Weekly Update – Week of May 27th, 2019

Baseball – MLB: Red Sox Bill Buckner dies. Pedroia may not play again. Shoeless Perez.

Baseball/Softball – NCAA: Softball World Series starts on Thursday. NCAA Baseball regionals start Friday.

Basketball – NBA: NBA Finals start Thursday between Raptors and Warriors. What Drake curse?

Football – NFL: JJ Watt engaged. Foles out for personal reasons. Azteca stadium back to real grass.

Football – NCAA: Bjork is Texas A&M AD. Clemson players lose appeal. Michigan’s highest recruit. Briles back in Texas HS football.

Golf: Na for the win in Ft. Worth. Law lays down the law for 1st LPGA title. NCAA Men’s team golf on now!

Hockey: Bruins vs Blues in Stanley Cup Finals. And one guy gets tackled with no helmet. Oilers find a new coach.

Olympic Sports: Weightlifter DQ’d/ Corruption investigation for Qatar. Doping in Austria. Finland wins Hockey World Championships.

Baseball – MLB:

• Boston Red Sox 1B Bill Buckner died at the age of 69 after battling dementia for years. Buckner played 22 seasons in the MLB but you might recognize him for this one play in the 1986 World Series that cost the Red Sox game 6 and ultimately the series. He has been praised for being a great man despite having a few rough years from critics after the infamous play. Boston eventually made it up to him however with letting Buckner throw out the first pitch at the 2008 season opener.
• Staying with news from Boston, Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia, age 35, has said he is unsure if he will ever play baseball again due to a chronically injured left knee. Despite having surgery in fall of 2017, Pedroia has only played 9 games since then.
• Mike Montgomery, leftie for the Cubs, left Monday’s game against the Astros without throwing a single pitch after popping a blood vessel in his finger causing him to not be able to feel the ball. Montgomery could pitch as early as tonight.
• Indians relief pitcher Oliver Perez stood on the mound in just his socks while a trainer went to get him another pair. His first pair of Nikes just felt a little off so he replaced them during the 5^th

Baseball/Softball – NCAA:

• Softball College World Series will be played in OKC on May 30^th – June 4^th/5^th and the 8 teams have been decided (see bracket). Game 1 and 2 of the finals will be played on June 3^rd and 4^th with game 3 on the 5^th if needed.
  • Remember this is double elimination until finals which is best of 3. So if your team has 1 loss, they cannot lose again to make it to the final.
  • #4 Florida St was the only team in the top 8 to miss the World Series. That upset led to #13 OSU sneaking into OKC.
• NCAA Baseball post season begins on May 31^st with regionals and the College World Series will start June 15^th – 26^th (if needed 27^th) in Omaha, NE. I will post the bracket before the Super Regional level. For the full bracket click here.
  • The 64 teams were decided last night with regionals held starting May 31^st – June 3^rd which is played as a double elimination tournament between 4 teams in your region. Super Regionals will be June 7 – 10^th which is played as a best of 3 to advance to the CWS.
  • Reigning champion: Oregon St

Basketball – NBA:

• Playoff Update:
  • The Finals start May 30^th between the Raptors and the Warriors
    • The teams couldn’t be more different. The Warriors make their 3^rd straight finals while the Raptors make their first finals appearance ever.
    • Interesting fact: Patrick McCaw has yet to miss a NBA Finals in his career (pro since 2016) playing for 3 different teams in the process.
    • The Raptors seem to have been the team that broke the Drake curse after the rap star was seen openly supporting his hometown team during the Eastern finals. To say Drake was excited was an understatement. Game 6 highlights were really Drake cheerleading highlights. The Raptors won the Eastern Conference, can this team be the ones to break it and win it all?
      • ICYMI: Drake has been notoriously shunned from cheering for his teams after an uncanny amount have lost, even when heavily favored to win. Alabama lost to Clemson. Real Madrid lost a lot of games after Drake announced his fandom. He has been cool about it over the last couple of months.
      • 
    • Kevin Durant, forward for the Warriors, will miss game 1 on Thursday still out with the right calf strain. Durant has been out since game 5 of the Western Semis against the Rockets.
    • DeMarcus Cousins is questionable for game 1 after he tore his left quad on April 15 against the Clippers. This is better news than expected as Cousins was listed as unlikely for all of the post season originally.
  • Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert had a stroke on Sunday but he is now awake and resting well.
  • Amadou Gallo Fall has been named as the President of the NBA’s new Basketball Africa League.
  • ESPN 100 class #5 RJ Hampton will forgo college to play pro ball for the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian National basketball league. RJ is the first American player to pass on college due to amateur status concerns.

