Weekly Update – April 25, 2022

Baseball: Yankees fans throwing trash at Guardians. Schwarber loses it and ejected.

Basketball-NBA: Playoff drama. Pelicans free throw differential. Irving fined $50k.

Football: NFL draft this week. Spring games.

Golf: Schauffle & Cantlay win Zurich together.

Hockey: Last week of regular season.

Olympic Sports: ESP Alcaraz #9 in world. RUS swimmer banned. USA vs AUS swim meet. Boston Marathon.

Baseball:

• Yankees fans threw trash onto the field at the Guardians (remember that’s the new name for the Indians) drawing criticism from almost every news outlet. The fans did it after they won in retaliation for Guardians CF Myles Straw crawled up the wall to fans and got in the face of a fan. Straw then called the fans the ‘worst fans on the planet.’ Then fans on Sunday chanted ‘crybaby’ and ‘Peter Parker’ after his Spiderman stunt.

• Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber got ejected after arguing about the strike zone with the ump. Schwarber slammed his bat on the ground, tossed his helmet and got in the ump’s face. To add insult to injury, the Phillies lost for the 5^th time in the last 7 games.

Basketball-NBA:

• Playoffs are heating up!
  • 76ers had a killer buzzer beater Wednesday to take the lead 3-0. Trae had a great game 3 to bring in the Hawks first win of the 1-2 series. The Warriors, Heat and Bucks are leading big time 3-1 after Sunday’s games. Game 4 is a realistic target for Simmons return. The Grizzlies have pulled back to tie the series 2-2.
  • Suns are now playing without Booker since Game 2 and thus the series is now even. The Suns, the team who had the best record in the league this season is tied with the #8 play-in seed. Suns HC Monty Williams was very displeased about the officiating in Sunday’s game. The difference was the Pelicans got 42 free throws to the Suns’ 15. In the first half alone, there was a 17-2 difference.
• Kyrie Irving has been fined $50,000 for flipping off Celtics fans on Sunday. The Nets did lose by 1 point but was it worth it?

Football:

• NFL draft is this week! 1^st and 2^nd rounds will be Thursday with the final round being Saturday.
• Also if you’re confused why you’re seeing football on TV, that’s because college teams are having their spring games over the last few weeks.
  • This past weekend, OU set the record for spring game attendance with 75,360 people in the stadium for a scrimmage with a new coach and to honor Heisman trophy winner #6 Baker Mayfield. In contrast, USC drew a record crowd as well with former-OU HC Lincoln Riley at 33,000 people, the biggest crowd since 1990s.

Golf:

• At the Zurich Classic, the team of Xander Schauffle and Patrick Cantlay proved they should never be separated in a President’s Cup or Ryder Cup again by winning together in multiple record fashion. The two have grown close on flights to far away tournaments, like the President’s Cup in AUS. And their synergy showed as record fell left and right. They opened the tournament with a 59, setting a new 18 hole record. Then they set the 36 and 54 hole records as well, leading the tournament by 5 strokes after the first 3 rounds. Ultimately, they won by 2 with a score of 29 under par over Billy Horschel/Sam Burns.
  • Father/son combo of Bill Haas and Jay Haas made history in NOLA with Jay being the oldest man to make a PGA Tour cut at 68 years old (and 4 months and 20 days). This was Jay’s 799^th PGA Tour start.

Hockey:

• Regular season ends this week on April 29^th so let’s look at the standings.
  • The Panthers won the Eastern Conference while the Avalanche won the Western Conference with 57 and 55 wins respectively.

• • The other teams who have already clinched a playoff spot are:
    • West: Wild, Blues, Flames and Oilers
    • East: Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Rangers, Lightning, Bruins, Penguins and Capitals.
      • In the East, it took 100 points (that’s how the NHL ranks their teams) just to make the playoffs. In the west, the Oilers are the only team so far to earn a playoff spot under 100 points but there are still 5 teams fighting for the final 3 spots. If all ended now, the Kings, Predators and Stars would have those 3 spots leaving the Golden Knights and Canucks out.
  • Eliminated: Jets, Sharks, Ducks, Blackhawks, Kraken, Coyotes, Islanders, Blue Jackets, Sabres, Red Wings, Senators, Devils, Flyers and Canadiens.

Olympic Sports:

• Spanish teenager, Carlos Alcaraz, moved up to #9 in the World at age 18, making him the youngest man to break the Top 10 since Nadal since 2005. He won the Barcelona Open this past weekend to jump him into the Top 10. Djokovic is still #1 at this point.

• RUS gold medalist swimmer Evgeny Rylov has been banned from swimming for 9 months after appearing at a rally for Putin and their invasion of UKR. Although the ban is mostly symbolic as FINA has already banned RUS and BLR from all competitions anyway. Rylov is a double backstroke gold medalist and appeared to wear the letter ‘Z’ which is not in the Russian alphabet but seems to symbolize the invasion after it was seen on armored vehicles invading UKR. Rylov did appear to compete in national championships in RUS, which is now being investigated by FINA.
• Sticking with swimming, the USA and AUS have scheduled a Duel in the Pool for August. This will be the first time these two will compete in match-race format since 2007. AUS and USA together took home 50 medals in Tokyo 2020. Each country will send 30 swimmers each to compete in Sydney.

