Football, American that is...

Christian McCaffrey

 Tom Brady

Saturday Sport: Heisman, Football, Starc vs. Kohli

US NCAA Football Bowl Season begins Saturday, December 15th, with no fewer than 6 Bowls.  Already, the BCS National Championship has been set, featuring Notre Dame, Clemson, Alabama and Oklahoma.  The first two will play each other in the Cotton Bowl on the 29th of December, while the latter two square off, the same day,  in the Orange Bowl.  Winners will play in a month's time in the national championship game, this year scheduled for Santa Clara, California, on Monday, January 7th. 

Saturday College Football has a single game, the annual matchup between the Naval Academy and West Point, Army vs. Navy.  This game is chock full of tradition, this is the 119th meeting between the two teams, so a good watch from at least half an hour before the game, until fans and cadets from both academies sing each others' school songs after the game is won by one of them.  Navy has been the biggest winner of the years, and leads the season. Army who had several difficult season, this year is ranked in the top 25, and will not end its season at the game, instead looking ahead to a bowl game. 

The Army-Navy rivalry has often been known as patriotic — and for years, one of the most lopsided in sports. Navy hooked an anchor to the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy with a series-best 14-game winning streak from 2002-2015. President Trump will become the 10th Commander in Chief to watch the game.  By tradition he will conduct the coin toss before the game, and at half time will walk across the field, to sit on the opposite side during the second half. 

Today's game will be played at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. If history foretells, President  Trump will likely see a close call: the last three games have been decided by a total of 9 points and only once since 2010 has a team won by more than a touchdown.  Army will play Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl and was ranked for the first time in 22 years. But for the upper classmen who experienced each milestone, no thrill has compared to snapping the miserable losing streak to Navy in 2016. 

 When the announcement was made of the finalists for the 2018 Heisman Trophy, history was made as well. For the first time in 84 years, the top three vote-getters are quarterbacks of color: Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins.   The real competition appears to be between Kyler Murray, the best player from the state of Texas for many decades, and Tua Tagovailoa, who has been on fire this year, and has made a name for himself by stellar play.  Murray is also a top baseball player, and had already signed a multi-million dollar pro contract with the Oakland As who game him leave to play a final season of College Football.  What a season it has been!  The winner of the award will be announced this afternoon in New York City.

The greatest Cricket in the world is being played today in Adelaide.  India continues their tour of Australia, meeting the hosts in the first test at the Oval.  Today is day three in the match, which is currently being led by India, and the match is in the second innings.  Mitchell Starc is currently bowling, along with Nathan Lyon.  K.L. Rahul and Murali Vijay are batting for India and are currently not out. 

Football, American

Baker Mayfield

Aaron Rodgers

Christian McCaffrey

Colby Erskin

Saturday Sport: the Commonwealth, El Clasico, Footbowls, and India's T20 Dominance

NCAA College Football Bowls proceed apace in the United States, with a run up to the orgy of College Football at the first of the year.  Yesterday, the Bahamas welcomed US Sportsfans to the Commonwealth, as the Bahamas Bowl was hosted at Nassau, Bahamas at noontime.  Fans from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and from Ohio University, both 8-4, certainly were only too happy to travel to this elegant sand filled paradise, and spend their money, as they supported their respective teams.  Later in the afternoon, in a place about diametrically opposed to the Bahamas, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was be played in Boise, Idaho.  Fans of both Central Michigan (8-4) and Wyoming (7-5), were only too happy to travel to this rugged snow filled trading post, to spend their money and cheer on their squads.  Ohio beat UAB 41-6 in the Bahamas.  Wyoming rolled 37-14 over CMU. 

Today's offerings are three.    The Birmingham Bowl will be contested at   Birmingham, Alabama at noon, and pits Texas Tech (6-6) against South Florida (9-2).  This year's edition of the Armed Forces Bowl will take place at Fort Worth, Texas, and pits San Diego State (10-2) against the Army (8-3), who won so convincingly over Navy a few weeks ago.  The Dollar General Bowl is this week's feature evening matchup at Mobile, Alabama at 7 p.m. Squads from Appalachian State (8-4) and Toledo (11-2) will provide this evening's Football action. 

