Jerry Rice

The Rundown - Let's Do This

Need a little Monday motivation to get your day started? As Michael Jackson said, “you are not alone.” Grab that cup of coffee and let’s get the day started off with a little sports savviness.

 

You’ve got this,

The Last Night’s Game Team

Wimbledon

  • Greatest of all time? Roger Federer broke the record, winning his eighth Wimbledon Championship without losing a set. If that wasn’t enough, he also took home the title of the oldest man, 35, to win Wimbledon in the Open era. Even after all that, the ‘old man's’ two sets of twins (yes two) stole the show on Sunday.
  • Youth prevails. Venus Williams was hoping to secure the similar title of oldest woman to win Wimbledon, a title every 37-year-old seeks, but Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, 23, had other plans. She became the first person to beat both of the Williams sisters in a Grand Slam final. (She beat Serena in the 2016 French Open). Now that’s an accomplishment.

Golf 

  • The American Century Championship is known for its celebrity antics. Held in Lake Tahoe, those antics featured quarterback Aaron Rodgers (NFL – National Football League), Steph Curry (NBA – National Basketball Association), Justin Timberlake and former NFL player Jerry Rice, to name a few. Former MLB (Major League Baseball) pitcher Mark Mulder won for the third consecutive year.

Overtime

  • Driver Denny Hamlin won his first NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) race of the year at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Unfortunately for Hamlin, the winner’s bounty included a 44-pound live lobster. No, he doesn’t have a shellfish allergy but a previously undisclosed lobster phobia. His next sponsor? Not Red Lobster. 

Sideline stat

  • In case you needed some additional Monday motivation, here’s Julia Hawkins. On Saturday, the 101-year-old Hawkins missed her naptime to run the 100-meter dash in 40.12 seconds at the U.S.A. Track and Field Outdoors Masters Championships, setting the record for a woman 100 or older. To think, we were just happy to get out of bed.

Coaches’ corner

  • It was all about slime, including golden slime for Michael Phelps, on last night’s Nickelodeon Kids Sports Choice Awards. The next generation of sports fans showed some love for Team U.S.A. gymnastics’ ‘Final Five’ with the women taking home a boat load of awards. New dad and Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson was once again the host of the show. See the full list of winners. 

The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About the MLB Playoffs

Things are getting exciting around here with wild card games in baseball, a new partnership announcement between Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports AND the release of the Forbes 400 list. Whew. Try to control yourself. It’s only Wednesday and you’re going to need that energy to make it to Friday.

Simmer down now,

The Last Night’s Game

 

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Five things to know about the MLB Playoffs

  1. The playoffs are made up of three division winners from the American League and National League, along with two wild card winners that are determined by a playoff game (see below).
  2. The first round (Division Series) is a best-of-five game series and the next two rounds (League Championship Series and World Series) are best-of-seven games.
  3. The Chicago Cubs had baseball’s best record this season, but haven’t won a World Series Championship since 1908, a 108-year drought. (Click here for more about the Cubs). 
  4. The Washington Nationals won their division by hitting the ball harder than any other team. According to Statcast™, their batters had an average exit velocity (how fast the ball is going after it leaves the bat) of 90.3 miles per hour. Be glad that’s not coming at you when all you’re wearing is a little leather glove.
  5. What are the odds your team will win the World Series? Let’s check in with VegasInsider.com: 
    • Chicago Cubs – 9/4 odds
    • Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers - 6/1 odds
    • Washington Nationals – 7/1 odds

See the full postseason schedule here.

MLB (Major League Baseball)

  • Getting wild. In last night’s American League wild card game, Toronto Blue Jays beat Baltimore Orioles in 11 innings (two extra innings). Blue Jays’ Edwin Encarnacion hit a walk-off home run to secure his team’s spot in the postseason. This sets up a rematch of last year’s tense series between Blue Jays and Texas Rangers. Bring it on.
  • Control your excitement. Tonight is the National League wild card game between San Francisco Giants and New York Mets (8 pm EST). The game will feature two of the most electric pitchers in baseball in a win or go home game – Giants’ Madison Bumgarner vs Mets’ Noah Syndergaard.

NFL (National Football League)

  • Just plain stupid. Over the summer, Denver Broncos’ Aqib Talib was shot in the leg, but could not recall who shot him. Dallas police determined that Aqib actually shot himself in the leg. Hmm I thought he looked familiar.

Overtime

  • Two of the biggest names in sports, Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated, have announced they’re partnering up to share content across digital platforms, combine talent for big sporting events like MLB playoffs and there’s a little revenue sharing involved. Swimsuit models not included. 

What does that mean for you? More sports coverage. Oh hooray. For them? It means they might beat out ESPN.com in online visitors. ESPN.com has 79 million unique monthly visitors, while SI and Fox Sports combined have around 68 million. 

