BOXING

Ronda Rousey, the fighting phenom that put the UFC on the map, lost over the weekend against former kickboxer Holly Holm. Rousey was knocked out in the second round but don’t expect Rousey to go away anytime soon. She’s too much of a competitor to stay undefeated for long.

FOOTBALL

It was an exciting weekend in the NFL with some close games and some blowouts.

In the close game category, the New England Patriots remain undefeated after a late field goal against the New York Giants. QB Tom Brady did not have a particularly great game but in typical Brady fashion, he found a way to win by leading the team downfield to set up a game-winning field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with only seconds left to play. Patriots 27, Giants 26.

The Seattle Seahawks found themselves down 19 points against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night. Cardinals’ QB Carson Palmer had a solid game with 3 TD’s and 1 Interception but almost lost the game by fumbling twice in the fourth quarter with both fumbles converting to touchdowns by the Seahawks. The Cardinals held on for the win, however, and now Arizona has control of the NFC West. Cardinals 39, Seahawks 32.

In the blowout games category, Ben Roethlisberger came back from injury and threw for an impressive 379 yards leading to a big win over the Cleveland Browns. Steelers 30, Browns 9.

Another record breaking day for Chicago Bears’ QB Jay Cutler when he threw 2 TD’s over 80 yards in one game to trample the St. Louis Rams. No other QB in franchise history has accomplished that feat.  Bears 37, Rams 13.

Washington Redskins’ QB Kirk Cousins embarrassed the New Orleans Saints defense with 297 yards and 3 TD’s in only the first half.  The Saints couldn’t get anything going in the second half and the Redskins ran away with an easy win. Redskins 47, Saints 14.

FOOTBALL

Buffalo Bills’ coach Rex Ryan’s first visit back to Metlife Stadium after being fired by the Jets last season was a triumph.  In the Thursday night matchup, the Bills defeated the Jets 22-17. If you watched the game, you noticed the uniforms looked a bit odd. The NFL has a Thursday night “Color Rush” campaign where teams will wear the primary color of their alternate uniforms. Unfortunately, the NFL did not take into consideration that color blind fans would have a difficult time distinguishing between the teams. Apparently 10 million Americans are affected by colorblindness and the red/green distinctions is the most common.

After hearing so many stories of NFL players bad behavior, it was nice to read about Marshawn Lynch’s kindness to a McDonalds employee. These employees are hired after a good background check with the help of dbs checks. After last weekend’s win over Dallas, the Seahawks’ Lynch stopped at a McDonalds for a snack. An employee complimented Lynch on his shoes, which got the men talking about career goals. Lynch then gave the employee $500 to buy the shoes and encouraged him to pursue his dreams.

BASKETBALL

And speaking of shoes, everyone’s favorite 3 year old, Riley Curry (NBA Superstar Stephen Curry’s daughter) just starred in her first commercial and photo shoot for “freshly picked moccasins”.

FOOTBALL

The big AFC East rivalry between the NY Jets and the Buffalo Bills got even more intriguing when current Bills’ coach (and former Jet’s coach for 6 years) Rex Ryan added linebacker IK Enemkpali as a co-captain for the Jets-Bills matchup on Thursday night. To refresh your memory, Enemkpali fractured Jets’ QB Geno Smith’s jaw during Jets training camp this summer. Enemkpali claimed that Smith owed him $600 for a missed plane flight. Enemkpali was dismissed immediately from the Jets and picked up by the Bills. So adding Enemkpali as co-captain for the Bills takes this rivalry to a whole new level.

BASKETBALL

The big news in the basketball world was DeAndre Jordan’s return Wednesday night to the American Airlines Center in Dallas for the Clippers/Mavericks game. DeAndre Jordan caused waves this summer when he reneged on his commitment to join the Dallas Mavericks and signed with the Los Angeles Clippers instead. Mavs owner Mark Cuban downplayed the incident by saying,  “It’s not like DeAndre and I pinkie swore.” Not surprisingly, Jordan was booed throughout the game and the Mavs handily beat the Clippers 118-108.

