On this day in 2010…

Dallas Braden threw the 19th Perfect Game in MLB history as the A’s defeated the Rays, 4-0.

This is arguably one of the most famous perfect games of all time. It was Mother’s Day, and Braden resented the day due to his mother passing from melanoma years earlier.

Braden famously got hammered the night before the game and showed up to the stadium violently hungover. 27 up, 27 down. A perfect game, arguably still drunk from the previous evening. His grandmother, who raised him following his mothers passing, was in attendance.

Here’s the full highlight: LINK

Nikola Jokic was announced as the NBA Regular Season MVP yesterday, making it the third MVP award of his career. He averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9 assists per game in 79 appearances. No doubt these are incredibly impressive numbers, and he undoubtedly is the engine that makes this Nuggets team run.

But here’s where I get a little confused: Jokic OVERWHELMINGLY won the award with 79 votes, compared to 14 for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and 4 for Luka Doncic. The fact that SGA had 14 votes is absolutely criminal.

SGA averaged 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists, while shooting over 53% from the field and over 35% from the three. He lead the PLAY-IN Thunder to the number one seed in an absolutely LOADED Western Conference. Not to mention, he was by far the most important player on his team. While Jokic is no doubt vital to what they do in Denver, without him, I’d argue there is still three All-Stars on his team. SGA has a really deep roster to help him, but they are so young and guys like Chet and J-Will are a few years away from their peak.

I’m not out here saying Jokic should not have won, I’m saying 14 votes for SGA is disrespectful. I think the NBA needs to have a serious conversation about what the hell the MVP Award is. Is it the MOST VALUABLE PLAYER or is it the best player? Jokic certainly is the best player, but I’d argue that SGA, and even Jalen Brunson, were more valuable.

Brunson not even receiving a vote is absolute insanity to me. If we’re talking about who’s valuable for their teams success, I don’t think you can name a better candidate than Jalen Brunson. In a year where the Knicks were plagued by injuries, Brunson performed day in and day out, hitting clutch bucket after clutch bucker, vaulting the Knicks into the 2-seed in the Eastern Conference.

I just don’t understand what voters saw that made them think that these other guys weren’t even close to Jokic. Maybe it’s the recency bias? The Nuggets have been SO good this year and were a machine up until these last two games. Perhaps it was Brunson and SGAs lack of gaudy numbers that past MVP Point Guards have put up, but if you were to ask me who is the most VALUABLE player, I don’t think Jokic is the easy answer. Without SGA and Brunson, who the hell knows where the Thunder and Knicks are. They surely are not in the spots they are.

Just some NBA hot take food for thought to get your Thursday started.

Here are 7 moments from yesterday in the world of sports you might’ve missed!

Life is full of ebbs and flows, what comes up must come down. Be nice to people, you never know when or how you’ll need their help in the future.

Bosses come in all shapes and sizes…and moods. But you know that one boss you had that was just the G.O.A.T., yup that one, what a glue guy! Makes coming in to work fun instead of a pain! And they feel like more of a friend rather than a boss. Yeah, shoutout to all the cool bosses out there. Absolute glue!

(Inspiration: CB!)

C. Michael Jordan, despite winning the award FIVE times during his career, he never managed to achieve a three-peat!