Screened Sports Stories: October 31st

As one sports season ends, another begins. We move from the fall classic to indoors to chuck the round ball. I'm not much of an NBA fan but I'll do my best to keep you updated every week as well as college basketball. Don't expect in-depth conversation though, just updates and what to look forward to. Now onto sports!

World Series:

It took less than a week for the Giants to sweep the Detroit Tigers in only a four game series. What started as two dominant pitching performances at home rolled into Detroit and wouldn't stop. The Tigers did try in game four to put some runs on the board but the Giants proved to be too much and now the 2012 baseball season is in the books. The question now, as we prepare for next year and tell ourselves why our team will do so much better next year, is are the Giants a budding dynasty? Two titles in three years is proving to be a powerhouse on the west coast.

NFL:

Look guys, there's a win over there, we should get one of those.

Last week started off with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going up to Minnesota and beating the Vikings, setting the Chicago Bears in great position to take command of their division and perhaps a smoother path to the playoffs. Then another Florida team, the Miami Dolphins decided to throw another wrench into another teams playoff plans. The Jets lost to Miami by a large margin causing more grief among Jets fans who grow steadily in their wish for Tim Tebow to be put in as quarterback more often, hoping he can win games. The longer they lose the more likely it becomes a possibility and we could end up seeing a repeat of last year's call for Tebow in Denver.

This week the Jets get a break with a bye week and hopefully it's enough to get them back on the winning track. The Arizona Cardinals travel up to Green Bay in hopes of both teams trying to improve on a mediocre season and save their playoff chances. The Cowboys have a chance at the still unbeaten Atlanta Falcons who manage to get by every week somehow, which is all that matters in the professionals. The Eagles look to salvage something from the season, even with calls for Vick to no longer be quarterback, by visiting the barely winning Saints.

NCAA Football:

Well that sure helped settle things. Previously ranked #2 Florida (now #7) lost to long time rival Georgia and opened up the BCS rankings for just about everyone. Now undefeated Notre Dame, Oregon, and Kansas State are all vying for that #2 spot while the behemoth Alabama sits up top. Despite the shake up that doesn't give any of these teams a moment to take a breath. Alabama gets to face #5 LSU which will be their biggest test yet of the season, a loss could see them lose their championship shot altogether. Kansas State has #24 Oklahoma State at home where a win could help them further make a case for staying at #2 or, with an Alabama loss, #1. Oregon gets a big test, one that could boost their ranking as well, going to #17 USC. With a win Oregon can begin to make their national championship case but with a loss they could lose all hope. Other big games include #16 Texas A&M visiting #15 Mississippi State and #23 Texas on the road to in state rival #18 Texas Tech.

MAA:

by MrMazz

Jeff Blatnick (July 26, 1957 – October 24, 2012)

The news of Jeff Blatnick passing away on October 24, 2012 at the age of 55 reverberated through the MMA community. Blatnick would have been a two time Olympian as a Greco-Roman wrestler, but the United States boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games. A year later Jeff Blatnick was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma prompting him to go through radiation therapy, putting it in remission. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California Blatnick and teammate Steve Fraser became the first Americans to win gold medals in Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling. Blatnick was instrumental in setting the modern rules for mixed martial arts with referee John McCarthy and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, as well as coining the phrase mixed martial arts. He than traveled around educating state athletic commissions eventually getting California and New Jersey to adopt the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Allowing for regulated mixed martial arts fights to occur, moving MMA out of the dark ages of NHB. He worked with the UFC as a commentator from UFC 4-32 also serving as commissioner after UFC 17. He is one of the unsung heroes of early MMA that not a lot of people really knew about.

This weekend has two major events: Bellator 79 on MTV2 and World Series of Fighting 1 on NBC Sports Network. Bellator 79 features the season 7 heavyweight semi finals, the less said about them the better. Thiago Santos will face Richard Hale and Mike Richman vs Shahbulat Shamhalaev. The winner of Santos Hale should win the whole thing and become the new Bellator heavyweight champion. Compared to the World Series of Fighting card though, it is lacking. The inaugural World of Series of Fighting card features a large amount of big fight veterans. The main event of Andrei Arlovski vs Devin Cole has the possibilities of being a plodding heavyweight fight. Under the main event is where the meat is with good matchmaking. Miguel Torres might not be the best bantamweight in the world but he is still better than most and should handle former training partner Marlon Moraes. Kickboxing champion and veteran Tyrone Spong (68-6) will make him MMA debut facing Travis Bartlett. The real interesting fight is former UFC welterweight Anthony Johnson fighting DJ Linderman at light heavyweight. Like all upstart promotions WSOF has signed a Gracie, Gregor Gracie will fight Tyson Steele. The preliminary card will be streamed live and free on Sherdog. This live stream features the fight I most want to see, Ronys Torres vs. Brian Cobb.

NBA:

It's official, the NBA season has started. It all started with the Miami Heat beating the Boston Celtics in the season opener. Will this set the tone for the Heat's season? Or will the newly revamped Lakers be too much for the rest of the league? I guess time will tell.