Major League Baseball has reached its virtual midseason point, the All-Star break. That presents an opportunity on WISE Sports Radio to look back at the first half of the season. Which teams have surprised? Who are the disappointments?
And Juan Soto has become the talk of baseball by turning down a $440 million contract offer from the Washington Nationals. If he wants to be a $500 million man, which team will pay up? And who might offer a trade for the 23-year-old sensation?
It’s a slow time in the NFL with training camps set to open during the next seven to 10 days. So we began our WISE Sports Radio segment with some baseball talk, thanks to the Toronto Blue Jays’ surprising midseason firing of manager Charlie Montoyo.
On the football side, most of the news is off the field with Brett Favre continuing to be named in a welfare fraud lawsuit against the former governor of Mississippi, Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder avoiding a House Oversight Committee subpoena, and the Pittsburgh Steelers taking a big payday from a new corporate sponsor for their stadium.
After a week off for the July 4 holiday, we’re back on WISE Sports Radio with some NFL and movie talk mixed in with our usual baseball chatter.
The Carolina Panthers get Baker Mayfield after waiting until the Cleveland Browns couldn’t wait to trade him any longer. Are the Baltimore Orioles on the rise? Which players were snubbed from the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game rosters? And a quick review of Thor: Love and Thunder. (Longer version here, if interested.)
“Your ancestors called it magic, but you call it science,” Thor said to Jane Foster in Marvel’s first Thor movie (2011). “I come from a land where they are one and the same.”
Whatever it’s called, the magic is gone. At least for the God of Thunder’s run under director Taika Waititi.
Thor: Love and Thunder has some beautiful visuals, creative set pieces, and compelling character arcs, especially for Natalie Portman’s Foster. But the story trying to hold them all together is too weak to build a satisfying film that ranks among the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What makes this so disappointing is that Waititi’s previous Thor film, 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, was such a refreshing change of direction from the other Marvel movies with its fast pace, outlandish color palette, and bold designs influenced by legendary artists like Jack Kirby, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Moebius. (The new wave soundtrack by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh added to the alien atmosphere.)
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Deshaun Watson has been facing trouble for quite a while with 24 civil lawsuits (20 now settled) and a likely season-long suspension from the NFL. But his former team, the Houston Texans, might still have to answer for enabling the sexual misconduct allegations resulting from his “massages.”
On WISE Sports Radio, Pat Ryan, Mike Gore, and I discuss the Texans getting sued, Baker Mayfield saying he and the Cleveland Browns have moved on, and Washington Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin getting a top-10 salary for his position.
Ian Casselberry 