Did you enjoy the sports equinox?
Are you ready to catch up on a bunch of baseball, basketball, and football?
Should we stop asking questions and get started?
Let’s start with the…
MLB Playoffs ⚾️
Three games down, four to go (hopefully)!
In Game 1, the Blue Jays crushed the Dodgers, 11–4. In Game 2, the Dodgers bounced back to win easily, 5–1.
Was last night’s Game 3 any closer?
🎥 Watch the highlights and see for yourself!
WOW! 18 innings is tied for the longest game in MLB postseason history.
And while Freddie Freeman hit the walk-off home run, Shohei Ohtani reached base all nine times he came to the plate (he blew away the previous playoff record of six)!
And tonight, Ohtani is pitching in Game 4!
While we wait to see if the Dodgers keep the momentum going, you know we’ll also be watching the…
NBA 🏀
Week 1 is done! So let’s give it the ‘best game, biggest news, and wildest play’ treatment.
Best game: So many to choose from! But we like to watch them while they’re-fresh, so let’s look at last night.
The two best matchups on paper?
Nuggets at Timberwolves and Grizzlies at Warriors.
Golden State beat Memphis, 131–118. But Steph only scored 16 points, so it wasn’t the most exciting game.
🎥 Want to see why we picked the other one?
That’s three straight triple-doubles to start the season for Jokić.
And he’s only the third player in NBA history to do that. (One of the other two is hiding in a picture of Austin Reaves below. Can you find the guy whose nickname is Russ?)
Biggest news: LeBron still isn’t playing… he’s got a nerve injury called sciatica.
On Friday, Luka said, “No LeBron, no problem,” and had 49 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists in the Lakers’ 128–110 win over the Timberwolves.
But then Luka got hurt! Nothing too serious… he’s just going to miss a few games.
So, on Sunday, Austin Reaves said, “No LeBron, no Luka, no problem,” and had 51 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists as LA beat Sacramento, 127–120.
Let’s hope he stays healthy! (Otherwise, another Laker is going to need to score 53 points soon.)
Wildest play: Speaking of 50-point games…
Aaron Gordon scored exactly 50 in the Nuggets loss to the Warriors last week.
How’d he do in Denver’s Saturday night win against the Phoenix Suns?
Just 17 points.
🎥 But two of them came on this incredible play!
Now, let’s huddle up and check on…
NFL Week 8 👔🏈
Best game: Blowout alert!
After the Chargers beat the Vikings on Thursday Night Football, 37–10, Sunday’s games weren’t close either!
Out of 11 games, 10 teams won by 10+ points. (Say that 10 times fast!)
The only close game? The 0–7 Jets against the 3–4 Bengals.
The Jets trailed by 15 to start the fourth quarter.
Hit play to see if they pulled off the comeback! (Click ahead to 9:25 in the video.)
Make that 1–7!
Biggest news: The Jets are now tied with the Saints and Titans for worst record in the NFL.
Best record? Still the Indianapolis Colts, now 7–1. They crushed the Titans, 38–14. (More on that in a second!)
Here’s what the rest of the top 10 looks like:
🧠 Can you figure out what “PCT” stands for?
Drop your answer in the comments! 💬
Wildest play: Okay, back to the Colts!
We know that QB Daniel Jones is having an incredible season.
But the team’s biggest star is running back Jonathan Taylor. He leads the NFL in both rushing yards (850) and touchdowns (12) so far this season.
It’s not just the stats that make him special…
🎥 It’s plays like this one!
Oh, and while Taylor was tip-toeing down the sideline…
His teammate Michael Pittman Jr. caught this touchdown pass.
🎥 In. His. Armpit.
Yes, that was pass interference. And yes, the Colts declined it and took the touchdown.
Let’s see if we can find an even better play in…
College Football Week 9 🎓🏈
Best game: I always want to pick Texas! And it might be fair this week, because the Longhorns beat Mississippi State 45–38 in overtime after trailing 31–14 in the fourth quarter.
But let’s go with another overtime game.
#16 Virginia (6–1) against North Carolina.
Remember the ABCs of college football?
U was for UNC, and specifically coach Bill Belichick. As the coach of the Patriots in the NFL, he won six Super Bowls and more playoff games than any other coach!
Unfortunately, his first year as a college coach isn’t going well. North Carolina went into the game with a 2–4 record.
🎥 Unless… maybe this is the week they turned things around?
Um, no. The Tar Heels went for the two-point conversion to win in overtime, but came up inches short.
Ugly!
Biggest news: Let’s look at the top 25 and play spot the difference!
Remember, you predicted fewer changes this week than we’ve had the past few weeks.
👀 Were you right?
🏅 Want extra credit? Can you find a team that moved up exactly four spots?
💬 Drop your answer in the comments! Maybe you’ll look as smart as the guy who wrote this over two months ago…
Wildest play: So, we’re trying to beat the tiptoe run and armpit catch…
🎥 Sure, we can watch the punt return that sealed the Longhorns’ comeback!
Have a great day, and we’ll see you on Friday!
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I saw your post in Nuggets Reddit, and as someone who sent years of casual "Nuggets Nuggets" text digests to friends (mainly before our 1.5 yr old and 3 month old were born), wanted to respond and support– even though our kids are too young to go to the game or be an audience for this.
I know there are formatting limitations to Substack, but some type of "Table of contents" or TLDR at the top would be super helpful. Kids benefit a lot from repetition, and it would also help adults orient to the content and navigate (if they're involved). In some cases the TLDR might be all that gets consumed– that's still cool IMO.
I like the multi-media and fun little learning integrations– the CFB questions are a standout IMO, although you may want to give it a subtitle telling kids they can click to get a bigger image and work with paper to track their answers.
I bet your kids get a *lot* out of this and I'm not sure how/if that intimacy would scale without making you a "personality" in the posts... but I also don't think it needs to. Congrats on the cool project and I hope this is helpful!
Winning percentage!!!!!!!!!!!!