It can be difficult to explain how much of an impact someone had once they are gone. Outside of the baseball world, many might not know who Jose Fernandez was. Well, the 24-year old star pitcher who was born in Cuba and fought for years to make it to the United States and eventually to the Major Leagues, really did have a huge impact on the game of baseball in his short time in the league. You wouldn’t be able to tell or comprehend his struggle based on his demeanor or his personality. You can read all about his journey and the difficult road he took to make it to the United States, but the fact is that once his journey was a success, he never took a day for granted and enjoyed every moment he spent on a baseball field.
Jose brought an infectious smile and personality to the game that sometimes could be overlooked. Baseball has a rich history of written rules and non-written rules, but Jose was changing the rules every time he entered the ballpark. He was just a kid living his dream and wanted to enjoy every moment. Jose Fernandez may not be with us anymore, but his spirit and what he brought to the game will stay with Major League Baseball for a long time to come. For now, here are 16 gifs to remember #16 Jose Fernandez by.
When he impressed in his first career start against the Mets
Sometimes his performance was just too hot to handle
via MLB.com
And sometimes his stretching just happened to be right on camera
via MLB.com
He’d even have the competition smiling
via MLB.com
The competition wasn’t always smiling when he was on the mound
via MLB.com
He would get into some pre-game hi-jinx with the mascots
via MLB.com
And had his coaches laughing
via MLB.com
And took the time to take some batting practice
via MLB.com
Even though when he faced pitchers, he was sometimes left speechless
via MLB.com
Other times he was crushing home runs
But, he could still do this to you
His impressions of his teammates were always on point
via MLB.com
And his dancing was even better
via MLB.com
His skills always had his opponents amazed
But most of all, he always had fun and brought a smile to the game
via MLB.com
We’re all going to miss that.
RIP Jose Fernandez 1992-2016
via Miami Dolphins
Kyle Boris is a contributing editor for YourSitch.com
September is upon us which means our favorite television shows are returning, new ones are premiering, baseball is coming to a close, football is starting up and of course the Emmy’s are knocking on the door. With all that in mind, take a look as I count down the 10 most pressing and entertaining issues that have me interested as I question September 2016.
10.) Will Ryan Lochte make it past the first round on Dancing with the Stars?
Oh, Ryan, where did we go wrong? Oh, yeah, it was when you lied about your drunken night. We’ve all been there. But, what better way to get rid of some bad publicity than to go on Dancing with the Stars? Lochte will be a contestant on Season 23?! of the popular dancing competition joining the likes of reality television all-star Vanilla Ice and fellow olympian, Laurie Hernandez. I have to assume Lochte isn’t going to be a fan favorite even if he dances well. Could he end up spending less time on the dance floor than he did in Rio?
Kyle’s Answer: Lochte will make it past the first round…but not much further.
9.) Will Donald Glover find success in Atlanta?
Creator, co-writer, producer, star. Donald Glover does it all on his new comedy series, Atlanta, set to premiere September 6th on FX. The man who goes by Childish Gambino in the rap scene and went by Troy on Community, Glover dwells into his own creation this time around as he plays Earn Marks, a man with no job in a big city with bigger dreams. Early reviews are positive and it seems as if Glover has struck gold again.
Kyle’s Answer: Glover shines in HOTLANTA
8.) Will Storks have the same success as The Lego Movie?
After an eleven year layoff, Warner Animation Group(formally Warner Bros. Feature Animation) hit it big with one of the biggest animated films of 2014 with The Lego Movie. The film sits at a whopping 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed over 469 million bucks. I feel sorry for the film that has to follow that up. That’s where Storks comes in; September 23 to be exact. This 3D animated film revolves around the idea that storks no longer deliver babies and instead deliver packages. All is well until Junior(Andy Samberg) gets into some hijinks and must deliver an actual baby. The idea is a fresh one and the trailers haven’t given much away, but we’ll have to see if Samberg can bring the same charm to Junior that Chris Pratt brought to Emmet in The Lego Movie.
Kyle’s Answer: Storks does well, but falls short in its opening weekend at the box office againts The Magnificent Seven(starring Chris Pratt).
7.) Will there be a tie for the second wild card spot heading into the final two days of the MLB regular season?
It’s only happened once since the new wild card rules were created in 2012, but this season has the chance to produce a 163rd game between two teams tied for the second wild card. Two teams are granted a wild card berth and play in one game to determine who moves on to the Division Round. But, with many teams fighting for positioning, there’s a chance a 163rd game might have to be played in case of a tie for the second wild card spot.
While the NL has a chance as the Mets, Pirates and Marlins are all within three games of the final wild card spot, the American League has a logjam of teams fighting for that final spot.
