EL BRONX, EL BARRIO – I was suffering from a food hangover. It felt like I had a hangover but I hadn’t been drinking, so I assume it was the Popeye’s Chicken I ate. Regardless, I got the email to be Pinch-hit Matt again and as usual, I lived up to my name… well, because I like writing. So with all the critical back-story out of the way, it’s time to get to the article. Keeping with my world-renkowned new routine, you get a Song of the Week before I get to the Sports Stuff. Today’s menu: George Thurgood, NFL Combine, MLS and the Intentional Walk.
Let’s begin with the music…
Song of the Week: I got on a run of old school songs the other day. I remembered my time playing rugby in Canada and some of the great songs my teammates introduced me too. One of the artists they turned me on to was George Thurogood. I had only known him from Bad to Bone fame and to be frank, I think that was based on it being played during an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks. So when I was heard some of his other songs, I was wowed at how awesome and real he was. As a result, my Song of the Week is the George Thurogood and The Destroyers’ classic: One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer!
Now for the Sports Stuff… kinda.
NFL Combine: The NFL Combine recently finished and I still don’t understand why it is always held in Indianapolis? Is there no other city that deserves it?! Is it because it is in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing going on in Indianapolis this time of year? Or maybe the Colts have some insane deal we don’t know about. The NFL combine bothers me for two reasons: 1) Why do people watch this stuff? It is just madness to me that you would turn on the TV and just watch guys workout? All of this tells you nothing about a player. Which brings me to my second point: 2) The combine is a good starting point about to assess raw ability of a player but lets not forget – Vernon Davis had the fastest time for a tight end. What has he amounted to? And even closer to home, The Jets’ Ryan Fitzpatrick scored a near perfect on the Wonderlic Test and he still sucks.
MLS Season 22: We are now entering the 22nd season of Major League Soccer. Last weekend kicked it off. Yes, I know you guys fall asleep when we talk about soccer. However, can you believe that we have been at it for 22 years?! From a start of 8 teams we now have 22, which is an insane achievement. The league now makes the ESPN highlights shows and is on Sportscenter. It is now home to some of the best the players on the US National team, as the players choose to make good coin and stay close to home, rather than Europe. The also learned from their mistakes along the way, contracting three clubs that were under-performing. They have shut up all those that compared them to the NASL (Pele and the NY Cosmos for the uneducated) as they have lasted longer and become financially successful. Here’s to a great season 22!!!
RIP Intentional Walk: In a long anticipated move, MLB has killed the intentional walk. It is not that it can’t happen, it is just that we don’t have to sit through the process of watching 4 pointless pitches out wide, while the batter looks like he his gonna do something. The move has been made for the manager to just signal the umpire and then we are done. No pitches wasted and 2 minutes (at least) saved. Everybody is happy. I think.
That’s all I have… Please feel free to leave your thoughts below and come back tomorrow for our drunken bus driver, Cheesy Bruin. You can also find us on Twitter – @JunoirBlaber & @MeetTheMatts, Instagram -@MeetTheMatts and Facebook– Meet The Matts.
