Niagara Falls, NY: Happy Monday, I can’t believe we’re in the last week of July already. It always seems like summer is over so fast and winter takes forever. With that said, let’s get into the topics for today: the WNBA All-Star Game, the weekend review for the Mets, and the return of MLS.
WNBA All-Star Game
What they’re doing with the WNBA All-Star Game to me is actually a little bit more interesting to watch—at least the highlights. Mainly because that league doesn’t seem to have a lot of super teams, so there are a couple of players where you see them and think, “If they only had a big like this person,” or “If they only had a guard like this person.” So you do get to see certain players work and have a combo, and the pick-and-roll looks great.
Of course, like every All-Star Game, defense is optional, so the final score was like 140-131. They didn’t do East vs. West—I guess the teams were divided and selected by Teresa Weatherspoon and Cynthia Cooper, so it was Cooper vs. Weatherspoon. I mean, it was good offensive entertainment. You got to see shooters shoot, scorers going to the paint with a lot of dribbling, passing, and ball movement.
Now we get towards the business end of the season.
NY Mets Week in Review
Any hope that you had that the Mets might start playing well in the second half of the season is officially done. It looks like they will have to be sellers at the trading deadline. They will likely sell Luis Robert Jr. I don’t know if they’re going to sell Marcus Semien or Freddy Peralta, but I think they should, because this didn’t work out.
The Mets lost two out of three to the Brewers and then followed that up by losing two out of three to the Dodgers. To be fair, as a friend of mine put it, the Dodgers remind them of the ’90s dynasty Yankees—it’s just an impossible task to try and win two or three from them some nights. Because there are guys stepping up like Connor Cooper, who nobody had heard of, but then he hit a home run on Friday night to give them the lead and then hit a home run on Saturday night to give them the win. I mean, you spend your whole day worried about all the other big-name players, and then you relax, and this guy takes you out.
The Mets’ season is done. Start calling up the kids, let’s figure out what we can do next season, and also—fire David Stearns.
MLS
Well, now with the World Cup over, the only soccer to watch is MLS, the American soccer league called Major League Soccer. Apparently right now, their playoffs consist of 18 teams. Seven teams automatically qualify on each side—East and West—so that’s 14 teams. Then teams 8 and 9 are in the qualifiers and have to play their own play-in game.
In the East right now, Inter Miami leads the way, and in the West, Vancouver leads. New York City teams: one is in the playoff qualifier—my New York Red Bulls—and the other one is in a better position, New York City FC.
I can’t stand after everybody saw how far back Argentina was… I hope this season is a supporter. I want to see them win, but it’s very hard. There’s a lot to come at this point in the season. I, of course, have to go with Miami, and I think Vancouver for the right International is going to win it.
Come back tomorrow for The Big Aristotle.
