Nothing lasts for ever. Nothing. In the world of sports that is especially true. Sometimes you can go from being on top of the world to the bottom in a very short amount of time. It happens all the time in the NFL when a team goes from worst to first. Last year the Vegas Golden Knights went from not existing to the Stanley Cup final. It happens and it can happen very quickly. One week you are at the top the next you lose a game that you should have won. It is one of the things that makes sports so exciting and draws us in.
MLB – Longest World Series Game Ever
This week has been a good one for baseball. At least on the surface. After moving out to LA the World series has gotten a little more interesting. Game 3 turned into game 3 twice. In what turned into the longest game in World Series history the Dodgers beat the Red Sox 3 -2 in 18 innings. The game lasted over 7 hours. While it was good for baseball to have an interesting game. It was also good that the Dodgers were able to get a win to avoid a sweep. The numbers do not match the excitement. The ratings so far are down for the World Series. The first two games having the lowest ratings since 2015. This only takes into account the broadcast television ratings. It is possible that people are consuming the games another way. Streaming or though some other source. The numbers are a concern for baseball since they got the large market teams in the Series that they wanted.
The Red Sox Destroy the Dodgers
In what then turns out to be a really lopsided World Series the Red Sox blow out the Dodgers to finish them off in 5 games. It was nice that the Dodgers got one to avoid the sweep. It was the 18 inning game so they had to play two games in one to beat them. If you really look at the numbers this was really no different than a sweep. The Red Sox were the better team. It is over now so we can move on to the off season and start to speculate about next year.
NFL – The Half Way Point
Half way though the NFL season there is one team (the Rams) left undefeated. No teams that have no wins. It is highly unlikely that the Rams will end the season undefeated. It could happen but probably not. They used up a lot of their luck against the Packers this week. The Packers came very close to beating the Rams. We always say that the NFL is a combination of luck and skill. The Rams had that on their side this weekend to stay undefeated. That is really what it takes in any NFL season.
Sometimes you have to make that luck but it still has to happen for you to have a great season. At this point. Unless the Rams have some major injuries. I don’t see any other team beating them in the Super Bowl. I do not see them going undefeated since that is such a difficult thing to do. If Kansas City does not do their usual second half collaps. It could be the Rams and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. A few years ago that would have made an all Missouri Super Bowl. If it can’t be my team in the Super Bowl then this would be a good alternative.
And the leaders are
In the AFC you have the Patriots, Chiefs, Texans and Steelers. The only one in that group that is a bit of a surprise in the Texans. Even that is not too surprising. They have had the talent for a while. Something has always just happened that prevented them from following though. It may be no different this year. In the Thursday night win against the Dolphins they lost Will Fuller to a torn ACL.
At this point in the season the wild card teams would be the Chargers and the Bengals. The Chargers a team with out a city is in position to make the playoffs. That would be very interesting.
In the NFC you have the Rams, Saints, Redskins and Bears. The surprise in that group is the Bears. Really at the beginning of the season who would have though that the Bears would have a winning record. Not only a winning record but leading the NFC North. Where we thought here would be one of two other teams at the top. The Packers have significantly under achieved and the Vikings seem to have had a hang over from last year. I do not see the Bears being able to keep this up and the Packers and Vikings will not stay down for ever.
At this poing the Wild Card teams would be the Panthers and the Seahawks. Neither of these is a huge surprise. We had the Seahawks going 8 – 8 and the Panthers going 8 – 8. So both teams are right in the area where we picked them.
College Football – Game Day Opening hard to watch
Not sure how many of you still watch any ESPN Shows. Not talking about live sports but and actual ESPN show. The only ESPN shows I watch anymore are College Game Day and E:60. They have either cancelled the other shows I used to watch or they have just become so unwatchable that they are painful to watch. Sports Center with Scott Van Pelt has become so bad you can not even tell it is about sports anymore. Yet ESPN in their infinite wisdom has made the show completely about him. The first part at least of College Game Day is getting that way. Maybe other people like it to be just a complete crap fest. I guess they would know right? For me please just get back to the sports. It all starts with the opening. Some Crazy Florida Georgia Back Street Boys wanna be band. Again I guess people like this but really it is bad. Pick something else. Yes I know they have used this song for years. I have complained about it before and the same still applies.
What Happened This Saturday
Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan were all on a bye this week. There was still plenty of action in the top 25 this week. Eleven teams in the top 25 lost. Granted some of them were playing other ranked teams so we would have had a ranked team lose regardless of which team won. It still shakes a lot of things up. If you are looking for an expanded playoff you should be a fan of chaos in the next part of the College Football Season. Losses in the top 10 were Texas and Florida. Not really sure why Texas was in the top 10 anyway. They have been playing much better than in last few year but they still had not done anything great. They are probably a top 20 team at this point but coming in at 6 was a stretch. Florida had to play a 7th ranked Georgia team. It was really no surprise that they lost this game. It does set up next week to be a big game Georgia and Kentucky. The winner of that game will win the SEC East and then that team will probably have to play Alabama for the SEC Championship.
