March 21st update

Peyton Makes a Decision

• The Peyton Manning sweepstakes ended on Tuesday when he decided to sign a 5-year $96 million deal with the Denver Broncos to become the highest paid player in the NFL by annual salary. Manning, the most sought after free agent on the market, was released by the Indianapolis Colts two weeks ago so they could avoid paying him a $20 million bonus.
• The Broncos emerged as a leader for Manning over the weekend. Manning will go to a team with a stout defense and a strong running game that went to the second round of the playoffs last year with a quarterback who is not as talented as Manning.
• The addition of Manning to the Broncos makes last year’s starter Tim Tebow expendable. There is a bit of controversy, as Tebow was riding an incredible wave of fan support for his incredible success either real or perceived, after taking over the starting job last season. Rumors are currently swirling about what the Broncos will do with Tebow. There are many teams who could use him, especially the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose fan base is closely linked to Tebow's Florida Gators and who would come out in droves to watch him play.


Big Injury in NCAA Tournament

• Before the tournament started, the most famous wrist in the tournament was of UNC’s forward John Henson. Henson, who injured it against N.C. State in the ACC tournament, returned to play against Creighton in North Carolina's second game of the NCAA tournament and UNC fans breathed a sigh of release.
• Unfortunately, later in the same game of Henson’s return, irreplaceable point guard Kendall Marshall was fouled hard on a drive and landed hard on his right wrist. (Marshall is left handed). Similar to the Henson injury, Marshall played for a while after incurring the injury, but was in noticeable pain as the game neared its end.
• Undergoing emergency surgery on Monday, Marshall has not been ruled out of UNC’s next game, against the Ohio Bobcats on Friday. There is a chance the wrist heals to a point where Marshall can play. UNC Coach Roy Williams has said the team is preparing for the weekend game(s) with the assumption Marshall will not play.

January 9th update

Explosive shootout in the Bayou:

• The NFL Playoffs started this weekend and featured some amazing games. The New Orleans Saints defeated the Detroit Lions in the much anticipated matchup of 5'000 yard passing QB's Drew Brees and Matt Stafford. The Lions had a great first half, nursing a 14-10 lead going into halftime over the favored Saints, and they looked like they had the game under control. But then Drew Brees did would Drew Brees does and the Saints went on a tear in the second half, scoring 5 touchdowns while only allowing 2. A game with a slow start took off and put up more than 70 points on the board as the final score was 45-28 Saints. The Lions have been a feel good story this year, will look to build on this season next year.


Steelers get Tebow’d in Overtime

• The Denver Broncos shocked the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in the final game of the weekend after Tim Tebow finally had a breakout passing game, going 10 for 21 for 316 yards and 2 TD's, a shocking 31.6 yards per completion. The Steelers went into storming comeback mode in the second half of the game after being 20-6 at the break.
• Pittsburgh was able to figure out the Broncos stout defense scoring 17 points in the second half, and holding the Tebow-led Broncos to only a field goal. Unfortunately they could not close out the game in regulation. The Broncos won the coin toss and scored on their first play when Tebow found fellow second year player Demaryius Thomas on a 20 yard pass over the middle of the field, which Thomas took to the house after stiff-arming one tackler and outrunning the others.
• Tebow's Broncos go on to play against the Patriots next week, and leave many football experts questioning what they actually know about the game after nearly everyone predicted that the experienced Steelers defense would stymie and Broncos offense that had struggled to three consecutive losses to finish the regular season.


Texans, Giants advance with ease

• The other two games were the Houston Texans defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 31-10 in the Texans first ever playoff game and the New York Giants defeating the Atlanta Falcons by the strange score of 24-2. Two blowouts were surprising as the teams seemed more even than the score would indicate. The Texans rode a strong performance by running back Arian Foster who ran for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Giants won largely due to their pass rush hammering the Falcons running and passing games all day. The Falcons looked anemic and failed to convert on two short fourth downs that may have changed the complexion of the game. It is the second straight year that the Falcons have lost badly in their first playoff game despite having one of the better records in the NFC during the regular season.

