Weekly Update – September 6, 2022

Baseball-MLB: Pujols hit HR 694 and 695! Dodgers hit 90 wins. Judge inching closer to 61 HRs in a single season. Benintendi out with broken hand.

Basketball: Cavs acquire Mitchell.

Football-NCAAF: Week 1 and CFP Expansion.

Football-NFL: Season starts this week! Steelers retire #23.

Golf: DJ wins LIV event which sees first playoff and first ace ever. KF players get their tour cards.

Olympic Sports: CAN>USA in women’s hockey worlds. GER president apologizes for Munich Olympics.

Tennis: US Open continues. Serena out in 3rd round. Upsets by some Americans.

Baseball:

• Dodgers beat the Mets to reach 90 wins. First team of the season!
• Albert Pujols hit #694 and #695 HR this week. #694 was against Reds P Ross Detwiler which is the 450^th pitcher to allow a HR from him. #695 was on Sunday night against the Cubs. Pujols is just one HR shy of #4 ARod on the all time list.

• In the 3^rd straight game, Yankees Aaron Judge hit another HR. That puts his total to 54 this season. Judge is chasing the 61 figure which is the single season record HRs hit set back in 1961 by Roger Maris. #54 led to the Yankees win over the Twins 5-2 and it ties the most HRs hit by a Yankees right handed hitter.
• Yankees OF Andrew Benintendi had a fractured right wrist and will need surgery which is set to take place today. TBD on his timing to return but the team is hopeful that it is this season.

Basketball:

• Cavaliers acquired Jazz G Donovan Mitchell in a trade for 3 players, 3 unprotected 1^st round picks (2025, 2027 & 2029) and 2 pick swaps (2026 & 2028). This adds another All-Star player to the already 2 on the starting line up along with the runner-up Rookie of the Year. The Cavs are ready to be an Eastern Conference contender. The Knicks were pursuing Mitchell before pulling out of the deal which allowed the Ohio team to swoop in.

Football-NCAA:

• Week 1! Florida managed to beat #7 and Pac 12 favorite Utah in a nail-biter that came down to the final play to win by 3. #19 Arkansas showed how much talent #23 Cincinnati lost in a year winning 31-24. #3 Georgia put the beat down on #11 Oregon winning 49-3. #2 Ohio St had lackluster QB play and did not cover the spread on #5 Notre Dame 21-10. The backyard brawl between WV and #17 Pitt lived up to the hype in a close game 38-31. #12 Oklahoma St had a scare with Central Michigan after pulling their starters and then they had to comeback onto the field, only winning at 14. #6 Texas A&M’s QB had some trouble with interceptions but they got it done in the rain delay beating Sam Houston 31-0. ECU missed a PAT to tie the game against #13 NC St and got into game-winning FG range but missed that too. LSU scored with 1 second on the clock to tie their game vs Florida St but the PAT got blocked so the Seminoles won by 1 point. 62 points were scored in the final quarter of the UNC/App St game, just 1 point under the quarter record for FBS teams before the Mountaineers failed to get the 2-point conversion to tie the game. Iowa won 7-3 over South Dakota St (#1 FCS team) however they never scored a TD, their score was 2 safeties and a FG.

• It has happened the CFP has chosen to expand the playoff to 12 teams! That will be the 6 conference championship ranked highest by the selection committee then the next 6 highest ranked teams. The top 4 highest conference champions will get a bye in the first round. Also the first round will be held on campus of the higher seed in the matchup. There will be a minimum of 12 days after conference championship games and the first playoff game. Neutral site for the championship and the bowls will continue as normal.

Football – NFL:

• NFL season starts this weekend! So get your fantasy draft ready if you haven’t already done it. For tips, here is my guide.

• Steelers will retire #32 jersey of Franco Harris in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here it is. This play and Franco are considered the turning point for the Steelers. The ceremony won’t be until Dec 24^th at halftime against the Raiders. Harris was part of 4 Super Bowls and MVP of Super Bowl IX. He is in the HoF as well as class of 1990. #32 is only the 3^rd number to be retired by the Pittsburgh team including Ernie Stautner (#70) and Joe Greene (#75).

