Baseball – MLB: Alonso breaks NL HR record. Acuna’s non-HR gets him benched. Scherzer is back – pun intended. Kimbrel saves the Cubs. Dehydrated Harper.
Basketball: Cousins ACL tear. Nigeria’s FIBA team in trouble. Howard is shopping his options.
Football – NCAA: Week 0 is upon us. College Gameday begins this weekend! Texas RB Benson passed. McCoy fever. Freeze’s infection.
Football – NFL: John Whitaker, the broadcasting legend passes. Metcalf undergoes knee surgery. AB being head strong. Elliott still holding out.
Golf: JT tops the FedEx points again. 1 more week to play. President Cup teams are set. Euro Tour to penalize slow play.
Olympic Sports: Cycling stories.
Baseball – MLB:
- Mets’ 1B Pete Alonso hit his 40th HR and broke the National League record for HRs in a season. This homer in the 9th inning helped break the tie with Dodgers’ Bellinger for most HRs in the NL by a rookie. Bellinger hit 39 in 2017. The Mets won Sunday’s game 11-5.
- Braves OF Ronald Acuna Jr was taken out of the game after hitting a ball (which at first looked to be a HR but instead hit the wall and was a playable ball) and failing to run through to 2B. He just looked at it and made it to 1st base when he easily could have made it to 2B. The manager was not happy.
- Nationals’ pitcher Max Scherzer will be back in the rotation on Thursday after missing 4 weeks with a back injury. He had a rhomboid strain. Without any setbacks he should start Thursday’s game against the Pirates.
- Cubs have lost 10 leads, the most in the NL, until they activated Craig Kimbrel from the IL. Kimbrel is back after missing weeks for inflammation in his right knee. Kimbrel saved the game against the Pirates on Friday and has a 3 yr contract for $43MM with the Cubs.
- Bryce Harper (OF) left the Phillies game on Sunday in the 5th inning due to dehydration. To put this in perspective of how rare it is to see Harper out of a game at all, Harper has played in 123 of 124 games this season.. Talk about perfect attendance.
- Here are the standings of each region in the league:
- American League
- East: Yankees
- Central: Twins (Indians 2 games behind)
- West: Astros
- National League
- East: Braves
- Central: Cardinals (Cubs and Brewers are within 2)
- West: Dodgers
- American League
Basketball:
- Lakers’ DeMarcus Cousins has a torn left ACL and might miss the entire season. This is his 3rd serious leg injury within the last 2 years. Cousins just signed a 1 yr contract with the Lakers in July for $3.5MM and was supposed to contribute to their potentially championship squad.
- Nigeria’s FIBA team (basketball) is having funding problems and may have to drop out of the World Cup after they were the first country to qualify. The Nigerian sports authority (Ministry of Sports) would not release funds to the team for ‘food, travel, training and equipment.’ The team was supposed to leave for China today, TBD if that happens now.
- Grizzlies have given Dwight Howard permission to talk to other teams including the Lakers who just lost DeMarcus Cousins.
- Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt has MS as was released in an announcement earlier this week.
Football – College:
- College football starts this Saturday! Technically this is week 0 (for future reference)
- 4 teams play on August 24th
- Miami vs Florida @ 6pm on ESPN
- Miami vs Florida have their next set match up for 2024 and 2025 home and home games.
- Arizona at Hawaii @ 9:30pm on CBSSN
- Miami vs Florida @ 6pm on ESPN
- For everyone else, season starts Labor Day weekend! Which brings some games on Sunday and Monday!
- 4 teams play on August 24th
- Former Texas RB Cedric Benson died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 36 on Saturday night. The list of his accomplishments is long including taking his high school Midland Lee to 3 state titles, running 5,540 yrds at UT which holds as the #9th all-time in the NCAA and won the Doak Walker Award in 2004. As if this weren’t sad enough, after a 9 yr career in the NFL playing for the Bears, Bengals and Packers, he returned to Austin to set up a foundation to aid underprivileged children. Que up Gone Too Soon by MJ.
