Weekly Update – Week of February 17, 2020

Baseball – MLB: Season begins! Players might take Astros punishment into their own hands. Bauer’s criticism on expanded playoff.

Basketball – NBA: All Star Game results. 3-point shooting contest. Slam Dunk content.

Football – NFL: JJ Watt off the market. Myles Garret reinstated.

Golf: Adam Scott wins for the 1st time in 4 years. Mickey Wright died.

Olympic Sports: Tokyo marathon cuts. New PV WR. Speedskating WRs.

Baseball – MLB:

• MLB Players are pissed that the Astros have gotten to keep their World Series title and have ‘threatened’ to hit Astro batters with pitches and other like actions. Other teams players are upset that none of the Astro players have been punished.
• Games begin Friday with the Rangers at the Royals @2:05pm.
• Reds P Trevor Bauer has been very vocal about his criticism of the MLB playoff and the new potential plan to expand it. And he says that hes gotten some positive reinforcement. The new plan would expand the playoff to include nearly half of the teams and would have the top teams sit out of the first rounds and pick who they play. Don’t expect this to be the last we have heard of this.

Basketball – NBA:

• The All-Star Game had a new twist in format with the 4^th quarter being untimed with the first team to 157 points (final score 157-155). This was to hopefully increase the excitement in the game, however, twitter would disagree when the game ended on a free throw. Ultimately the new format was a success!
  • Kawhi Leonard was the ASG MVP which has now been renamed the Kobe Bryant MVP Award.
  • Other tributes poured in as well for the fallen player. Magic Johnson gave a speech, Jennifer Hudson sang and Common rapped. All players either wore the number 24 or the number 2 in honor of the Black Mamba and Mambacita (Kobe’s nickname for his daughter GiGi).

• Former Oklahoma star and current Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield edged out Suns guard Devin Booker in the 3-point shooting contest. Both players shot 108 3-pointers and it came down to the final rack where Hield hit 4 of 5 to win by 1.

• The Slam Dunk contest had a very controversial ending with Heat forward Jones Jr. beating Magic forward Gordon after 2 tiebreakers. The catch? There should’ve been a third tiebreaker – the judges admitting to making the tie but something got messed up. This resulted in Gordon vowing to never participate again. This wasn’t the first time Gordon lost in a controversial dunk contest – it happened again in 2016. Poor guy!
• Current Standings:
  • Eastern:
    • Atlantic: Raptors
    • Central: Bucks
    • SE: Heat
  • Western:
    • NW: Nuggets
    • Pacific: Lakers
    • SW: Rockets

Football:

• Sorry ladies – JJ Watt is officially off the market! He married his sweetheart, NWSL soccer star Kealia Ohai this weekend at the Four Seasons in the Bahamas. “Best day of my life. Without question.” were his words. Watch Watts’ grandma and him tear up the dance floor.

• The NFL has reinstated Myles Garrett after he hit Steelers QB Mason Rudolph with his helmet during a scuffle last season. Rudolph is claiming that the claim of him using a racial slur towards Garrett to entice him is a lie. This came out in an interview during SportsCenter on Thursday.
  • Don’t remember this? Garrett sacked Rudolph, they engaged in a tussle on the ground, Garrett forced Rudolph’s helmet off, Rudolph charged at Garrett and Garrett hit Rudolph over the head with his own helmet. All this resulted in Garrett being suspended and $732k of fines. 33 other players were also disciplined after both sidelines ran onto the field.

Golf:

• Ladies pay attention. Adam Scott, the original golf heartthrob, won the Genesis Invitational! This is his first win on the PGA Tour in almost 4 years to bring his total to 14. This victory at Riveria comes 15 years after Adam won in a playoff that wasn’t official because of rain that shortened the tournament to 36 holes. Adam has won 29 tournaments worldwide including the Australian PGA 2 months ago. He literally hadn’t played since then! Get it Adam!

• HoF golfer Mickey Wright died Monday of a heart attack at the age of 85. Mickey won 82 LPGA tournaments including 13 majors! She is 2^nd on the all time LPGA win list (behind Kathy Whitworth with 88) and she retired from the tour in 1969.

Olympic Sports:

• The Tokyo marathon on March 1 will be limited the participants to elite athletes only and no regular runners due to fears of the coronavirus. This cut the athletes from 38,000 to a couple of hundred.
• No changes are planning on being made at this time with regards to the Olympics. There was a press conference with the organizing committee to discuss a plan B with the coronavirus. There is not one.
• Swedish pole vaulter, Armand Duplantis, broke the WR. Sound familiar? He broke it for the 2^nd time in 8 days, this time with a mark of 6.18m (20 feet 3” ¼).
• 2 speed-skating world records went down on day 3 of the ISU World Single Distances Championships in Utah. Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov broke the men’s 1000m with a time of 1:05.69 and fellow Russian Natalia Voronina broke the women’s 5000m in 6:39.21.
  • American speed-skater, Joey Mantia, set a new PR in the 1500m to take the bronze, finishing behind 2 dutch skaters Kjeld Nuis and Ireen Wust. This is Mantia’s first podium finish at a world championship and Nuis’ 4^th world championship title.
• The American team relay earned a bronze medal at the World Championships after the Russian team was DQ’d after failing to hit a touch-pad as they crossed the finish line. The US team was in 3^rd already when the Russians turn came and they stayed there.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Thurs 2/20
  • Nets at 76ers @ 7pm on TNT
  • Rockets at Warriors @ 9:30pm on TNT
• Fri 2/21
  • Nuggets at Thunder @ 7pm on ESPN
  • Pelicans at Trail Blazers @ 9:30pm on ESPN
• Sat 2/22 – 76ers at Bucks @ 7:30pm on ABC
• Sun 2/23 – Celtics at Lakers @ 2:30pm on ABC

