Hello, Vassar sports fans! So many important things have occurred this past week that it’s almost impossible to cover it all, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
In case you had not heard, last week was the worst week in NFL history. So many terrible incidents of violence involving members of the League have occurred that it is difficult to decide where to begin. One incident people may not be aware of involved CBS and pop musician Rihanna. CBS pulled the Rihanna song “Run This Town” from the introduction of the Ravens vs. Steelers game on Thursday, September 11. CBS executives felt that since Rihanna is a victim of domestic violence, playing the song before a game involving the Baltimore Ravens would draw attention to the Ray Rice fiasco. It is unlikely that people would have made the connection between the song and Ray Rice, and even if they did, CBS basically punished Rihanna for the being the victim of domestic violence. Rihanna has said herself that she never wanted to be the poster-child for the movement against domestic violence, and when she learned that CBS had pulled the song, she let loose on Twitter to vent her frustration. Good for her—CBS’ actions are despicable, in my opinion.
In brighter sports news, the United States Men’s national basketball team routed the Serbian national team 129-92 in the gold-medal game of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Team USA had an easy road to the final, even with a roster devoid of perennial superstars Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and Lebron James. Team USA always led their opponents by at least 21 points. Spain, the host of the tournament, as well as the only other team that could have given Team USA a run for their money, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by France. While this is all well and good, my question is: Who cares? The United States always dominates in international basketball competition, and this was group was basically the B-team for Team USA.
Remember competitive eating superstar Takeru Kobayashi? He recently appeared in a viral video for marketing company HelloDenzien, where he and a hamster compete to see who can eat the most hot dogs. The competition is made fair since the hamster consumes a scaled-down version of the hot dogs. Ultimately, Kobayashi, who holds the record for consuming 110 hot dogs in ten minutes at the New York Fair in 2012, loses to his tiny foe. If you find time for a study break, you should check out the video: It’s ridiculously cute.
Baseball may be this country’s pastime, but it is certainly not its present. The wild popularity of college and professional football as well as the rising popularity of basketball and soccer has seemingly pushed baseball to the wayside. Even still, it is hard to ignore the performance this season of Los Angeles Dodger’s ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw, who currently stands at nineteen wins and three losses, has an ERA of only 1.70. He is throwing an absurd 7.82 strikeouts for every walk. Earlier this season, Kershaw threw a no-hitter with fifteen strikeouts that would have been a perfect game if not for a fielding error by one of his teammates.
Back to the NFL, did you see that game between the Broncos and Seahawks? In a game that was mostly one-sided for the first three quarters with the Seahawks dominant on both offense and defense, down 20-12, with less than a minute left in the game, Manning and the Broncos offense drove for eighty yards where Manning hit tight end Jacob Tamme for a touchdown. Denver went for a two-point conversion, and it was successful as Manning completed a pass to star wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. The Broncos could not finish the comeback, though, because Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson led his team all the way down field before running back Marshawn Lynch scored the game-ending touchdown in overtime. This second-half of this game was simply incredible football between arguably the best two teams in the NFL. Who knows–the Superbowl this year might end being a repeat of last year.