January 6th update

Kings fire coach after spat with player

• The Sacramento Kings made a strong statement in support of young Center Demarcus Cousins on Wednesday night, firing coach Paul Westphal after the two were in a fight. Apparently at the end of a game Cousins began shouting at his coach and demanded to be traded. This has been disputed, but nonetheless Westphal issued this statement through the team's website making it seem like Cousins may indeed be traded.
• Owners rarely side with players in situations like this however Westphal's almost immediate firing afterwards certainly comes as a strong commitment to the talented but mercurial Cousins. Perhaps owners Gavin and Joe Maloof realized that Westphal had permanently damaged his relationship with the center and that he wasn't going to help the team as much in the coming years as a potentially great tandem of Cousins and PG Tyreke Evans.
• Westphal's replacement is King's assistant coach Keith Smart. Smart only played one sesason in the NBA, but has been a coach in the League since 2000; including as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 and the Golden State Warriors from 2010-2011. Smart is perhaps best known for a shot he hit in college. As a member of the Indiana Hoosiers in 1987, Smart hit a jump shot in the national championship game that that gave the Hoosiers a 74-73 lead at the buzzer to win the championship.


NFL Playoffs Begin this Weekend

• Saturday at 4:30: Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans – The Houston Texans limped into the playoffs but nonetheless get to play at home in their first ever playoff matchup. Starting their third string rookie quarterback and nursing injuries to many of their major position players the Texans are hurting. Luckily they start the playoffs against the Cincinnati Bengals who are a very young and untested team who also starts a rookie QB, Andy Dalton who some are calling "Shawshank" (since his first name is Andy and his hair is Red, the names of the two main characters from that movie).
• Saturday at 8:00: Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints – Only five times in the history of the NFL has a quarterback thrown for 5'000 yards and 2 of the five were achieved by the two starting QB's in this game (Drew Brees and Matt Stafford) in 2011. That being said it would appear that the Detroit Lions are heading into a buzz saw disguised in a Mardi Gras outfit. The New Orleans Saints are coming off of the best offensive season in NFL history, and will face a Detroit defense that has been kindly described as suspect. The Lions are back in the playoffs after more than a decade of ineptness, but many in Vegas are expecting this to be a blowout in favor of the Saints.
• Sunday at 1:00: Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants – Probably the most evenly matched game of the weekend features the Eli Manning led Giants against the Matt Ryan led Falcons. The Giants are looking to keep their momentum after a big win last weekend against the Dallas Cowboys, while the Falcons are looking to win a playoff game for the first time in more than 5 years.
• Sunday at 4:30: Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos – The Steelers will try and contain the Denver Broncos and QB Tim Tebow, who you may have heard of if you haven't been living under a rock. The Steelers are considered favorites but are dealing with multiple injuries. QB Ben Roethlisburger is nursing a bad ankle sprain, while Safety Ryan Clark and Running Back Rashard Mendenhall have already been ruled out of the game.

December 5th update

Tiger Woods Wins… Finally

• Tiger Woods for the first time since 2009 in his last action of 2011. Woods shot two birdies in on the last two holes to beat former Masters Champion Zach Johnson by one stroke. It was Woods’ first win in 749 days.
• This event is one hosted by Woods as a fundraiser for his foundation (Woods donated his winnings - $1.2 million – to his foundation as well). There were only 17 other golfers included in the field.
• Even with the short field this victory is raising hopes amongst golf fans that Woods (still the sport’s premier star) will be on his way back to glory after his extramarital scandal and subsequent swoon. Woods, who had the record for most consecutive weeks ranked #1, had been ranked #52 coming into this tournament. This victory catapults him to a more respectable #21.


