Weekly Update – Week of February 10, 2020

Baseball – MLB: Mookie major deal. Garcia out for 8 months.

Basketball – NBA: All-Star weekend. Team LeBron vs Team Giannis. Bogdanovic’s clutch 3-pointer.

Football: Cherry wins an Oscar. Rivers will no longer be a Charger. XFL Opening weekend.

Golf: N.Taylor wins AT&T. LPGA cancels 2 torneys. Haney’s lawsuit probs.

Hockey: Red Wings>Bruins

Olympic Sports: Down go some Track & Field records. Track indoor worlds postponed. RIP Mr. Shiffrin. Princeton>Cornell.

Baseball – MLB:

• Mookie Betts (RF) and David Price (LHP) were traded to Dodgers from the Red Sox in exchange for OF Alex Verdugo, SS Jeter Downs and C Connor Wong. The Dodgers also did a deal with the Twins for RHP Brusdar Graterol, OF Luke Raley and the 67^th draft pick in 2020 in exchange for RHP Kenta Maeda and some cash. Originally this was a 3 team deal but there were some issues with the medical review.
• There was a rumored trade deal between the Angels and the Dodgers for OF Joc Pederson. This is now dead.
• Aramis Garcia, Giants C, will miss up to 8 months after having hip surgery from an injury sustained during winter play in the DR.

Basketball – NBA:

• The All-Star Game is this Sunday at 7pm and it is once again Team Giannis vs Team LeBron.
  • Team LeBron: Anthony Davis (Lakers), James Harden (Rockets), Kawhi Leonard (Clippers), Luka Doncic (Mavericks), LeBron James (Lakers), Chris Paul (Thunder), Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers), Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), Ben Simmons (76ers), Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Russell Westbrook (Rockets)
    • Coach: Frank Vogel (Lakers)
  • Team Giannis: Giannis (Bucks), Joel Embiid (76ers), Pascal Siakam (Raptors), Kemba walker (Celtics), Trae Young (Hawks), Bam Adebayo (Heat), Brandon Ingram (Pelicans), Donovan Mitchell (Jazz), Jimmy Butler (Heat), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Kyle Lowry (Raptors), Khris Middleton (Bucks)
    • Coach: Nick Nurse (Raptors)

• Bojan Bogdanovic shot a 29-footer to solidify a win for the Jazz to beat the Rockets 114-113. Before that shot, Bogdanovic was 1 of 6 from the floor.
• Grizzlies beat the Wizards 106-99 with the help of Ja Morant, who had his first triple-double of his career with 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
• Current Standings:
  • Eastern:
    • Atlantic: Raptors
    • Central: Bucks
    • SE: Heat
  • Western:
    • NW: Nuggets
    • Pacific: Lakers
    • SW: Rockets

Football:

• Former WR Matthew Cherry won an Oscar last night for his animated short “Hair Love.” He walked away from the NFL after 3 seasons on practice squads on several teams.
• The Chargers and Phillip Rivers will part ways after 16 seasons as he becomes a free agent this year.
• It was XFL’s opening weekend!
  • Winners: DC Defenders, Houston Roughnecks, NY Guardians and St. Louis Battlehawks
    • The biggest upset of the day was by far the Battlehawks over the Renegades, who were favored by 9.5 points. Although the favored Vipers (3 points) lost by 20 points would be a close second.
  • It had been 1,133 days since Bob Stoops had coached at Oklahoma before Sunday’s game. And although the Renegades lost, it was one of the closer games of the weekend. Dallas was the odds-on favorite to win the league. Maybe not anymore

Golf:

• Nick Taylor is the first Canadian to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and he did it by 4 strokes, despite the wind on the final day. This was Taylor’s first win since his rookie season in 2015 at the Sanderson Farms. There were 146 starts in between his PGA Tour wins.
• The lawyers for the PGA Tour have asked a federal judge to dismiss the golf instructor, Hank Haney’s lawsuit. Haney claimed the tour pressured the radio station, SiriusXM, to suspend him after his off-color comments about the LPGA tour. For example: “I’m going to predict a Korean [to win] …I couldn’t name you, like 6 players on the LPGA Tour… Nah, maybe I could. Well, I’d go with Lee. If I didn’t have to name a 1^st name, I’d get a bunch of them right.”
• The LPGA Tour canceled the Honda LPGA Thailand and HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore due to the coronavirus. These events were scheduled from Feb 20^th weekend and the week after.
• Rory McIlroy is back to World #1 after over four years, overtaking Brooks Koepka.

