Sports ‘n Stuff 1/21/22

MLB announced that Robotic umpires  for determining ball and strikes will now be used in Triple-A baseball for the 2022 season. 

MLB is currently seeking personnel to operate the (ABS) system at ballparks for the Albuquerque Isotopes, Charlotte Knights, El Paso Chihuahuas, Las Vegas Aviators, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Reno Aces, Round Rock Express, Sacramento River Cats, Salt Lake Bees, Sugar Land Skeeters and Tacoma Rainiers, 

In Japan, a 63 year old man and his 58 year old girlfriend broke into the man’s former elementary school to steal records and and contraband that the teacher took from him 40 years ago.

The mission was not a success.  There was an employee at the school, who overheard them and called the police.  The cops arrested them for trespassing and yes they were intoxicated.

Remember all the people online who insisted for years that Pete Werner was bad at football? 

He just finished as the highest-graded linebacker against the run in the entire NFL.

Top 2 NFL Linebackers with 90+ run defense grades this season

Pete Werner (90.9) New Orleans Saints

Darius Leonard (90.0) Indianapolis Colts

The Cavaliers are going to make the playoffs without LeBron, and their players have taken notice. In a recent interview with The Athletic’s Shams Charania, star point guard Darius Garland spoke about how excited he was for this team to have an identity all its own.

“Having our own legacy without having anything with Bron to do with it, that would be pretty cool, and then having a playoff run without Bron for that long, that would be pretty amazing,” Garland said. “Then just having the city behind our back, they’ve been waiting on this for a long time. Making the playoffs again would mean a ton for the city of Cleveland and the Cavs organization.”

Saturday Night Live comedians Colin Jost and Pete Davidson have teamed up to purchase the John F. Kennedy, decommissioned Staten Island ferry boat with plans to to turn the space into a live entertainment event space, with comedy, music, art, et cetera,” Italia said. “We’re in the early stages, but just didn’t want to see this thing go to the scrapyard.”

The 300-foot-long vessel was bought at auction for $280,000 & has the capacity to carry over 3,000 passengers.

The Winter Olympics kick off in two-weeks, but in the last minute scramble to prepare for the games—NBC just announced, Amid the ongoing threat of the Omicron variant they’re not sending their broadcasting teams to China. They will however send Olympics host Mike Tirico to cover the opening ceremony and the first few days of action. But Tirico will leave in time to travel back to the US to cover next month’s Super Bowl. 

In a recent interview, Antonio Brown railed against the widely held believe that he’s lost his marbles. Well alrighty then!

Saying, “If we all players and we all saying we care about mental health, why every time something happens bad or someone reacts, ‘Aw, he’s crazy, there’s something wrong with his mental health,'” Brown said. “There’s nothing wrong with my mental health. Someone told me, ‘Get the f— out of here.’ I’m not passive-aggressive.” So he’s not nuts, but can he do something about that grammar?

63 years ago – In 1959, Carl Switzer, who played Alfalfa on “The Little Rascals”, was shot and killed by a former business partner . . . during an argument over a $50 debt.

56 years ago – In 1966, George Harrison married his first wife, Pattie Boyd.  The two met on the set of the movie, “A Hard Day’s Night”.  She left him in the ’70s for Eric Clapton.

24 years ago – In 1998, Bill Clinton angrily denied reports he’d had “sexual relations with that woman.”  On this point, he was not entirely truthful.

Two years ago – In 2020, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was found in the United States.

Today’s date in 1979 – Super Bowl XIII, Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 35-31; MVP: Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, QB

2010 – LA Lakers Kobe Bryant becomes the youngest NBA player to reach 25,000 career points at 31 years, 151 days; beats Wilt Chamberlain by 35 days

Celebrity Birthdays today

Robby Benson is 66 (“One On One,” “Ice Castles,” “Die Laughing,” “Tribute,” “Running Brave,” “Beauty and the Beast”)

Geena Davis is 66 (“The Fly,” “Beetlejuice,” “Thelma & Louise,” “A League of Their Own,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” “Stuart Little,” “The Accidental Tourist,” “The Exorcist”)

Singer Billy Ocean is 72

Sad celebrity news to report today

Comedian Louie Anderson passed away at the age of 68

As did Singer Meat Loaf  – 74. The Bat out of Hell album sold over 40 million copies but his only #1 hit song was 1993’s “I’d do anything for love, but I won’t do that.”