I’ve been getting a lot of questions about why the site has been so slow over the past week or weeks. I am not going anywhere. First of all, it’s really slow right now. That’s a big part of it. Second, I’ve been working on two other things– one related to CB and growing it to be better than ever before so there aren’t situations like last week where I fuck off to do something else and the site slows to a crawl, and the other not related to it but still having to do with media. It’s best to use the slowest time of the year to work on those things. That’s it. The site will be back to almost full this week and certainly once football season rolls around.

Let’s hit it!

 

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The roundup:

The Phillies are on a bit of a roll, including four straight wins, a sweep of the Braves, and two walkoffs. But, it’s worth pointing out they’re still almost a full 10 games behind the fourth place Mets. Brutal.

Late last week they traded basically all of their rent-a-players for a haul of middling prospects that aren’t really worth analyzing other than to say that when you throw enough irons in the fire in baseball, maybe one or two will stick. I’m pretty sure I butchered that phrase, but I can’t imagine a trade deadline with less interest.

To that end, Jeremy Hellickson continues to frustrate us with his maddening mediocrity, which now includes potentially holding up his trade when he was rear-ended on his way to the airport. From ESPN.com:

Jeremy Hellickson got a trip from the NL East cellar to an AL East team still clinging to playoff hopes, but the right-hander hit a bump in the road on his way out of Philadelphia.

The veteran pitcher, who was traded by the Phillies to the Orioles on Friday, has not yet arrived in Baltimore, as he was rear-ended on his way to the airport.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said that Hellickson is doing fine and has been in contact with Baltimore’s staff but had to go with his girlfriend to the emergency room following the car accident.

 

Cowboys fans continue to justify their team’s shittiness:

https://twitter.com/DCTaylor_/status/889958968273121281

 

Who would’ve thought Allen Iverson would be a problem for a bullshit gimmick 3-on-3 basketball league:

 

Nothing will bring in those millennials like a retro sports Facebook group.

 

How much you want to bet that not one girl who tries out for this looks like the girl in this photo? I can’t imagine a worse place than Fantesy Fest.

 

Peter King in his MMQB:

I think we’re seeing a very interesting journalism experiment right now, and it’s by a friend of the show: Former MMQBer Greg Bedard started a subscription site, Boston Sports Journal, covering all the pro teams in Boston, and by this morning had exceeded early expectations, with 2,040 subscribers in the first week. The site was free in the first week and will go behind a pay wall today. Bedard and I talked Saturday about his expectations, and why he did it. “I think our business is in trouble,” Bedard said. “I’m 43, and I should be in my prime covering the NFL, and I didn’t have a job. And not just me. There are a lot of writers like me, probably 100 of us, capable and wanting to work, but without jobs. And I think this is the future—building a community of loyal subscribers and serving them and interacting with them so they preach the gospel of our site and keep us growing.” Bedard feels like I do: Aggregation sites—Pro Football Talk, The Big Lead, Deadspin—whittle away at the traffic for other sites by posting the most pertinent information from stories and linking to the stories … but how many people, after seeing pertinent info, then click the link to read the whole thing on the original site? Aggregation sites have good original content too, obviously, and do some good journalism, and they’re quick to credit other sites. But Bedard is right to try something different. I’ll be interested to see where it leads.

Interesting idea.

 

I found this oddly touching.

 

https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/891783493587435520

Chris Christie is the biggest bully of all-time. Quite literally.

 

The Nelson Agholor hype is the sort of thing that makes me hate training camp. From Matt Lombardo:

Sunday’s practice was the kind of day that could easily boost Nelson Agholor’s confidence.
Agholor caught a touchdown pass against air from Wentz early in the session and the thousands of fans in attendance gave him a legitimate standing ovation. Later, Agholor broke wide open to the point where the nearest defender might have been trying to catch up from Center City and Agholor made an easy catch for a touchdown.

Confidence has always been Agholor’s biggest weakness, and after a strong spring and impressive early training camp it appears as though he might be turning a corner in that regard ahead of his third NFL season.

Of course Agholor looked great. He has all the tools. He’s quick and athletic, but let’s see him do it with the threat of being decapitated by a linebacker coming over the middle. His problem has always been holding onto balls in tight spots. Then we’ll see what his confidence looks like.

 

All-in on the Bucs this year.

 

Being a Clippers fan must suck.

 

I’m with Smitty here. Yeah he plays for Belichick. At what point are we gonna get tired of being cucked by someone else? Perhaps after LeGarrette Blount disappoints?

 

Check to make sure it’s not spiked fist.

 

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