Baseball-MLB: Ozuna booed. Baty bats well in debut. Donaldson saves Yanks day. Cardinals and Astros domination. Little League WS ends this weekend.
Basketball: LeBron’s new Laker deal. NBA schedule deets.
Football: NCAAF starts this week with Week 0. Brady is back! Watson gets bigger punishment.
Golf: BMW Championship defending champ. FedEx Cup Finale this weekend.
Olympic Sports: US Gym Championships. An American recap of Euro Championships. Tokyo bribery arrests.
Baseball:
- Braves DH Marcell Ozuna was booed by his home crowd in Atlanta in Sunday’s game against the Astros. This was his first game back after he was arrested for a DUI and the boos crescendo’d after he struck out. Ozuna has been arrested 2xs in 2 years, the first being for assault against his wife.
- Mets 3B Brett Baty, the 12th pick in the 2019 draft, made his major league debut on Wednesday night against the Braves. It was already a big night but in his first ever at-bat, Baty hit a HR. That run contributed to the Mets being able to hold off the Braves, winning 9-7, snapping Atlanta’s 8 game winning streak. This was huge because the Braves dominated winning the first two games by a combined score of 18-1 and the two teams are #2 and #3 in the National League.
- Despite being #1 in the American League, the Yankees needed a W against the Rays to avoid the sweep when they played their final game on Wednesday. The NY Team was down 7-4 going into the bottom of the 10th inning and Josh Donaldson came up to bat. Donaldson hit a much needed walk-off grand slam to win 8-7. The Yankees have lost 11 games since the start of August and only had 3 wins in the last month before this game.
- Pujols also hit a grand slam this past week as well to complete the sweep of the Rockies for the Cardinals. They won that game 13-0.
- That wasn’t the only game that was a complete route. The Astros destroyed the White Sox in Chicago on Thursday winning 21-5! 3B Alex Bregman hit 2 HRs and 2 doubles and the team as a whole recorded 25 hits, tying their franchise record. They split the series though 2-2.
- Little League World Series has begun and a champ will be crowned on Sunday!
Basketball:
- LeBron agrees to a two year deal with the Lakers for $97.1MM with a possible extension for a 3rd This deal makes LeBron the highest earning player ever in the NBA with $532MM guaranteed.
- NBA’s season schedule has been announced! The season will start on October 18 and it opens with a bang. The first day of the season you can see hated rivals 76ers at Celtics and the Lakers at Warriors. The league also avoided scheduling games on election day to encourage people to go out and vote.
Football:
- College football is here! It’s week 0 but still. 11 games kick off on Saturday with only 6 Power 5 schools.
- Remember the Big 10 media deal story? Well the deal is official. Fox, CBS and NBC will feature Big 10 games for $7Bn for 7 years.
- Browns QB Deshaun Watson is now suspended for 11 games and a $5MM fine. That goes into effect on Aug 30 so he can return for week 13 which is coincidentally the game against the Texans, his old team.
- Brady is returning to the Bucs at training camp this week. He had been absent to deal with ‘family matters.’ No word on the actual day.
Golf:
- Patrick Cantlay is the first golfer ever (in the 16 year history) to successfully defend a FedEx Cup Playoff event at the BMW Championship this weekend. He was 2 off the lead at the 10 but after a couple of birdies and in true Patty Ice fashion clutch putts, he won by 1. The win put him into 3rd in the OWGR and going into East Lake in 2nd.
- 30 golfers will be playing at the season finale this weekend, the TOUR Championship. Scottie Scheffler comes into Atlanta in first. Adam Scott is the last in. He played so well in the BMW to guarantee his spot. Scott started the postseason ranked 77th and 45th going into the BMW to finish T5 to make it to 30th. This means Shane Lowry is first out and misses the finale again. Lowry, despite being a major champion, has never made it to the TOUR Championship.
- #GFHint: Remember the format is a little wonky on this one. The reigning FedEx Cup #1 comes into the tournament with a 2 shot lead over the next golfer. See the photo for the break down. However, like a normal golf tournament, whoever has the lowest score at the end of the weekend wins the tournament and the season. Last year Patrick Cantlay won the FedEx Cup and the $40MM check. If he wins, he would be the first to repeat.
Olympic Sports:
- Gymnastics US Championships was this weekend and it was great to see some familiar faces and some brilliant new talent. The competition is a combination score of two full rounds a day apart.
