Weekly Update – Week of September 14, 2020 (COVID Week 27)

Baseball: Mills throws 2nd no-hitter. Pujols gets #660 HR. Complaints on the Angels. Dickerson COVID positive?

Basketball: Conference Finals! Bucks and Giannis reaching extension? D’Antoni out of Houston. Lonzo changes agents.

Football-NCAAF: 1 loss in Top 25. Top 25 dropped schools not playing. Big 10 to vote soon on the possible return of football. More Opt outs.

Football-NFL: Week 1 is done. Mask mandated for coaches. Bell injured. Burrow hard on his debut. Mack out for the season.

Golf: Cink wins 7th PGA Tour title. Lee wins ANA major. US Open this week.

Olympic Sports: Cockroft breaks 4 WRs in 4 hours. TdF continues. ISL changes. Caster loses appeal. Ocasio out of AU.

Tennis: Thiem & Osaka are US Open champions.

Baseball:

• Cub’s P Alec Mills threw the second no-hitter of the 2020 season in the game against the Brewers on Sunday. Needless to say, the Cubs won and in dominant fashion of 12-0. Mills threw 114 pitches, his highest ever and pitched into the ninth inning. You may not recognize Mills – probably because he was a walk-on at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He’s come a long way from there to no-hitter pitcher in the big leagues!

• Angels’ 1B Albert Pujols hit his 660^th HR in his career during Sunday’s game; this ties him with Willie Mays as 5^th on the all-time list!
• Players out:
  • Rays’ 1B Ji-Man Choi will miss 2-3 weeks after straining his hamstring. Good news is its only a Grade 1 injury.
  • Reds’ P Sonny Gray strained his mid-back and has been placed on the 10-day IL.
• Giants’ OF Alex Dickerson is back after testing positive for COVID and causing Friday night’s game against the Padres to be postponed. He knew that wasn’t right as he had tested negative a day before along with his negative 39-week pregnant wife. They ae expecting their first son this week. Dickerson had at least 6 tests done over the 2 days and was back on the field for Sunday’s double header.
• The Angels have a headache on their hands. Former clubhouse attendant, Brian Harkins, was fired from the Angels on March 3 after he provided a blend of sticky substances that illegally aided pitcher’s grip on the ball. He has since issued a formal complaint against the team and the MLB for defamation and false light. Harkins, who had worked with the team for 30 years, says that the team and players knew about the concoction (a combo of rosin, pine tar and Mota stick). No money was ever given to Harkins for the mix but he provided it to players ‘as a courtesy’ and he never applied the mix himself. Harkins also said that he was unaware of the mix being illegal.
• Here are the standing so far as we enter the final month of regular season play:
  • American League:
    • East: Rays
    • Central: 2 way tie (White Sox and Twins)
    • West: A’s
  • National League:
    • East: Braves
    • Central: Cubs
    • West: Dodgers (most wins in MLB)

Basketball:

• Teams still in: Heat, Celtics, Clippers, Nuggets and Lakers
  • The Nuggets/Clippers play Game 7 tomorrow to determine which team will play the Lakers for the West Final.
  • The Heat play the Celtics in Game 1 of the East conference final tomorrow.
  • The Lakers earned their spot in the W final by knocking out the Rockets in 4-1 series. The Celtics had a harder time beating the Raptors in Game 7 92 -87.
• The Bucks’ owner supposedly told Giannis that they would pay to build a team around him. The Bucks payroll will be ~$132.7MM, very close to the luxury tax threshold. Giannis’ contract is up after the 2020/2021 season and it is likely that the Bucks will offer him a 4 year extension for $220MM-$250MM, which is ~35% of the Bucks’ cap.
• HC Mike D’Antoni has already told his team, the Houston Rockets, that he will not be returning as their coach next year. D’Antoni refused the extension contracts offered after spending 4 years in Houston and is among the coaches being considered for the 76ers coaching job.
• Lonzo Ball has changed agents…again. This time he left CAA to join Klutch Sports (previously left Roc Nation to join CAA). Don’t worry Lonzo’s father was most certainly quoted in the article.

