MidValleySports.Com

By Joe Torosian

Kick it!

The best part of the NFL Hall of Fame induction week/weekends has always been the speeches. I love the gratitude expressed, and it stands out even more in 2026 as ingratitude has joined victimhood as the emotional currency of our culture.

Adam Vinatieri pushed it a bit with his Hall of Fame speech. The least appreciated might have been his calling Drew Bledsoe the greatest quarterback in Patriots history. That was funny.

I feel different about the San Francisco 49ers now, but, to be honest, when they were winning titles in the ’80s I never hated them.
I rooted against them, wanted them to lose, but it was hard to hate great football.

Roger Craig having to wait this long to get to Canton was criminal. If Craig had played in Pittsburgh, I’m sure he would have been inducted before the turn of the century.

Deshaun Watson is trending to be the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback Week One. If he is the starter and let’s say a competent one…Will we get the same treatment Michael Vick got when he came back to the NFL?

Teddy Bridgewater has had more retirements than Barbara Streisand…

Speaking of quarterbacks, I’d like to see the Rams’ Sean McVay loosen his preseason rules just enough to let Stetson Bennett take a few snaps.

I saw a post of  “A Midsummer Night’s Magic” from August 10, 1986…Loved the highlights, but I had to sadly laugh at how much summer has been jacked up so that August 10 (heat aside) no longer feels like summer.

(Soapbox Moment: I don’t care about the excuse or rationale, no kid should be back in class before Labor Day.) 

I was kind of surprised no one mentioned that Don Nelson, who passed away yesterday at 86, actually spent two seasons with the Lakers before his run with the Boston Celtics.

When I was a kid watching Nelson play, I didn’t realize he was 6-6…so he gave me hope that I could play in the NBA. 

…And Nelson didn’t look anything like me.

Everyone’s talked about DiJonai Carrington’s felonious assault on Sophie Cunningham. I don’t know if there’s anything left to say, but I’ll dive into it when people finally admit what Kevin McHale did to Kurt Rambis in the ’84 NBA Finals was the same.

Maybe because I hate the Celtics, I can’t help but think there’s still some justice out there to be attained.

Carrington’s social media post about privilege only reinforced she’s a jackwagon with bad wigs…and anyone, if they so choose, can be a jackwagon with bad wigs.

Regarding jackwagons, if you ever met Tommy Lasorda away from a camera, you know exactly what I mean–and I loved Lasorda.

What I thought was more harmful to the WNBA this weekend was Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon resting starters A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young. She rested them for the team’s nationally televised game against the New York Liberty on Sunday.

Hammon used the standard yada yada of protecting her players’ health; it was a back-to-back, long road trip, and they had to fly cross-country. 

Note: The WNBA has a 44-game regular season. It starts at the beginning of May and goes to the end of September. That averages out to eight games a month.

Like the players’ performance in its All-Star Game, the league has an unearned sense of NBA entitlement.

Aces versus Liberty on a Sunday network broadcast is a showcase, and Hammon played the entitlement card.

The hard things have to be done to gain credibility, and instead of taking the road least traveled, the WNBA continues to stay on the easiest—and it’s making all the difference.

Enes Kanter and Royce White have put the league in a difficult pickle of defining what a woman is. And since advocates believe gender is a social construct (130 genders and counting according to W.J. Beischel)…how can anyone argue with how someone identifies?

If Ben Simmons wanted to come to the Lakers for the minimum, would you be willing to take a swing on him? Have him on the roster as a defensive role player?

And since the Dodgers are running the Lakers, isn’t it the Dodger way to pick up a dead horse and get ten more miles out of him?

Question to Dodgers Fans: Who worries you more? The Milwaukee Brewers or the Chicago Cubs…or the Atlanta Braves…or the Philadelphia Phillies?

#89—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth. 

Last Add Dodgers: Looking at old school stats, did you know that Kyle Tucker—a left-handed batter—actually does better against lefties than he does against righties? For what it’s worth.

Laremy Tunsil, Washington TaxSkins left tackle, has a torn triceps. He will miss a lot of games, and Dan Quinn’s bags are packed and ready to go… taxi’s waiting, he’s blown his horn…

The Dude abides…

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Luke 9:10-17
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