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For anyone who thought that the sports world would slow down in the excitement department now that the World Series of Major League Baseball is over, well, think again. From upsets in college football to a certain disgruntled basketball player to the World Series of Poker, this past weekend had a lot of compelling action. There were teams that showed why they are considered among the best in their sport and teams that gained firsthand knowledge of what it means when people say it is a long fall from the top. So without further ado, here are the highlights of another great weekend in sports.

College Football: The top three teams in college football — Florida, Alabama and Texas — made it through the weekend unscathed and remain control of their destiny. If they win out, they will be in the BCS National Championship game. The emerging story, though, is the rise of TCU. Another lopsided victory at the expense of San Diego State has them No. 4 in the latest BCS poll and a potential BCS buster come bowl time. They are joined by No. 5 Cincinnati and No. 6 Boise State, who are both 9-0 along with TCU, as teams that could potentially cause controversy when it comes time to crown a national college football champion.

NBA: In what comes as no surprise to anyone outside of the Memphis Grizzlies management team, newly signed Allen Iverson is already disgruntled with his role on the team. He was allowed to return home over the weekend to attend to a personal matter, but many with insight into the NBA are predicting that we may have already seen Iverson in a Grizzlies’ jersey for the last time. ESPN’s Chad Ford summed it up best when he quoted an unnamed NBA general manager: “He’s finished in the NBA. He can go hang out with Stephon Marbury.”

NFL: While it is still much too early to start dreaming about the perfect season, there are still two teams that have an unblemished record. The New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts both won on Sunday in games that were much closer than anyone expected and moved to 8-0 for the season. Perhaps the most interesting news of weekend, however, came from former Colts coach Tony Dungy. He said that Michael Vick, whom he has mentored since Vick’s incarceration, could end up quarterbacking for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills reportedly had interest in Vick prior to him signing with the Philadelphia Eagles and are currently struggling with the injured Trent Edwards and underwhelming Ryan Fitzpatrick.

WSOP: If it seems like the WSOP has been on hiatus for eternity, that is because it has. On break since the end of summer, the November Nine resumed action on Friday and played until the wee hours of the morning. The field has been whittled down to the final two players, who will square off for the WSOP Main Event bracelet tonight at 10pm PT. I won’t say who the final two are out of consideration for those waiting to catch action Tuesday night on ESPN, but you can get a full recap here on ESPN’s Poker Blog.

MLS: The Chicago Fire, Los Angeles Galaxy, Houston Dynamo, and Real Salt Lake are Major League Soccer’s final four teams following an intense weekend of play. The Western Conference finals kick off on Friday at the Home Depot Center at 8pm PT and can be seen on ESPN 2. The Eastern Conference finals will take place in Chicago on Saturday at 5pm PT and can be seen on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Image Source: TCU Athletics

This past weekend in sports was one of the most eventful of the year. It was the first weekend of the NBA season, the midway point of the NFL season, the start of the MLS postseason, and the final stretch of the MLB season. Sprinkle in some big games in college football, international soccer, and the NHL and there was really too much to watch on this Halloween weekend.

However, for those that did find the time to take in all the wonderful sports action it will be a weekend they will not soon forget. And for those who were not able to catch all the excitement, here is a quick recap of the weekend’s three biggest stories.

World Series: The New York Yankees inched their way closer to their 27th championship and first since 2000. Joba Chamberlain gave the Yankees a scare Sunday night when he allowed the Philadelphia Phillies to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth, but a three run top of the ninth started by an amazing at bat by Johnny Damon propelled the Yankees to a 7-4 victory and 3-1 series lead. A.J. Burnett will take the mound in game five for the Yankees tonight against Cliff Lee and attempt to close out the series in Philadelphia.

NFL: The Denver Broncos entered week eight of the NFL season as one of three undefeated teams in the league. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, the team will not enter week nine with the same status following a 30-7 blowout at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. The Indianapolis Colts remained undefeated after narrowly beating the fading San Francisco 49ers and the league’s other unbeaten team, the New Orleans Saints, is host to Atlanta tonight on Monday Night Football.

Arguably the biggest NFL story of the weekend, though, was Brett Favre‘s return to Lambeau Field to face his former team. Although he already beat the Green Bay Packers earlier this year, it was the first time he has played at Lambeau Field as a visitor since leaving the team to play for the New York Jets last season. He was booed heavily in the beginning of the game, despite there being a fair number of purple jerseys in the crowd, but received the last laugh as he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 38-26 victory.

