Baseball: Playoffs!!
Basketball-NBA: Anti-vax players.
Football-NCAAF: 9 Losses in jam packed week! OU/TX rivalry is GameDay. Big 10 sees Top 5 matchup.
Football-NFL: 2 undefeated teams left and 2 winless teams left.
Golf: Burns wins at Sanderson. DeChambeau makes Top 8 in Long Drive.
Motorsports: Wallace is 2nd black driver to win NASCAR Cup race.
Olympic Sports: Wrestling worlds. Olympic bouts fixed. USA Madzer foot broken. Nordic handball unity.
Baseball-MLB:
- Playoffs are set! Remember Wild Card games are winner moves on, single elimination! Then we move to the best of 5 series. The Dodgers are the reining World Series champs trying to go back-to-back. This would be their 4th visit to the dance in 5 years but they only managed to win 1 pennant.
- Tomorrow it’s the Boston Red Sox vs NY Yankees in the first Wild Card game. The Red Sox swept the 2 series vs Yankees in the first half of the season but the Yankees came back with a vengeance in August and September sweeping them right back. Overall the series was 10-9 so it should be a good one.
- The Blue Jays lost out on a playoff spot by 1 game!
- The Cardinals will take on the Dodgers in the National League Wild Card game on Wednesday. Throughout the regular season these teams were also well matched 4-3 overall record with the Dodgers having a 1 game advantage.
- The Dodgers are still the betting favorite to win the pennant.
- Tomorrow it’s the Boston Red Sox vs NY Yankees in the first Wild Card game. The Red Sox swept the 2 series vs Yankees in the first half of the season but the Yankees came back with a vengeance in August and September sweeping them right back. Overall the series was 10-9 so it should be a good one.
Basketball:
- ICYMI: There has been a lot of talk from the NBA players about the COVID vaccine mandates. They are not a fan. Whether it’s talking about it publicly and they prefer to keep it private or they don’t actually want to get the vaccine, players have started to be more vocal. The NBA has come out to say that players who miss games because they are playing where vaccines are mandatory will not be paid for those games. It was the hottest topic as teams had their media days with season only 2 weeks away.
- Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Jonathan Isaac, Draymond Green all had interviews regarding the vaccine mandates if you’re interested.
Football-NCAAF:
- There were 9 losses in the Top 25 this weekend in what was one of the most jammed packed with all Top 25 teams playing and so much action, even starting on Thursday. Alabama and Georgia continue to look dominant and the best teams in the NCAAF. Cincinnati is making a case for a Power 5 team to be in the CFP. Arkansas got put in its place by Georgia. And it’s prob not the last time over the next couple of weeks. Texas A&M was the 2nd best offensive team wearing maroon on Saturday. Although they won this weekend, Clemson is officially out of the AP poll Top 25 for the first time since 2014. Florida had a huge upset to Kentucky, who is now ranked #16 – prob an overreaction here.
- Stanford continues to have Oregon’s number despite being majorly outranked. The Cardinals handed Oregon its first loss in OT. Oregon’s hopes at the CFP aren’t over yet but now each week is critical. Oregon needs to be the Pac 12 champ for the conference to have a chance at the CFP.
- Loses: 3. Oregon, 8. Arkansas, 9. Notre Dame, 10. Florida, 12. Ole Miss, 15. Texas A&M, 18. Fresno St, 20. UCLA, 21. Baylor
- Week 6 features another 4 Top 25 ranked showdowns. 2 in the SEC, a huge one in the Big 10 (Iowa vs Penn St) and 1 in the Big 12. GameDay is going to the Texas state fair grounds for the Red River Rivalry: #6 Oklahoma vs #23 Texas.
- Upset watch: Iowa, Oklahoma, Michigan St,
- You’re going to get a lot of flack for saying it but this might be the Group of 5s only chance to make the CFP. Let’s go over the reasons why:
- For: With all the weirdness of Clemson, the Big 12 and some of the Big 10, they have a chance. But like ‘you’re saying there’s a chance’ chance. SMU is now ranked. They’ve tried to schedule hard non-conference games and if Indiana had lived up to the pre-season hype, it would’ve been 2 good wins! Beating ND at ND is no joke.
- Against: Cincinnati has to win out and convincingly. Indiana is not ranked and may not even make a bowl game. The rest of their schedule is a joke.
- Realistically: they need some help. Like chaos in the Big 12. Chaos that’s already started in the Pac 12 to continue. It would really help if Georgia would lose to Florida. And then the SEC-East winner loses to Bama leaving the SEC with only 1 team in the CFP. But that’s not looking likely after the Gators flopped against KY and Georgia dominated #8 Arkansas.
Football-NFL:
- Week 4 should be Return of the Brady.
