This Week in Sports: What You Need to Know Now

TWIST: This Week in Sports Talk is our weekly recap of how to talk about sports right now. If you’re just starting to learn about sports, or need a quick summary of what’s up in your favorite league, or just want to know why your spouse keeps obsessively checking the sports scores, read on. Here’s what you need to know to talk with a sports fan the week of March 31, 2019.

we begin with the victory of a veteran player

Today in tennis, the men’s final of the Miami Open will see Roger Federer take on John Isner. In the semi-final round, Federer defeated a young gun who calls Federer “his idol,” 19-year old Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Interestingly, defending champion Isner also had to get past a Canadian teenager, 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime, in his semi-final round.

Sadly, the return of the veteran scenario didn’t play out this way in the world of golf this weekend. Tiger Woods blew an early lead on the 18th hole in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match play yesterday. He had previously defeated Rory McElroy. But Woods delivered the match to Lucas Bjerregaard on the 18th hole with a missed 5-footer that he read going right but that actually went left. A previously little-known 27-year old Danish player, Bjerregaard confirmed that he had never even met Woods — much less played with him — until yesterday. Post-match, he noted “ it was a cool experience for me.” Lesson for the kids at home: things that appear to be leaning in favor of the right often end up ultimately going in favor of the left.

what you need to know to talk about sports this week 

For Those Who Do Not Avidly Follow Professional Sports and Want to Be Able to Talk to a Sports Fan, here are the happenings that you should know about for the week of March 31, 2019:

1. ncaa men’s basketball

must know:

March Madness is in its second weekend, when the Sweet Sixteen are culled down to the Elite Eight. And then the 8 play for a place in the Final Four. By the end of the weekend, only four teams will be left standing.

One of them is Texas Tech. The team will play in its first Final Four in program history after upsetting No. 1 seed Gonzaga 75-69 in the Elite Eight on Saturday night.

The second is Virginia, making it into the Final Four with an overtime win against Purdue, 80-75. That game featured the sweetest buzzer-beater of the tournament to date – an 8-foot jumper by Virginia’s Mamadi Diakite that tied the score at 70-70 and sent the game into overtime.

Overall, this year’s tournament remains a great deal less “mad” crazy than prior years. The top teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen this year, which is what the fans want.

As of this posting, the consensus is that Purdue’s 99-94 victory over Tennessee was the best game in the Sweet Sixteen, and that Purdue is the closest thing to a Cinderella story in the tournament so far. Every year there’s chatter and betting about whether anyone can actually maintain a “perfect” bracket for the entirety of March Madness. The owner of the (supposed) last perfect bracket went down in defeat when Purdue won.

Other Sweet 16 winners? Virginia beat Oregon and Gonzaga beat FSU. Texas Tech beat Michigan (ugh!) and Michigan State beat LSU. Auburn beat UNC. Duke squeaked by Virginia Tech, 75-73. And Kentucky beat Houston.

Be sure to check the remaining two scores from the Elite Eight before you head into the office.

2. MLB and NBA

must know:

In the NBA, there are 8 games left in the regular season. As of this posting, the Golden State Warriors are first in the West, with the Denver Nuggets close on their heels and just one game back. The Blazers and Rockets are tied for 3rd, four games back. Dwayne Wade has been on his farewell tour in his last season. James Harden (aka The Beard) continues to be on fire, with a 50- and 60-point game this week. (For a whimsical look at how Harden’s beard has taken on a life of its own, check out this story in today’s New York Times about a Croatian artist who has sketched 26 portraits of The Beard).

Meanwhile, the LA Lakers have decided to bench their star, LeBron James, for the rest of the season since they won’t make the playoffs. No point risking an injury.

The standings in the East are essentially unchanged from last week. The Milwaukee Bucks are firmly in the lead, with the Toronto Raptors in second place, 4 games back. The Pacers, the 76’ers and the Celtics round out the top 5.

nice to know:

On MLB Opening Day, there was great joy in Gotham. The New York Yankees and the New York Mets both won and for a shining moment were both in 1st place!

The Mets have finally locked up last year’s Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom for 5 years. He responded with 6 innings, no runs and a win, thanks to Robinson Cano. To the delight of the fans, Cano hit a home run in his first at-bat with Mets. And deGrom also extended his streak of 30 straight starts of three runs or fewer, the longest streak in MLB history.

The Boston Red Sox and their ace Chris Sale gave up 12 runs on Opening Day to the Seattle Mariners. Our Sports Desk reports that this is the most runs ever given up on Opening Day by a defending World Series championship team.

Is it just us, or do baseball fans have records and statistics at their fingertips that are just really, incredibly, unbelievably arcane?  How do they even know this?

But we digress. The Dodgers crushed it on Opening Day with 8 home runs.

extra credit:

Baseball fans in Philadelphia proved once again this week that they may be both the worst and the best fans in sports. Phillies fans booed their newest acquisition, $330 million dollar man Bryce Harper, on Opening Day. Which was also his first official regular-season day as a member of the team. His crime? He struck out for a second time. The man has a 13-year contract. Maybe give him just a little bit of time to settle in? BTW, the Phillies won the game 10-4 over the Atlanta Braves. Tough. Crowd.

3. nfl

must know:

Patriots Nation is in mourning, as Rob Gronkowski (aka “Gronk”) has announced his retirement. His public persona is that of a fun-loving likable dude, so lots of occasional fans know who he is (many of us will never forget the video of him dancing while riding on Shaq’s shoulders at a late-night party). He’ll be missed for his lightness of spirit as well as his incredible talent. Although some fans are seeing a small glimmer of hope from the fact that the Pats still own his contract. In fact, there are already rumors that he might return at some point during the season.

In other retirement news, free agent Jordy Nelson, who played for the Oakland Raiders last year but was a cornerstone of the Green Bay Packers’ offense for a decade, is also leaving the field.

nice to know:

The focus is now shifting to the NFL draft. It takes place in April. In the meantime, fans will keep reading the tea leaves and making predictions based on all the positioning talk from team management and chatter about potential trades.

extra credit:

When the NFL owners met this week, they agreed on several rule changes. There’s really only one that you need to know. All pass-interference calls – both calls that are made and calls that are not made – are open to a coach’s challenge. The change addresses the New Orleans play at the end of the NFC championship game last season. The Rams blatantly took out one of the New Orleans Saints’ receivers, and it was not called. Many still believe that missed call cost the Saints their spot in the Super Bowl.

bonus round:

In a bit of twisted tale, Greg Schiano steppped down from his position on the New England Patriots’ coaching staff, citing a “need to spend more time on my faith and family.” The odd thing? His hire had never been officially announced by the club. Apparently he was going to be the Defensive Coordinator. But nope. He announced his decision Thursday in a joint statement with coach Bill Belichick.

This move, along with others like Gronk’s retirement, have reignited talk about  the “end of the Patriots dynasty.” Several high-profile players are leaving in free agency. The Pats haven’t acquired any players of consequence during the free agency period. The majority of their assistant coaches have been getting poached to other teams (like, virtually the entire defensive coaching staff). So it doesn’t feel great.

But remember, it didn’t feel great in Patriots Nation last year this time, either. So it probably just means that they’ll win the Super Bowl again.

That’s what you need to know to talk with a sports fan this week. You’re good to go. See you next week!

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