College Football Playoff

College sports, in general, can tend to be more dramatic and unpredictable than professional sports, and college football is no exception. The college football regular season has come to a close, with just conference championship week remaining until the college football playoff selection committee makes their final decision. Each year, the top four teams in the country are selected by a handpicked group of 13 people, and those four teams will have the chance to play for the national championship. This year, there is 6 main teams in the running to be selected. The current ranking going into the last week of the season is 1. Alabama, 2. Clemson, 3. Notre Dame, and number 4. Georgia, with Oklahoma and Ohio State on the outside looking in at number 5 and 6 respectively. While Notre Dame would appear to be the only lock to make it, there is a lot still to happen with all these teams though as Georgia and Alabama play in what could potentially be an elimination game in the SEC championship. Oklahoma still takes on 14th ranked Texas in what is a big rivalry game, for the Big 12 championship, and Ohio State will face 21st ranked Northwestern for the Big 10 championship. The SEC championship game is the big deciding factor, however, as both teams in that game are also in the top four, If Georgia were to lose, the big question for the committee would be Oklahoma or Ohio State? If Alabama wins it then becomes a discussion of Oklahoma, Ohio State, or Alabama who has been ranked number one all season long and is arguably one of the better college football teams in recent memory. There are still a lot of things to play out, and a lot of different possible scenarios that the committee could face, and it will be a very interesting finish.

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“Football” by Claire Cooke44 is shared under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

 

Nfl Mid Season Report

The NFL season is a long, drama-filled, unpredictable thing. There are 32 teams in the NFL that compete every year for 12 playoff spots each year, and eventually, the ultimate goal for every team, a chance to play for the super bowl. Right now the top teams in the playoff picture for the AFC in order are the Chiefs, Steelers, Patriots, and then the Texans rounding out the division leaders at number four, with the Los Angeles Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals still holding on to the two wild-card spots. In the NFC the Los Angeles Rams hold on to the number 1 seed as of right now, followed by the Saints, Bears, Redskins, Panthers, and Vikings. There are a lot of teams around the league this year that are capable of competing for the super bowl and it is still a wide-open race. There are also still a few teams on the outside looking in that could make a run in the playoffs like the Tennessee Titans, Green Bay Packers, and the defending champs, Philadelphia Eagles. Overall it has been a very entertaining season so far, with a lot of great teams, like the New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams, and Kansas City Chiefs for example. There are also individual awards to be given out. Some awards of significance in the NFL are the MVP award (Most Valuable Player), Offensive and Defensive player of the year awards, coach of the year, and offensive and defensive rookie of the year awards. Some players in the running for MVP are QB Drew Brees from the Saints, RB Alvin Kamara from the Saints, QB Matt Ryan for the Falcons, and QB Patrick Mahomes from the Chiefs. Some players in the running for OROY are QB Baker Mayfield from the Browns and WR Calvin Ridley from the Falcons. Some OPOY candidates include QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Todd Gurley from the Rams. DPOY candidates include DT Aaron Donald from the Rams and DE JJ Watt from the Texans. Coach of the year candidates includes Mike Vrabel from the Titans and Los Angeles Rams head coach, Shaun McVay. There is a lot of excitement and drama still left to play out this season, and it should be a very interesting finish.Screenshot 2018-11-14 at 1.30.49 PM

¨All Saints Academy Football¨ by Josh Hallet is shared under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

America´s Pastime

The sport of Baseball is widely considered to be ´America´s Pastime´ and it has been for a very long time. There are not many things that are more American than baseball. The origins of baseball have been up for debate for a long long time. Baseball and other similar games to Baseball were developed from folk games back in early Britain, Continental Europe. Baseball is a great game that has been around as long as any other sport that there is. Early folk games that baseball derived from include games like Cricket, and Rounders. The basics of baseball consist of trying to get a hit or get walked to get on base. Once on base, the goal is for the other players to advance the runner from 1st base to home, and score a run. It is perhaps the simplest concept of all the sport. You git a ball with a bat and run around all the bases before the other team can get to the ball and have a chance at getting you out. This sport has been around for centuries and is very popular, some may even argue that it is the most popular sport of all time in America.

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¨Baseball¨ by Andrew Malone is shared under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Basketball Origins

The invention of Basketball, personally my second favorite sport, came way back in 1891, in Springfield Massachusetts. It was invented by a PE instructor named James Naismith. It was created to be a safer alternative to football. Basketball grew very quickly and became extremely popular, especially in America, and then all over the world. The American National Basketball Association, better known as the NBA was established in 1946 and has grown to become a multi-billion dollar industry by the end of the century. The game started out using a fruit basket, and a soccer-style ball. Dr. Naismith created 13 rules originally. The first ever public basketball game was held March 11, 1892. Basketball is a globally famous game and is played on an international level. Some people would argue that the second most popular game in America, after football, is baseball, but over the last few decades that has been put to the test. Both on the college and NBA level, basketball is a huge pass time for Americans and is a great sport. Screenshot 2018-10-18 at 2.48.29 PM.png¨BHS Boys Basketball” by Chip Griffin is shared under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Principle and Basics

Before I start writing about sports every day and about different stories and news within sports, I think it is important to know some more about the most popular sports and why these sports are so beloved. I will start doing this with this blog post, and will first talk about my personal favorite sport, Football. William Heffelfinger was the first player to ever be openly paid to play the game of football when he was paid 500 dollars to suit up for Alleghany Athletic Association football team, almost 130 years ago! American football roots can be traced back to November 6, 1869, when Rutgers and Princeton played in what was billed as the first-ever college football game. The sport itself stems from soccer and rugby, and in the 1880s, a rugby player from Yale named Walter Camp, pioneered new rules that would slowly turn the game of rugby into the American Football. Football has been the most popular sport in America for quite some time now and has come a very long way. It has been around for a long long time and people still continue to love the game more and more. Football is much more a mental game than a physical game and, like sports in general, can teach you more about yourself and life than maybe any other sport out there. Screenshot 2018-10-02 at 2.06.48 PM.png

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How It All Started

Ancient Greece introduced the first ever formal sporting event, with the first ever Olympic games in 776 BC. Records show that people have been playing sports for over 3,000 years. There are hundreds of sports out there, some of the most popular being, Football, Baseball, Basketball, and the most popular sport in the world, Soccer. People also continue to come up with new sports and games to this day. There is something about a competitive atmosphere that has given humans satisfaction since almost the beginning of mankind.

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