What a week it has been, and we’ve made it to the end. Sunday State of Mind is here to remind us how great it was.
Breaking NFL news, Julio to Tennessee Henry, Brown, and Jones, a dominant big three The Titans had to give up a bundle of draft picks To improve their chances of getting to Super Bowl 56
Jacob DeGrom continues to simply be God status His right arm should be ruled an illegal apparatus Through nine starts this season, a 0.62 ERA Mets should thank their lucky stars every fifth day
NBA Playoffs, first round is now done Some tasty Western matchups, including Nuggets and the Suns The Eastern Conference semis also do not suck Sixers and the Hawks, Nets and the Bucks
Not a huge field of choices here, but a nice selection. Jared Allen played for the Chiefs, Vikings, Bears, and Panthers during an above-average 11 year NFL career. He made First Team All-Pro four times, lead the NFL twice in sacks, and made five Pro Bowls.
The flow is enough to be included on our list. That head lettuce is a thing of beauty. Jagr wasn’t half bad in his 24 seasons in professional hockey either: most career game winning goals (135), five Art Ross trophies, and two Stanley Cups.
Remember this guy? Cordova gets the nod for pitching nine innings in a what ended up being a 10 inning no hitter for the Pirates against the Astros on June 12, 1997.
Surprisingly strong category here at 66. Lemieux takes it home as one of the best hockey players to ever do it. In fact, Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky are the only two players who occupy the list of top ten seasons for points and assists in a season. Pretty impressive company to keep.
Paxton may very well end up being the youngest athlete to make our list. However, “Big Maple” has earned his spot at 65 for recording a no-hitter for the Mariners in 2018.
McDaniel was a stalwart offensive guard for 13 seasons, mostly with the Vikings. McDaniel started 220 of his career 222 games, made 12 Pro Bowls, and is a member of NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Another hard nosed, badass, old school NFL lineman. Upshaw played 14 years for the Raiders, scooping up three First Team All-Pro selections, five Second Team All-Pro selections, and two Super Bowl rings.
Jim Langer was the center for the only undefeated team in NFL history, the 1972 Dolphins. Langer won two Super Bowls and was a three time First Team All-Pro.
Who else loved this absolute unit growing up? His career numbers aren’t stellar, but anyone who can hang around the majors for 17 seasons is impressive. Hernandez is a two time All-Star who won a ring as well as World Series MVP honors with the Marlins in 1997.
Not a lot of meat on the 60 bone, but a fine choice here. Keuchel has established himself as one of the steadiest pitchers in baseball since entering the bigs with the Astros in 2012. He has won four Gold Gloves, the 2015 Cy Young, and a World Series ring in 2017.
Honorable Mention: N/A
Another edition of “Who Wore It Best,” done and dusted. Nice representative spread in the the 60’s for football, hockey, and baseball. Total choke job from basketball here; maybe we’ll see some stronger effort in the 50’s?
An absolute smorgasbord of sports this week. We review in this week’s SSM.
Everybody in the world loves Phil Mickelson He won the PGA Championship, big consensus grin Phil set the all-time record as the oldest major champ The old man held up all weekend, no broken bones or cramps
The NBA Playoffs are off and running, a sight you love to see The Association’s yearly tournament to award the Larry O’Brien Trophy The regular season and play in games are finally behind us We’re all going to sit on the couch and watch basketball, don’t mind us
More playoff action over at the NHL For the Avs, Knights, Bruins, and Lightning, things are going well The Oilers are in trouble, same with the Panthers, Blues and Caps Playoff hockey is the best, no chance of boring gaps
We have our latest entry in strange baseball injuries Kevin Kiermaier hurt by an eyelash, this one’s history This one’s pretty funny, Rays are probably saying “oh geez” Still not as bad Sammy Sosa’s back injury via sneeze
A great week of sports is coming to an end. We reminisce in this week’s SSM.
