Baseball: No one added to HoF. Season delayed? Erickson charged in hit-and-run. 4 new deals.
Basketball-NBA: Wizards beat Nets. Jazz winning streak ends. 76ers W. Thompson miss another year.
Basketball-NCAAM: OU beats 4 Top 10 in 1 month. Temple coach Chaney dies. Richmond pauses bball activities. UConn postponed games.
Football-NCAAF: TN New AD. Sr Bowl. ND probation. 131 draft declared. McCaffrey to transfer. TT QB transfer.
Football-NFL: It’s Super Bowl week! Super Bowl LV Chiefs vs Bucs on Sunday. Watson wants trade. Rooney Rule needs more diversity. Lions & Rams QB switch.
Golf: Patrick Reed wins again and cheats again?
Olympic Sports: IOC Safety guidelines TBA. USA 1-2 on bobsled. DEN handball champs.
Baseball:
- Not a single player will be added to the Baseball HoF for the first time since 1960. No player reached the 75% vote needed to make it. The top 3 were P Curt Schilling who got 71% (16 votes shy of making it off the ballot), Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. These 3 in particular have been on the ballot 9 times and only have one more chance to make the HoF (each player is only allowed 10 attempts). Obviously Bonds and Clemens are plagues by the steroid era. But Schilling has been more controversial as of late. He was fired from ESPN as an analyst after an anti-transgender comment. He has also made derogatory comments about journalists (and mentioned lynching them), supported the attack on the capital on Jan 6th, and compared extreme Muslims to Nazis on social media.
- The MLBPA is considering the MLB’s proposal to delay the beginning of the season. Right now, season is set to begin with Spring training in min-Feb. The MLB proposal suggests a late March spring training date with a beginning to the regular season in April with a 154 game schedule but paying players as if it was a full 162 game season. Pitchers are particularly opposed to the new date as they have already begun their ramp up regiments and would have to completely shut down and restart for the new date. Another concern in the current proposal is that it would give commish Rob Manfred more control to cancel games (the language indicates that he could cancel games if more than 5 teams are restricted by the government from playing). That’s the gist but if you want a more in depth look into what else the proposal says, check out this article.
- Former Twins and Orioles P Scott Erickson has been charged in a hit-and-run case in LA that killed 2 boys last year. He has been charged with a misdemeanor of reckless driving. The two boys, 11-year-old Mark and his bro Jacob Iskander were crossing the street with their parents when Erickson hit them. He did eventually stop a full 0.25 miles from the scene.
- Deals and more deals
- The Cardinals have reached a deal with the Rockies for 3B Nolan Arenado along with $50MM of their portion of his $199MM contract for 6 years.
- Sticking to the same teams, SS Didi Gregorious will stay in Phili after agreeing to a 2 year deal for $28MM. The Phillies are trading their other SS Kyle Holder to the Reds for cash.
- The White Sox have made a deal with their current LHP Carlos Rodon for another year for $3MM.
- The Cubs have agreed to a one year deal with RHP Trevor Williams and Kohl Stewart. No financials were announced.
Basketball-NBA:
- The Wizards came back to beat the Nets 149-146 after Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal scored 6 points in 3.8 seconds. This game would’ve been the Wizards 6th straight loss. Beal scored his 3-pointer with 8.1 seconds to go. And then G Garrison Mathews had a great steal on KD to get the ball back to Westbrook who made another 3-pointer with 4.3 to play. Beal then made 2 free throws to solidify the win.
- The Jazz’s winning streak has ended at 11 after their loss to the Nuggets on Sunday. This was their first loss since 1/6. Nikola Jokic matched his career high 47 points and made all of his 3-pointers.
- The 76ers finally got a W without C Joel Embiid. This has been the team struggle after the C had to miss multiple games this season and right now is out with back tightness. The 76ers beat the Pacers 119-110.
- Warriors Klay Thompson will miss another straight year after tearing his Achilles in practice on 11/18. He missed the previous year due to tearing his ACL during Game 6 of the Finals against the Raptors.
