BASKETBALL

Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook, the NBA’s MVP from the 2016/17 season, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his knee this week, forcing him to miss the team’s preseason. No word on whether he’ll be ready for the team’s season opener on October 16th against the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors Steph Curry weighed in and defended Serena Williams on how she handled her loss to Naomi Osaka at the US Open. Curry is friends with Williams and has shot many Chase bank commercials with her. He said, “The way Serena handled the situation, I think she handled it with such grace and class. At the end of the day, I hope everybody understands and celebrates Naomi because she’s the U.S. Open champion and that’s pretty dope.”

BASEBALL

The Boston Red Sox took only 146 games to reach 100 wins, becoming the fastest team to do so since the Seattle Mariners in 2001. The team has only reached 100 wins four times in their franchise history (with the last one in 1946).

FOOTBALL

The Buffalo Bills announced they will replace their rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman with the number seven overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, Josh Allen. Allen will start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

BOXING

Boxing great Oscar De La Hoya announced he’ll run in the next election for President of the United States. While in Vegas promoting a match, he stated, “That’s the beauty of our nation. If Arnold (Schwarzenegger) can be governor, if (Donald) Trump can be President, then why can’t a Mexican-American who won an Olympic gold medal, who’s over 35 and a U.S. citizen, run for presidency?”

BASEBALL

With 2 1/2 weeks left in the regular season and nine games ahead in the American League East, the Boston Red Sox clinched a playoff berth.

The New York Mets lost to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday, but Cy Young candidate, Jacob deGrom set a Major League Baseball record with three or fewer runs in 26 consecutive starts. deGrom, a favorite to win the prestigious award, broke a 108-year-old record set by Leslie “King” Cole.

FOOTBALL

A few highlights from the NFL’s first week:

The New York Jets had Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford’s number. They intercepted him 4 times and intercepted his backup Matt Cassel once. Linebacker Darron Lee said, “We were calling out their plays as he was getting up to the line. We knew his signals. We knew everything. That’s just preparation as a defense. … It seemed like we were in his head as a defense.”  According to Elias Sports Bureau, Stafford is the first Lions quarterback since 1943 to put up four interceptions in a home opener. To make matters worse, my fantasy team started Stafford and we lost both of our games :(. Jets 48, Lions 17.

Aaron Rodgers new $134 million contract extension seems to be paying off after he led the Green Bay Packers to a thrilling comeback victory over the Chicago Bears thanks to his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. His incredible performance came after he had to leave the game in the 2nd quarter due to a leg injury. No word yet on how his injury will affect him going forward.

The Cleveland Browns finally broke their 17 game losing streak, but still haven’t won a game yet. The Browns had an opportunity to win the matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a seemingly easy field goal with seconds left on the clock, but the kick was blocked and the Browns winless streak continues at 624 days. The “Victory Fridges” with free Bud Light are still waiting to be unlocked.

TENNIS

The Serena Williams/Naomi Osaka final at the US Open continues to cause emotions to run high. To recap, Williams was called for three minor infractions during the match. On the third infraction where Serena called the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, a “thief”, he docked her a full game. Serena ultimately lost the match, but the crowd was so incensed, they booed during the awards ceremony and prevented Naomi (who also teared up) her moment in the limelight for beating one of the greatest (if not the greatest) women’s tennis player of all time and one of her idols. Many fans believe the umpire applied a double standard and acted unfairly to a woman yelling, while many men’s players have done much worse over the years.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL season opener, last year’s Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, barely edged out the Atlanta Falcons in a sloppy, low scoring game. The highlight of the night was a trick play from last year’s Championship called the “Philly Special“. On Thursday night, the team renamed the play the “Philly Philly” which featured a pass from receiver Nelson Agholor to quarterback Nick Foles. The offense only gained 15 yards on the play, but the Eagles found enough energy to put the necessary points on the board for the win. Unfortunately for the Falcons, their offense struggled, and quarterback Matt Ryan couldn’t connect in the red zone.  Eagles 18, Falcons 12.

