The Storm: 9/30/2026

Posted on September 30, 2026 by joetadmin

(The Storm is all about what’s storming in sports today.)

***Caitlin Clark scored 27 points and added 15 assists along with seven rebounds to lead the Indiana Fever to a 99-89 victory over the Las Vegas Aces to knot their WNBA playoff series at 1-1.

***“Monday night didn’t prove that Caleb Williams is a bust. It proved that Williams needs the teacher more than the teacher needs him.”—Jason Whitlock

***The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees face off in Game Two of their A.L. Wilcard series at Yankee Stadium—5:PM PST. The cheapest ticket will run you $167.

***San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King was hitless through six and left Tuesday’s National League Wildcard opener after seven innings with just one hit allowed in his team’s 8-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

***No. 8 Liberty complete historic upset of No. 1 Lynx—New York swept the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, becoming the first No. 8 seed to knock out a No. 1 in the WNBA playoffs. They advance to the semifinals.

***On this date in 1927: Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season (off Tom Zachary) as the New York Yankees beat Washington Senators 4-2. The record stood until 1961.

***Las Vegas Aces perennial MVP (4 times) A’ja Wilson went off the court to confront an Indiana Fever fan in the fourth quarter in last night’s playoff game. The fan was removed, but allowed to return after questioning and witnesses confirmed nothing more than him pointing at Wilson.
“You don’t step towards me. You never should—and point at me. I’m not for that s—. At all.”—Wilson in the postgame presser.

***NHL season opens with drama—Florida Panthers beat defending champion Carolina 1-0 in OT on Gustav Forsling’s blast with 4.3 seconds left (Hurricanes raised their banner first).

***Strange Coincidence: NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo (58, brain cancer) and baseball legend Pete Rose (83) both passed away on this day in 2024.

***“That’s new to me. I’m not familiar with that report. What I do know is that he’s making good progress. We knew he was going to be out a minimum of four weeks. Want to be able to allow him to start his clock whenever that is able to get started and see how he feels and make sure that when we put him back out there, it’s return to performance, not just return to play. So could be the minimum time required, could be six (weeks). We haven’t really tried to put a hard deadline on it, so I’m not familiar with that.”—Sean McVay responding a media report that Myles Garrett will be out six weeks after after having arthroscopic surgery.

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The Storm: 9/29/2026

Posted on September 29, 2026 by joetadmin

(The Storm is all about what’s storming in sports today.)

***MLB Wild Card Series begins tonight—The postseason opens with four best-of-three series: Phillies at Braves, White Sox at Astros, Red Sox at Yankees, and Cubs at Padres.

***Case Keenum has been in the NFL since 2012. Until Monday night, his two kids had never seen him play a game. Keenum completed 24 of 34 for 247 yards and two touchdowns in the Chicago Bears 27-7 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night.
Keenum, who has played for eight different teams, entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Houston.

***NHL regular season opens tonight.

***Aaron Judge left off Yankees Wild Card roster—The Yankees captain is out of the AL Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox due to a calf injury. New York’s roster does not include him for Game 1 tonight.

***On this date in 1954—New York Giants center fielder Willie Mays made “The Catch” in Game 1 off the World Series off the bat of Cleveland Indians first baseman Vic Wertz.

***U.S. Senate passes Protect College Sports Act—A sweeping bipartisan bill regulating college athletics—covering NIL deals, the transfer portal, and athlete compensation—passed the Senate late Monday. It is one of the most significant pieces of college-sports legislation in years.

***NBA forward, former Sonic/Thunder, Warrior, Net, Sun, and current Houston Rocket Kevin Durant turns 38 today. Durant was draft second overall in the 2007 by the Seattle SuperSonics…With the first pick the Portland Trailblazers took Ohio State center Greg Oden.

***The New York Giants acquired QB J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 fifth-round pick after starter Jaxson Dart was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

***On this date in 1879—National League owners secretly adopt the reserve clause, locking players to teams for decades. A move that led to legal upheaval of the 1970s and to the dominant factor in professional sports today. Free Agency.

***“We’re playing for first place. Holy s***. Is that cool or what? I mean, so our guys are ready to rock and roll…”—Cleveland Browns HC Todd Monken

 

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FanView: 9/28/2026

Posted on September 29, 2026 by joetadmin

By Joe Torosian

Kick it!

