We begin Odds & Ends this week with the San Francisco Giants proving me and a lot of others wrong by making the postseason after all. They did so by sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers at home,including the finale where all they had to do is win and get in.

They did by a final score of 7-1 and now have a date with the New York Mets on Wednesday with Madison Bumgarner going up against Noah Syndergaard in the Wild Card game at Citi Field.

“We found a way to get back to where we need to be,” ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner said. “If we play like we have been the last three days, we’ll be tough to beat.”

We all know what happened the last time the Giants were the second Wild Card in 2014. They grand-slammed the Pirates,played an upstart Nationals team and won that series,took care of business against the Cardinals, and finally got past the Royals to win their third championship in five years. Can they do it again? It’s anyone’s guess,but it is an even year and it is October and in this decade the Giants have thrived during this time of year. It should be fun to watch nonetheless.

One of the things that I think gave the Giants a spark was the body slam that Angel Pagan gave to a fan who ran onto the field during the fourth inning of Friday night’s 9-3 Giants win. Pagan was given a roaring ovation for the takedown.

“I was just trying to protect myself and protect my teammates,” Pagan said. “The guy was getting close to my teammates. He was handing a flower to each and every one of us so it came to my attention: hand me one.”

“It was going to take a long time for him to be taken down and (Madison Bumgarner) was on a roll. So I wanted for the game to keep going.”

Another fan,a female,was apprehended by security in shallow right field.

The team definitely had some life in them after the takedown,scoring seven runs in the sixth inning giving the Giants the win that night and for the series. Sometimes an event like that can give a team a spark and on Friday night that certainly happened courtesy of Pagan.

Did ESPN start Deflategate?

Patriots supporter Billy Lacey filmed Brady throwing passes in Milton, Mass., and posted video of it on Twitter. The ESPN assignment desk tweeted at Lacey to ask permission to use his video.

“No chance ESPN, you all started Deflategate, do not use my video #loyaltytoTom,” tweeted Lacey

Patriots fans congratulated Lacey on standing up to ESPN, which many of them believe sparked Deflategate with Chris Mortensen’s infamous tweet reporting that 11 of the Patriots’ 12 game footballs in the 2014 AFC Championship Game were under-inflated by about 2 PSI which has since been deleted. Throw in the Wells Report which proved that to be false and Brady was suspended four games anyway,a suspension that ended Sunday.

I get why Lacey didn’t want to send that video to ESPN, the network has had times where they’ve shit all over the Patriots and even some of their commentators have had hot takes that weren’t in their favor,including former Broncos quarterback Danny

Kanell,now an ESPN Radio analyst,encouraged his former team to hit Brady late. I do think there’s a lot of substance to ESPN having a part in manufacturing the severity of Deflategate. It was way blown up more than it should’ve been considering the fact that the Patriots had properly inflated balls in the second half of the game in question and whooped the Colts handily. I’m just glad someone figured out the problem.

Darren Collison received an eight game suspension from the NBA on Sunday following his guilty plea for domestic battery charges last month. The incident, which took place between Collison and his wife in their home in Granite Bay on May 30, was deemed a misdemeanor by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

Collison is eligible to play in preseason games,but the suspension will take place starting Oct. 26 when the season begins and his return would be at home against New Orleans on Nov. 8.

Honestly,I’m glad he got suspended because of what he did. I’m sure he’s sorry for what happened and hopefully he’s learning from it,but he needs to take a seat and needs to know that what he did was wrong and it’s cost him and his team, to the point that their point guard situation is dicey as of press time. Not that I was counting on him being the answer to be their starting point guard or anything,but he was certainly in the running to be that guy. Now,I’m not so sure.

One thing I am pretty sure of is that Connor McDavid will be named the next captain of the Edmonton Oilers. At 19, McDavid would become the youngest NHL captain in league history joining other young captains like Vincent Lecavalier, at 19, Sidney Crosby, at 19, Chicago’s Jonathan Toews, at 20,and Detroit’s Steve Yzerman, at 21.

McDavid’s trial run of wearing the C on his jersey came last month as Team North America’s captain at the World Cup of Hockey.

“It would definitely be an accomplishment that I would be the most proud of,” McDavid said this summer when asked about the possibility of being named captain. “But that’s still to be determined and I don’t want to talk about it too much, or anything like that.”

If named as expected,McDavid will be the first Oilers captain since Andrew Ference,who was captain from 2013-15.

Some may think it’s too soon for him to be named captain of the team so soon in his career,but I think it’s time for him to get that nod. He’s been touted as the next great generational player in the NHL and he’s the best player Edmonton even has and honestly I don’t really know of any player you could give the captaincy to other than him that’s currently on this roster. This team has nothing else to lose in naming him their captain,it could only make them better as this team has nowhere else to go but up.

We close with more news from the Edmonton Oilers as they unveiled their new mascot last week. His name is Hunter and he’s a Canadian Lynx and wears an orange alternate Oilers jersey with the number 72 on the back,which represents the year 1972 which is when the team was founded as the Alberta Oilers. He is named after Bill Hunter,the team’s founder and original owner.

Many fans have taken a disliking to him,calling him creepy and scary to children. I,however,am in the minority. I like Hunter very much.

As far as him being creepy,I don’t really see it one bit. Is he not as cartoonish as other mascots? Absolutely! Honestly,that’s a good thing. He’s also not as scary as people say he is. Remember when the New Orleans Pelicans debuted Pierre the Pelican and people remarked how creepy and scary he was? That’s because he was all that and more. He was later given a facelift and he looks a lot better. Shit,Slamson the Lion,the mascot for the Sacramento Kings is much scarier than Hunter and Pierre combined.

For a long time the Oilers didn’t even have a mascot and were one of three teams (The Rangers and the Flyers) that didn’t,but that’s changed with the team moving to their new arena this month. I,for one,like mascots. I think they bring an added entertainment value to a sporting event and hockey is a fun sport to watch in person and is perfect for a mascot. I welcome Hunter to Oil Country and may he have a long run as the team’s feline prankster.