Brittney Palmer leaving UFC for burlesque show?
Time will tell if the Lakers are able to win an 18th championship this season but they already won this offseason and free agency.
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1. Brittney Palmer leaving UFC for burlesque show?
Brittney Palmer may be leaving the UFC as she is in talks to star in her own burlesque show on the Las Vegas Strip in the near future, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Norm Clarke.
After 16 years as a UFC ring girl Brittney Palmer may be tapping out.
She’s in talks that would move her stage from the octagon to star in her own burlesque show on the Las Vegas Strip.
Palmer, 36, would be returning to her topless showgirl roots. She revealed the development during an interview with The Sporting Tribune at her art gallery in the Arts District.
Her manager, Kamela Brewer, sent a text a few hours later saying “we have been bouncing ideas around to do so soon. It’s been an idea the Tropicana is open to in its final years."
The Oakland Athletics recently reached an agreement with Bally's and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a baseball stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip.
Palmer has come a long way since her early days. One modeling job at a company’s cocktail hour called for her to wear a birdcage over her head as an atmosphere model.
Her path to the UFC wasn't all puppies and rainbows.
2. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s All-Star Game snub angers teammates
Fernando Tatis Jr. has the numbers, so why isn't he headed to the All-Star Game? The Sporting Tribune’s Fernando Ramirez tried to find the answer last night at Petco Park.
The MLB All-Star list was released over the weekend. The San Diego Padres will be represented by outfielder Juan Soto and reliever Josh Hader.
Soto started the season a little rough but has since been on a tear. He is hitting .277 with 15 home runs, a 155 wrc+ (4th in MLB), and a 3.4 war (4th in the NL).
He is having a great season.
"It means a lot," Soto said. "All the sacrifices and everything that was done since the offseason has been coming through, and we're feeling great. It's an amazing feeling. Great to represent the San Diego Padres there for the first time in the all-stars means a lot to me too."
Hader is tied for seventh in the MLB with 18 saves and leads the league in ERA with 1.21. He has been a difference maker for the team when the team needs to close out a game.
"It's a great honor," Hader said. "Knowing how hard this game is, and all the great players that we have in this league are just to be named and mentioned with amongst the best. It's a great honor."
3. Sporting Tribune MLB Mock Draft 1.0
The Sporting Tribune's Taylor Blake Ward releases his first MLB Mock Draft as we are just over a week away from the first selection of the 2023 MLB Draft.
As we are just over a week away from the first selection of the 2023 MLB Draft, Taylor Blake Ward of The Sporting Tribune has put together his first MLB Mock Draft for the year. Team executives, decision makers, and crosscheckers flew in across the country last week and over the weekend to their respective club locations or draft meeting settings to finalize their big boards and systematically map out of a gameplan for the draft in their own personal favor following the College World Series and MLB Draft Combine where they finalized their collection of data and concluded some in-person interviews.
There is a consensus top five talents in this draft, with the often consensus top position player and top pitcher going 1-2 in some order between LSU's Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes. The remaining three of the five have all been mentioned with the top two picks and further with some questions about one of them falling a few picks out of the top five selections. After that, Wake Forest's Rhett Lowder and Virginia's Kyle Teel are in an odd second tier that's not distant from the top five or the next tier of about 12-15 players which could go anywhere from picks 6-20 with the eventual surprise one or two that fall into the 20-25 range.
4. Clippers look to make a deal for Harden or Lillard
The Clippers are returning Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook next season but want to add one more star, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Mark Medina.
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have not proven they can stay healthy. The Clippers have stressed optimism, however, that they can recover from their injuries and still win an NBA championship together. That success also depends on another factor the Clippers have hoped to address this offseason.
“We're trying to maximize these two and figure out ways that we can get better,” Lawrence Frank, the Clippers president of basketball operations, told reporters.
Within the first three days of free agency, the Clippers have tried to reach that goal with two approaches.
