular opinion, I know that, but right now I'm a little disappointed in all the politics involved in both the Police Dept and the Fire Dept of Houston. The Fire Dept has been in a pretty tough dispute with the city about pay, and my opinion is simply this, voting for a raise isn't the right way to do that. Negotiating and city planning are the methods for increasing the pay of the city, also it's irresponsible to put unfunded initiatives on ballots anyway but that's a separate issue. Making the city honor the raises without firing and demoting people wasn't a reasonable thought and forcing the mayor to give fire fighters a raise by vote wasn't the right move; did they think strong arming someone would make things easier? If you forced your boss to do something at work, what do you think would be the consequences of that? Also the family and friends of the two victims from that no knock raid that went bad hired an independent forensic team and apparently the crime scene was very poorly examined making the Department look even more like they were covering stuff up, also it's annoying when the Union Rep for the Houston Police Dept gets on TV and says crazy things, is that really the image the police want to project? This brash, rude man? Anyway, I'd like to see these issues be handled better by everyone but they probably won't be; when will they charge that lead cop in the raid with two counts of murder and some attempted murder of several officers for faking the info for the warrant? They would do that to anyone else, I feel like. I just want to see some equality in how these things get handled.
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 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.
The Houston Astros (20-19) are just 4–6 over their last 10 games, but the numbers tell a more encouraging story. Despite the record, Houston is slowly but surely gaining ground in the AL West, sitting just two games back with a division-best +21 run differential. The standings may not fully reflect it yet, but the Astros are showing clear signs of being on the other side of their early offensive struggles.
Through the first month and change, the team’s season-long offensive stats still look pedestrian—14th in OPS (.697), 21st in slugging (.375), 20th in runs scored (163), and just 25th in home runs (33). But zoom in on the last 15 games, and the picture shifts dramatically.
In that span, the Astros have quietly put together one of the most productive offenses in baseball. And that's with Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve missing time due to injury. Houston ranks 4th in OPS (.805), 6th in slugging (.442), 7th in runs (64), and 5th in doubles (22). For a team with playoff expectations, that kind of turnaround is exactly what fans have been hoping for.
The resurgence has been powered in part by rising bats in the middle of the lineup. Christian Walker, who looked stuck in a rut early on, has caught fire over the past week, hitting .385 with a .500 slugging percentage over his last 7 games. Yainer Diaz is heating up too, hitting .310 with a .448 slug over that same stretch. Zoom out a little further, and Diaz has been even better—.339 average and .559 slugging over his last 15 games. His bat is starting to match the hype.
On the mound, the Astros have had their share of turbulence, particularly in Lance McCullers Jr.’s rocky return. Saturday’s 13–9 loss to the Reds underscored some of those struggles. McCullers failed to escape the first inning, giving up walks and hitting a batter before allowing a barrage of hits. Across his two starts since returning from injury, the right-hander has walked three batters and hit one in each outing.
Even so, Houston's pitching remains a strength overall. The Astros rank 8th in team ERA and lead the majors in WHIP (1.14), while holding opponents to the second-lowest batting average (.213). The bullpen, in particular, has been nails. Steven Okert, Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, and Brian King have all posted ERAs of 1.59 or lower, keeping games within reach when starters falter.
There’s still work to do, and the standings don’t lie. But if the last two weeks are any indication, Houston is turning the corner. The bats are waking up, the bullpen is elite, and the rotation has room to get healthy and sharper. It might not show up in the win column just yet, but make no mistake—the Astros are trending in the right direction.
We have so much more to discuss. 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!
*ChatGPT assisted.
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