Sportswoman of the Week Ending 2/18/2024

We enter the inter-regnum (used loosely) portion of the Sports Calendar when there are no playoffs going on, March Madness isn't queued up yet (neither is The Masters), but many sports are going and lots of action to watch every night.  Perhaps there is no more action captivating the country than Caitlin mania.  Caitlin Clark that is, who has captivated not only the women's basketball sports landscape, but the sports landscape in general.  The Iowa Hawkeye scoring machine became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's basketball history this week, passing Washington Huskies Guard Kelsey Plum (former Sportswoman of the Week) with her 3,528th career point and she's not slowing down.  So much so, she likely will pass men's basketball hoops legend Pete Maravich in points before the conference tournament season. Worth the ticket of admission (as evidenced by the full houses she plays to) Caitlin Clark is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week (repeat winner).

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 3/26/2023

March Madness hits a crescendo in the Sweet Sixteen to Final Four round as the field in the tournament is winnowed from teams kind of in the Top 25 to the best teams in the land.  And stars emerge on the big stage.  There may not be a bigger star in the sport than Iowa guard Caitlin Clark.  Clark averaged 36 points and 10 assists in two critical wins in the Regional Semifinals and Finals to lift the Hawkeyes to the Final Four.  The two-time Big Ten Player of the Year shot over 50% from the field and beyond the arc in the big victories over Colorado and Louisville to net Iowa its first Final Four since 1993 and second in program history.  The six-foot Junior Clark is the player to watch in the Final Four and our Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/24/2017

Conference play began in college football across the country, and while no games decided the title, many games left teams scrambling to stay in the hunt.  One was #4 Penn State.  With a tricky conference opener at undefeated Iowa, they needed to find a way to escape with a win.  And escape they did.  The game will most be remembered for the Nittany Lions touchdown as the clock struck zero to preserve their Big 10 title hopes.  But it was Saquon Barkley that was the star of the show.  In hostile territory against an aggressive defense, Barkley toted the rock 28 times while catching another 12 passes.  The result?  305 total yards (over 7 yards a play) and a touchdown.  And there were not many holes, he turned 3 yard losses into 5 yard gains, and 5 yard gains into 20 yard bursts.  Hurdling, going through tacklers, getting better as the game went on.  The first big Heisman performance happened, and it was our Sportsman of the Week Saquon Barkley who delivered to shot across the bow.

Week 1 Upset Specials

J.R. Ewing here from Dallas fame, I'm sipping on some bourbon on the 38th floor of Ewing Enterprises tower in downtown Dallas and thinking about this opening week of college football.  The deal is, I'm going to lay out three picks a week, but there's a catch.  I'm taking a team straight up that is underdog by 7 points or more (ish).  These are matchups where I see, not only will the underdog cover, but send that favorite home with their panties wrapped around barbed wire.  In any event, let's get the fun started:

Pick #1:
Boise State (+7) d. Michigan State
Boise State hasn't lost a game by 7 or more points since 2007 (at least on the mainland they haven't).  New QB, yeah.  Michigan State is rising, yeah.  But weird things happen early in the season, and Week 1, a disciplined team with less talent can out execute the favorites.  Taking the Broncs.

Pick #2:
Northern Illinois (+10) d. Iowa
Iowa has been slipping for some time now.  Northern Illinois coming off their second straight 11 win season (not 10 win, 11 win).  This is one of those perfect storms again (game in DeKalb), early in the year, the scuffling programs haven't found their rhythm.

Pick #3:
Southern Methodist (+10) d. Baylor
We don't know what Baylor will look like without RGIII.  We do know SMU is stacked at QB and on the upswing under June Jones.  I'm buying that Baylor under Briles is going to be a perennial contender.  But this game looks tenuous.  Of course, I'm taking my hometown Dallas boys on this one in an old fashioned Texas shootout!

So there you go, we'll keep track of the weekly performance, can't expect to even go .500 in these games.  Or can I?

Last Week (N/A), Season (0-0)

****Post Mortem Review****
So I stumbled out of the block at 0-3 this week (and for season).  Was close on Pick #2, artificially close on Pick #1 (MSU could have scored most likely if they didn't take a knee), and totally whiffed on Pick #3.  That's okay, two shots of Dickel Tennessee Whisky and we'll be back at it next week, folks!

PS - We now know what Baylor looks like without RGIII, see, you learn something by following this blog!