Weekly Update – Week of October 28th, 2019

Baseball – MLB: World Series heads back to HTown with the Astros leading series 3-2. All road wins so far.

Basketball – NBA: LeBron evacuates. Cousins could come back for playoffs. Wall/adidas are dealing.

Football – College: 8 teams lost in top 25 including undefeated #5 Oklahoma. Slow game weekend ahead. GameDay at 24. Memphis vs 14. SMU game.

Football – NFL: JJ Watt out for the season. Flacco not ok with play calls. Brees is back. Standings.

Golf: Tiger on top once again.

Olympic Sports: Ohio HS DQ’s runner. NZ Alice Robinson>Mikalea Shiffrin. Belgian Paralympic athlete turns to euthanasia and dies at age 40.

Baseball – MLB:

• The World Series is back in HTown after the road team took all of the first 5 games (Nationals took the first 2 in Houston and the Astros took the next 3 in DC). This has only happened 3xs.
  • Stratsburg, who was supposed to pitch for the Nationals yesterday, will return to pitch tomorrow along with Houston favorite Verlander.
  • Last night Astros pitcher Cole owned the mound with the Nationals only scoring 1 run, a HR by Soto. Final 7-1 Astros.
  • The Nationals owned Minute Maid Park with 2 wins in HTown 5-4 (in a close match up) and then winning 12-3 in dominating fashion. They will need to sweep Houston again in the next 2 games to win the pennant.

Basketball – NBA:

• LeBron has had to evacuate his house in Brentwood due to the fires blazing though CA. He left his house at ~4am PT this morning.
• Its not all bad news for LA. The Lakers announced that if they make the playoffs, DeMarcus Cousins, who tore his ACL earlier this year, could return to play.
• The Thunder beat the winless Warriors 120-92 in OKC after D’Angelo Russell got thrown out of the game. Russell got in the ref’s face after he thought he had been fouled with 7:12 to go in the quarter. He got his first technical immediately and got a 2^nd one a couple of seconds later.
• John Wall and adidas are in discussions to end his 5 year deal after just 2 years. This is due mostly to Wall battling injuries and not seeing a court until 2020-2021 season.

Football – College:

• 7 teams lost in the Top 25 including undefeated #5 Oklahoma to Kansas St (no one saw that one coming!). LSU is the new #1 team in the country. Let’s see if Tua can recover fast enough for that big match up on Nov 9^th!

Losses in the Top 25
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Score
5. Oklahoma	Kansas St	Sat 10/26	11:00 AM	ABC	41-48
8. Notre Dame	19. Michigan	Sat 10/26	6:30 PM	ABC	14-45
9. Auburn	2. LSU	Sat 10/26	2:30 PM	CBS	20-23
13. Wisconsin	3. Ohio St	Sat 10/26	11:00 AM	FOX	7-38
15. Texas	TCU	Sat 10/26	2:30 PM	FOX	27-37
Oklahoma St	23. Iowa St	Sat 10/26	2:30 PM	FS1	34-27
24. Arizona St	UCLA	Sat 10/26	6:30 PM	PAC12	32-42

• CFP Rankings are scheduled to start on November 5^th! This will be our first peak this year into how the committee views these teams.
• A spectator fell from the upper deck at the Iowa St vs Oklahoma St football game this weekend. No details have been released.
• This weekend is a little slow with 9 top 25 teams on byes including 4 of the top 5.
  • Gameday is at Memphis for SMU/Memphis matchup

Football – NFL:

• Texans DE JJ Watt is out for the season after he tore his pectoral muscle (chest) in the Texans win against the Raiders on Sunday.
• Broncos’ QB Joe Flacco called out the play callers in their 15-13 loss to the Colts on Sunday after a 3^rd and 5 run play when they were leading the game 13-12. The team looked afraid to lose the game and didn’t play aggressively which then led to them losing the game anyway. The Colts kicked a FG to win the game with 1:26 to go in the game.
• Drew Brees returned for the Saints domination over the Cardinals on Sunday at home. This put many Saints’ fans at ease.
• Still undefeated teams are the Patriots (no surprise here) and the 49ers for only the 2^nd time in their history (only other time was in 1990).
• The Dolphins look to get their first win tonight over the 2-4 Steelers.
• Now that we are into week 9, its time for the standings in each division
  • AFC-East: Patriots
  • AFC-North: Ravens
  • AFC-South: Colts
  • AFC-West: Chiefs
  • NFC- East: Cowboys and Eagles are tied
  • NFC-North: Packers
  • NFC-South: Saints
  • NFC-West: 49ers

Golf:

• Tiger Woods is back on top again. He won his 82^nd PGA Tour win this weekend at the ZOZO Championship, a new PGA Tour tournament in Japan, tying the record for most PGA Tour wins ever with Same Snead. This moves the GOAT to #6 in the world rankings.