The National Football League has returned to Saturday for the last two weeks of the regular season and features two games today.  The former Baltimore Colts will take on the actual Baltimore Ravens today at Baltimore, in the afternoon match-up.  No report yet on whether the Baltimore Colts marching band will play.  The actual Baltimore Ravens have had dismal attendance figures this year, their players having decided to show their patriotism by not...  That seems to be the most excitement around this game.  

In the evening game, perennial rivals the Minnesota Vikings travel to the home of the NFC North compatriots the Green Bay Packers, for a game which certainly promises to be exciting.  Minnesota has clinched the NFC North, and with a win today, and next week over the Bears, could insure that they remain at home for all their playoff games.  Should they win their way into the Super Bowl, they would be the first and only NFL team in history to play a Super Bowl at their home field.  Their quarterback, so this would be one challenge to their dominance. On the other hand, Packer's QB Aaron Rodgers is out of commission, so the game might be chalked up to "rebuilding."  In any case, it should be an interesting game. 

In Spain, el Clasico looms this Saturday.  Barcelona and Real Madrid will meet at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid in a noontime, pre lunch match.  Needless to say, when Spaniards turn to their lunches at 3:30, half of the country is likely to have indigestion.  Some of them may have their distress relieved in the El Gordo Lottery drawing for Christmas.  In any case, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to training for Real Madrid ahead of Clasico showdown with Barcelona.  He had missed several practices this week, after the Club World Cup victory last week in the UAE.  In that series, he looked like Ponce de Leon had indeed found the fountain of youth, and bottled it just for him.  He bounded up the stairs as if he were a teenager, and grinned as broadly.    He is over thirty, though, and needed a well deserved break.  

His return quashed fears he could miss the Clasico,  the Vikingos will need Ronaldo in the form he has shown of late having scored five goals in his last four games as the European champions look to claw their way back into the title race.  They trail Barҫa by 11 points and are in fourth place also behind Atletico Madrid and Valencia, but they do have a game in hand on their rivals.  It's the one game in soccer which needs no hype.  No other match delivers such consistent excellence, entertainment and the world’s two players. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have both scored 53 goals each in 2017.

This should be a great game.  Barcelona has been piquing this season.  Barҫa are unbeaten in their 16 league games, Madrid have lost twice.

In India:  There was some controversy as Sri Lanka began their Tour of India.  This tour will no sooner end, and the India team will have to board airliners to head to South Africa, to prepare for the start of their own tour there.  India, though, has met or exceeded expectations this tour, while Sri Lanka, unfortunately, have played beneath their level. 

Indeed, players Rahul and Chahal guided India to record margin T20 victory Wednesday, against Sri Lanka, at the end of this tour, as part of a flurry of T20 games.  The Opening batsman's half century was supported by  the spinner's four wickets as the hosts stormed to a 93-run win. Some would say that T20, in which each team is limited to 20 series of pitches (called Overs, and consisting of 6 pitches a piece)  is the future of the sport.  Many dispute this, especially traditionalist who prefer the test matches which stretch over several days.  

In this tour India showed that their mastery of the game is peaking, as they blasted Sri Lanka in this most recent T20 series.  Opener Lokesh Rahul's attacking half-century and four wickets by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal powered India to their biggest ever Twenty20 win, outplaying Sri Lanka by 93 runs in the first match on Wednesday. But it was Dhoni (39) and Manish Pandey (32) who set up India's big win with their unbeaten 68-run stand for the fourth wicket that lifted the team from 112-3 to put up a challenging total.

India's previous biggest T20 triumph in terms of runs was their 90-run win over England in the 2012 World Cup group match in Colombo. 

