After last week's NFL Hall of Fame game, the preseason schedule begins in earnest tonight. NFL Network will have some live game action, and a ton of tape delayed games, which will be cycled and recycled ad infinitum over the next few days.
One big surprise is the annual Jets-Giants preseason game at MetLife Stadium is the teams' first preseason game. Traditionally, the two teams usually have two games in the books by the time they have their little clambake for bragging rights. Weird. Both teams are hoping to pick up some of the positive vibes from the city's baseball teams.
The Mets & Yankees have just gotten done bludgeoning the bottom feeders of their respective divisions. Then again, the Yankees have used the Baltimore Orioles as a set of punching bags all year, like everyone else, save maybe the Red Sox. The Mets swept Miami at Citi Field for the 2nd time this season (the first time was in April), and suddenly are a playoff contender.
The Mets have won 13 of their last 14. Washington comes to town Friday, but will be without ace Max Scherzer, who is on the IL. Some of today's Mets are being compared to the Miracle Mets of 50 years ago, who erased a 10 game deficit to win the NL East and the World Series.
It would be fitting if it happened again, wouldn't it, now?
Of course, come September, the Giants & Jets will do what they do best, stumble out of the gate, as they have the last couple of years.
Then again, I could be wrong about that......
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WWE will be in the Great White North this weekend for the latest NXT Takeover & Summerslam, both in Toronto, which has hosted two Wrestlemania events. Hometown icon Trish Stratus has said she will wrestle her last match vs. 2nd generation star Charlotte Flair, so we'll see if she does the honors for Flair, who doesn't need them, or if she wins in front of the homies, just as she did 13 years ago in what was to be her final match back then.
The idea is for WWE to wipe the slate clean as they prepare to move Smackdown Live! from USA to Fox come October 4 (final USA episode will be on September 24, as the series moves from Tuesdays back to Fridays). Fox will either pre-empt on October 25 due to the World Series, or move the show to FS1 for a week. That has not yet been made clear.
Speaking of FS1, there are rumors that the cabler could be a second home to NXT come the fall, acting as a hour-long infomercial for the WWE Network, if you will. With upstart All Elite Wrestling set to begin a weekly run on TNT on October 2, WWE wants to make sure their fans keep their eyes on their product.
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The NCAA is trying to take steps to cut down the stream of one-&-dones from entering the NBA by restricting agents' access to their prospective clients.
The august body is stubbornly holding on to the gradually dying precept that their student-athletes are amateurs, but when you're on your second or third generation of kids surrounding themselves with glad-handing leeches filling their ears with praise for how good they've been in high school or on the playgrounds, the barriers are eroding, and the suits in charge of the NCAA are too blind to see it. These kids today have been conditioned to chase the money as soon as they possibly can. However, for every LeBron James, there are about two dozen kids taking the money too early, and flaming out. That's just the way it is. You don't see that in other sports.
Speaking of LeBron, the new rules, he claims, are aimed at his agent, Rich Paul, who doesn't have something the NCAA feels he should have, and that's a college degree. I guess the suits feel that an agent has to have a degree, like in business management, for example, to have some semblance of credibility with them. We'll see.
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ESPN loudmouth Stephen A. Smith is on hiatus from First Take while he recovers from an injury.
No, his jaw isn't broken (unfortunately), but he did try something the other week, sparring in a boxing ring, and that's where the injury occurred. Smith, who's been blasted in this space time and again for blowing out more hot air than the average balloon on subjects, such as boxing, that he isn't really qualified to talk about (basketball was his beat when he first came to ESPN), was trying to prove he knows what he's talking about. Next, we'll read something about how he tried out for an NFL team, and something happened there.......
Meanwhile, moderator Molly Querin walked off the set the other day over one of Max Kellerman's rants. Maybe Max is getting frustrated not seeing Screamin' A. Cosell on the other side of the table.....
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