Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for September 10, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Peyton Manning's debut with the Denver Broncos is a success as they beat Pittsburgh 31-19.
- What does the preseason mean? The Jets scored 31 total points in their four preseason games. They scored 48 yesterday in their regular season opening day win against Buffalo.
- Heeding his family's request, the late Browns owner Art Modell was not honored at the Cleveland Browns opener.
- Serena Williams wins her fourth U.S. Open beating Victoria Azarenka in three sets. The men's final will be played today between defending champ Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
- Rory McIlroy made it back to back wins, taking the BMW Championship.
- How many times can you par the same hole? Paula Creamer and Jiyai Shin parred the par-four 18th hole eight times each, as they kept playing the same playoff hole at the Kingsmill Championship. Darkness prevented a ninth try. They'll try a different hole today, the 16th.
2. Signal Callers
The quarterback always gets the most attention, but this year it's been taken to a whole new level. Peyton Manning got off to a good start in Denver. Robert Griffin III had a terrific debut for Washington as the Redskins won in New Orleans. Just about every NFL recap starts with the quarterback. Even, ho hum, Tom Brady and New England winning yet again on opening day as they always do, Brady may have even suffered a broken nose along the way. And in the Jets win over Buffalo, it was kind of fun to see Tim Tebow run in and out of the game willy-nilly. He definitely gained the most yardage of anyone sideline to sideline. Although in San Francisco's win over Green Bay, Randy Moss's touchdown catch made headlines. There's still room for diva wide receivers, even if their numbers are dwindling.
3. The Heat Is On
The Yankees got jobbed by the umps the other night in Baltimore. It's part of the game. Baltimore got jobbed even bigger in the 1996 playoffs by a kid named Jeffrey Maier. Regardless, Yankees manager Joe Girardi got into it with New York Post writer Joel Sherman. The argument got heated and they had to be separated by coaches and security. That's not the way a manager should be conducting business. And by the way, if the ump doesn't blow the call, it doesn't mean the Yankees win, the game would have been tied. Much like the Red Sox if Bill Buckner made the play. And on the subject of officiating, it looks like the NFL replacement refs got away fairly unscathed. They did mistakenly Seattle an extra timeout, but it didn't affect the outcome.
4. Wait Till Next Year
Somewhere Cy Young, Christy Mathewson and Bob Gibson are all shaking their heads. The Washington Nationals are in first place and they are heading to their first postseason appearance since 1933. So what did they do? They shut down their best pitcher Steven Strasburg for the rest of the season. He was on an innings count following Tommy John surgery. In the old days pitchers threw until their arms fell off. Nowadays, those arms cost a lot more thus the coddling.
5. You Betcha
So you know the story of Savannah State. They pocketed $860 thousand to get whacked by Oklahoma State and Florida State in back to back weeks. Last week they lost to OSU 84-0, and against Florida State they were favored by 70 1/2 points, the largest point spread in history. But they only lost 55-0. So if you bet on Savannah State did you win? Of course not. The game was stopped by bad weather in the third quarter. All bets were off. Then there's #8 Arkansas. They were favored by a hefty 30 1/2 points over Louisiana-Monroe. In some quarters it was referred to as a "cupcake" game, an easy early season win to boost the team's record. Not so fast. Arkansas didn't cover, and they didn't win the game either, losing 34-31 and dropping from #8 to unranked in a single bound. Cupcakes don't always taste so good.
Happy Birthday: The King, Arnold Palmer. 83.
Bonus Birthday: Mr. Factor himself, Bill O'Reilly. 63.
Today in Sports: The Mets sweep a doubleheader from the Expos and the Cubs lose. The Mets ascend to first place for the first time in franchise history. 1969.
Bonus Event: 20 years ago today, Bud Selig is named Acting Commissioner of Major League Baseball. He's still ticking. 1992.
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