Golf:

• For the first time in 19 months, Dustin Johnson has won a golf tournament at the LIV Golf event this weekend in Boston. It was a successful weekend for the tour with the PGA Tour having no tournament, the first ace ever and the first playoff ever. To win, DJ made a 35 foot putt for eagle on the first playoff hole against Joaquin Niemann and Anirban Lahiri. This win brings home $4MM for DJ which through 4 events totals $9.96MM. Niemann and Lahiri won $1.8MM for losing in the playoff in their first event on the new tour. Next Liv event will be in 2 weeks.

• The International team is set for the President’s Cup with Captain Trevor Immelman making his picks today. Those 6 at large picks were increased to 8 after #2 Cam Smith and #20 Joaquin Niemann left for the LIV Tour. The US team is set to be picked tomorrow! The team includes KH Lee, Christian Bezuidenhout, Sebastian Munoz, Taylor Pendrith, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Mito Pereira, Corey Conners and Tom Kim.
• 25 dreams came true after the Korn Ferry Finals! Congrats to those players who earned their PGA Tour cards.

Olympic Sports:

• CAN defeated the USA in the women’s hockey world final on Sunday 2-1. The rivalry continues as CAN has 12 world golds to USA’s 9. The two have split every world championship since 1990. Team USA has had recent success winning 8 of the last 10 meetings. CAN got the last laugh this time though winning worlds and the Olympic gold in the same year.

• GER president Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued a formal apology for the failures that led to the 1972 Munich Olympic attack. The Israeli president and relatives of the 11 athletes killed in the attack outside Munich in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the Palestinian attack. The ceremony took place at the airfield where the botched rescue attempt took place and 9 athletes, a W German police officer and 5 assailants died. The families of the slain athletes will receive a total of €30MM.
  • Don’t know what happened? This article gives a good quick account.
• UKR won the EuroBasket with just 55 seconds left over EST.

Tennis:

• We had some big names go out in the first round including JPN Naomi Osaka and reigning US Open champ, CAN Emma Raducanu. Serena won her opening match in straight sets and then her second against #2 seed Kontaveit despite having multiple double vaults on her killer serve. In the third round, Serena played AUS Tomljanovic and played the longest match she had ever played in US Open history with the 1^st set going to 5-7 and the 2^nd set going to tie breakers. The final set was merciless 1-6 though. That was the final farewell of one of the greatest to play the sport. 2 Americans are still in though, Coco Gauff is set to play FRA Garcia and Pegula faces the #1 seed POL Swiatek tomorrow.

• This is the first time that one of the Big 3 is not in the final for the men 2 of last 18 years. They have won 80% of the Grand Slam titles since 2003. Federer isn’t here, Djokovic wasn’t allowed and Nadal fell to USA Frances Taifoe. This snaps Nadal’s 22 match GS winning streak as well as his hopes for GS #23. The 24-year-old who is American but his parents immigrated to the US after leaving war torn Sierra Leonne, lost it in the locker room after he say that LeBron tweeted at him. Nadal was also 31-2 against Americans in majors, winning 27 straight since 2005. Reigning US Champ and #1 seed Medvedev fell to AUS Nick Kyrgios. This is the first US Open without #1 and #2 seed to make the quarterfinals since 2000.

• • Men’s bracket
  • Women’s bracket

• BTW with all the GOAT talk, did you know that AUS Margaret Court actually has the most GS titles with 24. Serena only got to 23. Court won that many and retired in her 30s. She also got married, had a baby and came back to the sport winning 24/25 tournaments that year. She also won ¾ GS since having her baby, unlike Serena. Court is a little salty as she is not mentioned in the medi much anymore. She blames her rigid Christian beliefs which led her to oppose same-sex marriage.
• The WTA is moving its finale, which will feature the top 8 singles players and 8 doubles, from China to Texas for the 2^nd year in a row. 2021 was due to COVID and this year is in response to safety concerns after the Peng Shuai debacle. Next year the tournament is set to go back to China.

