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- Strange dynamics lead to Manchester City win: Manchester City played AS Roma in the Champions League knowing that they had to win the game or get a scored draw to advance. If there was a scoreless draw, that would favor AS Roma. What this meant was that when it was 0-0, AS Roma was happy but as soon as Manchester City scored the first goal, Roma knew it had to score two in response because a 1-1 tie was as good as a loss to them. Very confusing!
Line: Very confusing scenarios, but a good soccer game!
- Golden State remains golden: It’s 14 straight wins now for rookie head coach Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors! They beat the Houston Rockets 105-93, largely on the back of an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter. Both teams were missing their starting centers for the game, something that, if it could be guaranteed in every game for the rest of the season, would favor Golden State so much that they would probably become the favorites to win the championship.
Line: Golden State is fun to watch and they’re winning!
- Georgetown almost pulls the upset but doesn’t dissapoint: Georgetown had a good shot at a weakened Kansas but came up just short, losing 75-70. The Georgetown team made perhaps their strongest statement of the night when the entire team came out wearing “I can’t breathe” T-shirts for warmups and kept them on through the national anthem.
Line: Good for Georgetown for staying true to the reputation the school developed in the 80s as the mainstream representative of outspoken black culture in college basketball.
- Late surge from Liverpool almost works: Liverpool had to beat FC Basel outright to advance in the Champions League. Down two goals and one man, they finally started to play well but it wasn’t quite enough in the end. Despite a brilliant free kick goal from their captain, Steven Gerrard, the comeback attempt came up short.
Line: Liverpool’s slogan is “You’ll never walk alone,” so at least they will be walking out of the Champions League together.
- Undefeateds stay that way in college basketball: The two undefeated teams I thought might have a shot at losing last night won their games to stay undefeated for the season. Villanova beat Illinois 73-59 and Louisville beat Indiana 94-74.
Line: Another day in college basketball and the rich keep getting richer.
- Blackhawks find the Devils hard to solve: Imagine you’re a hockey goalie. You’ve been playing your whole life and now you’re in the minor leagues, so close to your dream of playing in the NHL. Finally, you get the call — you’re to catch a plane down from Albany to make your NHL debut! But my god, does it have to be against the Blackhawks? The Blackhawks who are on a six game winning streak powered by their deep lineup of ridiculous offensive players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick, Brad Richards, Marian Hossa, and Kris Versteeg? Yikes, that’s a baptism by fire! It’s exactly what faced Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid in his first NHL game ever. He played amazingly well, making 37 saves and helping the overpowered Devils force a shootout after a 2-2 tie. Sure, the Blackhawks won in overtime, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of!
Line: Pretty good debut for a goalie — 37 saves against the Blackhawks.
- Kobe Bryant and Marc Gasol power their teams with scoring: Kobe Bryant scored 32 points and Marc Gasol scored 30 to lead their teams to victories. The Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings (minus DeMarcus Cousins who is still out with viral meningitis!!) 98-95 and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Dallas Mavericks 114-105.
Line: The effort Kobe Bryant is putting out, in a season that is already lost for the team, is amazing.
- Tradition has its say in England: The topsy turvy season in the British Premier League is slowly turning right-side-up as the traditional soccer powers return to the top. Yesterday Manchester City beat upstart Southampton 2-1 thanks to two goals from Robin van Persie.
Line: Southampton had the better of the play but no striker as dangerous as van Persie.
- Snow in Lambeau: The beautiful falling snow at the Green Bay Packers’ home stadium was one of the highlights in a highlight filled game. The Packers ended up edging by the Atlanta Falcons 43-37 but it never felt as close as the final score would suggest. The Falcons scored 20 points in the fourth quarter while the Packers were mostly on coast-to-the-end mode.
Line: It’s getting to the point where I find it hard to imagine any NFC title game other than Packers vs. Seahawks.
- Basketball players step up in Brooklyn: LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and his teammate Kyrie Irving and four Brooklyn Nets: Jarrett Jack, Deron Williams, Alan Anderson, and Kevin Garnett wore “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts during warm-ups in support of Eric Garner’s family and in protest of police violence and the justice system’s insufficient response. In doing so, they follow, and significantly enlarge a trend started by Chicago Bulls player, Derek Rose, a couple days ago. The Cavaliers easily handled the Nets, 110-88, but for me at least, the visibility of the players’ social gesture (in front of Prince William and Kate Middleton AND Beyonce and Jay-Z) outweighs the game by a lot.
