Oh! When They Say Upsets…. || NFL Trade Deadline News || Talking About Adam Wainwright and Mookie Betts || International News and more.

Edition #10

Oct 31, 2023

Intro:

If you didn’t know, yesterday was the most awaited day in sports history. The Sports Equinox. It’s the day an NFL, NBA, MLS, NHL, and MLB game happens on the same day. The thing is, this doesn’t happen every year. In fact, this is the 30th time it’s ever happened in the history of sports. Wow! Let’s recap what happened!

The Sports Equinox

Yesterday was a big day for the sports industry, and let’s review it all.

NFL

You might have thought the QBs had a good game. Absolutely not. At least, for me. 383 passes without an interception is CRAZY. I mean, think about Jalen Hurts. Tossing the ball for a pick almost every game, and he actually HAS turned over the ball every single game, which is crazy because he had 6 interceptions all of last year, but he has 8 interceptions in 8 weeks. Anyway, back on topic. Jared Goff has 1 pick and so did Jimmy Garrapalo, but Jimmy had only 127 YARDS OF PASSING ALL NIGHT! Crazy! There weren’t any sacks in this game, but think about what kind of game the Raiders played if the person with the most yards at wide receiver in the game was Josh Jacobs, your running back. The Raiders just have to get better.

NBA

The best game of the day was definitely Magic, Lakers. These two teams went back-and-forth FOREVER in the 4th quarter and finally, the Lakers pulled away. The Magic though should be extremely happy with this game as they put a tough fight into it. You can’t win every one, just like you can’t please everyone. (Btw: NBA Cup Starts Friday)

MLS

Not many people watch the MLS Cup. In fact, 1 in 15 people in the U.S.A. watch it. If you think that’s much, what about this, 1 in 4 people watch the NFL. Now what do you say? The MLS is nothing, right? The MLS Cup is going on, just like I introduced last week, and yesterday, the Seattle Sounders faced FC Dallas and won 2-0, and really, this should’ve been Dallas’s win. I mean, 57% of possession for Seattle and 43 for Dallas isn’t really a big difference. Neither is 6 shots on target and 4 shots on target. Dallas just got unlucky here (and I don’t know much about soccer, but do they just blame it on the goalkeeper for the loss? Lol)

Refer a friend

NHL

We saw the Coyotes blank the Blackhawks in an 8-1 game. That might not be crazy to other people, but it is for ME. Michael Carcone had a BIG day, scoring 4 goals out of the 8. The only goal for the Blackhawks came from youngster Conner Bedard who at this point really looks like he’s carrying their team. The Blackhawks had 32 shots on goal and the Coyotes had 33 shots on goal. Not a big difference, which means that the goalies and how many shots on target lost this game. Also, we almost saw an upset as the defending champs, the Las Vegas Golden Knights almost lost in shoot-outs to the Canadiens, but they pulled away with one more goal and that was the game.

MLB

What other way to end this recap than to talk about the World Series? One person, who was famous that we saw at the World Series last night, was Mookie Betts. The Rangers won against the Diamondbacks, in Phoenix, 3-1. The only runs of the game were generated by Marcus Semien and Corey Seager for the Rangers. The only runs of the game for the Diamondbacks were generated by Geraldo Perdomo, but Ketel Marte extended his hit-streak in the postseason and also has a hit in all 19 games of the postseason for the Diamondbacks. Also, some bad news for the Rangers as Adolis Garcia gets injured in the 8th inning. We don’t exactly know what happened to him, but if he has to miss time, that could be a problem for the Rangers. (Pitcher for Diamondbacks, Brandon Pfaadt. The guy, I said, was a REALLY good pitcher. He still was good, but…)

Adam Wainwright Retires after a Long 18-Year Tenure.

Adam Wainwright managed to survive 18 years amid the grueling schedule of Major League Baseball before a puppy ended his career.

The 42-year-old called time on his long career at the end of the 2023 season after 478 games, 2,202 strikeouts, three All-Star appearances, and a World Series title with the St Louis Cardinals, his only major league team.

But when he lodged his official retirement papers to Major League Baseball, rather than listing health concerns or the opportunity to enjoy his $182m in career earnings, he gave his reason for stepping away from the game as “Because I got a puppy”.

