It’s October, which means it’s officially time for one of the best sports months of the year. College and professional football seasons are heating up, basketball and hockey seasons are about start, and we’ve got playoff baseball to enjoy! So, begin your Monday with one of our favorite plays from the end of September, when the Kansas City Royals found wild card magic with a walk off hit to win the game. (ps Congrats to the Royals who advanced to the AL Championship Series Sunday night!):

 

QUIPS FOR THIS WEEK

Baseball

We’ve had quite the start to playoff baseball with so many great games and match-ups. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Detroit Tigers 2-1 on Sunday night to sweep the series and move onto the AL Championship series. They will meet the Kansas City Royals who haven’t lost since their magical wild card game against the Oakland A’s and then swept the LA Angels to move onto the championship match-up. Time will tell if they just might be royal after all.

In the National League, the series between the LA Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals is all tied up at 1-1 and Game 3 will be played on Monday night while the Washington Nationals are currently down 2-0 to the San Francisco Giants. After an 18-inning Game 2 they will also meet again Monday night for Game 3. The Nats will need to bring all the Natitude they’ve got if they want to stay alive.

October baseball continues this week with games almost every night depending on how each series plays out.

College Football

What a weekend for college football!  In one of the best games of the weekend, #11 Ole Miss took down #3 Alabama 23-17 in a close game that ended with an insane interception. If that wasn’t exciting enough, it was the first time Ole Miss had beaten Alabama in what seems like forever and the Rebels are now undefeated at 5-0. The SEC continues to do work in the college football world. The real question is, who is the best of the best in the SEC? We shall see…

That wasn’t the only exciting game of the weekend as there were a ton of upsets all over the country. Arizona shocked #2 Oregon on Thursday night 31-24, #25 TCU defeated #4 Oklahoma 37-34 on Saturday, Mississippi State beat #6 Texas A&M 48-31 and Utah knocked off #8 UCLA 30-28. Yeah, that’s a lot of upsets which means a reshuffling of the Top 10 happened.

Okay, so who won like they were supposed to this weekend? That would be Florida State and Auburn. Both had strong wins as Florida State crushed Wake Forest 43-3 and #5 Auburn put on a show against #15 LSU with a 41-7 victory. Oh, and #9 Notre Dame defeated #14 Stanford 17-14 on a last minute TD. So what does this mean? Nothing really yet. Remember, it’s still early and this is the first year there will be a Final Four playoff format instead of the BCS Championship thing of the past.

 

NFL

There was plenty of excitement in Week 5 of the NFL season. Tom Brady got his 50,000 yard mark in the New England Patriots game against the Cincinnati Bengals which the Patriots won 43-17. Peyton Manning threw his 500th touchdown as the Denver Broncos defeated the Arizona Cardinals 41-20 while little brother Eli Manning led the New York Giants over the Atlanta Falcons 30-20 on a chilly fall day at home. In other NFC East news, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the St. Louis Rams 34-28 and the Dallas Cowboys had another big win in overtime against the Houston Texans 20-17.

Other games of note include the Cleveland Browns’ 25-point comeback win over the Tennessee Titans 29-28 and the New Orleans Saints’ overtime win against the Tampa Bay Bucs 37-31, as well as the San Francisco 49ers’ big win over the Kansas City Chiefs 22-17 at home. Oh, and the New York Jets lost 31-0 to the San Diego Chargers, who benched Geno Smith during the game.

The NFL announced that they will begin testing for H.G.H. beginning on Monday. This comes after the announcement of a new drug policy deal that was negotiated between the league and the players a few weeks ago. In other off the field news, sources report that Ray Rice and his wife Janay Rice will meet with representatives from the NFL and the NFLPA as part of the NFL internal investigation into the scandal.

Monday Night Football will continue tomorrow night when the Seattle Seahawks take on the Washington Redskins in Washington D.C.

 

Other

NBA season is right around corner and LeBron James had his debut (well, technically, second debut) for the Cleveland Cavs in their preseason opener game against the visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv squad. In other LeBron news, he is also producing two TV shows that will premiere this year on Disney and STARZ.

In other NBA news, the league has signed a $24 billion 9-year TV deal with ESPN and TNT. It is set to begin in the 2016-2017 season.

After being charged with his second DUI, Michael Phelps announced that he will enter a program to get help.

Finally, Joey Logano got a big win in Kansas for his second Chase series victory in all things NASCAR.

JUST FOR FUN

With love, Russell Westbrook
Check out Westbrook XO, the basketball star’s new clothing collaboration with Barneys

Taking one for the team… or not
Ben Affleck wouldn’t leave his love for the Red Sox behind, even while in character for ‘Gone Girl’

STORIES FOR INSIGHTS, COOL FACTOR + DEBATE

Keyon Dooling
His harrowing tale of sexual abuse, and how he’s helping others heal
After leaving the Boston Celtics, he turned towards raising awareness and assisting survivors

Bringing concussion prevention into the classroom
How one Canadian school district is changing the culture surrounding head injuries
The school has created a free, interactive online learning tool to educate students on concussion symptoms, care, and recovery

Swan song
Even though most professional ballerinas don’t dance past 40, Wendy Whelan bucked the trend
At 47, she’s finally moving on from her 30-year career with the New York City Ballet

Keep on fighting
Making your mess your message
SportsCenter correspondent Shelley Smith was recently diagnosed with breast cancer — she’s made it her mission to help less fortunate women have access to the necessary resources to fight the disease, too

Need for speed
Did you know that a softball pitch can reach the plate in only 35 hundredths of a second?
…and other cool facts about how the difference between the size of a softball infield and a baseball infield affects speed

Welcome back, NBA
The hits, misses, yes’s, and no’s of 2014 Media Day
If you need a good laugh, be sure to check out some of the uniform photos