MLS Cup Finale || Pistons Losing Streak || Ranking… Backups in the NFL? || NFL Officiating || Giants Ink Jung Hoo Lee
Edition #30
Intro
We had many trophies dished out over the weekend, but there was one I forgot to talk about. The Pistons and Monty Williams are faring like the Panthers this season, except… worse… We should probably start ranking backups because the NFL is filled with ones that have started this season. The Asian stars are getting, cashhhh moneyyy. Does anyone else watch NFL games? You know about the officiating, right?
We’ve got another filled sports newsletter for you to relish. Enjoy it? Share it with all your friends. Own a newsletter too? Recommend my newsletter! After all, it takes a lot of time to write all of this stuff.
Pistons Losing Streak
The Pistons have lost 20 straight, a single-season franchise record. They could equal their longest losing streak of any span if they fall to the visiting Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
They lost 21 games in a row at the end of the 1979-80 season and the beginning of 1980-81.
The Pistons play the Sixers today at 7:00 P.M. ET (4:00 P.M PT) and coincidentally, the Sixers hold both NBA records for longest losing streaks. They tied the single-season mark at 26 straight in 2013-14 and set the overall mark at 28 at the end of 2014-15 and the beginning of 2015-16. That really sucks.
Now, Detroit has had some runs in its time as an NBA franchise, but this is just an embarrassment to not just the players and coaches, but to the entire city of Detroit. Some teams get a big lead and then just run their backups until the end. Monty Williams is not doing good as the head coach of the Pistons, and they are now on a pace to break the NBA record in a bad way. Games lost or most minimal games won.
8 wins
74 losses
Which breaks the ultimate loss record by 1 game, 9-73, by the 72–73 Sixers.
Their best chance to break the streak might come on Dec. 21, when the Utah Jazz visit Detroit. The Jazz are 1-11 on the road this season, the worst mark in the NBA. Tied with the Pistons themselves, of course.
One nice thing about all of this is that the San Antonio Spurs with Mr. Wembanyama have lost 17 straight, so they're right on the Pistons' heels.
If the Pistons or Spurs can’t find a way to win any of these games in the next month, one of those streaks will end on Jan. 10 when we must crown a winner and an end.
Giants Ink Jung Hoo Lee
Shohei Ohtani with 700 million dollars (btw: 680 million dollars got deferred in that deferring thing. He now earns 2 million dollars a year. 17th on the Dodgers.) Now Jung Hoo Lee with 113 million dollars. I would love to earn that much money.
It is a 133 million dollar deal for 6 years. They have an opt-out in 4 years.
One of Korea’s best players, Lee was posted by the Kiwoom Heroes after seven seasons in the KBO, allowing him to seek an opportunity in Major League Baseball.
The 25-year-old outfielder posted an eye-popping .340/.407/.491 slash line during his KBO career, never hitting below .318 in any season. Also considered an above-average defender in center field, Lee has the potential to impact both sides of the ball as he makes the leap to MLB.
Lee’s best season at the plate came in 2022, when he hit .349 with a career-high 23 homers, 113 RBIs, and a .996 OPS over 142 games, earning KBO MVP. His chance to win a second straight MVP Award was cut short when he suffered a fractured ankle in July, but the injury isn’t expected to hinder him in the future.
Before the 2023 KBO season, Lee participated in the World Baseball Classic. While Korea didn’t advance past pool play, Lee impressed with a .429/.500/.571 batting line with two doubles and five RBIs.
Ranking… Backups in the NFL?
If you stay up to date with this newsletter, you know how much backups impact games.
The NFL has had 22 BACKUPS this season starting games and some of them have made impacts. Others? Probably the ones that helped the team go down the drain. I’m ranking all the backup QBs that have started a game this season since it’s pretty obvious from #1 to #32 for the actual starting QBs.
I’m only taking 15 Backup QBs that have started…
Gardner Minshew
Tommy DeVito
Joe Flacco
Joshua Dobbs
Aiden O’Connell
Will Levis
Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Zach Wilson
Tyson Bagent
Taylor Heinicke
Clayton Tune
Jaren Hall
Tyrod Taylor
Tim Boyle
Easton Stick
Gardner Minshew is just a great backup. Simple as that. Remember, he has a connection with the HC Shane Steichen. Unfortunately for Minshew, in my perspective at the start of the season, he isn’t equipped to be a started type of guy yet. That’s probably why he lost two games when being Philly’s starter for two games, but he really is proving now that he can be the starter that teams could need him to be.
Tommy DeVito is ranked so high because of Monday Night.
MLS Cup Finale
The Los Angeles Football Club saw its quest to repeat as MLS Cup champions end with a 2-1 defeat to the Columbus Crew in MLS Cup 2023 at Lower.com Field in Ohio. Columbus scored a pair of goals four minutes apart late in the first half before MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga pulled a goal back in the 74th minute. However, LAFC were unable to find an equalizer in the final 16 minutes and were unable to stop the Crew from winning their third MLS Cup.
