weekend preview LAST NIGHT'S GAME weekend preview LAST NIGHT'S GAME

The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition - The Weekend Is Upon Us

We haven’t been this excited about Friday since last Friday. May you use your newfound sports knowledge to command the conversation this weekend.
 
I wanna talk about me,
The Last Night’s Game Team

MLB (Major League Baseball)

  • The bears are back. The Chicago Cubs have made the NLCS (National League Championship Series) interesting. They were shut out for two games and then they’ve won their past two games to take the series lead vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. The teams will play Game Six tomorrow in Chicago.
  • Going to the chapel. The Cleveland Indians called upon a pitcher with only one start in his career, Ryan Merritt, in Game Five. The Indians ended up beating the Toronto Blue Jays to head to the World Series. A fan found Merritt’s registry for his upcoming wedding, made it public, and the appreciative Cleveland fans have purchased almost everything on the couple’s registry. Glad we don’t have to write all those thank you notes.

F1 (Formula One Racing)

  • Everything’s bigger in Texas. The new American owners of F1 have expressed interest in adding race stops in the United States. Currently the only race on the schedule is in Austin, TX this weekend. Austin is pulling out all the stops to impress the powers that be with performances by Taylor Swift, Usher and The Roots. As for the race, Nico Rosberg holds a commanding lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the overall standings. There are four more races (including Austin) left in the season.

NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)

  • It’s now or never. Sunday is a pivotal race as this is the last chance for drivers to secure a spot in the next round of the playoffs. They’ll advance to the round of eight with a win. Out of the 12 drivers racing on Sunday, only Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are locked in. Expect an exciting race in Talladega because the other five drivers who will round out the group of eight are chosen based on points from the last three races.

WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association)

  • Crowning a champ. In the fifth and last game of the finals, the Los Angeles Sparks beat reigning champions the Minnesota Lynx on a last second shot by WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike. The last championship for Los Angeles was in 2002.

Overtime

  • New York Knicks’ Derrick Rose was cleared by a jury in a civil case stemming from a rape case in 2013. While no criminal charges were actually filed, the defendant was seeking $21 million. In poor taste, after being cleared, Rose posed for photos with members of the jury and even with the judge. The judge told Rose “Best wishes, except when the Knicks play the Lakers.” 

Sideline Stat

  • ESPN College GameDay heads to Tuscaloosa, AL this weekend ahead of Texas A&M (#6) vs Alabama (#1). Alabama has been so dominant this year that they are a 19-point favorite over the #6 team in the country. Click here.

Coaches’ Corner

  • What does it mean when a team is shut out? A shut out occurs if a team doesn’t score at all during a game – there’s a big fat zero on the scoreboard at the end. Ouch.   

 

Read More
five things to know LAST NIGHT'S GAME five things to know LAST NIGHT'S GAME

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.

Read More