Brad Pye Jr. Sports Editor EmeritusJanuary 26, 2017
Brad Pye’s National Sports Beat (1/25- 2/1/17)
The Super Bowl LI will feature the winner of the NFC Green Bay Packers vs. the Atlanta Falcons and the AFC Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots. Here is how this foursome earned their Super Bowl LI tickets to Houston. A Texas Classic. Atlanta Falcons beat Green Bay Packers 44-21 for the NFC Championship. The New England Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 36-17 for the AFC Championship. The Patriots qualified for their 9th trip to the Super Bowl.
Only one of the four AFC or NFC teams had a black head coach (Steelers’ Mike Tomlin). Neither team has a black QB.
The Chicago Cubs 108-year wait and the Kansas City Royals’ up and down play had the MLB world at its feet until the exciting end, The 2017 Super Bowl teams are set, the NBA Playoff series, and MLB Spring Camps should be in view.
Super star tennis great Serena Williams says she would have followed so many players: “Amazing people. I mean, every girl on tour would have followed Monica Seles, I think, for sure, I would have followed Steffi (Graff). I would have followed Zina (Garrison). So many people I would have followed. Muhammad Ali, can you imagine?” Serena said all this would happen if she had grown up at a time when Facebook, Twitter and other social media apps were prevalent.” Both of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, got off some flying starts in the Australian Open and they shouldn’t return home in America empty handed, This is usually not their style. The Williams sisters also return home with a lot of goodies and whole lot of those pretty little green ones. Check this! Serena Williams, Venus’ younger sister, reached her 10th Grand Slam quarter final in a row with her Jan. 24th victory.
Will the LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers and Stephen Curry and his Golden State Warriors split their season series and be all even when their playoff series gets under way. The Warriors knocked off the Cavs, 126-91 on Jan. 16. Both teams have won on their home courts this season. Most prognosticators picked the duo to battle for the NBA Championships for the third straight year. And the beat continues!
The Houston Rockets’ James Harden and the Warriors beat out Russell Westbrook for backcourt positions. Are you surprised by this vote? I’m more surprise Russell Westbrook didn’t make the cut. Westbrook will be added to the game by the Western Conference coach!
Who is going to pick QB Matt Ryan and his Atlanta Falcons to beat QB Tom Brady and his England Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas? The Falcons duo of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones don’t have the tools to stop Brady and company as they bid for their ninth trip to the Super Bowl’s Big Dance. USA TODAY Sports reporter Jarrett Bell describes it this way: “Atlanta’s ‘mis-fits are bowl bound. Youthful Falcons defense has held firm.”
Not me!
The L.A. Clippers seven game winning streak was snapped by the Minnesota Timberwolves and their 7-foot star Karl-Anthony Towns who scored 37 points, Andrew Wiggins also put on 27 points.
The cost of tickets for Super Bowl LI (51) slipped, because QB Dak Prescott and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys will not be there, Green Bay Packers won a 34-31 thriller and locked up the doors to the Stadium. Owner Jerry Jones and his sons are the most disappointed family in the state of Texas.
Stephen Curry broke a tiebreaker with his teammate Kevin Durant to give the Golden State two starters in the All-State Game. Cleveland Cavs’ Kyrie Irving and LeBron James a pair of All-Star starters too. And the beat continues!
A second golf course by the Emirati Government and designed by Tiger Woods and named the Trump World Golf Dubai is scheduled to open in 2018.
Woods wants to be No. 1 in golf again, starting today at the 2017 Genesis Open at Riviera. Tiger appeared with Hyundai Executive Erwin Raphael, Genesis is Tigers’ company that sponsors him.
Two members of color are members of 2017 class of Hall of Fame inductees. They are Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez.
Venus Williams moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Jan 23. She takes on CoCo Vandeweghe next as she wins her 21st semi finals Grand Slam.
The late Bill Walsh, the highly successful San Francisco ‘49ers Super Bowl championship coach gave him his first coaching job. And the late Hall of Fame coach Al Davis as one of his assistants. Bill Walsh hired the late Dennis Green as his first black assistants at Stanford. So, you can see the L.A. Chargers’ Anthony Lynn has learned from some the greats of the game. And the beat continues!
The L.A. Chargers’ new head coach Anthony Lynn, the ex-Buffalo Bills Offensive Coordinator and one game interim head coach has 17-years as an assistant NFL coach.
Now hear this! Ken Griffey Jr. received 99.3% of the votes for the 2016 class, three votes short of last year’s votes tally. Raines needed the only three more votes to become the only other player to be elected unanimously. Other players who could be voted unanimously of the votes are Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Mariano Rivera and Vladimir Guerrero. And the beat continues!
The team from the city of Cleveland, Ohio to improve its 30-13 record had the same mark last season.
Prediction: The Oakland Raiders will put up their “tent” and move it to the sun (T-Mobile Stadium) in Las Vegas for the 20l8 season or sooner or before. The Raiders can’t make this announcement until a date in March.
Arizona beat UCLA 96-85, UCLA was shot down by Arizona for its second defeat of the season (19-2). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Keith Wilkes were on hand when Kareem was presented the Freedom Award, which was presented earlier at the White House by President Barak Obama.
The L.A. Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig wants to be a starter with the locals or somewhere else hit .263 with 11 homers. He was sent to the minors for a month last season.
UCLA can’t wait for Chino Hills’ LiAngelo Ball who scored 60 points in a 136-93 win over Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga). And the beat continues!
Former UCLA footballer Ray Bell says a group ex-athletes will host a Sports Night at location on Feb.8 in Pasadena. Location will be announced any day now. The group has invited me along with a number of other speakers too.