Columbus took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break after Cucho Hernandez converted a penalty kick in the 33rd minute, snapping LAFC’s 400-minute streak without allowing a goal, and Yaw Yeboah scored the eventual game-winning goal, finishing a pass from Malte Amundsen, four minutes later.
LAFC pulled a goal back in the 74th minute when Bouanga scored his 38th goal of the year in all competitions, tying the MLS record for goals in a calendar year. Jesus Murillo intercepted a pass in the attacking third for LAFC and burst into the box before laying off a pass for Bouanga who had his first shot saved, before converting the rebound to make the score 2-1.
Some News & Notes
LAFC is now 1-1 all-time in the MLS Cup, having won the MLS Cup title last season before the loss.
This loss snapped LAFC’s seven-game unbeaten streak in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Before this game, LAFC had not lost in the playoffs since 2020, having not qualified for the postseason in 2021 and winning the MLS Cup last year.
The Crew took a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute when Cucho Hernandez converted a penalty kick to give the home side a 1-0. That goal snapped LAFC’s streak of 400 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal. That streak stretched back to the 40th minute of the Round One Game 1 victory over Vancouver on October 28.
Denis Bouanga scored LAFC’s only goal in the 74th minute. That was his fifth goal of the MLS Cup Playoffs. He finished tied with the Crew’s Cucho Hernandez as the top postseason goal scorer this year.
Bouanga finished 2023 with 38 goals in all competitions for LAFC. That equaled Carlos Vela’s record of 38 goals in a calendar year, which he set in 2019.
In addition to his 38 goals, Bouanga also had 13 assists this year, giving him 51 goal contributions in 48 games in all competitions.
Bouanga is now one of 12 players in MLS history with five or more goals in a single postseason.
LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, who has started each of LAFC’s last seven postseason games dating back to the start of last season, finished the game with three saves,
Of the 11 players that started today’s game for LAFC, eight also started in last year’s MLS Cup for LAFC. Only Giorgio Chiellini, Timothy Tillman, and Cristian Olivera started this season after not starting a year ago.
This was the third consecutive game in which LAFC had utilized the same starting lineup.
Since debuting in MLS in 2018, LAFC has played 12 postseason games. Carlos Vela had appeared in all 12 of those, starting 11.
LAFC defender Giorgio Chiellini, at the age of 39 years and 117 days, is the oldest non-goalkeeper to start an MLS Cup Final.
In the 76th minute, Filip Krastev came on for Kellyn Acosta to make his MLS Cup Playoff debut.
MLS Cup was LAFC’s record 53rd official game of 2023. This year, the club played 34 regular season games, eight Concacaf Champions League games, five MLS Cup Playoff games, three Leagues Cup games, two U.S. Open Cup games, and one game in the Campeones Cup against Tigres. In those 53 games, LAFC had 23 wins, 16 losses, and 13 draws while scoring 94 goals and conceding 57.
Since 2012, the MLS Cup has been played at the home stadium of the finalist with the better regular season record. In the 12 years since, the home side has won nine titles, while the visitors have only won three.
NFL Officiating
Missed calls or some calls that probably shouldn’t have been called. The referees are messing with the beautiful game of football.
Officiating in the NFL has been criticized for quite some time, and detractors have only grown louder this season.
This hasn’t been a problem only this month or for the past two months.
On October 24th an article was published asking what the top 10 of the worst calls this season were. Here they are with their recordings and some more nuggets you might remember
Amari Cooper ruled out of bounds on play where he scored
D.J. Moore similarly ruled out to halt huge play
Browns' game-winning TD set up by questionable pass interference
Steelers get first down on controversial spot to clinch win
Minkah Fitzpatrick called for roughing the passer vs. Raiders
Jawaan Taylor's false starts go uncalled until final moments
Missed Horseshoe Call: Eagles vs 49ers
Missed PI Call: Packers vs Chiefs
Offside Call: Chiefs vs Bills
Missed PI Call: Falcons vs Saints
These are just the top 10. I’m telling you, there’s a lot more.
Read More:
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-officiating-crew-under-heavy-scrutiny-ahead-of-their-texans-jets-week-14-assignment-per-report/
This you might think is old (week 14), but really is just showing what this crew is doing all game long… Boo NFL Referees (Especially John Hussey last week.)
Conclusion
We head once again to the end. I’ll see you Friday with some game picks and more free agency news. Also, we are discontinuing with the Team-By-Team review series. Sorry if your team wasn’t there. This is because I probably need a separate writer for that as these newsletters are already always jam-packed with info and there isn’t enough time for me to write more on the Team-By-Team stuff. If you would like for this series to continue, please give me a Yes down below.
Want to write this new series or become a guest writer? Comment down below or email me at sportssquare@substack.com or thebest616161@gmail.com. Like this post? Hate my opinions? Do the same thing above.
My name is Smayan Srikanth running Sports Square, signing off. See you Friday.
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