Notes from a day in baseball: • 1. LaLaWood Fables. In Major League baseball terms, it was like your autistic team manager draining six three-pointers in a high school game. That's pretty much what happened on Monday, as the Dodgers hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs (that's four) to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and then won it on Nomar Garciaparra's walkoff two-run homer in the 10th, 11-10 over San Diego. The win places LA back in the first in the NL West by a half-game over the robed ones. All of this in front of 55,831 at Dodger Stadium, and after San Diego had retaken the lead, 10-9, in the top of the 10th. Our tater parade in the ninth included Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson; the latter two on two straight pitches by Tr…

Film buffs will be thrilled to know that Amazon is currently offering great deals on several Criterion Collection Blu-rays and DVDs. Some of them are backordered, which means Amazon will hide their price and default to a third party seller with immediate availability. If this is the case, just make sure you check the buying options and find the best price, regardless of shipping time. [ Criterion Sale] At this point, you don't need me to tell you how great this camera is. I will tell you though that it's the lowest price we've seen on it that didn't require a paid REI membership. [ GoPro Hero3+ Black, $330] We've seen slightly lower prices on this set in the past, but if you need your Bond fix, $125 for 23 movies is still a great deal. [ Bond 50, $125] …

What's your greatest fear? There's a very good chance you said "dying alone," because that's pretty much the worst way to end a life. No legacy, no testament to the things you've accomplished, no hope that anything you've done will outlive you. Very few of us die as alone as Lonesome George, who passed away this summer at the ripe old age of "more than 100." George was a Pinta Island tortoise, the very last one on earth. On June 24, George's keeper at the Galapagos National Park found him "stretched out in the direction of his watering hole with no signs of life." This ignominious end is maybe the greatest metaphor for death—one more banal chore of existence, denied by an inevitable, inconvenient end. But for most of us, when…

Kelby Tomlinson might not have prevented the Giants’ bullpen from blowing Monday night’s contest against the Braves, but the gangly 25-year-old rookie did his best with his only at-bat of the game. Sunday night, Tomlinson found out he was being called up and told his wife Tiffany. She flew from San Jose to Atlanta Monday morning and went to the game with her father, Bob Prater. Tomlinson didn’t appear until the 12th inning, when he was called to pinch hit. He lined a single to center field for his first MLB hit, and Tiffany was ecstatic. Their cheers are audible in the video: Tomlinson ended up scoring on Buster Posey’s single for an 8-7 lead, but Atlanta won 9-8 in the bottom of the same inning with Adonis Garcia’s two-run walkoff homer. Despite the loss, Tiffany was still ov…

data-mm-id=”_8wh6mghpx”>The Syracuse Orange tipped off their season with an embarrassing performance against defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Syracuse scored 34 points, going 13 of 55 (23.6-percent) from the floor and making just 5 of 29 (17.2-percent) three-point attempts. They even shot below 50 percent at the line. It was… utterly macabre. So what inspired such an uninspiring performance? Well, Carmelo Anthony, of course. Family always comes home.@carmeloanthony spoke to the Orange before taking the floor tonight pic.twitter.com/wYAyoyCLFf— Syracuse Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) November 7, 2019Melo briefly addressed the team before they went out and scored two points in the game's first 11 minutes. What a perfect footnote to a horrible night for …

data-mm-id=”_skc1zcszt”>It was nearly one in the morning when the first big NBA trade deadline transaction happened, and it involved four teams. To briefly break it down, the Atlanta Hawks received Clint Capela and Nene, the Houston Rockets received Robert Covington, the Minnesota Timberwolves received Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Evan Turner, and a lottery-protected first-round pick that originally belonged to the Brooklyn Nets, and the Denver Nuggets received Gerald Green and Houston's first-round pick. There were some other tertiary players involved, but those are the main pieces. All in all, Houston didn't find the center they wanted, but they got a perfect fit for their system in Covington. Atlanta got their center for the foreseeable future, Minnesota got some yo…

data-mm-id=”_huxd04ghq”>Rob Gronkowski's stunning return to the NFL and subsequent trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had heads spinning on Tuesday. Many, such as Colin Cowherd, are using his demand to be traded from New England to Tampa as proof he had grown tired of Bill Belichick's strict system. In reality, it's clear Gronkowski just wanted to team up with Tom Brady again. It's a great media angle to create conflict between Brady, Gronkowski, and Belichick. That's a fun debate. But we have little evidence to suggest Gronkowski hated playing under his former head coach. He was a member of the Patriots for nine seasons and signed one big extension and reworked his deal to stay longer. If he was so miserable wouldn't have have opted for free agency or dema…

data-mm-id=”_7xyi1jlug”>The newest Madden game will be coming out next week. As rollout approaches, EA will be revealing all the new features and other such fun toys for players to use when the game is released. Today, the company unveiled The Yard, which seems to bear a strong similarity to the epic NFL Street games of yore. Frankly? It seems way too good to be true. Looks pretty sick, right? Well, let me ask you this: when was the last time Madden introduced an entirely new game mode that was actually fun and good? I can't remember. EA usually just tweaks everything a little bit and updates the graphics enough to justify charging $60 per game. People (myself included!) buy the game because it's literally the only football game to buy, but the hopes for substantial change ye…