TENNIS

20-year-old Naomi Osaka advanced to her first major final beating Madison Keys 6-2, 6-4. She faced 13 break points and managed to save all of them saying her motivation was to play Serena Williams. In an interview after the game, she said, “This is going to sound really bad, but I was just thinking, ‘I really want to play Serena.'” When the interviewer followed up with a “Why?”, Osaka said, “Because she’s Serena, like, what do you mean?”

Serena cruised to her ninth US Open final by holding off #19 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-0. With one more win, a soon to be 37-year-old Williams will secure her seventh US Open championship. In an emotional interview after the match, Serena said, “It’s honestly really incredible. A year ago, I was fighting for, literally, my life at the hospital after I had the baby, so every day I step out on this court, I am so grateful that I have an opportunity to play this sport, you know? So no matter what happens in any match — semis, finals — I just feel like I’ve already won.”

FOOTBALL

The NFL season begins tonight with the Atlanta Falcons taking on former Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell still hasn’t signed with the team and hasn’t reported for practice. If Bell doesn’t sign he loses $853,000 per week. If he continues to hold out for up to nine games, Bell (at age 26) will be eligible for free agency next year. According to Bell’s reps, “he wasn’t going to accept another 400 touches on a salary he felt was below his value.” Bell is high on most fantasy football drafts, so there will be many angry fans if he doesn’t sign this season.

TENNIS

In the men’s quarterfinals of the US Open, Novak Djokovic and John Millman had another tough match due to the intense heat. With just two games into the second set, Millman approached the umpire explaining he needed to change his clothes due to excessive sweating. The umpire ruled that the conditions were excessive enough to invoke the “Equipment Out of Adjustment” rule and allowed Millman to leave. Djokovic ultimately won  6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and will advance to the semifinals against Kei Nishikori on Friday.

TENNIS

Serena Williams started slowly but held on to beat former #1 player Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals at the US Open. Williams, who is looking for her 24th Grand Slam, will face 19th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in the semis.

Rafael Nadal held off Dominic Thiem in five sets. The match lasted 4 hours and 49 minutes, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) recording the longest match in this year’s Open. Nadal told Thiem after the match that he was sorry, and that he should keep going and will have plenty of time to win. Nadal will face Juan Martin del Potro in the semis.

In other US Open news (if you can call it news), a woman, Alexa Greenfield, was eating chicken fingers with her nephews and was spotted dipping the chicken fingers into her coke. The shot of her in action trended on social media and now according to Alexa, “People are telling me I should go to jail”.

OTHER

As reported earlier, Colin Kaepernick was named as the face of Nike’s 30th Anniversary “Just Do It” campaign, and to no one’s surprise everyone had an opinion. There was a potential fallout for Nike, however, as Reuters reported “shares of the company stock dropped three percent during early trading Tuesday, while the hashtag “Nike Boycott” trended on Twitter throughout the morning.” Nike would not have gone down this path if they didn’t think the risk would pay off, so it will be interesting to see how sales progress going forward.

TENNIS

In a big stunner at the US Open over the weekend, 2nd seeded Roger Federer lost to unseeded John Millman. Fans were anticipating a big quarterfinal match on Wednesday between rivals Novak Djokovic and Federer, but that will have to wait for another tournament. Federer described his loss by saying, “I just thought it was very hot tonight. It was just one of those nights, I guess, I felt I couldn’t get air. There was no circulation. … Maybe when you feel like that, you start missing chances.” With a ranking of# 55, the win marked Millman’s first time beating a top 10 opponent.

FOOTBALL

Nike is grabbing headlines for making former quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of their new 30th Anniversary “Just Do It” campaign. The ad shows Kaepernick’s face with the tagline “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” Kaepernick has been a Nike client since 2011, but the company didn’t know what to do with him since he started his National Anthem protests in 2016.  The ad campaign has already garnered both praise and backlash for featuring such a controversial figure (particularly as Nike is a corporate sponsor of the NFL).