TEAM
W
L
PCT
WCGB
Red Sox
74
59
.556
+2.0
Orioles
72
61
.541
–
Tigers
72
61
.541
–
Astros
71
62
.534
1.0
Yankees
69
63
.523
2.5
Royals
69
64
.519
3.0
Mariners
68
65
.511
4.0
records via MLB.com
A whole bunch of scheduling conflicts could be in play if two or more teams finish with the same record. As of right now, the Orioles and Tigers would have to play a 163rd game to determine who gets the chance to play the Red Sox. However, the Astros, Yankees, Royals and even Mariners are within striking distance of making October very interesting.
Kyle’s Answer: The Red Sox and the Orioles hold off the competition heading into October
6.) Will Tim Tebow be signed to a Major League Baseball Contract?
Tebow 3:16. TebowMania. Tebow Time. It seems that the man can’t go a few months without his name being heard around the country. The former football star recently had a tryout in front of Major League Baseball scouts for over 25 teams. He showed off his speed for his size, a strong arm, and some decent power. But, what are the chances Tebow gets signed during the month of September? Tebow could do well in the minor leagues, perhaps, but I’m not so sure someone’s ready to give him the opportunity.
Kyle’s Answer: Tebow doesn’t get signed and is back as an analyst before month’s end.
5.) Will Marvel’s Luke Cage follow in the footsteps of Jessica Jones and Daredevil?
We’ll have to wait until the end of the month to know if Luke Cage will be a hit just like fellow superheroes Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Netflix hasn’t missed a beat recently with its comic book adaptations and there shouldn’t be any worry that this will change with Luke Cage. Cage was a towering force as Jones’s lover and partner on her Netflix series, so its exciting to see what he can do on his own.
Kyle’s Answer: I binge watch it in one night…and it delivers.
4.) Will South Park’s 20th season premiere crack two million viewers?
The boys of South Park have been crossing lines and dropping jaws for 19 strong seasons with number 20 on the way, September 14th. However, last season saw a drop in viewers as the premiere only brought in 1.76 million viewers. That was down from the 2.40 million for Season 18 and 2.89 for Season 17. Actually, the show didn’t crack 2 million U.S. viewers once in its 19th season. 20 seasons is a big deal and with plenty of Trump to go around, we can be sure the animated comedy has some material to work with.
Kyle’s Answer: South Park’s premiere does not mention Kyle’s mom, but reaches 2 million viewers.
3.) How will the Patriots do without Tom Brady?
If you weren’t aware. Tom Brady had some problems with his balls; more specifically the air quality in said balls. The man was on a mission to take down Roger Goodell and get his four-game suspension revoked for Deflate Gate, but ultimately Goodell won the battle and Brady will be forced to sit out his team’s first four games against the Dolphins and Texans at home and on the road against the Cardinals and Bills. Jimmy Garoppolo has zero career starts in the NFL and will be tasked with facing some tough defenses to open the season.
Kyle’s Answer: Patriots lose both road games and one at home to the Texans to fall to 1-3 before Brady comes back to save them and carry the team to the playoffs.
2.) Who says the most offensive joke at the Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe?
Every year Comedy Central hosts a roast where a bunch of comedians and celebrities get to tear each and pretty much anyone and anything going on in the world apart. Justin Bieber and James Franco have been previous roastees, but this year’s honor goes to Rob Lowe. Will Rob make the most offensive joke of the night? Probably not. That honor will have to come from one of his fellow roasters: Jimmy Carr, Ann Coulter, David Spade, Pete Davidson, Nikki Glaser, Jewel, Ralph Macchio, Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle and Jeff Ross.
Kyle’s Answer: The safe bet is to go with Jeff Ross who is never afraid to address touchy topics. However, I’m gonna go with Pete Davidson who will try to follow up some of his 9/11 references from last year.
1.) Will Game of Thrones sweep the Supporting Actor/Actress categories at the Emmy’s?
Game of Thrones had a huge sixth season. Deaths: CHECK. Battles: CHECK. More Deaths: CHECK. With all those deaths and battles came some great performances from the regular actors and actresses on the show. This was made clear when the Emmy nominees were announced and five GoT actors & actresses were nominated.
In the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category, Peter Dinklage(Tyrion) and Kit Harington(Jon Snow) will try to fend off Jonathan Banks(Better Caul Saul), Michael Kelly(House of Cards), Ben Mendelsohn(Bloodline) and Jon Voight(Ray Donovan). Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series finds three ladies of Game of Thrones as nominees. Emilia Clarke(Daenerys), Lena Headey(Cersei) and Maisie Williams(Arya) all will be vying for their first Emmy awards against Maggie Smith(Downton Abbey), Maura Tierney(The Affair) and Constance Zimmer(UnREAL).