Wainwright promised his children they would get a family dog when he retired from baseball, and the Cardinals presented the Wainwrights with a Lagotto Romagnolo puppy during a ceremony before their final home game of the season on 1 October. Wainwright’s wife, Jenny, named the puppy Louie.

It is unclear if Louie wants to follow his adopted father into professional sports.

Twitter Post from Adam Wainwright

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Mr. Cousin is Gone. What’s next for the Vikings and at the QB Position Specifically?

Trade. The Vikings have lost starting quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season with the torn Achilles' he suffered in Sunday's win at Green Bay. The injury puts a big damper on the team rallying from a 0-3 start to get back to NFC playoff contention at 4-4 following Week 8.

The question is, will Minnesota officials make a trade for another QB instead of just handing coach Kevin O'Connell's offense to one of two backups, Nick Mullens or rookie fifth-rounder Jaren Hall? The best reasonable outside answer is obvious: Trey Lance.

Lance, a first-rounder in 2021 (No. 3 overall) was traded from the 49ers to the Cowboys in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick right before the 2023 season. Although Tennessee's Ryan Tannehill, Arizona's Kyler Murray and other veterans have come up as quick trade targets and street free agents such as Carson Wentz and Colt McCoy are available, Lance might be the QB addition who makes the most sense for Minnesota.

Trey Lance remains a promising young QB from Minnesota

Like Wentz, Lance went to nearby North Dakota State. Unlike Wentz, Lance hails from the Vikings' home state. He was attached to them in the '21 draft because of the local interest and thinking about the future beyond Cousins.

Lance is from Marshall, Minn., about three hours drive southwest from Minneapolis. The Vikings weren't in position to draft him in '21 after the 49ers made a big move up the board. This is their shot to land at much less cost. The Cowboys could play into their desperation and flip him for something more than a fourth-rounder, but that's not a bad floor for his trade value.

Lance also carries a current cap number of $940,000 in Dallas, per OverTheCap.com. He could fit into the Minnesota salary table while it is still paying Cousins top market, unlike Tannehill and Murray.

Trey Lance can fit well in the Vikings' offense

The Vikings did use an intriguing 2023 draft pick on the upside of Hall, who was a prolific, athletic passer at BYU. That says they are willing to pivot away from a traditional pocket passer a la Cousins to add another element to O'Connell's offense.

Minnesota should see that Lance still has a strong arm and have some good key pieces to boost a young QB. The healthy ones for him now are rookie first-round wideout Jordan Addison, tight end T.J. Hockenson and '21 first-round left tackle Christian Darrisaw. A healthy return from Jefferson makes them fully loaded.

O'Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took a shot on Cam Akers for the backfield when Sean McVay and the Rams didn't want him. They have already proved willing to take cheap, calculated shots on talented castoffs.

Lance can be let loose with his running and downfield passing with his big arm. The Vikings also have nothing to lose by accelerating his development on the fly, because the season already might seem lost without Cousins.

Trey Lance is more than a short-term option for Cousins

The Vikings have lost starting quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season with the torn Achilles' he suffered in Sunday's win at Green Bay. The injury puts a big damper on the team rallying from a 0-3 start to get back to NFC playoff contention at 4-4 following Week 8.

International News. Talking More Australia.

Australia had one of the most dominative games in cricket. They scored 399 runs in 50 overs (the max in this tournament) then the opposing team, Netherlands, who like I said before, isn’t that good at cricket score 90 in 21 overs before getting SHUT DOWN by the Australia bowling who took 10 wickets in 21 overs. Australia won by 309 RUNS! At this point, they have 3 wins in a row, but on Friday, Australia wanted to beat another team up, this one higher in the standings, so they went ahead and hit 388 runs in 49.2 overs (almost the max) which means that they’ve finally been hitting very well. New Zealand, one of the better countries in this tournament, tried to catch up, but Australia bowling came big again, holding them to 383 in 50 overs (the max). Australia is suddenly picking up steam, and they only have 3 more games left in the tournament for them. Australia is finally looking like the heavyweight they were supposed to be…

Conclusion

There will be no newsletter tomorrow, but expect a tiny-little bit. It’ll probably be on the world series and/or maybe some picks for Thursday Night Football. Who knows? Stay tuned! Forward this newsletter to all of your friends and subscribe for a cookie!