Line: Oh, sure, the Nets are sneaky bad at basketball, but I’m just happy about the pre-game shirts.
- Rangers beat Penguins in overtime: The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers played, they needed overtime, a shootout, and then a second shootout to decide a winner. This game looked (I was there! Carefully following my own rules for being a fan of the away team!) like it was headed to a shootout but the Rangers scored a pretty goal in overtime to end it decisively, 4-3.
Line: That was an entertaining game!
- A very full day of NFL football: Because of bye weeks and Thanksgiving, yesterday was the first Sunday since ten weeks ago that featured the maximum number of NFL teams playing in one day — 28. That is a full day of football! If you missed even a small part of it or, you know, all of it, leverage our one liner recaps of all the games to find out what happened.
Line: Sixteen games in one day is a lot to track, even if there weren’t anything else in the sports world going on.
- Goodbye and congratulations to Landon Donovan: Landon Donovan has been the face of U.S. soccer for the past fifteen years, even to some extent this summer when he was left off the U.S. Men’s World Cup team. Yesterday, he played his last game as a professional before retiring, and he went out on top! His team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, beat the New England Revolution in the Major League Soccer Cup 2-1 in overtime. It’s a hard pill to swallow for the Revolution, who remain the only original MLS team never to win a regular season title or championship.
Line: Good for Landon, he gave us some great memories during his career, and frankly, I think he deserved better treatment from us and from the national team.
- The first college football playoffs are set: This year was supposed to be a big break through in college football. For the first time, after years of lobbying for this from fans, there is going to be a playoffs instead of simply a championship game. Yesterday, the four teams to make the playoffs were announced by the selection committee. Fans of Oregon, Alabama, Florida State, and Ohio State are happy. Fans of TCU and Baylor are unhappy. Everyone else is slowly shaking their heads and thinking that a playoff with four teams just shifts the arguments about who gets left out from the third and fourth position to the fifth and sixth.
Line: I’m not really sure a four team playoff improves anything. Look at college basketball where there are 68 teams that make the playoffs and people still obsess and fight about the teams left out.
- Dallas dominates Chicago: The Dallas Cowboys beat the Chicago Bears far worse than the 41-28 final score makes you think. The Bears were really never in the game and the Cowboys always were. Although, really, it’s almost more accurate to say that DeMarco Murray beat the Chicago Bears. Murray touched the ball on slightly over 2/3 of the Cowboys offensive plays last night. That’s a very unusual proportion, even for the best players out there.
Line: The Cowboys handled the Bears easily but I worry that they’re going to wear out DeMarco Murray before the playoffs.
- Knicks wilt at the end: The New York Knicks looked like they were going to pull off an unlikely second victory of the year over the high powered Cleveland Cavaliers but then the fourth quarter started. In the fourth quarter of the game, the Cavaliers scored 22 points while holding the Knicks to only 14. That was enough for them to edge the Knicks by three points in the final score. Point guard Kyrie Irving was the hero of the night for the Cavs — he scored 37 points.
Line: You didn’t think the Knicks were actually going to win that game, did you?
- Golden State adds to their winning streak: The Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 112-85 last night to bring their winning streak up to 11 games in a row. That’s an impressive run for their team! Anthony Davis, the phenomenal center for the Pelicans, scored 30 points and got 15 rebounds in the game but it wasn’t enough to even keep the game close.
Line: Golden State has won 11 games in a row? That’s crazy! I had no idea!
- British Premier League stays true to form: “True to form” is English for “the teams with more money and a longer history of winning, won.” That’s what happened yesterday in British Premier League soccer. Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 to extend their lead from the second place team in the league. Manchester City beat Sunderland 4-1, mostly just for fun. The only game that could have been construed as surprising and exciting was Arsenal beating Southampton 1-0. Arsenal is definitely the side (team) with the longer history of winning but Southampton was actually ahead of them in the standings when the day started.
