Owner gets RIPPED by player. International News. TNF Picks and More!
Intro:
I think you all know how I start things now. A basic intro, MLB news, NFL news, NBA news (if there is anything), on Tuesdays and Wednesdays international news, then the closer. If you would like to reorganize anything, go ahead and comment below on substack.com, and if you have any other suggestions, go ahead and tell me through the comments on substack.com. Other than that, let’s get rolling.
John Fisher. The UnFanFavorite.
Trevor May, a closing pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, the worst team in the major leagues, RIPPED John Fisher during his so-called “retirement” ceremony. He live-streamed on twitch and this is what he said.
“Sell the team, dude. … Sell it, man,'' he said. “Let someone who actually, like, takes pride in the things they own, own something. There are actually people who give a s--- about the game. Let them do it. Take mommy and daddy's money somewhere else, dork.” “If you're going to be a greedy f---, own it,” May said. “There's nothing weaker than being afraid of cameras. … Do what you're going to do, bro. Whatever, you're a billionaire, they exist, you guys have all this power—you shouldn't have any because you haven't earned any of it, but anyway, whatever.” (ESPN for the text.)
The Athletics continue to rank at the bottom of the major leagues in payroll, and he was the one to get rid of franchise superstars Matt Olson and Matt Chapman. The Athletics are still currently on schedule to lose their lease at RingCentral Park in Oakland and are continuing on the path to move to Las Vegas.
Week 7 Power Rankings!
Every Tuesday or Wednesday, we do NFL Power Rankings here at Sports Square. There have been many moves this week. The Texans are on the rise and the Falcons are falling. These power rankings only go up to 5 in the newsletter, but go to 32 in the podcast.
Lions
The Lions have just looked like that team. To me, they look silent but deadly. Jared Goff has done amazing since coming to this team, and the coaching is impenetrable.
Kansas City Chiefs
This team certainly, to me, does not deserve to be in the 2 spot, but because the 49ers lost a lot of players and the Eagles just haven’t looked like the Eagles from last year, they’re up here. These 5 straight wins have been a grid for the Chiefs, but just like Jalen Hurts says, if you’re winning, you’re winning.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars have stacked 3 wins in a row, and they are coming back. Last year, they started pretty down as well, before they snuck into the playoffs and this time, the bouncing back is coming pretty early. Of course, the knee injury to Trevor Lawrence really is the first thing they need to think about because they need a star quarterback to lead them to the playoffs. Not a backup QB. Otherwise, great coaching from Doug Pederson and a great roster assembly from Trent Baalke.
Miami Dolphins
Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa are both gods in their respective positions on the offense. Then you also have Jalen Ramsey on defense, and now you’re like damn this is a super team. They’re only ranked this low because Miami has beaten five opponents with only a combined record of 5-24 to this point and demolished in Week 4 by the Bills who sit at 4-2. They finally get to play a team of their match this week, but the Eagles really haven’t been playing their best football this week.
San Francisco 49ers & Philadelphia Eagles
Rarely will I ever put two teams in one spot, but that’s how it was last week. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had the worst game of his career, his first regular-season loss and that was obviously because he was put into such a tough spot. Brandon Aiyuk dropped a would-be TD, the offense committed six penalties (12 total by San Francisco) and there were big injuries to Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and Trent Williams. This is definitely a big blow to the 49ers, as Brock Purdy needs all of these playmakers to drive down a field. Expect the 49ers to lose next week until Purdy gets at least 1 weapon back. Let it be Deebo or Christian McCaffery.
The Eagles on the other hand just sucked. They had the ball late with the chance to seal a win, but Jalen Hurts threw his third interception of the game on what was just an awful mistake, setting up the decisive touchdown for New York. These were his interceptions. His first INT should have been ruled a Dallas Goedert fumble, and Hurts' second INT came with pressure, as the injury that forced Lane Johnson to leave loomed large.
Kevin Porter Jr. Gets Traded
Kevin Porter Jr. is leaving the Houston Rockets. The guard has been traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Houston is sending a pair of future draft picks alongside Porter in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
Although there isn’t any use for the Thunder because the Thunder plan to waive him immediately and pay the remaining $16.9 million on his contract in a corresponding move. It is unclear if he will play another NBA game as he faces assault charges.