Basketball – NCAAM:
- #24 Oklahoma has beaten 3 top 10 teams in their last 3 games. They beat #9 Kansas 75-68 then #5 Texas 80-79 and now #9 Alabama 66-61 and they were down 2 starters for that game. The team was without their leading scorer Austin Reaves due to COVID. OU is the first team since 1974 to beat 4 Top 10 opponents in the regular season in a single month. They play #13 Texas Tech next.
- John Chaney, HoF Bball coach for Temple, has passed away at the age of 89 . He coached the owls for 24 years and only 1 time did not make the NCAA or NUT tournaments.
- Richmond has paused all bball activities for the 3rd time due to COVID concerns. The Spiders were supposed to play #22 Saint Louis on Friday but they returned home without playing.
- UConn has postponed 2 bball games after sharing the court with a ref that tested positive in their game against #3 Villanova on Thursday. These are the 9th and 10th games to be canceled and postponed for the team this season.
- Oddly enough this weekend UNC plays Duke in bball and BOTH teams are unranked! The teams play at 5pm on Saturday on ESPN.
Football – NCAAF:
- Tennessee has named their new AD as UCF’s Danny White. His first item of business was to hire a new HC for football.
- The National Team won the Senior Bowl 27-24 with Texas A&M QB Kellen Mond winning the MVP.
- Notre Dame has been put on probation after an assistant coach had impermissible contact with a high school player in Jan 2019. LB Sav’ell Smalls was the recruit in question. He also had similar contact with Dan Mullen (HC for Florida) and Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M HC). Before you get all excited, the team is only fined $5k and lose days of unofficial visits, 1 less official visit and a 7 day off campus recruiting ban.
- 131 players are officially going into the NFL draft. 30 of those will complete their degree and then head into the draft however the remining 98 need special permission to leave before completing their degrees. These have been granted including for Ohio St QB Justin Fields. Bama QB Mac Jones and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence will both finish their degree before heading to the draft.
- Think football runs in the family? QB Dylan McCaffrey is transferring from Michigan to Northern Colorado, where he will play for his dad who coaches there. He is the brother of Christian McCaffrey and his other brother, Luke, played QB for Nebraska.
- Texas Tech QB Alan Bowman has entered the grad transfer portal. Bowman was signed on the Red Raider team in 2018 but has battled numerous injuries. TBD on what uniform he will wear now.
Football – NFL:
- Super Bowl LV is set! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday (2/7) at 5:30pm on CBS. The Chiefs are favored by 3.5 right now.
- The Bucs will be the first team to play in their home stadium for a Super Bowl ever! (Rams were not in their home stadium if you’re thinking that stat is incorrect). Brady is going for his 6th Super Bowl in his 10th
- The Chiefs are the defending champs. Let’s see if they can do it 2 weeks in a row. The Chiefs will not be allowed to make the trip to FL before 2 days before the game due to COVID restrictions.
- Who’s going to win?
- Check out my Super Bowl post for some background on the game.
- QB Deshaun Watson has made it known that he wants to be traded from the Texans. However the new Texans HC, David Culley, says he took the job knowing that Deshaun would be the QB. Watson’s current contract is set to expire in 2025 for $156MM. Watson does have a leg to stand on. The QB was left out of the loop with the hiring of the new GM, he gave HC suggestions that weren’t even considered and he IS the QB that the franchise is built around.
- The Rooney Rule has been expanded to give minority candidates more opportunities and reward teams who develop them. But opportunities doesn’t necessarily translate to jobs as was proved this season. Of the candidate interviewed, 11 were minorities and 16 were white but only 2 of the 7 jobs went to minorities. Not only that the only minority HCs are the new Texans HC David Culley, Jets HC Robert Saleh (Lebanese – first Muslim coach), Steelers HC Mike Tomlin, Miami HC Brian Flores and Washington’s HC Ron Rivera. Considering there are 22 teams and over 70% of the league’s players are minorities, that seems a little odd.
