NERDS AROUND TOWN

Nerds Around Town: The Mandalorian, Thanksgiving and Undercity Tales

Nerds Around Town: The Mandalorian, Thanksgiving and Undercity Tales
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!

GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

This is one of the best charity ideas I've heard yet. It's called "Let's Bring 'Em Home" and the charity buys tickets for soldiers in the Armed Forces and flies them home from overseas. Nerd Thug Radio and The Adventure Begins Comics, Games and More will be holding an event to benefit these guys on December 13th. The Nerd Thug Takeover of Adventure Begins will happen starting at 6pm and on December 13th and all proceeds from sales will go to benefit "Let's Bring 'Em Home".

UNDERCITY TALES

Undercity Tales is a great Kickstarter success story. Mike Tener is a guy I found when he was running a crowdfunder for Black Jackets earlier this year. At the time I talked about that project and had him on the radio show to talk about it, it was a success and it was also a great project overall, one of my favorite this year. Undercity Tales was his next project and I recently got my copy of it in the mail, and it only continues his successful run of work. Created and produced by him, it tales a story written by Scott Wilke with art by Brian Balonado, colors by Bryan Arfel Magnaye and Letters by Matt Krotzer. Everyone does a great job and it's a great single issue story to introduce you to the world Tener's created. The story is a single issue murder mystery and it doesn't disappoint, tons of great characters with an interesting story, there's a bit of a pacing issue in the beginning as they rush you through the early details of a murder mystery that in a regular Law and Order episode would take a little longer, but overall it uses the saved pages to give a better finale to the story. Very much worth the read and whatever is coming next from Mike Tener is worth reading, because in my book he's 2/2 on awesome first issues.

THE HOLIDAYS

This time of year for a lot of people brings up complicated feelings and bad memories. Not everyone loves the holidays as much as they could and that's because of things that might've been out of their control as well. Check on your people, say nice things and be there for each other because as unexcited as you are for the in-laws to visit, they're even more unexcited for even the day on the calendar and all the focus on holidays and family and all of that. No matter what they turn off or tune out, something else is rubbing this time of year into their faces and that's a problem for them, so just make sure your people are ok for the holidays.

THE MANDALORIAN

Honestly, this show is great. This is what I've always talked about when I talked about how interesting the Star Wars Universe was but it was being crowded with conversations about Luke Skywalker kissing his sister. There was more to this universe than just the Skywalker family and this is exactly the kind of story I'm talking about. A mercenary trying to do right by his people finds a higher calling when asked to do the unaskable, kill a baby. You have to check this show out if you haven't and it's worth the $12.99 for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

This week I got to do something SUPER cool and had my first event as Cory de la Guardia the comic book creator. It was a signing at Space Cadets Collection Collection on local comic shop day and it was very cool. I made a few new friends/fans and helped them sale a couple copies of my book, it was a very cool experience and I would like to thank Jen King for helping make it happen.

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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The top seeds have talent for days! Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

Looking for an inspiring underdog or a glass slipper lying around in San Antonio? This year's version of the Final Four is not for you.

Fittingly for an NCAA Tournament in which big schools from big conferences took record numbers of spots in the first week, then hogged them all for the Sweet 16, the last week will bring a collection of all four teams seeded No. 1 to the sport's biggest stage to play for the title.

When Florida meets Auburn in an all-Southeastern Conference clash and Duke faces Houston in a meeting between the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences, it will mark only the second time since seeding began in 1979 that all four No. 1s have made it to the final weekend.

The last time it happened, in 2008, one of the teams was Memphis, which hailed from Conference USA.

This time around, there are no mid-majors or small majors. Only the best teams from the best conferences — except the Big Ten, which will hasn't had a team win it all since 2000 — who also have the nation's best players.

Here's a look at the best player on each team (for Auburn, Duke and Florida, they are AP All-Americans ), along with another who might make an impact in San Antonio once the games start Saturday.

Johni Broome and Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn

Broome hit his elbow hard in the second half of the Tigers' 70-64 win over Michigan State. He left the court, but then came back, saying team doctors told him there was nothing wrong. He averages 18 points and nearly 11 rebounds and had 20-10 games in both wins this week. Clearly, his health will be a storyline.

If NBA scouts only look at backup guard Pettiford's tournament, where he has averaged 17.2 points and sparked Auburn on a huge run in the Sweet 16 win against Michigan, they'd pick him in the first round. If they look at his overall body of work, they might say he still needs work. Either way, he could be a difference-maker over two games.

Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach, Duke

There are times — see the 30-point, seven-rebound, six-assist skills clinic against BYU — when Flagg just looks like he's toying with everyone. There are other times — see Saturday's win over Alabama — when he looks human. Which is more than enough, considering all the talent surrounding him.

Maluach is 7-foot-2 and has a standing reach of 9-8. If any opponent overplays him, they can expect a lob for an alley-oop dunk. He shot 12 for 15 over Sweet 16 weekend, and pretty much all the shots were from 4 feet or closer.

Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard, Florida

Clayton made the tying and go-ahead 3s in Florida's ferocious comeback against Texas Tech. He finished with 30 points and his coach, Todd Golden, said, “There’s not another player in America you would rather have right now than Walter Clayton with the ball in his hands in a big-time moment.”

During one two-game stretch in February, Richard had two points in one contest and 21 the next. During another, he scored zero, then 30. Fill in the blanks here, but he could be a big factor for the Gators either way.

Joseph Tugler and L.J. Cryer, Houston

Fittingly for the team with the nation's best defense, a player who only averages 5.5 points could be the most valuable for the Cougars. Tugler is on everyone's all-defense list, and for Houston to have any chance at stopping Flagg, it'll have to figure out ways to use Tugler to do it.

Cryer is Houston's leading scorer at 15.2 points a game. If the Cougars end up as national champs, it will have to be because he played the two best games of his life.

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