This midweek sees the first batch of Premier League fixtures between weekends for some time. With the chaotic ending to the disjointed 2019/20 season, including ‘Project Restart’, this shorter 2020/21 EPL campaign has got off to a frantic start. The first set of midweek fixtures should be absolute carnage, with nobody’s defence having had time to prepare very well to prevent some of the best attacking players in world football from scoring at will.
Who’ll come out on top? Let’s take a look at a match for each kick-off day this midweek.
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Chelsea (Tuesday, 6pm GMT kick-off)
This should be one of the games of the round, not least because both sides are experiencing mixed form at present. In Wolves’ case, this is largely due to the absence on Mexican striker and talisman Raul Jimenez, perhaps the ‘Old Gold’s best player and someone who is likely out for the season with a fractured skull.
Last night’s Monday Night Football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns was everything it was expected to be. While many games this NFL season have come down to the wire before a winner was determined, this one actually went past the wire, with the Browns making a last-ditch – but well-fought – effort to stay alive after time had expired. The effort wasn’t enough to give them the win, but it was enough to make some sports gamblers happy.
The Browns took the lead as the game got underway, but it was Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson who then took control for a while. However, if the outcome of this game were based solely on stats, the Browns would have been able to claim the victory. 471 total yards, 333 in the air, compared to 384 for the Ravens. 76 total plays (58 for Baltimore), 33 first downs and 2-for-2 on fourth downs showed why the Browns have become such a formidable team this year. Browns QB Baker Mayfield put up 343 yards and two touchdowns, but a solid Ravens performance on both sides of the ball proved to be just a little too much.
The game went back and forth for a while as the scoreboard continued to see more points added for both teams. The Ravens broke away as the game progressed, finally feeling a little comfortable with a 34-20 lead in the third quarter. Then, something strange and unexpected happened. The Browns came back to life.
As the fourth quarter advanced, so did the Browns and they suddenly found themselves winning, 35-34 with only minutes left in the game. This was beginning to look like the first time since 2002 that they would head to the postseason and also like the Ravens were about to find their playoff hopes completely wiped out. Baltimore had other plans, though, and put them into motion.
It would be an understatement to say that things didn’t go as planned in Week 14 Sunday in the NFL. The New Orleans Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers were handed defeats that no one, even sports gamblers, would have expected, and even the Kansas City Chiefs came close to losing against the Miami Dolphins. Maybe the top-ranked teams this year simply used up all their energy and talent early in the season and, if that’s the case, the postseason games are going to be a lot different than previously thought.
The Green Bay Packers pulled out a win over the Detroit Lions as quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a pretty good day. He threw for three touchdowns on the way to a 31-24 victory, but it wasn’t until the third quarter that Green Bay moved ahead, a hint at how the top-seeded teams performed yesterday. With that win, and with a loss to be discussed down the page, the Packers are now the champions of the NFC North. It also, because of another unexpected upset yesterday, gives the Packers the top spot in the conference. This game was pretty much on target in terms of scoring, with the final score missing the Over/Under by just half a point.
The Washington Football Team (WFT) can now claim four straight victories after getting off to a slow start earlier in the season. They took down the San Francisco 49ers, who are not showing any resemblance to the Super Bowl-bound team of last year, 23-15 and are now on top of the NFC East. Two defensive touchdowns clinched the win and put the WFT in a good spot for the postseason. The Over/Under had been set at 43.5, and the outcome fell short by 5.5 points.
The Atlanta Falcons have once again proven that they can’t hold up for four quarters. However, they at least forced the game against the LA Chargers down to the wire, only losing after Chargers kicker Michael Badgley nailed a 43-yard field goal as time ran out. Neither team is too concerned about the loss, though, as they’re not looking at a postseason appearance unless a miracle happens. Still, oddsmakers had expected a better result and the 20-17 score fell short of the predicted Over/Under by 12 points.
