Rabbit season, Bucks season, Duck season?

If the title of this post makes you think of the Looney Tunes, it was done intentionally.  I just got done watching Space Jam: A New Legacy starring LeBron James and while I do have mixed feelings on the film there were several things I wanted to quickly throw out as my first impressions.

1) Settling the G.O.A.T. debate via comedy

When faced with the basketball game challenge LeBron James wanted to build a super team like he has done in Miami, Cleveland, and Los Angeles by trying to recruit Superman, Iron Giant, and King Kong.  Michael Jordan got the Looney Tunes who averaged in heights up to 3ft tall and requested comedian Billy Murray lace up his sneakers for 1 play.

2)The Looney Tunes are the greatest cast of cartoon characters ever assembled 

3)The lack of actual NBA players and references in New Legacy was kind of surprising for a game that has so many individual stars recognized world wide.  

The best player in the NBA, Gianis Antetokounmpo, reportedly turned down a part for New Legacy so that he could focus on his off-season training and not be involved with scheduling conflicts that may prevent him from being the best player on the court for the Milwaukee Bucks.  He now has a World Championship and Finals MVP on his resume. 

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks fans out there!

I am sure that Gianis will be adorned on many magazine covers in the near future  to celebrate the team's victory.

Oddly enough, the Greek Freak has only appeared on two issues of Sports Illustrated over his 8 year career.

April 8th, 2019 and January 9, 2017 are the only times Gianis has appeared on the cover despite world wide fame.

My favorite player, Andrew McCutchen has also appeared on the cover twice oddly enough they were printed exactly one year apart.

Details of the covers can be found on this 2019 Big League Baseball black and white parallel numbered to only 50 copies.

The back of the card gives a few bits of trivia that aren't exactly common knowledge.

Cutch has since surpassed Ian Kinsler for runs scored since 2009 and Ian didn't play in 2020 or this year.  Kinsler is going to be a participant in this year's Olympic games as he is representing Team Israel.  

Earlier this month he joined the Long Island Ducks to help get him prepared for the Summer Olympics.

Team Israel faces off against Team USA in the first round of play on July 30th.

Will you be watching any of the Olympics?

Did you watch any of the NBA Finals? 

What is your favorite Sports Illustrated cover?

The Irony Of It All

Andrew McCutchen will be going in for surgery today. Prayers for a speedy recovery so that he may recover and be ready for next year's Opening Day.

Lots of players with torn ACL have been making headlines lately.

Alex Morgan scored 5 goals for women's Team USA versus Thailand in the World Cup.  The US Women's team completely dismantled Thailand in a 13-0 routing.  Morgan, the team's most famous player had torn her ACL several years ago.

Golden State Warriors superstars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson both suffered injuries in games 5 and 6 of the NBA Finals. Both are expected to miss most of the 2019-20 season.  Durant confirmed he has a torn ACL.

Mike Moustakas hit a game winning homerun for the Brewers in the 14th inning versus the Astros a few days ago.  He is having a career season this year with 21 homers already and 2.4 WAR.  He had missed most of the 2016 season with a torn ACL and has had his best seasons of his career since returning.

Despite missing the past week and half, Cutch is still in second place for National League in walks.  It's doubtful he will finish in the top 10 with missing four months of the season, but that just shows how good his eye and plate discipline was prior to the injury and likely that won't change after he returns from the injury.

I received this 2019 Topps Top of the Class insert in the mail yesterday and since it is graduation weekend for most of the schools in my area, it makes sense to show off this card.

The back reveals a rather ironic name in a fact about how good Cutch has been at the top of a batting lineup since his 2009 debut.

Ian Kinsler is the only active person to score more runs than Cutch since his debut.

Of course Ian Kinsler is the player who intentionally dropped Jean Segura's pop up so that the Padres could start a double play which lead to Cutch tearing his ACL.

The Topps of the Class is a rather neat looking set if they were all horizontal like this McCutchen card.  Most of the cards I have seen from the set are vertical though and are not nearly as good looking.