Basketball – NCAA:

• Mon 2/17 – Iowa St at 3. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN
• Tues 2/18
  • Illinois at 13. Penn St @ 5:30p on FS1
  • Oklahoma St at 14. West Virginia @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Pitt at 8. Florida St @ 7pm on ACC
  • Northwestern at 9. Maryland @ 7pm on BTN
  • Dayton at VCU @ 7:30pm on CBSSN
  • Creighton at 18. Marquette @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • Baylor at Oklahoma @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • Kentucky at 25. LSU @ 8pm on ESPN
• Wed 2/19
  • Butler at 10. Seton Hall @ 5:30pm on FS1
  • Syracuse at 5. Louisville @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Auburn at Georgia @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Duke at NC St @ 8pm on ESPN
  • Villanova at DePaul @ 8pm on CBSSN
  • Tulsa at 20. Houston @ 8pm on ESPNU
  • Kansas St at 24. Texas Tech @ 8pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 2/20
  • Ohio St at 21. Iowa @ 6pm on ESPN
  • USC at 16. Colorado @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • Oregon at Arizona St @ 8pm on ESPN
  • San Francisco at 2. Gonzaga @ 10pm on ESPN2
• Sat 2/22
  • Kansas at 1. Baylor @ 11am on ESPN
  • Tennessee at 11. Auburn @ 11am on CBS
  • Marquette at Providence @ 11am on Fox
  • West Virginia at TCU @ 1pm on ESPNU
  • Houston at Memphis @ 1pm on ESPN2
  • Villanova at Xavier at 1:30pm on FOX
  • UNC at 5. Louisville at 3pm on ESPN
  • VTech at 7. Duke at 3pm on ESPN2
  • Florida St at NC St @ 3pm on ACC
  • UCLA at 16. Colorado at 3pm on CBS
  • Florida at 12. Kentucky at 5pm on ESPN
  • UNLV at 4. SD St at 6:30pm on CBSSN
  • Oregon at Arizona @ 8pm on ESPN
  • Gonzaga at BYU @ 9pm on ESPN2
• Sun 2/23
  • Penn St at Indiana @ 11am on FS1
  • John’s at 10. Seton Hall @ 1pm on CBS
  • Maryland at Ohio St @ 3pm on CBS
  • Butler at 23. Creighton @ 3pm on FS1

Football – XFL:

• Sat 2/22
  • Houston Roughnecks at Tampa Bay Vipers @ 1pm on ABC
  • Dallas Renegades at Seattle Dragons @ 4pm on Fox
• Sun 2/23
  • NY Guardians at St. Louis Battlehawks @ 2pm on ESPN
  • DC Defenders at LA Wildcats @ 5pm on FS1

Golf:

• Thurs 2/20
  • Puerto Rico – Round 1
    • 9:30am – 12:30pm on Golf Channel
  • WGC-Mexico Championship – Round 1
    • 1-6pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 2/21
  • Puerto Rico – Round 2
    • 9:30am – 12:30pm on Golf Channel
  • WGC-Mexico Championship – Round 2
    • 1-6pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 2/22
  • Puerto Rico – Round 3
    • 1:30pm – 4pm on Golf Channel
  • WGC-Mexico Championship – Round 3
    • 11am-1:30pm on Golf Channel
    • 1:30pm – 6pm on NBC
• Sun 2/23
  • Puerto Rico – Round 4
    • 1:30pm – 3:30pm on Golf Channel
  • WGC-Mexico Championship – Round 4
    • 11am-1:30pm on Golf Channel
    • 1:30pm – 6pm on NBC

Hockey:

• Mon 2/17
  • Capitals at Golden Knights @ 5pm on NBCSN
  • Lightening at Avalanche @ 8pm on RSN
• Tues 2/18 – Maple Leafs at Penguins @ 6pm on NBCSN
• Wed 2/19
  • Rangers at Blackhawks @ 7pm on NBCSN
  • Bruins at Oilers @ 7:30pm on RSN
• Thurs 2/20
  • Sharks at Devils @ 6pm on RSN
  • Lightening at Golden Knights @ 9pm on RSN
• Sat 2/22
  • Jets at Flyers @ 12pm on RSN
  • Bruins at Canucks @ 9pm on RSN
• Sun 2/23
  • Penguins at Capitals @ 11am on NBC
  • Blackhawks at Stars @ 2pm on RSN
  • Flames at Red Wings @ 6pm on RSN
  • Blues at Wild @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
  • Golden Knights at Ducks @ 9pm on RSN

Olympic Sports:

• Wed 2/19 – Speed Skating: ISU World Championships @ 11:30pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 2/20 – Biathlon World Championships: Men’s 20km @ 1:30am on NBCSN
• Fri 2/21
  • Biathlon World Championships: Single Mixed Relay @ 1am on NBCSN
  • Curling Night in America: USA vs JPN – Men @ 9pm on NBCSN
  • Curling Night in America: JPN vs USA – Women @ 11pm on NBCSN
• Sun 2/23
  • FIS Skiing World Cup: Women’s Downhill @ 12:30am on NBCSN
  • IBSF World Championships: Women’s Bobsled @ 1:30am on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Wed 2/19 – Premier League: Manchester City at West Ham United @ 2:30pm on NBCSN
• Sat 2/22
  • Premier League: Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur @ 7:25am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Teams TBA @ 9:55am on NBCSN
• Sun 2/23
  • Premier League: ManU at Watford @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs Everton @ 11:25am on NBCSN
  • Italian Serie A: Genoa vs Lazio @ 5:30am on ESPN2