October Dreaming

The Dodgers historic bludgeoning of the National League has given the Yard pause while we bask in the grandeur. There is not any more gloss we can splash on this canvas at 89-35. The Dodgers are 21 games up in the best division in the National League. At this time, both Wild Card teams plus the Dodgers would be in the playoffs. The Yard has nothing more to add because the 2017 Blue Crew has transcended the sport. What they are doing is getting national attention beyond baseball. It is all the rage but nothing matters if they do not win 11 playoff games this fall. It has been exciting to watch even from the LA suburbs of Nevada. The Dodgers slips and slides in October are the fissures in our ulcers. We have them abated for another few weeks but we have endured too many Prilosec moments. We still feel unsettled while glowing with the daily successes. As a distraction from our post-season stress syndrome, we have been closely following the tight race for 4th place in the NL West. The Giants have been pulling out all of the stops. They have recently brought home prodigal son Pablo Sandoval to try to salvage their fading championship pedigree. When your team is always a proverbial 4-6 in the last ten games stat for months, it is hard to rally in late August. This Giant ball club has an excellent chance of catching the 1985 team that went 62-100. They are going to have to have some bullpen meltdowns, timely strikeouts and the rest of the misfortune that has plagued this team for over a year. And we are confident that they can sink to the challenge. The Padres have opened up almost an eight game lead in the race for 4th place. Their magic number is down to 30 to clinch. This was not to be a rebuilding year for the Giants. The Giants pushed all of the chips in to win. The core lineup for their three titles was still intact and they just needed pitching. Well they got the pitching while taking on the largest payroll in team history on route to matching their worst season in team history. It is going to be a yard sale after the season if possible. However, all of their maladies are keeping Yard interest high. The Giants have $179 million committed to 2018. That nut is for the 11 players currently under contract for next season. Of those, Bumgarner is a free agent and he is not going cheap next time, not for this team. Of those players under contract, the youngest is 29 and most of the starting pitching is over 33 years old. The Giants are looking at rebuilding without the dollars or the draft picks. They look down I-5, they see a young powerhouse with tons of resources and draft picks. It could be a return for the 70’s and 80’s for the Bay Area. No one seems to care since the Warriors are winning titles and is there still an NFL team? The College football season will soon be upon us and Sam Darnold and USC Trojans are on the cover of Sports Illustrated and USA Today. The Yard loves and supports the media attention for the great state of Troy. Last summer, Sudden Sam did not earn the starting QB job. After the Trojans lost of to Alabama like a JV team and Stanford pasted them at the Farm, Darnold emerged as the starter. He led the Cardinal and Gold to nine straight wins and became the latest Aryan USC Poster Boy. Matt Barkley had an SI cover in August 2012. He had a breakout year in 2011 and had “some unfinished business” while announcing he was coming back for his senior year at Troy. Barkley was a Heisman candidate and potential first round draft pick. Apparently, the unfinished business was losing to UCLA and Notre Dame in back to back weekends while stumbling to a 7-6 season and a 4th round selection. Today, he has turned all of that into a third string QB roster spot on one of the worst teams in the NFL. Sam, it is easier to find the light than be in the light. The lights are on bright this season, Sammy. Yard staff always thought USC to be quite stodgy and elitist. Then Dean Carmen Puliafito comes along and knocks the cover right off that ball. Yard youth was adept at creating heartburn for my parents. But we were poseurs compared to USC’s former Dean of the Keck Medical School. He led groundbreaking research and earth shattering charitable donations as Keck soared to the second best medical school in town. But who knew he was taking Ecstasy while putting on his tuxedo to hob knob with Martin Short and Gwyneth Paltrow. He looks like an aging School Streeter at some of these events and he was. He was partying in his USC office and boutiques hotels with hookers, blow and meth. And I was worrying if I had the right IPA for the tailgate. As previously reported the Mayweather McGregor fight is coming down this weekend in Las Vegas. The faithful are already arriving and filling the local watering holes. Mayweather is still a 6:1 favorite but the majority of the tickets are on McGregor. The public either wants to support the underdog or hates Mayweather or both. The sharps are laying large on Floyd but the tickets for $10-100 bets are on all on McGregor. The son of Dublin could score the upset and splay the books like a Stark. The pair are fighting at 154 pounds and McGregor looked like he had not missed too many Happy Meals in training camp. He is going to sweat down to the weight by Friday night on Show Time but probably be back up close to 170 by fight time. McGregor hopes to leverage this 10% body weight advantage to his advantage in the ring. He will not. This is a scheduled 12 round fight. Conor McGregor has only fought the full five rounds in a UFC match once. Thirteen of his fifteen wins were in round one. Mayweather has a fought 12 rounds to a decision 21 times in his 49-0 record. He has fought the best toe to toe for the full 36 minutes more times than any boxer in history. Nobody workouts harder than Mayweather and he is in punishing shape. McGregor carrying an extra 14 pounds of mush will not carry the day. McGregor wants to lure Mayweather into a street brawl. If he does not get that done, he will fight dirty. If not, he is done by round four. McGregor will fight dirty and pull out all of the stops but he is fighting history and his is on the wrong side of it. It will be the highest grossing sporting event in Las Vegas History. Until the Raiders get a Super Bowl in the next decade. It is NFL policy that each new stadium built is awarded a Super Bowl. 300,000 fans come to Las Vegas every year for the Super Bowl. The NFL does not even let Casinos and Tavern call it the Super Bowl but they come and spend. It is $400 million weekend in town. What happens when we have the actual game? Quotable: Floyd Mayweather will be at his strip club Friday night and Saturday night after the fight. It will be $50 to see Floyd in a roped off area while naked beauties pester you for $25 lap dances so I have heard. He does not appear overly concerned about the fight in between these promotional events. Mayweather told Jimmy Kimmel he got in this business because “Because I know that breasts, vagina, music and alcohol will never go out of style.” I think Floyd will go out in style this weekend. Fun Fact: ESPN announcer Tim Kurkjian is covering the Little League World Series. It was determined by his colleagues that the 5’5” Kurkjian is shorter than 50% of the 12 year olds in the LLWS. He hosted an interview in the booth with a 6’1” and 5’10” twelve year old so he was a sport. Watch the Mayweather McGregor press conference from Tuesday last. The showgirls on each side are towering over those two. It is looks like a high school event.