Armchair Weekend in Review (September 1-4, 2006)

by user JB82

Apologies for the delay. I meant to get this out on Monday, but owing to technical difficulties (as well as two games that wouldn't be finished til after this was put up), we bring it to you now.

MLB Labor Day Weekend

• For a team with the worse record in Major League Baseball, the Kansas City Royals sure know how to play spoiler. Edification of that claim: the Royals swiped two of three from the defending World Champion Chicago White Sox.
• Despite having a nine-game lead in the American League East, the New York Yankees also played the role of Killjoy against the Minnesota Twins, likewise taking two of three at the Stadium.
• On Monday, Washington Nationals pitcher Ramon Ortiz came within a full inning of a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals, with Aaron Miles spoiling the fun in the top of the ninth. However, the Nats hung on to win 4-1.
  • A day earlier, this same Cardinals team faced the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cards first baseman Albert Pujols clubbed three home runs in the game, giving the Redbirds a 6-3 win. Pujols' homers gave him 42 for the season, which ranks up there with...
• Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies. He, too, notched a trifecta, but the bat of Shane Victorino saved the day as the Fightin Phils' won the game 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth. Howard leads the majors now with 52 homeruns and looks to be on pace for 60.
• Open mouth, insert (expletive deleted) foot here: After an incident where he dropped an F-bomb twice during a live telecast on Sunday, the Twins suspended color commentator Bert Blyleven for two broadcasts. You can say they told him the same thing, only it was the first of two words and it was a verb in the imperative. The second was either a pronoun or a noun, whichever you prefer.

US College Football Opening Weekend

Since European domestic fútbol is taking a break for Euro 2008 qualifiers, I decided to fill the void with football – American and Canadian. Some highlights from the first weekend of the American collegiate football season:

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish needed a late rally (and Brady Quinn's arm) to ward off the Yellowjackets of Georgia Tech, 14-10.
• The Ohio State University Buckeyes got another "Script Ohio"-filled season underway with a 35-12 win over Northern Illinois. That last one's for you, Chachi. Keep setting up the weekends on Friday, and I'll keep knocking em down on Sunday (or Monday).
• The defending National Champion Longhorns of the University of Texas got the Colt McCoy era underway with a 56-7 romp of the vaunted Mean Green of the University of North Texas.
• Meanwhile, out in California, the University of Southern California Trojans started the post-Reggie Bush/Matt Leinart era with a 50-14 rout of the University of Arkansas. Woe hog sooey...
• The Mountaineers of West Virginia University continued their positive momentum from last year's surprise bowl run with a 42-10 beatdown of in-state rival Marshall University.
• Bob Stoops managed to set aside any and all on-field personnel issues as his University of Oklahoma Sooners with restaurant-quality performances from Adrian Peterson and Paul Thompson in a 24-17 win over the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
• Perhaps the biggest pantsing by a Division I-AA team on a bigger Division I team ever in college football history came when the Panthers of Montana State University inflicted a 19-10 humbling on the University of Colorado Buffaloes.
• A good news-bad news situation for the University of Louisville Cardinals. The good news: Louisville defeated the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky 59-28 to win the Governor's Cup on Sunday. And now the bad news: Louisville running back Michael Bush busted his right leg and is done for the year – maybe for good.
• The rivalry between the University of Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State University Seminoles is usually one given to great bouts of intensity, physciality, and missed field goals by FSU kickers. Well, none of that happened on Monday, as the Seminoles beat the Canes in a lackluster game 13-10.

CFL Labour Day Rivalries

Speaking of rivalries, Labour Day (note the Commonwealth English spelling) to a CFL fan means just that. We all know great rivalries when we see them: Duke-North Carolina, Army-Navy, Yankees-Boston Red Sox, etc. Here's what happened in the Great White North:

• The Battle of Ontario saw an historic happening: Toronto Argonauts quarterback Damon Allen became professional football's *US or Canadian) all-time passer, surpassing Warren Moon with a 207-yard game (16/24, 2 TD) which puts him at 70,595 yards passing for his career. BTW, the Argos whipped the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 40-6.
• A week before the Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg, the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat up on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 39-12 in Regina. Three touchdowns from running back Kerry Joseph helped out the Riders in this one.
• East met West as the Montreal Alouettes faced the British Columbia Lions, the end result being BC leaving the MTL with a 48-13 victory. The poor Alouettes have gone from undefeated to losers of four in a row. Quel dommage...
• In the Battle of Alberta, the Calgary Stampeders, well, er, stampeded over their northern Alberta counterparts, the Edmonton Eskimos 44-23. For the Edmontonians, it looks as though they will no longer be the St. Louis Blues of the CFL (they have made the playoffs every year since 1972, spanning 10 Grey Cups and 17 appearances in Canada's answer to the Super Bowl: the Grey Cup final.

Bizarre off-field incidents in the NFL

• First off, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is unavailable for Thursday night's season opener against the Miami Dolphins due to the most bizarre of human maladies: appendicitis.
• A near tragedy involving San Diego Chargers linebacker Steve Foley: early Sunday morning, Foley was accidentally shot by an off-duty police officer in Coronado, California. Foley was sent to the hospital with gunshot wounds to his chest, arm and leg. The nine-year veteran has since been placed on injured reseve (even though this was a non-football injury), so he'll still get paid. Thank goodness he's alive, IMO.

Vale Andre

After a carrer which spanned almost a decade and a half, saw him win 61 titles, eight Grand Slam tournaments, and his engagement in a rivalry with Pete Sampras that dominated the tennis world in the mid to late-90s, Andre Agassi bade the sport a tearful farewell on Sunday after losing to Benjamin Becker in the third round of the US Open. Agassi soon got the last laugh, as Becker (no relation to Boris) soon lost to Andy Roddick in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

FIBA World Championships Wrap Up in Japan

• The Gang That Could Shoot Straight But Not Get The Big Prize When It Mattered Most (i.e., the US Men's Basketball Team) gave it their all after being behind, but the Greeks put the snakebite on the Americans on Friday 101-95. Thus, the Yankee Doodlers had to settle for the bronze medal, which they earned by beating Argentina on Saturday, 96-81.
• No Pau? No problem for Spain. Even without the Memphis Grizzlies' big man, the Spaniards defeated Greece 70-49 to win the gold medal.

Odds & Sods

• The Saratoga racing season came to an end on Monday, but not without one last weekend of upsets. On Saturday, Saratoga's own Funny Cide made his competitive track debut, only to finish eighth to 30-1 longshot Premium Tap in the Woodward Invitational. This race was ran for the very first time at the Spa.
  • In the undercard, the Forego Handicap, favorite Commentator was beaten by Pomeroy.
• Tiger Woods remains unstoppable on the PGA TOUR, winning his fifth straight tournament at the DeutscheBank Championship outside Boston. He even held off a course-record 61 by Vijay Singh on Sunday.
• Kasey Kahne swept the Busch Series and Nextel Cup races at California Speedway, doubling a feat from earlier this year.
• Two obituaries from this past weekend to pass along:
  • Condolences to family and those close to two-time Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bob Mathias, who passed from cancer at age 75 on Friday.
  • The same to the family and the multitude of fans of Steve Irwin, known popularly as the "Crocodile Hunter", who was felled Monday by a stingray off Australia's Great Barrier Reef at age 44 while filming a documentary.

AT LAST, THE END!!

With so much to discuss these past four days, I thought we'd never get here! Until next week, let's all be good sports.

Date

Tue 09/05/06, 2:48 pm EST