November 20th update

BCS rocked by upsets

• Take what you thought about the BCS title picture after last week and throw it out the window because everything has changed now.
• #2 Oklahoma State only had a gimmie game against unranked Iowa State and a tough game against Oklahoma remaining before they made it to the national championship game (There's not a Big 12 championship game anymore because you're required to have 12 teams to host a conference title game and there are only 11 in the poorly named Big 12 now. Nebraska left for the Big 10, which now has 12. College football is great, isn't it?) But OK State lost the gimmie 37-31 in 2OT to Iowa State after giving up a 17 point lead and dropped to #4 in the polls. Yet another example of why playing games is a better way of determining which teams are better than simply letting sportswriters vote because nobody but the mothers of Iowa State players would have voted for the Cyclones to defeat Oklahoma State.
• The tough opponent that Oklahoma State was to play next week also lost as Oklahoma went down to Baylor and dynamic QB Robert Griffin III (who threw the game winning touchdown with just seconds remaining).
• Additionally, a week after beating undefeated Stanford, Oregon lost on a relatively short missed field goal as time expired (just as Boise State did last week) and Clemson got obliterated by N.C. State. If you can't keep track of all the carnage, here's what's left after all the dust has settled: Three of the six teams in the SEC West are now ranked #1, #2 and #3 as Arkansas jumped up to #3 behind LSU and Alabama. Arkansas sadly has to deal with the extremely sudden and mysterious death of freshman TE Garrett Uekman who passed away in his dorm Sunday. Arkansas will certainly be thinking of him next week as they take on #1 LSU for a possible shot in the title game. But we say possible because no one really knows what will happen. It all depends on the voters and the computer algorithms which is why we believe that the NCAA football system needs a major overhaul.


NFL week 11 recap

• The NFC North continued its impressive run as the Lions, Packers and Bears all beat solid teams on Sunday. The Bears beat perennial power (but currently struggling) San Diego Chargers 31-20 to go to 7-3 but they may have lost QB Jay Cutler for the year due to a broken thumb on his throwing hand. The Lions were down 24-7 to the Carolina Newtons... err Panthers, but Matthew Stafford caught fire and led the Lions to a 49-35 win. The Green Bay Packers were in a dogfight with the Tampa Bay Bucs but Aaron Rodgers and the mind-boggling Packers offense again proved to be too much and the Packers won 35-26 to go to 10-0.
• The only other NFL team with less than 3 losses is the 9-1 San Francisco 49ers who won easily over the Arizona Cardinals Sunday. They play against the Ravens this Thursday in a matchup of Harbaughs (rookie coach Jim coaches the Niners, brother John coaches the Ravens) and can actually clinch the division next week if they win and Seattle loses.
• Those same Ravens won a big game against the Bengals to take first place in the AFC North and go to 7-3 and the New England Patriots will look to do the same in the AFC East on Monday night against the injured but gritty Kansas City Chiefs.


Stewart wins NASCAR sprint for the Chase

• In one of the most tightly contested NASCAR finales ever, Tony Stewart won at Homestead in pouring rain and with a hole in his vehicle's grill to edge Carl Edwards for his third title and officially end Jimmie Johnson's run of 5 in a row. Stewart actually finished tied in points with Edwards, who finished second and led the most laps but the tiebreaker is total wins in a season, which Stewart dominated, 5 to 1.
• Edwards was disappointed but held his head high after the race, saying "This night is about Tony Stewart. Those guys rose to the occasion and they beat us fair and square. That is all I had. We came here and sat on the pole, led the most laps and Tony still managed. That’s it.

October 17th update

R.I.P Dan Wheldon

• One of the most well liked and well respected drivers in the Indianapolis Car Racing Circuit died on Sunday after a wreck on the 13th lap of the final race of the season. Dan Wheldon won the 2005 and 2011 Indianapolis 500, and had spent most of this season racing in Europe. Ironically, the reason he even won the 2011 Indy 500 was because rookie racer J.R. Hildebrand crashed into the wall on the final lap, even though nobody was around him.
• This was only the 3rd race Wheldon has run this year in the Indy Car Circuit, and he was only in it because of a $5 million prize given as incentive to get big named drivers to drive in this new race. The sponsors of the race did a lot of promoting and were hoping for this to be a big positive event. Instead the race was ended after only 12 laps after the wreck.
• The crash, which involved 15 cars total, started in front of Wheldon, and the video stream of the race actually was coming from Wheldon’s car when the crash began. Here is the video but be warned, it may be a bit disturbing.


Tough day for coaches in NFL's week 6

• The San Francisco 49ers handed the Detroit Lions their first loss of the season in a 25-19 victory. There was some controversy after the game as 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh gave Lions coach Jim Schwarz a bit of an overexuberant back slap and yelled profanities (not directed at Schwarz). The Detroit coach took exception to it and chased Harbaugh down where both teams got into each other's faces. A similar altercation happened after Harbaugh's Stanford team beat highly ranked Southern Cal a few years when Pete Carroll was the coach of USC. Carroll is now the coach of the Seattle Seahawks, a divisional rival of the 49ers.
• The Tampa Bay Bucs recovered from a 45 points drubbing the week before and moved into a tie with the New Orleans Saints atop the NFC South with a 26-20 win, however Saints head coach Sean Payton suffered a torn MCL when one of his own players was tackled into him. Also, Bucs defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake tore his patellar tendon jumping up to celebrate an interception in the second quarter.
• The New England Patriots won the most exciting game of the day, defeating the hard-luck Dallas Cowboys 20-16 on a TD reception by Aaron Hernandez with 22 seconds left. No coaches were harmed in the playing of this game!
• The Green Bay Packers scored 24 points in the first half against the hapless Rams and then took the second half off, as neither team scored after halftime. The first half surge included a 93 yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rogers to Jordy Nelson, career longs for each.