Sport Saturday: Football and Tradition

College Football in the United States has come to a pause, a major pause, awaiting the start of the Bowl Season next week.  The sole exception as usual, is the annual contest of the teams from the United States Military Academy at West Point (Army) and from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.  The Army Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen have played each other since 1890, and meet for the 116th time on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.  

The Black Knights (alternatively, the "Cadets") are represented by a mule, and the Midshipmen by a goat.   The game marks the end of the college football regular season and the third and final game of the season's Commander-in-Chief's Trophy series, which also includes the Air Force Falcons of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) near Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The game is frequently attended by sitting U.S. presidents.  Instant replay made its American debut in the 1963 Army–Navy game.  The game has been held in multiple locations, most often in the New York Polo Grounds, but was last played there in the 1920s, and since has been played almost exclusively in Philadelphia.  Chicago's Soldier Field was dedicated in 1926 with the game. Only once has the game been played west of the Mississippi River, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, in 1983.   

The Army and Navy have faced off a total of 116 times. To date, Navy has 60 wins, Army has 49. There have been seven ties.  At their first game on  November 29, 1890 on "The Plain" at West Point, Navy won.  They had been playing organized football since 1879 and defeated the newly established Army team, 24-0. For many decades the game was held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year, but has since shifted to the second Saturday in December.  

The longest interruption in the series, which lasted from 1894 to 1898, came about after an argument between an Army general and a Navy admiral almost resulted in a duel following the 1893 game.  The tradition of mules as mascots for Army dates back to 1899, when a quartermaster officer decided the team needed a mascot to counter the Navy goat and chose a white mule used to pull an ice wagon. Instant replay made its American debut in the 1963 Army-Navy game, helmets in 1893.   Only six Army-Navy games have been held on the campus of either academy.  Stadiums on the two campuses are just too small. 

The Army vs. Navy game is said to be one of mutual respect and camaraderie.  Following each game, players sing both teams' alma maters. The winning team joins the losing team and sings facing the losing team's students. Then the losing team joins the victors on their side of the field and sings the winner's alma mater to its students.  We wish the best to the Army in today's game. 

Meanwhile, Bowl assignments have been decided and awarded in  all of the upcoming Football Bowls:

AFR Celebration Bowl Grambling St. vs North Carolina A&T Sat. – Dec. 16 Noon

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Troy vs North Texas Sat. – Dec. 16 1:00 P.M.

AutoNation Cure Bowl Georgia St. vs WKU Sat. – Dec. 16 2:30 P.M.

Las Vegas Bowl Boise St. vs Oregon Sat. – Dec. 16 3:30 P.M.

Gildan New Mexico Bowl Colorado St. vs Marshall Sat. – Dec. 16 4:30 P.M.

Raycom Media Camellia Bowl Middle Tennessee vs Arkansas St. Sat. – Dec. 16 8:00 P.M.

Boca Raton Bowl Florida Atlantic vs Akron Tue. – Dec. 19 7:00 P.M.

Frisco Bowl Louisiana Tech vs SMU Wed. – Dec. 20 8:00 P.M.

Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl FIU vs Temple Thu. – Dec. 21 8:00 P.M.

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl UAB vs Ohio Fri. – Dec. 22 12:30 P.M.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl CMU vs Wyoming Fri. – Dec. 22 4:00 P.M.

Birmingham Bowl Texas Tech vs USF Sat. – Dec. 23 Noon

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl San Diego St. vs Army Sat. – Dec. 23 3:30 P.M.

Dollar General Bowl Appalachian St. vs Toledo Sat. – Dec. 23 7:00 P.M.

Hawaii Bowl Houston vs Fresno St. Sun. – Dec. 24 8:30 P.M.

Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl West Virginia vs Utah Tue. – Dec. 26 1:30 P.M.

Quick Lane Bowl Duke vs Northern Illinois Tue. – Dec. 26 5:15 P.M.

Cactus Bowl Kansas St. vs UCLA Tue. – Dec. 26 9:00 P.M.

