Weekly Update – April 18, 2022

Baseball: Kershaw’s close to perfect game. Sasaki 17 inning streak. Red Sox COVID issues to CAN. Trout day-to-day.

Basketball-NBA: Playoffs! Warriors debut death lineup. Cousins ejected vs old team. Simmons back at practice.

Football: JT Daniels has moved schools again.

Golf: Speith wins another PGA title on Easter Sunday but this time as a dad.

Olympic Sports: NCAA gym both men and women. Felix will retire. TUN sailor dies.

Baseball:

• Clayton Kershaw was pulled in the 7^th inning on the way to pitching a perfect game. Considering it’s only happened 23xs in history, it was a weird decision by the manager but Kershaw reassured fans that he was consulted in the decision. He is still gaining strength in this pitching arm.

• JPN star Roki Sasaki is extending his ridiculous streak with 17 consecutive perfect innings. He plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball league for the Chiba Lotta Marines. Sasaki hasn’t let an opposing hitter to reach a base in 52 plate appearances, which is a league record.
• The Red Sox will be without some of their key players when going up to the Blue Jays in Canada due to COVID. To enter Canada, you have to be vaccinated with both doses 14 days beforehand.
• Angles star Mike Trout is day-to-day now after being hit in the hand by a pitch during Sunday’s game against the Rangers. X-rays were negative so nothing too serious but still. Trout is hitting .267 this season. It is doubtful that Trout will play against the Astros tonight.

Basketball-NBA:

• Playoffs are on! The play-in teams are: Hawks, Pelicans, Nets and Timberwolves. The Timberwolves, Warriors and 76ers put away their Game 1 victories by over 10 points. The Jazz/Mavericks game was closer with the Utah team only winning by 6. The Heat and the Suns won by a lot. The Celtics won in a buzzer beater. The Bucks barely held off the Bulls.

• • The Warriors debuted the ‘death lineup’ which was made up of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins for just 5 minutes but those 5 minutes they outscored the Nuggets by 14 points.

• Nuggets DeMarcus Cousins got ejected in the 4^th quarter during the first playoff game against his old team, the Warriors. Arguing with the ref drew the 2^nd The Warriors won that game 123-107 to take the lead in the series.
• Nets Ben Simmons is back to practice after his back pain. He is expected to take the court next week!

Football:

• QB JT Daniels is on the move again and this time he has landed at West Virginia. Daniels has been at USC and Georgia before this.
• DAL Cowboys CB Kelvin Joseph was in the car when a fatal shooting occurred. Joseph was in the passenger seat of the car from where shots were fired and killed a man last month but he did not fire the gun. After discussions with Joseph, 2 people were arrested.

Golf:

• Jordan Spieth missed a putt that us mere mortals miss on a daily basis. Nice to see PGA Tour players are humans too. Oh but don’t let that be too comforting, because he won the whole tournament with a couple of eagles on Sunday. Lowry looked to have the win but then his ball ran into the water. Cantlay made a play to bring the tournament to a playoff but missed a par putt. Last win for Jordan was also Easter Sunday but this one was his first as a dad. This was his 13^th PGA Tour win. Next Easter Sunday will be the Masters…

Olympic Sports:

• NCAA gymnastics for both the men and women were this weekend. We’ll start with the ladies.
  • Utah has been to every NCAA but hasn’t won since 1995. There were also 2 Olympians competing (one of Utah and one for Auburn). Florida came in going undefeated during the regular season, beating #1 ranked Oklahoma. However the Sooners got the last laugh taking the title last night. Even though OU started off in last after the 1^st rotation with a season low score on the floor, they clawed their way back to win by .1125 even when Trinity scored a perfect 10 on floor for the Gators.

• • On the men’s side, Stanford took the title for the third year in a row by 9 points, which is monstrous. The Sooners claimed 2^nd place at their home over Michigan by 0.065. But all wasn’t lost for Michigan, Paul Juda won the All-Around for the wolverines over Brody Malone.

• The most decorated track & field athlete and Olympic female in history, Allyson Felix has announced that she will retire at the end of this season. Felix has 7 gold medals over her career and has been to every Olympics since 2004 Athens and medaled in all of them. She has been an advocate for athletes who have babies and still want to compete.
• TUN Olympic sailor, Eya Guezguez, died just the age of 17 in a training accident. He was training with his twin sister when their boat capsized. His sister survived.