Line: Lots of fireworks but no surprises in the BPL… which I guess is what you want when you play with fireworks but not so much when you’re a sports fan watching sports.
- 76ers win a game, avoid history: The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves last night to improve their record from 0-17 to 1-17. That might not seem important to you, but if they had lost that game, they would have tied the (then New Jersey, now Brooklyn) Nets’ record for futility to start a season. Philadelphia is widely thought to be tanking or losing on purpose to improve their draft status for the next year. I think it was just a combination of luck and motivation (and a weakened opponent) that led them to win their 18th game, but if I were really cynical, I could say it was because they literally were not trying to win during the first 17.
Line: 76ers win! 76ers win! 76ers… oh.
- Duke goes to Wisconsin to win: Duke’s men’s basketball team shot 60% in the first half of last night’s big game against the Wisconsin Badgers. That’s almost unconscionably good. It’s very difficult to imagine any team being able to keep up when their opponent is shooting 60% but Wisconsin very nearly did. At halftime, Wisconsin was only down by three points. That’s the positive that they’ll have to take from this game, that they could play with Duke even when Duke was on (figurative) fire.
Line: I’d love to see those teams meet during March Madness!
- Louisville beats Ohio State easily: You know not much of note happened in a game when the ESPN headline for the game recap reads: ” Terry Rozier plays through dislocated pinkie as Louisville thwarts OSU”. I mean, come on — a pinkie? A big deal for you or me, maybe, but on the scale of injuries athletes play through… not such a big deal. Just tape it to the next finger and keep balling.
Line: Ho hum, Louisville was up by 17 points at halftime.
- Old holds off young: The Cleveland Cavaliers are not really that old but in the aspiring rivalry between them and the Milwaukee Bucks, that’s their clear role. The Bucks are young and talented and they pushed the Cavaliers to the brink last night before losing 108-111. The Cavaliers “big three” of LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving scored a combined 81 points.
Line: I know Chicago is smack in the middle of Cleveland and Milwaukee but for some reason, I really think Cleveland vs. Milwaukee would be the more fun rivalry. It’s off to a good start if this game is any measure.
- Durant returns: Last year’s NBA Most Valuable Player, Kevin Durant, returned from a foot injury last night to play his first game this season for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team’s fans must have been overjoyed to see him out there, looking and playing like himself, and truth be told, they’re probably still pretty happy this morning even though the team lost 112-104 to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Line: The Thunder lost but the important thing is that Durant is back.
- Brother act and power play leads the Canucks over the Capitals: The Canucks beat the Capitals 4-3 last night thanks to three power play goals and two goals by Daniel Sedin assisted by twin brother Henrik Sedin. Those guys have been playing together for so long, they’re amazingly in sync. I’d love to see a statistic about the percentage of goals they score that are assisted by each other as opposed to anyone else.
Line: The Sedin twins are creepy but really effective at hockey!
- Jets continue their almost winning ways: It sure seems like a disproportionate number of prime-time National Football League games this season have either been good looking matchups that turned into blowouts or lopsided matchups that turned into close games. Whatever I expect doesn’t happen. Or maybe I just don’t notice it when it does? I expected last night’s game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets to be an easy game for the Dolphins. It wasn’t — the Jets hung in the game for a long time but couldn’t overcome their bad quarterback play from Geno Smith.
Line: Having a bad quarterback is a shame because it almost invalidates the talent and effort of the other 52 players on the team.
- 76ers flirting with history: The Philadelphia 76ers lost last night to the San Antonio Spurs at Philadelphia 76ers. This was no surprise. The Spurs are the defending National Basketball League champions and the 76ers are flirting with becoming the worst team in league history. This was Philadelphia’s 17th loss in a row. One more and they will tie the Brooklyn Nets record for most losses to start the season.
Line: Even with Duncan and Ginobili sitting out of the game, the Spurs didn’t find it too difficult to beat the 76ers.
What’s Next: The 76ers play Wednesday at Minnesota with a chance to tie the Nets record for futility at the start of a season.
