Sports Banter

  (we do not own the rights to this image) Now that the dust has settled in the 2023 season, there's a lot to unpack about what's happening at Halas Hall. For the 2nd year in a row the Bears hold the #1 pick in April's draft although this time it's not due to their own ineptitude but because the Panthers were the worse team in football this year. Our own personal pick sits at #9 so we have #1 & #9 respectively. SO WHAT DO WE DO?? Loaded question but let's start with the changes in the coaching staff we saw take place yesterday. OC Luke Getsy and several other offensive coaches were let go and thank god they were. I have a massive problem with how Luke Getsy game planned and called games this past season. The year prior is whatever to me because we were an awful team at the start of a rebuild, so it didn't matter what he put together that season BUT this season was pretty bad. 2 games stick out to me in writing this and that is the MNF game @ Minnesota and th...

(photo is owned by 97.3 The Fan, we do not own the rights) If you would've told me on opening day that on 8/2 the Padres would be 53-55, 8.5 games out of 1st, and 5 games out of the last wild card spot, it would not have computed in my optimistic Padres fan brain. But here we are witnessing exactly that. To say this season has been frustrating to watch is an understatement on a colossal level. Whatever can go wrong, has gone wrong basically. Here's a breakdown of what has gone on for far too long:      Danny Vietti ⁦‪@DannyVietti‬⁩ San Diego Padres this season Extra-innings: 0-10 record -WORST IN MLB 1-run games: 6-18 record -WORST IN MLB (-6.62) FanGraphs Clutch Rating -WORST IN MLB .226 BA with RISP -WORST IN NL .217 BA in 7th inning or later -WORST IN MLB (10-16 record vs. current last place teams) pic.twitter.com/W97pV8nYlN   8/1/23, 2:27 AM     Whatever can go wrong, has gone wrong. To put it lightly it's been a TOUGH watch. A couple things that stand ...

  ((photo owned by marchmadness IG, we do not own the rights) Holy shit.... What actually just happened? My SDSU Aztecs were up against in Saturday night's Final 4 matchup versus the FAU Owls. Down 14 with 13:53 left in the 2nd half it started to feel like the end to a historic run. A team that would've been remembered for going the furthest of any SDSU team in history (Final 4), taking down the #1 overall seed Alabama in the Sweet 16, and a nail biting Elite 8 win over Creighton. That would've been a lot to be proud of on its own but what happened is what makes college basketball so great. The Aztecs started to chip away at the lead with some 3 pointers by Micah Parrish and Matt Bradley, followed by a flurry of offensive rebounds that continued to give the Aztecs extra possessions. It was an extremely physical matchup to say the least and SDSU couldn't buy a foul or a bucket under the rim for the longest time. WAR. That's the only thing that comes to mind. FAU was ...

  (image is owned by medium.com, we do not own the rights) 2016 seems like a distant memory. When the Chicago Cubs entered spring training that year the expectation was clear, World Series or bust. 7 years later the only remaining player from that team is now the teams' manager, David Ross. That itself speaks volumes to how this team has been put together and how the expectations surrounding this team are much different. With owner Tom Ricketts promising to all Cub fans that we would not be rebuilding, but rather revamping, the trust within the fan base still existed. But as we've watched the previous 2 years, the Cubs were obviously not trying to compete with the elite teams in the MLB. It became apparent that the focus was on payroll efficiency and not fielding the best team we could. Along with that, the lack of respect to the great players who wore the jersey was obvious i.e. Wilson Contreras who now wears the disgusting Cardinal red we all hate. BUT ALAS. The beauty of spr...

(Reinhold Matay/USA Today Sports)     Last week Netflix released their series "Full Swing", which was watched and completed by myself in 3 days. Although I am not a binge watcher by any means, I was enamored by the authenticity of this series. The platform was similar to Netflix's F1 series "Drive to Survive", but let me tell you "Full Swing" is exceptional. But let me get back to what I really want to talk about, Tiger Woods and his impact on the game of golf. This weekend was the Genesis  tournament, which started on Thursday and ran through Sunday with Tiger Woods as the host of the event. I am a pretty big golf fan, maybe not as much as Doc Downing but I am pretty close. This weekend there was so much coverage of the tournament and the reason for that is because of Tiger. Tiger was able to get through the weekend, and I was watching every single day. On Friday he birdied the last three holes of the tournament on a bum leg, bad back, and noneth...

  (photo is owned by Porter Binks/Getty Images, we do not own the rights) Less than 10 months removed from Jay Wright's abrupt retirement, Villanova basketball is at a crossroads. Adapt or die. When Wright announced his retirement following his 3rd Final 4 run in 7 years, winning National Championships in both '16 & '18, he blindsided College Basketball, Nova Nation, and most importantly, his program. A legend and architect of arguably the most dominant basketball program of the 2012 - 2022 era, Wright was done. The fire and passion that had propelled the miraculous run had fizzled out and Wright had "lost his edge", as he put it. Months before the announcement, Wright notified Mark Jackson and Father Peter of his decision. Seemingly to both save the heralded incoming recruiting class and "keep it in the family", the trio allegedly chose to forgo a quiet national coaching search for a top 10 job in college basketball, and instead appointed former ass...

  I AM SICK. This is the most disturbed I've been watching one of my teams play since Cody Parkey's double-doink. That's a DEEP cut. The Lakers go into Boston and play an absolute beauty of a game, only to be cheated out of their rightful win in the final moments. This isn't an overreaction piece, this isn't a debate, this is just a blatant lack of accountability on 3 NBA referees who took this win from the Lakers and there's obvious video evidence to back it up. Truly disgusting. A couple notes to harp on from the last 10 seconds of play: 1. Only in Boston, would a historically HORRIBLE 3 point attempt from Al Horford that hits the top of the backboard end up in the hands of Jaylen Brown. He gets the rebound, puts it back in for the layup and that was that. No whistle, the play moves on, Lakers still up 1. But ohhhhhh wait the referee by the Celtics bench decides 2 full seconds after the play that he's calling a foul. Let's make this clear. It was a fou...