The guys are back for the 2019 Midseason Awards Show! From the MVP to the Most Disappointing Player to this year’s Biggest Douche, all awards are covered, all while recapping this past weeks games.
The boys take some calls and makes some picks, all while trying to figure out what happened to the Packers and the Patriots. PJ yells about his own team, while TM praises his… go figure. Oh, and then show is interrupted by the College Football Playoff rankings show.
Remember to call us with your questions/comments/suggestions for the show #708-316-8822…
The guys welcome special guest, and Patriots fanboy, John to join them for the NFL Midseason Awards Show.
Things get started with an all new segment…. BS Voicemail!! Questions are asked and answers are given…well, maybe not. If you’d like to get your question/comment/topic on the next SportsCast, drop us a line at 708-316-8822.
From there, the guys get into their version of the NFL’s Midseason Awards… including Comeback Player of the Year, MVP, and Biggest Douche! Within the awards, discussions are had once again why the NFL sucks and what happened in Week 9! Who do you think deserves an award at the half-way point?
The show wraps with this weeks Pick’em, in which the Guest picks have now passed PJ!
Keep an eye out for the Binge Sportscast on a weekly basis through the NFL season!
Welcome back to Binge Sports and our continuing coverage of the 2015 NBA Playoffs. I’d like to say that the conference finals were exciting, but I’m not in the habit of lying to my readers. Nonetheless, here we are. We’re all set for the 2015 NBA Finals. After the preview, you’ll notice a change in the fan voting option. I’ve decided not to go with just a Warriors or Cavaliers vote. Obviously, you’ll have to pick a winner, but I want you to tell me how many games this series goes as well. It’s the Finals people. Let’s have some fun.
(2)CLEVELAND CAVALIERS v. (1)GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Round 1: Cleveland def. Boston 4-0, Golden State def. New Orleans 4-0
Round 2: Cleveland def. Chicago 4-2, Golden State def. Memphis 4-2
Conference Finals: Cleveland def. Atlanta 4-0, Golden State def. Houston 4-1
CONFERENCE FINALS POLL RESULTS
100% voted for Cleveland
50% voted for Houston
SCHEDULE
Game 1: @Golden State-Thursday, June 4-9:00E/8:00C-ABC
Game 2: @Golden State-Sunday, June 7-8:00E/7:00C-ABC
Game 3: @Cleveland-Tuesday, June 9-9:00E/8:00C-ABC
Game 4: @Cleveland-Thursday, June 11-9:00E/8:00C-ABC
* Game 5: @Golden State-Sunday, June 14-8:00E/7:00C-ABC
* Game 6: @Cleveland-Tuesday, June 16-9:00E/8:00C-ABC
* Game 7: @Golden State-Friday, June 19-9:00E/8:00C-ABC
* – if necessary
PREVIEW
You can hate on LeBron James all you want. The fact remains that there is no better basketball player on the face of the earth right now. He nearly averaged a triple double in the Eastern Conference Finals against a very good Atlanta Hawks team. To break it down, he only needed three more assists to make that happen, but when your team is up 25 points going into the fourth quarter of an elimination game, you’ve earned the right to relax on the bench. Sure, some might say that the Hawks were banged up, but would it really have made a difference? Let’s not forget that while he had a nice performance in Game 4, the second-best player in this series, Kyrie Irving, missed two games. The Cavaliers were always going to be here.
The same can probably be said for the Warriors. The best team from the regular season is now exactly where they want to be. They’ve got home-court advantage in the NBA Finals. In 47 games at home this year, they’ve only lost three. The Houston Rockets put up a better fight than I thought they might, although still losing some games they had a chance to win. We’ll just leave Game 3 out of this. I will admit that James Harden has proved to me that he is worthy of being a player that can carry a team, but the lack of support at the end of games will continue to be a problem without adding more personnel. But Stephen Curry proved why Harden finished second in the MVP voting, as he’s got the Warriors one step closer to their first title in forty years.
The Cavs and Warriors split the season series, each winning their game at home. In a meeting in January, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 47 points in a 112-94 win. In the rematch six weeks later, LeBron James led the Cavaliers to a 110-99 victory by scoring 42 points. Add Kyrie Irving to this mix of players, and we’re looking at a phenomenal series. The Curry-Irving match-up should be absolutely amazing to watch as they’re easily two of the best five point guards in the league. Klay Thompson can get hot at any given time, and LeBron is….well, LeBron. But will being LeBron be enough to get Cleveland as a town out of the championship funk they’ve been in for decades. Actually, I’m not quite sure. The Warriors just have so much talent and I’ve been pulling for them since the start of the playoffs, so I’m not going to change my mind now. Warriors in 6.
[yop_poll id=”243″]
Let the games begin. Who’d you vote for? How many games will this series go? As always, you can let me know below or follow me @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. Stay tuned for all new podcasts and columns coming your way all the time from all the boys here at Binge Media. We’ll see you next time.
It’s Sunday afternoon and this is normally my reserved time to get away from sports and talk about movies or television in my weekly column here at Binge Media, Working the Weekend with Luke. But this wasn’t a normal weekend in the sports world, was it? With the passing of a baseball great and Chicago Cubs legend on Friday night, I’ve decided to put my Oscar series on hold for a week in order to bring you a special edition of Binge Sports to talk about one of the game’s all-time greats, “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks.
