Why hello there-it's been a minute (actually about three weeks plus!), but reached into the my blog closet, and dusted off this ole Grab Bag. So, did anything happen while I was away? :) :) :) #joywarrior
Just before I was ready to hit the PUBLISH button, Breaking News that Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors have agreed to a one-year 62 million dollar extension for the 2026-27 season! Wonder what Brandon Aiyuk thinks of THAT! (early burn!)
First, some BREAKING NEWS in F1! It has finally happened. An F1 driver has been replaced mid-season! Williams Racing Team has announced it has let go of Logan Sargent, and has put Franco Colapinto in that seat for the rest of the 2024 season. More on this huge change in next week's Zoom Zoom from the Italian Grand Prix.
Welcome to the big track, Franco, now don't eff it up! Keep the car in one piece is a good start!
SF Giants: I'm going to start with my perspective of the SF Giants with 30 days to go in the season, and 5.5 games out of the last playoff start. Frankly, this 2024 team is average, maybe good when all parts of their game come together. And as I write this in the last week of August, we are back to just having Blake Snell, Logan Webb, Kyle Harrison, and the guy who throws you the peanuts in the stands as starting pitchers, as both pitchers Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks have landed on the injured list. Speaking of that injured list, the Giants lead the major leagues as to how often and how many players the Giants have had to add players to said list. Another glaring problem is the Giants inability to hit with runners in scoring position (RISP), ranking near the very bottom in the MAJOR leagues, not just the National League. It has been very frustrating at times for me to watch a game where the starting pitcher is pitching brilliantly, but gets no run support! Another aggravation is the yo-yo'ing of promising rookies like Luis Matos and Marco Luciano tween the big club and the AAA farm club. That would play head games with most people, but especially with touted rookies trying to prove themselves! Also, did I mention this team has not had a steady lineup for most of the season? Grrr!
Update: Aug 28th: Just learned that the Giants have put on waivers (basically releasing them) fan favorite Thiaro Estrada and one half of the Roger twins, Taylor! If no other team claims them off of waivers, they can report to the the minor league team). ARRGH!
Okay, lets end this part by focusing on some of the positives from this season. When both Snell and Ray were finally able to join the team in the summer, Snell had a rough go at it at first, but since has turned his act around and is pitching like a Cy Young award winner that he was (I'm overlooking the painful five walk inning recently!), Robbie Ray came back and pitched pretty darn well, and for a short time there, the Giants had a stable starting rotation (Logan Webb is ALWAYS stable!)!
Bullpen has been mostly solid, with Ryan Walker emerging as a true contender for the closer position, leaving Camillo Doval as excellent trade bait in the off-season (yes, I went there!). The player I most wanted in free agency, 3B Matt Chapman, has been performing well both defensively and offensively, having just hit the 20-20-30 mark...twenty home runs, 20 stolen bases, and 30 doubles, Chapman is sneaky fast! Rookie OF Heliot Ramos HAS been able to live up to the rookie hype and has 20 homers himself and a great batting average. The real surprise find though is SS Tyler Fitzgerald, who basically no one expected to be as good as the numbers he put up. In July, Tyler went on a home run spree, knocking seven balls out of the park in less than a week! Tyler is what I like to refer to as "finding a diamond in the rough", and the Giants are very lucky to have him, or the team would have more losses than it does already.
Tyler Fitzgerald-SF Giants shortstop and one of the few bright lights of this season.
San Francisco 49ers: Oh, the DRAMA! As of this writing, Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk STILL hasn't signed with the Niners, despite the flood of rumors of doing so or being traded that i've had to sort through the last few weeks! Equally, if not more concerning is the outside offensive tackle Trent Williams, which when opposing team members see Trent coming his way, make a "business decision" to get OUT of his way, has decided he wants to re-do his current contract. I need this settled pronto with Trent, as he protects QB Brock Purdy's blindside, and is great at blocking for 49er players to run the ball on his side of the field! The Niners themselves have been dealing with a plethora of injuries themselves, from CMC-Christian McCaffrey to Nick Bosa and others in-between. Now that the preseason is over, and the first regular season game is in about 15 days, the players have time to get healthy (and some of them sign their contracts with the Niners!)
Post Publishing Breaking News: A few minutes after I posted this blog, I check my phone ,and BOOM! SF Niners and Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk have agreed to a four-year, 120 million dollar contract extension with 78M guaranteed!
You made it this far with the sports-ball, so I guess a Nick Bosa thirst trap is in order before we move on to some rants and raves of the TV variety! EYE CANDY ALERT!
Snap out of it, readers! You can always scroll back and "admire"! :)
Rants and Raves: For the non sports fans, I have some THOUGHTS on a couple of things I have viewed recently!
RAVE: Lord of the Rings: Rings Of Power- I re-watched it again with season two coming out this week (It will be Empire Strikes Back dark!) and it still holds up as one of the best things I've seen. Amazon Studios has spent a LOT of money on this prequel to the famous books/movies, and it shows. None of the actors are known here in the US, and I think that worked out in the shows favor, as there was no preconceived expectations from the very large cast of characters (elves, dwarves, humans, hobbits, etc). The story time takes place long before any of the Peter Jackson-directed films, as we see the origins of many of these tribes/cultures; for example, there is no Hobbit Shire, but instead these hobbits are traveling nomads, following the seasons for where they will end up next to harvest. We learn of the relationships between the elves and dwarves (my fave friendship in this season happens tween two characters), and discover new lands that either were mentioned, or heretofore unknown. The series has eight episodes, with each one feeling like its own movie. I will tease that the ending of episode six is an absolute stunner in regard to both the drama and the special effects, with the following episode following up on the devastation and heartbreaking loss from the previous episode's fallout. (Oh, and there is one elf I do have the hots for- methinks I may have viewers joining me on this one!) There are a couple of mysteries and twists by the time season one ends, and sets up the action and drama of season two! Highly recommended! 9 out of 10 rings! On Amazon Prime, as will be S2 this weekend! Promo for S1 here:
RANT: I need to start off with a disclosure: I LOVED the first three seasons of this show, and i would recommend that if you don't want to feel the massive disappointment I did with the fourth and final season, consider Season 3 the series finale for yourself. Alas, there was a final season four, and while the six (only 6?) final eps had their moments (and some truth in whats happening in todays world), the finale left me PISSED! Anyone who knows me knows I do not have such a strong negative reaction to a series finale, so....yea. Fans of The Umbrella Academy (on Netflix) followed seven young "sibling" characters (one, Five, looks about 14, but is much older than that, and can teleport, and is my favorite character) with special unique abilities (I won't spoil them if you decide to watch, other than Five's ability, though you might either want to shag Ben, or break out the lemon and capers), who for the first three seasons, find themselves in a position to save the world, or mess up timelines.
Then these last six episodes dropped. Sigh. before I get into my rant, I DO want to commend just how pitch-perfect the acting of two new characters were, Gene and Jean, played by real-life married couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman. Their characters were actually very fun to watch as their storyline developed, so kudos there! Episode 2 of these final six was the most fun episode and for me, stayed in the true tradition of the vibe of Umbrella Academy, as things went from weird to outright nuts by the time the episode ended. High potential for SPOILER ALERT coming! How the series ended was, for me, wiped out three seasons of fun, creative, wild entertaining scenes and great acting. I am just beside myself, no matter how the writers came up with the logic of why the show had to end this way. So for the final season, one very cheap umbrella out of five Seville umbrellas!
I'm going to post the trailer to the FIRST season of the show- to give you a taste of why it was one of Netflix's most popular shows. Trust...finish with season 3, and only enter S4 if you have a high tolerance for disappointment!
Oy, I can't dump on this shows ending without giving you a taste of one of the BEST scenes in television history! A quick setup: After our gang returns from saving the world to their academy/home at the start of season 3, they are met by the Sparrow Academy (timeline slip!), which one of these Sparrows powers is to spit a psychedelic venom which leads to this very awesome scene that will have you humming, tapping, dancing and just a big ole smile on your face!
In the odd news department, I just have ONE QUESTION! Where are the 1.5 million dollars of those chicken wings???? I have suspicions! :) Rob? Terrill? Any ideas? :) :)
My Popeye's order is here, so I will close out with the closing song of Season One of Rings Of Power. I did not catch it on first viewing, but did this week, and it's a beautiful, haunting song by none other then one of my favorite artists, Fiona Apple! Great to hear her voice again! And the lyrics definitely play into the show! One ring to rule them all!
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