- Close game in the NHL – We thought the Boston Bruins game in Anaheim against the Anaheim Ducks last night was going to be a good game between closely matched teams and it was. The Ducks won the game 3-2 but it really could have gone either way. Anaheim got a great game from goalie Frederick Andersen who saved all eleven shots against him during Bruins power plays and improved his record to 11 wins, four losses, and four overtime losses.
Line: The Ducks played just a little bit better than the Bruins last night. No big lesson there, just a regular season game.
- The longest weekend of football almost concludes: The long Thanksgiving weekend has a lot of football spread out over four days. The NFL action concludes tonight with a game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. Until then, take care of all your NFL conversational needs with our NFL One Liners column.
- The Major League Soccer finals are set: The New England Revolution and Los Angeles Galaxy will meet in the finals of Major League Soccer thanks to this weekend’s games. The New England Revolution tied the New York Red Bulls 2-2 thanks to Charlie Davies’ two goals. Davies was a promising National team caliber player until a terrible car accident derailed that part of his career. It’s nice to see him find success at the club level. The Los Angeles Galaxy lost 2-1 to the Seattle Sounders but that was enough to get them into the finals on a tie-breaker. The career of Landon Donovan, once captain of the U.S. Men’s National soccer team, will continue for one final game.
Line: I’m starting to understand the MLS playoff rules but it still seems weird for the team that lost its last game to be celebrating their advancement to the finals and the team that won to be sadly packing their bags for vacation.
What’s Next: The MLS Cup on Sunday, December 7 at 3 p.m.
- Buzzer beater in College Basketball: I have to admit, I find a lot of the college basketball regular season to be less than totally compelling. The problem with having the most purely exciting post-season, March Madness, is that it does take a little of the attention of your sport’s regular season. Nonetheless, games like yesterdays one between the seventh ranked Texas Longhorns and the 24th ranked Connecticut Huskies remind me of why college basketball can be so exciting. Jonathan Holmes of the Texas Longhorns hit a shot with two seconds left in the game to put his team up by a point. That’s how the game ended, 55 to 54.
Line: Hints of March in November!
- Kobe gets numbers and the Lakers win: The Lakers are one of the most compelling teams in the NBA this year because their star player, the aged (for basketball) Kobe Bryant seems EITHER to be torn between a desire to win and a desire to chase individual scoring records OR to be convinced that his teammates are so bad that the best way to win is for him to shoot the ball constantly. Last night, during an overtime game against the Toronto Raptors, Kobe got to have his cake and eat it too. He scored 31 points and got 12 assists (and 11 rebounds for a “triple-double”) and helped his team to a 129-122 win.
Line: Hey! Kobe shoots and passes!
- Everything went Manchester City’s way: At the start of the day, defending Premiere League champions, Manchester City, looked like a long shot to advance to the next round of the Champions League. Then CSKA Moscow scored in the 93rd minute to tie their game against AC Roma, which helped Manchester City in the standings. Then a Bayern Munich defender got a red card early in their game against Manchester City, so City were up a man. Even so, it took late game heroics from striker Sergio Aguero to push Manchester City over Bayern Munich, 3-2.
Line: What a crazy game — up a man, down a goal, Man City finally broke through.
- Splash Brothers combine for 64 in win over Heat: The Golden State Warriors two star guards, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, collectively known as the Splash Brothers, scored a combined 64 points in the team’s 114-97 win over the Heat. Curry alone had 40 points. The Heat’s strong start to the season has slowed down as Dwayne Wade has missed the last seven games due to injuries.
Line: This is what Heat fans were afraid of — that Wade would not be able to hold up to the full load without LeBron.
- Homecoming for JayVaughn Pinkston: Pinkston is a basketball player for the Villanova Wildcats who beat the Michigan Wolverines 60-55 in last night’s finals of the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. He’s also a Brooklyn native and now late-game hero after his last minute basket and block helped clinch the game for Villanova.
Line: How good must that feel to be the hero in your hometown?!
- Shootout followed by a shootout in Nashville: The NHL hockey game between the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators was unexpectedly high scoring last night — 3-3 in regulation. And then it dried up in the shootout. Over 12 shots, only one player scored — James Neal for the Nashville Predators, who won the game 4-3 on his shootout goal.
Line: So far, this looks like the best team in Nashville’s 15 year history in the NHL.
