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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!
This week is just flying by and we're already to Wednesday; this is where we decide between finishing the week strong and phoning it in. We got this.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
The Epilepsy Foundation is hosting a Walk to End Epilepsy with the Houston Zoo. It's Saturday April 13th at 7am with registration at the front gate of the Houston Zoo. They're promising 95% of proceeds will be donated and this whole event will be held at zero cost to the community, that's awesome. This is one of those cool things where your money and your time are both going to a great cause plus you get to hang out with llamas and rhinos and superheroes, woop!
CHEATERS NEVER PROSPER
For a very long time, it's felt like there are two sets of rules, rules for the wealthy and the rules for everyone else. That hasn't changed necessarily but I feel like it's eroding a little bit. The recent college admissions scandal is still in the news, because many of the parents are trying to fight the charges, with a lawyer for one defendant calling the case deeply flawed. Overall most people have given a pass to the kids, saying they probably didn't know and if they did know did they realize it was a crime, but I actually think this is even more ridiculous. One of the children of Lori Loughlin admitted recently she never even filled out an application to get into USC, how did she think this works? That's crazy talk, didn't even fill out an application? I spent the better part of my senior year of high school filling out those damn things. Anyway new charges have been filed against anyone who hasn't already pled guilty including money laundering and now Aunt Becky might get as much as 40 years in federal prison. Also if you're keeping score at home, one of the families involved were the creators of the Hot Pocket, so this will be their second crime against humanity.
FAST CARS
One thing going on this weekend is the NHRA Spring Nationals, they'll be out in Baytown at the Houston Raceway Park. The NHRA is a nearly year long competitive series of races with various levels of events, Nationals are one of the highest levels, so all kinds of categories of racers will be out and about, rocking and rolling this weekend. The tickets are reasonable, the stakes are high and the machines are loud, this is exactly the kind of thing you should want to be involved in. Michael Jordan used to sponsor a motorcycle team in this series, there are cars that run on alcohol, I mean this is where all of the things that are made to go, go really fast. Also check out my buddy Austin Ford, he should be out there doing his thing all weekend, you've probably heard him on 94.5 the Buzz in advance of the races, the Rod Ryan Show has been a sponsor of his car for several events.
DO YOU DOUBLE DARE ME
Tomorrow at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugarland they are doing a live version of childhood's favorite show, "Double Dare." If you've forgotten, host Marc Summers would do rounds of trivia and then you had to do physical challenges where there was a flag somewhere and you had to jump in pools of slime or ride up giant pancakes or jump inside of a giant hamburger to find the flag within a limited amount of time. People were always covered in goo by the end of the show and Marc Summers was famously OCD, so this show must have been a real treat for him to make. I'm not sure what is causing the relaunch here but on many levels, I'm pumped.
THE GOOD KIND OF DEAD BEATS
This is one of the coolest kickstarters in a while, it's a horror themed anthology centered around music. It's called Dead Beats, this 160 page anthology has 20 stories from up and coming creators using the story telling device of weird and haunted oddities sold in the music shop. There's some really great names attached to this project including Vita Ayala, Mags Visaggio and others. The project just launched and it's already doing great so there isn't much doubt that the project will make but honestly this is one where you're signing up in order to get it, not to help it make, this is going to be an exciting project, get pumped.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
So one element that makes the kickstarter I just talked about so exciting is that one of the creators involved is twitter friend Renfamous, she has long been an activist active against a particular group of people calling themselves Comicsgaters. They're a conservative group of comic book fans who dislike what they call the current state of comic books being an inclusive minded media element. They feel like female heroes and heroes of color are ruining what they believe was a great form of entertainment back in the day. There's one huge problem with this mindset, it's wrong, The X-Men told the story of being a minority in a society that wasn't open to them. Stan Lee was the proud creator of Black Panther who was a king, a scientist and a badass. The Falcon was his own hero with his own agenda who also helped Captain America when he needed it. The other issue that has arisen out of Comicsgate is hate speech and misogynistic language which is where Renfamous comes in, she's been on a crusade speaking out against them and reporting them regularly to twitter to deplatform their hate speech.
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 every shirt is now under $20 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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Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”