Baseball: Braves take home the World Series in Game 6. Dusty Baker staying another year with Houston.
Basketball: NCAAM season begins Tuesday! KD, Trae and Ben Simmons fined. NBA recommends booster shots. NYC new mayor not budging on vaccine mandate.
Football-NCAAF: 8 losses in Top 25 including 2 in the top 10 and all but 1 to unranked teams. Hirings and firings. Week 11 has a ranked vs ranked game in 4 of the Power 5 conferences.
Football-NFL: Week 9 recap. OBJ leaving CLE. DAL loses. ADP makes 125th TD. Lions didnt lose… Aaron Rodgers in vaccine trouble? Ruggs released after crash.
Golf: Hovland defends his Mayakoba win in record fashion.
Olympic Sports: Rivas youngest person to complete 100 marathons. NYC Marathon winners – KEN sweep. Modern Pentathalon getting a new look?
Tennis: Raducanu gets shade thrown on her.
Baseball-MLB:
- The Atlanta Braves have won their first World Series since 1995. The Braves put the series away in Game 6 in Houston winning 7-0 beating down the Astros. The Braves out 17 players on base that night and P Max Fried did the rest. A 3 run homer by Soler in the 3rd got the ball rolling (see what I did there?). The unlikely team was the underdog of the final four teams left went through a lot of injuries and was written off for the playoffs even into the month of August. This was the franchise’s 4th
- Dusty Baker will return to Houston for another year! The 72-year-old signed as the manager for one year and he said he will return for an additional year. Dusty is 12th among major league history with 1987 wins. This next season could put him as high up as 9th.
- The St. Louis Cardinals snagged 5 Gold Gloves including 1B, 2B, 3B, CF and LF. This is the most ever won by a single team. The Golden Glove awards go to the best in each position as voted by the managers in the majors, however you cannot vote for your own team.
- Former Met P Pedro Feliciano died last night at the age of 45.
Basketball-NBA:
- NCAAM season begins Tuesday! Here are the preseason rankings. The First Four of the March Madness tournament is scheduled to begin March 15th.
- KD was fined $25k by the NBA after throwing the ball into the stands during the 3Q on Friday night. He is lucky he wasn’t ejected after reviewing the play. The Nets beat the Pacers 105-98.
- Sticking with the fines. Hawks Trae Young was fined $15k for contact with the ref. It happened with 6:41 left in the 2Q of the Hawks vs Wizards game on Thursday (Hawks lost 122-111). This is ironic because the NBA has mentioned that they plan to cut back on calls when the offensive player initiates the contact. However Trae did get called for bumping into the ref’s arm on his way back on the court after not getting a foul.
- The 76ers have fined G Ben Simmons $360k for missing Thursday’s game against the Pistons (equivalent to his per game salary). The team plans to continue to fine him for games missed until he cooperates with team doctors on his mental health and other basketball obligations (strength training, film study etc). According to the team, this is not an action taken against mental health, it is because Simmons has refused to provide any information about his evaluation and treatments, etc. Also Simmons, who is still under a 4-year $147MM contract, has asked to be traded.
- The NBA is recommending that players, coaches and red all get the COVID 19 booster shots, especially if they received the Johnson and Johnson one-dose vaccine. We will have to see how this goes over as a bunch of players have already been very publicly opposed to the vaccines or at least disclosing their vaccine status originally.
- NYC is getting a new mayor, soooo why is that in a sports blog? Because the new mayor coming in could potentially change the vaccine mandate in the city allowing Kyrie to play. However the new mayor, Eric Adams, has said he will not be changing the mandate so Kyrie is out of luck again.
- Zion Williams will be out 2-3 more weeks but is getting better!
Football-NCAAF:
- There were 8 loses in the Top 25 and 7 of those were to unranked opponents.
- This week was the week for a team (other than Georgia) to show that they are one of the best teams in the nation and no one wanted to do it. A lot of the top teams were tested and barely squeaked out some Ws and some didn’t… #2 Alabama looked beatable in a close game with LSU winning 20-14 despite LSU not being able to capitalize on a late 4th quarter turnover by the Tide. #4 Oregon barely beat a bad Washington team in the rain 26-16 (score is misleading here – no one wanted to win this game). Even #5 Ohio St had a scare against Nebraska who I swear loves losing in close games. There were some seriously flawed coaching decisions in this game in my opinion. HC Scott Frost will prob be fired and he clearly played this game to not get blown out when he could’ve caused a huge upset! #6 Cincinnati did not do itself any favors beating Tulsa 28-20. Tulsa is 3-6 and had the ball at the goal line but fumbled the ball in the end zone. Puts a whole new meaning on wining by the skin of your teeth.
- #3 Michigan St lost to Purdue (*called it*) for their first loss of the season. Purdue had control the entire game winning 40-29. Also undefeated Wake Forest was handed their first L against UNC, who for the second year in a row was trailing 14 points in the 4th quarter but came back to win. Undefeated #12 Baylor lost to TCU, who undoubtedly was fighting for their recently released coach. Only #13 Auburn lost to a ranked opponent in Texas A&M where there were no offensive TDs scored in the entire game (snore). #18 Kentucky lost to Tennessee in a tight game 45-42 with the weirdest stats – TN only had the ball for 13 minutes the entire game and only had 17 1st downs (KT had 35) and they were 3 of 8 in 3rd down conversions (KT went 12-17).
