• The Giants must have just decided that they were tired of coming from behind. Despite being on the brink on elimination twice in the National League portion of the playoffs, facing a total of six elimination games in those two series, the San Francisco made it to the World Series, where they put their fans through much less stress, easily defeating the Detroit Tigers in a 4-0 sweep.
• The final game was played in Detroit and went to 10 innings where Marco Scutaro drove in Ryan Theriot to give the Giants a 4-3 lead before Sergio Romo shut down the Tigers hitters in the bottom of the inning to set off a wild celebration.
• The high-powered Tigers offense, led by Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera and free agent signee Prince Fielder managed only 6 runs in the entire series and none in games 2 or 3. The loss was even more painful for Tigers infielder Omar Infante who broke his hand when he was hit by a pitch in the 8th inning.
•The series MVP was Pablo Sandoval in set the tone in Game 1, hitting three home runs for the Giants, who take home their second World Series title in three years.
NCAA Highlighted by Horrific Injury
• South Carolina was looking to bounce back after back-to-back losses when they played Tennessee this Saturday and things were off to a good start as Junior running back Marcus Lattimore, fresh off of a major knee injury last year, was leading the Gamecocks to victory. In the second quarter, he was hit low by the helmet of a UT player and the world collectively gasped. Lattimore’s knee bent in a very unnatural way and he collapsed to the ground. The verdict is unclear, but Lattimore will not be playing any more this year, and his 2013 season is up in the air. In the eyes of your author, this injury only has one comparison in its ugliness, that was Willis McGahee in 2003 during the national championship game. Lattimore can be comforted by the fact that McGahee has had a long, productive NFL career.
• The second biggest piece of news out of College Football this weekend was Georgia defeating Florida. Florida was ranked #2 in the country, but turned the ball over six times leading to a 17-9 victory of the Bulldogs.
• Notre Dame continued to prove they belong by defeating the #8 overall Oklahoma Sooners 30-13. Meanwhile, Arizona defeated USC for the first time at home since 1999, giving the Trojans their second loss of the year.
Big Trade in the NBA
• In a league defined by Big Trios, the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like they had their core trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, all under 25 and all top 25 players in the league. The wildcard in those three was Harden, who was the 6th man for the Thunder (the first guy off the bench). He entered this season on the last year of his contract.
• The Thunder offered Harden a four year-$55 million contract. Harden refused, knowing he could get more on the open market. Instead of waiting for Harden to leave next summer, the Thunder made a move by sending Harden, as well as 3 other players, to the Houston Rockets in exchange for sharpshooter Kevin Martin, recent draftee Jeremy Lamb and 3 draft picks (including 2 first rounders).
• Harden will be able to be the star in Houston (alongside Jeremy Lin) and the Thunder will have a ton of pieces to play with as they look to continue to build around Durant and Westbrook. It is a little surprising that the move was made when it was, as the Thunder were one of the few teams who had legitimate title aspirations. It is unclear at the moment whether this move will help or hinder those aspirations.
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