Basketball-NBA: LeBron closing in on record. Irving is now in Dallas. Curry out for weeks. Pelicans end slide.
Basketball-NCAA: Lots of ranked showdowns including a big one in the state of Kansas. Also Duke > UNC.
Football- NFL: Brady retires…again. NFC>AFC in Pro Bowl. Super Bowl Sunday!!
Golf: Pebble gets delayed. Rose wins – first in 4 years.
Olympic Sports: Sexual Assault allegations against US Ski & Snowboarding. Humphries takes home world medal #8. UK Athletics wants Open category for trans women.
Basketball – NBA:
- Kyrie Irving has requested a trade from the Nets. Surprised? Hell no. He is also out for the next several games with calf soreness. Multiple teams have expressed interest including the Clippers. Ok but remember with him comes all his dumba$$ opinions.. The Dallas Mavericks have taken Irving. Ugh. Irving is the first player to average 25 PPG, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and change teams midseason.
- Steph Curry injured his leg on Saturday in the game against the Mavericks after his knee hit a Dallas player. The Warriors still won but Steph is expected to be out past the All-Star break mid-month.
- LeBron is 36 points away from Kareem Abdul Jabaar’s All Time scoring record.
- The Pelicans have stopped their 10 game losing streak with a bold win over the Lakers on Saturday. They won 131-126. That was a whole month without a win – last win was the Rockets in Jan 4th.
Basketball-NCAA:
- NCAAM Losses in Top 25 this week: Monday had a Big 12 ranked showdown between #10 Texas and #11 Baylor. It was a close game but the #10 Texas pulled out the win 76-71. Then we had another good game in the Big 12, where Texas Tech had a sloooow start but came back in the 2nd half with a vengeance to take the game to OT. #13 Iowa St lost in OT to Texas Tech. The battle of the state of Kansas took place on Tuesday. Despite being ranked lower, #8 Kansas beat #7 Kansas St thanks to a killer 1H. #20 Clemson lost to Boston College who has a losing record and then lost to #23 Miami on Saturday. Bad week for the Tigers. #21 Indiana lost to Maryland and now they both have the same overall and Big 10 record. Nevada beat #22 San Diego St by 9. A big upset in the SEC #2 Tennessee got beat by Florida by 13. #17 Providence and #16 Xavier faced off in the Big East and like their rankings, it was a close one and went unto OT. But ultimately Xavier won. #19 FAU lost to UAB which snaps their 20 game win streak. Saturday had a lot of big games including a Big 10 showdown between #1 Purdue and #21 Indiana. And the Hoosiers upset #1 by 5. There was also an SEC showdown where #2 Tennessee beat #25 Auburn in a low scoring game 46-43. #12 Gonzaga vs #18 Saint Mary’s was another big game in the West Coast Conference and it went into OT with Saint Mary’s getting the last laugh and the W. #6 UVA lost to VTech who is 4-8 in the ACC. #7 Kansas St had a bad week with two losses, earlier to Kansas and on Saturday #10 Texas in a close one. But the Wildcats weren’t too mad as at least their rival. #8 Kansas lost to #13 Iowa St by 15. #15 TCU lost to Oklahoma St.
- Also unranked Duke beat unranked UNC this weekend 63-57.
Football – NFL:
- #12 Tom Brady has finally retired…for good so he says. The 45-year old Brady does so after 23 years in the league with 7 Super Bowl rings, 5x Super Bowl MVP, 3x NFL MVP, 6x All Pro and 15x Pro Bowler. He reportedly has a 10-year $375MM broadcasting deal with FOX Sports after his on-field career is over that he says he will start in 2024. Brady also did this on Feb 1st last year before returning to the game 40 days later.
- NFC wins the pro bowl over AFC 35-33. Remember this year was a flag football game in an effort to make guys want to play and yet not get hurt in an exhibition game.
Golf:
- AT&T Pebble Beach final round was delayed due to winds so they tournament finished up this morning. Justin Rose, who hasn’t won a tournament in 4 years, won the tournament by 3 shots over Brendon Todd and Brandon Wu. This was Rose’s 11th PGA Tour title and 23rd win worldwide. Before this Rose had sunk to his lowest OWGR in 13 years (76th) and looked like he might miss this year’s Masters, which would break a streak of every major since 2010. This win qualifies him for the greatest event in golf and raises him up to ~35th in the world.
Olympic Sports:
- Several former US Ski & Snowboarding Olympic team members are suing their former coach, Peter Foley, the national federation, its former CEO and the USOPC for sexual trafficking, harassment and enabling and covering up repeated acts of sexual misconduct including assault. One of the skiers is Rosey Fletcher, a 3x Olympian and 2006 Bronze medalist in the parallel giant slalom, said that Foley sexually assaulted her at a team camp and another time at a postrace event when she was 19. Two other women have come out with similar stories of assault at USSS/USOPC events. The allegations against Foley were brought to light via Instagram in Feb 2022 and he was banned from having ‘one-on-one interactions with female athletes and going into the athlete’s village’ however at the Beijing Olympics, he was seen in a restricted area hugging Lindsey Jacobellis after she won gold. A separate lawsuit came out Thursday accusing the same man (Foley) of secual assault of a USSS employee at World Cup events.
- Kaillie Humphries won bronze at Bobsledding Worlds after a GER 1 and 2. This is her 7th medal in the event at worlds.
