November 23rd update

Baseball Awards Announced

• About a month after the baseball season ends the major awards – MVP (for best player) and Cy Young Award (for best pitcher) in each league are announced as well as the rookie of the year and manager of the year. The most talked about winner this year was Justin Verlander in the American League. Verlander became the first pitcher in any league to win both the Cy Young and MVP since Dennis Eckersley won it in 1992 and the first starter since Roger Clemens in 1986 since Eckersley was a relief pitcher.
• The National League Cy Young was awarded to Clayton Kershaw. The Ace of the LA Dodgers has overcome some serious off-field distractions from his owner to pitch a fantastic season winning 21 games. The NL MVP was awarded to Milwaukee Brewers Outfielder Ryan Braun. The Hammerin Hebrew won in an upset over Kershaw’s Dodger teammate Matt Kemp. The Brewers won their division this year, which is generally a help to a player in the MVP race. Braun’s teammate Prince Fielder finished second in the voting. The Tampa Bay Rays swept the other awards with Starting Pitcher Jeremy Hellickson and manager Joe Maddon winning the Rookie of the year and Manager of the year respectively. In the National League, Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson took the top spots.
• Baseball also announced a minor change to their post season. They will award an additional wild card spot (2 instead of the current 1) starting next season, in each league. The two wildcards will play each other in a one-game playoff game. The winner will continue on to play according to the current format.


More tragic news in the world of sports

• As touched on in our Monday update, Arkansas TE Garrett Uekman was found dead in his apartment this weekend. Uekman’s is one of four sudden deaths to figures in the sports world in the past few days.
• Oklahoma State Universities head women’s basketball coach, and one his top assistants were killed in a plane crash on Thursday night. Kurt Budke and his deputy Miranda Serna were killed when their plane crashed into a Wildlife Management Area west of Little Rock. The planes pilot and another passenger were also on board and killed in the accident.
• Seattle Mariners 24-year old outfielder Greg Halman was stabbed to death on Rotterdam in his home country of the Netherlands. His brother is being held in relation to the murder. Halman was a young prospect who had played 44 games in the major leagues. He was also part of the 2009 Netherlands team that played in the World Baseball Classic (Baseball’s version of the World Cup).


Thanksgiving Weekend Football Matchups

• Turkey Day Games: 3 Fantastic NFL Games headline the Thursday games this week in the NFL. First, the shockingly competitive Detroit Lions take on the undefeated defending champion Green Bay Packers. The Lions, coming off of a big comeback win, look to continue their fantastic season against the best team in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys look to continue a 3-game winning streak against the Miami Dolphins in the Thursday afternoon game. The Thursday night game features a sibling rivalry between the San Fransisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh.
• College game of the week: after the major shakeup at the top of the BCS Standings this past weekend, the #1 LSU Tigers take on the #3 Arkansas Razerbacks. If LSU wins they’re all but guaranteed a shot at the National Championship game. If the Razorbacks win, then it will be a 3 way tie between those two teams and Alabama. If that happens, the lowest ranked team in BCS standings will be eliminated and then the winner of the head to head between the last two will win the SEC East. The full process is explained here, but it seems sketchy, as some of the involved coaches can make anonymous votes that actually affect the results of the poll.

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.

November 18th update

All's not Fine in Syracuse

• With the airwaves still churning out news about Joe Paterno and Penn State, it looks like the NCAA has another possible child abuse scandal to deal with. Longtime assistant coach of the Syracuse basketball team Bernie Fine has been placed on administrative leave after it was alleged that he sexually assaulted a former ballboy for more than a decade starting in 1983. The ballboy, now 39 years old, said that he never told head coach Jim Boeheim about the incidents.
• Apparently Post-Standard investigated the report back in 2003 but could not find enough evidence to continue with the story. As this story is just breaking, it's hard to say what happened or who knew what, however we will strive to maintain coverage as it becomes available.
• Regardless of what happens, the exposure from stories like these is good for the public consciousness, as it may shock administrators and other people in positions of power in schools and other institutions across the country, forcing them to take a more proactive stance against child abuse. Here's hoping we don't have to hear about any more stories like this any time soon.


NASCAR Championship Down to Two

• The NASCAR “Chase for the Sprint Cup” comes down to this weekend’s final race of the season where The Ford 400 in Miami will basically be a two man show. While 40+ drivers will actually be in the race, all eyes will be on Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.
• Edwards leads Stewart by 3 points in the standings with third place being 51 points behind Edwards. Stewart was the last driver not named Jimmie Johnson to win the NASCAR championship (in 2005). Using NASCAR’s complicated scoring system, it is a toss-up to know who will win the championship, or even who has won it if you were to watch the race without hearing any commentary.
• This championship format, which was introduced in 2008, was created in an effort to make the NASCAR championship as heart stopping and exciting as the Super Bowl and other major sports' playoff systems. NASCAR Chairman Bill France is very excited that his brainchild is working so well. As NASCAR tries to break into the top-4 American sports, a winner-take-all championship race will definitely help.