Hockey:

• The Red Wings, who are ranked last in the NHL, beat the Bruins, who were top of the Eastern Conference. This ends the Bruins 6 game win streak.

Olympic Sports:

• SWE Omndo Duplantis broke the WR in the pole vault at the World Athletics Indoor Tour in Poland last weekend by jumping 6.17m. The previous record was set by FRA Renaud Lavillenie at 6.16m. To put that in American terms, that’s 20 feet and 2 3/3 inches!

• Elle Purrier set the American record in the mile with a time of 4:16.85, breaking the old record from 1982 by just under 4 seconds. This was the 2^nd fastest indoor mile ever after the current WR holder ETH’s Genzebe Diababa at 4:13.31.
• Another record to fall was American Men’s 800m by Donavan Brazier 1:44.22, which he already help from the previous year.
• In the world of college wrestling, Princeton beat Cornell over the weekend. Why is this noteworthy? Because Cornell hadn’t lost an Ivy League match since 2002.

• Mikaela Shiffrin is taking a break from skiing to mourn the death of her father who died last week. Jeff Shiffrin died after a head injury after an accident in his home; he was 65.
• The World Athletics Indoor Championships were due to take place in Nanjing, China next month has now been postponed until 2021. This comes after the ski federation canceled their world cup event at the Beijing 2022 Olympic site.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 2/11
  • Clippers at 76ers @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Celtics at Rockets @ 8:30pm on TNT
• Wed 2/12
  • Bucks at Pacers @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Lakers at Nuggets @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 2/13 – Clippers at Celtics @ 7pm on TNT
• Fri 2/14 – World vs USA @ 8pm on TNT
• Sun 2/16 – Team Giannis vs Team LeBron @ 7pm on TNT

Basketball – NCAA:

• Mon 2/10
  • Florida St at 7. Duke @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Baylor at Texas @ 8pm on ESPN
• Tues 2/11
  • Penn St at Purdue @ 5:30pm on BTN
  • Kentucky at Vanderbilt @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Rhode Island at 6. Dayton @ 6:30pm on CBSSN
  • Nebraska at 9. Maryland @ 7:30pm on BTN
  • Michigan St at 20. Illinois @ 8pm on ESPN
  • Missouri at 18. LSU @ 8pm on LSU
  • New Mexico at 4. SD St @ 10pm on ESPN2
• Wed 2/12
  • Creighton at 12. Seton Hall @ 5:30pm on FS1
  • Xavier at 19. Butler @ 5:30pm on CBSSN
  • Kansas at 13. West Virginia @ 6pm
  • Alabama at 11. Auburn @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Louisville at Georgia Tech @ 7pm on ACC
  • Marquette at 10. Villanova @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • Houston at South Florida @ 8pm on ESPNU
• Thurs 2/13
  • Iowa at Indiana @ 7pm on BTN
  • Colorado at 14. Oregon @ 8pm on ESPN
  • Arizona at Cal @ 9:30pm on FS1
• Sat 2/15
  • Oklahoma at 3. Kansas @ 11am on ESPN
  • Syracuse at 8. Florida St @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Northwestern at 22. Penn St @ 11am on BTN
  • Dayton at UMass @ 12:30pm on NBCSN
  • Georgetown at 19. Butler @ 1:30pm on FOX
  • West Virginia at 1. Baylor @ 3pm
  • Louisville at Clemson @ 3pm on ACC
  • Notre Dame at 7. Duke @ 3pm on ESPN
  • LSU at Alabama @ 3pm on ESPN2
  • Maryland at 16. Michigan St @ 5pm on ESPN
  • Auburn at Missouri @ 5pm on ESPN2
  • Houston at SMU @ 5pm on ESPNU
  • DePaul at 21. Creighton @ 6:30pm on FS1
  • Seton Hall at Providence @ 7pm on CBSSN
  • Colorado at Oregon St at FS11
  • Arizona at Stanford @ 9:30pm on PAC12
• Sun 2/16
  • Villanova at Temple @ 12pm on ESPN
  • Iowa at Minnesota @ 12pm on FS1
  • SD St at Boise St @ 3pm on CBSSN
  • Utah at 14. Oregon @ 8pm on FS1