Independence Bowl Southern Miss vs Florida St. Wed. – Dec. 27 1:30 P.M.

New Era Pinstripe Bowl Iowa vs Boston College Wed. – Dec. 27 5:15 P.M.

Foster Farms Purdue vs Arizona Wed. – Dec. 27 8:30 P.M.

Acadamy Sports & Outdoors Bowl Texas vs Missouri Wed. – Dec. 27 9:00 P.M.

Military Bowl Virginia vs Navy Thu. – Dec. 28 1:30 P.M.

Camping World Bowl Oklahoma St. vs Virginia Tech Thu. – Dec. 28 5:15 P.M.

SDCCU Holiday Bowl Michigan St. vs Washington St. Thu. – Dec. 28 9:00 P.M.

Valero Alamo Bowl Stanford vs TCU Thu. – Dec. 28 9:00 P.M.

Belk Bowl Texas A&M vs Wake Forest Fri. – Dec. 29 1:00 P.M.

Hyundai Sun Bowl Arizona St. vs NC State Fri. – Dec. 29 3:00 P.M.

Music City Bowl Kentucky vs Northwestern Fri. – Dec. 29 4:30 P.M.

Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl Utah St. vs New Mexico St. Fri. – Dec. 29 5:30 P.M.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl USC vs Ohio St. Fri. – Dec. 29 8:30 P.M.

Taxslayer Bowl Mississippi St. vs Louisville Sat. – Dec. 30 Noon

Autozone Liberty Bowl Iowa St. vs Memphis Sat. – Dec. 30 12:30 P.M.

Playstation Fiesta Bowl Penn St. vs Washington Sat. – Dec. 30 4:00 P.M.

Capital One Orange Bowl Miami(FL) vs Wisconsin Sat. – Dec. 30 8:00 P.M.

Outback Bowl Michigan vs South Carolina Mon. – Jan. 1 Noon

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Auburn vs UCF Mon. – Jan. 1 12:30 P.M.

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl LSU vs Notre Dame Mon. – Jan. 1 1:00 P.M.

Rose Bowl – Semifinal Playoff #2 Oklahoma vs # 3 Georgia Mon. – Jan. 1 5:00 P.M.

Allstate Sugar Bowl - Semifinal Playoff #1 Clemson vs #4 Alabama Mon. – Jan. 1 8:45 P.M.

College Football Playoff Championship at the Rose Bowl Winner vs Sugar Bowl Winner Mon. – Jan. 8 8:00 P.M.

Italy: Diver Giovanni Tocci

Giovanni Tocci and Andrea Chiarabini

Many divers gain international attention, Tom Daley, for instance, and rightly so.  One diver who certainly has it all together, and calmly does what he wants, wins, is Italian Diver Giovanni Tocci.  Tocci appears frequently at international competitions, and occasionally on the Italian dance competition program "Dance, Dance, Dance."  

Giovanni Tocci was born 31 August 1994.  He says that he began diving at age six in Cosenza, Italy, because "I did not like swimming and wanted to try diving."  Officially he dives for the Italian Army, and in his down time he studies International Cultural Studies at the University of Calabria.

He began diving internationally in 2012, and has emultated his idol,  Italian diver Andrea Chiarabini, with whom he has competed in synchronized diving.  He missed the 2012 Olympics because of a shoulder injury, but he competed in the men's synchronized 3 metre springboard at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he and Andrea Chiarabini finished 6th.  He took Silver in the  1m springboard at the 2016 European Championships in London, England. At the Aquatics Worlds in Budapest  this past Summer (2017) he took the bronze medal in the same competition.  He also took bronze in the 3m Springboard at the University Games in Taipei.  

During the  2017  season,  he appeared on the Italian television show 'Dance, Dance, Dance', partnering fellow Italian diver Tania Cagnotto.  In that show the performers have solo and couple numbers.  "Can't Touch This" was a 

memorable solo number for Tocci.  

We look forward to following him in future competitions.