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The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up

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This weekend tight end Rob Gronkowski showed us just that on a party cruise and the Daytona 500 was one for the record books.  

Something for everyone,

The Last Night’s Game Team  

NASCAR

  • Too close for comfort. Denny Hamlin won the 58th Daytona 500 by the closest margin in the race history (.01 seconds). Hamlin showed them who’s the boss with an impressive maneuver to overtake Martin Truex, Jr. on the last lap to bring home the checkered flag. 

Notable finishes include:

  • Pole-sitter, 20-year-old Chase Elliott, crashed in the 20th lap and did not finish.
  • Dale Earnhardt, Jr. crashed in 169th lap and finished 36th place. (There are 200 laps in the race). 
  • Danica Patrick finished in 35th place.

MLB (Major League Baseball)

  • Reporting for duty. All MLB players will report to their respective team’s spring training facilities today. Spring training allows teams to evaluate young prospects and give veterans a chance to get ready for the start of the season which begins in April. 
  • Sunshine here we come. Team's spring training facilities are located in two states, with teams either report to Florida (Grapefruit League) or to Arizona (Cactus League). 
  • Swinging for the fences. Texas Rangers fan Byron Anderson hit a home run and won his family free season tickets (value estimated at $8,500). The ”Swing for Your Seats” promotion gave fans three chances to hit a home run to win season tickets.

NFL (National Football League) 

  • Looking for the next big thing. The NFL Scouting Combine starts tomorrow. If you recall, the NFL Combine is a platform for prospective NFL prospects to participate in various drills and interviews with NFL scouts to improve their visibility and draftability. Prospects can only participate if they’re invited.  The NFL Network will be covering the combine workouts live February 26-29th.   

Overtime

  • New England Patriots’ tight end, Rob Gronkowski, hosted a three-day “Gronkowski Party Cruise" through the Caribbean this weekend. Fans bought tickets to join the zany and unpredictable "Gronk" to sail the seas and party on what some are describing as an NC-17 weekend. On board entertainment included Flo Rida and Rob Gronkowski, who channeled his inner Magic Mike. Oh dear. 

Sideline Stat

  • Sunday’s Daytona 500 win was team owner Joe Gibbs’ first win at Daytona since 1993. Gibbs is a former coach of the Washington Redskins (NFL) and owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, which owns four different NASCAR cars including winner Hamlin.

Coaches’ Corner

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The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition

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It’s finally Friday and we’re revved up for this weekend’s Daytona 500. Boxer Manny Pacquiao had a rough week and find out why the NBA’s Steve Novak is feeling a bit like Taylor Swift with yet another breakup.

Shake it off,

The Last Night’s Game Team

Boxing

  • Total knockout. Nike announced they have cut ties with boxer Manny Pacquiao over comments he made that same-sex couples are “worse than animals.” Pacquiao later apologized for his comments while wearing his Nike gear. Nike called his comments “abhorrent” and said farewell. Pacquiao is running for a Senate seat in Philippines (he's currently a member of the House of Representatives) and is scheduled to retire after his next fight against Timothy Bradley on April 9th. His last fight was a loss to Floyd Mayweather in May 2015.

NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)

  • Gentlemen start your engines. The starting lineup for this year's Daytona 500 race has been determined. The most notable is, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who is starting third place. This year’s running marks the 15th anniversary of the death of his father, driver Dale Earnhardt, at the same track. For the full starting grid click here. You can catch the Daytona 500 live on Sunday at Noon (EST) on FOX. 

NBA (National Basketball Association)

  • Yawn. The NBA trade deadline was Thursday at 3 pm (EST). On most accounts it was uneventful. View the ESPN trade tracker here. 
  • Go team? NBA veteran Steve Novak has been traded numerous times over the past few years.  His most recent trade warranted this photo on Twitter of his son’s confused team spirit with the caption “Knicks hoop, Thunder jersey, and Jazz shorts...and you wonder why the lil homie is confused! #TradeDeadline.“ Novak was traded from Oklahoma City Thunder to Denver Nuggets. 

NFL (National Football League)

  • Horsing around. After a 12-year career Carolina Panthers defensive end Jared Allen announced his retirement with a video of his ride off into the sunset. Cue Mother Nature.

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

  • Howdy partner. Two fighters with the nickname “Cowboy” battle in the main event to see who keeps the nickname. The fight features Donal “Cowboy” Cerrone vs Alex “Cowboy” Oliviera at welterweight (170 pounds) live Sunday night on Fox Sports One at 9 pm (EST).