As the second half of the NFL season progresses, many pundits will be releasing their predictions for the end-of-season awards. But one award race sticks out of particular interest this year: the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Conventional wisdom may point to a candidate such as the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger or the Texans’ JJ Watt. Both are perennial stars returning to form after injuries last year. However, Alex Smith of the Washington Football Team has redefined what it is to be a “comeback player.”
A catastrophic injury in Week 10 of the 2018 season left Smith with spiral and compound fractures to both his fibula and tibia, ultimately resulting in infections and sepsis that became life threatening. Doctors sought amputation as an option to ensure the virus did not infect his whole body, before several surgeries and skin graft procedures could be used to save the leg. Smith is now not only starting at quarterback in the NFL, a ridiculous thought considering where he was a year ago, but has the Redskins in first place in the NFC East.
On Monday night, he faced Roethlisberger’s undefeated Steelers and dealt them their first loss of the season. The game was expected to be a Steelers route and appeared so with the Washington Football Team losing 14-3 at the half. Smith extended the game play by play, drive by drive, until eventually taking a three point lead as the two minute warning approached. Smith’s simple resilience is ultimate inspiration. Winning and losing do not matter any more in Smith’s story, not as much his pure fight to keep going. And yet, Smith unwilling to settle, is in fact winning. He has now won four in a row.
Smith’s journey over the last 24 months was captured in the E60 documentary Project 11 which aired on ESPN in May. The documentary opens its story February 11, 2019, less than three months after the injury. Smith had incredible persistence that we was going to pursue an immediate comeback attempt, allowing ESPN to document this effort as a show of his confidence in himself.
Project 11, like the CC Sabathia Documentary we highlighted last weekhttp://www.thedailypayoff.com/sabathia-documentary-to-debut-december-22/, is an example of the transcendent power of athlete media. Much of athlete media is filled with podcasts and short form content concerning players’ opinions on everyday news in the sports world and beyond. This content is incredibly insightful, and a component of athlete media involves getting an insight into the minds of our heroes.
But heroes also go beyond to show us how to overcome battles in our daily lives. Both Sabathia, with his fight against alcoholism, and Smith overcoming devastating injuries are inspirations to people every day. Athlete media is meant to do exactly that: inspire people to be the best versions of themselves, to do what they think they cannot.
It might rub some football fans the wrong way, but it has to be said. This could be the end of the Belichick era in the NFL. Bill Belichick has been a coach in the league since 1975, most recently as the head coach of the New England Patriots, a position he has held for 20 years. He has won six Super Bowls and has been named the AP NFL Coach of the Year three times, and will always be known as perhaps the greatest coach ever in the NFL. However, even greatness comes to an end. The Pats have not had a very good season this year, and last night’s loss to the LA Rams could signal the beginning of the end.
Belichick can’t take all the blame for the team’s poor performance this year, but it simply might be time to make some changes. Perhaps even he knows it, which is about the only explanation for allowing Tom Brady to head down south to Tampa Bay. Maybe he’s preparing the Pats organization for a little housecleaning. That’s just speculation, of course, but it’s something to think about. New England’s performance on Thursday Night Football was, in a word, embarrassing, and there has to be a reason.
The Pats were held to a single field goal, which they scored as the first half was coming to an end. Apart from that, the team was sloppy on both offense and defense, and Cam Newton, brought in on a one-year contract (fortunately) to replace Brady, only lasted three quarters before being pulled. Even he must realize that there isn’t much of a future with the Pats for him. Newton only completed one of four passes in the second half and added a 79-yard pick-six to his record of non-achievements.
The Rams dominated right out the gate and walked all over the Pats. Their defense penetrated time and again, sacking Newton and his replacement, Jarrett Stidham, numerous times – six, to be exact. On offense, running back Cam Akers was, once again, the driving force behind the team’s success, racking up 29 carries for 171 yards. Wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods and tight end Tyler Higbee each had over 30 yards as the Rams cruised to a 24-3 win.
The UFC usually stages a mega-card on the final Saturday of the year, but 2020 has changed plenty within the organization so the final big event instead is this Saturday from its Apex facility in Las Vegas with a flyweight title fight between champion Deiveson Figueiredo and top contender Brandon Moreno headlining UFC 256. The main card starts at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view.
