- 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!
Category: Following Sports
Sports Forecast for Friday, December 5, 2014
Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:
In today’s segment, I covered:
- NBA Basketball – Cleveland Cavaliers at Toronto Raptors, 8 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NHL Hockey – Montreal Canadiens at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:30 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NCAA Basketball – Texas Longhorns at Kentucky Wildcats, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
- NCAA Football – Arizona Wildcats at Oregon Ducks, 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
- And more!
For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.
You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link.
Music by Jesse Fischer.
What happened on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014?
- 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!
Sports Forecast for Thursday, December 4, 2014
Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:
In today’s segment, I covered:
- NBA Basketball – Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks, 8 p.m. ET on TNT.
- NBA Basketball – New Orleans Pelicans at Golden State Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
- NHL Hockey – Buffalo Sabres at Tampa Bay Lightening, 7:30 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NFL Football – Dallas Cowboys at Chicago Bears, 8:30 p.m. ET on NFL Network.
- And more!
For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.
You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link.
Music by Jesse Fischer.
What happened on December 2, 2014?
- 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!
Sports Forecast for Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:
In today’s segment, I covered:
- English Premiere League – Tottenham Hotspur at Chelsea, 2:45 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
- English Premiere League – Southampton at Arsenal, 2:45 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Live Extra.
- NBA Basketball – Chicago Bulls at Charlotte Hornets, 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV.
- NHL Hockey – St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
- NCAA Basketball – Duke at Wisconsin, 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
- And more!
For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.
You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link.
Music by Jesse Fischer.
What happened on December 1, 2014?
- 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.
Sports Forecast for Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:
In today’s segment, I covered:
- English Premiere League – Newcastle United at Burnley, 2:45 p.m. ET not really on TV.
- NBA Basketball – Milwaukee Bucks at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NBA Basketball – Toronto Raptors at Sacramento Kings, 10 p.m. ET on NBA TV.
- NHL Hockey – Vancouver Canucks at Washington Capitals, 7:00 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NCAA Basketball – Ohio State at Louisville, 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
- And more!
For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.
You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link.
Music by Jesse Fischer.
Sports Forecast for Monday, December 1, 2014
Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:
In today’s segment, I covered:
- NBA Basketball – San Antonio Spurs at Philadelphia 76ers, 7:00 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NHL Hockey – Boston Bruins at Anaheim Ducks, 10:00 p.m. ET on regional cable.
- NFL Football – Miami Dolphins at New York Jets, 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
- And more!
For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.
You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link.
Music by Jesse Fischer.
Week 13 NFL One Liners
The NFL season has started but how do you know which games to watch and which to skip? Ask our favorite police duo with their good cop, bad cop precaps of all the matchups in the National Football League this weekend. To see which games will be televised in your area, check out 506sports.com’s essential NFL maps.
Week 13
Sunday, November 30, at 1:00 p.m. ET
Cleveland Browns 10, at Buffalo Bills 26
The Bills are riding high after two straight victories. They’re 7-5 and within spitting distance of the playoffs. The only problem is, they play the Broncos, Packers, and Patriots in three of their final four games. That’s a tough schedule!
Line: I feel for Bills fans — so much hope and so little chance of making the playoffs.
San Diego Chargers 34, at Baltimore Ravens 33
Wowee! The Chargers were down by ten points with about six minutes left and managed to catch up and win. All-together, they scored 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Line: A one point game. It literally does not get any closer than that.
Carolina Panthers 13, at Minnesota Vikings 31
The Panthers continue their under-the-radar disastrous season with a big loss to the Vikings. This time, it was two blocked punts that cost the Panthers. Most teams go whole seasons without allowing two of their punts to be blocked — the Panthers did it in one game.
Line: I didn’t think the Panthers were going to have such a poor season.
Cincinnati Bengals 14, at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13
There’s a cliche in the NFL (and in sports in general) that good teams find a way to win and bad teams find a way to lose. What that means, is that little mistakes have big costs and bad teams like the Buccaneers seem to make a lot of costly bad mistakes. Today it was a long pass play that was called back because the Buccaneers had 12 men on the field.
Line: Getting the right number of people on the field seems foundational. The Buccaneers should work on that.
Tennessee Titans 21, at Houston Texans 45
The Texans started the year with Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starting quarterback. They tired of his play midway through the year and moved to lesser known Ryan Mallett. Last week Mallett tore his pectoral muscle, so Fitzpatrick got his job back. This week Fitzpatrick threw for a team-record six touchdowns to lead his team to a victory.
Line: Ryan Fitzpatrick? Six Touchdowns? Ryan Fitzpatrick?!
Washington Redskins 27, at Indianapolis Colts 49
Coverage of the Washington Redskins’ collapse this year has focused on their three quarterbacks and who should be starting for the team. It’s much ado about nothing if the defense gives up 49 points!
Line: Washington should forget about its quarterback drama for a few days and focus on the defense.
New York Giants 24, at Jacksonville Jaguars 25
Giants fans are hurting after this loss to the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s probably time to admit that the Giants, who had a 21 point lead in this game and still lost, are equally woeful right now.
Line: That has got to hurt.
New Orleans Saints 35, at Pittsburgh Steelers 32
It’s been a while, it seems like more than a season, since we could say that Drew Brees played like the Drew Brees of old. The Drew Brees of old was a fairly unbeatable touchdown producing machine.
Line: Drew Brees played like the Drew Brees of old!
Oakland Raiders 0, at St. Louis Rams 52
Coming into this game, you might be forgiven for thinking there wasn’t that big of a difference between the 1-10 Raiders and the 4-7 Rams. You won’t be saying that anymore after this beat-down.
Line: The Rams want all of us to know that they’re a LOT better than the Raiders.
SUNDAY, November 30, AT 4:05 and 4:25 P.M. ET
Arizona Cardinals 18, at Atlanta Falcons 29
The story of the Falcons season has been overcoming injuries. They may have reached a point of saturation on that front. After losing three starters in the first half, they lost the game to the Falcons, who kept themselves in first place of their division with this victory.
Line: There’s only so many injuries a team can handle.
New England Patriots 21, at Green Bay Packers 26
One team had to lose this game (already not true, since there can be ties in the NFL, but you know what I mean) but it doesn’t really teach us anything we didn’t already know. These two teams are very, very good and even very, very good teams can lose football games.
Line: You think this might be a Super Bowl Preview?
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, AT 8:30 P.M. ET
Denver Broncos 29, at Kansas City Chiefs 16
The Chiefs tried their best, and actually, if it weren’t for a few big and somewhat random plays on special teams, the game would have been much closer. As it is, the Broncos running game pushed, trampled, and bulldozed the team to a victory.
Line: It becomes not really fair if Peyton Manning also has a good running game.