Today that moment came for Rafael Nadal. He wanted to go out playing for his home country. Today Spain faced off against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Best of three matches with each match out of three sets. Two singles and one doubles match if required. Rafa got choked up during the national anthem. The match included a few vintage Rafa points followed by signature first pumps. Unfortunately he’s just nowhere near his old self when it comes to physicality and consistency....

AI JESUS TAKES CONFESSIONS IN SWISS CHURCH St. Peters Church in Lucerne introduced an AI-powered Jesus hologram for confessions. Two-thirds of visitors reported a spiritual experience, though others found the advice generic. Some critics call it a gimmick, raising ethical concerns about AIs role in faith. Source: Daily Mail As a catholic kid this is a wild story. Let’s first set the stage of confessions. It’s pretty chaotic when you think about it....

I also saw plenty of new starlet Sydney Thomas around these parts this weekend. But not enough for my liking. So you’re getting the blog she deserves here.

Thanks to Trevor David for linking this recipe to me. Send recipe ideas to NJTank99@gmail.com.

Now, we all know Taylor and Kendrick are friends. Sounds like she doesn’t love you anymore, Papi! Fingers crossed for the foreseeable future about Taylor’s involvement in anything Kendrick has coming up. OVHOES TO THE BACK!

This is one of my favorite days of the off-season. I think the following three players are locks: Ichiro Suzuki C.C. Sabthia Billy Wagner Ichiro and Sabthia are both new players on the ballot. Ichiro has 3,089 hits…and that’s just in the MLB. Counting Japan, it’s over 4,000. He’s also one of the best defensive outfielders this century. I’ve spent too many words on this. The only question is if it’s unanimous....

They all tried, and they all failed. Sometimes, things need to be left to the true elites. Plenty of teams are going to fall victim to Mazzulla Ball, there’s certainly no shame in it. Let’s face it, the Boston Celtics are the standard. They are the team everyone measures themselves against and rightfully so. That’s part of the gig when you’re the Champs. But if anything, last night was a reminder that there are levels to this shit....

I am surprised we are here to be honest. Last year was a disaster basically from the word go. The Corey Perry situation was ugly. Taylor Hall got hurt. The roster was bad. I hated the way the team played and competed. It was miserable, but also hard to judge the coach because the roster was subpar. This year was supposed to be different. They added a TON of veterans....

Its an inexplicable feeling, but deep down, I can sense it in my soul. Theres no logical explanation for it; its a connection beyond words. Its as if this meme was plucked from the collective unconscious to represent every chill guy whos ever existed. Every laid-back, easygoing man on this planet can see himself in this meme. Its not just a random image or a passing joke. Its more than humorits a truth that resonates on a cosmic level....

But in all seriousness, Thursday Night games have long allowed bad teams to get to play in primetime. Did they just forget about the deadline? Or were they late to delivering the notice like the Browns were when trying to trade for AJ McCarron? Maybe the Broncos fans, maybe? Because the casual fan certainly would not. And Browns fans want nothing to do with showcasing this dumpster fire to a larger audience than necessary....

Forget the fact that “Dem Boys” are 3-7. Everything about the Dallas Cowboys is falling apart right now. Which puts them in a desperate position. And when people are desperate, they make rash decisions. God I fuckin' hope so. Right now it’s more of a sitcom than anything. Like you’re free to just picture this entire Cowboys season with a laugh track playing behind it. We need pure shock. We need more headlines than memes....

It’s a tale as old as boxing itself. And they want a piece of it more than they care about the sport. So they’ll pay boxers to take a dive. With Terry Malloy inOn the Waterfront. Luis “Mountain” Rivera inRequiem for a Heavyweight. Only to later have to save him from rapey hillbillies. Which, for my money, are the worst kind of hillbillies. This was on the internet, where every whiff, miss and pulled punch can live on forever....

When this all happened, Murphy said of replacing Counsell, I was just very grateful. Im just grateful to go to work every day and show up and attempt to impact somebody. I want to be clear about that. Makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. There’s torment and pain and torture, and then there’s being a present day Chicago sports fan. It’s actually kinda impressive how sick and twisted it is when you really think about it....