Check in Wednesday for a special spotlight as well as our preview of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers.

October 7th update

Look for a special update Sunday morning wrapping up the MLB's Divisional Series round.


Week 5 of the NFL Season produces playoff rematches

• Two rematches of playoff games from last year headline Week 5 of the NFL regular season. The New York Jets travel to play the New England Patriots, and the Green Bay Packers travel south to play the Atlanta Falcons
• The Jets defeated the Patriots 28-21 on January 16th of this year in what was considered a major upset to go to their second straight conference championship game. Since then the two team’s have gone in different directions. The Patriots have come out firing this season achieving a perfect, 4-0 record, while the Jets have been slow out of the blocks starting the season 2-2 (and they would be 3-1 if not for a major collapse by Dallas in Week 1). Criticism has rained down on Jets QB Mark Sanchez and Coach Rex Ryan, but they are shrugging it off looking to right the ship going forward.
• The Atlanta Falcons are looking to avenge an embarrassing loss from last year’s playoffs. The Packers beat down the Falcons 48-21 on January 15th and kept right on winning. They have won all 6 games they have played since then (including the Super Bowl). While the Packers are 4-0 the Falcons have struggled off to a 2-2 start. The Falcons upgraded their team during the offseason and were amongst the favorites coming into this season. So far they have no lived up to expectations.
• On Monday night, the undefeated Lions host the defending divisional champion Bears in a game which (sadly) will mark the beginning of the post-Hank Williams Jr. era as the singer's famous "Are you ready for some football?" intro will be permanently canned due to politically incorrect comments he made during the week.


Big NCAA rivalries renew in Week 6

• One of the best and most historic rivalries in college football takes place Saturday as #3 Oklahoma takes on #11 Texas in the Red River Rivalry. While Oklahoma has been hyped as a national title contender all season, Texas started off less hyped due to a terrible season last year but have gotten off to a fast start thanks to the great play of new starting QB Case Mccoy (the younger brother of Colt). The winner will have the fast track to the Big 12 championship and possibly the NCAA Title game.
• A week after getting shellacked by Alabama, Florida plays their second straight brutal game, this time against SEC superpower, #1 ranked LSU. Last year Florida suffered its first 3 game losing streak since 1988 and if they don't find a way to beat LSU, they'll have the dubious chance to do it again against defending national champion Auburn, who will go against #10 Arkansas in the other big SEC game of the day.
• In the other conferences, ACC unbeatens #13 Georgia Tech and #8 Clemson will likely remain that way against Maryland and Boston College and in the Big Ten, #12 Michigan plays Northwestern while Colorado plays against #7 Stanford for the first time as a Pac-12 conference member.

September 10th Update

NFL Puts Offseason Troubles Behind it

• After an offseason that put this weekend in doubt the NFL began its regular season with whats become an annual season kick-off event featuring the previous year’s super bowl champion (more on that in a bit). In addition to a Thursday game, there will be two Monday Night Football games and 13 on Sunday.
• One of the bigger stories over the past few days is that of Peyton Manning. Manning had the longest active consecutive game played streak in the NFL at 208 games played without missing a start. He was 91 games short of the record and many thought he would reach the mark set by Brett Favre. However, late offseason neck surgery and a slow recovery will put an end to that streak. After Manning, Ronde Barber has the longest streak at 178 consecutive games. Peytons younger brother Eli has a streak of 103 games, must be something in the water of the Manning household.
• Other big games this weekend include the unveiling of the new and improved Philadelphia Eagles and the super-team they constructed this offseason. The Eagles will play the St Louis Rams on Sunday. The intra-division rivalry of the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers will also take the field on Sunday. These two teams honestly hate each other and always play close, physical games.
• As promised, the first game of the NFL season showcased the two previous Super Bowl Champions. In a very high scoring affair, the Green Bay Packers defeated the New Orleans Saints 42-34. This game came down to the final drive, as the Saints had the ball at the 1-yard line with a chance to score and tie the game. The Packers were able to stop rookie Mark Ingram from getting into the end zone. The breakout star of the game was Packers wide receiver Randal Cobb who caught a touchdown, and also returned a kick-off 108 yards for a score. Cobb is the first player born in the 90s to play in the NFL.


NL Central Race Brewing Up

*Note: This is part 6 of a 6 part series that will break down the division races in each of baseball's 6 divisions.

• The National League Central race has been pretty much over for much of the past month. A slow start by the pre-season favorites, St Louis Cardinals, opened the door for the Milwaukee Brewers and their league best home record (50-22) to sweep in and grab a commanding lead going into the final month of the regular season.
• Led by superstar outfielder Ryan Braun (who has one of the coolest nicknames in sports) and 1st baseman Prince Fielder, the Brewers hold an 8 game lead over the Cardinals. This division was at one point a 3-team race with the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates coming out of nowhere to compete for much of the season. However, things have been going steadily downhill for the Pirates since a major blown call. Since that game in late July, the team has swooned falling way out of contention for the playoffs.
• One of the more entertaining aspects of the Brewers this year has been the antics of mercurial outfielder Nyjer Morgan. He has shown up for interviews in various personalities and costumes. These playful antics have kept the team loose and is helpful to see why they have been exceeding expectations this year.