They retained some of their core players. They kept a star point guard that Leonard and George advocated for following the trade deadline. The Clippers retained Russell Westbrook, who accepted a two-year, $8 million deal partly because he appreciated how the Clippers helped rejuvenate his career after 1 ½ seasons of turbulence with the Lakers. As ESPN reported, the Clippers agreed to re-sign Mason Plumlee on a one-year, $5 million deal, a candidate the Clippers as a viable backup center to complement Ivica Zubac.
5. Gudas, Killorn bring snarl and skill to Anaheim
The Anaheim Ducks improved in free agency after the additions of Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Felix Sicard.
The Anaheim Ducks have signed Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas on the first day of unrestricted free agency to four-year, $6.25 million annual average value ("AAV"), and three-years, $4 million AAV contracts, respectively. Both signings represent a further shift away from Anaheim's rebuild, and an added emphasis on the immediate future.
General manager Pat Verbeek just witnessed 82 games of his club playing some of the worst hockey in NHL history. He has a young core in Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, and Troy Terry that is about to get far more expensive.
As bad as Anaheim's season was -- netting them the second overall pick that turned into Leo Carlsson -- the time for full-on rebuilding has effectively passed due to the roster's changing financial structure. If there was any doubt about that, Verbeek swiftly vaporized it by signing two aging veterans to term-laden deals. Both contracts carry risk to the players' respective ages, and how they pan out will have an outsized impact on Anaheim's fortunes in the coming years.
6. Dodgers find stride in series opener against Pirates
Michael Grove kept the Pirates offense at bay as David Peralta and Max Muncy mashed in a 5-2 win, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Grant Mona.
A truly refreshing sight for Dodger fans is a solid, no-stress victory and that is exactly what happened Monday night. After a rocky start for Michael Grove, he settled down and worked through a few jams to go four innings of one run ball and give the Dodger bats a chance to get some run support.
The Pirates only had 3 hits since the 2nd inning, and a ton of credit goes to this pitching staff. Max Muncy, who had been in a big slump as of late, got things going with a solo home run in the second, and later in the inning Jason Heyward doubled to bring home the still red hot David Peralta. From there on out it was all Dodgers. Miguel Rojas hit an RBI double in the 4th, David Peralta laced an RBI single in the 5th, and Jason Heyward got on on an error (which should’ve been ruled a double) later in that inning to put this game away.
It was a bullpen day which meant that this team would need their arms to step up and they did tonight, going five innings of one run ball end the game. This is an excellent sign, albeit a bad Pirates’ lineup as of late, that this bullpen won’t need major, farm system shaking moves at the deadline. The Dodgers are now 25-15 at home.
7. Odds and Ends presented by Circa Sports
Here are some odds at Circa Sports if you’re thinking about placing a wager today:
8. Ticket Time presented by TickPick
Here are the “get in” prices for tickets if you’re thinking about going to a game today.
3:30 p.m. – Angels at Padres – $77
6:00 p.m. – Pirates at Dodgers – $40
7:30 p.m. – LAFC vs. Galaxy (Rose Bowl) – $41
9. On the Air presented by The D Las Vegas
Here are the game times and television channels for professional teams in the region today.
3:30 p.m. – Angels at Padres – Bally Sports West, TBS
6:00 p.m. – Pirates at Dodgers – SportsNet LA
7:30 p.m. – LAFC vs. Galaxy (Rose Bowl) – Apple TV
10. The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune
The Sporting Tribune’s Arash Markazi is joined by Brandon Deutsch to talk about the Lakers doing everything they wanted to this offseason from keeping their core free agents, adding key role players and improving their depth. The Clippers also had a solid start, bringing back Russell Westbook to play alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and might not be done adding superstars to their team.
Listen to The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune on The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio in Southern California, 98.5 The Bet in Las Vegas and the Hawaii Sports Radio Network 95.1 FM and 760 AM in Hawaii. You can also listen to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher.
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That’s it for today. Talk to you tomorrow!