Small-market NBA Finals are the underdog no one is rooting for
On one level, we remain suckers for this kind of story. Maybe 'Hoosiers' works just as well if the announcer for WFBM radio doesn't tell us before the championship game that Hickory High School — 'hardly big enough for three syllables!' — has an enrollment of 64, while South Bend Central — 'the mighty Bears!' — has 2,800 students.
Probably not, though. We always root for the Little Guy.
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Every other team in baseball eventually adopted analytics. But only the Oakland A's got a book written about them, and then a movie, and as you watch 'Moneyball,' you might actually find yourself hoping the A's can rewrite history and win the pennant.
(Especially since in THAT iteration of real life the A's somehow didn't have Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Miguel Tejada in their clubhouse, in addition to no free Cokes.)
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Indianapolis Star
2 days ago
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Things 'always circled back to Butler' for 2026 commit Joslyn Bricker. 'A dream come true'
When someone asked Joslyn Bricker what her dream school would be growing up, she always answered Butler. The Warsaw senior basketball standout didn't know much about the coaching staff or school in general at the time — aside from "Hoosiers," one of her all-time favorite movies, filming inside Hinkle Fieldhouse — but she knew a number of Butler grads and everyone had positive things to say about their experience. "They all loved it," she told IndyStar on Thursday morning. Butler maintained a prominent place on Bricker's list of potential destinations as she learned more about the university and its women's basketball program, and over the past few weeks, her interest was reciprocated. Coach Austin Parkinson offered Bricker a scholarship during a campus visit earlier this month and on Wednesday, she made things official, verbally committing to the Bulldogs. Lapel's Laniah Wills commits to Butler: 'That's a pressure off my shoulders. I feel very good about it' Bricker said Butler "kind of sells itself" with its prestigious academics and, for her individually, the proximity to home and importance of faith to the coaching staff. "The relationships I've formed with the coaches, they're just great people," she continued. "I felt that way about everyone we met on my visit. It felt like a big hug and a really good fit for me." A 5-8 point guard and 2026 IndyStar Miss Basketball candidate, Bricker averaged 19 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 steals last season for Class 4A state runner-up Warsaw. She shot 59% from the field, 43% from 3 and 82% from the line, and enters her senior season with over 1,000 career points. Bricker said Parkinson, a former point guard himself, compared her game to that of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson — which is who her dad had been encouraging her to play like. "That was kind of like, 'Wow, he has a really good grasp and understanding of my game and how I want to play,'" she said. "That was really impressive." These past few weeks have been "a whirlwind" for Bricker, who added offers from Butler, Florida Gulf Coast, Penn, Southern Indiana and Belmont to an already extensive list earlier this month. She visited Butler on June 11, then took trips to Belmont and Ball State — two of the other schools she was "very interested in" — a week later. Scheduling those visits consecutively made it easier to compare schools, she said, but it was "exhausting and a lot to process." And in the end, "it always circled back to Butler." After talking through things with her parents earlier this week, Bricker reached out to Butler freshman Addi Baxter to ask the Columbia City grad about her experience and why she chose the Bulldogs. "Everything she told me was reassuring of what I was feeling, too," Bricker recalled. "We're very similar, have similar values in the way we look at things, so hearing all the great things she had to say and why she chose Butler helped it make sense for me." Bricker is Butler's second in-state 2026 commit, joining Lapel's Laniah Wills, a 6-0 wing. "It's a dream come true," Bricker said. "I know the coaches and some of the players and they're all just really great people. … I'm excited to build something special with special people."
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
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Altuve, Caratini, Dubón homer, Astros have 20 hits in 11-4 win over Athletics
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jose Altuve and Victor Caratini hit three-run home runs in a seven-run sixth inning and the Houston Astros had a season-high 20 hits in an 11-4 victory over the Athletics on Wednesday night. Framber Valdez (8-4) limited the A's to two runs and five hits in six innings to help the Astros win for the seventh time in eight games. Altuve, Caratini. Jeremy Peña. Cam Smith and Jake Meyers had three hits apiece, and Yandy Diaz and Mauricio Dubón each added two. Nick Kurtz hit a double and scored on a single by Austin Wynns to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead in the second. The 22-year-old rookie had a solo homer in the ninth. Dubón hit a leadoff homer in the third inning and Peña's RBI single off starter Luis Severino (2-7) in the fourth made it 2-1. The Athletics had a four-game win streak snapped Tuesday with a 13-3 loss to Houston . Key moment Tyler Ferguson replaced Severino to start the sixth and gave up a single to Meyers before Dubón grounded into a 4-6-3 double play but Peña followed with a single, Isaac Paredes followed with a walk and Altuve's three-run shot sparked Houston's seven-run sixth that made it 9-1. Key stat The Athletics gave up three home runs and have yielded a major league-leading 113 this season, sixth most before the All-Star break in franchise history. The A's are on pace to allow 247 homers this season and shatter the franchise record of 220 set by the 1964 Kansas City A's. Up next Houston's Colton Gordon (2-1, 4.70 ERA) was scheduled to pitch Thursday against Jacob Lopez (1-4, 4.80) to wrap up the four-game series. ___ AP MLB:
