Weekly Update – Week of Sept 10th, 2019

Post was delayed this week due to:

Baseball – MLB: Big Papi throws out the first pitch. Alonso back on HR top. Astros crush the A’s 21-1 and 15-0. Hoerner’s debut.

Football – College: 6 teams lost in the Top 25. LSU had no AC. Swann resigns. Bama doesnt like the heat. No Top 25 match ups this week but some close lines.

Football – NFL: Antonio Brown’s drama, part 9. Saints’ FG. Titans get beer’d. eagles Jackson out.

Golf: Season begins this week at the Greenbrier.

Olympic Sports: 2 cyclists face jail time for fixing a race. Alaskan high school had some wardrobe malfunction DQs.

Tennis: US Open Champs – Andreescu and Nadal.

Baseball – MLB:

• Big Papi (aka David Ortiz) threw put the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game last night after recovering from getting shot in the back in the DR back in June. It was good for Boston fans to see him up and about again!
• Pete Alonso is now back in the MLB lead for the most HRs with 47 after hitting 2 in the Mets game vs the Diamondbacks last night.
• Who’s having a good morning? The Astros must be after their 15-0 win over the A’s last night for their 5^th straight W. Pitcher Zeke Greinke struck out 5 batters in 6 innings and 2 Astros had 2 HRs each in the 1^st 2 innings. This also extends their franchise record of 36 straight games with a run scored. The game was 11-0 after the first 2 innings (with 6 HRs). Alllll of this is after their W over the A’s on Sunday with a score of 21-1.
• SS Nico Hoerner became the 2^nd Cub since 1920 to hit at least 3 hits and 4 RBIs in a debut. He was on his couch 24 hours beforehand and only got called up after SS Addison Russell got his in the face by a pitch.
• Here are the standings of each region in the league:
  • American League
    • East: Yankees
    • Central: Twins
    • West: Astros
  • National League
    • East: Braves
    • Central: Cardinals
    • West: Dodgers

Football – College:

• 6 teams lost in the Top 25 this week including 3 inside the top 15. Michigan barely saved a loss to Army at the Big House in 2OT. Sound familiar Sooners?

Losses in the Top 25
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Score
6. LSU	9. Texas	Sat 9/7	6:30 PM	ABC	45-38
12. Texas A&M	1. Clemson	Sat 9/7	2:30 PM	ABC	10-24
Cal	14. Washington	Sat 9/7	9:30 PM	FS1	20-19
21. Syracuse	Maryland	Sat 9/7	11:00 AM	ESPN	20-63
23. Stanford	USC	Sat 9/7	9:30 PM	ESPN	20-45
25. Nebraska	Colorado	Sat 9/7	2:30 PM	FOX	31-34

• LSU was without AC in their visitor locker rooms for the big GameDay match up. LA Tech notified Coach O of the LSU Tigers of the problem after they visited the Austin stadium last weekend. Obviously it didn’t affect the game too much…
• Lynn Swann resigned as USC’s AD after the Varsity Blues and basketball scandals. Dave Roberts will serves as interim AD. Swann had been AD at USC since 2016.
• Bama administration doesn’t like the 11am starting time for their game vs Southern Mississippi due to temperatures at that time.

• This new Tennessee shirt is flying off the homemade shelves.
• A bill in California passed that would make it illegal for universities or colleges in CA to take away scholarship or eligibility from an athlete as a punishment for profiting from his or her name, image or likeness. This rule could go into effect as early as 2023.
• Week 3 brings no Top 25 match ups but a couple teams just outside are playing big opponents – could be their chance to get in! Be sure to tune into these top games of the week.

Week 3
Top Games of the Week
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV
20. Washington St	Houston	Fri 9/13	8:15 PM	ESPN
Stanford	17. UCF	Sat 9/14	2:30 PM	ESPN
19. Iowa	Iowa St	Sat 9/14	3:00 PM	FS1
1. Clemson	Syracuse	Sat 9/14	6:30 PM	ABC
5. Oklahoma	UCLA	Sat 9/14	7:00 PM	FOX
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football – NFL:

• Antonio Brown has signed a 1 year deal with the Patriots after a lot of drama. On the same day that the Raiders released him (after he asked to be released on instagram – because you know he’s an adult), the Patriots offered him $15MM with a $9MM signing bonus. This was after he sat out practice in protest to his preferred helmet brand being banned (for safety reasons) and after he fought with the Raiders GM. The Raiders however showed how much they missed AB by a nice win over Denver last night 24-16.
• The Saints beat the Texans 30-28 with a 58 yard FG in the final seconds. This ends the curse of the Saints losing the first game each season. However it wasn’t without its problems. There was another officiating error against the Saints in the game in the final minutes of the game. The Saints were supposed to have 15 more seconds to work with in their drive that ended with a missed 56 yard FG. NO fans are at their wits ends with refs. But no harm no foul this time… literally.

• Titans QB Logan Ryan was sprayed with beer after scoring a TD by a Browns fan. Security has been contacted. Last year Tyreek Hill had a similar experience when playing the Patriots who later charged the fan with disorderly conduct and banned him from the stadium.
• Eagles’ DT Malik Jackson suffered a foot injury that is significant enough to consider surgery and be out of the game for a while. TBD on whether it is season ending. He left Sunday’s game on a cart but exited the stadium in a boot. Jackson has a $30MM 3 year deal with the Eagles.

Golf:

• The PGA Tour season starts back up this week at the Greenbrier Classic.

Olympic Sports:

• 2 cyclists including former Olympic champion Alexandre Vinokourov could face up to 6 months in jail if they are found guilty of fixing the result of the 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic. Accusation say that Vinokourov paid Kolobnev 150k Euros to let him win. The judgement will be announced on October 8^th.
  • Vinokourov had a 2 year ban after testing positive for blood doping at the 2007 Tour but came back to win the 2012 London Olympics.
• An Alaskan high school swimmer was DQ’d after her swimsuit ‘did not need modesty requirements.’ National Federation of State High School Associations said both females and males could be DQ’d if their swimsuits did not cover the buttocks.
• The IAAF has banned 18 Russians from the World Championships. 11 were cleared by a vetting panel and have been given exemptions from the ban. 6 of those 11 are current reigning national champions.

Tennis:

• US Open Finals were this weekend.
  • On Saturday, CAN Bianca Andreescu beat USA Serena Williams in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam title. It was Bianca’s first time competing at the US Open. Serena has to wait for the 24^th record tying Grand Slam title after skating through her earlier rounds, winning every match in straight sets. She is 0-4 in Grand Slam finals in the past 6 events.
    • With this win, Andreescu moves up to #5 in the WTA rankings while AUS Ashleigh Barty reclaims top spot.
  • Meanwhile on the men’s side, it was a familiar outcome with Rafael Nadal winning his 19^th Grand Slam title. RUS Daniil Medvedev was in his first final ever and gave the audience a thrill by truly testing the Spaniard. The match went on for 4 hours and 50 minutes with a final score of 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.

What to watch this week:

Baseball – MLB:

• Wed 9/11
  • Braves at Phillies @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Keuchel vs Efin
  • Cubs at Padres @ 9pm on ESPN
    • Hamels vs Paddack
  • Thurs 9/12
    • Dodgers at Orioles @ 6:05pm on Fox
      • Hill vs Bundy
    • Braves at Phillies @ 6:15pm on Fox
      • Teheran vs Smyly
    • Sun 9/15
      • Braves at Nationals @12:35pm on TBS
        • Fried at Sanchez
      • Dodgers at Mets @ 6pm on ESPN
        • Ryu vs Wheeler

Football – NCAA:

Week 3
Top Games of the Week
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV
20. Washington St	Houston	Fri 9/13	8:15 PM	ESPN
21. Maryland	Temple	Sat 9/14	11:00 AM	CBSSN
Stanford	17. UCF	Sat 9/14	2:30 PM	ESPN
24. USC	BYU	Sat 9/14	2:30 PM	ABC
19. Iowa	Iowa St	Sat 9/14	3:00 PM	FS1
9. Florida	Kentucky	Sat 9/14	6:00 PM	ESPN
Florida St	25. UVA	Sat 9/14	6:30 PM	ACC
*GameDay indicated in bold*

• College GameDay will then be in Ames, Iowa for the in state rivalry of Iowa vs Iowa St.

Football – NFL:

• Thurs 9/12 – Buccaneers at Panthers @ 7:20pm on NFL
• Sun 9/15
  • 10 games at 12pm on CBS and Fox
    • 49ers at Bengals
    • Chargers at Loins
    • Vikings at Packers
    • Colts at Titans
    • Patriots at Dolphins
    • Bills at Giants
    • Seahawks at Steelers
    • Cowboys at Redskins
    • Cardinals at Ravens
    • Jaguars vs Texans
  • Chiefs at Raiders @ 3:05pm on CBS
  • Bears at Broncos – or – Saints at Rams @ 3:25pm on Fox
  • Eagles at Falcons @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 9/16
  • Browns at Jets @ 7:15pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Tues 9/10 – World Long Drive Championship: Men’s Round of 16 & Women’s Quarterfinals @ 9pm on NBCSN
• Wed 9/11 – World Long Drive Championship: Men’s & Women’s finals @ 12am on NBCSN
• Thurs 9/12 – Greenbrier Classic – Round 1
  • 1-5pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 9/13 – Greenbrier Classic – Round 2
  • 1-5pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 9/14 – Greenbrier Classic – Round 3
  • 2-5pm on Golf Channel
• Sun 9/15 – Greenbrier Classic – Round 4
  • 2-5pm on Golf Channel

Olympic Sports:

• Tues 9/10 – Cycling: Vuelta a Espana: Stage 17 @ 12pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 9/12 – Cycling: Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 @ 12pm on NBCSN
• Sun 9/15
  • Cycling: Vuelta a Espana: Stage 21 @ 1am on NBCSN
  • Wrestling World Championships: Day 3 @ 7pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Tues 9/10 – UEFA Euro Championship Qualifying: England vs Kosovo @ 1:45pm on ESPN2
• Wed 9/11 – US NWSL: Orlando Price vs Chicago Red Stars @ 6pm on ESPNNEWS
• Thurs 9/12
  • NCAAW: 7. South Carolina vs Notre Dame @ 6pm on SEC
  • NCAAW: 9. Vanderbilt vs Chattanooga @ 6pm on SEC
• Fri 9/13
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs Newcastle United @ 7:25am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Crystal Palace @ 9:55am on NBCSN
  • NCAAM: 5. Duke vs 7. UVA @ 5pm on ESPNU
• Sat 9/14
  • Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs Everton @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Watford vs Arsenal @ 11:25am on NBCSN
• Sun 9/15
  • Italian Serie A: AS Roma vs Sassuolo @ 11am on ESPNNEWS
  • NCAAW: Arkansas vs 1. UNC @ 12pm on ESPNU
  • MLS: Portland Timbers vs DC United @ 2:30pm on ESPN
  • Premier League: Aston Villa vs West Ham United @ 2:55pm on NBCSN
  • MLS: Seattle Sounders vs NY Red Bulls @ 5pm on ESPN
  • NCAAW: 19. Clemson vs 12. Duke @ 5pm on ACC
  • NCAAW: 13. Texas A&M vs UNLV @ 6pm on SEC