Weekly Update – September 19, 2022

Baseball-MLB: Judge 2 HRs away. 2 teams clinched playoffs. Valdez 15 straight quality starts.

Basketball: Sun’s owner suspended. Jordan’s Last Dance jersey breaks records.

Football-NCAAF: Week 3 has 3 losses. Arkansas, Wake Forest, Florida had scares. SEC encourages GA and TN to cancel matchups with OU. ASU parts with HC. Bresee’s sister passes.

Football-NFL: 9 games within a score. Hutchinson sets rookie sack record. Jags shut out Colts. Cowboys 50 yard FG winner. Cardinals win in OT. NFL and GER Bundesliga partnership.

Golf: Homa defends Fortinet. Cam Smith wins 2nd LIV event. President’s Cup this week.

Olympic Sports: First quad axel ever landed. 2026 games in a little bit of trouble.

Tennis: Federer retiring.

Baseball:

• Aaron Judge started the week at 55 homers and now has 59, just 2 runs away from the AL record. He did it in only 2 games. Judge’s 2 homers in Tuesday night’s game against the Red Sox to help the Yankees beat their hated rivals the Red Sox 7-6. Then again on Sunday with another 2 HRs, a double and a single in his best at-bat appearance in a game all season. That game was a decided victory over the Brewers 12-8. Every HR he gets now is just resetting the most ever set by a AL right handed batter. Just 2 runs to go!
• We have 2 teams that have clinched playoff berths. The Houston Astros and the LA Dodgers have clinched their spot. For real this time Dodgers. More Eliminated teams: Cubs*, Marlins*, Reds*, Rangers*, Royals*, Pirates, Nationals, Tigers, A’s
• Houston Astros LHP Framber Valdez has set a single-season MLB record for 25 quality starts in a row. His record is 3^rd lonest across multiple seasons.
  • #GFHint: A Quality Start is where a pitcher goes 7 or more innings with less than 3 earned runs or fewer.

Basketball:

• PHX Sun’s majority owner Robert Sarver has created quite a scandal in the NBA. He is under allegations of misogyny and racism throughout his organization for the last 17 years. 70 employees have given interviews about the toxic work environment. He has been banned from everything (practice, any NBA activity or rep his team at all) for one-year and fined $10MM but a lot of people say that’s not enough. It’s all the NBA can do so far sine he is an owner.

• Michael Jordan’s Last Dance jersey broke all sports paraphernalia records, selling for $10.1MM. The Last Dance game is Game 1 of the 1998 Finals. The previous record was $9.28MM paid for Diego’s ‘Hand of God’ jersey from the 1986 world cup.

Football-NCAA:

• Week 3: Top 25 Games
  • #1 Georgia, #2 Alabama, #3 Ohio St, #4 Michigan, #8 Oklahoma State, #15 Tennessee and #20 Ole Miss all destroyed their opponents by 40 points. Onto the next week.

• • #11 Michigan St was exposed by Huskies who won by 11 but even that score is a little misleading. It was not close and Sparty fell out of the rankings.
  • #12 BYU finally fell after a tough couple of weeks to #25 Oregon who looked a little more like themselves win 41-20.

• • #24 Texas A&M had a big bounce back game against #13 Miami. With a QB change it was more successful. Just 2 TDs were scored in the game and both by the Aggies. Miami never got in the endzone and missed 2 FGs to lose 9-17.
  • #6 OU ran away with the game vs Frost-less Neb. Almost as impressively as their QB Gabriel who ran 61 yrd for the first Sooner TD.
  • #10 Ark had a scare with Missouri St but scored 21 pts in the 4th to W by 11

• • #16 NC St wore black and red making it very confusing against Texas Tech but it wasn’t confusing who won this game. Wolfpack takes it 24-17.
  • USF had #18 FL on the ropes, driving all the field to score game tying FG but missed the 39 yrd. Florida escapes

• • #19 Wake escaped Liberty who went for the 2-pt conversion to win the game but came up short of the goal line
  • UTSA held on for a while against #21 TX but ultimately they were able to separate themselves and get W

• • #22 Penn St manhandles Auburn 41-12

• • App St looked to lose their first gameday game to Troy but had a successful Hail Mary as time expired.
  • Also not in the Top 25, both Florida St and Kansas are 3-0 for the first time since 2015 and 2009 respectively.
• SEC urges Georgia and Tennessee to get rid of their games vs Oklahoma as they will be in conference by when those games were scheduled (TN was TBD after cancelled 2020 game and Georgia was set for home-and-home 2027 & 2031). Both have already replaced the games; Oklahoma will play SMU and Georgia will play Ball St.

