Last Weekly Update of 2020 – Week of December 28, 2020 (COVID Week 42)

Baseball: Snell to the Padres? Niekro dies. Polanco’s broken wrist. Bell to Nats. Arihara to Rangers. Urena to Tigers.

Basketball-NBA: Mavs>Clippers. Anthony not playing. Young/Grayson feud feuled.

Basketball-NCAAM: Kentucky 1-6. Pitt loses another starter after HC.

Case of the Mondays: Chicago St bball 0-9 season.

Football-NCAAF: Bowls have begun. King back to Miami. Ty Jordan.

Football-NFL: Close games and some not close games. Jags secured #1 draft pick. Browns playoff hopes dwindle. Chiefs #1 seed.

Olympic Sports: Yang 8-year ban overturned? WC GS canceled due to wind. JPN sponsors extend $. World Jr Hockey Championships. Weir into HoF.

Baseball:

• The Padres are expected to sign Rays’ Cy Young winner Blake Snell in exchange for P Luis Patino, C Francisco Mejia, C Blake Hunt and RHP Cole Wilcox. The deal is waiting on medical releases and etc but is supposed to be finalized this week. You might remember Snell from the World Series game where the Rays’ pulled him and immediately the Dodgers scored 2 runs…
• Braves HoF P Phil Niekro died at the age of 81 after his long battle with cancer. He was most known for his knuckleball that fooled many hitters in his 318 games won over his 14 seasons. He is the latest in the most HoF lost in one calendar year.
• Pirates OF Gregory Polanco broke his wrist in winter balk in the DR. He should be 100% by spring training as the fracture was nondisplaced.
• Sticking with the Pirates, they traded their 1B Josh Bell to the Nationals for 2 pitchers, Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean. This also removes the team’s 2^nd highest salary for the team.
• The Rangers have reached a 2-year deal with RHP Kohei Arihara for in the $6MM range. The Japanese pitcher was 8-9 in the 20 starts he had in the Pacific League. This will be the 8^th native Japanese player to play for the Rangers.
• The Tigers have signed a 1-year deal with RHP Jose Urena for $3.25MM. Urena was previously with the marlins for 6 seasons with a 32-46 record.

Basketball-NBA:

• The Clippers, who started the season 2-0, lost to the Mavericks, who started the season 0-2, by 51! The Dallas team had that lead already established by halftime. This is a new record in the league, which was previously held by the Warriors over the Kings in 1991 with 47 points. The Mavs opened shooting 58% in the first half while the Clippers missed 18 of 19 3 point attempts in the same half. This was the Clippers worse loss since 1988…
• Carmelo Anthony will not play in the game against the Trail Blazers due to safety protocols. Also not making the trip, Timberwolves C Karl-Anthony Towns who is out with a left wrist injury
• Let the Trae Young/Grayson Allen feud continue…

Basketball – NCAAM:

• Kentucky is now 1-6 after their loss to Louisville on Saturday. This is only the 3^rd time in school history that the team has been this bad (1911 and 1926). The team did not score a single field goal in the final 3:22 of the game.
• Pitt will have to find a way to win without their best player on the court. F Justin Champagnie will miss 6-8 weeks due to a knee injury. To make matters worse, the injury occurred in practice. This leaves the team without a HC and its 2 leading scorers (G Toney suffered an ankle injury and is considered day-to-day).

Case of the Monday’s:

• This case of the Monday’s goes to the Chicago St basketball team, who started (and now ended the season) 0-9 after they decided to suspend the rest of the season to concentrate on health, safety and academics… Ouch. They played their game against Illinois St with just 6 players after so many of them tested positive for COVID.