- On the men’s side, Stanford Cardinal Brody Malone took the title in the All-Around easily (like 5 points easy) over Donnell Whittenburg. His favorite apparatus is the horizontal bar (aka the high bar) and he was just off the podium in Tokyo but got bronze at Worlds in 2021. He is guaranteed a spot to go back to Worlds with this performance. Donnell has never made an Olympics but is a 4x World team member.
- Event winners: Floor – Brody Malone; Parallel Bars – Curran Phillips; Rings – Donnell Whittenburg; Pommel – Stephen Nedoroscik; Horizontal Bar – Brody Malone; Vault – Asher Hong
- On the men’s side, Stanford Cardinal Brody Malone took the title in the All-Around easily (like 5 points easy) over Donnell Whittenburg. His favorite apparatus is the horizontal bar (aka the high bar) and he was just off the podium in Tokyo but got bronze at Worlds in 2021. He is guaranteed a spot to go back to Worlds with this performance. Donnell has never made an Olympics but is a 4x World team member.
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- On the women’s side, 17 year old Konnor McClain moved past Shliese Jones to clinch the all-around title. You may not recognize her name but you will for her coaches, the Luikins. Shilese took the lead after day 1 but made a couple of mistakes on Day 2 like falling on the balance beam (her first event) and landing on her butt during her finale dismount in the Uneven bars (her final event) that couldn’t be overcome. Tokyo Olympians Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey took 3rd and 5th place with alternate Kayla Dicello in between in 4th. Both Simone Biles and Suni Lee were not present. However the future of women’s gymnastics looks bright!
- Event winners: Beam – Konnor McClain; Uneven Bars – Tied LeAnne Wong and Shilese Jones; Floor – Shilese Jones; Vault – Jade Carey
- On the women’s side, 17 year old Konnor McClain moved past Shliese Jones to clinch the all-around title. You may not recognize her name but you will for her coaches, the Luikins. Shilese took the lead after day 1 but made a couple of mistakes on Day 2 like falling on the balance beam (her first event) and landing on her butt during her finale dismount in the Uneven bars (her final event) that couldn’t be overcome. Tokyo Olympians Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey took 3rd and 5th place with alternate Kayla Dicello in between in 4th. Both Simone Biles and Suni Lee were not present. However the future of women’s gymnastics looks bright!
- Euro Championships were this week. Even though they weren’t televised over here, we did get some headlines.
- Silver medalist in CC cycling from the Tokyo Olympics, Mathias Flückiger tested positive for a banned substance at the Euro Championships. He tested positive for Zeranol, which is used to promote growth in cattle most of the time. His silver medal is not effected.
- GBR Jacob Fincham-Dukes celebrated his silver medal winning jump with a lap of honor at the Euro Championships before it was stripped away. His 2nd place jump of 8.06m was deemed to be a foul after a French protest of the jump. He fell to 5th after that jump was taken off the board.
- Team GBR had some bad luck on the track. It continued with Dina Asher-Smith pulling up with a cramp during the 100m final. Asher-Smith has had a seesaw year. She was injured at the Tokyo Olympics, won bronze at Worlds, WD with an injury from the commonwealth games and now this.
- GER took the top spot with 26 golds and 60 total medals. GBR took 2nd with 24 golds but matching the 60 total. ITA got 3rd with 14 golds and 51 total.
- Arrests have been made of former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee member and 3 clothing company employees for bribery. $380k showed up in the Olympic committee members account from Aoki Holdings. Aoki was the surprise outfitter of the Japanese Olympic team as they are usually known for making suits for recent graduates for their first job interviews. This committee member was responsible for $3Bn of local sponsorship.
