First post of 2020!
Baseball – MLB: Nationals pick up Castro and Harris. J. Castor goes to Angels. Cuban Colas comes state side. Mets OF hurts ankle due to boar.
Basketball – NBA: Lakers’ 20 blocks. Porter out for 2 weeks.
Football – College: Tua and others to the draft. National signing day. 2 games left!
Football – NFL: Wild card games live up to their name. The Cowboys new coach.
Golf: Thomas a winner again.
Olympic Sports: CAN wins world jr title but there was some confusion. Shiffrin’s win streak is over. Olympian Barisone on trial for murder.
Baseball – MLB:
- The Nationals picked up 2 players recently: 2B Starlin Castro from the Marlins and Astros relief pitcher Will Harris (after he played the Nationals in the World Series). Castro received a $12MM 2 year deal while Harris got $24MM over 3 years.
- Not to be confused with Starlin, Jason Castro signed a 1 year deal for $6.85MM with the Angels.
- Cuban OF/P Oscar Colas has left his home island in search of signing with a MLB team. Colas has spent the last 3 years playing in the minor leagues in Japan for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
- The Mets announced in May that Yoenis Cespedes fractured his ankle in the spring off season but were finding out now what caused the break: a boar. Yep a pig that was caught in a trap ‘charged or startled Cespedes’ causing him to step in a hole and break his ankle. Showing that athletes are just like us sometimes.
Basketball – NBA:
- The Lakers had 20 blocks in their game against the Pistons where they won 106-99. This is the first time in the league in almost 20 years. The Lakers were already leading the league with an average of 7.1 blocks per game. Anthony Davis himself had a season-high 8 blocks in the game. JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard also helped with 6 and 5 blocks respectively. This added to the Pistons being blocked in 25% of their shots.
- Cavalier rookie Kevin Porter Jr left the game against the Timberwolves due to a knee injury and is now out for 2 weeks with a sprain.
Football – College:
- Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa has declared for the 2020 NFL draft. He’s not the only one
- Declared for the draft: Bama WR Jerry Jeudy, Bama S McKinney, Michigan WR Peoples-Jones, Michigan C Ruiz, Wisconsin RB Taylor, Georgia RB Swift, Washington RB Ahmed and Heisman finalist Ohio St Chase Young
- National signing day is technically the 1st Wednesday in February. A lot of football recruits don’t wait that long. So far the Top 5 classes are (in order): Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio St and LSU.
- There are technically 2 games left for this season. The last regular bowl is tonight with Louisiana playing Miami (OH), ending another great season. Catch the National Championship game on Jan 13th (my fiancé’s bday too) at 7pm on ESPN.
Football – NFL:
- The Cowboys have fired Jason Garrett as their head coach and replaced him with Mike McCarthy (former Packers HC). Garrett left the organization 85-67 record starting in 2010. McCarthy was 125-77-2 while at the Packers for 13 seasons of which they made the playoffs 9xs.
- Wild Card game recap – they definitely lived up to their name!
- The Texans beat the Bills in OT after trailing 16-0. The Bills QB caught a TD pass, JJ Watt returned back to the game and Watson worked some serious magic. If you didn’t see the replay that was on ESPN’s top 10 (and will prob be there for weeks), here it is.
- In the battle of the birds, the Seahawks beat the Eagles 17-9 and although the game wasn’t truly in jeopardy it had its own drama. The Eagles’ QB Wentz went out after taking just 8 snaps in the game after a hit on his head by Clowney. The Eagles fans are saying the hit was dirty while Clowney says he had no malicious intent. Wentz did not return to the game and the Eagles had to rely on the relative unknown
- The Titans knocked out the Patriots from this year’s Super Bowl run winning 20-13. And as usual, Brady is rumored to retire but these have been going on for ages. Brady says he wants to play until he’s 45 which would give him 3ish more years.
- The Vikings beat the Saints 26-20 also in OT. The Saints scored 10 points in the final quarter to make it into OT but couldn’t pull it off and the Vikings solidified the upset. You might hear some complaining from Saints fans that there was no offensive PI call on the Vikings on the game winning TD. It was not nearly as bad as the year before and could’ve been ruled either way.
Golf:
- This weekend was the first PGA event of the year at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Justin Thomas was the victor after a 3 person playoff with Xander Schauffle and Patrick Reed. This is Thomas’ 3rd win in his last 6 starts on the PGA Tour (for those not great at math that’s 50%)!
Olympic Sports:
- Canada beat RUS in the world junior hockey championships 4-3 after being down 2 scores in the final period. This is CAN’s 18th time to take the title making them the most successful country in the tournament. Team USA was knocked out by FIN.
- Some Russian fans however watched the wrong championship as the 2011 world junior championship (also between CAN and RUS) was airing on another channel on Match TV. However in 2011, Russia rallies to win 5-3. That was not the case this year and I bet those fans had a rude awakening.
- Vladimir Tarasenko (who plays for the Blues now) actually watched 10 minutes of the 2011 championship, believing it to be live, until he saw himself playing!
- Some Russian fans however watched the wrong championship as the 2011 world junior championship (also between CAN and RUS) was airing on another channel on Match TV. However in 2011, Russia rallies to win 5-3. That was not the case this year and I bet those fans had a rude awakening.
- Mikaela Shiffrin’s slalom win streak has ended at 6 after Petra Vlhova win the first World Cup race of the year by 1.32 seconds. Petra was the last woman to beat Shiffrin before the streak (Jan 8th 2019) so it’s fitting that she bookends it. Combined, the 2 women have been responsible for every slalom World Cup since Jan 2017.