The Aaron Rodgers saga continues to drag Waiting for someone to waive the white flag The Packers keep adding new quarterbacks This is one high stakes game of QB blackjack
A short unemployment for Albert Pujols He signed with the Dodgers, shut down the trolls Will he be a great role player the defending champs want? A huge pool of talent, the Dodgers can flaunt
News broke Monday that the Jacksonville Jaguars are planning on signing Tim Tebow.
The #Jaguars are planning to sign QB-turned-TE Tim Tebow to a 1-year deal, per me and @TomPelissero, a deal that could be official in the next week or so. Nothing done yet. But he’ll have a chance to make the team to reunite with his mentor and college head coach Urban Meyer.
The Philippine-born former quarterback will once again take his talents to the NFL. The connection here, as noted by Ian Rapoport, is that the recently retired minor league baseball player’s college coach, noted jagoff Urban Meyer, is now running the show in Jacksonville.
Our prayers have been answered. Praise be to the higher power bringing Tim Tebow back into the professional sports galaxy for what will either be his sixteenth or seventeenth chance. We will all once again be baptized by Tebow-mania and blessed by sports debate shows arguing if Tebow can perform the miracle of transitioning from a quarterback to a tight end.
The football world has gone celibate of Tim Tebow for far too long; and that chastity belt is about to be busted wide open. Fans everywhere have kept the faith, for over 3,000 days, that one day our angel would descend from the clouds, throw on his shoulder pads, and once again be reincarnated as a professional football player.
It is going to be a sight to see every palm Sunday in Jacksonville this season. With Tebow’s career resurrected, every day feels like the sabbath once again. We as football fans can finally rest, part the sea of pillows on the couch, and tune into some Jacksonville Jaguars football.
Shocking, though not terribly surprising news dropped on Thursday. The Los Angeles Angels announced that they would be releasing Albert Pujols. Pujols had been with the team since 2012, signing an at the time 10 year, $240 million mega deal.
Pujols, a missed nomination for the funniest names in sports, continued a completely understandable late career downtrend this season. Through 24 games in 2021, he is hitting .198 with a .622 OPS. For reference, his first year in LA he hit .285 and .859, respectively.
However, we are not here to kick Pujols while he’s down. Father Time is undefeated (unless you’re Tom Brady), so the declining numbers we’ve seen from Pujols is nothing short of expected.
We’re here to celebrate what may be the end of one of the most spectacular baseball players in the modern era. Hand up; I’m a Cubs fan. I think enough time has passed that myself and fellow North Siders can appreciate Pujols for what he was, an absolute tank who refused to not rip your heart out at any given moment.
Let’s just break this down. In his 11 years in St. Louis, Pujols hit 445 home runs, knocked in 1,329 RBI, maintained an 1.037 OPS, and was an unearthly 86.6 WAR. I’m not a math guy, but we’re looking at averages of about 40 HRs, 121 RBI, and 7.9 WAR. That’s an average year. Just bananas numbers.
Now, the numbers did dip once he left The Cardinals for the West Coast. Even so, the numbers are still pretty impressive for a guy entering the back half of his career. During his 10 seasons with The Halos, Pujols racked up 222 HRs, 783 RBI, a .758 OPS, and a 12.8 WAR. I won’t bore you with averages here, but you can see the production was still there.
A sure fire Hall of Famer, and seemingly a pretty good guy off the field. Albert Pujols deserves the appreciation from any baseball fan lucky enough to watch him in the past 21 years. If this is it, here’s to an incredible career.
We did it, friends…another week in the books. With it, Sunday State of Mind has arrived.
Rob Gronkowski just doing Gronk things Setting world records and winning rings A six hundred foot catch, a new world record Leave it to Gronk to be a Guinness book wrecker
Dodgers and Padres, an amazing series Two of the league’s best, just my theory Some good back and forth between two teams This rivalry is a thing of baseball fan’s dreams
Gerrit Cole and Shane Beiber, aces for sure Went head to head, could you ask for more? A pitcher’s duel in Cleveland, Yanks win 2-1 A lack of offense, but the game was fun
This week we could’ve had another great match Bucks and 76ers, but some players were scratched No Embiid, no Simmons, and the Bucks took advantage A blow out for Milwaukee, the Sixers couldn’t manage
Sports gave us another week full of entertainment, enjoyment, and great moments. We look back in this week’s SSM.