- UK Athletics has announced that they would like to introduce an ‘Open’ category for transgender women and not allow them to compete in the women’s category. The governing body has said that their hands are tied unless the government changes the law but they support the change.
- The IOC is contemplating what to do with Russia and Belarus before the Paris Olympics. It looks like they will still be banned but athletes will be able to compete under a neutral flag as has been done for the last several games. However UKR, LAT, LIT and EST are all considering boycotting the Olympics especially if RUS & BLR are allowed to compete. Talks continue next week.
What to watch this week
Baseball/Softball – NCAA:
- Sun 2/12
- Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational @ 11pm on ESPNU
Basketball – NBA:
- Tues 2/7
- Suns at Nets @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Thunder at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT *record watch*
- Wed 2/8
- 76ers at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Mavericks at Clippers @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 2/9
- Bulls at Nets @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Bucks at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT *record watch*
- Fri 2/10
- Hornets at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Cavaliers at Pelicans @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sat 2/11
- Lakers at Warriors @ 7:30pm on ABC
- Sun 2/12
- Grizzlies at Celtics @ 1pm on ABC
Basketball – NCAA:
- Mon 2/6
- Duke at 19. Miami @ 6pm on ESPN
- 5. Texas at 9. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN
- Tues 2/7
- 10. Marquette at 21. UConn @ 5:30pm on FS1
- 24. Rutgers at 18. Indiana @ 5:30pm on BTN
- 22. NC St at 8. UVA @ 8pm on ACC
- 17. TCU at 12. Kansas St @ 8pm on ESPNU
- Wed 2/8
- 23. Creighton at Seton Hall @ 5:30pm on FS1
- Georgetown at 20. Providence @ 7pm on CBSSN
- Florida at 3. Alabama @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Oklahoma at 14. Baylor @ 8pm on ESPNU
- Thurs 2/9
- Iowa at 1. Purdue @ 6pm on ESPN2
- 7. UCLA at Oregon St @ 8pm on PAC12
- San Francisco at 16. Gonzaga @ 8pm on ESPN2
- 4. Arizona at Cal @ 10pm on Pac12
- Fri 2/10
- 13. Xavier at Butler @ 6pm on FS1
- Sat 2/11
- West Virginia at 5. Texas @ 11am
- 10. Marquette at Georgetown @ 11am on FS1
- 20. Providence at St. John’s @ 11am on FOX
- 22. NC St at Boston College @ 11am on ACC+
- 9. Kansas at Oklahoma @ 12pm on CBS
- 3. Alabama at Auburn @ 1pm on ESPN
- 21. UConn at 23. Creighton @ 1pm on FOX
- 24. Rutgers at Illinois @ 1pm on FS1
- Duke at 8. UVA @ 3pm on ESPN
- 14. Baylor at 17. TCU @ 3pm on ESPN2
- UNLV at 25. San Diego St @ 3pm on FOX
- Mizzou at 6. Tennessee @ 5pm on SEC
- Oklahoma St at 11. Iowa St @ 5pm
- 15. Saint Mary’s at Portland @ 5pm on CBSSN
- 18. Indiana at Michigan @ 5pm on ESPN
- 12. Kansas St at Texas Tech @ 6pm on ESPN+
- Louisville at 19. Miami @ 6pm on ACC
- 4. Arizona at Stanford @ 7pm on ESPN2
- 7. UCLA at Oregon @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sun 2/12
- 1. Purdue at Northwestern @ 1pm on BTN
Football – NFL:
- Sun 2/12
- Super Bowl LVII: Chiefs at Eagles @ 5:30pm on FOX (in Arizona)
Golf:
- Mon 2/6
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open – Final Round @ 9am(ish) on Golf Channel
- Thurs 2/9
- WM Phoenix Open – Round 1 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 2/10
- WM Phoenix Open – Round 2 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 2/11
- WM Phoenix Open – Round 3
- @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- WM Phoenix Open – Round 3
- Sun 2/12
- WM Phoenix Open – Final Round
- @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- WM Phoenix Open – Final Round
Hockey:
- Tues 2/7
- Oilers at Red Wings @ 6:30pm on hulu
- Wed 2/8
- Wild at Stars @ 7:30pm on TNT
- Thurs 2/9
- Avalanche at Lightning @ 6pm on ESPN
- Sat 2/11
- Lightning at Stars @ 12pm on ABC
- Capitals at Bruins @ 2:30pm on ABC
Olympic Sports:
- Fri 2/10
- Gymnastics W: Minnesota vs Michigan @ 4:30pm on ESPNU
- Gymnastics W: Mizzou vs Florida @ 6pm on SEC
- Gymnastics W: LSU vs Auburn @ 7:30pm on SEC
- Sat 2/11
- Ski & Snowboarding: FIS World Cup Highlights @ 1:30pm on NBC
- Track & Field: Millrose Games (NY) @ 3pm on NBC
- Sun 2/12
- Freestyle Ski & Snowboarding: Deer Valley @ 1pm on NBC
- Ski & Snowboarding: FIS World Cup Highlights @ 2pm on NBC
Soccer:
- Tues 2/7
- English FA: Sheffield United at Wrexham @ 1:45pm on ESPN2
- Sat 2/11
- Premier League: West Ham vs Chelsea @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Southampton vs Wolves @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- Sun 2/12
- Premier League: LeedsU vs ManU @ 8am on USA
- Premier League: Manchester City vs Aston Villa @ 10:30am on USA