- Loses: 3. Michigan St, 9. Wake Forest, 12. Baylor, 13. Auburn, 17. Mississippi St, 18. Kentucky, 20. Minnesota, 23. Fresno St
- Hirings and firings:
- To no real surprise, UMass has fired their HC Bell after he only managed to win 2 games in the last 3 years.
- Texas Tech hired Baylor’s associate head coach (meaning the #2 guy) Joey McGuire. He has been with Baylor for 5 seasons now and was a long-time successful Texas HS coach as well.
- Florida fired their Defensive Coordinator and O-line coaches. Florida lost in a surprising game against South Carolina, and it was ugly.
- Oregon St has fired their DC as well.
- Week 11 sees back to full action with 4 ranked vs ranked show downs. It is a nice even slate with a match up in each conference: Big 10, Big 12, SEC and ACC. GameDay will be in Oxford for the Texas A&M vs Ole Miss game.
- Upset watch: 4. Oklahoma, 6. Ohio St, 9. Michigan, 11. Texas A&M, 19. Iowa, 21. NC St, 25. Pitt
Football-NFL:
- Week 9 recap
- The Browns destroyed the Bengals with the return of Baker Mayfield (and despite the news that OBJ is no longer going to be staying in Cleveland). The Broncos snapped the Cowboys 6 game winning streak with the team’s only 16 points scored all being done so in the 4th The Jaguars get their 2nd win of the season over the Bills in a very sarcastically exciting game 9-6. On the flip side the Ravens beat the Vikings in OT. After Derrick Henry suffered the injury last week, NFL veteran Adrian Peterson scored his 125th TD of his career. Peterson is 36 years old and has played on 6 teams during his NFL career that started in 2007. Sticking with former Sooners, Kyle Murray is still out but his cardinals pulled out the W over the 49ers 31-17 with former Texas QB Colt McCoy. The Lions didn’t lose this week (because they were on a bye).
- Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has tested positive for COVID and is out (his earliest return is Saturday). He had claimed he was ‘immunized’ earlier in the year but we have since found out that he is not. Rodgers said he is allergic to ingredients in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. He says he has abided by all COVID protocols in place for unvaccinated players but there is an investigation on whether that is accurate or he was getting special treatment. The Packers lost to the Chiefs 7-13 in what was supposed to be a highly anticipated game last night (Mahomes vs Rodgers in a QB showdown). Tempers are always running high on the corona subject but this has people up in arms including HoF Terry Bradshaw who pointed out that Rodgers flat out lied to the media.
- Making fantasy people peeved – like myself who had him as their starting QB
- Raiders released WR Henry Ruggs III this week after getting a DUI and causing a crash that killed a woman. He is now facing 2 felonies (driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in death and reckless driving). His Corvette slammed into the other car at 3:39am and at some point was going 156 mph.
Golf:
- Viktor Hovland came into the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba as defending champion and he defended well. The Norwegian won with a score of -23, a new 72-hole scoring record. After his 3 birdies on the front nine on Sunday, no one got within 3 shots of him. He is the first defending champion of the event which was started in 2007. He won by 4 over Carlos Ortiz, a native Mexican so I’m sure the home crowd was a little disappointed.
Olympic Sports:
- 24-year-old Jocelyn Rivas is now in the Guinness World Record book after completing her 100th marathon. She is the youngest to ever do so, besting the former holder of the record by 59 days. She ran her first marathon in 2014 and completed the 100th in Los Angeles over the weekend.
- Speaking of marathons, the NYC marathon was back in action on Sunday for its 50th running. KEN Albert Korir won the men’s race (he came in 2nd 2 years ago) and Peres Jepchirchir became the only woman to win the even in the fall after winning the marathon Olympic gold medal. Take some time off damn! The NYC marathon is the 2nd oldest marathon major only being bested by the Boston Marathon which has run in some shape or form since 1897.
- #GFHint: The marathon majors are the Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and NYC.
- The Modern Pentathlon might be getting an update. The current event is a combo of running, pistol shooting, fencing, swimming and riding however after an animal abuse incident occurred during the Toyko games, a movement has begun to take the riding portion out of the event. A German coach hit a horse after it refused to compete in the jumping for the leader of the women’s competition. Under the current format, athletes compete on horses they have never ridden before. A video call on Friday will announce what sport will be potentially taking the spot of the riding event and all we know is it is not cycling.
- #GFHint: Americans are often puzzled by the Modern Pentathlon event as it is not popular in this country, which might be why we don’t do well competing in it. But the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, created the event and it has been in every game since 1912. It is the test of the most all-around athlete and used to be competed over 5 days. It is now only in 1. For more details, see the Olympic Sports page.