- The FIS has banned a skier from Kazakhstan, 2 skiers from Estonia and the Estonia skiing coach after police raids at world championships last year in Austria. One of the Estonian skiers, Andreas Veerpalu, is the son of 2x Olympic gold medalist Andrus Veerpalu, who is also under investigation by the ski federation.
- Former equestrian Olympian Michael Barisone (08 Olympian and 16 Olympic coach) has been charged with 2 counts of attempted murder but pleads not guilty. Barisone and a couple who trains horses at Barisone’s farm (NJ) had gotten into several disagreements and the police had been called several times after the couple refused to leave after finishing training sessions. This all culminated in Aug 7th when Barisone allegedly took out a gun and shot Lauren Kanarek in the chest twice before attempting to shoot her fiancé but he missed. Kanarek is recovering after the bullet hit her lung.
What to watch this week
Basketball – NBA:
- Wed 1/8
- Nuggets at Mavericks @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Bucks at Warriors @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 1/9
- Celtics at 76ers @ 6pm on TNT
- Rockets at Thunder @ 8:30pm on TNT
- Fri 1/10
- Pelicans at Nets @ 6:15pm on ESPN
- Lakers at Mavericks @ 8:45pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAA:
- Mon 1/6 – 17. West Virginia at Oklahoma St @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Tues 1/7
- Ohio St at 12. Maryland @ 6pm on ESPN
- Miami at 13. Louisville @ 6pm on ESPN2
- 18/ UVA at Boston College @ 6pm on ACC
- Penn St at Rutgers @ 6pm on BTN
- Baylor @ 22. Texas Tech @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Kentucky at Georgia @ 8pm on ESPN
- Villanova at Creighton @ 8pm on FS1
- Wed 1/8
- Duke at Georgia Tech @ 8pm on ACC
- Vanderbilt at 5. Auburn @ 8pm on SEC
- Thurs 1/9
- Purdue at 19. Michigan @ 6pm on FS1
- Memphis at 23. Wichita St @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Minnesota at 8. Michigan ST @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Arizona at 9. Oregon @ 8pm on ESPN
- Fri 1/10
- Maryland at 23. Iowa @ 6pm on FS1
- Butler at Providence @ 8pm on FS1
- Sat 1/11
- Ohio St at Indiana @ 11am on Fox
- Alabama at 14. Kentucky @ 11am on ESPN
- Georgetown at 16. Villanova @ 11am on FS1
- UMass at 15. Dayton @ 11:30am on NBCSN
- Baylor at 3. Kansas @ 12pm on CBS
- Louisville at Notre Dame @ 1pm on ESPN
- Wisconsin at 20. Penn St @ 1:15pm on BTN
- Syracuse at 18. UVA @ 3pm on ESPN
- Texas Tech at 17. West Virginia @ 5pm
- Wake Forest at 2. Duke @ 7pm on ACC
- Arizona St at 9. Oregon @ 9:30pm on Pac12
- Sun 1/12
- Michigan St at Purdue @ 11am on CBS
- Wichita St at UConn @ 11am on CBSSN
- Michigan at Minnesota @ 12pm on BTN
- Memphis at South Florida @ 3pm on ESPN2
- Utah at 25. Colorado @ 5pm on ESPNU
- Arizona at Oregon St @ 9pm on FS1
Football – NCAA:
Football – NFL:
- Sat 1/11
- Vikings at 49ers @ 3:35pm on NBC
- Titans at Ravens @ 7:15pm on CBS
- Sun 1/12
- Texans at Chiefs @ 2:05pm on CBS
- Seahawks at Packers @ 5:40pm on Fox
Hockey:
- Mon 1/6
- Oilers at Maple Leafs @ 6pm on NBCSN
- Avalanche at Rangers @ 6pm on RSN
- Tues 1/7
- Avalanche at Rangers @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
- Penguins at Golden Knights @ 9pm on RSN
- Wed 1/8
- Jets at Maple Leafs @ 6:30pm on RSN
- Capitals at Flyers @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
- Stars at Kings @ 9pm on NBCSN
- Thurs 1/9 – Predators at Blackhawks @ 7:30pm on NBCSN
- Fri 1/10 – Penguins at Avalanche @ 8pm on RSN
- Sat 1/11
- Canucks at Sabres @ 12pm on RSN
- Canadiens at Senators @ 6pm on RSN
- Oilers at Flames @ 9pm on RSN
- Sun 1/12 – Maple Leafs at Panthers @ 6pm on RSN
Olympic Sports:
- Thurs 1/9 – Biathlon: World Cup: Women’s 7.5km Sprint @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
- Fri 1/10 – Curling: JPN vs USA @ 10pm on NBCSN
- Sat 1/11
- Biathlon: World Cup: Men’s 10km Sprint @ 12am on NBCSN
- FIS World Cup: Men’s Giant Slalom @ 11:30pm on NBCSN
Soccer:
- Fri 1/10 – Premier League: Sheffield United at West Ham @ 3pm on NBCSN
- Sat 1/11
- Premier League: Crystal Palace at Arsenal @ 7:25am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Chelsea at Burnley @ 9:55am on NBCSN
- Sun 1/12
- Italian Serie A: Fiorentina vs SPAL @ 8am on ESPN2
- Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs Watford @ 8:55am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Ashton Villa vs Manchester City @ 11:25am on NBCSN