NBA: Finally, the NBA season is here and opening weekend did not disappoint. We saw some of last years playoff teams take care of business (the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Orlando Magic are all undefeated) and others come out of the gate struggling (the Cleveland Cavaliers are 2-2 and the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets are 1-2). What is more interesting (although we shouldn’t be surprised) is how some of last years bad teams are seemingly worse than they were before.

The New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, and Golden State Warriors are a combined 0-17. It is not as though any NBA analyst was predicting these teams to make it to the NBA finals this season, but their play so far has been less than encouraging for fans hoping they would make a strong push to get into the playoffs and possibly cause some damage.

What do you think was the biggest story of the weekend? Any predictions for next weekend?

Image Source: Guardian.co.uk

After grinding out 162 regular season games and nine playoff games, the New York Yankees finally punched their ticket to the World Series Sunday night with a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It will be the Yankees first trip to the big dance since 2003 when they lost to the Florida Marlins in six games. Although they have struggled sealing the deal this decade, the Yankees history is quite illustrious. This marks the 40th time they have won the American League pennant and a win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series would be their 27th time winning it all.

Of course, the Phillies will more than put up a fight to defend their World Series crown. The match up features some of the best pitchers in the game (Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera, etc.) as well as some of the leagues’ premier hitters in Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez. Game one is scheduled Wednesday in New York at a time to be determined.

Other baseball news: The Yankees victory over the Angels and subsequent berth in to the World Series was not the only piece of interesting baseball news over the weekend. After much debate in St. Louis over whether or not manager Tony La Russa would return to the club next year, it was announced that he and management agreed to a one year deal for 2010 that includes a mutual option for 2011. However, the real buzz surrounding the agreement was word that the Cardinals will be replacing hitting coach Hal McRae with a former slugger most recently known for his refusal to speak about the past during a Congressional hearing on steroids. That slugger is none other than Mark McGwire, who was coached by La Russa during his time with the Cardinals and Oakland Athletics.

College football: For those of you (like me) who do not like the BCS and desperately want to see a playoff system implemented, the storm clouds have started to brew with the most recent set of BCS rankings. The top four teams in the current standings — Florida, Alabama, Texas and Iowa — are all undefeated and barring an upset, three of those teams will likely end the season that way. A one-loss USC team comes in at number five and is followed by another set of undefeated teams in TCU, Boise State and Cincinnati. Even if only half of these top-eight teams win out we are looking at plenty of BCS drama and will hopefully move one step closer to a playoff system.

NFL: After seven weeks of play there are still three undefeated teams (Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, and New Orleans Saints) attempting to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins in the NFL history books. The Dolphins ran the table that year and remain the only team to have ever completed a perfect season. The field was nearly trimmed down to two teams this week as the Saints struggled against, ironically, the Dolphins. The Saints found themselves down 34-24 at the end of the third quarter but scored 22 unanswered points in the fourth to secure the victory.

What do you think was the biggest story of the weekend? What are you looking forward to the most this week? Let us know in the comments section below.

It was a slower weekend than most in sports, but some interesting stuff still happened.  In soccer, Team U.S.A. was in their first ever final of a tournament in their international soccer history.  They got there by shocking the world in beating Spain, the number one ranked team in the world by FIFA.  Now to get their first ever win they would have to go through another world power in Brazil.  The game started out well for the U.S.A. as they got a quick goal only 10 minutes into the game.  This seemed to give them confidence as they dominated play for the rest of the half adding another goal before have time.  It was a shocking score at half time but you knew Brazil would try to answer in the second half.  And that they did as they dominated play in the second half and scored 3 times to get the 3-2 victory.  The U.S. seemed to be playing not to lose in the second have and it came back to bite them as they allowed to much room for Brazil to just keep attacking.  Even after losing the match, the U.S. could keep their heads high as they matched up with two of the best teams in the world and had a chance two win both games, even dominating play at times.  Nobody expected that to happen and it should put the world on notice to what Team U.S.A. is capable of going forward.  Next year’s World Cup should be very interesting.

In track & field, the U.S. was holding its annual National Championships.  The winners of these races are going to represent the U.S.A. in the in the World Championships in Berlin.  While most of the favorites in the races came out with victories, a surprise result happened in the men’s 200m when Shawn Crawford ran one of his best races in years and came out with the victory.  A gold medalist in 2004, Shawn had been quiet in track for a while.  Now he’ll get to compete for the World Championship.  Other new National Champions include Christian Cantwell (shot put), Jenn Stuczynski (pole vault), Bershawn Jackson (400 hurdles) Dawn Harper (100 hurdles) and Lopez Lomong (1,500 meters).  All will be representing the U.S. at the World Championships.