Overtime

  • University of Miami Hurricanes head coach, Mark Richt, has offered a scholarship to eighth grade quarterback Harrison Bailey. Bailey would be part of the 2020 recruiting class and is already 6’3” and 175 pounds. Apparently early scholarship offers are not as far fetched as we think with LeBron James’ son reportedly received scholarship offers at 10-years-old. 

Sideline Stat

  • Major League Baseball’s (MLB) spring training has begun with pitchers and catchers reporting for duty this week. The boys of summer are back.

Coaches’ Corner

  • What is the trade deadline? The trade deadline is the last day where teams can make a trade to improve their roster for the last half of the season and hopefully the playoffs. Teams are not allowed to make any trades with other teams after the trade deadline. Period. 
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The Rundown: The Weekend Wrap Up - Super Bowl Edition

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In case you missed it, the Super Bowl was yesterday. If you prefer ruffhousing, you probably turned on the Puppy Bowl. 

We learned yesterday that defense wins championships. That, and the fact that the City of Denver is going to have an influx of babies born in nine months.  

Lady Gaga slayed it as did Denver's defense.

World Champs,

The LNG Team

Super Bowl 50

  • Denver won with a final score of 24-10 in a lackluster Super Bowl
  • #1 defense (Broncos) stifled the #1 offense (Panthers)
  • Panthers were heavily favored going into the game but Broncos closed out the season beating two huge favorites (Patriots & Panthers).
  • The turf was less than ideal. Players we’re slipping and sliding all over like a foam party. 
  • Denver's defense sacked Panthers quarterback Cam Newton six times and forced four turnovers. 
  • Broncos' defense held the Panthers to their lowest point total of the year.
  • Broncos' offense was not impressive either, only gaining 194 total yards (fewest ever by Super Bowl winning team).
  • Peyton Manning won his second Super Bowl. He did not answer retirement questions but he did share said he’s going to drink a lot of Budweiser after the game. 
  • The MVP of the game was Broncos linebacker Von Miller who had 2.5 sacks and forced two fumbles, one of which resulted in a touchdown. He also said he wants to be a chicken farmer when he retires. Seems reasonable. 

Musical Performances

  • To say that Lady Gaga rocked the National Anthem is an understatement. (Although we thought the Super Bowl would have been a perfect occasion for her to once again break out the meat dress). Her performance drew rave reviews throughout the world. Two snaps.
  • The reviews on halftime were mixed. The Queen B (Beyoncé) didn’t really add much to the show. Coldplay came out strong and were entertaining but the show lacked the normal fireworks and flare that a Super Bowl halftime show has. Bruno Mars stole the show with his dance moves and a little Uptown Funk.

Commercials

  • The votes are in and according to our team of experts here are some the best and worst commercials are:

Top

Worst

  • Heinz: Meet the Ketchups – How do you screw up an ad that starts with a herd of wiener dogs dressed like hot dogs? It can be done.
  • Pokemon: Train On – Pokemon is 20. Yay says no one. All we got out of that ad is feeling like we’re old. What’s next? Pogs?
  • Mountain Dew: PuppyMonkeyBaby - Personally we thought this was one of the weirdest ads. It was showcasing three great things combined into one – just like Mountain Dew’s new drink. Critics seem to love this commercial but we’ll be having nightmares about a PuppyMonkeyBaby for years to come.  

You can catch all of the ads here. 

In other NFL News

  • Honorable. During the NFL Honors Saturday, the top awards for the season were announced.
    • Defensive Player of the Year- J.J. Watt, Houston Texans
    • Comeback Player of the Year- Eric Berry, Kansas City Chiefs (he came back from battling lymphoma)
    • Offensive Rookie of the Year- Todd Gurley, St. Louis Rams
    • Defensive Rookie of the Year- Marcus Peters, Kansas City Chiefs
    • Coach of the Year- Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers
    • League MVP- Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
    • Walter Payton Man of the Year Award – Anquan Boldin, San Francisco 49ers (an award for community outreach. He made a great speech).
  • Report to class. The new class of the NFL Hall of Fame Inductees were also announced on Saturday night. The new class is led by quarterback Brett Farve. They will be formally inducted on August 6th.  
  • Peace out. Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch (age 29) subtly announces his retirement with an emoji and a photo via twitter. Lynch has reportedly not spent any of his contract money he earned during his nine year career. He has lived strictly on money earned from endorsements.
 

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