The UFC ranks Figueiredo as the No. 11 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, ahead of such big names as Conor McGregor, Robert Whittaker and Tony Ferguson. “Daico” is a 27-year-old Brazilian who is 20-1 as a professional.
If Figueiredo defending his flyweight belt in a major UFC event sounds familiar, that’s because he just beat fill-in Alex Perez – former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt had to pull out – on November 21 by first-round submission (guillotine choke). Perez was looking to become the first “Contender Series” alum to win a title in the UFC but was overmatched.
Christmas is one of football fans favourite times of the year. With what feels like wall-to-wall fixtures in the English Premier League, Boxing Day football on the television is a staple in most households. But what is the festive period really like for the players, coaches and staff who make it happen?
To find out, we spoke to The Secret Coach. TSC is a professional football coach in English football… who will remain anonymous. The Secret Coach has worked with some of the biggest names in the game, been through the coaching badges and is currently part of the coaching team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. As ever, this week, The Secret Coach pulls no punches!
“If Christmas goes well, it’s great mentally and you forget the physical impact, but if not it’s a difficult start to the New Year.”
This week, we’re looking at the festive fixture pile-up, and we started by asking TSC about what a coach’s first concern is about their players at Christmas time.
It’s an interesting Week 14 schedule around the NFL because there are only three intradivsional matchups and two of them are essentially meaningless with one team in the game playing out the string on a lousy season.
The Tennessee Titans visit the Jacksonville Jaguars and should have little trouble sweeping the season series and continue a push to a possible AFC South title. The Jaguars might be as bad as the atrocious Jets at this point, although Jacksonville did play pretty well in Week 2 at Tennessee. The Titans rode four Ryan Tannehill touchdown passes and a Stephen Gostkowski 49-yard field goal with 1:36 left to win 33-30. Tennessee is -7.5 this time and 5-2 ATS in the past seven in the series.
The Green Bay Packers are going to win the NFC North perhaps as soon as this week and look to sweep the Detroit Lions, who will have a new head coach next season. In Week 2, the Packers handled the visiting Lions 42-21 behind 168 yards rushing and three total touchdowns from Aaron Rodgers. Detroit actually led 14-3 early but then was steamrolled. Green Bay is -7.5 on Sunday but 1-6 ATS in the past seven in the series.
For Soccer Ventures (FSV), an organization focused on the growth and long-term development of American soccer, today announced the official launch of “Orange Slices,” a new podcast hosted by former US Men’s National Team player and Major League Soccer All-Star Heath Pearce and twenty one year old emerging U.S. international Mark McKenzie of the Philadelphia Union. The podcast celebrates the past, present, and future of American soccer through generational storytelling and unprecedented access to rising U.S. stars around the world. “Orange Slices” is FSV’s second podcast, joining “Best Soccer Show” hosted by Jason Davis and Jared Dubois.
The first two episodes feature 2020 Bayern Munich defender and current UEFA Champions League player Chris Richards, and former U.S. National Team and Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu. Both will discuss their experiences playing abroad, representing American soccer to global audiences, their personal and professional challenges, and the effort to rebuild the fan base and trust of the National Team after the tumultuous 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign. The two shows will debut on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and iTunes on December 9th.
“Our goal with ‘Orange Slices’ is to dive deeper into the challenges and opportunities facing the current generation of players as both elite athletes and outspoken personalities in a time of global cultural change,” Pearce, who is also FSV’s Chief Creative Officer, said. “My role is to provide Mark and our guests with a bit of perspective on where we’ve come from as a soccer nation, and to help guide a lively conversation that takes fans beyond the on-field discussion. Our athletes have a lot to say, and this podcast provides a megaphone to connect with the diverse soccer community in this country.”
“It’s exceedingly rare for an up-and-coming player like me to have the platform not only to share my experiences with the Union and the USMNT, but also those of my peers, who may actually have a very different experience themselves,” McKenzie added. “’These episodes aren’t just for fans, but also a younger audience seeking great storytelling. In many ways these are universal stories of the struggles and successes and lives of athletes, many of whom I admire and work with, and continue to learn from as well. We think it will be a unique narrative journey many will enjoy and share.”
