NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Texans, porn stars, and The Legion of Super-Heroes
Aug 15, 2019, 6:15 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!
The week is winding down and we're coming up on the weekend, you ready?
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.
OVERWATCH UPDATES
I haven't written about the Overwatch League lately because it was going very well for Houston and I didn't want to jinx it but the last few weeks have turned against them and we're back to our losing ways. After making the playoffs in Stage 3, we are now tied for 17th out of 20 in this Stage and are basically done for the year. The team has gone through a lot, including being sold twice, the ownership sold to a group that already owned an Overwatch team and therefore they agreed to run The Outlaws until they could find a new ownership group for them. They were sold again for $40 million dollars about a month ago and since then the losing has picked up again.
DALLAS ISN'T ALONE
The Texans can't figure out how to resolve the Clowney problem. Essentially what it boils down to is that now because they have missed the date to negotiate a long term deal with Clowney who has a franchise tag offer currently unsigned, he has a rather untradeable contract number. The goal now sounds like they are looking for offensive tackles and they would trade Clowney for the tackle who hopefully has a similar contract number. The problem is there aren't a lot of high priced tackles that teams are looking to trade away, mostly because high valued tackles are a lot like high value pass rushers, they're hard to come by. While plenty of teams would love to have Clowney for the right price, they might not be able to accommodate the roughly $16 million dollar cap charge for this season even if they had players to give up in a trade. This is a mess.
THE RETURN OF LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES
DC Comics and mega star writer Brian Michael Bendis are on the verge of bringing back one of the oldest and most confusing franchises in DC comics, The Legion of Super-Heroes. The massive team of super powered teens from across the universe, who work to keep the year 31st century safe by protecting the entire collection of United Planets. Because the team is based out of the future, their story has been restarted a couple of times due to large events during the history of various DC events. Changing costumes and characters and line ups and the stories that are told, the Legion has had several different looks and themes over the years. It's been several years since they've been featured and their last run ended quietly and there was a peep of some of these characters when DC did the Rebirth launch by having a few members of the team stranded in current times, however they never followed up with any of those storylines.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Former porn actress Mia Khalifa revealed that in the three months she made adult films, she only earned about $12,000. Which isn't a lot of money and the notoriety has been linked to her forever. While she has been able to pivot all of this into a career of sorts as a "famous person" like so many others these days, she stated how limiting it had been job wise. Now I've seen before where she's bailed on interviews or gotten upset because they mention the adult films in her intro pre interview and honestly, I was always exasperated with her. It's the thing that kind of "broke" her into the scene and made it possible to write about whatever else she was doing or promoting at the time because she was already a "known" quantity and that's how this game works in a lot of ways. I don't have Johnny on the street on my radio show, I have people with a value to our topic on the show and those are going to be people established or relevant in some way. The thing that broke her in was adult films and honestly the better and more honest advice is embrace and pivot which it looks like she is finally doing. Good luck Mia.
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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Jose Altuve powers Astros past Tigers with two-run homer
Apr 28, 2025, 10:25 pm
Through the first month of the season, the Houston Astros' offensive struggles are becoming impossible to ignore — especially when compared to division rivals like the Seattle Mariners.
Isaac Paredes currently leads the Astros with a .392 slugging percentage, which ranks just 88th overall in Major League Baseball. Jeremy Peña isn't far behind, sitting 93rd at .388. For context, not one Astro has cracked the .400 slugging mark, while the Mariners boast four players who have — though a few haven’t officially qualified for leaderboards.
Power outage
The power disparity is stark. The Mariners have already blasted 42 home runs this season — double the Astros’ total of just 21. Houston, in fact, ranks 27th in home runs, 26th in OPS, and 26th in slugging across all of Major League Baseball, dead last among AL West teams. Paredes is the only Astro with at least four home runs, while the Mariners have six such players.
The lineup issues are even deeper. Christian Walker and Yainer Diaz — both expected to provide significant offensive contributions — are batting under .200, placing them among the 22 worst averages in the league. Jose Altuve, typically a steady force, is also underperforming by his standards. His .310 on-base percentage is his lowest since the shortened COVID season, and he has only managed five extra-base hits thus far.
Should Joe Espada consider playing Altuve at second base more often?
With second base production sagging — Mauricio Dubón and Brendan Rodgers have failed to provide much punch — the Astros could face a difficult decision: increase Altuve’s time at second to open up opportunities for bats like Chas McCormick or Zach Dezenzo. While the organization has preferred to manage Altuve’s workload at second base carefully, their hand may be forced if the offense continues to sputter. At this point, another month of this and all bets are off.
On the pitching side, there’s some potential good news. Lance McCullers Jr. is nearing a return after an impressive rehab start and could rejoin the team during their series in Chicago. Meanwhile, Forrest Whitley has suffered another setback with a knee injury. A major question for Houston is which of the two — McCullers or Whitley — will be able to make a real impact this season. Given Whitley's struggles to stay healthy, McCullers appears the safer bet.
Don't forget the Astros' biggest goal for this season
Behind the scenes, the Astros’ front office remains focused on a bigger-picture goal: getting under the luxury tax threshold. With several large contracts set to come off the books after the season, Houston appears committed to resetting financially — even if that means enduring some growing pains in the short term.
For now, though, the Astros find themselves in unfamiliar territory: chasing the division both in the standings and at the plate.
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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