Football – NCAAF:

• Bowl season is here! In part 1 of the bowl games, only 1 Top 25 team has lost and it’s #12 undefeated Coastal Carolina. The Liberty Flames as they fumbled the football on the final drive of the game with 45 seconds to go. Coastal Carolina recovers the football to take the game to OT. However all’s well that ends well with Liberty’s blocked FG, they snatched Coastal’s undefeated season away from the Chanticleers.
• Miami QB D’Eriq King has announced that he will stay at Miami another year. This will be his 6^th year in college (between Houston and Miami) as he takes full advantage of the pandemic exception to give athletes another year of eligibility back.
  • On the flip side, Michigan St QB Rocky Lombardi is transferring to Northern Illinois.
• Utah RB Ty Jordan died at the age of 19 over the holiday by accidental firing of a firearm. He was the Pac 12 Offensive Freshman of the year this past season.
• The Heisman Trophy presentation is scheduled for Jan 5 and the finalists are Florida QB Kyle Trask, Alabama QB Mack Jones, Alabama WR DeVontae Smith and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. All 4 men play this weekend in their bowl games.

Football – NFL:

• 7 games were decided by a TD or less this Christmas week. But there were also some significant blow outs.
  • The Saints got Drew Brees back and won 52-33. Tom Brady and the Bucs won by 40 over the Lions. The Falcons played the Chiefs close but ultimately lost 17-14. The Jets got their 2^nd win over the Browns 23-16. The Steelers broke their losing streak with a close win over the Colts 28-24. And the Packers defeated the Titans 40-14.
• Just 1 week after the Jets won their first game of the season, the Jags can celebrate the #1 draft pick. This weekend secured the pick for the Jags after the Jags lost their 14^th consecutive game and the Jets won their 2^nd consecutive game. Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, I hope you prefer FL to NY.
• The Browns lost to the Jets this weekend after QB Baker Mayfield fumbled the ball 3xs. This win would’ve secured the Browns their playoff berth for the first time since 2002. Granted due to contact tracing, the Browns were without their top 4 WRs and were actually delayed in getting to the game. They have to beat the Steeler next weekend to advance…
• The Chiefs have secured their #1 seed with their win over the Falcons this weekend, their 10^th win of the season. This gives them a bye in the first round of playoffs. TE Travis Kelce is the 1^st TE to have 2 100-catch seasons after his 7 catches on Sunday.
• The Rams night be without their starting QB this coming up weekend against the Cardinals after Goff injured his thumb against the Seahawks. The Rams need to win one of their next 2 games to secure a spot in the playoffs (play Cardinals then Bears).

• Washington has released QB Dwayne Haskins after the announcement that if Alex Smith couldn’t play, his replacement would be Taylor Heinicke over Haskins. The 1^st round 2019 draft pick was benched this past weekend in their loss to the Panthers.

Olympic Sports:

• The WADA said that a Swiss court overturned CHN Sun Yang’s 8-year doping ban. Basically this means that he miiiiight be able to swim at next year’s postponed Olympics but an appeal will be brought before the CAS for the 2^nd time but with different chairman of judges. In Feb, the original CAS found Yang guilty of being noncooperative with sample collectors at his home in Sept of 2018. However the swimming governing body, FINA, only issued a warning. This is just the beginning with this so stay tuned! Sun Yang is a controversial figure in swimming with doping bans, and cheating controversies. He is a 3x Olympic Champion. He is also someone that a lot of swimmers refuse to stand on the medal podium with or shake hands at the 2019 World Championships.
• The 2^nd run of the GS World Cup in Austria was canceled as winds up to 62mph destroyed the finishing area. It will be rescheduled for another venue during the season. Petra Vlhova was in first by 0.22 seconds after the 1^st
• All 68 domestic sponsors have extended their contracts for the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games. The total amount of the sponsors’ contribution is $3.3Bn, which is 2xs as large as any other Olympics.
• Russia beat the USA 5-3 in the first round of the World Junior Hockey Championships. This is just in the opening round of Group A. The USA will play AUT on Saturday. Canada is sitting in 2^nd.
• Johnny Weir is to inducted into the US Figure Skating HoF along with first female president, Sandy Schwomeyer Lamb and judge Gale Tanger.

