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.