Multiple thrillers headline the NFL

• Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos once again won a thrilling last second game, 35-32 over the Minnesota Vikings and this time Tebow actually had a pretty solid passing game. He only completed 10 passes but did so efficiently, as he only threw 15 total passes. He has 202 total yards and 2 long touchdown passes to Demaryius Thomas. The Broncos came back from 2 deficits in the last few minutes and after intercepting Vikings rookie Christian Ponder, made a field goal as time expired.
• Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers continued to win shootouts, this time beating the New York Giants 38-35 after the Giants had tied the game with less than a minute remaining. Rodgers and the Packers are 12-0, haven't lost in more than a calendar year and looks like he may set multiple NFL records. He's been so good that I'm seriously considering changing my car insurance to State Farm and getting my Discount Double Check.
• In other action, rookie quarterback T.J. Yates led the Houston Texans to their 6th straight win as they defeated the Atlanta Falcons 17-10. The Texans have sustained tons of injuries but continue to win. They've already tied their franchise record for wins with 9 (with 4 left to eclipse it) and look like a lock to play in their first playoff game ever. The Texans are currently the only team in America's 4 major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL) never to have won a playoff game.
• In other games, the Dallas Cowboys lost in OT to the Arizona Cardinals after Dallas's coach called a timeout before his own kicker made a game winning field goal and then watched as he missed the second attempt and the Indianapolis Colts showed signs of life but still lost 31-24 to the New England Patriots and look like they will very possibly go an entire season without winning a single game.


BCS Championship Will Feature SEC Rematch

• As opined on this site last week, this years college football title game will be a rematch of a general stinker from earlier in the year. The #2 Alabama Crimson Tide will this time travel to Louisiana to take on the #1 Louisiana State Tigers. Their November 5th matchup was a quite boring 9-6 victory by the Tigers. This is a highly controversial game because of the fact that Alabama already had a chance against LSU in the previous game while there are some other teams that seemingly have an argument to get their first chance against LSU (who is a unanimous #1).
• The Orange Bowl will feature the Big East Champion West Virginia Mountaineers vs the ACC champion Clemson Tigers. The Sugar Bowl will feature two wildcard teams with the Michigan Wolverines against the Virginia Tech Hokies. This is a bit of a surprise as the Hokies lost to Clemson this weekend in the ACC title game, Virginia Tech’s second loss to the Tigers this season.
• The Fiesta Bowl features presumptive Heisman Trophy winner Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal vs the Oklahoma State Cowboys (the Big 12 Champs). The final Bowl game will feature Pac 12 champions Oregon Ducks against the Big 10 champions Wisconsin Badgers.
• Update from Friday: We reported that if UCLA lost this weekend they would not be bowl eligible. Since then, they appealed this to the NCAA and were awarded bowl eligibility. They will be playing Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl on December 31st.

November 28th update

NBA Lockout Ends

• You can't put the NBA under a tree but if all you wanted for Christmas was professional basketball than:
A. You're an extremely dedicated fan and
B. You'll get your wish... the 2011-2012 NBA season will not be completely canceled as so many were predicting and will most likely begin on Christmas Day.
• The schedule will be 66 games long instead of 82 and will have teams averaging about 2 extra games per month as they try to squeeze the season in despite nearly a 2 month late start. Every team will not visit every city, as has been the case in the past.
• As for the lockout, the main point of contention was how BRI or Basketball Related Income would be split between the players and owners. They finally settled on 51.2% going to the players, which is way down from the 57% that had been previously awarded to the players. There is also a much stricter luxury tax which will most likely keep the big market teams from outspending the smaller teams to such a large degree. For all the other details of the CBA, click here.
• Additionally, the stars we mentioned last week who were planning their 4 city "Homecoming Tour" have canceled the event and tour organizers have said that tickets will be refunded fully. It would have been interesting to see but I'm sure everyone is satisfied that the tour will not have to take the place of actual NBA games and a real season.


Tebow Headlines NFL Weekend

• The San Diego Chargers are the latest team to get Tebow’d. The Denver Broncos defeated San Diego in overtime, using a punishing running attack to defeat the underachieving Chargers. Tim Tebow had another below average game as a quarterback, completing 9 of his 18 pass attempts with one touchdown. However, he played well enough as running back, as he also added 67 yards rushing on 22 attempts which were the most rushing attempts by a QB in the modern era. Willis McGahee added 117 yards rushing to assist the Denver to their fifth win in Tebow’s six starts.
• The New England Patriots crushed the Philadelphia Eagles 38-20, dropping the disappointing Eagles to 4-7. The Patriots proved their offensive prowess, while the Eagles proved they need some more time (probably next season at the soonest) to gel. The Patriots went down 10-0 7 minutes into the game, before running off a 38-3 stretch to put the game out of reach. The Eagles, led by backup quarterback Vince Young, started strong but faded quickly and could not keep up with the high octane Patriots
• Houston Texans down to a third quarterback, defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars. Texans star quarterback Matt Schaub was injured for the year last weekend. Backup Matt Leinart, who was the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner as the best college football player, was in line to finish the season but he got injured with less than two minutes left in the first half. His injured collarbone (which knocked him out a few years ago as well when he was in Arizona) is expected to end his season. The Texans then turned to rookie TJ Yates. Yates was victorious on Sunday, but the Texans will have their work cut out for them to continue.


