NBA China Blunder NFL and College Football Rolling.  Seems like a broken record.  The NFL and College football just keep rolling along.  Another league in the NBA makes a huge China Blunder.  NHL is off to a strong start.  Still wish there was better coverage than what NBC does.  But there is not and it does not look like it is coming any time soon.  College football did not fail to entertain us.  The NFL games had some very interesting results and we are starting to see some teams pull away from the pack.  The NBA mess is all their own fault.  Sometimes if you are just going to go for the money with out looking at the big picture is can come back to haunt you.  Who are we kidding the NBA is still laughing all the way to the bank.

NFL Rolls with another great week

NFL started out the week with what is almost always an interesting rivalry game with the Chiefs at the Broncos.  These two division rivals do not like each other and try to take it out on each other.  Then it turned out that there was not much of a rivalry going on here this week.  The Chiefs smacked down the Broncos.  The issue here is that Patrick Mahomes went down with a dislocated knee cap.  It was really heads up by teammates that saw what happened telling him to not move till the Dr.  got on the field.   This prevented the injury from being more serious and the Dr. was able to put the knee cap back in place.  Now he will have a 4 – 6 week injury rather than an injury that could have possibly been season ending.  I saw a “rant” by Stephen A. Smith saying how stupid the Chiefs were to run a quarterback sneak here.  Of course with Smith every time he opens his mouth it is a rant.  This was a freak injury.  There have been 100’s of quarterback sneaks in similar situations and they all ended with no injury.  Stephen A this is football.  It happens.

This was a crazy week like usual.  It is so fantastic that the NFL never lets us down.  Some of the teams may let us down but over all the whole league offers us some exciting and riveting entertainment.

Five biglakesports key NFL observations for the week.

1.  The NFC North has become Quarterback central.  The four quarterbacks combined for 1379 yards and 15 touchdown passes.  That is a pretty impressive statistic.  That was lead by Aaron Rodgers having the best day of his career.  Going 25-31, 429 YDS, 5 TD  and the first perfect quarterback rating he has ever had in his career.  He also ran in for a score.  Even with the Lions having a losing record now the NFC North is still the strongest division in the NFL and is really looking like they could get 3 teams into the playoffs
2. The 49ers are the real deal.  They beat the Redskins 9 – 0 in a really soggy rain filled ugly game.  Every now and then you have one of those crazy games that is influenced by the weather.  This was one of those games.  At the start of the season no one thought that the 49ers would be undefeated this late into the season.  Would be leading the NFC West by two games and that the Rams would be on the outside looking in.  It is interesting that the former Buccaneer that is building the team to recon with is John Lynch not Jon Gruden.  Guess that missing H is causing a problem.  I know that was not funny but it made me laugh.  Lunch has build a team that is young and has a lot of drive.  Kyle Shanahan is turning out to be a coach the team wants to follow and do well for.  It is also helping that the players they have drafted are panning out pretty well right now.  It will be interesting to see if they can keep it going.  The 49ers schedule is about to get much more difficult.
3. The Eagles are in real trouble.  Most people were picking the Eagles to win the NFC East.  While they can still do that.  They are not looking very good right now.  A Cowboy team that had a lot of issues the past few weeks.  Completely took apart the Eagles.  It is almost getting to the point where the Eagles look like they have no clue what is going on anymore.  It looks like they should have given Nick Foles what ever he wanted to keep him with the team.  Not to be the starter but just to be on the team.  Maybe he was their good luck charm and kept the team focused.  Guess we will never know.  After seven games the Eagles are looking like a bottom half team not a playoff contender.
4. The Ravens parted ways with Joe Flacco at the right time.  Flacco is drowning with the Broncos.  Once again John Elway made the exact wrong choice at quarterback.  Guess Elway truly is not the quarterback whisperer.  On the other hang the Ravens are making waves with Lamar Jackson.  He is making noise on the ground and in the air.  He is winning games for them.  I have heard people saying things like he is already better than Michael Vick when Vick was in his prime.  Lets not get crazy here the sample size is still pretty small for Jackson but he is putting up some really nice numbers.  I still worry that the way he runs could be a problem.  Very exciting but that one wrong hit and the Ravens season is over. Hopefully that does not happen so enjoy the show for now.
5. The Refs are still a problem.  Replay is still a problem.  Challenges have become a joke.  It is still confusing with what can be challenged and what cannot.  Jon Gruden threw his red flag to challenge what was called an incomplete pass by Aaron Rodgers.  Gruden though it should have been intentional grounding.  At least the ref made the right call in just handing the flag back to Gruden and telling him that the play could not be challenged.  There were times in previous years that throwing the red flag when you could not challenge was a penalty.  Things are so muddled up now most people don’t know what and how to challenge.   I say lets just get rid of it.

 

College Football Changes

College football once again did not disappoint.  Illinois gave us one of the biggest upsets of the year. Kicking a field goal as time expired to beat Wisconsin 24 – 23.  The Illinois win over Wisconsin really put a dent in the Big Ten.  If Wisconsin would have won this week would have been a match up of top 6 teams with Wisconsin traveling to Ohio State.  The Buckeyes took care of business on a Friday night game against Northwestern.  The Badgers lost a game against a team they were more than a three score favorite over.  This is a huge problem for the Big Ten.  They can still get some of the mojo back but they really need some good things to happen down the road.  To set up a huge matchup in the Big Ten championship game the Big Ten would need Wisconsin to win out.  Ohio State to Lose a close one to Wisconsin this coming week and then win out.  Matching up two one loss teams in the Big Ten championship game.  That would more than likely ensure a Big Ten team in the playoff.  Of course if Ohio State just wins out they will be in and could be in the running to get the one seed.

