NERD AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Super heroes on TV, Sonic chicken clubs and Chris Rock
May 15, 2019, 6:39 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!
Here comes Wednesday, which means the weekend is right over the horizon. You got this!
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
Here's the long and short of it. Exit 73, this Sunday at noon. My buddy has cancer and it's a benefit to help him and his family deal with all the costs. It's a sad state of affairs when being sick can ruin you if you survive. He has a wife and three daughters, they're great people, they could use some help. #NerdsUnite
HAVE YOU TRIED THESE?
Sonic just debuted a new King's Hawaiian Chicken Club Sandwich and it's awesome. I'm big on chicken sandwiches in general anyway and this is one of the better ones. Obviously the bread is awesome that's sort of the point of this one right, using King's Hawaiian bread. Well it works, it's delicious and I recommend more people eat it. The other part of this one is the sauce, it's got one of the better sauces that a fast food has put on a sandwich in awhile, it's a Sonic Signature Sauce so I have no idea what it is but it's a tastier rip off of the big mac sauce meets honey mustard I think. Either way, it's awesome.
THE RETURN OF FARGO
So I might be the only one who still loves this show, but I freaking love this show. I thought every season of it has been great and I can't wait to see what's to come next. The new season is said to have Chris Rock as the head of one of two families that trade sons to keep the peace between two crime families, then enters the mob. Every season has kind of been about these smaller criminal organizations that rule their world like a king but then a real organization comes in and changes everything. How long can you hold power in the face of real power? I think that's what it all comes down to.
THE LANDSCAPE OF COMIC BOOK TV
The world of television is changing, a few years back there were tons of comic book television shows building up on the horizon and little by little they came and went and now on the horizon there are maybe only about a third as many comic book shows. I think that's ok, actually that may be great because it means we've passed the "fad" phase of programming, there were probably a few shows that got picked up and made simply because they were comic book shows. Not that they were great and would help a television line up but just because "everyone loves comic books." That's now no longer the case it looks like and I think it's great.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Yesterday they announced they're lining up a major relaunch of the X-Men line of comics. The comparisons and the conversations are this is the next big chapter in the history of X-Men. Jonathan Hickman is coming back to Marvel to write it and it seems like he's going to be the lead architect behind all of it. He was the shaper of the whole massive Fantastic Four story that ended in Secret Wars, with Dr Doom realizing Reed Richards is truly the better man, it was a great run. Brian Michael Bendis seems to have started this trend by jumping to DC and basically being given a whole line of youth oriented comics to relaunch Young Justice with and it seems like Hickman has the same control over the X Men stable for the near future. I'm excited for the X-Men having an organization wide plan with one cohesive story and plot built into it with one guy leading the world of the mutants, I think it's what's been missing here lately from a lot of the lines at the big companies, cohesion without events, I hope it works.
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 or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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As of 9:42 Central Daylight Saving Time Friday night, the Astros (and all other baseball players) are officially the Boys of Summer, officially so far as the season is concerned anyway. When the summer solstice arrived last year the Astros were nine games off the lead in the American League West. So in addressing the rhetorical axiom “what a difference a year makes,” the difference in the Astros’ case is a whopping 14 games as they start the weekend atop their division by five games. At this point in the season last year the Astros’ record in one-run games was a brutal 5-14. In 2025 they are 13-7 in games decided by the narrowest of margins.
That the Astros are just 4-5 in road games against the two worst teams in the American League is no big deal, other than that every game counts in the standings. Still, just as was losing two out of three at the pathetic White Sox earlier this season, it is no doubt disappointing to the Astros to have only gotten a split of their four-game set with the Athletics. The A’s had gone 9-28 in their last 37 games before the Astros arrived in West Sacramento. The former-Oaklanders took the first game and the finale, as the Astros’ offense played bi-polar ball over the four nights. Two stat-padding explosion games that totaled 24 runs and 35 hits were bookended by a puny one-run output Monday and Thursday’s 5-4 10-inning loss. Baseball happens. Nevertheless, as the Astros open their weekend set versus the Angels, they have gone 17-7 over their last 24 games to forge their five-game division lead.
The New York Yankees’ offense has been by a healthy margin the best attack in the American League so far this season. The reigning AL champions snapped a six-game losing streak Thursday. The Yankees mustered a total of six runs over those six losses, including being shutout in three consecutive games. The baseball season is the defining “it’s a marathon not a sprint” sport. With 162 games on the schedule, combined with the fact that the gap in winning percentage between the best teams and the worst teams is smaller than in any other sport, making much about a series, or week or two of games is misguided, apart from all the results mattering.
The future is now
Without context, statistics can tell very misleading stories. Cam Smith is having a fine rookie season and has the looks of a guy who can blossom into a bonafide star and be an Astro mainstay into the 2030s. But it’s silliness that has anyone talking about the big month of June he’s having. Superficially, sure, going into Thursday’s game Smith’s stat line for the month read a .321 batting average and .874 OPS. Alas, that was mostly about Smith’s two monster games in the consecutive routs of the Athletics. Over those two games Cam went seven for nine with two home runs and two doubles. Over the other 14 games he’s played this month Smith is batting .213 with an OPS below .540.
Cam Smith is a long-term contender for best acquisition of Dana Brown’s tenure as General Manager. If his career was a single game Smith is still in the first inning, but if his career was a stock it’s a buy and hold. If the Astros were for some reason forced to part with all but two players in the organization, I think the two they would hold on to are Smith and Hunter Brown. Jeremy Pena would be another strong candidate, but he turns 28 in September and is two seasons from free agency (unless the rules change in the next collective bargaining agreement). Smith is 22 and under Astros’ control for another five seasons, he’s not even presently eligible for salary arbitration until the 2028 season. Brown turns 27 in August and is currently ineligible for free agency until after the 2028 season.
Angels in the outfield
Hunter Brown pitches opposite Yusei Kikuchi Friday night. Kikuchi was Dana Brown’s big in-season move last season, and Kikuchi was excellent with the Astros which set up to get the three-year 63 million dollar deal he landed with the Halos. After a slow start to his season Kikuchi has been outstanding the past month and a half, with a 2.28 earned run average over his last nine starts. Brown’s 1.88 season ERA is second-best in the big leagues among pitchers with the innings pitched to qualify in the category. Only Pirates’ stud Paul Skenes has a better mark, barely so at 1.85.
Kikuchi was a stellar rental who helped the Astros stretch their consecutive postseasons streak to eight. There was an absurd amount of vitriol over what Dana Brown gave up for him. Joey Loperfido is 26 years old and having a middling season at AAA. Will Wagner is 26 years old and back in the minors after batting .186 with the Blue Jays. Jake Bloss is the one guy who maaaaaybe some day the Astros wish they still had. Bloss is out into 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
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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