September 19th update

Big East joins Big 12 in limbo

• In the mid 2000's, the Big East lost three of its biggest football schools (Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami) as those schools defected to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Recently two of the Big East’s best basketball schools decided to follow their former conference mates to the ACC.
• Pittsburgh and Syracuse were granted acceptance to the ACC on Sunday after it was reported they submitted applications to join the conference on Friday. Connecticut is rumored to be frantically attempting to join Pitt and Syracuse in defecting to the ACC. These moves, if they go through, will make the ACC far and away the undisputed basketball powerhouse conference and would cripple the Big East, which used to be in the running for that title.
• While the Big East is facing danger, the Big 12 may already be on the brink of oblivion. Texas A&M university announced two weeks ago that they will be leaving the Big 12 to join the South Eastern Conference. Nebraska began play in the Big Ten this year and there has been rumors of powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas looking at their options as well. There has been controversy from the members remaining in the Big 12 who do not want to let Texas A&M out of the conference, led by Baylor University, are scared that the exit will lead to a mass exodus and the eventual dissolution of the conference.
• As with most things in life, these moves are motivated by money, in these cases by television contracts. The more marquee schools each conference can get in the two biggest college sports (football and basketball) the more they can charge for television rights, however for Pitt and especially Syracuse to abandon the Big East has already created a small uproar.


Injuries already marring 2011 NFL season

• Michael Vick had the Eagles in a good position to win but after suffering a concussion and being knocked out of the game the Falcons rallied to win 35-31 in a game that also saw Jeremy Maclin suffer a huge, illegal hit that at first looked like it could have caused a concussion.
• Speaking of injuries, no one has been massacred so far this season like the Chiefs and the Colts, two division winners last season. The Colts lost Peyton Manning for either most or all of the season and had to release former defensive player of the year Bob Sanders because of his injury history and have had WR Austin Collie suffer two (you guessed it) concussions in the past 12 months.
• The Chiefs have arguably had even worse luck, losing superstar safety Eric Berry (who played every snap last year on defense and made the Pro Bowl), Tight End Tony Moeaki who was an up and coming offensive weapon and made one of the nicest catches you'll ever see last season, tough linebacker Brandon Siler who was signed this offseason to shore up the run defense and now, the coup d'etat, Jamal Charles (who ran for 6.38 yards per carry in 2010 which was second in NFL History. All are out for the season and the Chiefs have looked shocked and demoralized, losing by a combined 89-10 to two last place teams from 2010.
• Tony Romo played with broken ribs, Miles Austin caught 3 TD passes and Jesse Holley caught a 70+ yard pass to get the Cowboys down to the one yard line as the Cowboys rebounded from a tough loss to the Jets the week before to defeat the 49ers 27-24 in OT.
• Ravens NT Terrence Cody suffered a concussion and returner David Reed had his arm in a sling after a 26-13 loss to the Titans who got production from people other than star RB Chris Johnson.
• Arian Foster, last year's rushing yards leader, came back briefly from a hamstring injury but then left although the Texans were lucky enough to get production from Steve Slaton and Ben Tate on the ground and beat the Dolphins.
• In matchups of healthy teams, the #1 draft pick of this year's NFL draft Cam Newton continued to shatter rookie passing records, throwing for 432 yards and rushing for a TD in a close 30-23 loss to the defending Super Bowl Champion Packers and Tom Brady had another great game, throwing for 423 yards and 3 TD's in a win over the Chargers, bringing him to a staggering, cartoonish 940 yards and 7 TDs after just 2 games.
• Don't forget to watch Monday Night Football, as the Giants who have lost 4 defensive backs and 6 defensive players to injury (and might be without star DT Justin Tuck and WR Hakeem Nicks) take on the Rams who have lost star RB Steven Jackson to a quad injury for a few weeks, WR Danny Amendola with a dislocated elbow, and have Sam Bradford banged up with finger injury on his throwing hand.

September 16th update

Beantown Meltdown in progress?

• On September 3rd the Red Sox had the best record in the American League and were already looking forward to the playoffs and possibly winning their 3rd World Series since 2004. But with a 9-2 loss in the opener of a 4 game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox dropped to 3-11 in September to fall 4½ games behind the New York Yankees and into a race with the once-dismissed Rays for the wild card. The Rays (who we had basically written off in our AL East playoff preview less than a month ago) have beaten the Red Sox 6 times in a row including 4 in the past week and are only 3 games back now.
• The LA Angels are additionally only 3½ and feature Jared Weaver, who will likely finish second in the American League Cy Young award (given to the best pitcher in each league) behind Justin Verlander.
• If such a talented team were to squander such a large lead and miss the playoffs, it would likely be considered one of the most incredible and demoralizing collapses for a Boston fanbase that has infamously suffered numerous heartbreaks with their beloved Red Sox.