- The Lions and Rams have completed a blockbuster deal. The Lions will now have QB Jared Goff and the Rams will have QB Matthew Stafford. The Lions also received a 3rd round pick in 2021, 1st round pick in 2022 and 1st round pick in 2023. The deal will not be official until March 17.
- Rumors are swirling that the 49ers are trying to get their hands on QB Kirk Cousins…
Golf:
- Patrick Reed won the Farmers Insurance Open this weekend and as usual it wasn’t without controversy. As has happened before, Patrick Reed is at the forefront of a ruling debate. But we will start with his victory. He won the Farmers at -14 to win by 5 shots, the biggest victory of this career (and if he was penalized for his mistake, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome – players usually have 2 strokes added for a rule violation). His final round he shot a 68 with a birdie on the final hole and an eagle on the sixth. This was his 9th win on the PGA Tour.
- The issue arose in the 3rd round on the 10th Reed hit his ball out of a bunker and into the rough. Reed then picked up his ball to see if it was embedded, which he can legally do and take a free drop, if it did not bounce. However he called a ruled official over AFTER he picked up the ball and moved it. And although none of his group or the nearby volunteer saw it bounce, the TV cameras did see the ball bounce, which means it likely was not embedded.
- What he should’ve done: he should’ve called a rule official over BEFORE he picked up his ball to determine if it was embedded. If he had picked up his ball before the official came over, players should pick up the ball with 2 fingers and replace it in the exact same spot while waiting for an official.
- ‘Embedded’ means the ball broke the ground and is sitting below ground level technically. This can happen if there has been a ton of rain (as the players did see on Friday of this tournament).
- If you don’t know what everyone’s talking about with Patrick Reed’s previous cheating issues, see the 9 min mark in this video.
Olympic Sports:
- The IOC will release its safety playbook for the Tokyo 2020 (+1) games next week. This will include how athletes and other officials will enter in JPN safely for the games.
- USA Kaillie Humphries and Lolo Jones went 1-2 in the women’s world cup bobsled finale event on Sunday. They beat their teammates (Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza) by .04 seconds. This was Humphries 27th win and Jones’ 8th. The bobsled and skeleton world championships are this weekend in Germany (USA Men’s team is not competing).
- The Luge was a different story, the GER women swept the medals for the first time since 2008. AUT took the relay gold.
- Denmark has won the world handball championship after beating SWE 26-24. ESP took 3rd. They will go into the Olympics in July as reigning world champs. 3 teams that were supposed to compete at worlds dropped due to COVID (USA, CZE and Cape Verde).
What to watch this week
Basketball-NBA:
- Tues 2/2
- Clippers at Nets @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Celtics at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 2/3
- Pacers at Bucks @ 6pm on ESPN
- Suns at Pelicans @ 8:30pm on ESPN
- Thurs 2/4
- Raptors at Nets @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Nuggets at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT
- Fri 2/5
