This week has been a cacophony of sports. No more highlighted than the fact that 10 different leagues and sports were in action on Thursday. So much to talk about, so little time.
Let me begin with baseball. The Yankees suddenly awoke from the dead on Wednesday, after being carved up by the Blue Jays in Buffalo. The team parlayed that into a doubleheader sweep of the Orioles on Friday, the twin bill the result of a rain out on Thursday. Gerrit Cole flirted with a no hitter, ending up with a powerful 2 hitter. In the nightcap, Masahiro Tanaka pitched his most effective game of the season in a 10-1 romp.
The big guy in all of this sudden hitting is somebody overlooked but who shouldn’t be. That would be Luke Voit. Buried in the St. Louis minor league system, GM Brian Cashman acquired Voit with the idea in mind to platoon him at first base with the sweet swinging Greg Byrd. Byrd suffered a series of injuries and the Yankees tried a number of combinations at first base. Yet Voit was there, giving adequate numbers and mostly solid defense.
Voit returned this year after core muscle surgery, slimmed down, more powerful looking, like a man on a mission. With the big name sluggers on the team—Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez—all either underperforming or injured, it has been Voit whose power numbers are carrying the Yankees. With his two 3 run shots on Friday, Voit has 16 homers and 37 R.B.I., tops on the club; he produced a sac fly for the win on Saturday. The 16 home runs ties him with the best player in baseball—Mike Trout. A remarkable feat indeed.
New York will be getting Judge and Stanton back by next weekend, to shake off the rust before the expanded playoffs commence. Torres is rounding back into shape after his return. Gio Urshela will be back shortly. Sanchez was benched for a few days, and while he hit the ball harder, he still is hitting under .125. Only lefty starter James Paxton appears destined to remain on the IL.
Having the reinforcements in the fold, and with signs of good pitching from Cole, Tanaka, Jordan Montgomery and rookie Delvi Garcia, New York could make some noise with the right opening round opponent—even if the three game series is away from Yankee Stadium. As long as they don’t face the Rays in the first round, then the Yankees’ chances are a lot better. Still with a lot of ifs which need to be answered, but with 14 games left, they are on a 4 game winning streak and more than alive after a fallow period causing many to think they were dead in the water.
The playoffs in the NBA and NHL are intriguing and exciting. Which has me watching a lot of TV.
The Islanders and Tampa Bay squared off in the Eastern Conference Finals in Edmonton. Game 1 was an 8-2 blowout for Tampa, the probable result of the Isles winning its 7 game series versus Philadelphia on Saturday night, then flying from Toronto to Edmonton (hopefully on Air Canada, my favorite airline, and this was actually a trip I did following the Devils in 2019) took its toll. Game 2 was a stunner—Tampa won on a fluke attempted clearing pass that went awry and onto the stick of the Lightning’s leading score, Nikita Kucherov and into the net with 8.8 seconds left in regulation time.
Game 3 was a rough and tumble affair, which the Islanders led 3-1 before Tampa roared back to tie the contest. New York scored late, added an empty net tally and now it won’t be a sweep. Plus there is legitimate bad blood between the teams and Tampa is absent two other top scorers. Could be some fun here.
In the Western Conference Finals, Dallas leads 2-1, winning a close first game, being shut out in Game 2, then scoring the game winner in Game 3 37 seconds into OT. These teams are evenly matched and I can see a 6 or 7 game series on the road to the Finals.
With the NBA, it took Boston 7 hard games to eliminate the Toronto Raptors. And the last game was played with incredible intensity and energy. Each team led at various times in the contest, with even an 8 point lead not insurmountable. It took some sterling defense from Marcus Smart, who blocked a Raptors’ shot, which ended the final foray for the defending champions.
Three of my favorite coaches are involved with the Raptors, Celtics and Miami Heat. Nick Nurse in Toronto and Brad Stevens for the C’s are young stars. Both Midwestern boys, Nurse starred at Northern Iowa and still holds the the career 3-point percentage record there, while Stevens was all-Conference for 3 years at De Pauw University. Stevens took Butler to the NCAA Championship game twice and nearly won the title. Nurse made Northern Iowa a threat and tourney regular.
Spoelstra had Lebron James, Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosh on his first teams, winning two titles. Now with an entirely different squad led by Jimmy Butler, Spoels has show he can really, really coach.
These three coaches, along with Frank Vogel of the Lakers, are the new vanguard of NBA head men. I am not taking anything away from Greg Popovich, Steve Kerr, Mike D’Antoni and Glenn “Doc” Rivers, who have proven track records. I find the new guys to be energetic, smart and their teams are enjoyable to watch. Query: will surprise Brooklyn Head coach and Hall of Fame guard Steve Nash encounter success with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on his team?
Speaking of coaches, the Memphis Grizzlies made an under-the-radar announcement regarding an assistant coaching hire. Sonia Ronan, the 12 year coach of the M.I.T. women’s team, left New England to become a member of the Grizzlies staff. She is bright—a graduate of Tufts University and Boston College School of Law. Ronan possess experience and a high basketball IQ. Watch this lady. I think she will have a tremendous future ahead of her, whatever directions she choose to go in.
Somebody forgot to remind the Clippers that the Denver Nuggets are not chumps. Poised to be eliminated, Denver came through with a win to cause a Game 6. I still see Kawhi Leonard and company prevailing,
Meanwhile, the Lakers are taking apart the small ball Houston Rockets. After a Game 1 loss, Lebron and his mates have played with obvious championship aspirations. For me, LAL looks like the team to beat. With James leading the way and Anthony Davis playing the 3, 4 or 5 spots, plus an energetic Rashon Rondo manning the point, they are the team to beat.
