It is beautiful time of year when the summer weather is starting to cool down, schools open their doors again and the most popular sport in the country begins its marvelous season.
This is it. The final week before football season sweeps the nation and holds us in its grips. On Sept. 2 the college football season will begin and polls, rankings and Heisman Trophy’s will consume our minds. Big changes happened in the off-season for the college football landscape with plenty of teams switching conferences to try and position themselves better to make it to the National Title Game in a few months. Plenty of other teams were handed crippling punishments for violating rules, causing their programs to not be as powerful and giving other teams a chance to step into the spotlight. This will also be the first season without the NCAA poster-child Tim Tebow. Who will step up and become the most popular player in the country? All the speculation and questions will be answered over the course of the season but until the last play is made everyone will consider their team the best and competition on the field will be fierce. Enjoy it while it lasts.
With college football starting, the anticipation for the upcoming NFL season will be ratcheted up even more. Just two weeks away from the season means that Fantasy Football leagues will be drafting and soon the triumphs and tragedies of make-believe teams will rumble through hallways and offices. I highly recommend joining a free league on Yahoo, ESPN or NFL. Don’t play for blood, just play to enjoy the game more. Try getting a family league going with friendly wagers on the line. I’m not encouraging sports betting, I’m just encouraging some friendly family competition with chores or favors on the line. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll start to deeply enjoy the NFL.
Oh yeah, and baseball is coming to an end soon so the level of intensity is stepped up as playoff hopes are made and squashed in these last weeks. So enjoy this last week of civility before football begins and baseball becomes and after-thought.
Top 3
1. MLB – Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays – August 27-29
Each of these teams are trying desperately to catch up with the Yankees in the American League East Division but most likely neither of them will. Now they are left to duke it out over the Wild Card spot. Currently the Rays lead the race but only by 5.5 games and this three game series could put the Red Sox within grasp of their playoff berth. But the Rays are a smart and scrappy team lead by Joe Maddon, one of the smartest managers in the game. They will not just hand over wins in this tight race because they have tasted the World Series but want to be on the winning side of it now. The Red Sox have been floundering all season in a tough division and with older players who may not be in their prime anymore. This is probably their last chance to do it with this core group of players and so their motivation to win one more time is big. But only one of these teams can make it and this series could very well prove to be the difference. These teams already have a fierce rivalry that has produced a couple brawls so don’t be surprised if one erupts with all the energy being focused towards winning. Watch and enjoy some very good baseball.
2. MLB – Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers – August 23-26
In what very well could be a preview of the American League Division or Championship Series, these two first place teams meet to decide who may have more momentum going into the postseason. Pride is a major factor in sports and winning a big series against an elite team is a huge boost of pride to any team. These guys will play with everything they have in order to be able to say in the post season that they were better than the other. These teams can also use this as an experiment on how to play the other in certain situations. Neither of these teams are regulars in the playoffs in recent years so it will be nice to see some new blood fight it out for a chance to get to the world series. The highlight of this series is easily the Thursday game with each teams ace pitcher going up. Francisco Liriano is have a terrific season for the Twins and the recently acquired Cliff Lee brings a strong veteran arm to an already powerful Ranger team. Enjoy this series and take notes because most likely this won’t be the last time these guys meet before a World Series Champion is crowned.
3. PGA – The Barclays – August 26-29
Tiger Woods isn’t playing up to par (pun intended). His game has just been off since all the nonsense began on Thanksgiving. The Ryder Cup is coming up and if he doesn’t play better he will not be able to make the team. The Ryder Cup is a big deal because it pits American players against European players so instead of playing for themselves, the golfers are playing for their country. This is a big deal to all of them and you better believe that Tiger Woods wants to be on that team. The Ryder Cup team captain for the U.S. is Corey Pavin and he is allowed four picks of golfers to complete the team. He will have a hard time not picking Woods if Woods can be one of the top four players not already on the team and the only way Tiger can do that is by winning. Will this finally be the week he breaks out of this slump and secures his spot on the team. With only a few weeks left this could be one of the few remaining opportunities to do so.
Quick Picks
- Brett Favre “suddenly decided” to come back. Forgive my lack of surprise.
- Congrats to Kyle Busch who over the weekend completed the sweep of all national races at Bristol Motor Speedway. He won the NASCAR Trucks race, Nationwide Series race as well as the Sprint Cup race. That’s some good driving.
- The first official rankings of NCAA Football has been released. Check to see where your team ranks here.