What to watch this week
Baseball-MLB:
- Tues 8/23
- Mets at Yankees @ 6:05pm on TBS
- deGrom vs Montas
- Mets at Yankees @ 6:05pm on TBS
- Wed 8/24
- White Sox vs Orioles @ 6:05pm on FS1
- Giolito vs Watkins
- White Sox vs Orioles @ 6:05pm on FS1
- Sat 8/27
- Braves at Cardinals – or – Giants at Twins @ 6:15pmm on FOX
- Guardians at Seahawks @ 9:10pm on FS1
- Plesac vs Castillo
- Sun 8/28
- Dodgers at Marlins @ 11:05am on Peacock
- Pepiot vs Cabrera
- Braves at Cardinals @ 6pm on ESPN
- Odorizzi vs Wainwright
- Dodgers at Marlins @ 11:05am on Peacock
Baseball – Little League World Series:
- Mon 8/22
- Taipei vs PAN @ 12pm on ESPN
- TN vs IN @ 2pm on ESPN
- Vancouver CAN vs Matamoros MEX @ 4pm on ESPN
- TX vs HI @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Tues 8/23
- International Teams TBD @ 12pm on ESPN
- Teams TBD @ 2pm on ESPN
- International Teams TBD @ 4pm on ESPN
- Teams TBD @ 6pm on ESPN
- Wed 8/24
- International Teams TBD @ 12pm on ESPN
- Teams TBD @ 2pm on ESPN
- International Teams TBD @ 4pm on ESPN
- Teams TBD @ 6pm on ESPN
- Thurs 8/25
- International Teams TBD @ 2pm on ESPN
- Teams TBD @ 6pm on ESPN
- Fri 8/26
- HR Derby @ 6pm on ESPN
- Sat 8/27
- US Championship @ 2:30pm on ABC
- International Championship @ 11:30am on ABC
- Sun 8/28
- 3rd Place Game @ 9am on ESPN
- World Championship @ 2pm on ABC
Football-NCAAF:
- Sat 8/27
- Austin Peay at W Kentucky @ 11am on CBSSN
- Nebraska at Northwestern @ 11:30am on FOX
- Idaho St at UNLV @ 2:30pm on CBSSN
- UConn vs Utah St @ 3pm on FS1
- Wyoming at Illinois @ 3pm on BTN
- Duquesne at Florida St @ 4pm on ACC
- Charlotte at FAU @ 6pm on CBSSN
- Florida A&M at UNC @ 7:15pm on ACC
- Nevada at New Mexico St @ 9pm on ESPN2
- Vanderbilt at Hawaii @ 9:30pm on CBSSN
Football-NFL: (only the games on NFL Network are listed)
- Mon 8/22
- Falcons at Jets @ 7pm on ESPN
- Thurs 8/25
- Packers at Chiefs @ 7pm on NFL
- 49ers at Texans @ 7:15pm on Prime
- Fri 8/26
- Seahawks at Cowboys @ 7pm on NFL
- Sat 8/27
- Jaguars at Falcons @ 2pm on NFL
- Rams at Bengals @ 5pm on NFL
- Vikings at Broncos @ 8pm on NFL
- Sun 8/28
- Giants at Jets @ 12pm on NFL
- Lions at Steelers @ 3:30pm on CBS
Golf:
- Thurs 8/25
- TOUR Championship – Round 1 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 8/26
- TOUR Championship – Round 2 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 8/27
- TOUR Championship – Round 3
- @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 1:30pm on NBC
- TOUR Championship – Round 3
- Sun 8/28
- TOUR Championship – Final Round
- @ 11am on Golf Channel
- @ 12:30pm on NBC
- LPGA: CP Women’s Open @ 12:30pm on CBS
- TOUR Championship – Final Round
Olympic Sports:
- Tues 8/23
- Beach Volleyball: AVP Pro Manhattan Beach Open @ 9pm on FS1
Soccer:
- Wed 8/24
- FIFA U20 W World Cup: Teams TBA @ 2:30am on FS1
- Thurs 8/25
- FIFA U20 W World Cup: ESP vs NED @ 5:25am on FS1
- NCAAW: Florida St vs Auburn @ 5pm on ACC
- NCAAM: Maryland vs New Hampshire @ 5pm on ESPNU
- NCAAW: Tennessee vs Duke @ 6pm on SEC
- NCAAM: Wake Forest vs UCF @ 7pm on ACC
- FIFA U20 W World Cup: Semifinal 2 @ 8:50pm on FS1
- Fri 8/26
- FIFA U20 W World Cup: Teams TBA @ 7am on FS1
- FIFA U20 W World Cup: Teams TBA @ 9am on FS1
- NCAAM: Clemson vs Indiana @ 6pm on ESPNU
- MLS: Austin FC vs LAFC @ 7pm on ESPN
- MLS: Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sat 8/27
- Premier League: Southampton vs ManU @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Brighton vs LeedU @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- Sun 8/28
- Premier League: Aston Villa vs West Ham @ 8am on USA
- Premier League: Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham @ 10:30am on USA
- NCAAW: Mississippi St vs Minnesota @ 12:30pm on ESPNU
- NCAAW: Arkansas vs Arkansas St @ 1pm on SEC
- NCAAM: Syracuse vs Penn St @ 5pm on ACC
- MLS: Orlando City vs NYC FC @ 6:30pm on FS1
- FIFA U20 W World Cup: Teams TBA @ 8:55pm on FS1