Five things of note in College Football

1. Alabama is number one on reputation not merit.  That is starting to show with the number of teams that first place votes are being spread around on now.  Alabama is going to have some difficult games coming up and with the loss of Tua that could be a huge issue.
2. Clemson should not be in the top four.  Clemson has had close games against teams that are not that good.  It is starting to look like we all expected too much from Trevor Lawrence.  He played so well last year that we all though he was going to make a giant leap this year.  We all forgot that he is only in his second year and he is taking a step back.  Looking at it now from a step back that is not a surprise. He is still putting up some pretty good numbers.  Since last years numbers were so good they look worse than they are.  But it is still leading to a slide down the polls for Clemson.
3. Oregon is giving the PAC 12 some life.  They pulled out a nice win against a pretty good Washington team.  If they can stay on this roll and make it to the PAC 12 Championship game they could sneak into the playoff.  They would need some help but if they win out it could happen.  If they had only beaten Auburn week one in a game they should have one.  Then every thing would be different here.
4. There are still ten teams undefeated in the top NCAA football division.  Two three of those teams are Baylor, Minnesota and Appalachian State.  Staying undefeated this far into a season is impressive.  It really does not matter who you have played.  Baylor and Minnesota have some difficult games coming up.  I Appalachian state has to play South Carolina in a few weeks.  So it will be fun to watch these teams and see what happens here.
5. My top four College Teams for this week are.  1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Oklahoma 4. Alabama  I am really not sure why at this point people would have Clemson ahead of LSU.  That one makes no sense to me.  Ohio State looks like the most complete team right now.  They have all the talent and a coach that is coaching to his team.  How happy is Justin Fields that he transferred out of Georgia.  On the other hand how happy is Joe Burrow that he transferred out of Ohio State to LSU.  it seems to have worked out pretty well for both of them.

See my Weekly College Game Day Pick Three Here

NBA China – The Tweet was Right Getting in with China was Wrong

I get it that the NBA sees a huge market in China.  It is a huge market for anyone.  Basketball is very popular over there.  One of the great things with this country is freedom of speech.  There are a lot of other countries that do not believe it freedom of speech.  One of those countries is China.  NBA commissioner said that the NBA has suffered huge financial consequences due to the tweet from Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s  support of Hong Kong.  While he is correct this tweet was a breaking point.  The reality is that the losses are due to the NBA doing business with a country that does not care about basic freedom.  The NBA is not the only business in the United States doing this.  I have no problem with the Daryl Morey said.  It is his right to speak freely.  I might say that the timing of it was wrong since the NBA had people in China at the time.  We don’t really know what his motive was here.  He may have just not realized NBA people were over there.  Or it could have been he knew they were there and that he is not OK with the NBA doing business over there.

The NBA has to understand that this will always be a tenuous situation.  You are doing business with a country that can bring you huge amounts of money.  But you have to decide if the possible consequences are worth it.  In this case it is looking more and more like those consequences might come back to bite them.  We talk a lot about freedom of speech.  It seems like more and more we are a country that chases money.  No matter what the cost.  That is ok but if that is the path you want to follow you will have to check a lot of things at the door.  Adam Silver says that this has cost the NBA Billions of dollars.  I have to say that I really do not feel sorry for the NBA.  I am sure that in the end they will get it all back some how.

NBA Season Set to Start

The NBA regular season starts this week.  Like with the NHL the beginning of the NBA really does not make that much difference.  The season is so long that you can have a slow start and still make it to the playoffs.  The NBA season is going to start with Pelicans star Zion Williamson recovering from an injury.  It looks like his knee injury will keep him out six to eight weeks.  That could put him coming back right before Christmas.  While it would be nice to have him out there getting some experience.  This is not a huge issue.   The bigger issue here is will there be an injury problem with him.  No way to tell yet.  So will just have to wait it out and see.

Other interesting stories to watch for this season.  In the second year of LeBron James with the Lakers will things be different.  With the addition of Antony Davis It should make a Lakers a much better teams.  It will also help if one of the two super stars gets hurt.  Last year when LeBron went down there was nothing the Lakers could to to stay in the playoff race.  This year that will be different.  Not sure it will be enough to win a championship but it will be enough to stay in the playoff race.  The Warriors will have a huge fight to stay in the playoff race.  Things there have not exactly gone according to plan.  We will find out if Stephen Curry can will a team to wins.  It will be all him for the first half of the season.  Well him and Draymon Green.  I think that the Warriors are going to be in for a difficult season.  if there is even a year when the Houston Rockets are going to win a championship with this team.  This is the year.  In the East the team to watch will be the Bucks.  It will more than likely come down to the Bucks and the Celtics for the East.  It would be pretty funny if the West has stockpiled all that talent and then the East wins back to back Championships.

MLB Half Right Astros vs. Nationals

We were half right that the team from the American League would be the Astros or the Yankees.  Turns out that pitching still really does beat hitting.  In a year when all the headlines were about the crazy hitting numbers being put up.  The Astros built themselves quite the pitching rotation.  It really did pay off for them.  They ende dup taking the Yankees out in six games.  The real question here is with all the time off the Nationals had by sweeping the Cardinals.  Will they be able to pick up where they left off.  My guess here is that no they will not be able to.  I heard some call them the Up Start Nationals.  Not sure that I would call them that.  They have been a pretty good team over the last few years.  They have just not been able to get over the hump.  This year they have managed to put it together.  Kind of interesting after they let Bryce Harper leave.  Sometimes that is just the way it goes.  I do think that this will be a very interesting and competitive series.  I think that the Nationals will lose game one but then come back to make it a series.  I see the Astros taking this this in 7 games 4 games to 3.

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