Through rotating segments, the show will explore the unique culture of American soccer, from the muddy fields and halftime orange slices of youth soccer to the biggest games won and lost on the world’s stage. Each episode will incorporate classic stories and learning examples with a fresh perspective from the younger generation reshaping the game in America.
DDSports Inc. (ShotTracker), a revolutionary basketball technology that captures via sensors stats and analytics with sub-second latency and the leading tracking platform among NCAA schools, announced company executive restructuring in advance of a host of upcoming strategic business partnership announcements.
The Board of Directors has brought on veteran sports data industry leader Bill Moses as Chief Executive Officer, while company founder Davyeon Ross will continue with the company as the COO and President. The company’s co-founder, Bruce Ianni, has chosen to depart to pursue other opportunities. In addition, two other sports business and tech veterans, Tom Masterman and Jason Tilton, have joined the company as VP of Sales and VP of Corporate Development, respectively
“It is a pleasure to join the ShotTracker team to help advance the commercial business opportunities of one of the most innovative and transformative companies in the data and technology side at the NCAA level,” Moses said. “The foundation partnerships with some of the most elite colleges and universities have been built, and we are now ready to push forward with growing that base and expanding the commercial and tactical opportunities in basketball and in other sports with a host of new partners coming on line in the months ahead.”
“Our technology continues to be some of the most widely embraced and supported by college programs across the nation for both men’s and women’s basketball,” Ross said. “Having Bill’s wealth of experience in monetizing and expanding data content, as well as his deep and well respected relationships in media, marketing and technology will be invaluable as we advance and continue to disrupt the marketplace in 2021 and beyond.”
A New Jersey native and University of Virginia graduate, Moses brings with him to ShotTracker his vast experience in working at the nexus of technology and media, entertainment and sports. After serving at the NFL as the Senior VP of International and New Media, Bill joined IBM as the Vice President of Broadband Distribution where he co-authored the IBM digital media strategy and was responsible for developing and executing the company’s corporate strategy in broadband industries.
While at IBM, Moses also held the position of Vice President of Broadcast, Cable and Sports for the company’s Global Telecommunications and Media Division. In that role, he created and launched ventures that resulted in the PGA.com and NHL.com internet sites, ushering the sports business and leagues into the new media age during the 1990’s. He was one of the first to deploy computer-based scoring systems across many of the leagues and helped launch the age of data analytics.
Masterman has spent two decades in sports technology and digital media, with a focus on enterprise sales and partnerships. Prior to ShotTracker, he was Global Head of Publisher Sales at Genius Sports Group, driving data integrations with clients including NBC Sports and USA Today. Tom was also the founding sales and marketing executive for SportsData, which sold to global leader Sportradar. As Chief Revenue Officer, he led the acquisition of enterprise clients including Google, Twitter and Turner Sports. Tom began his career as an Emmy-nominated TV producer and has had several management roles in digital media.
Tilton joins ShotTracker from Genius Sports Group as well, where he was Commercial Partnerships Manager. Prior to working with Genius on their North American business, he was Video Coordinator with the Phoenix Suns and has spent time on the basketball administration side at Long Beach State University and St. John’s University.
ShotTracker currently has relationships with more than 63 Division I men’s and women’s basketball programs and has a growing relationship with Learfield IMG College and their partner schools. The Learfield IMG College sponsorship teams can provide local, regional and national brands visibility associated with ShotTracker’s cutting-edge technology via scoreboard integration, digital/social platforms and experiential activations. Additionally, a growing number of schools with official athletic websites and mobile apps powered by SIDEARM Sports are adding ShotTracker technology integrated into the website and app. The crossover content provides another opportunity for brand visibility and bolsters the second-screen experience for fans. Broadcasters are also now increasing the use of the depth and breadth of ShotTracker real time data to enhance their broadcasts.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes won the NFL MVP award two seasons ago, but lost out to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson last season. With his team on an 11-1 start to the year, though, Mahomes is back as the betting favorite to win the MVP again.
