TWIST: This Week in Sports Talk December 17, 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 weekend 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 Lindsay Vonn, the downhill skier who’s aiming to become the “winningest” woman ever in World Cup skiing this season. She’s already one of only six women to win a World Cup event in each of the five disciplines of Alpine skiing: Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom and Super Combined. She’s also planning to go for a Gold Medal or two at the Winter Olympics in February after missing the 2014 games due to a knee injury. After suffering a minor back injury on a qualifying run in St. Moritz this week, the skier proclaimed that in Pyeongchang, she’s planning to “represent the people of United States, not the President.” Check your Twitter feed regularly for further eruptions in the epic flame war raging in response to this comment, leaving behind it only a trail of scorched snow.

As a follow-up to last week’s TWIST mention of Serena Williams returning to the court for the first time since becoming a mom at the Australian Open, this week there was open speculation over whether that will really happen. Williams told Vogue that she had an “outrageous plan” to defend her Australian Open title, and Australian officials say that her visa is in order and she’s good to go. Her camp is staying mum on the final plan. Watch this space for further updates.

Meanwhile, 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 December 10, 2017:

1. The Balls of basketball keep heads spinning. Must know: LeBron James gave some advice to rookie player Lonzo Ball of the LA Lakers on the court at the end of a game the Cavs won 121-112 Thursday night. It was meant to be a private moment between the two, but it was caught on tape. What did the King have to say to the young prince? Stay focused on the game, kid, and don’t let the press get in your head. This is why we love you, King James. Nice to know: Meanwhile, the Lakers have put Ball’s father, LaVar Ball, on notice that they’d like him to tone down his rhetoric to prevent him from sabotaging his son’s nascent career in the NBA. The two younger Ball brothers – LiAngelo, 19 and LaMelo, 16 – have withdrawn from high school and college, respectively, and signed up to play in Lithuania for a professional team. We’re not sure why. All we know is that following this thread is becoming even harder than keeping up with the Kardashians. Extra credit: Meanwhile, elsewhere in the NBA, Carmelo Anthony returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time since leaving the Knicks for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The highly-anticipated “Big 3” – Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Anthony – have not yet played up to expectations (the team is sitting at 12-14, and ranked ninth in the Western Conference). People are interested to see whether Anthony gets a standing ovation or boos when he returns to New York.

2. Injury-ridden NFL season claims another star player. Must know: This has been a brutal season for injuries in the NFL, with numerous major franchise players out for the season. Nice to know: Second-year Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Carson Wentz went down in last Sunday’s win against the Rams. He’s out for the season with a torn ACL, almost certainly dashing the team’s hopes for a shot at winning the Super Bowl. Extra credit: Wentz’s departure for the season opens up a new list of contenders for MVP of the regular season: in addition to Pats QB Tom Brady, Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is moving up the rankings (he would be the first wide receiver ever to win). Other names being mentioned by our Sports Desk? QBs Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rogers, and Jimmy Garoppolo.

3. The Empire Returns to the MLB. Must know: Slugger Giancarlo Stanton has officially joined the Yankees after a trade from the Miami Marlins (where former Yankee star Derek Jeter now presides as co-owner). The killer line-up assembled by Yankees management (with its very deep pockets) has caused an immediate return to the taunts of calling the franchise “The Evil Empire.” Our Sports Desk notes: “They were a fun group of young guns last season” – in 2018, it’ll be hard for some to consider them lovable again in quite the same way. Nice to know: With Stanton teamed with slugger Aaron Judge, (the only two players in baseball to surpass 50 home runs last season) and catcher Gary Sánchez – plus a dynamic new head coach, Aaron Boone – expectations of a stellar season are already palpable around town, even in the dead of winter. As our Executive Sports Editor put it: “It’s gonna be lit up like a pinball machine with home runs in Yankee Stadium.” We can’t wait for spring. Get your season tickets now. Extra credit: the LA Angels, who signed free agent and superstar player Shohei Ohtani of Japan, are also generating a high level of preseason excitement. Ohtani is already being compared to Babe Ruth – he has the potential to be an ace pitcher, but he’s also a strong hitter. It was reported this week that he has a damaged ligament in his pitching elbow, but apparently it won’t prevent him from pitching in 2018. Its shaping up to be a great season for baseball.

For the remainder of the NFL season, 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 pro football fans will want to discuss this week:

• Los Angeles Rams (9-4) at Seattle Seahawks (8-5) – this match-up is for supremacy in the NFC West; the Rams are looking to rebound from a 43-35 loss last week to Philadelphia, while the Seahawks saw their two-game winning streak snapped by a 30-24 loss at Carolina.
• New England Patriots (10-3) at Pittsburg Steelers (11-2) –the Pats lost to the Miami Dolphins on Monday night, and now they have to beat the Steelers if they’re going to earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC and home-field advantage in the playoffs. Our Sports Desk sums it up this way: “It’s the Battle of the Killer B’s: Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell versus Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.” Game on.
• LA Chargers (7-6) at Kansas City Chiefs (7-6) – coming into this AFC West showdown, the Chargers have won 4 straight games — it’s a must-win for both teams to keep their playoff hopes alive.

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

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