Screen Shots: October 10th-16th, 2024

Welcome to Screen Shots! This is where I tell you what sporting events you should watch on TV every week! Make sure you subscribe so it comes straight to your inbox! Have your own suggestions? Shoot me an email at [email protected]!

This week on “Beyond The Arc with Brandon Silvers,” Kevin “K-Dot” Lewis came through to discuss all things WNBA award-related. We recapped how the Rookie of the Year race played out over the course of the season, he put A’ja Wilson’s greatness into perspective, we ranted about the Chicago Sky organization, and more! Check it out!

Now, to the sports!

Thursday, October 10th, 2024

• WNBA Finals: Minnesota Lynx @ New York Liberty at 8:00 pm (ET) on ESPN

Game 1 in the best-of-5 series to crown a new WNBA champion! You will see this in the Sunday and Wednesday entries as well, but I’ll cover all you need to know here. The Liberty are back after vomiting away their title opportunity last season. The issue with them has never been talent, but mental fortitude and chemistry. They’ve spent all season methodically chipping away at those concerns, and appear to be a much better team. However, that will mean very little if they don’t come away with the 1st WNBA Championship in franchise history.

And it won’t be easy. While the Liberty finished with the best record in the W and will enjoy the homecourt advantage that comes along with it, the Lynx were red-hot post-Olympic break. The key to basketball is movement, and no team moves on either side of the ball as well as Minnesota. This leads to flurries of wide-open layups and three-pointers on offense, and a suffocating defense that gives them a chance to win every game.

On paper, these 2 teams are evenly matched and led by stars who are all too familiar with each other. New York’s Breanna Stewart and Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier won a title together at UCONN and are cofounders of the upcoming “Unrivaled” league. Stewie won titles in Seattle but came to New York to bring women’s hoops glory to her home state. Phee is looking to complete Minnesota’s post-Maya Moore rebuild and win the franchise’s WNBA record 5th championship. Who will succeed? Check out why these were my picks to make the finals entering the postseason!

Friday, October 11th, 2024

• NWSL: Orlando Pride @ Portland Thorns at 10:00 pm (ET) on Prime Video

The streak continues! As we discussed last week, the Pride are riding a now-23-match unbeaten streak. That’s a league record AND helped them secure the NWSL Shield, given to the best team in the regular season, for the 1st time in club history. Pride defender Carson Pickett was born without a left forearm and hand. Here’s a lovely picture of her with a young fan who was born with a similar condition.

Saturday, October 12th, 2024

• College Football: South Carolina Gamecocks @ Alabama Crimson Tide at 12:00 pm (ET) on ABC

For the 2nd week in a row, my Gamecocks face off against an infinitely more talented team that is coming off of an embarrassing loss that has no doubt left them furious and out for blood. In a microcosm of how the universe has treated me recently, this just so happens to coincide with my first-ever trip to Bryant-Denny Stadium. To be clear, Alabama would have beaten us even if they didn’t lose to Vandy. The loss only increases the chances that they beat us badly enough that I end up sobbing on national television. I’m not sure of the exact odds, but you’re going to want to tune in just in case.

• College Football: Boise State Broncos @ Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at 11:00 pm (ET) on CBS Sports Network

November 26th, 2010. 21-year-old me is with a group of friends at Johnson’s Pub in downtown Charleston, which is almost certainly a hotel now. I’m drunk but functioning well enough to be aware that what’s happening on the pub’s TV is important. My best friend, P.D., and I stumble away from the rest of our friend group to watch Boise State blow a 17-point lead (including TWO missed FGs from less than 30 yards) to lose in overtime to a Colin Kaepernick-led Nevada team. This snapped a 24-game winning streak for the Broncos. Ranked #3 at the time with just one game remaining, that was as close as any non-Power 5 school got to making the BCS National Championship Game.

College football looks different in every way today, but Boise State could very well be back, thanks in large part to the otherworldly numbers being put up by RB Ashton Jeanty. He’s scored 16 TDs and is averaging just over 206 rushing yards per game despite sitting out the 2nd half of a couple of blowouts. His performance should certainly lead to him being at the top of Heisman ballots, but, more importantly, has the Broncos in College Football Playoff contention. They are currently the highest-ranked Group of 5 team, which would put them in the inaugural 12-team playoff as the 12th seed. An uphill battle no doubt, but they’ve shocked the college football world before.

