MidValleySports.Com

By Joe Torosian

Kick it!

Ty Simpson was great, but heed the words of The Wolf. Unless someone offers a #1, Stetson Bennett will be the Rams’ QB2 in 2026.

But 2027 should be different.

Note to NFL: Stop with the chicks calling play-by-play…. It’s like asking a soprano to sing baritone…It does not work…. It’s stupid…

Von Miller goes to the Cowboys… good move for the Pokes. I’ve got them ahead of the Giants in the NFC East.

Last Add Cowboys: I’m sorry former guard John Niland passed away. I remember him being quotable and one of the first football cards I ever owned. But he was a Cowboy, so in that context, I hated him.

And just like that…Arizona Cardinals rookie running back Jeremiyah Love has a high ankle sprain.

The Indiana Fever’s victory over the Atlanta Dream yesterday was not great basketball, but it was great competition. This is a league, for now, where the regular season means more than the MLB’s.

The shot of Caitlin Clark laughing behind Angel Reese, after Reese clanked the game-winner yesterday, will live forever as the most organic, unscripted, ultimate troll in sports history.

Note to WNBA: Stop pushing Reese. She is not an elite player. Pushing her as if she is one is almost as bad as your inability to define what the “W” in WNBA stands for.

Maybe it should be called the QNBA—”Q” for questioning…?

Last Add ESPN: They have fired the wrong people. Sunday’s broadcast team, the analysts at the desk, were all worse than Reese.

A coach may see something in Reese and think a few tweaks could improve her game. But that ESPN crew demonstrated no integrity, minimal talent…and is actually making Reese’s burden even heavier.

When Reese has a breakdown, and everyone lectures the internet and culture for being so harsh, be sure to mention the QNBA and ESPN as the chief causes.

Is there a more hollow post-career laurel than induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame? 

Mark Few, Doc Rivers, Amar’e Stoudemire…who did they have to pay to get in? These guys aren’t/weren’t bad, but hall of famers in the context of what Canton and Cooperstown require?

Other names in at Springfield, Mass include: Rick Adelman, Carmelo Anthony, Zelmo Beaty, Sergei Belov, John Chaney, and, I hate to say it…Michael Cooper?

(I haven’t even mentioned the more ridiculous names and teams that have found their way in…Although, Belov is pretty ridiculous.)

The NBA needs its own Hall of Fame.

Tommy John was 13-3 when he blew out his arm in 1974. And for the next year and a half, I heard about Tommy John, how great he was, and his comeback. Not knowing baseball, I thought John was the equivalent of Sandy Koufax.

By 1976, I understood more. He wasn’t Koufax, but he was special–although I’ve always thought his career was a bit of a tragedy. 

He missed the postseason in 1974. Was with the Dodgers in the back-to-back World Series losses to the Yankees. He signed with the Yankees in 1979 and had back-to-back 20-win seasons.

But the Yankees fall apart in ’79, the year Thurman Munson died, and then they got worked by the Royals in the 1980 playoffs. Then, in 1981, John is yanked—a bit early—in Game Six of the series the Dodgers won in New York. (God Bless Burt Hooton!)

In 1982, John’s with the Angels. The Halos go up 2-0 against the Brewers in the ALCS…and then “The Gene Mauch Effect” sets in and the Angels get swept in Milwaukee.

That’s tragedy capital “T.”

Last Add John: There are multiple reasons he should be in the Hall of Fame…and it should have happened a long time ago.

Really Last Add John: John is also a terrible reminder/example of how utterly dense baseball has become when it comes to pitching. 

In 1987, at 44, John threw three complete games. In seven seasons, the Dodgers’ Tarik Skubal has one complete game.

Is St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joshua Báez legit, or is he the second coming of Keith McDonald? If you’re a Cardinals fan—You should know.

I want to write off the Dodgers in 2026, but in my ongoing bitterness I’ve written them off so many times before.  Although I’m all for the fall of Babylon, I just can’t now.

#94—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth. The Dude abides…

1,341
Matthew 14:22-33
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
“RamView” M-W-F
Follow Joe on X: @joet13b