What to watch this week

Basketball-NBA:

• Tues 12/29
  • Bucks at Heat @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Pelicans at Suns @ 9pm on TNT
• All other games are on NBATV

Basketball – NCAA:

• Mon 12/28
  • Michigan St at 21. Minnesota @ 7pm on BTN
  • Northern AZ at 1. Gonzaga @ 8pm
• Tues 12/29
  • Northeastern at 9. West Virginia @ 1pm on ESPN+
  • Central Arkansas at 2. Baylor @ 3pm on ESPN+
  • Miami at 24. VTech @ 5pm on ACC
  • Purdue at 14. Rutgers @ 6pm
  • Incarnate Word at 13. Texas Tech @ 6pm on ESPN+
  • Florida St at Clemson @ 6pm on ACC
  • Pitt at 20. Duke @ 7pm on ACC
  • Dixie St at 1. Gonzaga @ 8pm
  • Northwestern at 10. Iowa @ 8pm
  • Houston at Tulsa @ 8pm
• Wed 12/30
  • UVA at Notre Dame @ 5pm on ACC
  • Nebraska at 25. Ohio St @ 5 :30pm on BTN
  • Tennessee at 12. Mizzou @ 8pm on SEC
• Thurs 12/31
  • Minnesota at 6. Wisconsin @ 3:30pm on BTN
  • Michigan at Maryland @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Cal at 21. Oregon @ 9pm on PAC12
• Sat 1/2
  • Texas at 3. Kansas @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Creighton at Providence @ 11am on FOX
  • Mizzou at Arkansas @ 11am on CBS
  • Baylor at Iowa St @ 12pm on ESPN+
  • Iowa at 14. Rutgers @ 1pm on ESPN2
  • West Virginia at Oklahoma @ 3pm on ESPN2
  • Oklahoma St at 13. Texas Tech @ 3pm on ESPN+
  • VTech at 23. UVA @ 3pm
  • Alabama at 7. Tennessee @ 5pm on ESPN2
  • Purdue at 15. Illinois @ 5pm om BTN
  • Michigan St at Nebraska @ 7pm on BTN
  • Duke at 18. Florida St @ 7pm on ESPN2
  • SF at 1. Gonzaga @ 9pm
  • Stanford at 21. Oregon @ 9pm
• Sun 1/3
  • Wisconsin at Penn St @ TBD
  • Northwestern at 16. Michigan @ TBD
  • Ohio St at 21. Minnesota @ TBD
  • Houston at SMU @ 6pm on ESPN2

Football-NCAAF:

Football – NFL:

• Monday 12/28
  • Bills at Patriots @ 7:15pm on ESPN & ABC
• Sun 1/3
  • 7 games @ 12pm on FOX/CBS depending on your geographical location
    • Dolphins at Bills
    • Ravens at Bengals
    • Steelers at Browns
    • Vikings at Lions
    • Jets at Patriots
    • Cowboys at Giants
    • Falcons at Bucs
  • 8 games at @ 3:25 on FOX/CBS
    • Packers at Beats
    • Raiders at Broncos
    • Jags at Colts
    • Chargers at Chiefs
    • Cardinals at Rams
    • Seahawks at 49ers
    • Saints at Panthers
    • Titans at Texans
  • Washington at Eagles @ 7:20pm on NBC

Olympic Sports:

• Mon 12/28 – Skiing: Men’s Downhill @ 2pm on NBCSN
• Sun 1/3 – Skiing: Women’s Slalom @ 5:30pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Mon 12/28
  • Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Leicester City @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Chelsea at Aston Villa @ 11:25am on NBCSN
• Tues 12/29
  • Premier League: Brighton Hove & Albion vs Arsenal @ 11:25am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: ManU vs Wolverhampton Wanderers @ 1:55pm on NBCSN
• Wed 12/30
  • Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Fulham @ 11:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Newcastle vs Liverpool @ 1:55pm on NBCSN
• Fri 1/1
  • Premier League: Everton vs West Ham @ 11:25am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: ManU vs Aston Villa @ 1 :55pm on NBCSN
• Sat 1/2
  • Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Leeds @ 6:25amon NBCSN
  • Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Sheffield @ 8:55am on NBCSN
• Sun 1/3
  • Premier League: Burnley at Fulham @ 6am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Newcastle vs Leicester City @ 8:10am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs Manchester City @ 10:25am on NBCSN