• Arizona St has parted ways with HC Herm Edwards.

• Clemson DT Bryan Bresee’s 15 year old sister has lost her battle with brain cancer. You might recognize that name from literally last week the Clemson team wore ‘Ella strong’ shirts. To show their support La Tech (who play the Tigers this weekend) players wrote a letter to the family, every single player.

Football – NFL:

• Week 2:
  • 9 games were within a TD. And that doesn’t count the very close game on MNF with the Broncos missing a FG to lose by 1 to the Seahawks.

• • This week’s started Thursday night on Prime video with the Charges/Chiefs. The Chargers were headed in to take the lead with 10 min to go when the Chiefs picked off Herbert and ran the 99 yards to the other endzone to score the go-ahead TD. The game ended after a valiant but unsuccessful effort onside kick by the Chargers, who lost by 3.

• • The Jets had a miraculous comeback against the Browns who were winning 30-17 before QB Joe Flacco threw a dime for 66 yrds for a TD, the Jets recovered an onside kick and scored again. The game ended with the Browns throwing an interception.

• • Hutchinson set the single game record for most sacks by a rookie with 3 helping the Lions win 36-27 over the Commanders.
  • The Pats avoided starting 0-2 with a muffed punt by a former Patriot that now plays for the Steelers which lead to the winning TD.

• • The Jags shut out the Colts 24-0.
  • The Falcons were driving down to score the game-winning TD in the final 2 min of the game, when Rams S Jalen Ramsey snagged an interception to seal the W.
  • The Cowboys win on a last second 50 yard FG over the now 0-2 Bengals.

• • The Cardinals trailed 23-7 before the 4Q but Kyler Murray and his team scored 16 points including a 2-point conversion to take the game into OT. In OT, Murray threw an interception to give the Raiders good field position. All the Vegas team needed to do was score a FG, but after 2 turnover close-calls plays, a 3^rd was successful for a Cardinals scoop and score to win.
• The NFL and German Bundesliga have announced a formal partnership that is meant to improve fandom in both places. At least 1 NFL regular season game will be in Germany for the next 4 years starting with the Bucs vs Seahawks next year in Munich.

Golf:

• Defending champ, Max Homa, was tied for 2^nd going into the final round of the Fortinet Championship with Danny Willett. It came all the way down to the 18^th. However despite the chip-in birdie on the 18^th, Willett could seal the win with his 4 foot birdie putt. He missed it. Ok no problem, he makes the next (a 5 foot putt) and still forces a playoff; he missed that too and that made Homa the winner of the Fortinet Championship in Napa. It was a very odd turn of events and it was in the pouring rain. Max Homa’s pregnant wife personified what we all felt like when watching “Wait, he just won?!” Homa defends at the Fortinet and when he won last season, it led to his best PGA Tour season yet so off to another good start!

• Despite a great start by Dustin Johnson at the Chicago event, Cam Smith took the win in just his 2^nd start on the LIV Tour. Smith went into the 3^rd and final round 3 shots ahead and finished there. This was just Smith’s 2^nd LIV event; he got T-4 in his LIV debut. Don’t feel too bad for DJ though as his team, the 4 Aces won their 4^th team title in a row.

• The President’s Cup is this week. For those of you who are not HUGE golf fans, this will be a team format between the International Team (sans Europe) and Team USA. However this year, it is definitely lacking on some of the star power as all LIV Tour players were barred from participating (8 players from last year’s Ryder Cup – team USA counts for 3 of those).

Olympic Sports:

• Ilia Malinin has done the impossible! He completed the first ever Quad Axel was landed in competition! Remember an axel is 4.5 rotations. He completed the feat at the beginning of his long program at the US Classic; needless to say, he won.
• The 2026 Italian Cortina Games are facing some issues. Construction delays, no leader due to a crazy political climate and a decline in sponsorship are just some of the challenges facing the next Winter games. It also made the news that the Nordic Combined will still be the only event without women for the 2026 games as well. That’s not saying too much as the men’s Nordic Combined isn’t guaranteed for 2030 either due to a lack of audience and countries entering athletes.