The Rockets are in a rebuilding phase and acquired former Toronto Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet before selecting Amen Thompson with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to improve their backcourt depth ahead of the 2023-24 season. This deal will let them cut ties with Porter and gain assets to help make progress after a poor 2022-23 campaign.
The Thunder, on the other hand, has one of the NBA's most promising young cores and could make a playoff push this season. They've made acquiring valuable draft capital a habit in recent years and are still adding to their wealth. Oklahoma City owns 37 picks over the next seven seasons.
UEFA European Championship Qualifying
If you like European soccer, you’re definitely going to love these few segments on this topic.
Belgium vs Sweden Qualifier Tragedy
Thousands of soccer fans were kept inside Belgium's national stadium for about 2½ hours Monday after a game between Belgium and Sweden was abandoned at halftime because a gunman fatally shot two Swedish people in Brussels before kickoff.
The European Championship qualifier was being played some 3 miles from the shooting in the center of the Belgian capital, and more than 35,000 fans attended the match. With the suspect then still at large and reportedly targeting Swedes, Belgian authorities kept fans inside the venue for security reasons before starting the evacuation around midnight local time.
Belgian police on Tuesday shot dead a 45-year-old Tunisian man accused of the killings. The unidentified man, a suspected extremist, was shot as police tried to arrest him. He later died in a hospital. A military weapon and a bag of clothes were found on the man, who allegedly posted a video online claiming to have killed Swedish people and saying he was “ready to sacrifice himself” for the Quran.
He reportedly killed 2 Swedish people.
Portugal seals 8 wins in 8 games. Undefeated.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two early goals as Portugal made it eight wins from eight tries in the 2024 European Championship qualification on Monday.
The already qualified Portuguese made easy work of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a 5-0 win in Zenica, with Ronaldo netting a fifth-minute penalty and a second 15 minutes later to put his team up 2-0.
Ronaldo, who now has 127 international goals for Portugal, also scored two in a 3-2 win over Slovakia on Friday, and the win on Monday kept Martinez's team perfect in qualification with 24 points to top Group J.
“The best way to prepare for the European Championship is to continue in this way,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said.
“Today's game was a sample of the players' work, attitude, commitment, with many important signs for us. We have achieved eight consecutive victories and winning 5-0 in Bosnia is to be very satisfied. Portugal has top quality players, but the important thing is the collective for a common dream.” (ESPN)
Portugal has an eight-point advantage in the group standings. Bosnia is fourth, four points behind second-place Slovakia, and two points behind Luxembourg.
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Thursday Night Football Predictions!
The New Orleans Saints will attempt to break out of their slump when they kick off Week 7 of the 2023 NFL season against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday Night Football. New Orleans (3-3) began the year with back-to-back victories, but has lost three of its last four contests, including a 20-13 setback at Houston on Sunday. Jacksonville (4-2) enters with a three-game winning streak after rolling to a 37-20 home triumph over Indianapolis. Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence may sit with a knee injury.
Personally, I have the New Orleans Saints winning this one only because the Jaguars are probably going to miss their quarterback, Trevor Lawrence. This is at the time of writing. If Lawrence was available to participate, he would win this matchup because of home-field advantage. The Saints are tough, but so are the Jaguars. They won’t be as explosive with C.J. Beathard. Again, Lawrence’s injury is Day-to-Day.
Pick from me: Saints
Score: Saints: 27-Jaguars: 10
SPREAD
JAC +1 -110
NO -1 -110
MONEYLINE
JAC -102
NO -119
OVER/UNDER
OVER 39.5 -110
UNDER 39.5 -111
Answer the poll down below!
The End:
Sports is crazy. We all know it. The 100-win teams got knocked out in the LDS (MLB), the Jets beat the Eagles (NFL), and the Bruins got eliminated in the first round (NHL). All of this is UNREAL. That’s what the playoffs are all about!
All I’m telling all of you guys to do is spread this newsletter around. Please. If you don’t want to spread it because of something you dislike, don’t hesitate to comment or contact me. I want to make this the best newsletter possible.
So I leave you friends here, at the end once again, of another newsletter. I hope you liked this newsletter and I will see you all on Friday!