This Week in Sports | September 28-October 5

Another week has passed and sports did not disappoint in the slightest. With the return (and end) of over 5 major sports leagues and as the playoffs heat up in the NBA and MLB, your favorite sports leagues are sure to bring some crazy highlights for fans all over. Here's a brief overview of everything that happened in the sports world this past week:

Tampa Bay Lightning Win Stanley Cup

After losing to the No. 8 seed Columbus Blue Jackets as a 1-seed last year in the NHL Playoffs, Coach John Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning went on to win the Stanley Cup last Monday vs the Dallas Stars and claim their first championship in 16 years. After their captain, Steven Stamkos was injured in Phase 2 of the NHL restart and again in Game 3 of the Finals, the Lightning were able to beat the Stars 2-0 in Game 6 behind stellar play from stud centerman Brayden Point and an amazing defensive stance from goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Coach Cooper said in the postgame conference that the University of Virginia's redemption tour was a major motivator for their own historic championship run. After losing to the No.16 seed UMBC in the 2018 March Madness Tournament UVA (let's go Hoos) went on to win their first championship the next year, and coach Cooper stated: "You need something to hold onto, and it was a really tough time for us last year. They did it, why can’t we? And we did it.”

NFL Week 4 😬

Welp, just about anyone could have seen this coming. The NBA and NHL were able to successfully avoid any COVID-19 concerns in the restart of the regular season and postseason as they implemented a bubble model to keep players from traveling and potentially becoming exposed to coronavirus. On the other hand, the NFL ignored the pressing concerns, and in Week 4 following the Minnesota Vikings-Tennessee Titans game, 18 players and personnel tested positive for the virus over the past six days. HC Mike Vrabel stated that although the Titans were following COVID-19 guidelines "verbatim" they, unfortunately, were still hit by the pandemic forcing the Titans and Steelers game to be postponed until Week 7. Luckily, as of this morning, no players have tested positive and the NFL is hopeful that these players can return to facilities and begin practicing this week after a forced Bye Week.

Although the Titans seemed to have an outbreak, they were not the only ones who were hit by the pandemic as starting QB Cam Newton also tested positive for the virus forcing him to be put on the COVID/IR list ahead of the rescheduled Chiefs-Patriots game tonight at 7:05 PM. As a big fan of the NFL I'm hoping that two things happen this week to avoid another potential outbreak and subsequent end to the season: 1) the NFL try to implement a stricter zone system where teams stay in specific regions close to their training facilities to better monitor player activity and 2) the New York Jets fucking fire Adam Gase and he never coaches again 😡

On a brighter note, Monday's game between the Ravens and Chiefs did not disappoint and Patrick Mahomes rightly established himself as the top dawg in a class of young starting QBs such as Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Deshaun Watson, Sam Darnold, and rookie Justin Herbert.

Do Not Fuck With Jimmy Butler

The headline says it all. After an embarrassing 98-116 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Finals that resulted in injuries to growing star Bam Adebayo and Bubble unsung hero Goran Dragic, the shorthanded Heat lost to the Lakers in Game 2 124-114. Then, LeBron James said to Jimmy Butler that the Miami Heat "were in trouble," and awoke the beast that is Jimmy Butler. Last night, the Heat beat the Lakers 115-104 behind one of Jimmy's best games of his remarkable career. He finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists on 14/20 shooting and an astonishing 0/0 from 3PT range to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. This performance was essential for Miami to even have hope of winning the series as Bam and Dragic get more time to rest and the Heat pushes the series to 2-1. No word has been said on the update of the aforementioned injured players, but I am excited as ever for Game 2 on Tuesday.

MLB Divisional Round Begins

The NLDS and ALDS series are set as the MLB Postseason tightens up this Monday. The new playoff format featured 8 teams from each league squaring off in the Wild Card with some interesting upsets. The 6-seed Miami Marlins continue their unlikely run after shutting out the 3-seed Chicago Cubs who struggled to put up runs and will face division rivals the 2-seed Atlanta Braves in a best-of-five series. The 5-seed Yankees were able to overcome their pitching woes and the bats were hot as they put up 22 runs in two games versus the 4-seed Cleveland Indians and probable Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. The young and talented Chicago White Sox, unfortunately, lost to the Oakland A's in Game 3, while the San Diego Padres were able to outlast the forever playoff present St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series. Now that the divisional rounds are set to start there are three main questions that I am wondering for the remainder of the postseason:

1) Can the Yankees sustain the hot bats and overcome their glaring issues with the pitching staff and make a deep run in the playoffs?

2) After a very disappointing regular season are the Astros back to being dominant in the playoffs (especially with no trash can signs to help)?

3) Who the hell is going to make it out of the NL, and is this finally the year the LA Dodgers can prove that they truly are the best team in the MLB?

Look out for PRTY Favors during the week as the playoffs come to a close for the MLB and NBA, and the NFL continues to take my money every Sunday🙃.