Piece of the Week: Kyler's hand, Dwyane's shoe, Bryce's calendar and more
When you get right down to it, even the biggest stories in sports come down to a few tiny pieces. Here, we celebrate those pieces. Presenting Yahoo Sports’ Piece of the Week, recognizing the small bits that lead to big moments. This week’s nominees:
Bryce Harper’s October 2031 calendar: When Bryce Harper signed his monumental 13-year, no-opt-out, $330 million deal, it was natural enough to start thinking ahead to October 2031, when that deal would run out. Before Harper stops wearing a Phillies uniform, assuming all goes as contracted, we’ll see six Olympics and, ugh, three presidential elections. That’s a long time. Try not to think about the fact that quite a few people you know will be dead by then.
Kyler Murray’s hand: Because NFL freaks are an insatiable bunch, and because the NFL schedule is capped at 16 games a year to prevent players from being beaten into pudding, we have the NFL combine: a four-day event where talent evaluators size up players’ height, weight and hand size and project their entire careers based on differences of an eighth of an inch. No, it makes absolutely no sense, but it keeps the fans locked in. And because Kyler Murray is 5’10” instead of 5’9”, and has a handspan of 9 1/2” instead of 9 1/4”, he’s now destined to be a Hall of Famer rather than a washout. So much depends on that last quarter-inch.
Dwyane Wade’s right foot: Dwyane Wade doesn’t have many games left in his stellar career, so we’ll savor what we’ve got. And it doesn’t get much better than his game-winner against Golden State, where he launched a three from his off-balance right foot. Six inches further in, and it’s only a tie; a slight change in degree, and it’s a loss. That’s an awful lot of weight for one foot to carry.
That suspicious blank space on the window of the Orchid of Asia Day Spa: Robert Kraft got popped earlier this week for allegedly employing the extracurricular services of a Jupiter, Fla. day spa. He’s claiming innocence; law enforcement officials tell another story. Meanwhile, the blank space on the list of the spa’s offerings, right between “facial treatments” and “waxing,” screams volumes.
Which one is your Piece of the Week? Head to Yahoo Sports’ Twitter, Instagram or Facebook pages to have your say.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
