Voice On Sports 9/11/15

By Robert Vincent          
Three weeks of High School football in the books. The second week of College Football has started. The NFL’s first Sunday full of games is about to be played. However, in the back ground to some is the race to October…

IT’S A WILD WORLD
In less than a month, the regular season of Major League Baseball comes to an end and, yes, anything can happen.

As of right now, the Yankees and the Blue Jays are starting a series that could determine who wins the AL East. The Yanks are a game and a half behind, but the series is in New York, which could tilt an already fragile balance in their favor. Kansas City seems to have wrapped up the AL Central with an eleven game lead, but the West could go to three teams, with only five and a half games separating Houston, Texas and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Disney of California.

In the National League things could get a little shaky, especially in the NL Central. This past week, The Pirates beat the Cardinals 2 out of 3 games, then the Cardinals turned around and dropped another 2 out of 3 to the Cubs. Given, St. Louis has a 4.5 game lead over Pittsburgh, and 7.5 over the Cubs, but no one is even CLOSE to those teams when it comes to the wild card race in the NL. The Mets took care of Washington’s playoff hopes this week and The Dodgers have nearly a 10 game lead on The Giants.

The next three weeks should be great…

MORE TURNOVERS THAN…
A Pastry Shop?
A New York Bakery?
Either way, Grayson County had more turnovers than an apple festival in autumn last Friday. Between bad punt coverage, terrible defense and a stagnant offense, The Swampys couldn’t get anything going. A blocked punt by Edmonson County set up a score. A fumble recovery by Edmonson County set up a score.

The list goes on. On the way to getting back the coveted “Stick of Power”, The Wildcats kept finding ways to score. 7 points here. 3 points there. It was crazy. When the score is 30-0 at the half and Grayson County had continuously given up the ball in prime territory, it was no surprise ECHS would go on to win by about three dozen points.

This week, the have Warren East. The Raiders got thumped by Daviess County last week by about the same score as the Edmonson County Swamp fest. The only team Warren East has beat? Swamp Vegas High. This week, they lose again. Wildcats: 27-13.

A SMALL BREAK
Yes, I like being snarky in these wonderful sports rants, but on a serious note:

 I remember 14 years ago vividly. We had just been through a great weekend of sports then and the world stopped. Who was leading in a division, or how many touchdowns Kurt Warner would throw or the question “Will Shaq and Kobe turn the Lakers back into a dynasty?” didn’t really matter. We became a people in crisis. It didn’t matter if you were a Beaner from Boston or a Bronx Bomber fan. We were all American. I don’t think I have to preach to you, faithful sports reader, but sometime this weekend, during the popcorn and remote controls going from Fox to CBS on Sunday and the silly jerseys with our names stitched on the back even though we never played for the 49ers or Buckeyes or Broncos, take a second to remember fourteen years ago when buildings fell and people died. And send a prayer up for the families that, even after all this time, still miss those people who don’t get to wear those silly jerseys or eat that stale high school popcorn.

BITS AND PIECES
I already made my pick that the Cats beat Warren East and The Yankees make a push, but there are still some exciting games out there this weekend to watch.

Saturday, Louisville host Houston, and gets the win 36-13. Kentucky travels to South Carolina and beats Spurrier 31-24. #23 Tennessee will lose to Oklahoma. #5 Michigan State will beat the Duck of Oregon and LSU will defeat Mississippi State on the road.

As for Sunday (and Monday), locally…Tennessee will travel to Tampa…and back home with a loss. Tampa Bay 21-13.

Big Matchups: Packers over Bears, 34-20. Broncos over Ravens, 28-21. Giants over Cowboys, 23-17. Colts over Bills 31-24. Rams over Seahawks, 20-14. And, because I can, 49ers over Vikings, 23-21.

Remember to follow me on twitter: Robert Vincent @voiceonsports…and so, since I am running out of things that may or may not be sports after only three weeks, I leave you with this quote:

“If you’re stupid enough to whiff, you should be smart enough to forget it.”-Arnold Palmer.