What to watch this week

Baseball-MLB:

• Wed 9/7
  • Diamondbacks at Padres @ 7:40pm on FS1
    • Henry vs Darvish
• Sat 9/10
  • Angels at Astros – or – Guardians at Twins @ 6:15pm on FOX
• Sun 9/11
  • Giants at Cubs @ 7pm on ESPN

Football-NCAAF:

Top 25
Week 2
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Line
1. Alabama	Texas	Sat 9/10	11:00 AM	FOX	-20
24. Tennessee	17. Pitt	Sat 9/10	2:30 PM	ABC	-6.5
25. Houston	Texas Tech	Sat 9/10	3:00 PM	FS1	+3
20. Kentucky	12. Florida	Sat 9/10	6:00 PM	ESPN	+4.5
9. Baylor	21. BYU	Sat 9/10	9:15 PM	ESPN	+3.5
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football – NFL:

• Thurs 9/8
  • Bills at Rams @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Sun 9/11
  • 9 games at 12pm on FOX/CBS
    • FOX:
      • Saints at Falcons
      • 49ers at Bears
      • Eagles at Lions
      • Jaguars at Commanders
    • CBS:
      • Steelers at Bengals
      • Patriots at Dolphins
      • Ravens at Jets
      • Browns at Panthers
      • Colts at Texans
  • Giants at Titans – or – Packers at Vikings @ 3:25pm on FOX
  • Chiefs at Cardinals – or – Raiders at Chargers @ 3:25pm on CBS
  • Buccaneers at Cowboys @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 9/12
  • Broncos at Seahawks @ 7:15pm on ESPN

Olympic Sports:

• Tues 9/6
  • Beach Volleyball: AVP Pro Chicago Open @ 9pm on FS1
• Wed 9/7
  • Volleyball: Nebraska at Creighton @ 5pm on FS1

Soccer:

• Tues 9/6
  • Women’s International Friendly: USA vs NIG @ 5pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 9/8
  • NCAAW: UVA vs Oregon St @ 5pm on ACC
  • NCAAW: Duke vs UNC @ 7pm on ACC
• Fri 9/9
  • NCAAM: UVA vs VTech @ 7pm on ACC
  • La Liga: Juarez vs Monterrey @ 9pm on FS1
• Sat 9/10
  • Premier League: Fulham vs Chelsea @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs Wolves @ 9am on USA
  • Premier League: Manchester City vs Tottenham @ 11:30am on USA
• Sun 9/11
  • Premier League: West Ham vs Newcastle @ 8am on USA
  • Premier League: Crystal Palace vs ManU @ 10:30am on USA
  • NCAAW: Boston College vs Army @ 12:30pm on ACC
  • NCAAW: South Carolina vs NC St @ 2pm on ESPNU
  • NCAAW: Syracuse at Cornell @ 2:30pm on ACC

Tennis:

• Tues 9/6
  • US Open: Quarterfinals (W: Jabeur vs Tomljanovic & Gauff vs Garcia / M: Kyrgios vs Khachanov & Berrettini vs Rudd)
    • @ 11am on ESPN
    • @ 6pm on ESPN
• Wed 9/7
  • US Open: Quarterfinals (W: Swiatek vs Pegula & Pliskova vs Sabalenka / M: Sinner vs Alcaraz vs Rublev vs Tiafoe)
    • @ 11am on ESPN
    • @ 6pm on ESPN
• Thurs 9/8
  • US Open: Women’s Semifinals @ 6pm on ESPN
• Fri 9/9
  • US Open: Men’s Doubles Championship @ 11am on ESPN2
  • US Open: Men’s Semifinals @ 6pm on ESPN
• Sat 9/10
  • US Open: Women’s Finals @ 3pm on ESPN
• Sun 9/11
  • US Open: Men’s Finals @ 3pm on ESPN