College Basketball Preseason Tournaments completed

• Duke University wins Maui Invitational. The preseason tournament in Hawaii featured 8 of the biggest names in college basketball. Duke, the highest ranked team of the 8, won the championship on Wednesday. They defeated the Kansas Jayhawks in a highly entertaining basketball game that was tightly contested until the final minute.
• Syracuse wins season tip-off NIT title despite child abuse allegations hanging over the team. This preseason tournament, hosted at Madison Square Garden, is a favorite for the Orange, and they won the tournament defeating Virginia Tech and Stanford en route to the championship. Two days later the University officially fired long time associate head coach Bernie Fine after a third person came forward alleging Fine molested them and a tape was recovered that showed Fine's wife admitting that she believed the allegations were true.
• University of Connecticut and North Carolina, both preseason top 5 teams, fell in tournaments in exotic locations. UConn fell to the University of Central Florida in the Bahamas while UNC was defeated by UNLV in Las Vegas. Both teams are still expected to have good seasons, but will have to go on this season without a preseason championship title.

November 16th update

NCAA Hoops kicks off

• On Veterans Day, a number of NCAA games marked the beginning of the 2011-2012 college basketball season, none receiving more publicity than the North Carolina-Michigan State matchup, the first ever to be played aboard an active aircraft carrier (or any other type of boat I'd imagine) and a rematch of the 2009 NCAA Title game.
• North Carolina won 67-55 to improve to 6-0 against Michigan State under coach Roy Williams. The Tarheels return nearly their entire team from a squad that won the ACC's regular season championship and begin the year as the consensus #1 pick. As always, they may face some competition from #6 Duke, who we'll mention more on later, although Duke is now without their trio of scorers from last season (Nolan Smith, Kyrie Irving and Kyle Singler).
• Kentucky may be the biggest threat to the Tarheels this season as the #2 Wildcats return some talent in the form of Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones and have also added superstar recruits Anthony Davis and Michael Gilchrist. The Wildcats may be the most athletic team in the NCAA's and will get another chance to defeat the Tarheels at home on December 3rd as they did in the Elite 8 last season.
• #3 Ohio State returns Jared Sullinger (who was probably the best player in basketball last year not named "Jimmer") and the defending champion UConn Huskies has plenty of talent to replace dynamic scorer Kemba Walker and starts at #4, in good shape to make a repeat title run. Vanderbilt started the year ranked #7, but suffered the first big upset of the young season, losing 71-58 to Cleveland State.


New Leader atop the Winners Board

• On Tuesday night the Duke Blue Devils defeated the Michigan State Spartans 74-69 at Madison Square Garden in New York. This was the 903rd win in the illustrious career of Blue Devil’s Coach Mike Krzyzewski and puts Coach K (as he is commonly known) ahead of his mentor Bobby Knight at the top of the list of winningest men's college basketball coaches.
• Krzyzewski (pronounced sha-shef-ski) began his career as a player at the US Military Acadamy. After serving in the military, Coach K returned to Army where he soon took over as head coach. After five years he went to Duke University in 1980. He has won 830 of his games during his 31 years at Duke.
• In addition to the litany of professional players that have come out of Duke during his tenure (Grant Hill, Carlos Boozer and JJ Redick), Coach K has also had many assistants go on to be head coaches at other schools, and has been the head coach of the US Mens Basketball team since 2006, winning a Gold Medal in the 2008 Beijing summer games.
• Coach K has also been one of the most hated people in all of sports, as the face of a university that has always been disliked for a number of reasons. As two UNC grads, this post has been hard to write but we have to admit that Coach K has been unarguably one of the best coaches of all-time. A four time National Champion in addition to the all time winningest coach, it’s hard to argue with Coach K’s pedigree, but much easier for us to continue disliking him on a non-personal level.


