"The Stack" 8-27-18
Hawaii won the LLWS championship on Sunday 3-0 over South Korea.
The Stack is back on this Monday and it is a sad day in this country after yet another shooting, once again in Florida. While reports initially pegged those dead at four, the last report I saw said only two died with nine more injured. The gunman also died with the coward killing himself. The shooting took place in Jacksonville at a Madden ’19 tournament. Senseless. Dumb. Unfortunately, all too common. Wish something would change, but it won’t. I digress though. This came on the heels of America losing a great human being and someone who represented our country so well, Arizona Senator John McCain who died at the age of 81 following his bout with brain cancer. Senator McCain was an avid Arizona Cardinals fan and you can imagine that the Cardinals will do something to show respect and to remember McCain for this season. To more fun and easier things to talk about, we have our college football preview coming up on Thursday so definitely look forward to that. We don’t have much to talk about today, but let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Monday, August 27th:
Football notes
Week three of the NFL preseason is in the books and we haven’t seen quite the number of horrific injuries that fans and teams are always fearful of. Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Marquise Lee may have suffered the worst of the injuries when he was tackled low and hurt his knee against the Atlanta Falcons. No word yet on what is officially wrong, but one has to imagine he’s done for the year. All because the NFL is making difficult to understand and call helmet rules. Boo!
Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback Josh Allen hit his head on the turf in Sunday’s game against Cincinnati and had to leave for a little bit. He was also sacked five times. That offensive line is not good.
Chicago’s backups made the Kansas City Chiefs starting defense look awfully humble. They moved up and down the field on them. Looks like Pat Mahomes is going to have to outscore teams, because his defense isn’t going to help much at all.
One more week of preseason before the regular season starts. Games are Thursday and it is all about battling for roster spots and making good impressions for the coaching staffs…hopefully.
In the college ranks, USC is starting true freshman JT Daniels at quarterback for their season opener. This Daniels kid is the real deal. USC isn’t going to be as good as they were supposed to be last year, but Daniels gives them the best chance to compete.
Hawaii wins LLWS
It has been a difficult few months for the state of Hawaii between the volcano that has erupted and caused a lot of destruction to Hurricane Lane that just rolled through the area dropping over three feet of rain in some areas. The Aloha State has something to bring a little extra pep in their step thanks to the Hawaii LLWS team beating South Korea 3-0 to win the LLWS Championship. They are champions. Congrats to them.
In the big leagues, the Boston Red Sox are on a bit of a losing streak, three games to be exact. They were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend. The Rays have now won eight games in a row. The Red Sox are the last team to be swept in a series this year…The Houston Astros swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (haven’t we told you to stop?) giving them a 1.5 game lead over the Oakland A’s for the AL West division lead. Oakland took three of four from the Minnesota Twins over the weekend. The A’s are going to continue to apply pressure on not just the Astros, but the rest of baseball in general.
In the NL, the NL West won’t be decided anytime soon. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers are all sticking around. They are all within 2.5 games of each other. The St. Louis Cardinals are red hot. They had a successful west coast trip this past week and are just four games back of the Chicago Cubs. The Milwaukee Brewers are 4.5 games back. And in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves hold a three game lead on the Philadelphia Phillies for first. The NL definitely has the better races.
U.S Open preview
Tennis’ final major of the season starts today in New York with U.S. Open starting. The men’s field promises to be intense with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal all vying for the title on the men’s side. It would not be a surprise for any one of these four to win it. They have all played really well this year. Nadal won it last year. I don’t think he will win it this year. I will go with Djokovic to win.
As for the women, who knows. I really want to take Serena Williams to win, but I realize she is not her same self as she has been since before she was pregnant. Who else would I take then? Maria Sharapova? No. Can you name very many other players on the women’s side besides the Williams sisters and Sharapova? Angelique Kerber. Okay. With that being said, I am going to take Serena to win the U.S. Open. It should be a fun couple of weeks in NYC. Watch it on ESPN and ESPN2.
Coming up Thursday: 2018-19 College football season preview
