Ray Ratto

San Francisco

Staff Writer at Defector

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Articles

The Finals Have Given Us Everything But An Ending

1 week ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

The Pacers and Thunder have constructed a series that has put the lie to the notion that there are insurmountable leads in basketball. The 20-point lead, once the gold standard, is now 30, and even then there's a little white-knuckling to be done. But like any absolute counterfactual, sometimes the percentages get in the way. In fact, in every case of a team getting a 30-point lead, it was once a 20-point lead. Sometimes an ass-kicking is just an ass-kicking.
Oilers-Panthers Isn't A Rivalry, It's A Saga

2 weeks ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

Trying to figure out how Leon Draisaitl's game-winning goal found glory when it barely found 30 mph is a waste of your time. What you should be noticing instead in the wake of Edmonton's wonderfully absurdist 5–4 overtime victory over Florida in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final is how delightfully it fits into the broader theme these two teams have crafted over two seasons.
The Whole NBA Is Telling James Dolan To Piss Off

2 weeks ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

What is visible in most coaching searches is largely iceberg-ish in nature, in that we see 10 percent of the process and then, mostly out of self-aggrandizement, measure it at 90 percent from there.
The Athletics Have Hopped Back Into The Dumpster

4 weeks ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

There was a time not that long ago when the West Sacramento Athletics were positioning themselves to replace The Hunny Club as the pride of Yolo County, which would have been a true festival of inner conflict for the region. By "not that long ago," we mean May 5. Since then, the A’s have clarified their position.
They Can't All Be Thrillers

4 weeks ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

Late in the New York Knickerbockers' conprehensive but semi-drab 111–94 beating of the Indiana Pacers, TNT analyst Stan Van Gundy took his inner grump for one final walk around the broadcast by saying something along the lines of, After Game 4, people were asking why Jalen Brunson couldn't be a little more like Tyrese Hailburton, and after Game 5 they'll be asking why Tyrese Haliburton couldn't be a little bit more like Jalen Brunson.
Oh God, Stuart Skinner Controls The Oilers' Destiny

1 month ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

Stuart Skinner offers little in the way of championship onomatopoeia, which is to say his name does not suggest athletic greatness. It suggests the secretary-treasurer of the chess club, or an unprepared con artist trying to spontaneously impersonate Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg. But Skinner owns, for now, the Stanley Cup fate of the Edmonton Oilers, and by extension the possibility that a Canadian team might win it all for the first time since 1993.
Paul Maurice Is The Jack Adams Of Not Being A Jackass

1 month ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

The end of this clip is why Paul Maurice is the greatest coach of all time in any sport, in one specific category: lectern domination. The whole thing is worth a watch, as all his pressers are, pregame, postgame or even off-day, but the last 10 seconds are killer, especially if you keep in mind that his team just lost a chance to clinch a trip to the Stanley Cup Final by playing a game he admitted he "didn't like."His secret is simple. He doesn't view the interview process as a proctology exam.
Pirates Avoid Historic Humiliation, Suffer Regular Kind Instead

1 month ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

The Pittsburgh Pirates scored more than four runs in a baseball game for the first time in a month, but because they are the Pittsburgh Pirates, the price of that victory was not only that it was actually another defeat, but that anyone who went to PNC Park to watch it had to sit through a one-hour, fifty-minute rain delay to find out that they can still make five runs look like two.
Three Goals, Six Minutes, No Response

1 month ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

Hockey's longstanding fetish for self-effacement got its best material reward in years on Wednesday night, thanks to an amazing comeback win that was at best fifth on the list of anyone’s notice, and that includes you finally doing your laundry. The Dallas Stars parlayed a well-earned 3-1 deficit through two periods of Game 1 of the Western Conference into a hilarious 6-3 victory over the much better regarded Edmonton Oilers, and what do they get as the new day dawns?
It's Time To Start The "Rich Hill Is BACK" Countdown

1 month ago | defector.com | Ray Ratto

Nobody takes a hint less well than Rich Hill, and conversely nobody proves prevailing wisdom wrong more often than Rich Hill.