- The return of Brady to Foxborough and it was a triumphant one. Tom Brady and his new team beat his old team, the Patriots, after the Pats missed a 56 yard FG to win. Rookie QB Mac Jones was seriously impressive though. The crowd went from chanting Brady’s name pre-game to booing him when he took the field for the first snap.
- Newly crowned as the Super Bowl favorites, Rams lost to the Cardinals 37-20 at home. The Cardinals are now 4-0 led by QB Kyler Murray. The Raiders and the Cardinals are the only undefeated teams left.
- Meanwhile the Jags lost another game (on Thursday); the Lions lost to the Bears on Sunday 24-14 to remain the only 2 winless teams left. Even the Jets managed their first win in OT against the Titans this weekend. The Giants also got their first win in OT against the Saints.
- The Ravens have tied a 44-year-old record in the NFL of rushing more than 100 yards for over 43 straight games. They did this with a 5-yard run by the QB, Lama Jackson, in the final seconds of the game. The team looked to fall short with only 97 yards rushing when the broncos had the ball. That was until CB Anthony Averett caught an interception to give the Ravens 1 more play. The record started the first game Lamar Jackson became starting QB in 2018. The Steelers from 1974-1977 set the 43-game record. The Ravens play the Colts Monday next week to break the record! Let’s see!
- Despite not playing on Sunday, the Jags were in the news today or at least their coach was. HC Urban Meyer was in a 7 second video that went viral out at a bar dancing with a woman who was not his wife. Yikes! And the 2nd angle is even worse people.
Golf:
- Sam Burns took his 2nd PGA Tour title this weekend by winning the Sanderson Farms Championship by 1. He might’ve killed some dreams along the way too as there were 6 players all looking for their first win in the top 10. Sahith Theegala, a rookie from California, had the lead going into Sunday until his back 9.
- Bryson DeChambeau made it to the Quarterfinals stage of the long drive competition but failed to advance. But this video is pretty awesome as the announcers lose it after a 417 yard drive. He was in the top 8 and drove the ball >400 yards 9 different times during the tournament.
Motorsports:
- Bubba Wallace is the first ever Black driver to win a NASCAR Cup race since 1963, joining HoF Wendell Scott as the only Black drivers ever. Wallace took the lead on lap 113 before the race was red flagged (aka stopped) due to rain 3 laps later. The original Talladega race was supposed to be 188 laps.
Olympic Sports:
- Jordan Burroughs captures his 5th world championship title in the 79kg weight class at worlds in Oslo. He missed going to Tokyo so this was a nice bounce back. Fellow American Thomas Gilman won his gold at worlds in the 57kg weight class.
- It is official the boxing bouts at the Olympics were fixed. The London 2012 and Rio 2016 games were affected. After an investigation was conducted on AIBA, the International Boxing Association, it was discovered that refs and judges were selected purposefully to manipulate bouts. It is estimated that 11-ish (no firm number was given) could’ve been affected. Interest was peaked during the 2016 Olympics when judges ruled a fight between IRE Conlan and RUS Nikitin was ruled in favor of the RUS, to which the IRE accused the country and association of corruption. The 2016 semifinal bout between a Mongolian and FRA boxer was also brought up as an eye witness saw a judge accepting a $250k bribe to swing the bout. Azerbaijan was suspect during the 2012 games after the country loaned money to AIBA and then proceeded to win 2 bronze medals.
- USA Luge star and reigning silver medalist Chris Mazder broke his foot during a training run on Thursday and will need time off before the Beijing games in Feb. Team USA bobsled and Skelton will test run and compete in China in just a few weeks, getting a look at the facility prior to the games.
- All 5 Nordic countries have called for a review on women’s uniforms in the sports of handball after the outrage that flared in July after the NOR team was fined for not wearing their bikini bottoms and midriff tops. The 5 Nordic countries are NOR, SWE, DEN, ICE & FIN. Popstar Pink even offered to the pay the fine for the team after they protested the rule. Men are allowed to wear shorts and tank tops.
Soccer:
- The National Women’s Soccer League is in trouble this past week. North Carolina Courage HC Paul Riley has been fired as of Thursday amid sexual coercion and inappropriate comments made about player’s weight and sexual orientation. 3 players, Sinead Farrelly, Mana Shim and Kaiya McCullough have come out to say that this is a systemic problem in the league. HC of Washington Spirit, Richie Burke also was included in the investigation. Burke is no longer allowed to coach in the league. NWSL commish has now resigned. I personally talked to Lisa Baird and she is a lovely person so this is a sad day.