Tennis:
- Emma Raducanu was trending on Twitter today after English rugby coach Eddie Jones threw some major shade. “There’s a reason why the young girl who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards. What have you seen her on – the front page of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar or whatever, wearing Christian Dior clothes. All that is a distraction around her.” That’s the direct quote. As a reminder Raducanu won the US Open at only 19 and did so without dropping a set. He said it as a warning to rising star Marcus Smith but still a little uncalled for.
- How has she done since the US Open? Well she has only competed 3xs since then. She lost in the Round of 64 in early Oct, lost in QFinals in late Oct and is currently in the Round of 16 at the Linz Open… Her 3 most recent results leading up to the US Open win was Round of 16, Round of 32 and final.
What to watch this week
Basketball-NBA:
- Tues 11/9
- Bucks at 76ers @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Trail Blazers at Clippers @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 11/10
- Pistons at Rockets @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Heat at Lakers @ 9pm on ESPN
- Fri 11/12
- Bucks at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Bulls at Warriors @ 9pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAAM: Only Top 25 on TV are listed
- Tues 11/9
- Mount St. Mary’s at 4. Villanova @ 3:30pm on FS1
- Akron at 17. Ohio St @ 5pm on ESPN2
- Kansas at Michigan St @ 6pm on ESPN
- UT Martin at 18. Tennessee @ 6pm on SEC
- Loyola at 19. UNC @ 6pm on ACC
- Navy at 25. UVA @ 8pm on ACC
- Kentucky at 9. Duke @ 8:30pm on ESPN
- Wed 11/10
- UPenn at 20. Florida St @ 8pm on ACC
- Fri 11/12
- Army at 9. Duke @ 6pm on ACC
- Robert Morris at 10. Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC
- Brown at 19. UNC @ 8pm on ACC
- Villanova at 2. UCLA @ 10:30pm on ESPN2
- Sat 11/13
- Texas at 1. Gonzaga @ 9:30pm on ESPN2
- Sun 11/14
- East TN St at 18. Tennessee @ 11am on SEC
- Florida St at Florida @ 12pm on ESPN
Football- NCAAF:
Tues 11/9 – CFP Rankings Show @ 7pm on ESPN
|
Top 25 |
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Week 11 |
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|
Top 25 Games |
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| Visitor | Home | Day | Time (CT) | TV |
Line |
| 9. Michigan | 23. Penn St | Sat 11/13 | 11:00 AM | ABC | |
| 4. Oklahoma | 18. Baylor | Sat 11/13 | 11:00 AM | FOX | |
| 11. Texas A&M | 12. Ole Miss | Sat 11/13 | 6:00 PM | ESPN | |
| 21. NC St | 13. Wake Forest | Sat 11/13 | 6:30 PM | ACC | |
| *GameDay indicated in bold* | |||||
Football-NFL:
- Mon 11/8
- Bears at Steelers @ 7:15pm on ESPN
- Thurs 11/11
- Ravens at Dolphins @ 7:20pm on FOX
- Sun 11/14
- 7 games on @ 12pm depending on location on CBS/FOX
- FOX:
- Falcons at Cowboys
- Lions at Steelers
- Buccaneers at Washington
- CBS:
- Saints at Titans
- Jaguars at Colts
- Browns at Patriots
- Bills at Jets
- FOX:
- Panthers at Cardinals – or – Vikings at Chargers @ 3:05pm on FOX
- Eagles at Broncos – or – Seahawks at Packers @ 3:25pm on CBS
- Chiefs at Raiders @ 7:20pm on NBC
- 7 games on @ 12pm depending on location on CBS/FOX
- Mon 11/15
- Rams at 49ers @ 7:15pm on ESPN
Golf:
- Thurs 11/11
- Houston Open – Round 1 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 11/12
- Houston Open – Round 2 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 11/13
- Houston Open – Round 3 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Sun 11/14
- Houston Open – Final Round @ 12pm on Golf Channel
Motorsports:
- Sun 11/14
- F1: Brazilian GP @ 11am on ESPN2
- MotoGP: Valencia @ 1:30pm on NBC
- Replay @ 5pm on NBCSN
Olympic Sports:
- Thurs 11/11
- Curling: USA vs CAN @ 8pm on NBCSN
- Sun 11/14
- Figure Skating @ 3pm on NBC
Soccer:
- Wed 11/10
- NCAAM: Pitt at Notre Dame @ 4pm on ACC
- NCAAM: Clemson at Duke @ 6pm on ACC
- Thurs 11/11
- Fri 11/12
- FIFA World Cup Qualifying – UEFA: ITA vs SUI @ 1:45pm on ESPN2
- FIFA World Cup Qualifying – CACACAF: USA vs MEX @ 8:10pm on ESPN2
- Sat 11/13
- FA Women’s Super League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal @ 7:30am on NBCSN
- Sun 11/14
- FA Women’s Super League: Everton vs ManU @ 6:30am on NBCSN
- FA Women’s Super League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- FIFA World Cup Qualifying – UEFA: ESP vs SWE @ 1:45pm on ABC
Tennis:
- Sat 11/13
- World Team Tennis @ 9:30pm on NBCSN
- Sun 11/14
- World Team Tennis @ 8pm on NBCSN