Weekend Football Story Lines

• NFL Game of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants – The Giants host the Eagles on Sunday Night. The struggling “Dream Team” Eagles coming off of an embarrassing loss to the Arizona Cardinals are in desperate need of a victory as they have started the season 3-6. Considering the talent they had before the season and then the amount they spent this offseason to add even more talent, this record is not acceptable. Ever the thoughtful/rational fans, Philadelphians are up in arms to fire Eagles coach Andy Reid, who is the longest tenured coach in the NFL.
• Battle in the Big 12: #13 Kansas State Wildcats at #22 Texas Longhorn – Texas, which started the season red hot (winning their first four games) has struggled recently (losing 3 of their last 5). Kansas State has struggled against the state of Oklahoma (losing to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) but is perfect against the rest of the country and looks to maintain any chance they have at winning the Big 12.
• NCAA Game of the Week: #5 Oklahoma Sooners against #22 Baylor Bears – The matchup of two very different superstar Quarterbacks. Both Sooners Quarterback Landry Jones (a traditional pocket passer) and Bears Quarterback Robert Griffin III (think Michael Vick but with a more accurate arm) will be playing in the NFL next year, assuming Griffin doesn’t pursue his very legitimate shot as a professional track star. Oklahoma, hopes a few teams in front them will stumble and are just hoping for a chance to play in another National Championship game. They'll get a chance to help themselves out a little as they still get to play #2 Oklahoma State.

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 14th update

MLB player Ramos endures kidnapping ordeal

• Towards the end of last week, a shocking development hit the world of sports as Washington Nationals Catcher Wilson Ramos was abducted from outside his home in Venezuela. Ramos, 24, had a promising rookie season and had just returned to Venezuela to play in a winter league.
• He was whisked away to a secluded area in the mountains that Ramos admitted he thought was too remote for him to be found and rescued. The kidnappers, apparently Colombian, only told him that he was going to be ransomed for a lot of money. Kidnapping of high profile targets is a growing business in parts of Central and South America and in Venezuela, many such potential targets employ full time bodyguards (according to FOXnews).
• Gladly, this story has a happy ending as Venezuelan police conducted an airborne raid and exchanged gunfire with his abductors, only 48 hours after he Ramos was taken. The raid ended with four of the kidnappers being arrested and four more apparently being searched for by police. As for the shellshocked but incredibly grateful Ramos, he's now safely back in the arms of his loved ones.
• While he didn't endure any physical injuries, Ramos readily admitted that he's sustained plenty of emotional damage. We can only hope that he recovers fully and that local and federal police can get a better handle on the kidnapping trade to keep not only athletes, but the general populations of these areas safer in the future.


College Football standings endure major shake up

• The BCS title picture is beginning to clear up some thanks to a few games on Saturday. The Oklahoma State Cowboys absolutely obliterated a pretty decent Texas Tech team 66-6. It was the biggest defeat in school history for Texas Tech, the team who only a few weeks earlier, gave Oklahoma their only loss. Cowboys QB Brandon Weeden threw for 423 yards and 5 touchdowns and helped his school to their first ever 10-0 start.
• #4 Stanford was not so "Luck-y," losing 53-30 to last year's national runner up Oregon. Heisman hopeful Andrew Luck who was considered a massive favorite going into the game, might now face some competition in the form of Weeden, Alabama RB Trent Richardson and Oregon RB LaMichael James who blistered the Cardinal for 146 yards and 3 TDs on only 20 carries.
• Oregon will almost certainly play in the inaugural Pac-12 championship game in early December and has only lost twice since their opening game in 2009 against Boise State (when current NFL player LaGarrette Blount was so frustrated that he punched a Boise player in the face after the game).
• Those same Boise State Broncos saw their BCS title chances vanish on a missed field goal for the second straight season. Last year it was a missed FG at Nevada with 1 second left and Boise went on to lose in OT. This season, they trailed TCU (probably the best rivalry the casual fan hasn't heard of this past decade) 36-35 but had a chance to win with a 39 yard field goal. But it was pushed right and Boise was once again left to wonder if they had given away a chance at a title game or if finishing yet another season undefeated would even matter with richer teams from bigger conference generally getting preferential treatment in the Title Game.
• Now it comes down to whether or not LSU and Oklahoma State can win out as both look to be firmly in control and #3 Alabama's proponents are getting quieter and quieter after the team struggled to beat lowly Mississippi State. Many feel that Alabama deserves another shot at LSU but Oregon's only loss was also to LSU and they have arguably been more impressive in their other games. It will be very interesting to see how things shake out if one of the top 2 lose.
Check in Wednesday as we do a full overview of the college basketball season (which has already seen a couple entertaining and historic games this past week).