In A World….

Once upon a time, we watched sports without assuming that the officials were trying to rig the game…. who am I kidding, of course not! Naturally, we’ve always assumed the worst when it comes to refereeing and it’s truly become THE American pastime. From football all the way to lawn darts, there is nothing that unites fans more than blaming the refs. And to be fair, this is more than just an American pastime, it’s a global phenomenon. Soccer/Footy fans will tell you that the officials have blown calls for hundreds of years! Don’t even get me started on the Olympics! No matter what sport, the Ref is always the primary person who receives blame, regardless of context. While I think that there are often times they fully deserve it, they are usually just trying to keep the game “fair-ish”. So what am I saying? Dont blame the ref for anything. Frankly, it’s loser behavior. The referee didn’t cause your marriage to collapse, the official missing a high stick isn’t why you didnt end up going pro. The umpire blowing that strike three call is not why you haven’t been able to lose weight. At some point, the players need to take accountability and play the game.

NHL Playoffs Best Stories

This playoff has been plagued with some questionable calls (see the story above for why I’m not blaming the refs), but there have also been some incredible things that have happened. Here are my favourite two story lines to follow for the rest of Round 2:

Arturs Silovs has been an absolute beauty for the Vancouver Canucks. He currently sits with the 6th most playoff wins in Canucks history and has been an absolute stud between the pipes. When Thatcher Demko went down the Canucks were all but written off. Casey Desmith tried to save them but ultimately it came down to Silovs, the rookie, who has stepped up and welcomed the challenge. Love watching a rookie goalie stand up good luck Silovs!

The other story I absolutely love is about Mason Lohrei, a rookie defensemen with the Boston Bruins who has been getting better and better each game. While he isn’t a point per game machine like Makar, he has some of the smoothest hands I’ve seen and plays with an edge which is why he fits in so perfectly with this Bruins team. The big kid is one of a kind and I cannot wait to see what comes next for Mason as he and the Bruins head back to Boston to try and stave off elimination.

Alright friends, I’m going to give you some freebie DFS this morning for use in 50/50s or Double-Ups (it’s not quite tourney play, but might have some juice). I am leaning heavily into the Houston Trash.. I mean Astros…. today for DFS. They have been absolutely awful and truly do not deserve any fantasy love. However… they are playing the Soon-to-be-Leaving Oakland Athletics. While the A’s have been better this season, I don’t love them long-term (it’s a rebuild and it’ll come back to earth soon) so here it is in all of its Glory (graph provided by Rotowire)

I am going with Framber Valdez and Taj Bradley for my Pitchers and then it’s a ton of Astros (Diaz, Bregman, Tucker, /Alvarez and Loperfido). I mixed in Seager, Carpenter, and Mastrobuoni for cost savings and a bit of diversity, but it’s very much a pitching reliant lineup. A lot of the value plays need minimal production to be worth the cost and thats why I’m leaning that way.

Dont forget to tune in tonight (Wednesday) at 8pm Eastern for The Ocho live on Facebook, YouTube, and X!