Football – XFL:

• Sat 2/15
  • NY Guardians at DC Defenders @ 1pm on ABC
  • Tampa Bay Vipers at Seattle Dragons @ 4pm on Fox
• Sun 2/16
  • Dallas Renegades at LA Wildcats @ 2pm on ABC
  • Louis Battlehawks at Houston Roughnecks @ 5pm on FS1

Golf:

• Thurs 2/13
  • Genesis Invitational – Round 1
    • 1pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 2/14
  • Genesis Invitational – Round 2
    • 1pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 2/15
  • Genesis Invitational – Round 3
    • 12pm on Golf Channel
    • 2pm on CBS
• Sun 2/16
  • Genesis Invitational – Round 4
    • 12pm on Golf Channel
    • 2pm on CBS

Hockey:

• Mon 2/10 – Lightening at Blue Jackets @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
• Tues 2/11
  • Lightening at Penguins @ 6pm on RSNE
  • Flyers at Islanders @ 6pm on NBCSN
• Wed 2/12
  • Canadiens at Bruins @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
  • Flames at Kings @ 9pm on NBCSN
  • Blackhawks at Canucks @ 9:30pm on RSN
• Thurs 2/13
  • Blue Jackets at Sabres @ 6pm on RSNE
  • Flyers at Panthers @ 6pm on NBCSN
• Fri 2/14 – Devils at Hurricanes @ 6pm on RSN
• Sat 2/15
  • Red Wings at Bruins @ 12pm on RSN
  • Kings at Avalanche @ 7pm on NBC
  • Blackhawks at Flames @ 9pm on RSN
• Sun 2/16
  • Red Wings at Penguins @ 11:30am on NBC
  • Bruins at Rangers @ 2:30pm on NBC
  • Blues at Predators @ 5pm on NBCSN
  • Maple Leafs at Sabres @ 6pm on RSN

Olympic Sports:

• Thurs 2/13 – Biathlon World Championships: 2x6km+2×7.5km Mixed Relay @ 1pm on NBCSN
• Fri 2/14
  • FIS Skiing World Cup: Men’s Super G @ 6pm on NBCSN
  • Track & Field USA Indoor Championships: Day 1 @ 9:30pm on NBCSN
  • Curling Night in America: USA vs ITA – Mixed @ 11pm on NBCSN
• Sat 2/15
  • Biathlon World Championships: Women’s 7.5km Sprint @ 2am on NBCSN
  • FIS Skiing World Cup: Women’s Giant Slalom @ 10pm on NBCSN
  • FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup: Slopestyle @ 11pm on NBCSN
• Sun 2/16
  • FIS Snowboarding World Cup: Halfpipe @ 12am on NBCSN
  • Biathlon World Championships: Men’s 10km Sprint @ 1:30am on NBCSN
  • FIS Skiing World Cup: Women’s Slalom @ 9:30pm on NBCSN
  • Luge World Championships @ 10:30pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Fri 2/14 – Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers at Leicester City @ 2:55pm on NBCSN
• Sat 2/15
  • Premier League: Southampton vs Burnley @ 7:25am on NBCSN
  • Mexican Liga – Pachuca at Puebla @ 5pm on ESPN
• Sun 2/16
  • Premier League: Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur @ 9am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs Newcastle @ 11:30am on NBCSN
  • Italian Serie A: Juventus at Brescia @ 8am on ESPN2