Sideline stat

  • The Forbes 400 list has been released and the list of people with a nifty net worth include some notable sports figures: 
    • #15 Steve Balmer- Los Angeles Clippers owner - $27.5 billion
    • #18 Phil Knight - co-founder of Nike - $25.5 billion
    • #21 Paul Allen - Seattle Seahawks owner - $18.9 billion
    • #94 Jerry Jones - Dallas Cowboys owner - $5.2 billion

In case you’re curious, Bill Gates tops the list at a cool $81 billion. See the whole list here.

Coaches’ corner

  • What does it meant to go into extra innings in baseball? When two teams are tied at the end of the nine innings in baseball, the game goes into extra innings. The two teams will continue to play inning by inning until a winner is determined. Remember – an inning consists of both teams getting a chance to bat. So it can be a long night and in some cases teams run out of pitchers and have to pull in other players on their team with any pitching experience to take the mound. The longest baseball game on record for time was an agonizing 8 hours and 6 minutes over 25 innings.

The Rundown: Five Things You Should Know About The Pro Bowl

Happy Hump Day! Just think if you were an NFL Pro Bowler you’d be in Hawaii right now drinking strawberry daiquiris, working on a tan while prepping for Sunday’s game. Although it’s probably more likely they’re running wind sprints and doing push ups sans daiquiris. On second thought, we’ll take our morning coffee with a cool winter breeze and no push ups.  

On Wednesdays we tackle something you’ve been asking about. Today's feature is five things to know about this weekend’s Pro Bowl in Hawaii. As always, reach out should you want to learn about sports. No egos here – just facts among friends.

Telling it how it is,

The LNG Team

Five things you should know about the Pro Bowl.  

  • The game is viewed as a kickoff to the Super Bowl as it’s played on the Sunday between the Conference Championship games (last week) and Super Bowl (Feb 7).
  • Any players who are members of the teams playing in the Super Bowl (Broncos/Panthers) cannot play in the Pro Bowl. Since they can’t play, they need to be replaced on the roster. The Panthers had 10 players nominated and the Broncos had four.
  • Hall of Fame wide receivers, Jerry Rice (former 49ers great) and Michael Irvin (former Cowboys legend), will serve as non-playing captains of each team. They will pick their teams through a draft today at 7:30 pm (EST) on ESPN2.
  • They may have lost but they won a spot in the Pro Bowl. The coaches whose teams lost in the divisional rounds of the playoffs are the Head Coaches for the game. Mike McCarthy of Green Bay Packers and Andy Reid of Kansas City Chiefs will try to lead their team to victory. 
  • Of the 86 players originally chosen, 36 of them have dropped out (14 due to the Super Bowl, others for injuries or personal reasons). Therefore 36 replacement players have been named. Here's the full roster (as of yesterday). 
  • Players on the winning team will receive a $55,000 bonus and the losing team a $28,000 bonus. Many players have big Pro Bowl bonuses in their contract. 

You can catch the Pro Bowl live from Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, HI on Sunday, January 31st at 7 pm (EST) on ESPN.  

NBA (National Basketball Association)

  • Hands off. Over the weekend reports surfaced that Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin, had been sent home from a road trip with a hand injury sustained during a team activity. Then details began to surface with exactly what happened. Multiple reports say Griffin got into an argument with team assistant equipment manager, Matias Testi (who he is reportedly good friends with) while at dinner in Toronto. Griffin allegedly punched Testi in the face - twice. Both parties were sent home from the team road trip and Griffin has been diagnosed with a broken hand, out 4-6 weeks. Smooth move.

 NFL (National Football League)

Tennis

  • In the land down under. Serena Williams (#1) dominated Maria Sharapova (#5) in the Australian Open to reach the semifinals. She will play Agnieszka Radwanska (#4) next in the semifinals on Wednesday at 9:30 pm (EST) on ESPN2.

Overtime

  • Florida State agreed to settle with Erica Kinsman for $950,000. Kinsman accused then Florida State quarterback and number one draft pick, Jameis Winston, of rape in 2012.  As part of the settlement, the University also agreed to make a five-year commitment to awareness, prevention and training programs for sexual assault victims. The settlement does not affect an ongoing Title IX investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Winston is currently playing in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Sideline Stat

  • Monday night the two best teams in the NBA played each other. With rappers Drake and Jay Z in attendance, Golden State Warriors thrashed San Antonio Spurs, 120-90. Warriors point guard and reigning NBA MVP, Stephen Curry, had 37 points in 28 minutes. No big deal.

Coaches’ Corner

  • How were players picked for the Pro Bowl roster? According to NFL.com, The Pro Bowl players were determined by the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group's vote counted one-third toward determining the Pro Bowl selections. The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its all-star teams. In 1995, the NFL became the first professional sports league to offer online all-star voting. 
 

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