We waited through months of quarantine with no sports. Relying on Madden sims, obscure Ukrainian Soccer leagues and replays of NFC East match ups from the mid-2000’s to fill that void in our heart. Everyone from the casual sports Joe to the degenerate gamblers felt the void of not having sports for months….WELL; WE’RE ALL THE WAY BACK BOYS & GIRLS!
Legitimate sports started to trickle back into the our lives a while ago overseas when the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) started back up in May with others sports overseas following suit, like the German Bundesliga a couple weeks after. Real, genuine sports with athletes we could say we’ve actually heard of were returning and bet slips that aren’t total shots into the dark were being fired off left and right.
Since, things have really started to ramp up with 3 of the 4 major U.S. sports, MLS, Golf and Tennis all in action in the good ole’ United States. We have Tiger Woods back and ready to steal your girl, NBA players getting in trouble for Strip Club chicken wings, McDavid embarrassing his opposition and MLS still being…well the MLS.
With a at least a few weeks of sports back, I think it’s time we grade a few (just the ones I’m gambling on, really) of the returns in American sports.
BASKETBALL- B
Let’s be real, not many thought the NBA Bubble would have been the resounding success it has been…but that’s why Adam Silver is the best commissioner in sports (got a real soft spot in my heart for that chrome dome). I mean, they got everyone who didn’t opt out to agree to live in a hotel room my family and I would be staying in, staying confined to the bubble (for the most part) and tons of testing/quarantining to ensure player safety…all great. But, let’s be real, this product is a bit watered down right now. I mean you can tell who took time to better themselves during their time off and workout…and those who sat home playing Call of Duty and munching on whatever Door Dash had to offer. I mean, look at the Western Conference favorites, the Lakers. They have an out-of-shape Dion Waiters taking 10 shot a game, J.R. Smith so high that those sitting court side are catching a contact buzz and an uninspired Lebron who just wants to sit next to a Mickey Mouse shaped pool sipping on some vino. Also, there is no way Zion isn’t 300 pounds right now. It really seems some of these guys just don’t care right now, but I’m sure that’ll change when the playoffs kick off. The product just hasn’t seemed consistent so far, but they’re still working on adjusting back. **Full disclosure**I bumped this grade up from a B- because of the Lou Williams trip to Magic City for some wings and getting blown in by hip-hop’s sweetheart, Jack Harlow via Snapchat.
HOCKEY- A
I won’t pretend to be the biggest Hockey guy, but I love me some NHL playoffs and they have delivered so far. Feels a little premature to give them A with games resuming a little over a week ago, but the product has been great. NHL did “it” right and by “it”, I mean they got their players ready, kept them safe and built an unprecedented playoff system that seems to be working. Things are full steam ahead as we have McDavid looking like a create-a-player in Chel20 with all his sliders up, overs hitting left and right and players still eager to drop the gloves and relieve that quarantine tension with something other than their left hand and a bottle of Lubriderm. Things are ramping up with this expanded playoff format where it seems every team but the Sabres made it in. I’m excited to see how these series play out and plenty of high-intensity Hockey left to enjoy and time to sweat out a few alternate line parlays.
BASEBALL- D+
Not a hot take here, but Baseball is an absolute dumpster fire. We’ve had 10+ people testing positive in organizations (s/o Jeter), series being “postponed” indefinitely and games being played with player’s actively testing for positive. I mean, it’s a circus. I give them credit for getting the league going with all the technicalities, but I’m actually surprised they didn’t shut it all down after the Marlins debacle. The play has been all over the place with some pitchers being on extreme pitch counts, player’s out of shape getting injured and a SEVERE lack of bat flips. It’s nice to see my Yankees rolling, but the restart overall has been shot. The highlights thus far have been The Buffalo Blue Jays becoming a thing, Jeter continuing his downward spiral as an exec (but they’re 5-1!!) and Astros’ batters being pinged by pitches every game (#FreeJoeKelly).
GOLF- B+
Tiger is back and about to ravage the PGA Championship…”Hide yo kids, hide yo wife”.
I was going to leave it at just that but in reality; the PGA restart so far has been wild. We have Dustin Johnson going from winning the Traveler’s a little more than a month ago, then the next week posting back-to-back 80’s and not making the cut at Memorial. Young guns like Morikawa (that playoff win was everything I want out of golf) and Hovland playing lights out ushering in a new generation of elite golfers. We’ve even had some fun with it watching the uhhh…entertaining (?) and totally not scripted match up between Tiger/Peyton Manning vs. Phil/Brady. There’s been no lack of electricity, but I won’t bump this grade up until I see how things play out in the first major since the restart starting today with the PGA Championship…have I mentioned Tiger is back?
Soccer- C+
As stated before the grades, this is just rankings for sports returning stateside. If it was all international Soccer, I’d have the grade higher as leagues like the English Premier League haven’t lost a step. The MLS kicked Soccer back off post-shutdown with their ‘MLS Is Back’ tournament…which was, for lack of a better term, lackluster. Was doomed from the start with 2 teams withdrawing before it even kicked off. Play seemed sloppy overall, players were out of sync, and the lack of build up for the tournament was obvious. I love Soccer, but the MLS just has never really scratched that itch for me and the league since return has been average. **I may be bias as I’ve been crushed on multiple MLS bets as these teams love to score all the game’s goals in the last 5 minutes of the match, thus causing a handful of Merekat meltdowns.
**BONUS GRADE**
Football- D+
Can’t post a real grade as nothing has really happened yet with the NFL restart. Yeah, yeah, yeah Goodell has a “plan”, but who has ANY faith in this clown? Maybe the worst commissioner in sports is being guided by the NFLPA here more than his own decisions. Players are opting out left and right, positive tests are flying around every team, no real schedule plan has been decided on…I hope to god I’m so wrong, but right now, I don’t see how the NFL happens this season or at least a 16 game schedule with teams at their full strength. The only reason this wasn’t a flat out F is that my hero, Spencer Strasmore, has bought the XFL. There is hope yet from a league that filled that Spring Football void.