NFL Update

• Green Bay continues to roll. Monday Night, the Green Bay Packers crushed the Minnesota Vikings 45-7, completely demolishing the Vikings in all facets of the game, even though Jared Allen moved closer to the single season sack record and now only needs 9 more to tie Michael Strahan's record of 22.5. But the real story was not Allen, but the Packers, who have continued to prove they are the best team in the NFL. Lead by quarterback Aaron Rogers the Packers seem unstoppable and have not lost in nearly a full year. Rogers is on pace to have one of the best seasons for a quarterback in the history of the NFL.
• The Second Thursday Night game of the 2011 season features some early trash talk. The New York Jets travel to the Mile High City to take on the Denver Broncos. Unconventional Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (who won last weeks game while only completing two passes) came under fire this week from Jets All-Pro cornerback Darrell Revis. Revis questioned Tebow’s ability to play quarterback and called him more of a running back than a quarterback. Additionally, he said that the Jets were not worried about Tebows ability (or lack thereof) to throw the football, worrying more about his ability to run.

November 4th update

Week 9 NFL Storylines

• In a battle of high-profile but struggling AFC West quarterbacks the Denver Broncos bring Tim Tebow (who is a fan favorite but not a great technical quarterback) against, the Oakland Raiders, who traded a huge amount for a quarterback who has already thrown three interceptions despite playing less than half of one game. This game will allow fans to see what these two signal-callers can do against relatively weak defenses.
• The other Manning: New York Giants at New England Patriots. If you look at the top rated quarterbacks this season none of the last names should surprise you, but to Eli Manning at the top instead of his injured brother Peyton has turned a few heads. Eli argued this offseason that he should be considered in the same breath as Patriots stud quarterback Tom Brady and most pundits scoffed but he's played phenomenally and this Sunday he will get a chance to prove himself on the field. Eli is currently the third rated quarterback in the league, while Brady is second. On a side note, Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw says he may play despite having a broken bone in his foot. Who says football players arent tough anymore???
• Game of the Week: Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens embarrassed the Steelers in the first game of the season forcing a Steelers record for turnovers. But since that point the Steelers have steadily gotten better, and the Ravens have struggled a bit, especially on offense. This Sunday night game will be a big test for the Ravens who are coming off of two straight poor showings (losing to Jacksonville and barely beating Arizona). The Steelers are coming off of a big win, dismantling the New England Patriots last week and they look to continue their winning streak and extend their division lead.


Week 10 NCAA Football Story Lines

• #9 South Carolina at #7 Arkansas: South Carolina is struggling to replace possibly the best running back in the NCAA when healthy (Marcus Lattimore who tore his ACL). Arkansas is looking to stay competitive in their division as they get closer to the end of the season. They only have one loss (to Alabama) but are third in their division behind both Alabama and LSU.
• #14 Kansas State at #3 Oklahoma State: Kansas State is coming off of their first loss of the year to Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State is looking to stay competitive and jump the loser of the LSU/Alabama game to have the inside track at the National Championship game. Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon looks to continue his torrid pace of 9 catches and 105 yards each game.
• Refer to Wednesday’s post for an in depth preview of the game of the week (or century as some are saying), #1 LSU at #2 Alabama.


Stay tuned Monday for an update of the NBA non-season which should have started this past week but is instead still floundering with a labor dispute

October 12th update

Wednesday Spotlight: Tim Tebow

• Tim Tebow. The name alone induces a wide range of emotion. There's fanatical love, undying loathing, and in some cases confusion as to why such a big fuss is being made of a guy who hasn't shown that he can throw the ball at the NFL level. Generally though, there is a widespread feeling of respect for the Denver Broncos new starting quarterback. Tebow made his name at the University of Florida leading the Gators to two national championships and two conference championships.
• Tebow is known for his unorthodox style of playing and his very orthodox style of living. As a quarterback he is wildly inaccurate and known more for his ability to run past (and over) his opponents than his ability to throw over them. As a person raised by Christian Missionaries, Tebow spent summers in the Philippines building houses and schools, and helping people gain access to clean water supplies.
• Tebow’s excellence on the field lead Florida to unparalleled heights during his four years there, winning a National Championship his first year there (although he didnt play much) and his Junior year, at which point he was already a household name. He also led Florida to two Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships. Tebow also won a number of individual awards including becoming the first Sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, given to the best college football player each year.
• In the NFL, Tebow was drafted in the first round amid much controversy, as most draft pundits thought his mechanics were too unorthodox for success at the NFL level where defenders are smarter, bigger and faster than in college. Through his first season and a quarter, Tebow's success has been mixed. He has started 3 of the 10 games he has appeared in and the team has won two of those three starts. That number will go up as he has officially been named the starter and while his ultimate football success remains to be seen, there is no doubt that he will leave blood, sweat and tears on the field and lead by example week after week.