Mahomes is the clear -450 favorite on the NFL MVP odds at sportsbooks as the NFL closes in on the final stretch of its 2020 regular season. Mahomes has posted a quarterback rating of 113.8 in the Chiefs’ dozen games with 31 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Back in the 2018 season when he won the Most Valuable Player award Mahomes also had a 113.8 quarterback rating with 50 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, throwing for over 5,000 yards.
Aaron Rodgers has won the NFL MVP award twice in his career – back in 2011 and 2014 – and he’s sitting behind Mahomes at +400 odds. Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers are 9-3 on the season, and trailing the New Orleans Saints by just one game in the race for the top overall seed in the NFC. Rodgers has a rating of 118.5 with 36 touchdowns and four interceptions.
It’s the final full weekend of the 2020 college football regular season, although some teams finished up in Week 14, while several others will try to play makeup games in Week 16 – which is when all the major conference title games will be played.
There’s an interesting scenario when No. 7 Cincinnati visits No. 24 Tulsa on Saturday as those two will turn right around and play one another in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game next weekend. Saturday’s winner will determine on which campus that is played. This matchup has been pushed back twice, from October 17 and then December 4 due to COVID-19 issues. The Bearcats haven’t played since November 21 due to cancellations. They are -12.5 favorites and have won 27 straight games when favored.
Arguably the best rivalry in the sport is renewed when Michigan visits No. 4 Ohio State – we hope. Both teams have had COVID-19 issues of late. The Buckeyes were able to play last Saturday and win easily at Michigan State but were without Coach Ryan Day. However, OSU has had two games called off and per Big Ten rules (barring a change), a third would mean the Buckeyes would be ineligible to play in the conference title game even though they clearly are the best team.
This has been probably one of the oddest, clumsiest NFL seasons in recent memory. Week 13 hasn’t been the exception, with the New England Patriots taking a 45-0 win against the LA Chargers and the Cleveland Browns taking out the Tennessee Titans 41-35 in a game that was predicted to be a “blowout” for Tennessee. Yesterday’s Monday Night Football (MNF) action didn’t break the odd streak and the results have some football fans – and definitely some gamblers – still shaking their heads.
The Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers met yesterday in a game that most expected to go to the Bills. The 49ers, who had a superb year last year, have been hobbled due to major injuries that started as the season was getting underway, and they haven’t been able to recover since. The only out the Niners had last night was the knowledge that the Bills had lost seven straight MNF games. That, coupled with the fact that San Fran got a boost by defeating the LA Rams a week earlier, gave the team a little extra motivation. But, it wasn’t enough.
The Bills stayed in control for most of the game, as wide receiver Cole Beasley ran for 130 yards, the most in a single game in his career. 113 of those came in the first half and it was almost like everyone on the Bills offense was in sync. Quarterback Josh Allen completed 32 of 40 passes to rack up 375 yards, adding four touchdowns in the mix to secure the win. By the time the fourth quarter came around, the Bills were in complete domination of the game on the way to a 34-17 victory. With that, they maintain control of the AFC East, one game ahead of the Miami Dolphins. They have the chance to show off once again next week when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Speaking of the Steelers, there will forever be questions about what happened last night. Did they screw up plays or screw up plays on purpose, did they think they should give the Washington Football Team (WFT) a break, did they not care – the list goes on. No matter the reason, the Steelers are no longer undefeated this year after dropping the ball against Washington. No matter the reason, the WFT will forever be able to brag about the time they kept the Steelers from having a perfect, 17-0 season.
There is a special tension and excitement to the last group stage game in the UEFA Champions League. To some, of course, the game is a dead rubber; there is little on all of the fixtures faced by three of England’s top clubs, as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have already qualified for the knockout stage.
The same cannot be said for Manchester United. With a tricky trip to Germany to face RB Leipzig, The Red Devils need to avoid defeat to make it to the promised land and look forward to Champions League rather than Europa League fixtures in the New Year.