Sunday, October 13th, 2024

• NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars @ Chicago Bears at 9:30 am (ET) in London on NFL Network

Look, we’re not sending our best and brightest over there, but the crowds seem to love it nonetheless so it’d be lame if we also couldn’t somehow find a way to appreciate breakfast football. Plus, both teams are coming off of confidence-boosting wins where they looked competent on offense! A couple of #1 overall picks starting at QB and neither of them is Bryce Young. There’s potential here so long as you don’t go digging through the details.

• College Volleyball: #7 Texas Longhorns @ #12 Kentucky Wildcats at 1:00 pm (ET) on ESPN

I wonder how many different sports I’ll have to see Texas matched up against an SEC team before it sinks in that Texas is an SEC team themselves? To the surprise of no one who has followed the sport in previous seasons, the Longhorns are handling the change quite well. They’ve won all 4 conference matchups as part of a larger 6-match winning streak. This one will be their toughest test so far as they face a Kentucky team that is battle-tested after facing 5 top-10 teams. They’ll be looking to get their 1st win against one of them in front of the home crowd in Lexington.

• WNBA Finals: Minnesota Lynx @ New York Liberty at 3:00 pm (ET) on ABC

Game 2 of what we talked about up there!

Monday, October 14th, 2024

Game 2 of the NLCS and game 1 of the ALCS are today, but we don’t have that information yet. You know what that means!

• Horror Movie of the Week: The Visit (2015) streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, and YouTube TV

When you hear that a movie was written by M. Night Shyamalan, what are you expecting? If you’re a normal person, or even exceptional such as myself, you feel pretty confident that you’re getting a scary movie with a twist. Shyamalan himself became so aware of this preconceived notion that he stopped making scary movies with a twist…until 2015’s The Visit. In this one, 2 kids spend a week with their estranged grandparents and start noticing that things seem more than a little off. We’re all trying to figure it out together, and there’s a nice balance between elements of horror with some comedy tossed in for levity.

Is it as good as The Sixth Sense? No. But that was spectacular. And, if you look at it without the “M. Night wrote this” lens, you will find it to be a good movie, which is perfectly fine. It’s certainly much better than his most recent attempt, Trap. So, put this one on while you’re checking the MLB Playoff schedule.

Tuesday, October 15th, 2024

• International Men’s Soccer: US @ Mexico at 10:30 pm (ET) on TNT

After what felt like forever, the US finally hired Mauricio Pochettino to lead the men’s squad presumably into the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This will be the 2nd match of his tenure, but the 1st one against a team we absolutely hate in front of a hostile crowd. Expectations should be tempered since he hasn’t even had a chance to set up his office, but going out and getting the 2nd-ever win in Mexico would be one hell of a way to introduce himself to US soccer fans. Either way, expect intensity from both sides.

Wednesday, October 16th, 2024

On this day in 1962, former NBA player Manute Bol was born. At least, that’s what the people who helped him come to the United States to play basketball put on his legal documents. I was too young to follow the bulk of Bol’s career, but he still managed to be a source of endless fascination for me as a child. Standing at 7’7” and weighing just 200 lbs, pictures of him looked like an optical illusion. In a sport where height is king, I wondered how this man was not the greatest player of all time and devised strategies to grow even taller than him.

Eventually, I learned about the law of diminishing returns and genetics, but my fascination with Bol continued. He made a career out of blocking shots at an incredible rate but also developed a horrific yet semi-effective 3-point shot that led to one of the wildest performances ever. As an adult, what truly makes Bol’s story inspirational is how he spent nearly all of his wealth trying to help those affected by war in his native Sudan. This infamously led to him boxing William “The Refrigerator” Perry on the appropriately named Celebrity Boxing show.

Basketball was one of the tools Bol used to help his people. Through the sport, he helped mentor many Sudanese refugees, including a young Luol Deng. After his own long NBA career, Deng was named president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation. The South Sudanese men’s basketball team just competed in their 1st-ever Olympic Games, coming away with 1 win and scaring the hell out of the US men’s team in an exhibition. If life were a Disney movie, we would have gotten interview after interview of Bol as he beamed with pride over the success that almost certainly would not have been possible without him. Unfortunately, life is not a Disney movie and Bol passed away in 2010. However, this serves as a reminder of how the good you do far outlasts your time here on Earth. Here’s hoping Heaven has a big swimming pool!

• WNBA Finals: New York Liberty @ Minnesota Lynx at 8:00 pm (ET) on ESPN

Game 3 in the best-of-5 series!

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