NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy, Monday! The #Olympics are over. Now we wait for the 2024 Paralympic Games, while we wait for American sports to take over. We have NBA preseason coming and NFL preseason going on. With that in mind, here’s today’s menu: Mets Update, New NFL Kickoff, Sixers Sign Olympian
Mets Update
The Mets lost the final of their 3-game series against the Marlins, which isn’t a big deal. They had chances to win the game but the bullpen and lack of clutch hitting doomed them. The next 10 games will be big deals for the #Mets. They face the AL East leading Orioles then the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the NL West in Padres and Diamondbacks. They will play 3 against the Orioles, 4 against the Padres and 3 against the Diamondbacks. All 3 teams have better records than the Amazins, and the Padres and Diamondbacks are eyeing Wild Card spots. This is time to sack-up. They need to finish this stretch at 7-3. They have the benefit of the Orioles at home, then go on the road to the west coast. If you want to be a playoff team, you have to win hard games. They can’t afford to be swept or lose any of these 3 if they want to be playing in late September. Let’s see what happens.
NFL Kickoff
I am sure someone has touched on this already, but I can’t remember if they did, so I will. I don’t like how the rule takes away a surprise onside kick. The idea it has to be announced means it will just be much more violent when the onside kick happens. The new setup seems safer waiting for a catch, and the way the players get to line-up and match numbers almost before the player catches the kick. It makes it only one level needed to be broken, before you are off to the races. I haven’t seen anyone break a big one yet but it is still preseason. Special teams coaches are getting used to it and trying to find their edge. They will find it in time and by mid-season it will be different as players figure out how to break a split second sooner, and attackers figure out how to create a lane for kick returners.
Sixers Sign Olympian
Guerschon Yabusele is back in the #NBA. After being drafted in 2016 by the Celtics and never really taking off after two seasons. The Frenchman went back to Europe. He continued to play well and even won the European Title with Spanish giants Real Madrid. However, it was his performance in the Olympics against big time competition like Serbia and the USA showed that the 6’8″ forward has plenty in the tank. He can be a handful back in the NBA. The Sixers have revamped their squad to provide more help to Joel Embid and Tyrese Maxey by adding Paul George, so it will be interesting to see how the group performs.
Thanks for reading and come tomorrow to hear from the Ben Whitney, who will tell why the Yankees will use the Little League World Series as their turning-point.