Elsewhere, there is the lip-smacking prospect of potentially the last-ever competitive club meeting between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, objectively viewed by many as two of the greatest football players of all-time.
Many people had expected Week 13 in the NFL to offer some additional excitement over previous weeks, and they weren’t disappointed. From games that had five players ejected to final scores that still have some football fans scratching their heads, yesterday’s lineup kept sports fans and gamblers on the edge of their seats. With the week almost over, though, the playoff picture continues to come into focus and several teams have secured their spots in the postseason.
The Kansas City Chiefs had more difficulty taking down the Denver Broncos than they would have liked. Still, they got the job done, with Patrick Mahomes throwing for 318 yards and a touchdown and Harrison Butker going five for five on field goals. It was just enough to keep the Broncos down, but the Chiefs will need to shape up in the postseason. They won yesterday’s game 22-16 and secured a playoff berth, but the win against a weaker team didn’t come easy.
The Seattle Seahawks fell apart yesterday against the New York Giants. This game didn’t go at all the way the Seahawks had planned and the frustration continued to rise as their quarterback, Russell Wilson, was sacked again and again – five times in total. The Giants defense did their job and are now on top of the NFC East, the weakest division in the league, with their surprising 17-12 upset win. With the loss, Seattle is close to losing its position atop the NFC West.
Aaron Jones gave the Green Bay Packers the win that almost wasn’t. The running back had an impressive 130 yards on the ground, but it was his 77-yard TD run with just over two minutes left in the game that gave his team the 30-16 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles had started to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter, down 23-3, that looked like it would threaten the Packers, but QB Aaron Rodgers kept his cool, found his receivers and backs and got the job done.
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather is set for a shock return to the ring with an exhibition bout against YouTube star Logan Paul. The retired boxing star confirmed on his Instagram that he is set to take on Paul in a “super exhibition” bout on February 20, 2020.
Mayweather hasn’t fought since defeating Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition bout in Japan on New Year’s Eve 2018. Mayweather is one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers of his generation. His 50-0 record is unmatched in the sport, with his resume including wins over Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez and UFC star Conor McGregor.
it’s official @FloydMayweatherhttps://t.co/fFRRaYoUCs pic.twitter.com/0kZhKrQAno
December 4, 2020, Vancouver, Canada: Conscious Gaming announced today the hiring of sports and gaming industry stalwart Seth Palansky as its new Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility & Communications.
Palansky comes aboard after more than 17 years with Caesars Entertainment and the National Football League (NFL), to spearhead Corporate Social Responsibility and Communications efforts for the recently established Conscious Gaming, a philanthropic organization committed to utilizing advanced technology to propel social responsibility initiatives.
Conscious Gaming works with gaming operators, regulators, suppliers, responsible gaming advocacy groups, sports leagues, academics and treatment professionals to better protect consumers and enhance responsible gaming.
Just last week Conscious Gaming announced a partnership with GVC Holdings and BetMGM, who have agreed to deploy PlayPause, a multi-state digital self-exclusion tool for the gaming industry to support responsible gaming.
HBO and MLB announced this week a documentary about baseball legend CC Sabathia, entitled The Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story, to premiere on December 22. The doc will cover Sabathia’s life growing up in Vallejo, California, to his final days with the New York Yankees. MLB is licensing exclusive footage taken from Sabathia’s last year with the Yankees in 2019, when a film crew followed him for special behind-the-scenes coverage.
The latter stages of Sabathia’s career were particularly challenging, as he battled personal issues and a well-documented bout with alcoholism. The All-Star starter overcame his troubles to return to the Yankees as an effective veteran presence on a younger team. In a statement to promote the announcement, Sabathia noted the emotional tone of the project: “I struggled for a long time with alcohol addiction and anxiety, which I pretty much hid from everyone I knew. It’s my hope we can inspire athletes and non-athletes alike to open up … You are not alone.”
Sabathia is one of the great starting pitchers of the 21st century, having amassed 251 wins and 3,093 strikeouts over his time with the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, and Yankees. He was the 2007 American League Cy Young and won the 2009 World Series with New York.