In baseball, Mariano Rivera became the second player in baseball history to reach 500 career saves.  He’s been one of the best closers in baseball for a while so it’s good to see him get to this milestone.  I think it only validates his Hall of Fame credentials.  Also, Manny comes back to the Dodgers this week.  After playing to sold out excited minor league stadiums he will finally have to face a major league crowd.  It will be interesting to see how the fans react to him on the road, as we already know the Dodger fans will still love him.

This week in sports blogs and news:

• 12-Year-Old Girl Throws No-Hitter against Boys in Little League – SportsByBrooks
• Madden 2010 Cover Released – MaddenNFL
• Chiefs Trade Tony Gonzalez to Falcons – Fox Sports
• Darren O’Day’s First Day as a Ranger was interesting – Larry Brown Sports
• The All-Time NBA Pretty Boys, Part Tres – The Sports Hernia
• Top 7: Overhyped Cubs Who Fizzled – Joe Sports Fan

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “I wonder if Carrie will take me back?” 
• Baseball Buying Guide: How to Buy a Baseball Glove
• Top 5: MLB Early Season MVP Candidates
• NFL Drug Tests: Percy Harvin and Brandon Tate Fail Tests
• Coaching Change: Mike D’Antoni to Coach Team USA?
• Fantasy Impact: 5 Fantasy Baseball Steals
  

This week in sports blogs and news:

• The life story of Todd Marinovich – Deadspin
• Chris Paul may become a Maverick – SportsByBrooks
• $800 Million for Citi Field and the water doesn’t work – Larry Brown Sports
• Danny Ainge has a heart attack – Fox Sports
• Adrian Gonzalez… -The Sports Hernia
• Top 7: Non-baseball streaks of the past 20 years -Joe Sports Fan
  

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “Is it too late to tell the Broncos I’m sorry” 
• Joe Frazier Says God Gave Ali Parkinson’s Disease
• Greg Paulus Works Out for the Green Bay Packers
• Packers, Now the Wolverines: Paulus to Michigan?
• Goodbye: John Madden Retires from Broadcasting

Photo Source.

This week in sports blogs and news:

• Angels pitcher killed in car accident after debut – Fox Sports
• Michael Jordan still thinks he can still play – Deadspin
• Bears Fund 4-Year-Olds Flight to Heart Surgery – SportsByBrooks
• Jennifer Aniston is after David Wright – Larry Brown Sports
• ESPN needs some better grammar – Sports Hernia
• Top 7: Baseball Streaks of the Past 20 Years – Joe Sports Fan
  

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “I want to be on his rehab program”
• Shots Fired at Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen Wedding
• National Champions: UNC Tar Heels
• Cheryl Miller and Scott Pollard Feud on NBA TV
• Jack Elway, Son of John Elway, Quits ASU Football
• John Daly Selling Merchandise from Bus on PGA Tour

Photo Source.

This week in sports blogs and news:

• Jay Cutler traded to Chicago Bears – Fox Sports
• Cleveland is a hot mess right now – SportsByBrooks
• Kevin Love glass cleaner…no really – Larry Brown Sports
• Norm McDonald’s ESPY monologue of 1998 – Deadspin
• Top 7 Matches in Westlemania history – JoeSportsFan

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “I don’t understand Spanish!”
  
• Coach K and Bobby Knight Play Guitar Hero
• Twitter Mania: First Shaw, Now Paul Pierce
• MMA Video: Michael Westbrook Beats Up a Bully
• April Fools Joke! Hasheem Thabeet Pranks on Twitter

 

This week in sports blogs and news:

• Party gets high school girls soccer team suspended – SportsByBrooks
• Rick Fox and Eliza Dushku? – The Big Lead
• Video of Ryan Moats getting pulled over at hospital – Deadspin
• Manu Ginobli kisses Ian Mahinmi on kiss cam – Larry Brown Sports
• Lady faints during interview…Man stands with hands in pockets – The Sports Hernia

 
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This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “I dream of me…”
• So Long: Curt Schilling Announces Retirement on Blog 
• Peyton Manning and Kenny Chesney Sing Something
• New Evidence: Donte Stallworth Flashed Lights at Reyes
• Armed Fan: Man with Gun Broke onto DWTS Set
  

This week in sports blogs and news:

• Brett Myers son is proud to be a redneck – Deadspin
• Kobe Bryant shows up for jury duty - SportsByBrook
• Kevin Youkilis rips Americans for not showing up to WBC games – Larry Brown Sports
• Barack Obama fills out the March Madness bracket – The Sports Hernia

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “I can’t wait to ruin another locker room”
• Quincy Carter to Play in the IFL
• Smush Parker Says Kobe Bryant was the Problem
• Tiger Woods Tells Jessica Simpson No to Lessons
• March Madness: Let the Dance Begin!