The U.S. Open Finals are upon us in Flushing Meadows. It was the compelling semi-final match between friends Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams that caught my eye. I hadn’t watched much tennis thus far, and I knew that Azarenka was riding a 9 match winning streak coming into her meeting with Serena.
The first set was no contest. Serena blew out her opponent. This looked to be a romp to the finals and the inevitable showdown with Naomi Osaka.
Except that Serena’s body once more betrayed her. She suffered what appeared to be ankle and foot issues (it proved to be a recurrent Achilles tendon problem) during the second set and, as nobly as she tried, Azarenka, who has won 2 Grand Slam singles titles, took over. The Belarus native and mother answered every Williams shot with better ones. There was no doubt in the third set that Azarenka, who was playing outstanding tennis the entire tournament, would win.
I find myself repeatedly looking at Serena and Tiger Woods, who will be in the NY Metro area for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot C.C. next week, with both wonderment and sadness. The fact that they are at advanced ages and still competing at the highest level is amazing. The media and American fans are rooting for them as they chase the records of most Slams for Serena and most Majors for Tiger.
However, age catches up with the best. Their bodies are worn down and the injuries mount. No matter how hard the rehab and how hard they practice, the body most times says something else. It is not an argument the mind is going to win. No fooling Mother Nature or Father Time.
Should either win one more elusive title, it would be miraculous. I am not rooting against two of the greatest in their respective sports. I just don’t see it happening.
P.S. Osaka trailed Azarenka by a set and came charging back to win the title in three sets.
The NFL season opened on Thursday night. The coronavirus testing of all personnel produced only 1 infected player. Thus the games go on. Kansas City looked like they were as good as last season’s Super Bowl winner, dominating a good Houston team. It is so much fun to watch Patrick Mahomes II play.
Tom Brady and Drew Brees hook up in the Merceds-Benz Superdome on Sunday, marking Brady’s first game for his new team, Tampa Bay. His successor in New England is Cam Newton, is seeking a renaissance with Bill Belichick. The Patriots open with Miami, led by ageless Ryan Fitzpatrick, place holder for Tua Tagovailoa at QB for the Dolphins.
Oh yeah, the Jets play in Buffalo. I will watch. Maybe they will win. Are they a good team? Hardly. The schedule is too tough—they have both Super Bowl teams—the 49’ers at home in Week 2 then a trip to KC in November. There are 3 West Coast trips to play the Rams and Chargers in the new So-Fi Stadium in Inglewood, along with a fun visit to Seattle. There isn’t a gimme game within the schedule, and with the Jets luck, Tua will be starting for Miami when the two teams meet on November 15 and 29, separated only by the Jets bye week—a real quirk in the schedule along with the back-to-back games in Seattle and LA, with the NFL mandate that the Jets cannot stay on the West Coast for the week.
In Giants camp. New Head Coach Joe Judge is a no nonsense man. He is intolerant of mistakes, makes the offenders run laps and chews out his stars. He was so upset with the start of Wednesday’s practice, that he stopped and restarted it after a few choice and very unprintable words. The jury is out on how the team will respond. It is a novel approach for this day and age.
College football got more underway this week with the ACC kicking in a conference schedule with Notre Dame playing its first and maybe only conference schedule, borne out of necessity due to COVID-19. Right off the bat, Virginia and Virginia Tech was postponed due to a breakout of COVID on the Tech team. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of noise about the Big Ten trying to come upon with a version of a schedule to start in mid-October. This is fraught with danger and could also lead to injuries with such a rushed work. With NJ high schools, there are districts which are seeing COVID cases emerging and there is a shortage of officials for the games. I don’t like it, especially with Dr. Anthony Fauci sternly warning the nation that it is going to get much worse sooner than later.
So, to end the blog this week, I came up with some lists for high school and college football. I have identified 3 in each category. Some may have meaning for you. You will have your own lists. It’s a fun exercise when so much is not fun out there.
High School (in person)
Joe Theisman (star at Notre Dame and with the Redskins)
Drew Pearson (teammate of Theisman at South River H.S. and mainstay WR in Dallas)
Ashley Bell (TE for Rumson Fair-Haven and at Purdue)
Highland Park High School
Rich Policastro (starred at Rutgers after a year at Virginia Military; won Centennial game versus Princeton)
Glenn Meltzer (leading the nation in mass receptions at Wichita State)
Jack Simcsak (succeeded Policastro as QB; was a top-rated punter at Virginia Tech)
College (in person)
Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville QB now in the NFL)
Archie Roberts (star Columbia QB in ’60’s who was drafted by Cleveland, went to med school at Case Western, then played for the Browns before becoming a renowned surgeon)
Pete Johnson (Ohio State RB in the mid’70’ who smashed Wisconsin)
Rutgers (in person)
Mohammed Sanu (WR who went on to success with Atlanta and New England)
Ray Rice (RB with the Ravens who infamously slugged his to-be wife in an Atlantic City elevator and was dismissed from the team)
Tiquan Underwood (WR with some playing time in the NFL)
College (TV)
Roger Staubach (Navy Heisman Trophy winner and Dallas QB)
Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama QB who won the FBS title in the second half)
Herschel Walker (powerful Georgia RB who played in the USFL and NFL)
Next week I will add my best college and pro games I have attended and seen. This is what happens when you had electric shock therapy and PRP in one big sports week.
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