Football – NFL:

• Sad news ladies: JJ Watt, Texans LB, got engaged to his gf Kealia Ohai on Sunday. Ohai plays professional soccer for the Houston Dash.
• Nick Foles has been excused from voluntary team activities due to personal reasons with no specific timeline for return.
• After the NFL canceled their scheduled game due to surface issues, Azteca Stadium will now be switched back to natural turf. The Kansas City Chiefs will play the LA Chargers on Nov 18^th in Mexico at the stadium.

Football – NCAA:

• Ross Bjork is the new AD for Texas A&M; previously Bjork was AD at Ole Miss for the last 7 years. Bjork will officially begin his new role on July 8^th.
• Georgia QB D’Wan Mathis got a cyst removed from his brain on Thursday and is expected to make a full recovery.
• Clemson TE Branden Galloway and OL Zach Giella lost their appeal after testing positive for a banned substance last year and will not be able to play the entire 2019 season.
• Michigan got DE recruit Braiden McGregor and is the highest recruit of their class.
• Art Briles got a high school coaching job in Mount Vernon ISD (east Texas). If you need a reminder of who he is, Briles was at the head of the Baylor football sexual assault scandal and was criticized for covering up assaults and /or ignoring them while recruiting players. Technically this isn’t the first job Briles has gotten in the USA since he was fired 3 years ago. Southern Mississippi and the Canadian Football League both technically hired Briles but he never saw a field for either one due to public backlash. He was hired to coach a team in Florence, ITA in 2018.

Golf:

• Kevin Na won his 3^rd PGA Tour victory on Sunday in Dallas at the Charles Schwab Challenge with a score of -13. Along with the trophy, Na won a 1973 Dodge Challenger which he gave to his caddie after he revved the engine once.
• Bronte Law won the Pure Silk Championship with a score of 17 under, leading wire to wire to win her first LPGA title. This is the week before the US Women’s Open as well which will be held starting Thursday May 30^th in Charleston, SC.

• The NCAA men’s golf championship is underway. The individual title has already been decided with Matt Wolff of Oklahoma St winning by 5 shots yesterday. Wolff’s win also helped the OSU Cowboys to solidify the #1 seed into match play for the team title which will be decided on Wednesday
  • Teams battling for the team title: Oklahoma St, Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Texas, Texas A&M, SMU and Stanford.
  • Current reigning champion: Oklahoma St

Hockey:

• Stanley Cup Playoffs Updates:
  • Bruins defensemen Torey Krug lost his helmet and proceeded to skate the length of the ice with his hair billowing in the wind. Krug also delivered a huge hit on Blues player Robert Thomas He also got tangled in the net with Blue’s forward David Perron in the third period. The Blues were leading 2-0 until the tide seemed to turn after Clifton scored at 2:16 in the 2^nd The Bruins won game 1 with a score of 4-2.

• NHL is considering expanding the video review at next month’s meeting of league committee and GMs.

• Edmonton Oilers have hired Dave Tippett as their head coach. Tippett previously coached the Stars and then the Coyotes.

Olympic Sports:

• During game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, “Lance Armstrong: Next Stage” will air which features an interview by Mike Tirico of Lance Armstrong. Spoiler alert: Lance says he wouldn’t change a thing. Keep in mind this is after he was stripped of his 7 Tour de France titles. This interview also covers the prominence of doping among cyclists but you’ll have to tune in for more.
• Nasser al-Khelaifi is under investigation for corruption after he allegedly paid the former IAAF president €3.1MM to get the bid to host the IAAF World Championships in 2017 (which were held in London). However, Qatar was awarded the 2019 World Championships which will take place in August. The former IAAF president at the time was Lamine Diack who is also under investigation.
• Hannes Reichelt, an Austrian alpine skiing veteran, is being investigated in blood doping raids. In Austria in February, a number of athletes were arrested at world championships in regards to doping and a clinic was raided in Germany.
• Rio gold medalist in the 105kg weightlifting, Ruslan Nurudinov has been DQ’d from the 2012 London Olympic Games where he got 4^th. He tested positive for oral turinabol which is an anabolic steroid. TBD on whether he will get to keep his Rio gold medal… So far he’s good.
• Finland beat Canada in the men’s world hockey championships with a score of 3-1. Russia beat the Czech Republic to take the bronze.