The HBO documentary is a continuation of Sabathia’s post-career efforts into media. He currently has a podcast on The Ringer with Ryan Ruocco entitled “R2C2.” They cover the Yankees, the greater baseball landscape, and all general sports topics of interest to Sabathia, such as his long-time fandom for the Oakland Raiders. Sabathia also frequently appears as a guest on ESPN’s “First Take.” He is an example of the modern athlete’s proactive approach toward player driven media.
NBA stars have typically been at the forefront of the movement, including Kyrie Irving, a key investor in Players Media Group, JJ Redick, who hosts the podcast “The Old Man and the Three,” and LeBron James, founder of media empire The Springhill Company. Sabathia is perhaps baseball’s largest figure in this arena. He is also a special advisor to Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and is often seen at New York’s home games. His dual roles with the team and as a sportscaster have positioned him as a form of insider into the current state of the Yankees and Major League Baseball.
After first airing on HBO, the documentary will be made immediately available on HBO Max. HBO Max has been growing its exclusive content over the last several months. The service has debuted Max Originals such as The Flight Attendant and new video on-demand availability for Warner Brothers films such as Wonder Woman 1984. The Grapefruit Tree helps build out HBO Sports’ contributions to the service. HBO Max recently added unscripted show The Cost of Winning to go along with staple shows “Hard Knocks” and UNINTERRUPTED’s “The Shop.”
Sports is an ever growing niche genre for streaming services to differentiate themselves. The level of athletes and brands a service is able to bring in greatly defines what the service can provide consumers looking for sports content. For HBO Max, the Sabathia documentary is another significant entry into this foray.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens finally got on the turf last night, facing off in an NFL game that was initially meant to be played on Thanksgiving Day. Because the Ravens couldn’t remain disciplined enough to minimize the team’s COVID-19 risk, which ultimately resulted in over ten players and staffers testing positive for the virus, the game had to be rescheduled to Sunday, then Tuesday and, finally, to last night. The Steelers are happy to finally get it over with, especially since they have had to change their schedule more than once this season because of other teams’ coronavirus problems, and they walked away with yet another win to remain undefeated this year. However, even the team’s own head coach, Mike Tomlin, thinks it was an ugly win.
No decent coach in any sport will ever be satisfied with his or her team’s performance, always looking for ways to improve and make the team better. After logging a 19-14 win in a game that was full of turnovers and clumsy plays, Tomlin told reporters, “It was really junior varsity, to be quite honest with you. It was in all three phases. We couldn’t run the ball effectively when we needed to. We dropped too many significant passes, very catchable, makeable passes. We didn’t make significant plays in the special-teams game. Our kickoff coverage unit wasn’t good enough. We turned the ball over. We gave up big plays in critical moments on defense. Can’t have it.”
The Ravens had to bring in quarterback Robert Griffin III to replace Lamar Jackson, out due to COVID-19. In the first quarter of the game, he threw a pick-6 right to Steelers cornerback Joe Haden. The team’s troubles continued throughout the first half, including up to the very last seconds when they were denied a chance to get into the end zone from the one-yard line. If they had gotten in, the Ravens would have been in the lead; however, Baltimore made a few poor judgment calls that cost the team precious seconds and ended their chances.
The Steelers found a stronger Ravens defense than they had anticipated and struggled to move the chains down the field. QB Ben Roethlisberger threw a season-high 51 passes and racked up 266 yards; however, there were a number of dropped passes that made the game more difficult for Pittsburgh. Across the first half, the Steelers were held to just 12 points – six in each quarter – and didn’t add any points in the third. Only off a clutch grab by James Washington on third down on their last possession was Pittsburgh able to ensure the win by keeping the clock running and denying Baltimore a chance at a return.
The Europa League has reached the crucial stage of the group phase, with clubs such as the English Premier League of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City
North London Favourites
Of the two North London based favourites, who is the team to pick? It’s Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur who are the current betting favourites at 6/1, while Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are a best price 7/1 at the time of going to press.
