Sports shake up happening all around. Not really. There was no huge sports shake up this week. Once again things stayed pretty much the way they were last week. This does not mean that nothing interesting happened. Just that the spots the teams have been in has not really changed. There were a few things that have become more clear. Especially in College Football. Some of the NFL has become more clear as well. Teams that are on the rise and teams that are on the decline. They showed that yes that is true. Some decisions have been made in the NBA. College Basketball is underway but with Football and the long season these games really do not mean that much. NASCAR is finally coming to and end after a season that seems to have lasted for year. The NHL is starting to get some separation but it is not happening in all the places that we though it would at the start of the season. All this and more in The Week That Was.
NFL winners and Losers
The Sports Shake up in the NFL has not happened in just one week. It has been shaking up since the start of the season. There are a few things that seem to always stay the same. The Patriots will win more games then they lose. Even in what may seem like a little bit of a down year for the Patriots they will have no problem winning the AFC East and make the playoffs. The comeback win by the Steelers was huge. It showed that the Steelers are not going to give up and that they can come from behind without Bell in the back field. They were also able to over come the distraction this week caused by Bell not showing up. Before they were dealing with the hold out. Now they are dealing with the fact that Bell will just not be part of this team this year. That may have an ease of mind effect as well. The Bell ordeal is over. He can not play this year. Your team is on the field. Move along.
On the Right Track
Teams that things did not change for The Saints and Bears and Chiefs. These teams are all looking pretty good at this point. The Saints are not a surprise. The Bears may be the surprise of the season. The Chiefs have made it farther into the season with out imploding than last year. Maybe that means that they are not going to have the big drop off like in years past. There is still time and their schedule does get pretty difficult. So we will still see what happens.
Looking to the Off Season
Teams headed in the other direction. The Packers, Vikings, and Flacons. Those teams were all looking at playoff appearances to start the season. It is looking more like all three of those teams are going to miss the playoffs this year. All three of these teams had high hopes going into the season. While the Vikings are sitting at the 6th seed in the NFC at this point. The Packers and Falcons would be out. The Vikings are on a slide now while the teams behind them the Cowboys and the Seahawks are coming on strong. They can still turn it around but the going is going to be difficult. It is unlikely that any of these teams can win their division so will have to get in as a wild card. It is still possible that two of these teams could make the playoffs but it is going to be very difficult.
College Football not Much Changed
In a week that was pretty similar to last week. Almost all the teams in the top 10 won. Some of them did not look that great winning but they still won. It will be interesting to see how the “eye test” plays out this week. The only team that lost in the top ten was West Virginia. This could put the Big 12 out of the playoff if they beat Oklahoma in the regular season finally for both teams.
This past week set up for some huge issues over the next few weeks. Lets say that Georgia beast Alabama by a point in the SEC championship game game. It is possible that the Committee would put both teams in. Then you have Clemson who is more than likely going to win out. Notre Dame only has one more game. They Play USC who is not a power house team this year. Since Notre Dame does not have a conference championship game their season would be over and being undefeated they would get in to the playoff. At that point you are leaving out the B1G the PAC 10 and the Big 12. On the bright side. If that happens it would be the final catalyst to change since those conferences would go nuts. They should because if that happens it would be ridiculous.
And The Monster Energy Cup winner is…
Thirty Six races over ten months and NASCAR finally has a winner. Joey Logano was able to beat Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch in the final race of the season in Homestead, Florida. In what is too long of a season even for race fans. It is finally done. Now we have to wait two whole months for next season to get rolling.
Logano has come close to winning before. Something always managed to keep him from taking the cup. This year he was not going to be denied. NASCAR like all sport (yes NASCAR is a sport) is a combination of skill and luck. Not sure how that percentage breaks down but it does not matter how good you are if a tire goes down and you get taken out. So to win you have to have both things going on. Putting yourself into the position to win is the skill part. Not getting taken out is the luck part. You get it.
Luck and Skill
People with more skill are in a position to win more times then not. Those are the ones that win more. This is the third time that Logano has been in the Championship race. The first to times he was in a position to win and the luck part got in the way. This year Logano and his team were able to avoid the bad luck. Put themselves in the right position and win.
