Weekly Update – Week of July 6, 2021

Baseball: Bauer in trouble. Sanchez out for season. Reeds=baseball/softball power couple. Mississippi St wins CWS!

Basketball-NBA: Finals start today! Suns vs Bucks (w/o Greek Freak for now)

Golf: Davis wins 1st PGA Tour title in 5 hole playoff. Watch the Match today!

Hockey: Lightning are one game away…

Olympic Sports: Sha’Carri tests positive for marijuana & suspended for 30 days. Springsteen’s daughter makes Team USA. UK Athletics coach suspended. RUS HJ banned 6 years. TdF updates.

Soccer: UEFA finals this Sunday.

Tennis: Wimbeldon continues. Kerber vs Barty Semifinal. Federer and Djokovic still in. Finals this weekend.

Baseball-MLB:

• Dodgers P Trevor Bauer will prob extend his administrative leave past Friday. And it’s getting freaky. Long story short is he is facing sexual assault allegations for choking a woman until she lost consciousness, punching certain parts of her body and leaving her with injuries after 2 sexual encounters. However text messages also reveal that the young lady in question basically told him ‘she likes it rough’ and wanting to be choked out and slapped in the face… Bauer is the reigning Cy Young award winner and recently signed a 3 year $102MM deal with the Dodgers.
• Marlins P Sixto Sanchez tore his R shoulder and will miss the rest of the season. He will be having surgery and should be ready for spring training. This ends his frustrating season after a killer 2020 debut.
• No one can say the Reeds aren’t an athletic family. Janie Reed (nee Takeda) is on Team USA playing OF and her husband is Dodgers RHP Jake Reed has gotten called up to the majors.

Baseball/Softball-NCAA: (since there is a slot going on)

• Mississippi St has won its school’s first national championship! They beat Vanderbilt in 3 games in the CWS. The Bulldogs lost the first game and had to win the next 2 to get the job done. Game 3 was a shut out with the Bulldogs winning 9-0.

Basketball:

• The NBA Finals start tonight! And CP3 could finally get getting his first ring! Suns are favored.

• • The Bucks beat the Hawks in 6 games after Hawks star Trae Young went out for a game with an ankle injury. He did return for Game 6 but definitely didn’t look like his normal self. TBD if the Greek Freak will return to the court for the Finals…
  • The Suns secured their place in the finals early and they are looking for their first NBA title…ever!

Golf:

• Another week, another playoff. This time at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the first time PGA Tour winner, Cam Davis, pulled it off. Davis holed out from the bunker for a total of 50 feet to make the a 3 man playoff with an eagle/birdie finish to his round. He had to beat Joaquin Niemann and Troy Merritt but outlasted them both in 5 playoff holes. This was made even more impressive as Davis missed putts to win on every playoff hole before Merritt missed a 6 foot par putt. This is Davis’ first PGA Tour title which will keep him on the PGA Tour for 3 years.

• The Match returns today but this time is Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady vs Aaron Rodgers & Bryson DeChambeau. There will be plenty of trash talking (a lot has already happened – see Tom Brady’s twitter) and Charles Barkley, acting as analyst, will def be throwing some shade! Tune in today.

Hockey:

• Stanley Cup finals are here!! The Lightning lead the series 3-1. The Canadiens got their only W last night in OT to avoid being swept. That game had a different feel to it when the Canadiens were the first to score and led in a game for the first time all series.
• Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks died at the age of 24 after a firework fired towards a group in the hot tub. Matiss slipped and hit his head on the concrete. His official cause of death was deemed chest trauma.

Olympic Sports:

• Team USA has already been plagued with some controversy. 100m US Olympic Trials winner, Sha’Carri Richardson, has tested positive for marijuana (which is a banned substance). Her ban is for 30 days which takes her out of the 100m event due to her prelims would be within her 30 day suspension. Many many high profile athletes have come to her defense asking to let her run. The President even commented although it was not in her defense. Sh’Carri said she ate an edible to help cope with the death of her biological mother. She could be cleared to run the 4x100m relay if the USATF choses. The US has not wont the W 100m Olympic title since 1996.
  • New update while I was writing this, Sha’Carri Richardson was NOT selected to be apart of the 4x100m relay for Team USA. She will miss Tokyo all together.

• Bruce Springsteen’s daughter, Jessica, has punched her ticket to another Olympics. She has been named to the show jumping Equestrian Team. She was then an alternate in 2012 London and did not make the games in 2016 Rio.
• UK Athletics coach Toni Minichiello has been suspended pending investigation from several female athletes. Toni is most famous for helping Team GBR’s Jessica Ennis-Hill win the W Heptathlon in London 2012. No other details have been disclosed.
• RUS HJ Danil Lysenko has been given a 6 year ban for deceiving anti-doping authorities. The ban is backdated to when there was first a whereabouts issue and ends in August 2022.
• Keeping up with the Tour de France sign girl drama… the spectator has now been released from custody but is absolutely facing charges. Police would not release her name to protect the woman. She is being charged on ‘endangering others through a manifestly deliberate violation of a duty of prudence or safety’ and, as a consequence, ‘involuntarily causing injuries that lead to an inability to work for up to three months.’ However the woman could face more lawsuits if the riders decide to form a lawsuit together. But for now SLO Tadej Pogacar is in the yellow jersey at the end of Stage 10.

