SALT LAKE CITY — Three more stories from the world of sports in today’s From Left Field.

1. Lillard drops debut album

Damian Lillard averaged 25.1 points per game last season, but it has been known for more than a year that the former Weber State guard and current NBA star has a talent with the microphone as Dame D.O.L.L.A. He has released several songs since summer 2015, including some original work beyond a mixtape.

However, Thursday night he surprised fans by releasing his debut album “The Letter O,” which pays homage to the three places he’s lived: Oakland, Ogden and Portland, Oregon. It’s also famously the reason why he wears No. 0 on the court for the Trail Blazers.

While the album covers everything from growing up in Oakland to being in the NBA, Lillard also spends time talking about his time in Utah.

In one track, “Wasatch Front,” Lillard describes his experience going to Weber State and the struggles and successes therein. For example, the chorus of the song goes:

“Reminiscing on the days I didn’t know what was ahead / What I got to do to make sure the family fed? / Staring at the ceiling struggling to go to bed / Trying to pass class with the needle through the thread / Far away from home, but feeling so alone / A boy amongst men I don’t even wear cologne / Girls call me MCM (Man Crush Monday), I’m trying to be Jerome / The Jazz up the road, I want to play for Jerry Sloan.”

Lillard also released a music video for the song “Growth Spurt” where he raps while standing on a court that blatantly features the Big Sky Conference logo — the conference that Weber State is a member of and which is also headquartered in Ogden.

Lillard hinted that he had an album coming out when he returned to Weber State for an alumni basketball game in August 2015. While there, he talked about the connection between his teammates off the court and classroom through rap music, and the feedback he had received when he began releasing tracks last year.

“When I decided to put out some tracks, I figured there would be a lot of people saying ‘Just stick to basketball,’ but the feedback was actually positive,” Lillard said back in 2015, when he began releasing music. “I put out six tracks in six weeks, and each of them got, like, millions of views. You get the feedback, ‘He can actually rap.’ That was a good feeling.”

Early reactions on social media have been positive. Artists Jamie Foxx, Lil’ Wayne, Juvenile and others are featured throughout.

Lillard, who scored 27 points in Portland’s exhibition win at the Utah Jazz Wednesday, is heading into his fifth season with the Trail Blazers, who also open the regular season against the Jazz next week.

The Weber State product has averaged 21.4 points and 6.3 assists per game in his career since heading into the NBA in 2012.

2. Cleveland fans buy wedding gifts for rookie pitcher as he pitched in ALCS

Ryan Merritt had just one career major league start when the Cleveland Indians tabbed him to start Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The rookie had just 11 innings of MLB experience heading into the start Wednesday.

He then pitched 4 1/3 innings of shutout baseball, helping lead the Indians to a 3-0 win and a berth into their first World Series appearance since 1997.

Meanwhile, Indians fans, happy to see their team have a shot at their first World Series title since 1948, returned the favor by buying items off Merritt’s wedding registry at some point during the game Wednesday.

According to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, Merritt didn’t know that fans had found his registry and thought it was a prank when his teammates mentioned what had happened. But, indeed, fans were purchasing items off the registry for he and his fiancee Sarah Brushaber’s wedding planned for January.

"They're probably going to buy it before our friends get to it," Merritt joked to Bastian Thursday. "Hopefully, we don't end up with like five (coffee makers) or something."

"Honestly, we didn't really believe it at first," Brushaber added. "We just kind of thought it was out there and people knew about it, but it's just unreal. … I can't even comprehend that kind of support. That people not only care about Ryan's career, but care about his personal life, is just unbelievable."

3. Viewers miss reference to ‘Animal House’ on ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn,’ take to Twitter

Twitterland can be an interesting place full of jokes, odd takes and irrational behavior. However, as ESPN’s Sarah Spain found out Thursday, it’s also a place full of people who have apparently never seen the classic movie “Animal House.”

At the end of ESPN’s “Around the Horn” Thursday, Spain, who lives in Chicago, gave Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke a tough time for saying the series between the Cubs and the Dodgers was “over” after Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. The Cubs went on to even the series at two games apiece at the time Wednesday, beating the Dodgers 10-2.

So Thursday, Spain created a clip of all the Cubs' RBI hits mashed in with a clip of Plaschke saying “it’s over.” Finally, Spain quoted “Animal House” in the scene where John Blutarsky, played by John Belushi, says “was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Some watchers didn’t get the reference, and took it to Twitter — and failed.

There’s plenty more, but you get the point. They've missed out on a comedy classic.

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