- Bru McCoy is back in the news (the kid that went from USC to Texas back to USC) but this time because of a consistent fever and has not practiced with the team yet. He has been fighting this for some time now but is reportedly doing better.
- Texas WR Joshua Moore is facing misdemeanor charges for carrying a gun that he did not have a license for.
- Hugh Freeze, HC of Liberty, had a life-threatening infection but underwent surgery on Friday. It was a strain of staph infection that was making him have pain in a herniated disk in his back. He is expected to stay in the hospital over the next week but has been skyping with staff to keep the program moving.
Football – NFL:
- Jack Whitaker, who was a broadcaster for the 1st Super Bowl and Secretariat’s Triple Crown, has died at age 95. He worked for ABC and CBS and broadcasted for the Olympics, St. Andrew’s Open Championships and the first 21 Super Bowls. He was also wounded in France during WWII 7 weeks after D-Day. He is a legend and will be missed.
- Seahawk rookie WR DK Metcalf had knee surgery but its scheduled to be back sometime during this season, according to his coach Pete Carroll.
- Antonio Brown has been sitting out camp in protest that his favorite helmet, the Schutt Air Advantage, is no longer certified and he is therefore no longer allowed to wear it. This is the only helmet he has worn in his career (from pee-wee through the NFL) but is now testing 2 other helmets. He should be back to work soon.
- Who else isn’t working? Ezekiel Elliott who is still holding out on Dallas. Rumors have him leaving Cabo for Dallas but we will see if that means an end to the hold out is in sight.
- The Bears and the Browns have been the most bet on teams to win the Super Bowl so far. If you’re feeling lucky!
Golf:
- Justin Thomas won the BMW Championship this weekend in Chicago and is now winning the FedEx Cup playoffs. He was the biggest mover on moving day carding a course-record 61, 1 day after Hideki Matsuyama broke the course record with a 62.
- They have simplified the rules from last yr. The golfer in 1st place (JT) starts 2 shots ahead of the Patrick Cantlay. It then goes down by 1.
- The Top 5 are: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy
- They have simplified the rules from last yr. The golfer in 1st place (JT) starts 2 shots ahead of the Patrick Cantlay. It then goes down by 1.
- This weekend will be where it all culminates at the Tour Championship played Aug 22-25, which as everyone remembers Tiger Woods won last year.
- The automatic qualifiers for the President’s Cup are set:
- US: Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffle, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson and Bryson DeChambeau
- International: Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, CT Pan and Cameron Smith
- Howard University is bringing back its golf program thanks to Steph Curry who agreed to finance the program for the next 6 yrs. Howard is a historically black school in the DC area.
- The European Tour has set up new rules against slow play to be implemented in 2020. A player will get a 1 shot penalty when he breaks the time allowances 2xs. There will also be bigger fines for players that are placed on the clock multiple times (up $20,000).
Olympic Sports:
- Italian cyclist, Felice Gimoni, died at age 76 of a heart attack. He was 1 of only 7 riders to have won all 3 Grand Tours (Grand Tours of cycling: Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana). He won the Tour de France in 1965, his first year as a professional racer.
- Ben Hermans won the Tour of Utah after finishing near the front in the final stage, allowing him to take the week long title. He also won the Tour of Austria this season.
