With Dancing with the Stars, The Voice (featuring new coaches Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys), The Big Bang Theory and The Emmys airing this week, Fall TV is back. Dancing has its share of characters and athletes, including swimmer Ryan Lochte, he of the infamous “I’ve been robbed (but not really),” as well as gymnast Laurie Hernandez and former pro football star Calvin Johnson. Look for Amber Rose, Babyface and Vanilla Ice to spice up the competition.
You know what else is back? The NFL. America’s #1 sports obsession kicked off its 2016 campaign with a bang this past weekend.
National Football League (NFL)
NFL Week 1 did not disappoint. For the first time ever there were four games decided by one point (and an overtime game).
As the late baseball great Yogi Berra famously said, “it’s like déjà vu all over again.” The NFL opener featured a Super Bowl rematch between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. The defending champion Broncos survived a missed field goal as time expired to win 21-20.
A single point made the difference between smiling fans and dejected ones in several cities:
- Cincinnati Bengals beat the New York Jets 23-22
- New York Giants over the Dallas Cowboys 20-19
- Oakland Raiders dropped the New Orleans Saints 35-34
Panic mode…Millions of fans became agitated, if not outright hostile, Sunday as the ESPN fantasy football site was down for several hours. ESPN got roasted on social media but all is well again.
The opening weekend concluded with two national games Monday night. The Pittsburgh Steelers crushed the Washington Redskins 38-16 while the San Francisco 49ers embarrassed the Los Angeles Rams, who moved back to LA after 21 seasons in St. Louis, 28-0.
All eyes were on 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick who continued to sit during the National Anthem to raise awareness for social injustice. Players around the league joined in protest with actions ranging from kneeling to locked arms to raised fists.
College Football
College football had a weak schedule over the weekend as no top-25 teams played each other. Despite the cupcake matchups, there were a few interesting stories:
In one of the craziest finishes in college football history, #22 Oklahoma State lost to Central Michigan 30-27 on a ridiculous “Hail Mary” pass. What’s so interesting about that? It turns out that the play shouldn’t have counted and the game should have ended on the previous play. Paying the price for their mistake, the replay referees were suspended two games.
The other major upset was #15 TCU falling in double overtime to Arkansas.
Too close for comfort…#2 Clemson slipped past Troy 30-24 while #9 Georgia barely survived Nicholls State, 26-24. Surprising? Most definitely. Clemson was favored to win by 35 points and Georgia by 52 points. Yes 52.
Major League Baseball (MLB)
The only competitive division race left in baseball is the American League East with the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees all in the playoff hunt with less than 20 games left.
Last year’s World Series runner-up, the New York Mets, have overcome a slew of injuries and won 16 of their last 22 games to climb back into playoff contention battling the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals for the two wildcard spots. Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Joel, Edie Falco, Chris Rock and other Mets fans are cautiously optimistic.
National Basketball Association (NBA)
The NBA paid tribute to its 2016 Hall of Fame class Friday. The colorful headliners included the 6’0” Allen Iverson, known for his rant about practice, and two giants, literally, Chinese sensation Yao Ming (7’6”), and actor/rapper/pitchman and four-time champion Shaquille O’Neal (7’1”).
Tennis
Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka operated like a Patek Philippe and outlasted world #1 Novak Djokovic in four sets to win the US Open Men’s title Sunday.
Family Feud…In the Women’s draw, Karolina Pliskova, the hard-hitting #10 ranked Czech took out sisters Venus Williams and #1 ranked Serena Williams to advance to the finals. Pliskova ran out of gas, however, losing in three sets to German Angelique Kerber who won her second Major of the year and took over as the world’s #1 female player from Serena.
Remember at TINK Sports we watch the games so you don’t have to.
See you next time…
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