Why can’t this happen to me whenever I go to the corner store for a quick run?
As reported by United Press International, Alexandro Acevedo of Monroe, North Carolina went out for a milk run on Sept. 30 after his kids polished off the last of it that day. That would never happen in my house unless I did it. Acevedo decided to grab one of those scratch tickets that tempt me every time. He played it in his car before heading home. Sure as crap, this guy wins $200,000. He plans on making upgrades to his house with the money and taking a trip to Walt Disney World is in order for his kids. Congratulations, you lucky son of a prairie dog.
Anyway:
Yeah, that’s what they said
Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama is one of the holiest sites for NASCAR and apparently, it’s also one of the places where trackside reporters either make stuff up or do their best to hide what’s really being said.
Brandon Brown won his first career race on the Xfinity Series circuit on Oct. 2, which is a big deal and good on him for doing so. But it’s the post-race interview he did with Kelli Stavast of NBC Sports which got all the attention. Stavast was asking him about the big moment when a “F—- Joe Biden” chant broke out.
Now, it’s live TV and NBC obviously didn’t have its seven-second delay in operation, but Stavast didn’t make things any better. She decided to say this as a way to describe what was happening:
“As you can hear the chants from the crowd: ‘Let’s go Brandon’ …”
Even funnier was that she paused for a couple of seconds to let everyone get a real good earful of what was being said so you know Stavast was trying her best to cover things up. I don’t know why we do this to ourselves in the media. We’re supposed to roll with the punches and do the best we can to punch through it. Lying about something while it’s happening around you doesn’t exactly help our reputation. Reminds me of that time Ali Velshi of MSNBC stood in downtown Minneapolis last year during the George Floyd riots and claimed everything was peaceful while the city was in flames. He’s from Toronto so he doesn’t know any better to begin with.
In any event, it was a silly way to try and downplay it. Just tell it like it is next time.
What the hell was that?
I had never heard of Jalen Smereck until now and it’s unfortunate that this is the way I had to learn about him. Smereck played in the Ukranian Hockey League (UHL) — I say played because he’s no longer there.
Smereck was playing with his team, HC Donbass, on Sept. 25 against HC Kremenchuk and got involved in a bit of a mix-up with Andrei Deniskin near the end of the game, which happens from time to time in hockey. But what doesn’t usually happen — and should never happen — is looking at Smereck, who is Black, and mimicking the peeling of a banana in his direction. I mean, that’s not even a chirp. That’s just disgusting.
Deniskin was originally suspended for three games by the UHL but got that bumped up to 13 when the country’s governing body for hockey stepped in and added 10 more. Smereck said he wouldn’t play in the UHL again unless Deniskin was suspended for good, and Smereck is now looking at offers back in North America.
We’ve heard about players saying awful stuff, but seeing it in full view is pretty jarring. Even the commentator of the game made mention of it. Granted, my Ukrainian ain’t what it used to be but I understood it when he said Andrei Deniskin and racism in the same sentence. The best justice of all would have been for Deniskin to take the next face off and have the crap pummeled out of him while his teammates watched.
And finally …
Good Idea: Celebrating clinching a playoff berth.
Bad Idea: Celebrating clinching a playoff berth and then punching a wall afterward.
Athletes are stupid people for the most part. Here’s the latest example. We take you to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Brewers have just sealed the National League Central Division crown on Sept. 26. The custom when that happens is for teams to put up plastic protectors and waste thousand of dollars worth of booze all over the place. In the case of pitcher Devin Williams, that also means apparently punching a wall after having a wee bit too much of the barley nectar.
This Einstein got upset about something — don’t know what — and proceeded to try and put his pitching hand through a wall. He now needs surgery to repair it and will probably miss the playoffs. It’s like you have to bubble-wrap these idiots sometimes, if only to protect them from themselves.
Until next time, folks …
James McCarthy is NNSL sports editor.