Jeter down, NCAA has wild finishes

The Captain Goes Down

• For the third time in four nights the New York Yankees were playing an extra inning game. In the 12th inning of the first game against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night, Yankee Captain Derek Jeter ranged to his left to field a ground ball by Jhonny Peralta. As he planted to throw out a runner at second, his left leg buckled and he collapsed to the ground in pain.
• Jeter was carried off the field by manager Joe Girardi and another member of the Yankee’s staff, putting no weight on his left leg. In his post-game press conference Girardi acknowledged what many Yankees fans had been dreading, that Jeter would be out for the rest of the season, no matter how far the Yankees progressed due to a broken left ankle.
• Jeter’s injury is particularly painful to the Yankees because he was one of the few regular starters who had been playing well in the playoffs. The big bats of Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez have been largely silent, while Jeter was hitting .350 when he got injured. Jeter will be replaced in the lineup by Jayson Nix, and on the roster by Eduardo Nunez.
• The Yankees are down 2-0 in the best of 7 series.


Thrilling NCAA finishes

• There were a number of fantastic college games this weekend and for the most part, they did not disappoint as many games came down to the wire.
• Probably the best game involved two of the smartest schools in the Top 25, #17 Stanford at #7 Notre Dame.  Stanford led for most of the game, but after Notre Dame QB Everett Golson was knocked out with a head injury, backup Tommy Rees came in and led the Irish to a game-tying field goal as time expired.  In overtime, Notre Dame scored a touchdown first and Stanford, attempting to tie, reached Notre Dame's 1 yard line with 3 chances to force a second OT.
• The first two runs by star RB Stepfan Taylor were clearly short, but on 4th down he tried again and controversy ensued.  Taylor appeared to be stopped, and an official blew the whistle, ending the play and the game.  But Taylor had not stopped moving and after the whistle blew, he continued to move, scoring a touchdown.  (He may have fumbled before crossing the goal line but his teammate recovered in the end zone so either way Stanford would have tied the game).  The play was reviewed with no change.
• Another great game was #3 South Carolina playing against #9 LSU.  Before the game, Steve Spurrier joked that he got confused as to which Death Valley he was playing in, (It's the deadlier of the two, but no disrespect meant to this one).  South Carolina led in the fourth quarter, but LSU scored twice to take a 9 point lead, and South Carolina could only get within 2 points before the game ended, halting their perfect season.
• Speaking of perfect seasons ending, West Virginia's Geno Smith had not only led his team to a perfect record, but had put up near-perfect offensive stats in doing so up to this point in the season.  That streak came to a screeching halt against Texas Tech as he threw only one TD and WVU was obliterated 49-14 at the hands of the Red Raiders.