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THE RECORD LABEL — In short summary, here’s what we learned this weekend.
NBA players and aspiring musicians can also write Christmas music, Seattle baseball fans are breathing new life into the "seventh-inning stretch," and South America soccer is routine chaos surrounded by a few loose rules of the Beautiful Game.
Here are some of our favorite moments from the weekend.
Dame does Christmas
Former Weber State star Damian Lillard is a well-known, aspiring musician.
The Portland playmaker and NBA All-Star is working on a hip-hop album, and his work has appeared previously on ksl.com.
Be prepared for more of it, if music producer Kurt Walker aka Kurtis Blow has his way. And the latest idea has a little Navidad feel to it.
We at ksl.com can’t wait for Dame Dolla’s take on “White Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” or “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments section below, and we’ll try to forward them on to Lillard.
Seventh-inning stretch and run
Things got a little weird during Saturday’s Major League Baseball game between the Mariners and Cardinals.
It started off well enough, until St. Louis slugger Matt Carpenter drilled a pop fly to mid-left field and Seattle’s Seth Smith sprinted toward the fly ball.
But he wasn’t alone; a fan leaped out of the stands and ran across the field, barefoot and wearing what appears to be an American flag over his shoulders.
Copa Chaos
The first rule of soccer officiating is pretty simple, and most referees — from the youth level and up — will tell you: don’t make the game about yourself.
Referee Heber Lopes made Sunday’s Copa American final between Argentina and defending champion Chile about himself in the first half at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Lopes sent off two players — one from each team, at least — in a wild first half that saw two red cards and both teams playing the second 45 minutes with only 10 men.
First, a hard block led to Marcelo Diaz’s second yellow card to reduce Chile.
Then, Lopes struck again by carding Argentina’s Marcos Rojo with a straight-red card for a hard tackle. Or was it? You be the judge.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, though.
In the end, Chile edged Argentina on penalty kicks to win back-to-back Copa America titles — continuing the second-place streak of Lionel Messi, the greatest individual soccer player who has never won a major international tournament.
