Is Bryce Harper Here to Stay?

As we've now completed a little over a quarter of the baseball season, one of the biggest questions and observations so far is this: has Bryce Harper taken his game to the next level for good?  He is having an amazing season up to this point.  The biggest step Harper has taken coming into this year is tweaking his swing so it is more compact and makes him less vulnerable to pitch variations.  This video is from 2013:

In this video, you can see a hitch in the back of his swing, making his swing longer.  He then would move his entire body weight towards his front leg, leaving him vulnerable to changes in pitch speeds.  This movement in his swing motion would also make it harder to lay off pitches that would be balls.  He still generated an immense amount of torque, allowing him to have a lot of power coming through the zone.  However, this swing didn't allow for great average numbers.  His first 3 seasons in the MLB, he put up dash lines of .270/.340/.477 in 2012, .274/.368/.486 in 2013, and .273/.344/.423 in 2014.  Don't get me wrong, these are great numbers especially for his first 3 seasons in the MLB.  But everyone knew there was potential for him to put up much bigger numbers than that.  Here is a video of Harper's swing during this current season:

In this video, you see a much improved, beautiful swing.  Here, his toe tap is smaller making his initial movement significantly less to start with.  He took out the big hitch in the back of his swing, and now just cocks his hands back a bit as he loads.  He still generates a great amount of torque as he has some of the quickest hands in the league.  Then as his bat comes through the zone, you notice that his weight is all still back (although he still has the back foot leaving the ground because of the ferociousness of his swing).  This allows him to better adjust to different pitch speeds.  It also helps him use all fields when hitting.  His numbers so far have definitely shown the changes in his swing have paid off.  His dash line for this season so far is an outstanding .333/.471/.727 (!!!).  His K% has increased slightly this year compared to his last couple years, but his BB% has increased much, much more.  The quieting down a bit of his swing is the reason for this also because it allows him to stay quiet in the box and better recognize pitches.  The K% is going to stay around the 20% mark for a while longer just because anyone with his reputation and big, power swing is going to face the toughest pitches and is going to swing and miss more than others.  His WAR this year is already a 3.5, which leads the MLB.  His previous high WAR for an entire season was 4.6, so he is on pace to beat that mark easily.  It's tough not to admire the way Harper plays the game as he is always hustling and playing the game his hardest.  In the ubiquitous debate of Harper vs. Trout, I would definitely say that Trout is the more complete player still, but Harper has taken great strides this year and I think he could catch up to him within the next few years.  I think Trout has more tools right now, but Harper could develop more tools as his game progresses.  I'm excited to see these two continue to dominate for years to come along with newcomers such as Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Joc Pederson, Mookie Betts, Jose Abreu, and others.  Now back to the question posed in the beginning of this post and in the title: Has Bryce Harper taken his game to the next level for good and is he here to stay?  Yes.  I believe that he may not stay at this .333 clip, but I could see him hovering around .300 every year with big power numbers every year.  I think he'll just become more consistent as his game develops.  Let me know what you think about Harper and other young talent in the MLB in the comments

The Flash Finale (SPOILERS)

So the new tv series The Flash on the CW finished up its first season earlier this week.  The Flash is my favorite superhero, personally, so when I heard they were making a tv show about him, I was obviously stoked.  It's safe to say that after its first season, I haven't been disappointed one bit.  Grant Gustin is an absolutely perfect fit to play Barry Allen, and everyone else was perfectly cast in their roles.  The character development of all the characters, Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Joe, and Dr. Wells has been phenomenal throughout the first season as we got to know who their characters truly were.  The season had plenty of comical, suspenseful, emotional, and action-packed moments that kept you entertained in its entirety.  One thing I liked most about how this show has progressed, is that you become emotionally attached to the characters in their own separate ways.  You feel for Barry as he goes through his struggles with his parents and Iris.  You feel for Joe as the protective father of both Iris and Barry to an extent.  The action scenes were brilliant, and I loved how they displayed the super speed.

Now about the finale.  Now that I've had the time to think about all of the twists and turns that occurred in the finale (and to watch it a second time), I have many different thoughts, feelings, and questions going forward for season 2.  Throughout the decision making process Team Flash was going through, I kept thinking to myself that there was no way Barry could change the past and alter all of the subsequent events regarding all his current loved ones.  That would just change too much for the show.  I liked the decision he ultimately made, but it was heartbreaking to watch him talk to his dying mother.  Grant and Michelle Harrison both acted brilliantly in that emotional scene.  I liked Barry's decision also because he bent the rules a bit to come back and fight Well/Eobard Thawne.  Then Eddie came through to be the hero everyone wanted him to be.  This was completely unexpected to me mainly because they had spent time earlier in the episode to make you happy for Eddie because he finally got his stuff together and figured out his place in the world.  This also worked out perfectly because now Barry and Iris can be together eventually and they didn't have to just throw Eddie under the bus.  Another underrated aspect of the show that I love is the scientific portion of it.  There were so many scientific phenomena discussed in this episode and show in general that were very interesting.  In the finale alone they talked about the particle accelerator, wormholes and time travel, singularities, and even the science (or lack thereof) of coincidence.  I really like that they made the show with an intellectual perspective for much of the time.

