BASEBALL

After a 10:06 pm rain delayed start, the Philadelphia Phillies rallied against the Tampa Bay Rays to win the game and take a 2-1 lead in the World Series.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The Texas Longhorns continue to roll, as they barely beat Oklahoma State on Saturday 28-24.  It was a battle of unbeatens, and it looked like Oklahoma State might actually topple the mighty Longhorns, especially as a result of a key fumble toward the end by Texas.  Oklahoma needed a touchdown with just a minute left in the game, and just couldn’t get the necessary first down to move the ball forward.  Texas QB, and Heisman leader, Colt McCoy made a few rare mistakes, but in the end he still threw for an incredible 391 yards and two TD’s.  This Texas team looks determined.

Now it seems Texas has a huge, dangerous match-up everyweek.  In the last three weeks, they’ve faced #1 Oklahoma, an explosive Missouri team, and an undefeated Oklahoma State.  And next week, they’ll take on another undefeated team… Texas Tech.  Texas Tech absolutely destroyed the Kansas Jayhawks yesterday 63-21.  And the number eight Red Raiders (who will move up come Monday) would like nothing more than to topple their Longhorned Rival.  So it’ll be the near perfect Colt McCoy against the rising Texas Tech quarterback, Graham Harrell, who threw for 386 yards and FIVE TOUCHDOWNS!!!  You can’t miss that game next week.

Elsewhere in the college football world, the Florida Gators are rebounding well after being upset a couple weeks ago.  They trounced the Kentucky Wildcats 63-5.  And in their final touchdown, David Nelson caught the ball at the ten yard line and literally dragged the Kentucky defender into the end zone.  Very funny.  Check out the highlights.

NFL

Finally, today’s featured match-up in the NFL won’t take place in any of the 50 states.  Nope, the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers will battle it out… in London.  This is the NFL’s attempt to bring American football to an international audience.  However, last year, when the Dolphins took on the Giants, it was a pretty quiet stadium, and the London fans hated it when the Giants executed ‘ball control’ at the end of the game.  Essentially, they had a big lead, and just ran the ball, then ran out the clock for the easy win.  But UK fans are used to action-packed soccer match-ups to the very last second when the whistle blows.  They had no patience for a quiet, strategic finish.  Nope, they wanted their money’s worth.  We’ll see how the overseas contest plays out this year.

Well, the Olympics are over and I can now start going to bed at a reasonably sane hour. It was worth it though! People genuinely seemed to care more during these Olympics. There were more “did you see that last night” conversations in offices. It was primarily the heroes and underdog stories that put the Olympics on everyone’s radars.

First off, there was, of course, Michael Phelps who eclipsed Mark Spitz’s record by winning EIGHT GOLD MEDALS. Then, there was the USA Men’s Gymnastic Team, who won the bronze medal with their ‘back-ups’ essentially. Sasha Artemov, a kid who was told just 3 days before the Olympics that he was going to compete, had the chance to seal the bronze on the pommel horse. While he was notorious for making nervous mistakes, he absolutely nailed his routine and USA captured the bronze. USA’s Nastia Liukin won the all-around gold medal for women’s gymnastics. And, of course, there’s Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. He broke world records in both the 100m relay and 200m relay, surpassing the times of the former unforgettable record holder, USA’s Michael Johnson. Essentially… AMAZING things happened, and people wanted more and more.

On Sunday, the USA Redeem Team had a shot to solidify their name with a Gold medal game against Spain. The medal didn’t come easy, however, with Pau Gasol and Spain giving it everything they had. But in the end, the US prevailed 118-107 behind Kobe Bryant and a spectacular game from Dwayne Wade (27 points). The US Women’s Team, however, easily coasted to their 4th gold medal.

NFL

And, of course, more on the Brett Favre saga. He has been adjusting relatively well to New York, however, when the Jets signed Favre, they had to cut their long-time veteran quarterback, Chad Pennington. Now, Pennington gets a shot in Miami, and it would be interesting to see him thrive, and possibly even BEAT Favre and his old team when the Jets and Dolphins meet on their opening day, Sunday September 7th.

Very sad news for the Giants. In Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets, the Giants’ Pro Bowl defensive end, Osi Umenyiora tore his lateral meniscus in his left knee and is now out for the season. This is very bad news for the Giants as their other Pro Bowl defensive end, Michael Strahan recently retired. There is buzz however on trying to get Strahan to come back for another season…stay tuned!

WATERCOOLER DISCUSSION: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE EVENT/EVENTS OF THE 2008 OLYMPICS?