Black Knight

Ohtani injured his shoulder in the second game and dealt with it the rest of the WS, and had surgery on it a few days after the series ended. I'm not sure why the Dodgers even put him out there again at all, but it was hilarious that he got walked when he couldn't really swing a bat and had to hold his arm in place while moving around the bases so he wouldn't mess his shoulder up further. In any case, that's why the commentators talked about Judge and not Ohtani, because Judge wasn't injured.

The Raiders can't even tank properly. If they somehow squeeze out another win with the new OC, I'm going to be really mad. I'm not a big fan of tanking, but the Raiders are certainly not Super Bowl-bound this year. If they had run up fewer pointless wins last year, they could've gotten a franchise QB. The Saints play the Raiders this season, so Derek Carr could also become the first NFL QB to lose to all 32 teams. I do feel bad in that he's not a guy who's done anything to deserve that kind of ignominy. He's never been in trouble off the field, he doesn't act like a jackass on or off the field, and while he's not a great QB he's also not horrific either. But as far as that last point goes, I guess that's a large part of it - the horrific QBs wash out before they can play all these teams.

Looking at what's happening with Anthony Richardson, I wonder if his story combined with NIL will keep QBs from declaring too early for the draft in future. The Colts knew they were taking on a very raw QB who had not played many games and would be a project, but when other people's jobs and income depend on winning, it's difficult for them to have the necessary patience. But top college athletes can now make good or even great money from NIL, so there will be less pressure for them to declare really early. Was it Belichick or Parcells who said that a college QB should have at least 30 games before going pro?

I think that's overblown. Roughly 61% of her rebounds are defensive, and she rebounds plenty of her teammates' missed shots. I used to play, enough to know it's not really any easier to rebound your own shots, because other players get a chance to position themselves while you're still coming down from getting your shot off, plus when you do land your feet are not in the ideal position for moving quickly in the needed direction. And at 6'3", she's not height disadvantaged but nor is she getting any special advantages from it either. She gets her rebounds because she has a motor and outworks the other players. I do incline towards Clark for MVP because I love what a player great at assists can do for an entire offense.

I feel in some ways, the opening ceremony is more for the athletes than anyone else, and in that sense I feel this delivered. Floating down the Seine seeing the Parisian buildings and landmarks is absolutely what I'd prefer over being in a stadium the whole time. The athletes looked like they were having the time of their life, even in the rain. As far as spectators, well, I don't know that it's really any different from any other parade - you pick a spot and watch everybody pass by. It works fine. It's unfortunate about the rain, but otherwise I'd probably prefer that to sitting in the stadium, probably in a nosebleed seat. At least outside is outside, with all that lovely Parisian scenery. I love Paris and have not been in many years, so I was pretty happy with this as a TV viewer as well.

Yes. And the spotlight is just so much brighter in general. If you ask the average American who doesn't follow gymnastics much to name some gymnasts, they'll come up with multiple female gymnasts through as far back as they've been alive and probably no male gymnasts at all. As a Gen Xer, I can go all the way back to Nadia Comaneci, Olga Korbut, and Mary Lou Retton, as well as many others down to the present with Simone Biles. The only guy's name I can think of is Paul Hamm, and that isn't even so much because he won gold as because there was that whole controversy with the other country complaining. Otherwise I'm sure I would've forgotten his name like I've forgotten the name of every other male gymnast I've ever watched compete, whether they won medals or not. Looking up Nadia Comaneci just now to see what she's up to, I see she married an American gold medalist a while back, yet I only know her name, not his. The levels of fame female vs. male gymnasts achieve in America are just not comparable.

Cats vary wildly and I'm sure their humans know which ones can handle being at such events and which ones wouldn't enjoy it at all. A lot of the cats who were brought out probably participate in cat shows too (many have a household cat division). I go to a local cat show every year and the cats are very chill in their carriers and crates despite all the hubbub and people. Some people let you pet their cats, and there's a costume show at lunchtime.

Yes, they were possible reviews. At first I wasn't sure, but then Cicero showed up talking about how a bad review would cause him to pull the plug on the restaurant. It's interesting in that it showed Carmy's concern (even before Cicero showed up) was about the restaurant getting a bad review, while Syd is not concerned about that and is instead simply worried that Carmy is going to get all of the credit. I know Syd said she doesn't have a lawyer, but it was unethical from the start for Natalie and Carmy to say that Pete should look at the contract for her. Pete is part of their family, not Syd's - it's a huge conflict of interest. A little too much of the Faks. And Claire remains a symbol instead of a person.