Tennis:

• Wimbledon is getting exciting! USA has no one left on either side. Barty and Kerber are meeting up on Thursday. Djokovic and Federer are both in still in and would meet up in the final if both win out. Federer is going for his 9^th Wimbledon title but first since 2017. If Djokovic wins, he will tie Federer and Nadal with most majors in history.
  • Men’s Bracket
  • Women’s Bracket

What to watch this week

Baseball-MLB:

• Tues 7/6
  • Brewers at Mets @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Anderson vs deGrom
  • Yankees at Mariners @ 9pm on ESPN
    • Taillon vs Sheffield
• Wed 7/7
  • Dodgers at Marlins @ 6pm on ESPN
• Thurs 7/8
  • Phillies at Cubs @ 7pm on ESPN
    • Eflin vs Alzolay
• Sat 7/9
  • A’s at Rangers @ 3:05pm on FS1
    • Kaprielian vs Foltynewicz
  • 3 Games depending on location @ 6:15pm on FOX
    • Reds at Brewers
      • Gutierrez vs Peralta
    • Yankees at Astros
      • Taillon vs Greinke
    • Cardinals at Cubs
      • Martinez vs Davies
• Sun 7/10
  • Yankees at Astros @ 1:10pm on TBS

Basketball-NBA:

• Tues 7/6 – Finals Game 1
  • Bucks at Suns @ 8pm on ABC
• Thurs 7/8 – Finals Game 2
  • Bucks at Suns @ 8pm on ABC
• Sat 7/10
  • NIG vs USA @ 7pm on NBCSN
• Sun 7/11 – Finals Game 3
  • Suns at Bucks @ 8pm on ABC

Golf:

• Tues 7/6
  • The Match @ 4pm on TNT
• Thurs 7/8
  • John Deere – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 7/9
  • John Deere – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
  • American Century Championship – 1^st Round @ 4pm on NBCSN
• Sat 7/10
  • John Deere – Round 3
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS
  • American Century Championship – Round 2 @ 12:30pm on NBC
• Sun 7/11
  • John Deere – Round 4
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS
  • American Century Championship – Final Round @ 12:30pm on NBC

Hockey:

• Wed 7/7
  • Stanley Cup Final – Game 5: Canadiens at Lightning @ 7pm on NBCSN
    • TB leads 3-1
• Fri 7/9
  • Stanley Cup Final – Game 6: Lightning at Canadiens @ 7pm on NBC
    • If necessary
• Sun 7/11
  • Stanley Cup Final – Game 7: Canadiens at Lightning@ 6pm on NBC
    • If necessary

Motorsports:

• Sat 7/10
  • NASCAR Xfinity Credit Karma Money 250 @ 2:30pm on NBC
• Sun 7/11
  • NASCAR Quaker State 400 @ 2:30pm on NBCSN

Olympic Sports:

• Tues 7/6
  • Cycling: Tour de France – Stage 10 @ 6:30am on NBCSN
• Wed 7/7
  • Cycling: Tour de France – Stage 11 @ 5:30am on NBCSN
• Thurs 7/8
  • Cycling: Tour de France – Stage 12 @ 6:30am on NBCSN
• Fri 7/9
  • Cycling: Tour de France – Stage 13 @ 5:30am on NBCSN
  • Track & Field: Diamond League – Monaco @ 1pm on NBCSN
• Sat 7/10
  • Track & Field: Diamond League – Monaco @ 11:30am on NBC
• Sun 7/11
  • Cycling: Tour de France – Stage 15 @ 5:30am on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Tues 7/6
  • UEFA Euro 2020 Semifinal: ITA vs ESP @ 2pm on ESPN
• Wed 7/7
  • UEFA Euro 2020 Semifinal: ENG vs DEN @ 2pm on ESPN
• Sun 7/8
  • UEFA Euro 2020 Final @ 2pm on ESPN

Tennis:

• Wed 7/7
  • Men’s Quarterfinals @ 7am on ESPN
    • RUS Khachanov vs CAN Shapovalov
    • SER Djokovic vs HUN Fucsovics
    • ITA Berrettini vs CAN Auger-Aliassime
    • SUI Federer vs POL Hurkacz
• Thurs 7/8
  • Women’s Semifinals @ 9am on ESPN
    • AUS Barty vs GER Kerber
    • CZE Pliskova vs BLR Sabalenka
• Fri 7/9 – Men’s Semifinals @ 9am on ESPN
• Sat 7/10 – Women’s Final @ 9am on ESPN
• Sun 7/11 – Men’s Finals @ 9am on ESPN