FANTASY SPORTS

In a big blow to the Fantasy sports world, the NY Attorney General ruled that FanDuel and DraftKings is a form of gambling and therefore illegal. These two companies claim that their online fantasy competition is based on skill not luck so should not be categorized as gambling. Both companies have been asked to cease operations in NY which is a huge loss of customers.  It will be interesting to see if other states follow course.

FOOTBALL

Unfortunately Indianapolis Colts’ QB Andrew Luck is expected to miss at least 4 weeks for a lacerated kidney and abdominal injury he sustained at the end of the Colts/Broncos game on Sunday. 40 year old Matt Hasselbeck will start for Luck. The San Diego Chargers also placed their receiver Keenan Allen on injured reserve for a lacerated kidney, but he’s not expected to come back for the entire season.

FOOTBALL

Chicago Bears’ QB Jay Cutler broke Sid Luckman’s record for most touchdown passes for the Bears in a win over the San Diego Chargers on Monday night. With 138 TD’s, Cutler now holds the Team’s franchise record. Hall of Famer Luckman played with the Bears from 1939-1950 and led the team to 4 NFL Championships. Chicago 22, San Diego 19.

In Sunday’s Denver Broncos 24-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Broncos’ cornerback Aqib Talib was suspended 1 game for poking Colts’ Dwayne Allen in the eye. Talib denied the poke was intentional and will appeal, but if you watch the video, Talib’s actions were pretty clear.

BASKETBALL

The Golden State Warriors remain undefeated with their 8th straight win on Monday night. Steph Curry was held to only 22 points against the Detroit Pistons, but the Warriors’ bench came to play. Andre Iguodala led the bench with 13 points while Andrew Bogut added 8 points and and nine rebounds. Warriors 109, Pistons 95.

FOOTBALL

In College football, 30 black football players at the University of Missouri are boycotting activities until the President of the school steps down. Black Student groups have been complaining for awhile about insults and slurs on campus, but now that the football players are talking about boycotting the remaining games,  it could cost the school more than $1 million dollars.

NFL News

The San Francisco 49ers backup QB Blaine Gabbert led the Team to an unexpected win over the Atlanta Falcons. Starting QB Colin Kaepernick was “given a rest”this week in order to get his head together moving forward for the season. Now fans are asking coach Jim Tomsula whether Gabbert will start in 2 weeks against the Seattle Seahawks. 49ers 17, Falcons 16.

Giant’s defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul returned to the Team after losing part of his hand during a 4th of July incident with firecrackers. JPP had a solid game and almost sacked Jameis Winston in the Giants win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Giants 32, Bucs 18.

In some very disturbing news, very graphic photos and upsetting 911 calls emerged over the weekend of the domestic violence incident involving Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy. It doesn’t appear that Hardy will suffer any more punishment as he’s already served a 10 game suspension that was reduced to 4 while he was playing with the Carolina Panthers. The victim stopped cooperating with the prosecution and reportedly agreed to a settlement. Now that the disturbing photos have surfaced, everyone is in an uproar that Hardy hasn’t shown proper remorse and did not get the punishment he deserved.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, it was Thursday Night Football between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals.  These teams are on opposite sides of the success spectrum.  The Browns are spinning towards a disappointing season, while the Bengals are undefeated and might have their best squad in franchise history.  The Browns also had to contend with starting their erratic QB Johnny Manziel.  Not surprisingly, the Bengals smashed the Browns.  QB Andy Dalton connected with Tyler Eifert for 3 touchdowns for the Bengals to remain undefeated.  Cincinnati 31, Cleveland 10.

Elsewhere in the NFL, the Detroit Lions are having a “you’r fired” party.   They fired their team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew.  Even though the Lions had a pretty decent season last year, made the playoffs, and almost won their first round game against the Cowboys (a controversial call made the difference), the Lions are a complete mess this year.   It’s likely they will get rid of head coach Jim Caldwell at the end of the year, and it’s no guarantee that QB Matt Stafford or WR Calvin Johnson will remain in a Lions uniforms next season.

