A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

Labor Day = A Top-Five Holiday

#1 – Christmas Eve/Day 

• Santa Claus literally comes to your house.

#2 – Thanksgiving/Christmas Part One

• Sure, you may have to deal with annoying relatives, but you get food and football all day.

#3 – New Year’s Eve/Day

• Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen get drunk together on national television.

#4 – Labor Day

• Is.  Back.

#5 – April Fool’s Day

• Winter is finally done and lying is openly encouraged.

Another Irish Moral Victory

College football preseason rankings are beyond idiotic and should be ignored at all costs.  Despite the media pumping this as a battle of top-five teams, the reality is it will likely be until mid-October before we get a sense of how good or bad any team will be.

Having said that, Notre Dame looked and played like they belong for at least three quarters against the mighty Buckeyes of Ohio State.  Personally, I thought it could go down like Oregon against Georgia, but the Irish held their own before ultimately succumbing to an 11-point defeat.

Yes, the two-safety blitz late in the second half was not executed well, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right call.  A sack in that situation makes for a very long field goal and potentially preserves the Irish lead (10-7).  I’ll never fault a defensive coach for being aggressive. 

Tyler Buchner has a bright future as Notre Dame’s quarterback.  I can’t imagine a more difficult spot to get your first career start (outside of Tuscaloosa and Athens), but he did not seem fazed at all.  He would have played even better if All-American lineman Jarrett Patterson had been able to go, as that injury was a huge blow to ND’s chances. 

Notre Dame must win out this year to have any chance of making the playoffs, but this year was never going to be about a national championship.  It was going to act as both a learning opportunity for Marcus Freeman and a catalyst to 2023 where the Irish could finally have a championship-contending squad. 

Guardians Bats are Sick

Let’s all take a minute and ask Jobu to come and take fear away from the Guardians bats.  Or maybe we should ask Jobu to talk to Terry Francona about his lineup choices.  Or maybe Jobu can talk to Chris Antonetti and convince him there could be some hits down in Columbus worth calling up.  Either way, something needs to happen.  And fast.

Look, the fact that it’s September 5^th and the Cleveland Guardians are tied for first in the American League Central is remarkable.  But it’s also an indication of how the AL Central is the worst division in baseball.  If Cleveland played in any other division right now they would be – at best – in 3^rd place.  This is not a World Series contender, nor is it even a playoff team.  This is a super-young team trying to figure out what it has in-house for the foreseeable future. 

To date they have figured some of that out when Steven Kwan became a superhero.  Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez and Triston McKenzie have all shown they can be staples of success.  They have arguably the best closer in baseball (Emmanuel Clase) and a potential lockdown of a setup guy in James Karinchak.  But they’ve also trotted out the trio of Owen Miller, Myles Straw, and Ernie Clement to the plate a combined 949 times.  Nearly a 1,000 at-bats to three guys who likely are not involved at all in the long-term future of this club.  Straw – who just signed a five-year deal prior to the start of the season – is the most damaging of these, but he’s shown to be nothing more than a defensive specialist and a pinch-runner at this point. 

Due to a multitude of past trades, they now find themselves with a multitude of guys in Triple AAA that could be ready to contribute.  Bo Naylor, Will Brennan, Gabriel Arias, George Valera and Brayan Rocchio to name a few.  I’d also be in favor of bringing up Gavin Williams to pitch now that the Guardians are down two starting pitchers. 

The point is this – let’s say the Guardians sneak into the playoffs.  So what?  They likely would have zero chance to compete, and it won’t help them solve their upcoming 40-man roster crunch.  But maybe they could bring up some of those Clippers and maybe one or two of them ball-out the last month of the season.  It still won’t be enough to do any lasting damage in the playoffs, but it will give them a much clearer picture of their 2023 starting lineup.

Odds and Ends

Watching the Iowa-South Dakota State and the North Carolina-Appalachian State game simultaneously was an incredible dichotomy of an experience. The non-stop offensive onslaught in the NC-AS game and the consistent camera-shots of the depressed Iowa fans made my heart melt.

So sorry that Brian Kelly couldn’t yell his way to a week-one victory against Florida State. There’s always next week Mr. Purple-Face!

Nick Kyrgios continues to be a must-watch tennis player. His talent was never in question, but he certainly seems to have gained some focus without losing who he is as a person.  Jobu – can you please give us a Kyrgios-Nadal U.S. Open Final?  I don’t ask for much.

Finished reading “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles this weekend. Absolutely beautiful book.  The Count was a rich character and Towles was able to use his circumstances as a backdrop to an incredibly written novel.  Highly recommend. 

Stephen King has a new novel releasing tomorrow called “Fairy Tale.” There’s nothing earth-shattering about King writing a new book, but it’s the first one I’ll read after finishing his entire bibliography.  

Also started watching Wrexham (the documentary) on Hulu and I’m absolutely hooked. Ryan Reynolds may not be my favorite actor, but his sense of humor is unrivaled.  The pairing of Reynolds with Rob McElhenney makes for a fantastic watch as they attempt to buy and turnaround a struggling European soccer club.

Until next time, peace be the journey.