Top 25 Teams that Lost
Other teams in the top 25 that lost. Appalachian State lost after getting into the top 25 for the first time ever. Even though they lost it is pretty impressive that just a few years ago they were a division 1 -A team and now they are playing a step up and still doing pretty well. Northwestern pretty much killed Wisconsins season by beating them this weekend. Wisconsin is a Quarterback away from being good team. With nothing from the quarterback Northwestern was able to stack up against the run. With out the run the Badgers were not able to do anything. If Wisconsin want to do anything next year they really need to find a quarterback. Not sure they are going to be able to do that.
NHL – things have changed
The Kings, Rangers and Red Wings are the bottom three teams in the league. The Red Wings were expected to be and it is pretty much accepted that they are doing the dreaded T word. We have talked about this before. As much as it sucks. We believe that tanking is an actual strategy to try and fix a team more quickly. I would of course rather make the playoffs than be a bad teams. But if you are going to be one of the first five teams out of the playoffs every year. Your chances of getting better are going to be somewhat limited. Of course tanking does not mean you will get the first pick in the draft but it does increase your chances.
How to get Fans to Watch
The question is during the time that teams are tanking is how do you ge the fans to watch. As long as NBC has the NHL it will be difficult. The NHL contract with NBC goes though the 2020-2021 season. What will the NHL do then? Hard to say. Hopefully another network steps in with a bid. FOX did a lot for the NHL when they had the contract so did ESPN. To get fans to watch they are going to have to make the games much more accessible. Try to switch some things up. Back in the 80’s when teams were scoring a lot of goals is the last time that the numbers for the NHL really rose. Then the defense took over and the goals dropped. I know the traditionalist don’t like change but numbers for all the leagues show that people want to see scoring.
NBA – Same as it ever was Warriors and the rest
We talked a bit about this last week. In the NBA there is the Warriors and everyone else. At least this may be the last year that this is going to be like this. We do know that the Warriors will have a different opponent in the finals this year. So at least they will have a new team to beat. Who it will be is another story. It is still way to early to tell who is going to come out of the east.
Ty Lue – Good Bye
The Cavaliers showed Ty Lue the door this weekend after an unsurpriseing 0 – 6 start for the Cavaliers. I mean who really thought that the Cavaliers were going to be able to do anything this year. Other than some of the players on the team. No one thought they would be very good. They were not going to be gunning for a playoff spot. They were going to be at or very near the bottom of the league. Not sure why they kept Lue for the start of the season. Six games in they had to have had this on their mind already. I never fully understand how most pro general managers think. Over all not sure I want to.
NASCAR – Joey Makes it Exciting
Joey Logano moved Martin Trues Jr out of the way on the final lap at Martinsville to grab and win and a spot in the 4th leg of the NASCAR Championship. There were some harsh word from Truex and a few other drivers for the move that Logano used to get by Truex. Any driver that says they would have done things differently is not being truthful with themselves. I get that Truex was going for the spot as well. In racing it is all about positioning. through the history of racing this move has been used countless times. You nudge the guy in front of you so you can get around them for the win. I have no problem with any driver that uses this move to win a race. Especially a race that means you get to go on to the next round.
There is always a winner and a loser. Logano made sure that he was the winner. He was not trying to crash anyone. Nor was he trying to injure someone. He was going all out for the win. Truex said that Logano will not win the championship. If he takes Logano out just to take him out then that will be very disappointing. If Truex however takes him out on the last lap of a race where they are battling for the lead then more power to him.
Too Much TV Not Enough Time
We are quite the Television watching family. We watch a lot of sports. Well I do. The girls all put up with it for the most part. So during Football season Saturday and Sunday are pretty much on a game. In the evenings I do give them a break and they put our regular shows on the main tv and I multi task by watching the game on my tablet. Since I am not a fan of the night time announcers I just don’t use the sound and have the tv shows on.
The television watching schedule starts at 8 and goes though prime time. This week on Sunday nights we have the Walking Dead and several shows on the Food Network. The Walking dead is getting to a point that the stories are just not that great to follow anymore. The first few episodes of season 9 were alright. Nothing great but they were advancing the story. This weeks episode was a colossal waste of time. Next weeks episode is going to be a crazy waste of time as well. It is going to be the last episode of Rick Grimes.
I am pretty sure it is going to be a tribute episode to Rick and what he has done in the series. We have watched them all. Everything that he has done is out there. I really don’t need you to rehash it for me. It was a mistake to announce when Rick is going to die and it is a mistake the way they are going to do it. They never should have killed Carl. They never should have killed Glenn. Killing Rick may be the knife to the head of the show.
Like the Red Wings tanking here. The Walking dead seems to be tanking. The problem with that is that the Red Wings can and will recover from this. It is likely that the Walking Dead will just fade into the background.
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