Happy Friday everyone! With another week in the books, it’s time to look back on the best and worst in sports. I come to you running on fumes, in between Bruce Springsteen concerts at MetLife Stadium. If this was a music blog, I’d give you a dissertation on why concerts in the Boss’s home state are epic, but I digress. Let’s get to sports instead.

Worst of The Week: An Insecure Franchise Full of Paralyzing Self Doubt

“Californiaaaaaaaaaaa.” If you haven’t realized it already, this portion of the review was inspired by the mid-2000’s Fox hit The OC, the Angels play in Orange County after all, so bear with me. Angels GM Perry Minasian (pictured below) is far from being the hero Ryan Atwood was. To keep the analogies going, these past few weeks have been season three levels of bad for this franchise.

It’s been another disappointing campaign for the Angels, but they truly poured gasoline on the fire on Tuesday. The club announced Tuesday afternoon they were placing starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, relief pitchers Matt Moore, Dominic Leone, Reynoldo Lopez, and outfielders Hunter Renfroe, Randal Grichuk, on waivers.

Moore aside, the other five players have something in common, they were all acquired by the club at the trade deadline amidst a push for the playoffs. Now while the attempt at buying was admirable, it was misguided, especially with the benefit of hindsight. The Halos were hoping to finally get Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout to the postseason together, but since these deals, things have fallen apart. The Angels have since slipped under .500, Trout re-aggravated his injury, and Ohtani was revealed to have a UCL injury.

With the waiver trade deadline now eliminated, the Angels weren’t going to be able to recoup any value in a trade for these underachieving additions, nor would waiving them return any value. These transactions ultimately amounted to a slap in the face to the fans who bought into hopes of making the playoffs with the team buying. Giolito, Moore, Lopez, and Renfroe have since been claimed by Cleveland and Cincinnati. While Minasian has some explaining to do, he is far from alone, as owner Artie Moreno is truly responsible for the team being a mess.

Moreno is a Julie Cooper level villain in the story of this franchise. From ballpark issues, to not maxing out payroll, Moreno has been long reviled in Orange County. Moreno bought the club in 2003 from Disney, fresh off of their first World Championship. For the first 10 years of his ownership, the Halos were a perennial playoff team, while spending to compete with (and often beat) the big boys in the AL. But over the past decade all of his worst qualities have shone through.

His overly “hands on” approach has harmed the franchise. Pushing the front office to sign all time free agent bust Anthony Rendon and buy big at this deadline have been just the latest batch of misguided attempts to put a winner on the field. For all his efforts, the team always seems to be missing something. Moreno’s meddling and the front offices mistakes have cost the Angels a chance at what could have been a golden age for the franchise.

Their inability to adequately surround two generational talents in Trout and Ohtani with a stronger ball club will now likely lead to them losing both players this winter. Ohtani will test free agency and, while his injury will cost him money, he will still have plenty of suitors. Trout might finally force his long-rumored trade away from the team. My advice to Mike and Shohei…jump in the car with Ryan, Seth, Summer, and Marissa and go “driving down the 101” to LA. Maybe the Dodgers will even take them all to see Rooney.

Best of The Week: Husker…Volleyball?

With a paid attendance of 92,003, this was the highest attended women’s sporting of all time, which surpassed last year’s women’s Champions League match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg (91,648). While Nebraska certainly expected a solid turnout for the event, the crowd blew those expectations out of the water. This was a staggering and wonderful achievement for women’s sports at any level and one both the program and great fans should be proud of.

Pretty special to see the volleyball players take part in football gameday traditions like the iconic walk down the tunnel.

Keep an eye out of full NFL previews in the coming days and thanks for staying with us here at the Broadway. If you’re new welcome aboard, you can follow me on twitter @YNWA9623 and can subscribe to the site by hitting follow in the bottom right of your screen and entering your email address.