What to Watch This Week:

Baseball – MLB:

• Wed 5/29
  • Cubs at Astros @ 7pm on ESPN
    • Hendericks vs Miley
• Sat 6/1
  • Brewers at Pirates @ 3:05pm on FS1
  • 3 games depending on local area @ 6:15pm on FOX
    • Red Sox at Yankees
    • Cubs at Cardinals
    • Angels at Mariners
• Sun 6/2 – Red Sox at Yankees @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Price vs Tanaka

Baseball – College / Softball:

• Thurs 5/30
  • Softball World Series:
    • Game 1: Washington vs Arizona @ 11am on ESPN
    • Game 2: Minnesota vs UCLA @ 1:30pm on ESPN
    • Game 3: Florida vs OSU @ 6pm on ESPN2
    • Game 4: Oklahoma vs Alabama @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
• Fri 5/31
  • Baseball Regionals:
    • Coastal Carolina vs Auburn @ 11am on ESPNU
    • Mississippi ST vs Southern @ 12pm on SEC
    • Duke vs Texas A&M @ 3pm on ESPN2
    • Clemson vs Illinois @ 3pm on ESPNU
    • Vanderbilt vs Ohio St @ 6pm on ESPN2
    • LSU vs Stony Brook @ 6pm on ESPNU
    • Georgia vs Mercer @ 6pm on SEC
    • Oregon St vs Cincinnati @ 9pm on ESPNU
  • Softball World Series:
    • Fri Game 1: Winner of Game 1 and 2 @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Fri Game 2: Winner of Game 3 and 4 @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Sat 6/1
  • Softball World Series:
    • Elimination Game 1: Losers of Game 1 and 2 @ 11am on ESPN
    • Elimination Game2: Losers of Game 3 and 4 @ 1:30pm on ESPN
    • Elimination Game3: Loser of Friday Game 1 vs Winner of Elimination Game 1 @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Elimination Game4: Loser of Friday Game 2 vs Winner of Elimination Game 2 @ 8:30pm on ESPN
  • Baseball Regionals:
    • Various Games TBA @ 12pm, 3pm, 6pm on ESPN2
    • Various Games from 12pm – 9pm on ESPNU
• Sun 6/2
  • Softball World Series:
    • Winner of Fri Game 1 vs Winner of Elim Game 3 @ 12pm on ESPN
      • if both teams have 1 loss after this game they will play again @ 6pm on ESPN2
    • Winner of Fri Game 2 vs Winner of Elim Game 3 @ 2:30pm on ESPN
      • if both teams have 1 loss after this game they will play again @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
    • Baseball Regionals:
      • Various Games from 11am – 8pm on ESPNU
      • Various Games TBA @ 11am and 2pm on ESPN2

Basketball – NBA:

• Thurs 5/30 – Finals Game 1: Warriors at Raptors @ 8pm on ABC
• Sun 6/2 – Finals Game 2: Warriors at Raptors @ 7pm on ABC

Golf:

• Wed 5/29
  • NCAA Men’s Golf Championship – Semis
    • 11:30am – 1pm on Golf Channel
  • NCAA Men’s Golf Championship – Finals
    • 4pm – 8pm on Golf Channel
• Thurs 5/30
  • Memorial Tournament – Round 1
    • 1:30pm – 5:30pm on Golf Channel
  • US Women’s Open – Round 1
    • 1:30pm – 6:30pm on FS1
• Fri 5/31
  • Memorial Tournament – Round 2
    • 1:30pm – 5:30pm on Golf Channel
  • US Women’s Open – Round 2
    • 1:30pm – 6:30pm on FS1
• Sat 6/1
  • Memorial Tournament – Round 3
    • 11:30am – 1:45pm on Golf Channel
    • 2pm – 5pm on CBS
  • US Women’s Open – Round 3
    • 1pm – 6pm on Fox Sports
• Sun 6/2
  • Memorial Tournament – Round 4
    • 11am – 1:15pm on Golf Channel
    • 2pm – 5pm on CBS
  • US Women’s Open – Round 4
    • 1pm – 6pm on Fox Sports

Hockey:

• Wed 5/29 – Game 2 Stanley Cup Finals: Blues at Bruins @ 7pm on NBCSN
  • Bruins lead 1-0
• Sat 6/1 – Game 3 Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins at Blues @ 7pm on NBCSN

Olympic Sports:

• Wed 5/29 – Cycling: Lance Armstrong: The Next Stage @ 11:30pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 5/30 – Track & Field: IAAF Diamond League @ 2pm on NBCSN
• Fri 5/31 – Swimming: FINA Champions Day 1 @ 7pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Thurs 5/30 – International Friendly: Turkey vs Greece @ 1pm on ESPN3
• Sat 6/1 – MLS: Portland Timbers vs LAFC @ 9:30pm on ESPN2
• Sun 6/2 – International Friendly:
  • Turkey vs Uzbekistan @ 1pm on ESPN3
  • France vs Bolivia @ 3pm on ESPN3