Olympic Sports:

• ICYMI: Ohio High School Association banned a runner in Ohio for not getting the proper hijab waiver before running a cross country race. Noor Abukaram was DQ’d after her coach did not obtain the waiver (which she did not have the previous 10 races either). The rulebook bans head covering and caps without a religious waiver. The committee says they will review the waiver rule for next season. However they have not turned down anyone who applied for a waiver. Noor did obtain a waiver this week and will run in the state regional meet this coming up weekend.
• NZ Alice Robinson won the season opener giant slalom event in Austira over the weekend, beating out Olympic Champion Mikalea Shiffrin. This was only her 11^th start and 1^st Robinson is working with Lindsey Vonn’s coaches and won the junior world title in GS previously this year (in Feb) and a month later finished 2^nd to Shiffrin in the world cup finals. This will not be the last time you hear this name.
• Paralympian from Belgium Marieke Vervoort dies at age 40 due to euthanasia (by her own choosing which is legal in Belgium). She suffered from an incurable, degenerative spinal disease and won 2 medals during the London Paralympic Games and 2 more in Rio. She was a strong advocate of euthanasia and said it gave her control of your own life.

What to watch this week

Baseball – MLB:

• Tues 10/29 – Game 6 of the World Series
  • Nationals at Astros @ 7:07pm on Fox
    • Stratsburg vs Verlander
    • Astros lead 3-2
• Wed 10/30 – Game 7 of the World Series – if necessary
  • Nationals at Astros @ 7:08pm on Fox

Basketball – NBA:

• Wed 10/30
  • Bucks at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Clippers at Jazz @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 10/31
  • Heat at Hawks @ 6pm on TNT
  • Nuggets at Pelicans @ 8:30pm on TNT
• Fri 11/1
  • Rockets at Nets @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Lakers at Mavericks @ 8:30pm on ESPN

Football – NCAA:

Top 25
Week 10
Top Games of the Week
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV
8. Georgia	6. Florida	Sat 11/2	2:30 PM	CBS
22. Kansas St	Kansas	Sat 11/2	2:30 PM	FS1
9. Utah	Washington	Sat 11/2	3:00 PM	FOX
15. SMU	24. Memphis	Sat 11/2	6:30 PM	ABC
7. Oregon	USC	Sat 11/2	7:00 PM	FOX
*GameDay indicated in bold*

• Gameday is at Memphis for the SMU/Memphis matchup

Football – NFL:

• Mon 10/28 – Dolphins at Steelers @ 7:15pm on ESPN
• Thurs 10/31 – 49ers at Cardinals @ 7:20pm on FOX
• Sun 11/3
  • Texans vs Jaguars (in London) @ 8:30am on NFL
  • 6 games at 12pm on CBS and Fox
    • Redskins at Bills
    • Vikings at Chiefs
    • Jets at Dolphins
    • Bears at Eagles
    • Colts at Steelers
    • Titans at Panthers
  • Lions at Raiders – or – Buccaneers at Seahawks @ 3:05pm on FOX
  • Browns at Broncos – or – Packers at Chargers @ 3:25pm on CBS
  • Patriots at Ravens @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 11/4 – Cowboys ay Giants @ 7:15pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Wed 10/30
  • WGC: HSBC Champions – Round 1
    • 9pm on Golf Channel
• Thurs 10/31
  • Bermuda Championship – Round 1
    • 11:30am on Golf Channel
  • WGC: HSBC Champions – Round 2
    • 9pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 11/1
  • Bermuda Championship – Round 2
    • 11:30am on Golf Channel
  • WGC: HSBC Champions – Round 3
    • 10pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 11/2
  • Bermuda – Round 3
    • 12:30am on Golf Channel
• Sun 11/3
  • Bermuda Championship – Round 2
    • 11:30am on Golf Channel

Hockey:

• Tues 10/29 – Lightening at Rangers @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
• Wed 10/30 – Wild at Blues @ 7pm on NBCSN
• Fri 11/1 – Sabres at Capitals @ 6pm on RSN
• Sat 11/2 – Oilers at Penguins @ 12pm on RSN
• Sun 11/3 – Flames at Capitals @ 6pm on RSN

Olympic Sports:

• Sat 11/2 – Rugby World Cup Final: ENG vs RSA @ 5am on NBCSN
  • Replay @ 11:30pm
• Sun 11/3 – Speed Skating: ISU World Cup Short Track – Day 3 @ 10:30pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Tues 10/29 – MLS: LA FC vs Sounders @ 9pm on ESPN
• Wed 10/30 – Italian Serie A: Lazio vs Torino @ 3pm on ESPNNEWS
• Thurs 10/31
  • NCAAW: Georgia vs 20. Florida @ 6pm on SEC
  • NCAAW: Tennessee vs 6. Arkansas @ 6pm on SEC
  • NCAAW: Auburn vs 8. South Carolina @ 6:30pm on SEC
  • NCAAW: 22. Texas A&M vs Ole Miss @ 6:30pm on SEC
• Fri 11/1
  • NCAAM: Louisville vs 2. Wake Forest @ 5pm on ACC
• Sat 11/2
  • Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs ManU @ 8:25am on NBCSN
  • Italian Serie A: AS Roma vs Napoli @ 9am on ESPNNEWS
  • Premier League: Manchester City at Chelsea @ 1:25pm on NBCSN
• Sun 11/3
  • Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Leicester City @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur @ 11:25am on NBCSN