- Raptors at Nets @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Celtics at Clippers @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sat 2/6
- Warriors at Mavericks @ 7:30pm on ABC
- All other games are on NBATV
Basketball – NCAA:
- Mon 2/1
- Illinois St at 25. Drake @ 6pm on ESPN3
- Oklahoma at 13. Texas Tech @ 8pm on ESPN
- Tues 2/2
- Baylor at 6. Texas @ 6pm on ESPN
- Michigan St at 8. Iowa @ 6pm on FS1
- Tennessee at Ole Miss @ 6pm on ESPN2
- West Virginia at Iowa St @ 6pm on ESPN+
- Penn St at 19. Wisconsin @ 6pm on FS1
- Kansas ST at 23. Kansas @ 7pm on ESPN+
- Purdue at Maryland @ 7pm on BTN
- Illinois at Indiana @ 8pm
- Kentucky at 18. Mizzou @ 8pm
- Florida St at Boston College @ 8pm on ACC
- Wed 2/3
- Houston at East Carolina @ 5pm on ESPN+
- South Carolina at 22. Florida @ 5:30pm on SEC
- LSU at 10. Alabama @ 6pm on ESPN2
- VTech at Pitt @ 6pm on ACCx
- Villanova at St. John’s @ 8pm on CBSSN
- UVA at NC St @ 8pm on ACC
- Georgetown at 15. Creighton @ 8pm on FS1
- Thurs 2/4
- Ohio St at 7. Iowa @ 6pm on ESPN
- Loyola Marymount at 1. Gonzaga @ 8pm
- Sat 2/6
- Iowa St at 9. Oklahoma @ 11am on ESPN2
- Alabama at 18. Mizzou @ 11am on ESPN
- VTech at Miami @ 11am on ACCX
- Kansas at 17. West Virginia @ 1pm
- Florida St at Pitt @ 1pm on ACCX
- Florida at LSU @ 1pm
- Drake at Valparasio @ 1pm
- Wisconsin at 12. Illinois @ 1:30pm
- Texas at Oklahoma St @ 2pm on ABC
- TCU at 2. Baylor @ 3pm on ESPN+
- Texas Tech at Kansas St @ 3pm on ESPN+
- Louisville at 14. UVA @ 3pm on ESPN
- Northwestern at 24. Purdue @ 3:30pm
- Creighton at Marquette @ 4pm
- Tennessee at Kentucky @ 7pm on ESPN
- UCLA at USC @ 9pm
- Sun 2/7
- Iowa at Indiana @ 11am on FOX
- Drake at Valparaiso @ 1pm on ESPN+
- Xavier at 3. Villanova @ 1:30pm
Golf:
- Thurs 2/4 – Waste Management: Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 2/5 – Waste Management: Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 2/6 – Waste Management: Round 3
- 12pm on Golf Channel
- 2pm on NBC
- Sun 2/7 – Waste Management: Round 4
- 12pm on Golf Channel
- 2pm on NBC
Hockey:
- Mon 2/1 – Penguin at Rangers @ 6pm on NBCSN
- Tues 2/2
- Sabres at Islanders @ 5pm on NBCSN
- Wild at Avalanche @ 7:30pm on NBCSN
- Wed 2/3
- Red Wings at Lightning @ 4:30pm on NBCSN
- Bruins at Flyers @ 7pm on NBCSN
- Thurs 2/4 – NWHL: Isobel Cup Semifinals @ 5:30pm & 8pm on NBCSN
- Fri 2/5 – NWHL: Isobel Cup Finals @ 6pm on NBCSN
- Sun 2/7 – Flyers at Capitals @ 11am on NBC
Motorsports:
- Thurs 2/4 – Supercross Indy @ 10pm on NBCSN
- Sat 2/6 – Supercross Indy @ 7pm on NBCS
Olympic Sports:
- Fri 2/5
- Skiing: FIS World Cup Men’s Super G @ 3pm on NBCSN
- Skiing: Freestyle Skiing Dual Moguls @ 4:30pm on NBCSN
- Sun 2/7
- Bobsled & Skeleton: 2 Woman Bobsled Final @ 12am on NBCSN
- Bobsled: 2 man Bobsled Final @ 9:30pm on NBCSN
- Luge: World Cup: Team Relay @ 10:30pm on NBCSN
Soccer:
- Tues 2/2
- Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Arsenal @ 11:55am on NBCSN
- Premier League: ManU vs Southampton @ 2:10pm on NBCSN
- Wed 2/3
- Premier League: Burnley vs Manchester City @ 11:55am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Liverpool vs Brighton & Hove Albion @ 2:10pm on NBCSN
- Sat 2/6
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 6:25am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 8:55am on NBCSN
- Sun 2/7
- Italian Serie A: Benevento vs Sampdoria @ 5:30am on ESPN2
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 7:55am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 10:25am on NBCSN
