The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About the 2016-17 NBA Season

Right when you think you have a handle on the football season and the World Series, the NBA season tipped off yesterday. We’re bringing you exactly what you need to know to slam dunk the sports conversation.

For the three,

The Last Night’s Game Team

Five things to know about the 2016-17 NBA Season

A quick overview of the NBA:

  • There are 30 teams in the NBA. The League is broken down into two conferences, Western and Eastern.
  • A regular season consists of 82 games. The games have four 12-minute quarters with a halftime break.
  • The Cleveland Cavaliers broke the city’s 52-year championship drought (for all major sports) by winning the NBA title last season.
  1. This season will have a different feel as a few star players are no longer on the court. Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett all retired after last season.
  2. The Golden State Warriors are heavily favored to win it all, with the Cavaliers in a distant second. Interestingly, the majority of bets made have been placed on the New York Knicks whose odds are roughly 80-1 to win the championship.
  3. The NBA is the first of the four major professional sports to begin selling ad space on player jerseys. StubHub is paying $5 million a year for a 2.5-inch patch on the Philadelphia 76ers jerseys. Only $800,000 a square inch. We’ll take two.  
  4. The NBA is going global. This season there are a record 113 players from 41 countries or territories on opening game rosters. Mexico City will host regular season games for the first time ever in January with the Phoenix Suns playing the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.
  5. There are quite a few players in the NBA with their own signature shoe - Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade to name a few. The rest of the league slums it in name brand shoes - 68% of the league wears Nike, 15% Adidas, 6% Jordan (Michael Jordan’s signature brand) and 3.8% Under Armour. 

MLB (Major League Baseball)

  • World Series win. The Cleveland Indians continued their postseason dominance and shut out the Chicago Cubs in Game One of the World Series last night. Game Two will be played tonight. (It has been moved up to a 6 pm EST start time due to weather).
  • I bet you. The Governors of Ohio and Illinois kept the tradition of betting on the World Series. Although they’re not wagering moving state lines or changing city names, they’re betting beer and pizza. Boring.

Overtime

  • Singer Ciara and her husband, Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson, announced they’re pregnant. The two famously spoke of their abstinence before marriage, but were wed three months ago. That’s going to be one good looking baby. 

Sideline stat

  • While the Denver Broncos were playing in Houston, Broncos' DeMarcus Ware’s house was robbed. Among the items stolen were his recently received Super Bowl ring. We’re pretty sure someone will notice the newest addition to the thieves’ jewelry collection – a giant five karat Super Bowl ring featuring 212 diamonds.

Coaches' corner

  • Why did Cubs’ catcher David Ross have green fingernails in last night’s game? No, it wasn’t a manicure gone bad. Catchers are responsible for relaying the in-game strategy – which pitch the pitcher should throw, if the infield should go for a double play, etc. They use bright stickers on their nails so it’s easier for the pitcher to see the signs the catcher flashes.

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The Rundown: Special Edition - 5 Things to Know About the World Series

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The World Series begins tonight in Cleveland with the Chicago Cubs taking on the hometown Cleveland Indians. This series is a true battle of teams and cities who have been waiting a long time for a World Series title.

Batter up,

The Last Night’s Game Team

 

PS- We will still have our regularly scheduled "Five Things to Know" tomorrow morning. Twice in one week - try to contain your excitement. 

Five things to know about the world series

  1. This is a best-of-seven series that will start with Game One and Two in Cleveland, the next three in Chicago and the final two in Cleveland, if necessary. The Cubs represent the National League and the Cleveland Indians the American League. (Full schedule here). 
  2. The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 (108-year drought) and the Cleveland Indians since 1948 (68-year drought).  
  3. Many consider the Cubs the best thing since sliced bread, although the last time the Cubs won the World Series sliced bread hadn’t even been invented. There were also only 46 states, the Titanic had not been built and the NFL (National Football League), NBA (National Basketball League) and the NHL (National Hockey League) did not exist.
  4. The Chicago Cubs had the best record in baseball this season but the Cleveland Indians have home-field advantage because the American League won the All-Star Game.
  5. Budweiser is the official beer of the MLB (Major League Baseball) postgame celebration, no other is beer allowed. Per MLB postgame celebration rules, only two bottles of champagne are permitted per player during locker room celebrations (which no one actually adheres to) and should be used mostly for spraying and not drinking. Blasphemy!

