Thursday night: Burger grand opening at ZBurger w/ Philly cheese steaks, custard, fries, hot dogs, onion rings and some milkshakes (not necessarily in that order).
Friday night: Burger grand opening at Kraze: w/ fries and a milkshake
Saturday: College Football, work, survived a mini hurricane, dodged a tornado and got some pizza (must find veggies this week)
Sunday: Football, Baseball, Golf, Tennis, Fantasy Football (and still no veggies...do Doritos count?)
If your weekend was like that or maybe you went on Burger Days VI (www.burgerdays.com) you may have missed something...let me catch you up.
10. BMW Championship
I went out on a limb on Thursday and called that Tiger Woods would win this week. Well that didn't happen as Rory McIlroy continued his recent dominance winning for the second week in a row. Tiger finished T-4th, three shots behind. Phil Mickelson remembered that he was once good and came on strong over the weekend tying for second place. With next weeks Tour Championship starting on Thursday, the golf world will be all abuzz with the three biggest draws finally playing well at the same time. McIlroy has put his early season distractions aside and is proving to be the prodigy that everyone thought he was going to be. It will be difficult to go against him winning a third straight and the FedEx Cup in Atlanta.
9. College Football - Upset Alert
Behind six touchdown passes from Matt Barkley, USC eased by Syracuse in New Jersey (although they didn't cover...sorry Luis, I warned you). Florida St. was a 70.5 point favorite over Savannah 'thanks for the $' St. and led 28-0 seven minutes into the game. Then the weather took over. A couple of rain delays and 27 more points later, the game was mercifully called in the 3rd quarter canceling the spread and saving a lot of people some money because it would have been 80-0 easy. As for the games I figured were going to be close. Missouri played a good three quarters, but Georgia played all four quarters, ruining the Tigers first SEC game, losing 41-20. My upset pick at work (trust me) was Wisconsin losing to Oregon St. outright and they did 10-7, scoring their only points with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Nebraska went out west to play UCLA and got upended in a great game 36-30. Of course I can't forget to point out the embarrassment that was Arkansas who got caught looking ahead to #1 Alabama next week by getting utterly shocked by Louisiana-Monroe (who??) 34-31 in OT. Yikes!
8. Washington Redskins at New Orleans Saints
Control yourself Jason...settle down...SUPER BOWL HERE WE COME!!! Stop that...sorry for the outburst, but did you see RGIII? He looked good, real good. Of course so did Cam Newton last season after a week and Carolina finished 6-10 and looked pitiful Sunday. All the gadgets, the speed, the offense that was hidden during preseason was unleashed as #10 led the Redskins to 10 points in each quarter to upend the Saints 40-32. I give credit to Drew Brees on never giving in and keeping me on the edge of my seat down to the final play of the game, but his brilliance wasn't enough this weekend. Is it the Super Bowl host city curse?? Maybe, but I'm thrilled to see the Redskins finally show some excitement on the offensive side of the ball. RGIII FOR MVP...NO WAIT HALL OF FAME!!!! Agghhh I can't stop myself.
7. San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers
It appears that the Packers have found their Kryptonite...a really good defense. Two straight games now (dating back to the playoffs against the Giants) the vaunted Green Bay offense was held in check in a loss. Both times at home and in relatively similar fashion this time falling by a score of 30-22 (37-20 vs. New York in the playoffs). The 49ers stuffed the non existent running game of the Packers and pressured Aaron Rodgers just enough to keep him off balance. Green Bay needs to find some offensive balance or one of two things is bound to happen: either they will lose again in the playoffs or Rodgers arm will fall off by Thanksgiving. San Francisco is going to be the real deal again this season. Their offense is leaps and bounds better with Randy Moss and great depth at running back.
6. Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays
4, 6 and 6. The total runs scored in each game. Good pitching won this weekend as it is apt to do come September and October. Tampa Bay took two of three games keeping themselves close in the Wild Card and the A.L. East races. The Rangers saw their lead in the A.L. West shrink to 3.5 games over Oakland as the Athletics swept the Seattle Mariners. Saturday was a great pitchers duel between Yu Darvish and
5. U.S. Open Tennis
The weather was the big winner of the weekend as rain caused havoc on the schedule. The Men's Final has been pushed to 4pm today and it will be...drum roll please...Andy Murray vs. Novak Djokovic. I am as shocked as you are folks. As soon as Roger Federer lost, we knew it would come down to the last of the Big 4 and it did. The women's side was much more tightly contested even though it ended as was expected. Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka played a wonderful three set match in which the #1 seed Azaranka pulled out winning the last two sets. Serena Williams continued to cruise through the Open as she crushed Sara Errani in straight sets. This set up a dream match up for fans and they were treated to some high level, high intensity tennis. Serena won the first set with ease again and I thought the tournament was over. Azarenka had other thoughts as she turned the tables, thumping Williams to force a winner take all third set. Serena was broken early and then broke back. At 3-3 her serve was broken again giving Azarenka a 4-3 lead which she stretched to 5-3. Serena fought back, cutting it to 5-4 and then broke Azarenka who was serving for the match to even the third set at 5 games apiece. Serena held serve and broke Azarenka again to win the championship. It was enthralling and I'm so happy I brought the small television to the man cave and didn't have to miss it.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants
The Dodgers had a great chance to make the N.L. West a true race with a strong weekend, but things got worse for them as the days went by. On Friday, Giants starter Tim Lincecum tried everything in his power to let the Dodgers win. He walked 7 batters in 6.1 innings, but Los Angeles couldn't get the big hit stranding 11 runners in a 5-2 loss where San Francisco scored 4 runs in their final three at bats. Saturday came and the Dodgers were without Matt Kemp who is suffering from a sore shoulder. They had to face Matt Cain and fared as expected as they were trailing 2-1 going to the 8th inning. They tied the score and chased Cain and then got the go ahead and eventual winning run in the 9th. Knowing they had Clayton Kershaw going on Sunday, the Dodgers had to feel excited about taking the series. Then word came Sunday afternoon that Kershaw was scratched with an injury. That must have deflated the locker room as Barry Zito (yes, him) dominated Los Angeles with 6.1 shutout innings as the Giants won 4-0 to extend their lead to 5.5 games.
3. Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Angels
Somebody in the Detroit locker room better send the Kansas City Royals a thank you card. The Tigers rolled into Los Angeles to face the scorching hot Angels and got swept right out of town. They only lost a game in the standings to the White Sox thanks to Kansas City winning two of three, but have practically fallen out of the Wild Card race. The Angels, on the other hand, have won 6 in a row and 11 of 12 as they welcome Oakland to southern California for a four game series after just taking three straight in Oakland. They are 2.5 games behind the Athletics and 6 behind Texas. Detroit had best lick their wounds quickly as they fly to Chicago to battle the White Sox in their own four game mega-series. Oh about the Verlander-Trout match up...yeah Trout hit a bomb off of Justin in the 1st inning...statement made.
2. New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
This was the exact opposite series than that of the Rangers/Rays series. 16, 13, 9, 16. That's a lot of runs by two good hitting, average pitching teams. The Orioles won the first game behind 6 home runs, but the Yankees struck back in game two with 3 home runs of their own (as did the Orioles...remember pitching optional) to win. Game three was the 'pitchers duel' of the series between C.C. Sabathia, who is clearly pitching injured, and Joe Saunders. Yup, grasping at straws here. The Orioles hit three more home runs to win another one run game. They tied the Yankees for 1st again, but lost lead off hitter Nick Markakis to a broken hand. This must have stung the Baltimore clubhouse because they got thrashed on Sunday 13-3, failing again at their chance to stand alone atop the A.L. East. Life doesn't getting any easier for Baltimore as Tampa Bay strolls into town with a chance to knock the Orioles to third place.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos
Welcome back Peyton Manning. The NFL missed you while you were gone. After sitting out a year with a neck injury and switching teams, Manning didn't skip a beat. After each team started slowly, things got going in the second quarter when Knoshown Moreno scampered in for a score. Big Ben took the Steelers right down the field and hit Heath Miller for a touchdown as the 1st half ended. Pittsburgh got the ball back to start the 3rd quarter and used 9 minutes to score 3 points. In real time, Peyton Manning didn't run an actual play from scrimmage (kneel down doesn't count to me) in an hour and now trailed 13-7. Two plays and 36 seconds later, it was 14-13 Broncos as Manning connected with Demaryius Thomas on a 71 yard score. Pittsburgh then controlled the ball for the remainder of the 3rd quarter, but still trailed by 1 point. That didn't last long as the Steelers scored in the first minute to go up 19-14. Then Peyton took over. He led the Broncos on back to back scoring drives for 10 points giving them a 25-19 lead and Tracy Porter sealed the deal for Denver with a pick-six touchdown (as he is known to do).
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