Tennis:

• Another GOAT retires, this time it’s Roger Federer. He is considered one of the Big 3 and retiring at age 41 and won his first GS title in 2003 at age 22. He has won 20 GS titles: the AUS open 6xs, French Open in 2009, Wimbledon 8xs and the US Open 5xs. The Swiss man also has a gold medal in Doubles from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a Silver in singles from the 2012 London Olympics. Rumors had been swirling about his retirements since he won the French Open in 2009, completing the career sweep of Grand Slams and was expecting his first child. He then went on to win Wimbledon just a month later. Federer’s final event will be the Laver Cup competing as part of team Europe this weekend (23^rd-25^th).

What to watch this week

Baseball-MLB:

• Tues 9/20
  • Mets at Brewers @ 6:40pm on TBS
• Thurs 9/22
  • Braves at Phillies – or – Red Sox at Yankees @ 6:15pm on FOX
• Sun 9/18
  • Red Sox at Yankees @ 6pm on ESPN

Football-NCAAF:

Top 25
Week 4
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Line
5. Clemson	21. Wake Forest	Sat 9/24	11:00 AM	ABC	-14.5
20. Florida	11. Tennessee	Sat 9/24	2:30 PM	CBS	+4.5
10. Arkansas	23. Texas A&M	Sat 9/24	6:00 PM	ESPN	+6.5
Wisconsin	3. Ohio St	Sat 9/24	6:30 PM	ABC	+15.5
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football – NFL:

• Mon 9/19
  • Titans at Bills @ 6:15pm on ESPN
  • Vikings at Eagles @ 7:30pm on ABC
• Thurs 9/22
  • Steelers at Browns @ 7:15pm on Prime
• Sun 9/25
  • 9 games at 12pm on FOX/CBS
    • FOX:
      • Raider at Titans
      • Lions at Vikings
      • Ravens at Patriots
      • Eagles at Commanders
      • Saints at Panthers
    • CBS:
      • Texans at Bears
      • Chiefs at Colts
      • Bills at Dolphins
      • Bengals at Jets
  • Jaguars at Chargers @ 3:05pm on CBS
  • 3 games @ 3:25pm on FOX
    • Rams at Cardinals
    • Falcons at Seahawks
    • Packers at Bucs
  • 49ers at Broncos @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 9/26
  • Cowboys at Giants @ 7:15pm on ESPN & ABC

Golf:

• Thurs 9/22
  • President’s Cup – Day 1 Foursomes @ 12pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 9/23
  • President’s Cup – Day 2 Four-ball @ 10:30am on Golf Channel
• Sat 9/24
  • President’s Cup – Day 3 Foursomes and Four-ball
    • @ 7am on NBC
    • @ 12pm on NBC
• Sun 9/25
  • President’s Cup – Day 4 Singles @ 11am on NBC

Soccer:

• Wed 9/21
  • Club Friendly: FC Cincinnati vs Guadalajara @ 6:06pm on ESPN2
  • Club Friendly: Nashville SC vs America @ 8:06pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 9/22
  • UEFA: BEL vs Wales @ 1:30pm on FS1
  • NCAAW: Pitt vs Miami @ 5pm on ACC
  • NCAAW: Arkansas vs Auburn @ 6pm on SEC
  • NCAAW: Wake Forest vs Clemson @ 7pm on ACC
  • UEFA: POL vs NED @ 10pm on FS1
• Fri 9/23
  • International Friendly: JPN vs USA @ 7:25am on ESPN2
  • UEFA: GER vs HUN @ 1:30pm on FS1
  • NCAAM: Louisville vs Pitt @ 7pm on ACC
• Sun 9/25
  • UEFA: CZE vs POR @ 4am on FS1
  • NCAAW: Florida at Georgia @ 11am on ESPNU
  • NCAAW: Auburn vs Ole Miss @ 3pm on SEC
  • NCAAW: Kansas vs TCU @ 3pm on ESPNU
  • NCAAW: Wake Forest vs VTech @ 4pm on ACC
  • NCAAW: NC St vs Duke @ 6pm on ACC
  • UEFA: DEN vs FRA @ 7pm on FS1