Kyle’s Answer: The women have a better shot to come away with a victory and I believe Lena Headey powers through and notches the Emmy win for her role as Cersei. On the men’s side, Kit and Peter will have some competition particularly in the form of the great Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut on Better Call Saul, but I think Kit Harrington as Jon Snow pulls out the victory for the Starks!
Kyle Boris is a contributing editor for YourSitch.com
The start of another soccer season is upon us and so is another season of me having to explain at length that not every game ends zero-zero. Rather than me tell you why you should love soccer, here are seven things that it does better than the “Big Four” American sports. Take note NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL!
1. Promotion/Relegation
One of the coolest things about each new soccer season is when new teams are added to the league. At the end of the season, the bottom three teams in the top tier league are replaced with the top three teams in the league below them.
Watford celebrates being promoted to the Premier League in 2015 (Source)
For example, in the Premier League, Newcastle United, Norwich City and Aston Villa finished at the bottom last year and will be replaced with Burnley, Middlesbrough and Hull City. One of the top benefits of this would be the obliteration of tanking. A team like the 76ers or Braves wouldn’t be able to throw complete seasons away for draft picks because they would risk dropping down to the second-tier league. This would make more teams competitive and create more drama for teams that otherwise have nothing to play for. Instead of Sabres fans cheering at their team losing a game to give them a better draft pick, that win becomes super important to the Sabres remaining in the NHL.
Additionally, you’d get to see new teams, players and jerseys each year when new teams get promoted to replace whoever happened to get relegated that year. One last bonus this plan adds is that money hungry leagues (all of them) can add expansion teams without the traditional negatives that come with adding new teams. Las Vegas wants a football team? Sure thing! But they start in the lower division and have to work their way up to the NFL without the ridiculousness of an expansion draft.
2. Loans
In soccer, players are allowed to be loaned to other clubs for a season or partial season in exchange for that team paying the players salary. Usually this occurs when teams want a young player to have more regular playing time than they can offer, or when they want to sell a player that’s hard to get rid of. The concept of loans in other sports leagues leads to a wide range of fascinating possibilities.
For my favorite football team the Jets, I love the possibility of loaning Geno Smith to another team to see if he can develop into anything resembling a starter, while the Jets still attempt to reach the playoffs with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Maybe Christian Hackenberg is loaned to the Browns after RGIII and Josh McCown suffer season-ending injuries and turns into a star by the end of the season due to regular playing time (ok this is a little too biased, reeling it in a little).
MFW the Jets still can’t field a decent QB (Source)
Combining loans with the aforementioned promotion/relegation two-tiered sports leagues idea, we get even cooler possibilities. Maybe the Mets finally give Brandon Nimmo some playing time by loaning him to the Reds as part of the Jay Bruce deal, allowing Nimmo to avoid the corner-outfield logjam in Flushing for a year and giving the Reds an exciting young player to try and avoid relegation. Maybe instead of awkwardly backing up Brett Farve for three seasons before his eventual retirement/unretirement, Aaron Rodgers could have been loaned to the Las Vegas Cardsharks in League 2 and honed his craft there. Rodgers could have developed into an elite quarterback faster (theoretically), the Packers would have realized it’s time to move on from Farve (theoretically) and the Cardsharks could have rode Rodgers to a promotion to the NFL. Everyone wins!
If we attempt to reach an even crazier scenario with loans, maybe instead of leaving Cleveland in chase of rings, LeBron asks to be loaned to Miami for just a year instead, then returns to the Cavs without ever having to have to go through The Decision. Maybe Mike Trout is loaned to the Blue Jays for the rest of the year to create the most ridiculous lineup ever and give him a shot at a ring that he clearly won’t have any time soon in Los Angeles. Maybe JR Smith gets loaned to a team that lets him play games shirtless. The possibilities are endless!
3. Cups & Tournaments
On top of regular season games, there are multiple cups and tournaments going on throughout the year that teams participate in. These tournaments are great opportunities for small clubs (even from the other tiers) to make a name for themselves and for teams that wouldn’t normally have a chance at hardware to go for glory in an otherwise lost season.
And really every season is a lost season if you’re the Browns (Source)
Imagine the Cubs avoiding the suffering of another World Series-less year as their season is redeemed by their brilliant run to the Jackie Robinson Cup (baseball’s tourney would be the easiest to name by far). Like soccer, these tournaments would run parallel to the season and offer hope, excitement and extra games to otherwise disinterested fanbases. Also, powerhouse teams like the Spurs or the Patriots would have to debate whether they want to ignore the cup(s) and put all their resources towards the league, or go for both if they think they can do it. Do you heavily rotate to focus on winning the championship despite being only a few wins away from a trophy in the Cup tournament?