Cardinals, Tigers tighten respective series

• On Tuesday night, the Detroit Tigers needed to win to avoid going down 3-0 to the Texas Rangers and a lot of their hopes rested on the arm of young pitcher Doug Fister, acquired midseason from the Seattle Mariners. Just as he did against the Yankees in the deciding game of the previous series, Fister came through in a big way and has continued to pay dividends far beyond what the team could have reasonably expected of him. Fister calmed down after giving up 3 singles to start the game and allowed only 1 more run as the Tigers won 5-2 to bring the series to 2-1 Texas.
• Both teams are dealing with a rash of injuries as Adrian Beltre of the Rangers got banged up and Victor Martinez of the Tigers actually hurt himself while hitting a home run Tuesday night. Both are expected to tough it out and play but neither will be at 100%. Others are hurt as well and Texas's longest tenured player and mainstay in the lineup Michael Young, is now only 2-24 for the playoffs giving him a miserable .083 batting average.
• On the other side, the Cardinals crushed the Brewers 12-3 on Monday night as David Freese homered and Albert Pujols hit 4 extra base hits (anything other than a single) including a home run of his own. That series is tied 1-1 as the teams head back to St. Louis for game 3.
• Both series will have games on Wednesday and Thursday as baseball moves closer to the World Series.

October 10th update

Raiders win thriller to honor late owner

• The Oakland Raiders longtime owner, the outspoken Al Davis, whose catch phrase "Just win, baby" was the mantra of Raiders fans and players for decades (even if has been ignored for the past decade or so) passed away this past week at his home at the age of 82. His team came out and played a thrilling game, getting an interception with seconds on the clock and a 25-20 lead when the Houston Texans were within a few yards of the end zone for the potential winning score. After the game, Hue Jackson, the Raiders current coach, gave a heartwarming postgame speech which can be read here.
• The Buffalo Bills defeated the stunningly inept Philadelphia Eagles assisted by 4 interceptions of QB Michael Vick. The Bills are now 4-1 while the Eagles are 1-4, records which 99% of the football world would have expected to be reversed at this point before the season started.
• The San Francisco 49ers destroyed the Tampa Bay Bucs 48-3 to go to 4-1 and take a commanding 2 game lead in their division. Given that the team who won the division last year only won 7 games, the 49ers look to be well on their way to the playoffs under first year supercoach Jim Harbaugh, who as a player, was actually the last player to start at quarterback for the Colts other than Peyton Manning before this season. Additionally, his brother John is coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
• In other action, the Minnesota Vikings scored 28 points in the first quarter to get their first win, the Kansas City Chiefs set a franchise record for their largest comeback, defeating the Indianapolis Colts 28-24 after being down 24-7 and the Denver Broncos rallied big after fan favorite Tim Tebow was inserted into the starting lineup but came up just short, losing by 5 after they ran out of time on their final drive against the San Diego Chargers.


Top Seeds are out, Baseball down to four

• The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers after their pitcher, Ivan Nova, left their decisive Game 5 with an injury. The Tigers, on the back of two 1st inning Home Runs and timely pitching to get out of multiple Yankee threats, made their way to the League Championship Series (LCS).
• The Tigers have moved on to face the Texas Rangers, who dispatched the Tampa Bay Rays despite scoring less runs than the Rays overall. The Rangers took game one in the best of seven series against the Tigers on a game-winning home run by Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz. The Rangers, who were the AL representative in the World Series last year have been amongst the favorites all year.
• The Philadelphia Phillies fell to the red-hot St Louis Cardinals, who were only in the playoffs thanks to a late season swoon by the Atlanta Braves. Chris Carpenter pitched a fantastic game 5 only allowing 3 hits slightly outpitching his friend Roy Halladay of the Phillies to give the Cardinals a 1-0 win
• The Cardinals move on to play the Milwaukee Brewers, who took 5 games to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round. The Brewers won Game 1 of this best of seven series 9-6 aided by an offensive explosion in the 5th inning off of Cardinals Starter Jaime Garcia. The Brewers, whose star pitcher Zach Greinke started a war of words with Carpenter before the series even started, have been a fun group to watch all year and probably have the most star power of any team left in the playoffs.

