Saturday, August 28, 2010

08/28 Very Quickie: Stras, Brees, Beck

By this time next Saturday, the college football season will have started. (With 18 games coming Thursday, headlined by Pitt-Utah.)

I'm sorry, I don't think I offered enough emphasis: By this time next Saturday, the college football season will have started!

*Stephen Strasburg to have Tommy John surgery, cont'd: Not sure how much I can add to yesterday's insta-analysis: This is not just bad for the Nats (and Nats fans), but bad for baseball.

*More MLB: The Reds are rolling (Jay Bruce gets Fantasy Stud: 3 HR)... Braves still stumbling; Phillies finally capitalize... Tim Lincecum has now lost 5 straight starts (his drop-off is almost as dramatic as the Strasburg news)... Was that Red Sox win against the nouveau-rival Rays too-little-too-late or the spark to a September run? Boston is only 4.5 GB and it's not even September 1 yet. Consider that Boston would be leading the other 2 divisions.

*Tony LaRussa, Albert Pujols and the Beck Rally: I have no idea what LaRussa and Pujols are thinking -- I presume they do not want to get in the middle of a polarizing political hurricane -- and I presume that they will drop out of the rally before it starts, making this (almost) a moot issue.

*NFL Preseason: Drew Brees looks ready to defend his championship. (Kevin Kolb ready to replace Donovan McNabb? Not so much. But how about that Mike Kafka!) Oh, and I can't wait to hear what Rex Ryan has to say about the Jets' latest flat offensive performance.

*Fantasy Watch: Keep an eye on that potential shoulder injury for Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles.

*US Soccer shake-up? How do US soccer fans feel about this leak that US Soccer is talking with Juergen Klinsmann about the coaching job... um, while Bob Bradley is still the coach? (I think it's clear that it is Klinsmann's job if he wants it, and that Bradley is on his way out -- perhaps to coach Aston Villa in the Premiership?)

*A phrase about Tiger Woods you didn't start hearing until this year: Regressing to the mean.

*So because I live such an exciting life, last night I found myself watching a high school football game on ESPN between two of the Top 25 teams in the country: No. 2 Tampa Plant vs. No. 19 Manatee (which happens to be the name of one of the classes in my kids' day-care, so I'm partial). Manatee rolled them. Watch RB Mike Blakely. (Amusingly, the game was "preseason" so it won't be on their records. But you can guarantee it will impact their national rankings.) OK: That's WAY too much about high school football.

*Today's biggest sports story will be... how the LaRussa-Pujols-Beck thing shakes out.

-- D.S.

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