Baseball – MLB: Baseball in July? TX Rangers to stay in TX.
Basketball – NBA: ‘The Last Dance’ brought in some huge viewer numbers. Conley gives $200k to COVID relief.
Football: Harbaugh prefers no fans to no season. Luke Hill arrested on 8 counts. Superdome super name change.
Golf: DJ/McIlroy win game of skins.
Olympic Sports: USA Gym cancels all 2020 major events. the Ladies of the Garden Clash. WWE Shad’s body found after being swept out to sea. Diamond League revamps. India not to send T&F athletes anywhere. Taplin banned for doping.
Soccer: FC Seoul’s sex doll scandal.
Baseball:
- The Texas Rangers have said that they would rather do spring training in their own brand-new facility than go back to AZ. Their $1.2Bn stadium has yet to be used.
- Owners approved a plan that would put the regular season starting in July with spring training kicking off in June. But the details and specifications have yet to be announced. We are hearing some push back from players on the restrictions inside the stadiums (like using ice baths, showers and etc).
Basketball:
- The final 2 episodes of ‘The Last Dance’ had an average of 5.9MM viewers in this sports-deprived world. This goes down as the highest rated documentary project ever for ESPN.
- Mike Conley, Jazz Guard, has given $200k to coronavirus relief. Remember his teammates were playing the Thunder when one tested positive before the NBA season was cut short.
- The NBA draft lottery will not be held this Tuesday in Chicago as originally planned but it is expected that the lottery will happen since the league got to play over 75% of their games.
Football:
- Michigan coach, Jim Harbaugh, has stated for the record that games without fans would be better than no games at all. He also states that most everyone he talks to feels this way. If its between no football or football, duh! The Big 10 has suspended all team activities through June 1 as of right now.
- #151 player overall and #12 CB recruit, Luke Hill, who previously committed to Oregon, was charged for 1st degree attempted murder, assault and many other misdemeanor charges involving the possession of a gun. He was arrested for a drive by shooting where he shot multiple times for Rhode Island bball signee Ishmael Leggett, who was in front of his own home. Leggett, who was a former classmate of Hill’s, was not hurt. Oregon let Hill go in the Spring.
- The Superdome will be getting a new name next year after Mercedes-Benz is letting their naming rights contract on the stadium expire, which was started in 2011.
Golf:
- Although it wasn’t the best golf we’ve ever seen, it was great to see again! Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson won the game of skins against Rickie Fowler and Matt Wolff on Sunday. This event raised more than $5MM for COVID relief. Matt Wolff, the youngest and a PGA Tour rookie, won the longest drive with 386 yards on the 14th 2.35MM viewers tuned in to watch the 4 men compete and that was even competing against the return of NASCAR. To put that in perspective, that’s 16% higher than the final day of Match Play last year.
- The Memorial Tournament, which is set to be held in July now, and its organizers have sent a letter to their state Governor asking to allow fans to attend the tournament. Verdict is still out but there are some plans in place like making every fan where a badge that tracks them in the facility and lets people know if they are not socially distancing. Big brother golf anyone? But hey its still golf!
Olympic Sports:
- USA Gymnastics has canceled all 2020 top tier events. Some events had previously been postponed with the hope to be competed later in the year but that is over. Many believe, although it wasn’t stated, that its due to the fact that athletes aren’t even allowed to be back in the gyms training yet.
- It was the women’s turn in the Garden Clash with the Rio Olympic champion, Katerina Stefanidi, winning in style after she cleared a 4m bar (13ft 1inch) 34 times in 30 minutes. She beat 2x indoor champ Katie Nageotte and Alysha Newman of Canada with 30 and 24 clearances respectively.
- Former WWE star Shad Gaspard’s body washed up on Venice Beach on Wednesday after he was caught in a rip current the prior weekend. The 39-year-old was swimming with his 10 year old son, who was rescued, when a wave caught him and he was not seen again.
- The Athletics Federation of India has ruled out any Indian athlete competing in any international event this year at all due to the pandemic facing the world. This means no Diamond League for any Indian athletes which includes their 2 stellar jav throwers Chopra and Singh.
- The Diamond League has revamped their schedule after the London event got cancelled in July. The first event is expected to be in Monaco in August and then 10 other events in Aug-Oct. All of this is provisional and can be changed however.
- Bralon Taplin’s doping appeal was denied so he is now banned from competing in Track & Field for the next 4 years (including the Tokyo Olympics and the next 2 world Championships). He was found guilty of avoiding a test in Grenada where he claimed he was never chaperoned or approached for a sample even though they have that he was. Taplin was a stud at Texas A&M and finished 7th in the Rio games in the 400m, although he compotes for Grenada.
Soccer:
- FC Seoul was fined 100MM Korean won ($82k equiv) for filling their stadium with sex dolls instead of mannequins during a K-League match. The League, which forbids sexual ads, took this very seriously and claimed the team ‘damaged the prestige and the integrity of the league.’ My guess is this is a joke gone very very wrong.
What to Watch this Week
Baseball:
- Thurs 5/21 – KBO: NC Dinos vs Doosan Bears @ 12pm on ESPN2
- Fri 5/22 – KBO: kt wiz vs LG Twins @ 1pm (replay – live is on at 4:25am)
Golf:
- Sun 5/24 – The Match (Tiger/Brady vs Mickelson/Manning) @ 2pm on TNT or TBS