Yeah, I pretty much took the woman Richie called at her word when she said it seemed like Terry woke up one day and just didn't want to do it anymore. The restaurant business is a grind, she's accomplished everything, she's ready for the next phase of her life. I haven't minded the Faks up to now, but the new dude they brought in right after having the new dude that was played by John Cena was too much. If they're going to bring in another Fak it needs to be the woman Sugar hates, not yet another Fak man. What Carmy and Syd have at this time isn't a true partnership, but neither is what Shapiro is offering, and what Shapiro is offering doesn't have any potential of turning into a true partnership. I think that's what'll tip the balance for Syd towards the restaurant with Carmy, because I assume Syd is not leaving this show. Later in Syd's career I could see her wanting to be the sole decision-maker/creative voice, but right now she wants to bounce ideas back and forth with someone. Carmy doesn't always listen to her enough, but Shapiro wants to be totally hands-off.

Awww, my heart! I loved every minute of this episode, although poor Tina. I think it was important that this took a full episode. So much of The Bear is about capturing the rhythms of life - inside a busy kitchen, inside a dysfunctional family, and now inside the experiences of an older woman who's just been laid off and is trying to find another job. About two-thirds of the ep was spent on that and the final third on her conversation with Michael, which was important in multiple ways, from showing us more sides to Michael to how it wasn't actually a pity offer from him. I was a little surprised in that she was such a natural part of the crew from the pilot on that I thought she had spent a lot of years at the restaurant, like Michael and Richie. Although, she started in 2018, so I guess it was some years. I worked in my stepfather's restaurant in my high school and college years and now that I think about it, it doesn't really take a lot of time for people to bond and become part of the group (unless they're just not going to work out at all) because the hours are long and so much teamwork is necessary. I've also really enjoyed looking again at certain key moments from previous seasons and considering how this episode has added to my perspective of those moments. Specifically, when Tina did a little kitchen hazing of Syd in S1, her reaction when Syd offered her the sous chef position, and going out with the younger people from the chef school. Awww, my heart!

Yes, I was totally with Syd. As for Carmy's new ambition, I took it as he feels he lost Claire over this, so now he has to get a Michelin star for it to be worth it. Plus throwing himself into the restaurant is good distraction from his heartbreak. Glad to see nearly everybody else remains obsessed over Claire Bear.

It's not so much that I don't like Claire, it's that I'd like her to be an actual character instead of simply a point the show is making. She's been written to have no dimensionality outside of apparently being awesome, and the reason I have to put "apparently" in is because the show just told us instead of showing us (though I suppose the little vignette of her giving a kid a shot is an attempt to correct this). Because again, they aren't interested in writing her as a character, they're just writing her as a point they're making about Carmy. It's the same basic problem as when writers fridge a character or write a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I'm not really sure why they don't want to actually write for Claire, though. They can still make their point, and actually make it more effectively, if they write for her. Even most of the tertiary characters get more dimensionality. It's an odd failing on the writers' parts.

CBS Sports had a pretty good article on Bronny's potential development - mainly what LBJ might or might not do to fuck it up. LBJ has never shown any sign of restraining himself from making decisions that technically belong to other people to make before, so the idea that he will restrain himself in regards to decisions about his son's practice and playing seems...unlikely.

Mahomes retains the distinction of having the highest contract value of any NFL QB, and it's not close. He broke records when he signed his original 10-year extension and he broke records again when the Chiefs re-did his contract in 2023. They're going to revisit the contract in 2026 and unless his career has been derailed by injuries, he will break records again. He has a lot in guaranteed money but also a lot in bonuses to make it team-friendly. I don't think he's taking hometown discounts the same way Brady did, but of course Robert Kraft made up a lot of that for Brady in side businesses, so it wasn't really a hometown discount in the sense of costing Kraft less money. All Brady really sacrificed was bragging rights as the highest paid QB.

I can't wait for the tell-all book years from now about Bronny - and perhaps by Bronny. I kinda feel sorry for the dude. It's obvious he isn't ready for the NBA and that going to the NBA now will wreck any chance he has of a real career. He'd be far better served doing at least one more year of college ball, to improve his skills and get stronger, but here we are: A guy who wouldn't even be drafted this year if not for his father is going to be drafted, and his most likely outcome is that he's relegated to playing some garbage time with his dad and then dropped altogether once his dad retires. I don't know this guy at all, but he'd have to be a truly colossal jerk for me to think he deserves all the humiliation that's coming his way the next few years. He's already gone through cardiac arrest, that's enough punishment for the average jerk!