• Evans Chebet won the men’s side of the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:06.51. Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s race with 2:21.01 in a close race with Abadel Yeshaneh who fought bravely.

What to watch this week

Baseball:

• Tues 4/26
  • Mets at Cardinals @ 6:45pm on TBS
    • Bassitt vs Hicks
• Wed 4/27
  • NCAA: East Carolina vs NC St @ 6pm on ACC
• Sat 4/30
  • NCAA: Boston College at Notre Dame @ 12pm on ACC
  • Angels at White Sox @ 3:05pm on FS1
    • Suez vs Giolito
  • Phillies at Mets @ 6:10pm on FS1
    • Gibson vs Scherzer
  • NCAA: TCU vs Florida St @ 5pm on ACC
  • NCAA: Ole Miss vs Arkansas @ 7pm on ESPN2
• Sun 5/1
  • NCAA: UC Irvine vs Long Beach St @ 3pm on ESPNU
  • Phillies at Mets @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Eflin vs Bassitt

Basketball-NBA:

• Mon 4/25
  • Game 4: Celtics at Nets @ 6pm on TNT
    • BOS leads 3-0
  • Game 5: Raptors at 76ers @ 7pm on NBATV
    • PHI leads 3-1
  • Game 5: Jazz at Mavericks @ 8:30pm on TNT
    • Tied 2-2
• Tues 4/26
  • Game 5: Hawks at Heat @ 6pm on NBATV
    • MIA leads 3-1
  • Game 5: Timberwolves at Grizzlies @ 6:30pm on TNT
    • Tied 2-2
  • Game 5: Pelicans at Suns @ 9pm on TNT
    • Tied 2-2
• Wed 4/27
  • Game 5: Nets at Celtics at TBD on TNT
  • Game 5: Bulls at Bucks @ TBD
    • MIL leads 3-1
  • Game 5: Nuggets at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
    • GS leads 3-1
• Thurs 4/28
  • Game 6: Heat at Hawks @ TBD
    • If necessary
  • Game 6: Suns at Pelicans @ TBD
  • Game 6: Mavericks at Jazz @ TBD
  • Game 6: 76ers at Raptors @ TBD
    • If necessary
• Fri 4/29
  • Game 6: Celtics at Nets @ TBD
    • If necessary
  • Game 6: Grizzlies at Timberwolves @ TBD
  • Game 6: Bucks at Bulls @ TBD
    • If necessary
  • Game 6: Warriors at Nuggets @ TBD
    • If necessary
• Sat 4/30
  • Game 7: Hawks at Heat @ TBD on TNT
    • If necessary
  • Game 7: Pelicans at Suns @ TBD on TNT
    • If necessary
  • Game 7: Jazz at Mavericks @ TBD on TNT
    • If necessary
  • Game 7: Raptors at 76ers @ TBD on TNT
    • If necessary
• Sun 5/1
  • Game 7: Nets at Celtics @ TBD
    • If necessary
  • Game 7: Timberwolves at Grizzlies @ TBD
    • If necessary
  • Game 7: Bulls at Bucks @ TBD
    • If necessary
  • Game 7: Nuggets at Warriors @ TBD
    • If necessary

Football:

• Thurs 4/28
  • NFL Draft @ 7pm on ESPN & ABC
• Fri 4/29
  • NFL Draft @ 6pm on ESPN & ABC
• Sat 4/30
  • NFL Draft @ 11am on ESPN & ABC

Golf:

• Wed 4/27
  • D1 Women NCAA Announcement @ 3pm on Golf Channel
• Thurs 4/28
  • Mexico Open – Round 1 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 4/29
  • Mexico Open – Round 2 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 4/30
  • Mexico Open – Round 3
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS
• Sun 5/1
  • Mexico Open – Final Round
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS

Hockey:

• Mon 4/25
  • Flyers at Blackhawks @ 7pm on hulu
• Tues 4/26
  • Oilers at Penguins @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Blues at Avalanche @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Sun 5/1
  • Kraken at Maple Leafs @ 1pm

Soccer:

• Wed 4/27
  • CONCACAF: Pumas UNAM vs Seattle Sounders @ 9:30pm on FS1
• Sun 5/1
  • MLS: Nashville at Phili Union @ 3pm on ESPN
  • MLS: LA FC vs Minnesota United @ 9pm on FS1

Softball:

• Mon 4/25
  • Mizzou vs Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC
• Tues 4/26
  • Clemson at Florida St @ 3pm on ESPNU
  • Alabama at Texas A&M @ 5pm on ESPNU
  • McNeese vs LSU @ 6pm on SEC
• Wed 4/27
  • UConn at Boston College @ 3pm on ACC
  • Lamar at Texas A&M @ 6pm on SEC
• Thurs 4/28
  • Oklahoma St at Florida St @ 6pm on ESPN2
• Fri 4/29
  • Oklahoma St at Florida St @ 5pm on ESPNU
• Sat 4/30
  • Florida at LSU @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Mississippi St at Kentucky @ 2pm on SEC
  • UVA vs Louisville @ 3pm on ACC
  • Texas A&M at Mizzou @ 4pm on SEC
• Sun 5/1
  • VTech at Boston College @ 10am on ACC
  • Florida at LSU @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Houston at S Florida @ 1pm on ESPNU
  • Tennessee at Ole Miss @ 5pm on SEC