The Easter eggs in this episode were flowing throughout the episode.  You had the reference to Cisco becoming Vibe as he spoke to Wells about being able to remember occurrences in alternate timelines.  There were many references in the speed force as Barry was running into the past.  There was the evidence that Caitlin will eventually become Killer Frost (and looked pretty cool I might add).  There was the vision of a scene from the future spinoff Legends of Tomorrow.  There were the visions of the Flash Museum, Barry in jail(?!?), and of his kid self again.  Then as Wells is getting ready to travel back to the future, we see a familiar helmet fly out of the wormhole.  This helmet is obviously Jay Garrick's helmet.  Wells references Rip Hunter when talking about the time machine.  And finally as the singularity grows over Central City, we see the first appearance of Ciara Renee who will play Hawkgirl in Legends of Tomorrow.  So obviously, they gave us a lot to look forward to for season 2 and beyond.

After all the excitement of the finale, I do have a couple questions regarding the show as it progresses forward.  First, how much will Earth 2 come in to play in the show?  It's already been said that it will play a part, but how big of a part is the question.  And my other BIG question is if Eddie killed himself causing Eobard Thawne to never be born, shouldn't that mean that Nora Allen wouldn't have been murdered, and Henry Allen wouldn't have ever gone to jail?  I'm very interested to see the repercussions of the Reverse Flash apparently never existing thanks to Eddie.  Let me know what you guys thought about the finale and the first season of The Flash in the comments!

The Curious Case of Ohio State's QB Competition

As this offseason continues, a gigantic decision looms over coach Urban Meyer's head as he prepares for the Ohio State Buckeyes' encore season following their National Championship victory over the Oregon Ducks in January.  He faces the decision of the starting QB between 3 Heisman-caliber quarterbacks in Braxton Miller, JT Barrett, and Cardale Jones.  All 3 QB's have made compelling cases for their starting jobs over their college careers.  Braxton has been the Big Ten offensive player of the year twice and has been 2-time 1st team All-Big Ten.  He has thrown for over 5,200 yards and rushed for over 3,000 yards in his career and accounted for 84 touchdowns.  He has the flashy stats and the experience over the other two candidates, but has been injury prone for the past 2-3 years.

JT Barrett surged onto the scene last year as Miller's replacement as a redshirt freshman.  He set an Ohio State and Big Ten record for most total TD in a season with an astounding 44 TDs.  He earned 1st team All Big Ten and 3rd team All American honors during the year, but had a broken ankle keep him out of postseason play.

Enter the third candidate: Cardale "12 gauge" Jones.  He may be the most interesting of the 3 candidates.  He has only started 3 games in his career: the Big Ten Championship game against Wisconsin, the first round of the College Football Playoff against Alabama, and the National Championship Game against Oregon.  He led the Buckeyes to victory in all 3 games in convincing fashion.  He has shown outstanding potential with a cannon for an arm, great size and toughness in the pocket, and the presence of mind to know when the rush is coming off the edge and an escape is necessary.  Not to mention he is definitely a character off the field as he is a great follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CJ12_.

So this brings us to the bittersweet choice facing Urban Meyer.  If I was in his position here is how I would compromise.  I would move Braxton around to different positions throughout the season; sometimes he would play WR, sometimes RB, and a little bit of QB.  This allows him to raise his draft stock, be another great playmaker on the field, and be involved in a plethora of trick plays that Urban Meyer could store in his arsenal.  I would start Cardale Jones at QB to start the season because, at the end of the day, he has incredible potential as a QB.  I would keep JT chomping at the bit to get his playing time, and get him a few snaps every now and then.  He would be ready to take the reigns at any point if Cardale isn't performing to expectations.  If he doesn't get many snaps in next year, it won't be the end of the world for him, though, as Braxton will graduate and Cardale will likely be off to the NFL if the season is successful.  Then the team will be JT's for the next two years of his career.  This is just what seems most logical to me, and obviously there are many other options that could happen as this offseason progresses.  Let me know what you think the champion Buckeyes should do with their great problem that they have in the comments!

First Post

Hello everybody!  This is a blog to talk about various sports and superhero topics, covering many different sports and superhero tv shows, movies, and comic books.  Hopefully this will be a place for fun topics and news in the entertainment world.