I guess the NFL has come out of the “let them play” phase and into the “officials will decide” mode…

Not just Sunday Night Football, but also in Brazil, when Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens players got tangled in an arm-lock…Did that flag have to be thrown at all?

Did the flag have to be thrown against Josh Wallace on an amazing play—when both receiver and defender were battling?

Did the “touch” by Quentin Lake have to be called when it wasn’t egregious and didn’t affect anything?

If the refs were in flag-throwing mode, why wasn’t a flag thrown when Trent McDuffie was held on Bo Nix’s sprint to the pylon?

Trent McDuffie being held…must be a selective case of “Let them play.”

The Denver Broncos beating the Los Angeles Rams didn’t send me over the top and into rage…Yes, the Rams had their shots, but they were also doing it without Myles Garrett, Puka Nacua, Terrance Ferguson, and Jaylen Watson—whose departure made a big difference.

Question for Rams DC Chris Shula: At the start of the final drive…why did you revert to a passive, non-coverage prevent that let Nix move the ball into scoring position on essentially two throws?

Was it because Watson was out?

Emmanuel Forbes giving up a touchdown in the end zone was the result of running into Wallace…stuff happens…the unsportsmanlike on the punt return was foolish…

Note to McVay: You fell back into the bad habit of abandoning the run…

Laziest Postgame Take: “The Rams gave up 30 points in the second half!”

First there was the pick-six, and then you can’t put that final Broncos touchdown on the defense…The officials were hell-bent to give Nix & Friends an infinite number of plays to get that last touchdown…I don’t think it’s a flex to shout that the Rams gave up 30 points.

Lost In The Loss: How good the Rams defense was at the goal line at the end of that game.

Most Ridiculous Take: Mike Tirico—who I’m normally good with—kept harping on Matthew Stafford having thrown the most pick-sixes in NFL history… Did any other pretty-boy Super Bowl-winning quarterback spend 12 years playing for the Detroit Lions?

Fog City needed everything to hold off the Arizona Cardinals at home yesterday…and they lost Trent Williams and Mike Evans in the process…Nick Bosa was already out…I think it has less to do with an adjacent substation and more to do with OLD…

What do John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan expect from these guys?

The 49ers are 3-0, props, they beat the Dolphins and had to hang on against the Cards…and, as we shared a few weeks ago, they spent a lot of capital to get that win in Australia, but look where they are trending.

Nice win for Cleveland. The guy’s creepy, but a great win for Deshaun Watson…but why the heck is TE Harold Fannin Jr. wearing Leroy Kelly’s number 44?

The Buffalo Bills unis yesterday looked like they were fanboying the Detroit Lions…horrific…

Indianapolis Colts uniform looked just as ridiculous…and C.J. Stroud should have taken that contract extension from the Houston Texans.

Speaking of the Lions…they beat the New York Jets 31-24 yesterday, but when Geno Smith completes 31 of 37 for 321 yards and 3 touchdowns…does it really count as a win?

Bear Alexander (Keithian “Bear” Alexander) has played at Georgia, USC, and Oregon.

Georgia (2022): True freshman on the national championship team. Played in 12 games as a reserve, with 9 tackles, 3 TFLs, and 2 sacks (including one in the title game vs. TCU). Entered the portal after the season.

USC (2023–2024): Transferred in spring 2023. Solid 2023 season (48 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks). In 2024, he played only the first three games, then redshirted and entered the portal again.

Oregon (2025–present): Joined the Ducks in December 2024. Strong 2025 season (50 tackles, All-Big Ten recognition) and is now a redshirt senior in 2026.

That is three FBS stops in five seasons (he used a redshirt in 2024).NIL (rough estimate only): Public numbers are valuations (On3-style market estimates of current earning power), not confirmed contracts or total cash received.Approximate On3 valuations over time:
~$65k shortly after the 2023 USC transfer
~$228k when he entered the portal in late 2024
~$568k after committing to Oregon
~$976k by late 2025 after a good Ducks season
$1.5 million as of September 2026 (NIL100 rank ~99)

With that said…USC suspended Desman Stephens II, but in this NIL era, can you fine a college football player?