August 12th update

PGA Championships Tee off in Atlanta

• After a big golf news weekend last weekend, the pros take to Atlanta’s Athletic Club for the PGA Championship, the fourth and final of Golf’s Grand Slams.
• All eyes are on Tiger Woods again, and he came out with a really hot start but faded quickly after to finish the first round at 7 over par, tied for 129th place. Tiger is looking to win his first tournament in over two years, and will struggle to make the cut at this point (cut being the point, half way through the tournament, when the field is trimmed in half).
• The leader after day one is Steve Stricker at 7 under par (14 strokes ahead of Tiger). Stricker is looking for his first win in a Major tournament. Sportico favorite Rory McIlroy is 7 strokes behind Stricker at even par.


(Kind of) Real Football Begins!

• The NFL’s preseason kicked off last night with a slate of 5 games. The preseason continues this weekend with 5 more games tonight and 5 Saturday, and a Monday night game.
• While these games tell us very little about the teams as a whole (the starters usually only play a handful of plays before turning the rest of the game over to the backups) it sure is nice to be able to see actual professional football being played after a contentious labor situation this off season..
• The biggest winner of the night was probably Tim Tebow who is embroiled in a quarterbacking controversy. Tebow played well completing 6 of the 7 passes he attempted for 91 yards.While he did not score a touchdown, Tebow also added 15 yards on 2 rushing plays. The Broncos lost the game to the Cowboys on a gamble that paid off in the end. Still, Tebow's play is encouraging both to his his career's future and the short term future of the Broncos, who were one of the worst teams in the NFL last season.

August 10th update

Wednesday spotlight: Joe Paterno

• Anyone who knows longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno was very concerned when a player collided with the coach during practice this week. It would be uncomfortable for anyone, but Paterno, or JoePa as he is affectionately called, is 84 years old. But just as people around him would be concerned, they would also be completely unsurprised when he refused to talk about himself, turning the attention to Penn State Nittany Lions football team, saying, "It's time for everyone to turn the attention to the team. We have a lot of hard work ahead in order to be as good as we think we can be."
• Paterno is one of two extremely long tenured coaches of power programs in recent memory, having coached at Penn State since 1966. The other, Bobby Bowden, has since retired but coached Florida State from 1976 to 2009.
• Paterno holds the record for the most victories by a football coach in Division I (now called the FBS), he has coached more bowl game wins than any other coach in college football history and is the first FBS coach to reach 400 victories. Additionally, he led five undefeated teams to wins in major bowl games including the 1986 team which won what many consider to be the first "true" national championship game over Miami.

*On a personal note, my grandfather loved Penn State and JoePa more than any other public figure as far as I can remember so he'll always a warm spot in my heart.


Fight for Denver QB job gets interesting

• Last year the Denver Broncos drafted Tim Tebow the reknowned college quarterback from the University of Florida. Tebow was expected to take a year or two to develop behind established, if maligned, starter Kyle Orton and then take the reins of the Broncos' (we never shy away from a good pun) offense.
• The issue with starting Tebow is that Orton developed into a pretty decent quarterback, throwing the ball over the field and helping make Brandon Lloyd one of the best receivers in the NFL last season. Additionally, Tebow’s development has been slower than originally planned. The cherry on the top of all this is the Broncos had a very poor 2010 season and fired their head coach, Josh McDaniels.
• Many fans expected Tebow to come into this season as the starter, but he has not shown the progression expected (heavily affected by the lockout which didn’t allow him contact with the Broncos). Orton, meanwhile, has performed very well through initial practices and has solidified himself as the starter in Denver.
• Controversy has ensued as Orton was almost traded, and has been booed by fans at training camp. Orton has said he doesn’t care if the fans like him, and he will continue to work hard to help the Broncos win.