New York Rangers fans could finally pretend their team matters with a Gretsky Cup victory, the Braves could shock everyone with hardware in a season they end up getting relegated to the second tier and the new Seattle Supersonics could upset the Warriors in the Brian Scalabrine Cup (working title) final in a legendary 2-OT game. While this probably wouldn’t work in the NFL due to player safety concerns, what fan of other leagues wouldn’t love to see more games, more playoff atmosphere and more excitement during the season?
4. Jerseys
When I first learned soccer teams get new jerseys made for them every year I thought it was dumb. It’s really just for teams to make more money each season, as crazy fans will end up buying at least a new jersey per season, if not all three (home, away, alternate). It’s a ton of fun to see teams wear throwback uniforms (unless you’re Chris Sale) so it actually makes a lot of sense for fans to be pumped up for new jerseys each year.
The release of these new threads always generates a lot of buzz in the offseason, creating more excitement during a time that usually has none. Sure, sometimes you won’t be crazy about one of your team’s jersey but everyone discussing their opinions on the looks just adds to the fun. Plus, it’s always fun to laugh at the ridiculous uniforms that your rivals will have to wear that year like these atrocities:
Burnley Away 15/16
Chelsea Home 16/17
Liverpool 13/14 (lol)
Liverpool Third 16/17
I mean, who approved those? But anyway this is a great idea because it’s a huge money maker for teams and leagues and the new designs will give fans something else to debate and argue over. Oh and this, from one team’s jersey launch:
5. Rule Consistency
The rules of soccer have, for the most part, stayed the same for as long as I can remember. And the one time they introduce new technology into the game (goal-line technology), it was a seamless transition that doesn’t take up game time and generally makes the game better and more accurate. Meanwhile in other sports:
And while the NFL can’t figure out the most basic of rules, the MLB and NBA are having trouble with replay. Both have recently implemented video review to help make sure umpires/referees get the call right. But neither has figured out how to have that happen quickly.
Video review on challenges or umpire reviews take excruciating long in baseball, a sport that has been trying everything to speed up their games. Basketball can’t efficiently review plays either and has been trying to tweak the rules to get rid of “hacking” for a while now. The NHL has actually had some good rule changes like taking out the stupid two-line pass rule but also implemented the trapezoid which is up for Dumbest Rule Change in Recent Sports History (not a real thing). Consistency goes a long way in gaining new fans and not pissing off existing fans with infuriating tweaks to da rules. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” should be adhered to by a lot more leagues.
6. Fan Songs
Every Big Four supporter gets behind their team in the most boring ways possible. “Let’s-go-[team]! Let’s-go-[team]!” Real creative Richard, they haven’t heard that one before, that’ll propell ‘em to victory. “D-Fence! D-Fence!” Thank god you were there to tell them you support them doing their job Deborah, what would they have done without you? It’s so uncreative that EVERY TEAM has a version of the same chants. And god forbid you have a stadium of split fans trying to out chant each other WITH THE SAME CHANT. You’ll have the entire stadium screaming “LETS-GO” and then a ridiculous mix of team names “CJOELTTSS!!!”
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, fans have gotten much more creative and kick the crap out of our chants/cheers. If you watched any of the European Championships, you saw/heard Iceland’s fantastic and intimidating Viking clap:
THIS IS ALREADY A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN ANYTHING WE HAVE AND THEY’RE JUST CLAPPING!
There are endless examples of great songs made by fans, but the best are when they’re making fun of athletes, like West Ham fans chanting at a former player that reminded them of a certain bald Harry Potter character:
There’s also a ton of great self deprecating chants like:
Do these chants actually help teams perform better? I don’t know, Google it. But it definitely sounds a lot better and is less boring that what we have now.
7. Less Commercials
Easily the best part of watching soccer is the uninterrupted flow of play. You get to enjoy 45+ straight minutes of gameplay, followed by a 15 minute break for halftime when TV gets all of its commercials out of the way/when you go refill the bowl of Doritos you spilled everywhere when your team scored and then another 45+ minutes of straight soccer homie. Never will you have to deal with the atrocities of the dreaded extra point-commercial-kickoff-commercial combo that watching football gets you.
The above chart, which matches similar research online, gives you an idea of just how little action there actually is in other sports like football and baseball. Most of these broadcasts are made up of replays, analysis, commercials and players waiting around for the next play to start, with very little actually happening. All this is a part of soccer as well but in much smaller doses that lets you get into the flow of the game more.
I get that soccer isn’t for everyone (no sport is, especially NASCAR), and my reason for writing this article wasn’t to convince everyone to start loving it. Nor is it a perfect sport either (please don’t google flopping, racism in soccer, or European Super League). Rather, I thought it important to point out the things it gets right because while no sport has it all together, soccer looks to be leading the pack. And if the Big Four leagues are gonna screw around with their sports, they might as well learn a thing from a sport that has it’s shit together.
Ryan McAdams is a contributing editor for YourSitch.com
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