The MLB regular season has come to an end…But I press on…
#117—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth…

 

 

 

 

The Dude abides…

1,363
2 Corinthians 2:15
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
“RamView” M-W-F
Follow Joe on X:
@joet13b

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The Storm: 9/28/2026

Posted on September 28, 2026 by joetadmin

(The Storm is all about what is storming in sports today.)

***Los Angeles Rams led 16-0 at halftime, but the Denver Broncos came back to win, 30-26, after a series of calls and non-calls by the officials.

***“Rules about targeting exist because DEI brought women & estrogen into the decision-making process. Before that, the NFL produced and sold VHS tapes celebrating people getting knocked out. Facts.”—Dre Baldwin, a former professional basketball player/author/speaker/coach

***USC suspended Desman Stephens II, but in this NIL era can you fine a college football player?

***”That was not PI?!!! That was an INT!!! This stuff is so ridiculous sometimes. So hard to play defense in this league.”—Former Seattle CB/Prime analyst Richard Sherman.

***Miami Dolphins RB De’Von Achane suffers season-ending torn ACL in Sunday’s (September 27th) 24-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

***USC’s defense this season so far gave up:
– 26 points to San Jose State
– 30 points to Louisiana
– 35 points to Rutgers
– 41 points to Oregon
—Arash Markazi

***The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-0 for the first time since 2021. They finished 10-7 that season and made the playoffs. HC Jon Gruden was forced to resign after being targeted by the NFL over some controversial emails. Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia takes over the 3-2 team.

***“My concern level is very high for this football team.”—New England Patriots HC Mike Vrabel

***“It’s tough, you know what, but this is sports. You sign up for all of it… just came up short.”—Rams HC Sean McVay during his 90-second/two question postgame presser.

***On this date in 1951: Rams quarterback Norm Van Brocklin completed 27 of 41 passes and five touchdowns in a 54-14 victory over the New York Yanks at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

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FanView: 9/25/2026

Posted on September 26, 2026 by joetadmin

By Joe Torosian

Kick it!

The slithering sound you hear…is Colin Cowherd scooting away from Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers.
January 21, 2024 (after Packers-49ers playoff game): “Honestly, never had a higher opinion of Packers HC Matt LaFleur. To take this young roster into that environment and outplay SF for much of the game was really impressive. Niners are stacked with some veteran, HOF talent. Green Bay should be excellent for years.”—Cowherd.

If there’s ever a time during the year when the enemy of my enemy is my friend, it’s during football season.

I think I’m right about the Baltimore Ravens being fool’s gold, but to drive that point home, I need the Dallas Cowboys to beat them in Brazil.

The Ravens aren’t the Russians, so how can I root for the Cowboys against them?

It’s an interesting game. If the Cowboys lose, it means nothing — everyone thinks they suck, but if the Ravens lose—on the heels of losing to the Saints last Sunday—there will be a whirlwind.

Back to Thursday Night: What a difference a quarterback makes…and I’m the first to admit I was out on Michael Penix and the Atlanta Falcons. I’m still not convinced the team or Penix is great…but they could be good enough in the NFC South.

Are the Los Angeles Rams reliant on the big play? They ran for 163 yards on 28 carries, 5.8 per carry, against the New York Giants on Monday night.

Sometimes you have to wonder about the people who are paid to watch.

Note to Sean McVay: Pound the ball in Denver. The opportunity is there.

Fog City edge rusher Nick Bosa is hurt? In practice? Nah, I don’t believe it.

I like the Buffalo Bills, but part of me can’t help but root for Jim Harbaugh and the Bolts this Sunday.

#115—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth…

The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers have improved to 79-80 on the season.

Nevada head basketball coach Steve Alford said he is retiring at the end of the 2026-’27 season…and everyone thought he’d one day coach the Hoosiers.

Would a Houston Texans loss in Indy this week force a conversation about turning to Davis Mills and moving away from C.J. Stroud?

Could Ole Miss be looking at a trap game against Florida tomorrow? I hope Trinidad Chambliss is lined up with his Hotty blanking Toddy…

If USC loses to Oregon at home, the Trojan fanbase will morph into #LincolnMustGo…and it will only be a matter of time.

Speaking of mismanagement, why would the WNBA open its playoff schedule on Sunday against the NFL?

Answer: Because it doesn’t matter.

The Dude abides…

1,362
Ephesians 2:8
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
“RamView” M-W-F
Follow Joe on X: @joet13b

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