What to watch this week
Baseball-MLB:
- Tues 10/5
- AL: Wild Card Game: Yankees at Red Sox @ 7pm on ESPN
- Cole vs Eovaldi
- AL: Wild Card Game: Yankees at Red Sox @ 7pm on ESPN
- Wed 10/6
- NL: Cardinals at Dodgers @ 7:10pm on TBS
- Wainwright vs Scherzer
- NL: Cardinals at Dodgers @ 7:10pm on TBS
- Thurs 10/7
- AL Game 1: White Sox at Astros @ TBD on TBD
- AL Game 1: Winner of BOS/NYY at Rays @ TBD on TBD
- Fri 10/8
- AL Game 2: White Sox at Astros @ TBD on TBD
- AL Game 2: Winner of BOS/NYY at Rays @ TBD on TBD
- NL Game 1: Winner of STC vs LAD at Giants @ TBD on TBD
- NL Game 1: Braves at Brewers @ TBD on TBD
- Sat 10/9
- NL Game 2: Winner of STC vs LAD at Giants @ TBD on TBD
- NL Game 2: Braves at Brewers @ TBD on TBD
- Sun 10/10
- AL Game 3: Astros at White Sox @ TBD on TBD
- AL Game 3: Rays at Winner of BOS/NYY @ TBD on TBD
Football- NCAAF:
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Top 25 |
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Week 6 |
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Top 25 Games |
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| Visitor | Home | Day | Time (CT) | TV |
Line |
| 6. Oklahoma | 21. Texas | Sat 10/9 | 11:00 AM | ABC | |
| 13. Arkansas | 17. Ole Miss | Sat 10/9 | 11:00 AM | ESPN | |
| 2. Georgia | 18. Auburn | Sat 10/9 | 2:30 PM | CBS | |
| 4. Penn St | 3. Iowa | Sat 10/9 | 3:00 PM | FOX | |
| *GameDay indicated in bold* | |||||
Football-NFL:
- Mon 10/4
- Raiders at Chargers @ 7:15pm on ESPN
- Thurs 10/7
- Rams at Seahawks @ 7:20pm on FOX
- Sun 10/10
- Jets at Falcons @ 8:30am on NFL (played in London)
- 8 games on @ 12pm depending on location on CBS/FOX
- FOX:
- Packers t Bengals
- Lions at Vikings
- Broncos at Steelers
- Eagles at Panthers
- CBS:
- Dolphins at Buccaneers
- Saints at Washington
- Titans at Jaguars
- Patriots at Texans
- FOX:
- Bears at Raiders – or – Browns at Chargers @ 3:05pm on CBS
- Giants at Cowboys – or – 49ers at Cardinals @ 3:25pm on FOX
- Bills at Chiefs @ 7:20pm on NBC
- Mon 10/11
- Colts at Ravens @ 7:15pm on ESPN
Golf:
- Thurs 10/7
- Shriners Hospital Open – Round 1 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 10/8
- Shriners Hospital Open – Round 2 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 10/9
- Shriners Hospital Open – Round 3 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
- Sun 10/10
- Shriners Hospital Open – Final Round @ 4pm on Golf Channel
Motorsports:
- Sat 10/9
- NASCAR Xfinity: Drive for Cure 250 @ 2pm on NBCSN
- Sun 10/10
- F1: Turkish GP @ 7am on ESPN
- NASCAR Cup Series: Bank of America Roval 400 @ 1pm on NBC
Olympic Sports:
- Thurs 10/7
- Cycling: Milano – Torino @ 12pm on NBCSN
- Fri 10/8
- Cycling: Gran Piemonte @ 12pm on NBCSN
- Sun 10/10
- Cycling: Paris Tours @ 11pm on NBCSN
Soccer:
- Wed 10/6
- UEFA Nations League: ITA vs ESP @ 1:45pm on ESPN2
- Thurs 10/7
- UEFA Nations League: BEL vs FRA @ 1:45pm on ESPN2
- NCAAW: 4. Duke vs NC St @ 5pm on ACC
- NCAAW: 8. Arkansas vs Alabama @ 6pm on SEC
- FIFA World Cup Qualifying – CONCACAF: USA vs JAM @ 6:30pm on ESPN2
- NCAAW: Clemson vs 19. VTech @ 7pm on ACC
- Fri 10/8
- FIFA World Cup Qualifying – UEFA: CZE vs Wales @ 1:45pm on ESPN2
- Sat 10/9
- FA Women’s Super League: ManU vs Manchester City @ 7:30am on NBCSN
- Sun 10/10
- FA Women’s Super League: Chelsea vs Leicester City @ 10am on NBCSN
- NCAAW: Boston College vs 5. UNC @ 12pm on ACC
- NCAAW: 25. South Carolina vs 15. Tennessee @ 1pm on ESPNU
- NCAAW: Wake Forest vs 19. VTech @ 4pm on ACC