Trevor Lawrence had himself a rough week People thought his love for football looked bleak Nothing’s going to change, he’ll still go number one The top of this month’s draft is all but done
Another bad football story, about a man that’s large Aaron Donald caught himself a false assault charge After the initial statement, the accuser took it back A quick and fair solution, did not get out of whack
The New York Yankees, not showing face Through 15 games, sitting in last place Just like the poor Tigers, Pirates, and Braves Yanks better start moving before the season caves
We continue our fashion countdown of who wore each number best. In this edition, we’re hopping into the 70’s. Will we get more NFL lineman? Will some random hockey or basketball players sneak in? Let’s dive in and find out.
José Abreu has to be up there in the greatest players with the weirdest numbers category. According to Abreu, his mother picked his number so he would stand out. Stand out he has; Abreu was last year’s MVP, has garnered three All-Star selections, and even hit for the cycle in 2017.
Bruce Smith is the all-time leader in sacks with an outlandish 200. His resume is long and silly; we won’t waste too much time here, but just know he was named to two different All-Decade teams in the 80’s and 90’s.
Bouruqe was one of the best defensemen in NHL history. His offensive numbers are pretty impressive for a defensemen, scoring 1,506 points in 1,518 games played.
Pace was about all you could ask for in a left tackle during his career. In college, he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 1996, which is wild enough for a lineman. In the NFL, he earned seven trips to the Pro Bowl, was a three time first team All-Pro, and a member of the 2000’s All-Decade team.
“Mean” Joe Greene was one of the most dominant nose tackles in NFL history. He was a part of the “Steel Curtain” defense that won four Super Bowls in six years for the Steelers in the 70’s. Mean Joe was also named to the 1970’s All-Decade team on top of the 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time teams.
Jansen has been absolutely lights out since entering the Majors in 2010. He’s recorded 312 saves, a 2.39 ERA, and a 0.91 WHIP in 636 innings in his career.
Hannah was a dominant guard for the Patriots from 1973-1985. Over that time, he went to nine Pro Bowls, was a 10 time All-Pro, is a member of the 70’s and 80’s All-Decade teams as well as the 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time teams.
Bobrovsky has had an impressive run since coming into the NHL with the Flyers in 2010. Since then, he has an impressive .921 save percentage and a 2.41 goals against average.
We’ve gushed over Walter Jones before, and we’re here to gush again. A bonafide Hall of Fame left tackle, nine Pro Bowls, four first team All-Pros, and never missed a start in 180 career games.
Who remembers this weird shit? Rodman played 12 games for the Mavs in the 1999-2000 season. Honestly, this is an awful number for this list and we’re obviously stretching here.
Honorable Mention: N/A
Have to be honest, I thought this edition was going to rely heavy on NFL offensive/defensive lineman. Pleasantly surprised with the baseball, hockey, and basketball representation here. On to the 60’s!
We’ve reached the end of a week that was chalked full of sports. We review in this week’s Sunday State of Mind.
Another gorgeous weekend at Augusta National The best golf weekend of the year, not irrational Hideki Matsuyama is your first time Masters winner He wins the green jacket and will host next year’s champions dinner
We had our first no-hitter this week against the Texas Rangers Joe Musgrove made opposing hitters his baby, put them in the manger It was the first no hitter thrown in Padres history Musgrove moved to 2-0 this year, great second victory
Another sad chapter in the Jacob DeGrom story The NY Post crushed the Mets and their chronic purgatory Fourteen K’s, one mistake, and zero run support Yet another hard loss to swallow, for one of the best in the sport
A wild cross-sport story, baseball to basketball Alex Rodriguez breaking the bank as well as the ownership wall He’s partnering with his boy Marc Lore to buy the Timberwolves & Lynx The sale is reported to be $1.5 billion, back up the Brinks!
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