LSU Continue Rolling to kick off week 3

• The #3 ranked LSU Tigers won their third game in as many tries, two of which came against ranked opponents. This victory was against 25th ranked Mississippi State. An extremely stingy defense (which had 5 sacks and caused 2 turnovers) was key as the Tigers frustrated the Bulldogs all night. Experienced starter Jarrett Lee lead the LSU offense to 19 points, not an overwhelming total, but enough as his defense only allowed 6 for Mississippi State.
• Saturday Night will see the second matchup of two top-5 teams this season. Number one ranked Oklahoma will travel to Tallahassee, Florida to take on #5 Florida State. Oklahoma, led by star quarterback Landry Jones looks to keep their top ranking against the dynamic EJ Manuel and his Seminole running mates.
• There are no other matchups of two top-25 teams, but #10 South Carolina hosts the perennially pesky Naval Academy, #23 Texas hosts UCLA, and #15 Michigan State travels to Notre Dame, who suffered a heartbreaking last second loss this past weekend to Michigan.

Vick in ATL headlines NFL's Week 2

• The marquee game of the second week of the NFL season is the Philadelphia Eagles traveling to Atlanta to play the Falcons. This Sunday night game will show two teams that came into the season with sky high expectations. The Eagles won last week (against the St Louis Rams) but did not look as impressive as they would have hoped. The Falcons look to bounce back after falling short, in embarrassing fashion, against the Chicago Bears last week. It also marks the first time Michael Vick has played in Atlanta since being arrested and cut from the team before the 2007 season. When asked about his return Vick said: "That’s Matt Ryan’s (Atlanta's current quarterback) house. I’m just a visitor.”
• The other big game of the weekend features two of the best quarterbacks in football as Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers travel to New England to face off against Tom Brady's Patriots. The Patriots’ record setting performance on Monday Night Football and the Chargers impressive win against the Minnesota Vikings last weekend have raised expectations that this will be an entertaining game.
• Other games of interest this weekend include the Bears trying to win an emotional game for star LB Brian Urlacher whose mother died this week in New Orleans against the Saints, the Arizona Cardinals traveling to play the Washington Redskins (the winner of which will be a very surprising 2-0) and the Rams traveling to New York to play the Giants on Monday Night Football.

August 31st update

Wednesday Spotlight: Michael Vick

• Arguably the most hated man in professional sports a year or two ago, Michael Vick has proven that Americans believe in second chances, signing a six-year, $100 million contract on Tuesday to make him the third highest paid player in the NFL.
• Vick, who missed two seasons while being imprisoned for supporting a dog fighting ring (as well as other animal cruelty charges) came back to football in 2009 but really returned to star status in with a bang last year. The former number one overall pick of the 2001 NFL draft looked uncomfortable and out of shape in 2009 as the Eagles' 3rd string quarterback but a trade an injury and a year of experience back on the field gave him the opportunity to shine again.
• A monster game, under the bright lights of Monday Night Football last year, sealed Vick's status as the comeback player of the year. Jail apparently did not have a lasting effect on his running ability, the facet that set him apart from more traditional pass-only quarterbacks.
• Vick’s comeback from jail has been both hailed and vilified. Many don’t believe he deserves a second chance after the pain he caused animals, while others point to him as an ideal example of what people can do with a second chance. Since being released from jail Vick has worked with PETA and prison organizations to help raise awareness against animal cruelty and try to prevent others from making the same mistakes he did.


Women’s favorites out already in Flushing Meadows

• The final tennis major of the year is underway as the US Open began Monday in New York. On the women’s side, 4th ranked Petra Kvitova (this year’s Wimbledon champion) and 6th ranked Li Na (this year’s French Open champion) have already bit the dust in the first round. Caroline Wozniaki, the number one ranked woman (and recently revealed girlfriend of Sportico favorite Rory McIlroy) cruised into the second round.
• On the mens side, no big names have lost yet although Rafael Nadal had a relatively difficult time for a first round matchup, needing one tiebreaker (and nearly a second) to defeat Andrey Golubev 6-3, 7-5, 7-6.
• Like so much of the country, the U.S. open was also feeling the affects of Hurricane Irene. While the city was relatively unscathed, many players canceled press conferences and practice sessions as tournament officials actually shut down the National Tennis Center


Tigers look to hold off pack in AL Central

*Note: This is part 3 of a 6 part series that will break down the division races in each of baseball's 6 divisions.

• The American League Central has been dominated this past decade by the Minnesota Twins, who have won it in 6 of the past 9 seasons. However, this has been a down year for the Twins who have had each of their big stars (Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) miss significant time
• Heading into September, the Detroit Tigers are 5 games in front of the Chicago White Sox and 5 1/2 in front of the Cleveland Indians who started the season on fire but have faded of late. The Tigers have been fueled by the phenomenal hitting of Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander's fantastic season during which he's already won 20 games, threw a no-hitter, and almost threw a second.
• There's still a chance for the White Sox and Indians to make up ground though, as each have 14 games remaining against each other/the Tigers.