What to watch this week

Baseball:

• Tues 4/19
  • Braves at Dodgers @ 9:10pm on TBS
• Sat 4/23
  • White Sox at Twins @ 3:05pm on FS1
• Sun 4/24
  • Brewers at Phillies @ 6pm on ESPN

Basketball-NBA:

• Mon 4/18
  • Game 2: Raptors at 76ers @ 6:30pm on TNT
    • PHI leads 1-0
  • Game 2: Utah at Mavericks at 7:30pm on NBATV
    • UTAH leads 1-0
  • Game 2: Nuggets at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
    • GS leads 1-0
• Tues 4/19
  • Game 2: Hawks at Heat @ 6:30pm on TNT
    • MIA leads 1-0
  • Game 2: Timberwolves at Grizzlies @ 7:30pm on NBATV
    • MIN leads 1-0
  • Game 2: Pelicans at Suns @ 9pm on TNT
    • PHX leads 1-0
• Wed 4/20
  • Game 2: Nets at Celtics @ 6pm on TNT
    • BOS leads 1-0
  • Game 3: 76ers at Raptors @ 7pm on NBATV
  • Game 2: Bulls at Bucks @ 8:30pm on TNT
    • MIL leads 1-0
• Thurs 4/21
  • Game 3: Grizzlies at Timberwolves @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Game 3: Mavericks at Jazz @ 8pm on NBATV
  • Game 3: Warriors at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
• Fri 4/22
  • Game 3: Heat at Hawks @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Game 3: Bucks at Bulls @ 7:30pm on ABC
  • Game 3: Suns at Pelicans @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Sat 4/23
  • Game 4: 76ers at Raptors @ 1pm on TNT
  • Game 4: Mavericks at Jazz @ 3:30pm on TNT
  • Game 3: Celtics at Nets @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Game 4: Grizzlies at Timberwolves @ 9pm on ESPN
• Sun 4/24
  • Game 4: Bucks at Bulls @ 12pm on ABC
  • Game 4: Warriors at Nuggets @ 2:30pm on ABC
  • Game 4: Heat at Hawks @ 6pm on TNT
  • Game 4: Suns at Pelicans @ 8:30pm on TNT

Golf:

• Thurs 4/21
  • Zurich Classic – Round 1 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 4/22
  • Zurich Classic – Round 2 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 4/23
  • Zurich Classic – Round 3
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS
• Sun 4/24
  • Zurich Classic – Final Round
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS

Hockey:

• Tues 4/19
  • Kings at Ducks @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 4/21
  • Rangers at Lightning @ 7pm on ESPN
• Sat 4/23
  • Rangers at Bruins @ 2pm on ABC
• Sun 4/24
  • Penguins at Flyers @ 3pm on TNT

Olympic Sports:

• Mon 4/18
  • Boston Marathon @ 7:30am on USA

Soccer:

• Tues 4/19
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs ManU @ 2pm on USA
• Wed 4/20
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs Arsenal @ 1:45pm on USA
  • La Liga: Monterrey vs Atlas @ 9pm on FS1
• Thurs 4/21
  • Premier League: Burnley vs Southampton @ 1:45pm on USA
• Sat 4/23
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs ManU @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Manchester City vs Watford @ 9am on USA
  • NWSL: NC Courage vs Washington Spirit @ 12pm on CBS
• Sun 4/24
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs West Ham @ 8am on USA
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs Everton @ 10:30am on USA

Softball:

• Mon 4/18
  • Texas A&M at Tennessee @ 6pm on SEC
• Wed 4/20
  • ECU at NC St @ 4pm on ACC
  • VTech at Tennessee @ 6pm on ESPNU
  • Houston at Texas @ 7pm LGHN
• Thurs 4/21
  • Clemson at Florida ST @ 8pm on LGHN
• Fri 4/22
  • Pitt at Virginia @ 3pm on ACC
  • Clemson at Florida ST @ 5pm on ACC
  • Auburn at Mississippi St @ 5:30pm on SEC
  • Arkansas at Florida @ 7pm on ESPNU
• Sat 4/23
  • LSU at Georgia @ 1pm on ESPNU
  • Clemson at Florida St @ 1pm on ACC
  • Arkansas at Florida @ 1:30pm on ESPN2
  • Ole Miss at South Carolina @ 2pm on SEC
  • Auburn at Mississippi St @ 4pm on SEC
  • Alabama at Texas A&M @ 6pm on SEC
  • Texas at Oklahoma St @ 6:30pm on ESPN2
• Sun 4/24
  • Ohio St at Michigan @ 11am on ESPN2
  • LSU at Georgia @ 11am on ESPNU
  • Louisville at VTech @ 11am on ACC
  • Mizzou at Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC