— RIP to Jim Brown, one of the greatest players in NFL history, who passed away at age 87.
Brown became a good actor after his playing days, with 58 TV/movie credits; he was Al Pacino’s assistant coach in Any Given Sunday, Denzel Washington’s probation officer in He Got Game.
Brown played nine years in the NFL, led the league in rushing eight times. He helped Cleveland win the 1964 NFL title. RIP, sir.
— We’ve had our fantasy baseball league for 19 years now; Friday night was the worst night my team has ever had. Awful.
It was so hideous it was easy to laugh off, but usually I’ll watch a replay of a game late at night. Instead, I watched the new movie Air on Amazon Prime.
Anything with Matt Damon/Ben Affleck is going to be good, but this was very good, dealing with how Sonny Vaccaro became totally focused on Nike signing Michael Jordan as its #1 basketball face back in 1984, when Nike was #3 in the sneaker game, behind Converse/adidas.
Vaccaro sold Jordan’s mom on the idea of her son joining Nike; apparently to this day, Jordan still banks around $400M a year from royalties from Air Jordan sales. Must be nice.
— Giants 4, Marlins 3— Miami is doing well at 23-22, but they’re 2-7 when Alcantara starts; he is pitching well, but is breaking down in one key inning every game. On this night, he fielded a 50-foot ground ball but threw it into right field, setting up the Giants to hit sac flies on their next two at-bats, and those two runs decided the game.
— Mets 10, Guardians 9 (10)
Cleveland led 5-0 in 5th, 7-3 in 7th, 9-7 in 10th.
Ex-Guardian Francisco Lindor has the walk-off hit for the Mets.
— Red Sox 6, Padres 1— Something is going to happen with the Padres soon; they’re awful, despite having a huge payroll.
Last two weeks, they’re 2-10
They’ve scored 3 or fewer runs in nine of those 12 games.
Padres are 0-9 this month if they allow 4 or more runs.
Tigers 8, Nationals 6— Since May 3rd, Detroit is very quietly 10-5.
— Veteran outfielder Jake Marisnick must be very good at packing:
2013-14— Marlins
2014-19— Astros
2020— Mets
2021— Cubs
2021— Padres
2022— Pirates
2023— White Sox
Veteran pitcher Jordan Lyles of Kansas City has pitched for eight teams in 13 years, and he isn’t superstitious. He’s worn eight different uniform numbers.
— Players with 40+ home runs, 40+ steals in same season:
1988— Jose Canseco, A’s
1996— Barry Bonds, SF
1998— Alex Rodriguez, Sea
2006— Alfonso Soriano, Wash
— Battle for Atlantis college hoop tournament in November:
Arkansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Villanova
Memphis, Northern Iowa, Stanford, Texas Tech
— Charleston Classic, November 16-19:
Dayton, Houston, St John’s, Wake Forest
LSU, North Texas, Towson, Utah
— Heat 111, Celtics 105— Miami opens series with pair of road wins; they outscored Boston 36-22 in the 4th quarter. Bam Abedayo had 22 points, 14 rebounds for the Heat.
Miami now has the most playoff wins of any team ever that finished last in the league in scoring during the regular season that season
— Last five years, the NBA team with the worst regular season record didn’t get the #1 pick in the draft— the lottery is having the desired effect, which makes Adam Silver happy.
— Vegas 4, Dallas 3 OT— Knights scored 1:35 into overtime to send everyone back onto the Strip happy. Dallas has tied game with 1:59 left in regulation. Vegas leads Western final, 1-0.