What to watch this week:
Baseball – MLB:
- Tues 8/20
- LLWS @ 2pm in ESPN
- LLWS @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Yankees at A’s @ 9pm on ESPN
- German vs Bailey
- Wed 8/21
- LLWS @ 6:30pm on ESPN and ESPN2
- Yankees at A’s @ 9pm on ESPN
- Happ vs Fiers
- Thurs 8/22
- LLWS @2pm on ESPN
- LLWS @ 6:10pm on ESPN
- Sat 8/24
- LLWS – International Final @ 11:30am on ABC
- LLWS – US FInal @ 2:30pm on ABC
- Yankees at Dodgers @ 3:05pm on FS1
- Rockies at Cardinals @ 6:15pm on FS1
- Gonzalez vs Hudson
- Sun 8/25
- LLWS – 3rd place game @ 9am on ESPN
- Nationals at Cubs @ 1:20pm on TBS
- LLWS – Final @ 2pm on ABC
- Yankees at Dodgers @ 6pm on ESPN
Football – NCAA:
- Sat 8/24
- College GameDay @ 8am on ESPN
- Miami vs Florida @ 6pm on ESPN
- Arizona at Hawaii @ 9:30pm on CBSSN
Football – NFL Preseason:
- Mon 8/19 – 49ers vs Broncos @ 7pm on ESPN
- Thurs 8/22 – Jaguars at Dolphins @ 7pm on Fox
- Fri 8/23 – Bills at Lions @ 7pm on CBS
- Sat 8/24
- Cardinals at Vikings @ 12pm on NFL
- Texans at Cowboys @ 6pm on NFL
- Seahawks at Chargers @ 9pm on NFL
- Sun 8/25 – Steelers at Titans @ 7pm on NBC
Golf:
- Thurs 8/22 – Tour Championship – Round 1
- 12-5pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 8/23 – Tour Championship – Round 2
- 12-5pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 8/24 – Tour Championship – Round 3
- 12pm – 1:30pm on Golf Channel
- 1:30-6pm on NBC
- Sun 8/25 – Tour Championship – Round 4
- 12pm – 1:30pm on Golf Channel
- 1:30-6pm on NBC
Olympic Sports:
- Thurs 8/22 – Cycling: Artic Race of Norway @ 12pm on NBCSN
- Sat 8/24
- Cycling: 2019 Vuelta a Espana Stage 1 @ 1am on NBCSN
- Track & Field: Diamond League – Paris @ 10pm on NCBSN
- Sun 8/25
- Badminton World Championships @ 12am on NCBSN
- Cycling: 2019 Vuelta a Espana Stage 2 @ 1am on NBCSN
- Surfing: World Surf League @ 2pm on Fox
Soccer:
- Tues 8/20
- Leagues Cup Semifinals: Club America vs Tigres UANL @ 7:30pm on ESPN2
- Leagues Cup Semifinals: Cruz Azul vs LA Galaxy @ 9:30pm on ESPN2
- Wed 8/21 – USL: North Carolina Fc vs Tampa Bay Rowdies @ 6pm on ESPNNEWS
- Thurs 8/22
- Premier League: Aston Villa vs Everton FC @ 2:55pm on NCBSN
- MLS: Sporting Kanas City vs Minnesota United @ 8:30pm on ESPN
- Various women’s college games across SEC, ACC, LHN from 6pm – 7pm (only listed Preseason Top 10 match ups)
- Florida St vs TCU @ 6pm on ACC
- Tennessee vs Fordham @ 6pm on SEC
- Fri 8/23
- Premier League: Norwich vs Chelsea @ 7:25am on NBCSN
- Premier League: ManU vs Crystal Palace @ 9:55am on NBCSN
- NCAAW: Pitt vs Loyola Marymount or UVA vs UC Irvine @ 6pm on ACC
- MLS: Orlando City vs Atlanta United @ 7pm on ESPN
- MLS: Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sat 8/24
- Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs Manchester City @ 8:55am on NCBSN
- Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United @ 11:25am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Liverpool vs Arsenal @ 11:30am on NBC
- MLS: NYC FC vs NY Red Bulls @ 6pm on ESPN2
- NCAAW: Mississippi St vs BYU @ 7pm on SEC
- Sun 8/25
- Italian Serie A: AS Roma vs Genoa @ 1:45pm on ESPN
- US NWSL: Portland Thorns vs Chicago Red Stars @ 2pm on ESPNEWS
- Various College Women’s games @ 12pm – 7pm on ACC, SEC
- Florida St vs Wisconsin @ 1pm on ACC
- UNC vs 10. Duke @ 5pm on ACC
