by John Walters
SPORTS!
What an outrageously delicious weekend in sports. Not unlike a Seinfeld episode that had more than one memorable plot line (“Wait!?!? ‘Soup Nazi’ and ‘Schmoopie’ were in the same show?”), this weekend had events that, in years to come, we’ll be shocked to learn all happened within the same 48 hours. Let’s to it, shall we?
• World Cup Final
Argentina 3, France 3, with Argentina winning on PKs. As much as we dislike penalty kicks to resolve any match, much less a World Cup final (our suggestion: each team must pull one player every 3 minutes until there’s a winning goal), this match had everything:
- The defending World Cup champs (France)
- The greatest player of this generation (many would say, “of any”), Lionel Messi, who had not won a World Cup, the lone blank spot on his CV
- France’s Kylian Mbappe, set to be the world’s top player for the next 10 years who had already won a World Cup in 2018
- The fact that Messi and Mbappe are teammates for Paris-St. Germain
- Argentina goes up 2-0 by halftime, as a late pre-game roster switch, Di Maria, proves the difference for the Argentines.
- France rebounds with 2 goals in a span of 93 seconds in the match’s 80th, 81st minutes.
- A goal by Messi (he’d finish with two) in extra time, followed by a goal from Mbappe (he’d finishe with 3) in the 118th minute.
- No team had ever scored three goals in a World Cup final before and lost
- Messi secures his legacy and returns to play in the country (France) of whom he’d just robbed a repeat World Cup title.
(Another) Minneapolis Miracle, a.k.a. Saturday Mourning
Sure, the Indianapolis Colts have had a miserable season, but they have beaten the Kansas City Chiefs and suddenly they were up 33-0 at Minnesota, the first-place team in the NFC North (10-3). Then, in the third quarter, the implosion began. Long story short, the Vikings came ALL THE WAY BACK to win 39-36 in overtime. It’s the largest deficit overcome for a win in the history of the NFL, more than 100 years.
Meanwhile, the Colt quarterback on Saturday was Matt Ryan, who was under center for the Atlanta Falcons when they choked away the largest lead in Super Bowl history, 28-3, to the New England Patriots. 28-3 and 33-0 will be the defining numbers of Matt Ryan’s career, fair or no.
Tuck Rule Payback in Las Vegas
It’s been nearly 21 years since that January night in Foxboro when the Patriots defeated the Raiders in an AFC playoff game via a ruling that most (all?) of us fans had NEVER before seen invoked (or heard of). What ever became of that Tom Brady fellow, anyway?
Yesterday in the Raiders’ new home, Las Vegas, a bit of karmic payback, as the Pats suffer their dumbest loss of the Bill Belichick era. That had to be a looooooooong flight home for Pat wideout Jakobi Meyers, who with the score tied 24-all on the game’s last play flipped a switch and decided he was part of the Stanford Band play for Cal.
“Just trying to do too much, trying to be a hero, I guess,” Meyers said. “I thought I saw Mac [Jones] open. I didn’t see Chandler Jones at the time. I thought [Mac] was open and tried to get it to him, and let him try to make a play with it. But the score was tied, so I should have went down.”
Somethings to consider: If Chandler Jones was aggressively pursuing the play as he should have been, this interception never occurs; the cherry on top was steamrolling Mac Jones; this was a Jones-on-Jones crime.
Booker’s 58; Noka’s 40-27-10; KD’s 26
•An incredible trio of solo performances by three creditable first-team All-Stars over the weekend. On Saturday night, Devin Booker exploded for 58 points to help the Phoenix Suns overcome a 24-point third quarter deficit in a 118-114 win against the New Orleans Pelicans. Book shot 60% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc, but only 66.6% from the line. If he shoots better from the line, it’s a 60-point game. At one point in the second half Booker went full-blown Bill Mlkvy, scoring 25 of the Suns’ points in a row. This was his third-highest scoring effort in his career, his first in a win. Also, the Suns lost twice to the Pelicans, who have the best record in the West, last weekend.
• Two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets went off for 40 points, 27 boards and 10 assists in Denver’s win against the worst team in the NBA, Charlotte. It’s the most prolific triple-double the NBA has seen since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s.
• Kevin Durant scored 26 points in the third quarter of the Nets’ 124-121 win at Detroit. KD finished with 43. Klay Thompson’s 37 points in one quarter remains the record.
Gore Galore
And finally, in Mobile, Ala., Frank Gore Jr. (son of retired NFL star) rushed for an NCAA-bowl record 329 yards in Southern Miss’ 38-24 defeat of Rice in the LendingTree Bowl. Gore cooked Riceon just 21 carries. He had scoring runs of 64 and 55 yards plus a 59-yarder that set up a third score. Gore also completed two passes, one an 18-yard TD throw. Make room, Red Grange. So where will the 5’8″ Gore, currently a sophomore, transfer to play next season?
Don’t forget the massive save by Emi Martinez with basically no extra time left to preserve the draw and lead to PKs. And his epic Golden Glove picture.
Bill Mlkvy played his college ball at Temple,and was known as “The owl without a vowel,”
You don’t say…
https://www.si.com/college/2020/03/03/bill-mlkvy-temple-ncaa-record-consecutive-points