Football – NCAAF:

• This week there was only 1 loss in the Top 25 and the teams who aren’t playing were replaced in the rankings. See updated rankings here.

Top 25
Week 1
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Line	Score
Syracuse	18. UNC	Sat 9/12	11:00 AM	ACC	+22	6-31
Louisiana	23. Iowa St	Sat 9/12	11:00 AM	ESPN	+11.5	31-14
Duke	10. Notre Dame	Sat 9/12	1:30 PM	NBC	+20	13-27
Missouri St	5. Oklahoma	Sat 9/12	6:00 PM	PPV	–	0-48
1. Clemson	Wake Forest	Sat 9/12	6:30 PM	ABC	-33	37-13
UTEP	14. Texas	Sat 9/12	7:00 PM	LHN	+43	3-59
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Other Games This Week
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Score
UAB	Miami	Thurs 9/10	7:00 PM	ACC	14-31
Eastern Kentucky	West Virginia	Sat 9/12	11:00 AM	FS1	10-56
LA Tech	Baylor	Sat 9/12	11:00 AM	FOX	Postponed
Georgia Tech	Florida St	Sat 9/12	2:30 PM	ABC	16-13
Arkansas St	Kansas St	Sat 9/12	2:30 PM	FS1	35-31
Houston Baptist	Texas Tech	Sat 9/12	7:00 PM	ESPN+	33-35

• Big news for Big 10 fans, the conference is voting soon whether or not to have a football season. Leaders of the conference are having another vote and if they vote to have a football season, teams could compete as early as October. 6 Big 10 teams were ranked originally in the Top 25. The original vote was 11-3 to postpone (Nebraska, Ohio St and Iowa were those 3 pro votes). The change in opinion and potentially the vote has mainly been in response to the availability of rapid result tests.
  • Even the Pac 12 seems to be changing their tune. An article just came out on ESPN that says the schools are looking to return as early as November. Note that this is their most aggressive plan but still progress for what was a unanimous vote.
• The ACC requires 8 of their 15 teams to be playing to continue to have the season. Anything below that could lead to postponement. The conference also said that if the SEC and the Big 12 discontinue play then the ACC will re-evaluate as well.
• More opt outs:
  • Texas A&M WR Jhamon Ausbon will not compete this year and will enter the draft.
  • With or without the new vote by the Big 10, Ohio St CB Shaun Wade will also not compete in his senior season. He is projected to go top-10 in the draft. This is huge news as his dad was one of the most vocal parents leading the Big 10 protest against NOT PLAYING!
  • Technically this one is an Opt In: LSU DL Neil Farrell is expected to opt back in to football season after he opted out in August due to familial concerns with the pandemic. Its not official yet but is certainly expected.

Football – NFL:

• The NFL season is here! It was an interesting weekend. The NFC champs lost while the worst team in 2019 won. Tom Brady lost in his Buc debut. The reigning SB champs won the league opener 34-20. The Cowboys and new HC Mike McCarthy lost after a foul negated their potentially game-winning drive in the final seconds of the game (this call has been argued over and over but I think it was valid – full arm extension and def looked like a push off).
• The NFL sent out a forcedul memo on Monday morning reinforcing their rule that ll coaches have to wear masks on the sidelines at all times; there will be discipline if coaches do not comply. It was especially noticeable during the Sunday primetime game of the LA Rams (HC Sean McVay had his mask down below his chin for most of the game) and the DAL Cowboys where Mike McCarthy wore his the entire time, even operating his microphone over it.
• Jets HC Adam Gase was mad at himself for leaving RB Le’Veon Bell in the game after he injured his hamstring. He was injured after landing funny diving for what was ultimately an incomplete pass late in the 2^nd He then came back in after half to play 5 plays before it was apparent that he could not continue. Frank Gore replaced him and he did not return. If Gore continues to take Bell’s spot this weekend, he will play the team he spent 10 years playing for, the 49ers.
• Rookie Bengals QB Joe Burrow was not happy with his performance during his debut where they lost 16-13 to the Chargers. He made no excuses for the loss, shouldering the burden all on himself despite being 1 pass short from the game-winning TD. He did score a TD off a 23 yrd run in the first half. Ultimately though it wasn’t enough as K Randy Bullock missed the game-tying 31 yrd FG.
• Colts RB Marlon Mack is now out for the season after tearing his Achilles on Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. This is also the final year of his contract.

Golf:

• Stewart Cink won the 2020/2021 season opener, the Safeway Open, by 2 strokes. This was his 7^th win on the PGA Tour but his first since the 2009 British Open, which he was basically considered a villain when he beat fan favorite Tom Watson in a 4 hole playoff. To make the victory even sweeter, his son was caddying for him and his wife was there to see his win after 5 years in cancer remission.

• Mirim Lee won the ANA Inspiration, her first LPGA major, after a 3 way playoff. Lee chipped in 2 of the last 3 holes to stay in the hunt and won in the first hole during the playoff against Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson. In traditional ANA fashion, Lee jumped into Poppie’s Pond.
• This week is the 2^nd major of the year in NY at Wingedfoot with the US Open. Yes we move from Tennis US Open to Golf US Open. Try not to get confused! It’s the last major Phil Mickleson needs to complete the Grand Slam of Golf but hes been haunted by this course before….
  • Potential ROY Scottie Scheffler has WD from the US Open after he tested positive for COVID, the first positive test on the PGA Tour in 6 weeks. His replacement in the major is fitting as Branden Grace tested positive at the Barracuda Championship and then missed the PGA Championship afterwards.

Olympic Sports:

• 5x GB Paralympian, Hannah Cockroft, set 4 WRs in 4 hours at the British Wheelchair Athletics Association Grand Prix this weekend. Cockroft broke the T34 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m. The bad news? The meet was not a World Para-Athletics sanctioned event because sanctioning takes 90 days to get and the meet was just organized within a month. Still an amazing accomplishment and even she was surprised claiming she hasn’t spent a lot of time on the track or the gym due to the pandemic. TBD on whether she will be in Tokyo next year or not (she’s hesitant with pandemic concerns).
• The Tour de France is still underway with SLO Primoz Roglic in the yellow jersey. Stage 15 was won by fellow SLO Tadej Pogacar thanks to his brutal final climb to pass the overall leader. Last year’s champion Egan Bernal has fallen off the lead group into 13^th place overall, 8 min 25 seconds off the Yellow jersey. Roglic has had the yellow jersey since last Sunday.
  • Fans will not be allowed at stage finishes. A no-spectator line was drawn 300m from the finish and 100m from the start during the Paris-Nice race; that is expected to continue.
  • Need a reminder of the rules or what the jerseys mean? Check out my TdF post
• The International Swimming League has had to make some changes as it goes into its 2^nd season and certainly is missing some star power. The league has 10 teams including 2 new additions, Toronto and Tokyo. The 10 teams will compete in Hungary starting 10/16-11/22 with the finals to be held in Tokyo in late December. TBD on what other COVID precautions will be in place. The ISL will pay over 300 athletes $1500/month starting now until June 2021.
• Caster Semenya has officially lost her appeal and therefore her last legal battle before Tokyo 2020 (one). She will not defend her 800m Olympic title due to the too high testosterone levels in her body in events 400m-1 mile. Semenya’s condition has not been released but the rule refers to females who have 46 XY DSD as a genetic variant, which can give them an unfair advantage. Females with this condition can lower their testosterone levels and still compete by either taking birth control, having testosterone blocking injections or undergoing surgery.
• Aleshia Ocasio has taken an indefinite leave of absence due to a family emergency from the softball league, Athletes Unlimited. Ocasio is a pitcher and the league’s 2^nd highest scorer. The league is in their 3^rd week of play.

