TWIST: This Week in Sports Talk October 29, 2017

You don’t love professional sports, but your livelihood and/or personal happiness depends upon your being able to converse intelligently about it. It’s a common dilemma with a simple solution: you need to learn a new language. You need to learn how to talk sports. And we’re here to help! The TWIST is our weekly Dandelion Chandelier guide to what’s happened on the field, on the court and on the ice. Every Sunday you’ll find the three (and only three) things you need to know this coming week to speak cogently about professional sports with the boss, the gang at the office, your barber, your barista, your secret crush, or your in-laws. Do the TWIST every week and we promise you’ll know how to talk about sports like a champion.

This week’s edition of TWIST: This Week in Sports Talk begins with a note about the upcoming 2018 Olympics in South Korea – which are taking place about 50 miles from North Korea.  Some countries, including France, are in active discussions about not sending their teams due to the escalating rhetoric about nuclear capabilities. Undeniably dark news, but with one silver lining: any political science majors who don’t have deep sports knowledge can turn conversations about this weekend’s games toward more familiar (and potentially terrifying) territory. Don’t forget to check the answers to last week’s Sports IQ Test – they’re at the bottom of this post.

For Those Who Do Not Follow Professional Sports, here’s what you need to know this week (and not a single thing more).

3 for the week of October 29, 2017:

1. The World Series sees world-class playing. Must know: The Los Angeles Dodgers are playing the Houston Astros in a best-of-seven series. Games 1-2 and 6-7 (if needed) will be in LA. Games 3-5 will be in Houston. Both teams won more than 100 games in the regular season, the first time since 1971 that the World Series has seen both teams in the 100+ club. As of this posting, the series is tied 2-2. Nice to know: Wednesday’s Game 2 was an instant classic – there were 8 home runs and many reversals in which team was leading, and the game went to 11 innings. The Astros ultimately prevailed in a come-from-behind victory, 7-6, tying the series at 1-1. Extra Credit: Many World Series records were set in Game 2: highest number of home runs; most extra-inning home runs (there were five in the 10^th and 11^th innings); the Astros became just the second team in World Series history to hit a tying home run in the ninth and go-ahead homer in the 10th (the first was the 2001 Yankees), and also the first to hit back-to-back homers in extra innings in a World Series game. Extra Extra Credit: During the 10^th inning, in the midst of an incredible game, a fan leapt into the Astros’ bullpen and was escorted away by the police. All you need to say is “How about that Game 2?”

2. Golden State Warriors are off to a bumpy start. Must know: The fabled Golden State Warriors continue their surprisingly mixed start to the season: as of this posting, the NBA’s defending champions are 3-2 for the season, and 6^th in the Western Conference. Nice to know: Point guard Steph Curry was ejected from a losing game against the Memphis Grizzlies last weekend for throwing his mouthpiece in the direction of a referee. The league decided against suspending him from play, and instead fined him $50,000. Teammate Kevin Durant joined the dispute, backing up Curry, and was also ejected from the game. Extra credit: Curry recovered his grace and his role model status during an interview a couple of days later, saying of the fine and the incident: “At the end of the day, it’s not about the money, it’s about me not doing stupid stuff and losing my cool like that. It’s obviously a tough blow, but it’s more so about me recognizing how to handle myself on the court. I’ve got to be better than that.”

3. NFL sees multiple injuries. Must know: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers is presumed to be out for the season with a broken collar bone. Nice to know: Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer was placed on injured reserve this week after undergoing surgery for a broken arm; New England Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower has a torn pectoral and is out for the season; Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler suffered multiple cracked ribs during Sunday’s win versus the New York Jets and will be out for a few games. Extra credit: Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco suffered a concussion after being viciously hit in the head by Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso during the second quarter of Thursday night’s game (which the Ravens won, 40-0). Flacco left immediately for the locker room and Alonso was flagged for unnecessary roughness, but allowed to continue playing (many argue that he should have been ejected from the game).