BASKETBALL

The Dallas Mavericks have made a 5-year commitment to head coach Rick Carlisle.  Carlisle led the Mavs to a championship a few years ago, and while the team has been average ever since, the Mavs couldn’t risk losing a solid coach like Carlisle.  Dallas knows that they’re losing their megastar Dirk Nowitzki either at the end of this season or the next, and they need to have a strong coach during their rebuilding era.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, news came out a few days ago that San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Tomsula would bench QB Colin Kaepernick in favor of back-up Blaine Gabbert.  Kap has struggled this season due in large part to the shocking coaching change the Niners made this off-season by firing their very successful coach Jim Harbaugh. Kaepernick has been forced to learn a whole new offense.  Tomsula said he is benching Kaepernick so Kap has time “to breathe”.  Tomsula said he thought Kap needed a mental break from all the stress.

Elsewhere in the NFL, a study was conducted to determine the NFL’s drunkest fans. The runner up was the crazy fans in Detroit pulling for the Lions. And, the honors went to the Buffalo Bills fans.  Even through the disappointing years after their 4 Super Bowl runs, the Bills fans remained dedicated.  With the cold weather and the losing games, they probably needed a few drinks.   I guess congratulations are in order?

BOXING

Floyd Mayweather’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said Mayweather and Pacquiao will fight again.  Mayweather made over $100 million in one night this past May, and the second fight would arguably generate close to that amount.  For there to be a fight this big, we would have to wait another 10 years for two boxers to secure their legacy and then agree to fight.  The odds of that happening, especially with the decline of the sport, are pretty slim.  These two are still household names and an hour in the ring would net them both another enormous paycheck.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the Tennessee Titans fired head coach Ken Whisenhunt. Whisenhunt has only won 3 of 23 games in his time in Nashville.  The Titans promoted Mike Mularkey to head coach, and are hoping that he will be able to do something exciting with their #2 overall draft pick QB Marcus Mariota.

Elsewhere in the NFL, it looks like the Johnny Manziel era in Cleveland is about to resume again.  Their starting quarterback Josh McCown is dealing with some nagging injuries, and the Browns have decided to put the ball in Manziel’s hands.  Manziel recently made headlines after being a part of a domestic dispute with his girlfriend.  The incident was caught on tape, and did not help Manziel’s image as the savior of Cleveland football.  When he takes the field, however, he’s quick to run or hurl an 80-yard bomb so some fans are excited to see what he has in store.

Finally, in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys have had enough off-the-field trouble with their running back Joseph Randle.  Randle came into the year as their starting running back. Randle is now injured, has an impending suspension against him because of a domestic dispute, and last week, when Randle was told he lost the starting job to Darren McFadden, he left the facility. Management doesn’t have tolerance for that type of behavior, so he is now now looking for a job.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts and the undefeated Carolina Panthers played on a rainy Monday night.  The Panthers have never gone 7-0, but were looking to change their history.  The game was close, but Panthers quarterback Cam Newton showed us why he’s an MVP candidate.  He had incredible late game heroics, including miraculously avoiding a sack by two Colts’ linebackers.  The game went into overtime, but the Panthers escaped with a victory and remain undefeated.  Carolina 29, Indianapolis 26.
Elsewhere in the NFL, the Denver Broncos are also undefeated and are bringing in some new talent for QB Peyton Manning.  Manning has always favored throwing to his tight ends  (i.e. Dallas Clark, Jacob Tamme, Julius Thomas) who have, in the past,  all put up big numbers.  This year, however, that position has been lackluster, so the Broncos signed 49ers tight end Vernon Davis.  The Niners season is dead, and they’re likely looking at a top draft pick next year.  They don’t need the veteran anymore, but he could help the Broncos offense.  Good move by the Broncos for bringing in some talent, and smart move by the Niners for letting him go for some much needed draft picks.

BASKETBALL

Finally, in the NBA, LeBron has hit yet another major milestone.  Against the Philadelphia 76ers, LeBron become the youngest player in history to reach 25,000 career points.  This is an incredible achievement that only the best players attain, and LeBron is in that camp.  LeBron says he never gets caught up in his individual stats, as his true goal is bringing the Cleveland Cavaliers their first championship.  Cleveland hasn’t won a title in a long time, and LeBron wants to change the fate of his hometown.