As football season winds down (don’t worry, the Super Bowl preview will be up later this week), sports fans will be gearing up for spring training and the start of baseball season. As a lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs (I know, it’s tragic), it’s always nice to start a new year. It’s a clean slate and a fresh start, and while the Cubs are often out of the playoff race after a few months, the start of baseball season is always just special for me. And with the expectations of the Cubs being what they are over the next few years, it’s especially exciting to think about the green grass and the ivy and the special place that Wrigley Field is. And Ernie Banks thought the same.
“It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame…Let’s play two!”
When most people think of Ernie Banks, this quote is usually one of the first things that comes to mind. His passion for the game of baseball was so deep that he just loved coming to “work” every day. The funny part is that he didn’t even play baseball in high school. His high school in Texas didn’t even have a team. That didn’t stop him from lettering in basketball, football, and track. But he would play on a fast pitch softball team during the summer and would soon after play some semipro baseball with the Amarillo Colts, garnering enough attention that he would be recruited and subsequently signed by the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League.
He would spend the next two years (1951-52) in the US Army after being drafted and would be stationed in Germany before being discharged in 1953 and returning to the Monarchs, hitting .347 before signing with the Chicago Cubs in the fall. And here’s a pretty good indicator of why he was wanted.
Yes, that’s the scouting report on Ernie Banks before he debuted with the Cubs. He would play in ten games at the end of that year and the rest is history. For one, he was the first black player that the Cubs ever had. He was pretty quiet about that whole thing, preferring to let his play do his talking for him. In only his second full season, he hit .295 with 44 homeruns and 117 RBI, finishing third in the MVP voting, an award he would win on back-to-back occasions in 1958 and 1959, becoming the first player in National League history to do so. Over those two years, his average totals were a .309 average, 46 homeruns, and 136 RBI. And I’m not quite sure how there wasn’t a three-peat as in 1960, he had 41 more homeruns and 117 more RBI and won his first and only Gold Glove at shortstop.
In the 1960’s, he would move from shortstop to first base after experiencing some pain in the same knee he injured while in the Army. He would have some interesting experiences throughout this decade, as he and manager Leo Durocher didn’t always see eye to eye, but he always kept a positive attitude, even when some people thought that some of the tension was a race issue. But Banks wouldn’t get into that, instead saying that “I wish there had been someone around like him early in my career…He’s made me go for that little extra needed to win.” That’s the kind of attitude that wins you the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which Banks did in 1968, an award given not just for excellence on the field, but for character off of it as well.
And then, of course, we come to 1969, one of the most infamous seasons in Chicago Cubs history. Holding an 8 1/2 game lead in late August, the Cubs failed to win the pennant after being caught by the New York Mets. If you’re a real Cubs fan, then you know that’s why Ron Santo would always badmouth the Mets on the radio, and it was always hysterical. But it’s not so funny that this was the best chance that Ernie Banks ever had to play in the postseason and it didn’t happen for him. To this day, he still holds the record for the most games played without ever making the playoffs at 2,528. Tragic.
But there was another big moment left for “Mr. Cub” on May 12, 1970. This is the day he became a member of the 500 homerun club.
Ernie Banks would retire after the 1971 season with an impressive career stat line. Along with a .274 lifetime batting average, he hit 512 homeruns, had 1,636 runs batted in, won a Gold Glove, two MVP awards, and played in the All-Star Game fourteen times. Not bad for a kid who didn’t play in high school.
He was an obvious choice for the Hall of Fame and was inducted in his first year of eligibility in 1977, the only player selected that year by the writers.
His number 14 was retired by the Cubs in 1982, becoming the first Cub to receive that honor. That flag still flies at Wrigley today.
He would be named to the MLB All-Century Team in 1999 and the Cubs would also honor him with a statue in 2008.
Believe me, that was the short version that you just got about his playing career. I could go on and on with more stories from his time in Chicago, hit you with more stats from every single season, but the real beauty of Ernie Banks is the impression he made on those around him. Being a fan of baseball and a fan of the Cubs, I’ve read so many stories and watched so many interviews over the years about “Mr. Cub” and it would be very difficult to find someone that has something bad to say about this man. Not only was he a great baseball player, but he did so many more things off the field for those in his community, owning and/or running multiple businesses in the Chicago area. In 2013, he was actually awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor.
This is the legacy that Ernie Banks leaves behind. It’s very easy for athletes who have success on the field to be egotistical jerks that care about nobody but themselves. It’s sad to say goodbye to one of baseball’s good guys. Ernie Banks conducted himself with class and dignity throughout his playing career and beyond. Granted, I didn’t know this man personally, but he seemed like one of those people who cared about everyone. The world has lost not just a great baseball man, but just a great man in general.
Baseball season will be here before you know it. I’m sure the Cubs will put a great tribute together and there will probably be a uniform patch involved this year. Now that I’m thinking about it, the Cubs are playing in the very first game of the season against the rival St. Louis Cardinals on the Sunday before everyone else gets going. I think I’ve come up with the best tribute that could be done for Ernie Banks.
Let’s play two.
Comments on Mr. Cub? Leave them below or follow me @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. Check back later this week for that Super Bowl preview. RIP Ernie.