Overtime

  • Both teams have their own hellion. One is Charlie Sheen and the other a goat. If you remember the movie Major League, Sheen played the “Wild Thing” who pitched for the Indians. Sheen offered to channel his old character and throw out the first pitch at one of the World Series games. The Indians declined saying "we’ve chosen people who actually played baseball." #winning. The Cubs story involves the curse of a goat. Yes, a smelly goat was the reason behind the curse on the team. To read the infamous billy goat story click here.  

Sideline stat

Coaches’ corner

  • While in Cleveland the two teams will play by American League rules using a designated hitter (that means pitchers don't bat - another player bats in their place). When the games are played in Chicago the teams will play by National League rules where the pitcher will hit. Pitchers dedicate so much time to practicing pitching that they're not known for being great batters. You can read more about the designated hitter here.

The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About ESPN's College GameDay

Today we’ve decided to dive into something a little different. If you’re not familiar with College GameDay it’s ESPN’s college football show that has a cult following. It’s one of the biggest traditions in college football. People on the west coast actually wake up at 6 am on a Saturday to start watching it or if they’re smart they DVR it.

Bring up College GameDay in a crowd of sports fans and you’ll elevate your sports talk game to a whole new level.

Levitation baby,

The Last Night’s Game Team

Five Things to Know About ESPN’s College GameDay

  1. Each week the Saturday show is broadcast live from the biggest game in college football. The GameDay crew doesn’t pick the location for the game the following week until the Saturday or Sunday before. They then drive the bus there to get ready for the show.
  2. The picks are the highlight of the show. The broadcasters are joined by a local celebrity to pick the winners of a handful of the games that day. Celebrity guests include Kenny Chesney, Will Ferrell, Katy Perry, Vince Vaughn and Mark Cuban. 
  3. The way Lee Corso (a member of the on-air talent) solidifies his final pick is always a production. He has some sort of antics where he will pick the winning team by dressing up as their mascot/putting on a mascot head or playing with live animals (if the team’s mascot is a real animal). He started this tradition 20 years ago by putting on the head of Brutus the Buckeye, Ohio State’s mascot, when he picked the Buckeyes to win. He is 188-95 (wins-losses) all-time in headgear picks.
  4. Not only is GameDay entertaining but it’s a money maker. It’s estimated that Home Depot’s presenting sponsorship (College GameDay built by The Home Depot) is worth $20 million a year.  
  5. The show has won six Emmy Awards.
  • Extra credit: If you want to be entertained follow Scout Ponder on Instagram. Her mom, Samantha Ponder, is on College GameDay and is a reporter for ESPN. The two-year-old has 146,000 followers. 

MLB (Major League Baseball)

  • Like a phoenix. The Toronto Blue Jays stayed alive in the American League Championship Series, handing the Cleveland Indians their first loss of the postseason yesterday. Today’s game is win or go home for the Blue Jays. Can the Blue Jays take advantage of the depleted Indians pitching to win and force a Game Six? 
  • Cubbies choke. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs last night, taking the lead in the series. The Cubs could use a boost as they haven’t scored a run in two games. We’ll see if the Cubs can pull off a win today to even the series. The Dodgers pitcher for today’s game, Julio Urias, is the youngest starting pitcher in major league playoff history at age 20. 

Overtime

  • College football’s Big 12 conference has been debating adding new teams to their conference. Despite the name, the conference only has 10 teams. Big 12 school presidents heard pitches from 11 different universities to join the conference but decided to stay at their current number of teams and continue to lie about their name.

Sideline stat

  • The Tennessee Titans are currently on a two-game winning streak, something they have not done since the 2013 season. Over the same time period, the Cleveland Browns have started eight different quarterbacks (that's a lot) and 1,500 characters have been killed off on Game of Thrones.

Coaches’ corner

  • Like most people over the age of 12, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is done with technology. He has had enough with his Microsoft tablet and is reverting back to good old pencil and paper. Somewhere Bill Gates is crying over the video of Belichick throwing a sideline temper tantrum and taking it out on his tablet.

 

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