In order to maintain some kind of sanity in this crazy world, it’s always nice to find the silver lining in things. If you’re a sports fan, right now is about as good as it gets with all of North America’s top professional leagues either playing (MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL) or getting ready to play (NFL). Sure, some of it may be a little weird — with basketball and hockey being played in “bubbles,” while baseball is in the dog days of summer, but only 20-plus games into the season.
But if you have to make the most of a situation, you couldn’t ask for more. And in fact, I would argue this might actually be the best convergence of sports in the history of sports.
Normally, the end of October/beginning of November is the best time for sports fans. NFL is in full swing, the World Series is just wrapping up, and basketball and hockey are just starting up.
August? It’s usually pretty dry, sports-wise. Baseball is coming down the stretch and the NFL preseason is just starting to heat up, with everyone champing at the bit for football to kick off.
And that’s the feeling this year — with the added bonus of basketball and hockey still being played. The pandemic-induced shut down late in the regular season meant that when the leagues decided to return and finish the season, it put the playoffs right smack dab in the middle of the slowest month of the sports calendar.
And there have already been some rip-roaring performances. There was a five-overtime playoff hockey game between Tampa Bay and Columbus last week — a game that went so long, the NHL scrapped the planned second game of the double header. Then there was the scintillating Game 1 of the Utah-Denver NBA series Monday, a game that saw Jamal Murray score 36 points and lead the Nuggets to a 135-125 OT win, offsetting a monster 57-point performance from Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.
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Everyone raves about the playoffs anyway. Isn’t it great that we get them now?
Sure, the situation is far from perfect. No fans and faux fans in the stands, masks and social distancing on sidelines and in dugouts. But it certainly beats the alternative of no sports at all.
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Utah became the first state to kick off its high school football season, with games being played last Friday night.
And it went about how you would think Week 1 of the high school season (or college, for that matter) would go: a bunch of blowouts. According to MaxPreps.com, 20 of Utah’s top-25 teams were in action and in those 20 games, only five games were decided by 10 points or less. Thirteen of the 40 teams scored 35 points or more and there were five shutouts.
The best game of the weekend was a back-and-forth affair, with Brighton (Salt Lake City) holding off Fremont (Plain City), 56-42. Quarterback Gabe Curtis had a huge game for Brighton, accounting for 435 of the Bengals’ 483 yards of offense. Curtis completed 20 of 26 passes for 242 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 193 yards on just 15 carries and two more scores. He had 565 yards on the ground all of last season.
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