Tennis:

• The US Open ends this weekend and there will be a new men’s champion.
  • Dominic Thiem lost the first 2 sets before winning his first Grand Slam title over Alexander Zverev. He was the first man to win after trailing by 2 sets since 1949 and Zverev was up 2 sets and a break at 2-1. Thiem won on the 3^rd Championship point in the fifth-set tiebreaker. Thiem has made a GS final before, 3xs actually where he was 0-3 against tennis’ Big 3 (Nadal, Federer and Djovokic). Fourth times the charm!
  • Naomi Osaka won the Women’s title at the US Open, her 3^rd major title at age 22. She paid tribute to Kobe Bryant by wearing his jersey to her press conference after her win and wore masks of social injustice names during the tournament. She should move up to #3 in the World rankings with this win.

 

What to Watch this Week

Baseball:

• Mon 9/14
  • A’s at Padres @ 7:10pm on FS1
• Tues 9/15
  • A’s at Rockies @ 7:40pm on FS1
    • Manaea vs Senzatela
  • Diamondback at Angels @ 8:40pm on FS1
    • Bumgarner vs Teheran
• Wed 9/16
  • Dodgers at Padres @ 3pm on ESPN
  • Mets at Phillies @ 6pm on ESPN
    • deGrom vs Nola
  • Diamondbacks at Angels @ 8:40pm on ESPN
    • Smith vs Bundy
• Sat 9/19
  • Rays at Orioles @ 6:05pm on FS1
    • Morton vs Lopez
  • White Sox at Reds @ 6:07pm on Fox
    • Cease vs Mahle
  • Braves at Mets @ 6:15pm on FOX
    • Anderson vs Wacha
  • Rangers at Angels @ 8:10pm on FOX
    • Lynn vs Heaney
• Sun 9/20
  • Yankees at Red Sox @ 12:07pm on TBS
  • Giants at A’s @ 3pm on ESPN
    • Webb vs Luzardo
  • Twins at Cubs @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Berrios vs Darvish

Basketball:

• Tues 9/15
  • East Final – Game 1: Heat at Celtics @ 5:40pm on ESPN
  • West Semifinal – Game 7: Nuggets at Clippers @ 8pm on ESPN
• Thurs 9/17
  • East Finals – Game 2: Heat at Celtics @ TBD on ESPN
• Fri 9/18
  • West Finals – Game 1: Winner of Clippers/Nuggets game at Lakers @ 8pm on TNT
• Sat 9/19
  • East Finals – Game 3: Celtics at Heat @ 7:30pm on ESPN
• Sun 9/20
  • West Finals – Game 2: Winner of Clippers/Nuggets game at Lakers @ 6:30pm on TNT

Football-NCAAF:

Top 25
Week 3
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV
Syracuse	25. Pitt	Sat 9/19	11:00 AM	ACC
17. Miami	18. Louisville	Sat 9/19	6:30 PM	ABC
*GameDay indicated in bold*
Other Games This Week
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV
Tulsa	11. Oklahoma St	Sat 9/19	11:00 AM	ESPN
Austin Peay	13. Cincinnati	Sat 9/19	11:00 AM
19. Louisiana	Georgia St	Sat 9/19	11:00 AM	ESPN2
Houston	Baylor	Sat 9/19	11:00 AM	FOX
Navy	Tulane	Sat 9/19	11:00 AM	ABC
23. App St	Marshall	Sat 9/19	12:30 PM	CBSSN
South Florida	7. Notre Dame	Sat 9/19	1:30 PM	USA
Charlotte	12. UNC	Sat 9/19	2:30 PM	ESPN3
14. UCF	Georgia Tech	Sat 9/19	2:30 PM	ABC
Citadel	1. Clemson	Sat 9/19	3:00 PM	ACC
SMU	UNT	Sat 9/19	5:00 PM	CBSSN

Football – NFL:

• Mon 9/14
  • Steelers at Giants @ 6:15pm on ESPN
  • Titans at Broncos @ 9:10pm on ESPN
• Thurs 9/17
  • Bengals at Browns @ 7:20pm on NFL
• Sun 9/18
  • 10 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX depending on your geographical location
    • Giants at Bears
    • Falcons at Cowboys
    • Lions at Packers
    • Jaguars at Titans
    • Vikings at Colts
    • Bills at Dolphins
    • 49ers at Jets
    • Rams at Eagles
    • Broncos at Steelers
    • Panthers at Buccaneers
  • Washington at Cardinals @ 3:05pm on FOX
  • Chiefs at Chargers – or – Ravens at Texans @ 3:25 on CBS
  • Patriots at Seahawks @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 9/21
  • Saints at Raiders @ 7:15pm on ABC/ESPN

Golf:

• Thurs 9/17 – US Open – Round 1
  • 6:30am on Golf Channel
  • 1pm on NBC
• Fri 9/18 – US Open – Round 2 @ 3pm on Golf Channel
  • 8:30am on Golf Channel
  • 3pm on NBC
• Sat 9/19 – US Open – Round 3 @ 10am on NBC
• Sun 9/20 – US Open – Round 4
  • 9am on Golf Channel
  • 11am on NBC

Hockey:

• Mon 9/14
  • West Finals – Game 5: Stars at Golden Knights @ 7pm on NBCSN
    • DAL leads 3-1
• Tues 9/15
  • East Finals – Game 5: Islanders at Lightening @ 7pm on NBCSN
    • TB leads 3-1
• Wed 9/16 – if necessary
  • West Finals – Game 6: Golden Knights @ Stars @ 7pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 9/17 – if necessary
  • East Finals – Game 6: Lightening at Islanders @ 7pm on NBCSN
• Fri 9/18 – if necessary
  • West Finals – Game 7: Stars at Golden Knights @ 8pm on NBCSN
• Sat 9/19 – if necessary
  • East Finals – Game 7: Islanders at Lightening @ 6:30pm on NBC

Motorsports:

• Sat 9/19
  • NASCAR: Bass Pro Shops Night Race@ 6:30pm on NBCSN
• Sun 9/20
  • MotoGP: San Marino Race @ 6:30am on NBCSN

Olympic Sports:

• Tues 9/15
  • Cycling – Tour de France: Stage 16 @ 6 :30am on NBCSN
    • Replay @ 2pm
• Wed 9/16
  • Cycling – Tour de France: Stage 17 @ 5:30am on NBCSN
    • Replay on @ 2pm and 11pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 9/17
  • Cycling – Tour de France: Stage 18 @ 5:30am on NBCSN
    • Replay on @ 2pm and 11pm on NBCSN
  • Track & Field – IAAF Diamond League: Rome & Naples @ 12pm on NBCSN
• Fri 9/18
  • Cycling – Tour de France: Stage 19 @ 6:30am on NBCSN
    • Replay on @ 3pm and 11pm on NBCSN
• Sat 9/19
  • Cycling – Tour de France: Stage 20 @ 6am on NBCSN
    • Replay on @ 12:30am Sun 9/20
• Sun 9/20
  • Cycling – Tour de France: Stage 21 @ 8 :30am on NBCSN
    • Replay on @ 7pm and 11pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Fri 9/18
  • German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs Schalke 04 @ 1:30pm on ESPN
  • NCAA Men’s: Clemson vs Wake Forest @ 5pm on ACC
• Sat 9/19
  • NWSL: Orlando Pride vs NC Courage @ 12pm on CBS
  • NCAA Women’s: Alabama vs Tennessee @ 1pm on SEC
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs West Ham @ 2:30pm on NBCSN
  • NCAA Women’s: Arkansas vs LSU @ 3pm on SEC
  • NCAA Women’s: Ole Miss vs Texas A&M @ 5pm on SEC
• Sun 9/20
  • Italians Serie A : Parma vs Napoli @ 5:30am on ESPN2
  • NCAA Women’s: Georgia vs South Carolina @ 12pm on SEC
  • NCAA Women’s: Clemson vs UVA @ 2pm on ACC
  • NCAA Women’s: Vanderbilt vs Kentucky @ 2pm on SEC
  • NCAA Women’s: Duke vs Wake Forest @ 4pm on ACC