This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! If you’re like me without a dog in this MLB playoff race, you’re probably picking a team to root for. After day one of the playoffs on Tuesday, that choice feels pretty easy.
It’s the Phillies for me and it doesn’t feel close. I feel no other allegiances to any other teams at this point.
And it’s all because Bryce Harper is so stinkin’ cool, man.
This dude just does things his own way and you have to respect it. He’s a veteran now and a lot has changed about him. He feels more mortal than ever before — he’s not winning MVPs anymore and doesn’t have that same level of power behind his bat.
But one thing that’s never changed? He’s doing whatever he wants to do out there. And it’s working.
The evidence is going from first to third base while completely ignoring his coach’s stop sign and making sure his team wins the first game of its postseason.
This dude is unreal. Look at this moment.
Bryce Harper ignores the stop sign and scores from first! pic.twitter.com/HpJ7WoBY9p
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 4, 2023
Everything about it was so cool. It wasn’t just ignoring the sign. It’s the drama, man. His helmet pops off. He’s scampering as hard as he can with his hair flowing in the wind as he rounds third base and enters dangerous territory. The flow of the ball has you on the edge of your seat as it charges down the line into the catcher’s glove, only for it to be just a bit too late.
This was the absolute best, man. It’s what makes baseball so fun and what makes Harper so cool. Our guy Charles Curtis summed up what made it so great in just a few sentences.
“Ignore the third base coach at your own peril in a playoff game, right? If you’re right, you look like a hero. If you’re wrong, it’s a “told ya so” moment that will make headlines everywhere (given that I’m writing about this, I guess it’s making a headline no matter what!).”
Harper doesn’t care, man. He’s just out there balling. He’s showing up to the game in Allen Iverson vintage tees and doing whatever he wants to. Most importantly — just like he told Johan Rojas — he’s having so much fun with it all.
I can’t stop watching.
Football junkies, rejoice!
Fall is always a perfect time for the football lovers out there but, starting today, you’re about to get it non-stop. I mean that literally.
Fifty days of football starts today. Actually, more accurately, it’s 48 days. But y’all know we like those round numbers around here.
Starting from today until Wednesday, November 22, there will be either a college football game or NFL game broadcast on ESPN’s airwaves. The Sun Belt Conference and the MAC are playing games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from now until Week 13 of the College Football season.
This is your heaven, football fans. Enjoy the time.
WNBA expansion is officially unofficial
Things move fast in the WNBA, don’t they? Just last week we were talking about how Joe Lacob and the Warriors’ ownership group is seeking to expand the league to the Bay Area.
Now, the league’s Twitter account seems to be indicating an expansion announcement is coming soon. The league tweeted out a video with a bunch of tweets asking for expansion with a caption that only says “10.5.”
10.5 pic.twitter.com/J4qlLOrg6E
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 4, 2023
Clearly, there’s some big announcement coming. And it’s happening before the WNBA Finals, too, which gives folks time to dissect it and parse through it.
League commissioner Cathy Engelbert has a press conference ahead of the Finals on October 8, so she’ll be asked about whatever this is. There’s probably going to be some major news there.
Obviously, this could be an announcement for the Bay Area team that Lacob and crew are trying to build here. But it feels like there’s a solid chance there’s more here. It was only in August that Engelbert said she wanted to expand the league by “one or two” teams. Could this be a two-team announcement? We’ll see.
I just know I can’t wait to find out.
Quick Hits: A whole bunch of regret … What’s up with Rays fans? … and more
— Christian D’Andrea has one glaring regret for each of the 32 teams in the NFL after four weeks.
— Rays fans, how are you barely showing up for your playoff team right now? The lowest attendance for a playoff baseball game in over a century? Come on, y’all. Charles Curtis has more.
— Cory Woodruff created an NFL Confidence meter with 10 teams that could definitely make the Super Bowl. My Eagles are in good shape.
— This intentional balk from Craig Kimbrel is so brilliant. Never thought I’d say that. Here’s more from Andrew Joseph.
— Aaron Rodgers really called Jason Kelce “Mr. Pfizer.” What a dork.
— Matt Scalici has the five most watchable college football games for Week 6. Tap in.
That’s all, folks. Happy Wednesday!
