concussions

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The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition

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The weekend is looming and we hope whatever you have planned is as entertaining as Brett Phillips at a comedy show. Baseball teams are cracking down; first no facial hair, now no pie in the face.

But we love dessert,

The Last Night’s Game Team

PS: Unlike your morning coffee, if you like what you see go ahead and share (us) with 10 of your friends. 

MLB (Major League Baseball) 

  • No tolerance. Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has been suspended for 30 games at the start of the regular season for a domestic dispute where he allegedly choked his girlfriend and fired a handgun. No charges were ever filed. Chapman will lose $2.17 million during his suspension. This is the first suspension handed out under commissioner Rob Manfred’s new domestic violence policy.
  • Laugh out loud. Minor league outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, Brett Phillips, has a laugh that can’t be contained. As part of #MomJokeMonday his teammate, Will Smith, told him cheesy jokes on camera. Smith laughs harder at Phillips laugh than the joke. Watch the video for your Friday funny. 

NBA (National Basketball Association)

  • Rest in peace. Oklahoma Thunder co-owner, Aubrey McClendon, died in a car crash on Wednesday. McClendon was charged this week by the Justice Department for conspiracy to suppress prices paid for oil and natural gas leases while in charge of Chesapeake Energy. The cause of the crash is under investigation. 

NCAA Football (College)

  • Protecting the Ivy League noggin. Concussions are back in the news. This time Ivy League coaches have voted to ban tackling during regular season practices in hopes to reduce concussions and injuries.

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

  • Fight club. Connor McGregor will take on Nate Diaz on Saturday. Diaz is filling in due to injury to the original opponent. He’s fighting on two weeks’ notice. The co-main event features champion Holly Holm (who beat Ronda Rousey) vs Meisha Tate. UFC 197 is in Las Vegas on Saturday night at 7 pm (Pay-Per-View)

WORLD CUP SKIING

  • She can really fly. U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Lindsey Vonn, is putting her skiing career on hold. She reinjured her surgically repaired knee during the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Super G. Doctors told her that she could risk her future in ski racing including the Winter Olympics in 2018. Hang in there Lindsey!

Overtime

  • Rob ‘Gronk’ Gronkowski went from twerking on a cruise ship to participating in a new Nickelodeon series along with Cam Newton called “All In.” Newton will serve as the host and Gronk will be the face of the “Crashletes,” clips of sports action plays. 

Sideline Stat

  • Tiger Woods opened a brand new golf course in Montgomery, Texas. The inaugural round of golf was played with kids.  11-year-old Taylor Crozier walked up and hit a hole in one. No big deal.

Coaches’ Corner

  • Baltimore Orioles have banned any “pies to the face” in postgame celebrations for safety reasons. The team is known for smashing a whipped cream pie in the face of a teammate after winning a big game during postgame interviews. We bet team meeting went something like this “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.” In fact, Florida Marlins Chris Coughlan once tore his meniscus pie-ing a teammate in the face. 

The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition

It’s Friday! While you've been practicing your touchdown dance, we put together everything you need to know for this weekend’s divisional round of the NFL playoffs. It’s almost Super Bowl time.  

Bust a move,

The LNG Team

NFL (National Football League) 

  • Hi, I'm the new guy. San Francisco 49ers hire former Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. According to ESPN, Kelly received a four-year deal worth $24 million.  
  • It’s going down for real. What you really need to know about this weekend’s NFL playoff games is that the teams are riddled with injuries. At this point it is survival of the fittest.  

Saturday

Kansas City Chiefs vs New England Patriots, 4:35 pm (EST) on CBS

Game notes

  • Led by quarterback Alex Smith, the Chiefs are coming off a 30-0 domination of the Houston Texans in the wild card round last weekend.
  • The Chiefs have won 11 games in a row.
  • In one of the more bizarre stories of the season, Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones (brother of UFC Champion Jon Jones), showed up at the Foxborough police station early Sunday morning on foot, shirtless and disoriented. He was transported to hospital where he stayed all day. The diagnosis? A bad reaction to "synthetic marijuana," which is legal in Massachusetts. Jones did not miss any practice this week and he is unlikely to receive any type of discipline.
  • Not to be outdone, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick showed up to a Monday press conference with a black eye.

Green Bay Packers vs Arizona Cardinals, 8:15 pm (EST) on NBC

Game notes

  • The Packers seemed to find their rhythm last week, beating Washington Redskins 35-18 in the wild card round. 
  • Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, comes alive in playoffs.
  • Cardinals dismantled Packers 38-8 on December 27th
  • Injuries have decimated Packers offensive line.
  • Led by 36-year-old quarterback, Carson Palmer, Cardinals had their best season in franchise history (13 wins).
  • Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians started coaching football in 1975 at Virginia Tech. He became one of the oldest first time NFL coaches at age 60. The Cardinals named him head coach in 2013.

Sunday

Seattle Seahawks vs Carolina Panthers, 1:05 pm (EST) on FOX

Game notes

  • Panthers beat Seahawks in Seattle earlier in the season, 27-23.
  • Both teams feature a punishing defense. 
  • It feels like Seahawks are a team of destiny after beating the Vikings last weekend when the Vikings kicker missed an easy 27-yard field goal to lose the game.
  • Seahawks are expected to have their top running back, Marshawn Lynch, back from an injury.
  • Panthers are led by top MVP candidate, quarterback Cam Newton.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Denver Broncos, 4:40 pm (EST) on CBS

Game notes

  • Steelers beat Broncos, 34-27, on December 20th.
  • Steelers are the only team to score 30+ points on Broncos all season.
  • Injuries have depleted the Steelers' offense this week. One of the most notable injuries is Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, who sustained a concussion in last week’s game.  He is still under concussion protocol and will not play.
  • Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will start for first time since week 10 due to a foot injury.
  • Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas will likely have his mother in attendance at his game for the first time ever. His mom was sent to prison when Thomas was 11, along with his grandmother, for drug charges. She was originally scheduled to get out in 2017, but her sentenced was reduced when President Obama shortened 46 sentences for non-violent drug charges.

NCAA Basketball (College)

Overtime

  • Vikings kicker, Blair Walsh, was not a fan favorite after missing the game winning field goal in last week's playoff game. First graders at a local Minnesota elementary school wrote Walsh letters of encouragement as part of a lesson in empathy. Their kind words of support were acknowledged by Walsh when he paid the students a visit. 

Sideline stat

  • Number one ranked American golfer Jordan Spieth signed a multiyear deal with Coca-Cola that would make him the face of the brand. The exact numbers of the deal have not been released. The 22-year-old made an estimated $30 million in endorsements in 2015.

Coaches’ Corner

  • What is the NFL’s concussion protocol?  We've been hearing so much about concussions in the NFL and their concussion protocol, put into place to protect the health of the players. As expected, it’s complicated but The Washington Post’s Liz Clarke did a great job of breaking down the four-page concussion protocol document into layman’s terms. The five steps in the concussion protocol consist of:
  1. Rest and recovery. 
  2. Light aerobic exercise. 
  3. Continued aerobic exercise, introduction of strength training.
  4. Football-specific work. 
  5. Full football activity, full clearance. 

Note: There is no set timetable for the player’s return to the game. Every case is treated differently.

For more information or to read the whole story, visit our source, The Washington Post.

 

 

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