Logano is still young. He is only 28 years old. Yet he is a verteren with this being his tenth NASCAR season. It is more than likely that he will be able to race into his mid 40s. This will give him a lot of time to win a few more championships. Logano has been a pretty polarizing driver. He seems to get into some tight spots and raises a few emotions in other drivers. This is something that will be good for NASCAR. They really need someone to pull people back in to the races. I am not sure that he will change the trend by himself. Logano winning is something that will be good for NASCAR.
Whats Up and Whats Down in the NHL
Nashville, Tampa Bay and Toronto are starting to pull away from teh rest of the pack. The Panthers, Penguins, Blues and Kings are bottom of the barrel. Yes you read that right. The Penguins are at the bottom of the pack. While the Red Wings were picked to be the bottom of the league. The Sports Shake up here is that the Red Wings are coming on strong. The Penguins are falling fast.
While many prognosticator were picking the Penguins to be in the top ten and the Red Wings to be in the Bottom three. Neither of those is true at this point in the season. The Red Wings are 8-2 in their last ten games. The Penguins are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. Is there hope that the Penguins can right this ship and get it going. Sure. More likely they are going to be on the outside looking in this year. After the disaster in the playoffs against the Capitals this may be a sign of difficult times ahead.
The the Sports Shake UP is the three teams at the top. Tampa Bay had a bit of a down year last year. They had some key injuries and never really go rolling. That was just a blip and not a trend. They really need to get it going this year though. With the loss of Steve Yzerman as their General Manager things my be difficult to keep on track. I am not saying that no one else can do the job. Losing someone like that at this point can be troublesome.
The NBA Still too soon to tell
Hey don’t look now but in the NBA Sports Shake up the Los Angeles Lakers have wiggled their way into the 7th seed in the west. If the season ended today the Lakers would play the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. I do not think that this is how things will finish out. It is more likely that the Lakers will finish a little higher in the 5th or 6th seed. I would not be surprised if they even made it to the 4th seed and had home court in the first round of the playoffs. The start to the NBA season like the first half of an NBA game really does not mean much. So all the people getting their undies in a bunch were just looking to point some fingers. Wait for it things have a way of working out. There is almost no chance that a team with LeBron James on it, at least while still with in his prime years, is going to be on the outside looking in on the playoffs.
On the Other Side
On the other side or the down side. The Cleveland Cavaliers are exactly where we though they would be. They went from four straight finals appearances to the worst record in the league. I see no scenario where this changes. This shows just how bad the players around LeBron were last year and that there is no hope for this season. It is a bummer for Cleveland fans but that is just the way it goes. LeBron came back home and did what he promised. Now it is time for a change. Not this year though. Guess they will have to hope that they get their lucky ball picked and get the first pick in the draft again.
The End of the Fall TV Season
After last week I had already forgot that the fall television is almost over. It seems strange to me that they end these seasons so early now. The shows hardly even make it into December anymore. Of course with th cable channel shows they usually do 8 or 16 episode seasons. That is fine it has produced some really good shows. Once that used to be good but is on shaky legs now is the Walking Dead. This past episode was basically Michonne turning into paranoid Rick from certain parts of the series. Yes in the Apocalypse you need to be careful. But this far in it seems like some things should have changed. The other thing that is a bit confusing is how are there more walkers six years down the road. It seems like there would be fewer since at some point you are running out of people to turn into walkers. Not a huge deal with that one. Just a though. It will be very interesting to see how they end the first half of the season on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Other shows that we are hoping make the cut that we really like. The Resident, 911, Station 19, The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam. Interesting that they are all medical related in some way. We really had not been watching many medical shows then all of a sudden bam. There it is. The Resident has take some interesting twists. In season one of The Resident they had the character of Lane Hunter played by Melina Kanakaredes go to jail for taking advantage of patients who had cancer. She over dosed them and stole millions of dollars from them and the insurance companies. We thought she was gone but they are bringing her back into the story. At first this seemed a little annoying but after having some time to think about it. She makes a really good villan and the way she plays the character makes her really unlikable so it will be a good thing.
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