Life's Too Sports

While last week's  season premiere  of Fear the Walking Dead is nothing short of riveting, it fails to address the current location of many of our favorite survivors. As promised, this Sunday's "bottle episode" provides further insight on the whereabouts of Alicia Clark, Victor Strand, and Daniel Salazar. "Welcome to the Club" begins with Virginia's night crew being tasked with the near-impossible job of overcoming dozens of walkers covered in molasses. Unfortunately, their efforts quickly go horribly wrong -- a partially jammed door causes Virginia's rangers and the entirety of her night crew (aside from a terrified, indecisive Sanjay) to become walker food. Meanwhile, Alicia and Strand are on [excrement]-cleaning duty when they are approached by Marcus, one of Virginia's more hostile rangers. When Strand challenges his authority, Marcus pulls a gun on both of them -- only to be talked down by Dakota, Virginia's younger sister. Alicia and St...

Similarly to last week's "The Blaze of Gory" , this Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond does not provide much in the way of plot furtherance -- however, it does finish setting the stage for the dramatic journey promised in its series debut . While the first two episodes of this series focus mainly on Hope and Iris Bennett, episode three begins providing background information on the intriguing history of Silas, our resident "gentle giant". As Silas refuses to kill empties (carrying his friends' bags instead), it starts to become evident that a violent past threatens his present-day ability to survive outside the walls of their community. Throughout "The Tyger and the Lamb", Silas is greeted by flashbacks, including the audio from his sixth birthday tape, a conversation with Iris in her father's classroom, and the memory of an imaginative poem she once wrote. While it is unclear precisely what haunts Silas, another flashback ...

The Atlanta Braves scored six runs in the sixth inning on Thursday, en route to their lopsided 10-2 victory over the Dodgers in NLCS Game 4. Despite being blown out in Game 3, Atlanta's bounce-back effort in Thursday's Game 4 propels them to a 3-1 series advantage as they seek to advance to their first World Series since 1999. As expected, the Braves' winning formula proved once again to be solid pitching and timely hitting, much as they received in their  Game 1 and Game 2  victories earlier in the week. Meanwhile, the Dodgers' October opposition benefitted (once again) from the inability of star pitcher Clayton Kershaw to deliver in a clutch moment. Despite allowing only one run through five innings of work, Kershaw's solid outing quickly crumbled in the sixth, and reliever Brusdar Graterol was unable to stop the bleeding. With the score tied, 1-1 in the bottom of the inning, Braves' first baseman Freddie Freeman stepped to the plate hungry to deliver a clutc...

The Atlanta Braves defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 8-7 in NLCS Game 2 on Tuesday. For the Braves, this evening's victory propels them to a flawless, 7-0 record thus far in the 2020 MLB Postseason. Despite Atlanta's Game 1 win coming courtesy of a ninth-inning rally, NLCS Game 2 proved to be much less stressful . . . for awhile. As the contest progressed, the Dodgers' greatest threat seemed to come in a pivotal third inning plate appearance, when Will Smith grounded into a force-out to strand the bases loaded. From that moment forward, it was all Atlanta, as the Braves' star-studded lineup sought to capitalize on Clayton Kershaw's absence (due to back spasms). The Braves' offensive onslaught began in the fourth inning, when Freddie Freeman launched a home run for the second consecutive night to make it 2-0. In the fifth, however, their lead became nearly insurmountable. Cristian Pache and Freddie Freeman both recorded RBI knocks before Los Angel...

With five eclectic seasons in the rearview, AMC aired the Season 6 premiere of  Fear the Walking Dead on Sunday, October 11. And if the premiere is any indication, viewers are in for a captivating ride this season. Initially, the introduction of the series'  70th episode  is quite reminiscent of its Season 4 premiere, featuring a character "running from something" and stumbling across a fellow survivor in the woods. Unfortunately for Walter (the runner), his time as an on-screen survivor is relatively short-lived, as he immediately encounters one of the most sinister individuals in the history of The Walking Dead universe. While this villain seems cordial upon introduction (gifting Walter beans and accepting his company), Emile soon reveals his true colors by beheading the newcomer with an axe. He then removes a mysterious key from Walter's corpse and leaves the site alongside his dog, Rufus. However, the apocalyptic bounty hunter is quickly called into action once m...

The Atlanta Braves defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 5-1 in NLCS Game 1 on Monday night. Both teams entered the contest with flawless postseason records of 5-0. The Dodgers swept the Brewers and Padres. The Braves swept the  Reds  and  Marlins . Thus, in Game 1 of the NLCS, something had to give. The first inning brought immediate joy to the Atlanta fanbase, as veteran Freddie Freeman shook off the rust with a solo shot to give the Braves a 1-0 edge. In the fifth, however, Dodgers' infielder Enrique Hernandez launched a solo blast of his own, knotting the score at one run apiece. Predictably, runs were difficult to come by in Monday night's matchup. Braves' starter Max Fried posted a truly impressive line (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO). Meanwhile, Dodgers' starter Walker Buehler posted a respectable line in his own right, despite a high pitch count due to a plethora of walks issued (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 7 SO). Nonetheless, Atlanta flexed thei...

Last week, the series premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond generated a plethora of questions for viewers across the globe. And while Sunday's second episode didn't do much in terms of plot furtherance, it provided useful background information and helped illuminate a glaring issue -- despite Felix's training, this teenage gang is truly incapable of surviving outside the safety of their walls. The point is driven home almost instantly as viewers painfully watch Iris attempt to kill her first "empty" in completely inept fashion.  Later, Elton spray paints one of the dead, Silas fails to attack it, and Hope eventually lures it into a swimming pool and flips it off as though she's accomplished something remarkable. We're about a decade into the apocalypse now and nobody in this gang has ever killed an empty, which certainly doesn't bode very well for their survivability. Nonetheless, "The Blaze of Gory" does  feature some interesting chara...