Rippee Writes: Tuesday Scoop
New midweek starter, an Oxford staple closes, wild hockey stat, Steph Curry appreciation
Happy Tuesday. We’ll have a new podcast out tomorrow SkyBox’s NASCAR guru explaining the sport to me like I am four years old, so be on the lookout for that. We’ve got a random but interesting selection of topics to get into today.
Let’s go.
Dougherty gets nod vs UALR
Mike Bianco said on SportsTalk Mississippi yesterday that newly-mined midweek phenom Jack Dougherty will start for the Rebels tonight versus Arkansas-Little Rock. If you’re still wondering who that is, Bianco ripped a redshirt off of Dougherty last week against Austin Peay, allowing him to make his collegiate debut. Dougherty struck out five of the six hitters he faced while heaving 93-94 mph fastballs on both sides of the plate. It was one of the stranger, more interesting debuts I can remember given the time and place, and with the current state of the bullpen, Dougherty added intrigue as to whether we would see the mystery man on the weekend. He did not throw against Mississippi State, but if all goes well in this start and he looks like he did a week ago, I would bet that changes. I don’t know what to make of him yet, but it is certainly a good reason to watch an otherwise mundane April midweek game.
Rolling with the same deal for subscribers for now: a 16 oz. prime strip for $10. I’ll check about switching it up later this week, but go see Greg at LBs. He will hook you up with some delightful meats to throw on the grill.
Mind-boggling NHL stat
I went to a hockey game over the weekend and now consider myself an NHL historian. Not really, but this statistic stumbled across my Twitter feed last night and I had trouble wrapping my head around it.
This man’s name is Patrick Marleau. He’s been in the NHL since 1997. He spent 21 seasons with the San Jose Sharks from 1997-2017, and now, at the ripe age of 41 years old is in his third stint with the organization. He has now apparently appeared in at least one game with 37 percent of NHL players, ever. Not current Sharks. Not current NHL players. He’s played with over 1/3 of anyone who has ever suited up in an NHL game since the league’s inception. I am not sure how that is remotely possible and I am still not sure I believe it, but the team’s statistics account put it out, so I have to believe it’s true. He broke the record for most games played in NHL history last night. Congrats to Marleau, I guess, he’s really old. I don’t really know what to compare this to. Wow.
Speaking of SkyBox, go check them out here. They’re not only crushing NASCAR, but also golf, baseball and NBA picks as well. If you fancy having some skin in the game, these guys are guaranteed to lead you to profit. Use my promo code “Rippee” for 20 percent off any package you purchase. It’s well worth the money and they have a package that will fit your price range.
A farewell to an Oxford staple
One minute social media is feeding me wild hockey stats before bedtime, the next it is ruining my day. An Instagram post from a friend yesterday promptly informed me that Pick Thai restaurant in Oxford has permanently shut its doors. This was hands down my favorite restaurant in town and I am only partially ashamed to admit I averaged two takeout orders a week in the final year I lived there. It got to the point that, depending on who was working the phone, saying my “Hi, this is Brian” was enough to fill out the rest of my order. This news sucks. Pick Thai felt like the semi-well kept secret among the Thai-food fans of Oxford. Rice and Spice, which is good in its own right, got all the pub and shine, while Thai-ordering veterans knew of this tucked away utopia attached to a sketchy-looking motel, that had even better-tasting food. It was a place where you rarely actually dined in. Maybe some of your experiences are different, but I probably ordered Pick Thai 200 times and can honestly say I never once ate inside the restaurant. Hell, if you pointed the building out to a stranger from the highway, they might get to 100 guesses before landing on Thai restaurant. It’s still the best Thai food I have had anywhere in any place I have lived and it is a damn shame it has finally closed its doors.
I’m still holding out hope this is some elaborate gag by Pick Thai to generate more business, like all of the times you’d call up there to have them closed on a random Tuesday or Friday for an unspecified reason, or calling four times to try to place a to-go order when the internet says they’re open, only to have them just decide to stop answering call-in orders for a while (If you’re a regular, you know what I am talking about). I will miss the dimly-lit parking lot, the semi-functional waterfall/stream thing out front, and I’ll miss walking in to find no one behind the front desk, and waiting 10 minutes as if you’re at a motel in a horror movie that hasn’t had a guest in months. Most of all, I’ll miss the food. Because for all the flaws I joked about, that place had damn fine food. RIP to an Oxford staple.
Appreciate Steph Curry
I imagine I favor the NBA more than most on this newsletter. I mainly judge this off of audience overlap from SuperTalk and feeling like I’ve found a unicorn every time I stumble across an NBA fan in Mississippi that doesn’t have ties to Memphis. Last night I didn’t have much to do after work and flipped on a Warriors-76ers game. For most of the game, I wasn’t really even paying attention, until the fourth quarter when Steph Curry single-handedly defeated what may end up being the best team in the Eastern Conference. Curry had 49 points, was 10-17 from three-point range and etched another chapter in what has to be one of the most absurd month-long stretches in league history.
Don’t believe me? Here’s Curry’s point total in his last 11 games: 49, 47, 33, 42 , 53, 38, 32, 41, 37, 36, 32. Curry is making 43.1 percent of threes for the year — ON 12 ATTEMPTS PER GAME. No one in the history of basketball has done anything remotely close to this, nor will anyone ever come close to topping it. Whether you enjoy the league or not, I would strongly encourage turning on your television to watch Curry when you can. He is the greatest shooter that’s ever lived and it is not close. I did not expect to be glued to a TV for the final 11 minutes of a random NBA game last night, but Curry reeled me into doing just that. It’s unbelievably fun to watch him play basketball.
Ole Miss culminates spring practice on Saturday with the Grove Bowl
Forgive me for the lack of football coverage in this newsletter so far. As a recovering beat writer from the Matt Luke era, I have found it impossible to make spring practice interesting to me, and now that I am not contractually obligated to attend, my interest level has dipped. With that said, I am probably an outlier in that regard. If the weather is nice, I expect a big crowd this weekend to get a glimpse at the team in year two under Lane Kiffin. I’ll have more football-related thoughts later this week, but for now, here is some information on the game if you’re looking to attend.
Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m.
On the Horizon:
Three more newsletters with golf, football, baseball and whatever weird stuff I read on social media before going to sleep.
Podcast with SkyBox’s NASCAR savant.
Collin and I are still mulling the idea of a live podcast/broadcast thing for the LSU game on Thursday.
The Korn Ferry Tour is across the street from where I live this week, so hopefully some amplified Magnolia State Golf Coverage for the people this week.
Thanks for subscribing. Have a wonderful Tuesday. Forward to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun. Feedback appreciated as always. Talk soon.