Other news items: Yankees manager Joe Girardi was let go after 10 years in the role – he won a World Series in 2009, and had the most wins as an MLB manager over that time period. Still wasn’t enough for Yankee ownership.

For the remainder of the college football and NFL seasons, we’ll highlight the key weekend games you need to know about, and if we go to press before they’re over, it will be up to you to find out the final scores before hitting the office on Monday morning. Remember: you always need to know how “your” team did. Here are the key match-ups that the sports-minded will want to discuss this week:

College Football Games:

• #2 Penn State at #6 Ohio State is the Big 10 matchup to watch this weekend; if the Buckeyes win, they’ll probably move to the top 4 and be well-positioned for the playoffs. If they lose, they’ll be out of contention
• 15 North Carolina State at No. 10 Notre Dame – The Fighting Irish beat their historic rival Southern California last week, which might have knocked the Pac 12 out of playoff contention; this weekend, they face an ACC team to which they hope to do the same.
• Georgia Tech at No. 7 Clemson – This is Clemson’s first game since their upset loss at Syracuse two weeks ago; the ACC championship and a chance to defend their playoff crown are on the line, and this is a must-win for them.

NFL Games:

• Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins – Washington is coming off a tough loss to Philadelphia last weekend, while the Cowboys looked great last week in their rout of the 49ers – the Cowboys are favored, but in the past 34 games between these two teams, Washington has prevailed far more often; they’re ahead 25-9
• Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions – The Lions were supposed to be competitive in the NFC North, but if they lose to the Steelers this weekend, they’ll have four losses in their last five games – Go Lions! (pardon our hometown bias, but we really hope they take this one)
• Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos – The Chiefs are trying to regain command of the AFC West; the Broncos have a chance to close the gap
• Houston Texans at Seattle Seahawks – the Texans head to Seattle fresh off their “bye” week – this is expected to be the best match-up of the week, with rookie Deshaun Watson up against the Seahawks’ defense
• LA Chargers at New England Patriots – the Pats host the surging Chargers, who haven’t won in New England since 2005; meanwhile Tom Brady is quietly delivering a strong season: he’s averaging 315.4 yards per game, the best in the NFL, and has a 15:2 Touchdown-to-Interception ratio. You don’t need to know what that means – just mention that Brady’s playing well. Maybe MVP-well.

Sports IQ Test Results – how did you do?

Basic knowledge:

1. The best college football player of the season wins the Heisman Trophy
2. The Jaguars play in the NFL – Jacksonville, Florida is their home
3. The top three all-time homerun leaders in Major League Baseball are Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds

Advanced intelligence:

1. Only 3 MLB players over 6’4” have more than 307 career hits: former Yankees and Mets first baseman Tony Clark, two-time All-Star Richie Sexson, and Frank Howard —making the achievements of Yankee rookie slugger Aaron Judge, 6’7”, even more remarkable. (Another fun fact: only 10 position players in major-league baseball history have stood 6-foot-7 or taller).
2. Seven NFL starting quarterbacks other than Tom Brady have been over the age of 40: Brett Favre, Steve DeBerg, Matt Hasselbeck, Doug Flutie, Vinny Testaverde, George Blanda and Warren Moon.
3. In the 2017 NBA off-season, an unprecedented eight recent All-Star players changed teams; the team that spent the most to take on the defending league champion Warriors was the Oklahoma City Thunder – they acquired Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, and signed a $205 million contract extension with Russell Westbrook that will kick in next season. The $233 million the Thunder now owe Westbrook over the next six seasons is the most in NBA history. Westbrook’s salary will peak in the final season at $46.7 million.
4. Bonus round: The last player to win the MLB Triple Crown (batting title, most homeruns and most RBIs) was Miguel Cabrera.

Don’t forget to check out our roundup of perfect holiday gifts for sports fans.

That’s it. You’re good to go. See you next week.

 

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