BASEBALL

The New York Yankees are red hot.  Thursday night they took on the Chicago White Sox looking for 7 straight wins.  Fortunately, Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova has found his groove.  He struck out a career-high 10 batters to help the Yankees easily get the win.  The Yankees bats are scorching right now, all the way from the first batter to the last.  However, there’s one team the Yanks haven’t been able to crack:  The Boston Red Sox.  And that’s exactly who they’ll face in a vicious weekend series.  Prior to the season, many believed these two teams would be juggernauts facing off in the second half of the season, and that’s exactly what happened.  Except the Yanks have lost 8 of 9 games to the Red Sox and absolutely must turn this streak in their favor if they expect to win the AL East division.  NY Yankees 7, Chicago White Sox 2.

FOOTBALL

And in the NFL, the Jets decided they had no more use for the services of Braylon Edwards, who was once a high draft pick and an elite receiver.  The Browns picked up Edwards early in the season last year, but with Plax coming to town, Edwards became expendable.  However, other teams didn’t pounce on Braylon right away.  Apparently, he’s got a reputation for dropping balls.  One team was willing to take the risk:  The San Francisco 49ers.  Their receiving corps is quite light, save for Michael Crabtree (who has yet to prove he’s worth anything).  Having Edwards in town will give starting QB Alex Smith another valuable target.  The deal is only for one year, so Edwards has all the incentive in the world to play well.  Solid numbers would probably net him a substantial multi-year contract. This might be a very smart move from the Niners front office.

Finally, in college football, the first coaches poll was released.  They unanimously named Oklahoma the clear-cut #1 seed.  Why?  Because the Sooners are bringing back top players that would probably have been 1st round picks.  They’re a well rounded team in a weak Big 12 conference.  At #2, Alabama, who is looking for a comeback season, and will come out fierce given their motivation to win for the tornado-ridden town of Tuscaloosa.  At #3 and #4, Oregon and LSU respectively, will open the season against each other. And that’s what is so great about college football, every week there is a game that feels like a championship.  Watching Oregon and LSU go at each other in the mutual Dallas Cowboys stadium will be fascinating.  Both know that a loss pretty much means the end of their season.  And, at #5, Florida State, a team that plans to surprise a lot of people this season.  However, Florida State hosts an early season game against Oklahoma.  It’s going to be a great college football season.