EL BARRIO, EL FALLS – I left the greatest city in New York state for a city that has to be the most underachieving municipalities on the planet. In an unrelated vein, today’s piece will be a mix of sports, politics and – I guess – pop culture. Here is what I am serving up: Tough-Out Mets, MLS Silent Protest And Thor Lebowski.
Tough Out Mets: Last night the Mets lost a 14-inning game to the Atlanta Braves 2-1. The Mets pitching staff tied the league record for most strikeouts with a combined staff as 4 pitchers, gave their best for the Amazins. Now the inability to close out would be another sign of the Mets showing how they are not a playoff team. However, as I have said before, though it may all end in tears, I am fully aboard the Mets-for-the-playoffs bandwagon. I actually gain confidence from these kind of losses sometimes. The Metsies seem like a tough-out, with a pitching staff that is tough to deal with. This is not who any of the other teams in the playoff hunt want to face. Think about the pitching staff as a whole, and there is no easy game. The 4th and 5th guys in the rotation could be number 3 on some teams – like the Yankees – and those are the guys headed to the bullpen. Pitching wins playoff games, so I gotta believe that the Mets being a tough-out means they will win more games and make the playoffs.
MLS Silent Protest: A bunch of fans showed up to a soccer game and refused to cheer. That wouldn’t be a challenge for most of my fellow MTM staffers. The fans of the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders stood silent for 33 minutes. The 33 minutes were in deference to 1933, the year the anti-Nazi paramilitary organization Iron Front was disbanded in Germany. This is all a result of political activism by the players and MLS, saying all political activism is banned. After the massacres in El Paso and Dayton, one of the players, Alejandro Bedoya scored a goal, ran to a field mic and yelled at “Do something congress about guns!” This had tongues wagging and MLS decided to not get political. However, having learned nothing from the NFL mismanagement of player activism as opposed to the NBA, MLS put a clamp down. I don’t get it because the MLS fan demographic skews more liberal than the NFL, so why put a clamp down? It will just create unnecessary conflict and they deserve every bit of hell they get.
Thor Lebowski: I just got around to seeing Avengers:Endgame. I just want to know: was it only me that thought they made Thor seem like The Dude, aka The Big Lebowski? I mean, he sounded and dressed the part. I found it funny but I am just curious if anybody else feels that way.
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