Screen Shots: October 17th-23rd, 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]!

As you will see down below, the NBA season is upon us! To prepare, I spoke to some cool people about the teams they cover. The first episode is about the Indiana Pacers! Alex Golden joins me to tell us if they can possibly improve on last season’s Eastern Conference Finals run. Be on the lookout for episodes on Friday morning and the usual release day of Sunday!

Now, to the sports!

Thursday, October 17th, 2024

• MLB ALCS Game 3: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Guardians at 5:08 pm (ET) on TBS

Through 2 games, the Guardians have played like the version of themselves we saw in the beginning of Major League. I’d find it amusing if it weren’t directly benefitting the Yankees. Baseball is a weird sport that, much like in the movie, can turn on a dime so don’t write them off yet. Make sure Jobu has plenty of rum!

• MLB NLCS Game 4: Los Angeles Dodgers @ New York Mets at 8:08 pm (ET) on FS1

Kiké Hernández has more postseason home runs than all but 7 active major leaguers. After his thrust-worthy solo shot to give the Dodgers the lead in the deciding game of the NLDS, Alex Rodriguez compared him to Robert Horry. This is an example of something we celebrate in sports that would be awful in just about any other setting. Imagine an award-winning brain surgeon who’s repeatedly poked patients in the eye trying to take their temperature. It’s bananas.

Friday, October 18th, 2024

• MLB NLCS Game 5: Los Angeles Dodgers @ New York Mets at 5:08 pm (ET) on FS1

• WNBA Finals Game 4: New York Liberty @ Minnesota Lynx at 8:00 pm (ET) on ESPN

The only thing we truly know about this series is that having a big lead early is a bad omen. Sabrina Ionescu hit a dagger 3 to cap off a huge comeback and give the Liberty a 2-1 series lead. We deserve to see this one go the distance, so pull for the Lynx. I explain how to handle game 5 below!

• MLB ALCS Game 4: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Guardians at 8:08 pm (ET) on TBS

Saturday, October 19th, 2024

• College Football: Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns @ Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at 12:00 pm (ET) on ESPNU

Louisiana WR Lance LeGendre was featured on season 3 of the docuseries QB1: Beyond The Lights, which followed star quarterbacks around during their final season of high school football. As you may have noticed, Lance is a wide receiver now. A four-star recruit from New Orleans, he initially committed to play for Maryland. After 2 seasons of barely playing, LeGendre returned to his home state Ragin’ Cajuns. During his redshirt season, he switched to wide receiver and saw the field more during the 2022 season.

Unfortunately, LeGendre was arrested for domestic battery right before the start of last season. The only follow-up report on this I was able to find was a comment on a Ragin’ Cajuns’ football message board which said that the charges were dropped. Either way, he was suspended all of last season, but he’s back and leading the team in receiving through 6 games with 18 receptions for 322 yards and 3 touchdowns. This includes a monster performance in an upset win against Wake Forest where he had 6 catches for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns.

How did the other 2 players on his season fare? Nik Scalzo, a three-star recruit out of Florida, started his career at Kentucky before transferring to Samford. He attempted a pass during their game against Florida earlier this season, but is not currently listed on the roster so who knows? Over the course of his career, he’s attempted 2 passes and torn his ACL 3 times.

It was a little easier to find information on the 3rd QB from that season. Spencer Rattler was the #1 QB of that 2019 recruiting class. He started his career at Oklahoma before transferring to the University of South Carolina. While he didn’t have the success that was expected from him out of high school, he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the 5th round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Due to an injury to Derek Carr, Rattler got his 1st career NFL start last week. He threw for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in a blowout loss to the Buccaneers. As of right now, he is the presumed starter for the Saints’ Thursday night game against the Broncos this week.

• College Football: #5 Georgia Bulldogs @ #1 Texas Longhorns at 7:30 pm (ET) on ABC

This matchup is everything the powers that be dreamt conference realignment would be. Hopefully Georgia coach Kirby Smart can keep his hands to himself this week.

Sunday, October 20th, 2024

• College Volleyball: #5 Stanford Cardinal @ #1 Pittsburgh Panthers at 3:00 pm (ET) on ESPN

This matchup is everything the powers that be dreamt conference realignment would be. At least, that’s what I would say if I were delusional enough to believe they cared about any sport other than football. Pitt finally lost a set to Boston College after winning a program-record 36 in a row. Then, they lost their 1st match of the season, a 5-set thriller against SMU. But they have been so overwhelming that they held onto their #1 ranking. They face off against a Stanford squad that has only lost 2 matches themselves, both of which came against teams who were ranked 5th at the time. Now that they are in that number 5 spot it should be “problem solved,” right?

• WNBA Finals Game 5 (if necessary): Minnesota Lynx @ New York Liberty at 8:00 pm (ET) on ESPN

On one hand, there’s nothing better in sports than a winner-takes-all game for the championship. On the other hand, high blood pressure runs in my family. Pour yourself a nice, tall glass of tart cherry juice and enjoy while remembering that your good friend Brandon is not a doctor and nothing you read here should be considered serious medical advice.

Monday, October 21st, 2024

• NFL: Baltimore Ravens @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 8:15 pm (ET) on ABC/ESPN

Of the 32 NFL running backs who have eclipsed the 10,000-yard rushing mark for their careers, I have seen all but 8 play with my own 2 eyes. It’s been a fairly regular occurrence throughout my lifetime…until now. Ravens RB Derrick Henry crossed that threshold a couple of games ago, and it appears that he will be the last to do so for quite some time. Incredibly, as the game has evolved and we’ve seen running back careers get shorter and shorter, Henry is still going strong. He currently leads the NFL in rushing yards this season with his closest challenger nearly 100 yards behind him.

The Ravens take on a fun Tampa Bay team led by QB Baker Mayfield. He appeared to be on his way out of the league when Cleveland got rid of him for Deshaun Watson, but he found a home with the Bucs and leads the NFL in TD passes. I wonder how that decision worked out for the Browns? Anyway, despite their stylistic differences, these teams both put up a ton of points so it should be fun!

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024

• NBA: Inside The NBA at 7:00 pm (ET) on TNT

The beginning of the end of an era! They set the standard for NBA studio shows so high that ESPN basically stopped trying. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, but at least this is happening before Draymond becomes a permanent cast member. I expect them to go out with a bang while also pressing the nostalgia button over and over so you’re going to want to tune in for as many of these as possible. Oh yeah, there are a couple of games on after this too. Tap in to see the Celtics’ ring ceremony if you’re into that kind of thing (I’m not) as they take on the Knicks in Karl-Anthony Towns’ 1st regular season game with New York. Then, check out KAT’s old team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they take on LeBron and the Lakers in JJ Redick’s head coaching debut.

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024

• Horror Movie of the Week: Oddity (2024) streaming on Shudder, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV

This one reminds me of a long episode of Tales From The Crypt. Darci is a blind medium devastated by the brutal murder of her twin sister. Police think they found the killer, but did they? Darci uses her powers to get to the truth. I’m not a believer in the supernatural so demon and spirit-centric scary movies don’t typically hit for me, but Oddity is ambiguous enough about whether or not they’re real in the first place that I was able to enjoy it. There are a couple of quality jump scare moments so make sure your bladder is empty!

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