Happy Monday! We may have to say goodbye to the great weather, but at least this girl gets to enjoy the water! We remember the first time we took a swim… she’ll put a smile on your face as she learns how to paddle, too!

QUIPS FOR THIS WEEK

NFL

The Arizona Cardinals picked up another win, this time against the St. Louis Rams 31-14, but they may have suffered a bigger loss. Despite getting a dramatic rally of a win led by backup quarterback Drew Stanton and the Arizona defense, quarterback Carson Palmer left the game the in the fourth quarter with a knee injury and it’s feared to be another torn ACL. So even at 8-1, the Cardinals might be in trouble. Losing your quarterback is a big deal, so here’s to hoping he’s okay… and with that, get well soon Carson Palmer!

Let’s talk about the other games from Week 10. Tony Romo returned to the Dallas Cowboys who defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-10 in London, the Denver Broncos moved on from their disappointing loss to the New England Patriots and picked up a strong win over the Oakland Raiders 41-17 (Peyton Manning had 5 touchdowns) while the Seattle Seahawks got the victory over the New York Giants 38-17 in a game where Marshawn Lynch had 4 touchdowns (that’s a lot!). In other news, the San Francisco 49ers got past the New Orleans Saints 27-24 in overtime and the New York Jets got a surprising win over the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-13 where Michael Vick got 6,000 career rushing yards, making him the first quarterback to do so. Oh yeah and in Sunday Night Football, let’s just say the Green Bay Packers crushed the Chicago Bears. No really, 55-14 and Aaron Rodgers tied an NFL record with 6 first half touchdowns. Yikes.

Adrian Peterson is seeking reinstatement. The NFL Players Association requested that he be allowed to play immediately in a letter sent to the NFL this past Friday. Peterson is currently on the Commissioner’s Exempt List and even if he is reinstated, it will be interesting to see if the Minnesota Vikings want him back on their roster.

Monday Night Football kicks off at 8:30pm with a game between the Carolina Panthers and the Philadelphia Eagles. Let’s go!

College Football

This past weekend featured a number of big games in college football land. We saw #1 Mississippi State crush UT Martin 45-16, Texas A&M get a huge upset win over #3 Auburn (now #9) 41-38, #2 Florida State pick up a big win against Virginia 34-20, #4 Oregon (now #3) picked up a victory against #17 Utah (now #25) 51-27, #6 TCU (now #5) defeat #7 Kansas State (now #13) 41-40, #5 Alabama (now #4) get the win over #16 LSU (now #20 behind #19 Duke!) 20-13, #14 Ohio State (now #8) topped #8 Michigan State (now #12) and finally #9 Arizona State (now #7) knock off #10 Notre Dame (now #15) 55-31. Wowza. So why does this matter? See the college football rankings update in the next quip.

As we get closer to bowl season, the rankings are starting to matter more and more, especially because of the new playoff format in the post-season for the top 4. In this week’s AP poll, there was a quite a bit of a shake up in the Top 10. As expected, Mississippi State is still #1 and Florida State is still #2, but after that things got interesting as Oregon moved up to #3, Alabama is now #4, TCU is your new #5 and the best of the rest now goes: #6 Baylor, #7 Arizona State, #8 Ohio State, #9 Auburn, and #10 Ole Miss. What does this mean? The SEC remains dominant but it remains unclear how many teams they will get in the post-season playoff.

Todd Gurley of the #16 Georgia Bulldogs is back with the team after serving a four game suspension this season. Georgia has a huge game against Auburn Tigers this coming weekend, but it still remains unclear if Gurley will be back in the starting lineup.

NBA

Here’s the latest updates in the NBA injury report: Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics is expected to miss 2-3 weeks after injuring his ankle on Friday, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Ricky Rubio will be out indefinitely after suffering a bad ankle sprain last Friday and San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard is playing but still dealing with blurred vision after a case of conjunctivitis in the preseason affected his right eye. It’s still early in the season, but it’s important to keep these injuries in mind.

Gillian Zucker is the newest member of the LA Clippers. Owner Steve Ballmer announced that she will join the team as the new President of Business Operations.

There are officially no more undefeated teams in the NBA. After looking really good and getting off to a 5-0 start, the Golden State Warriors suffered their first loss on Sunday night to the Phoenix Suns 107-95. They were playing without star guard Klay Thompson (who sat out with a sprained hand) and will look to bounce back when they face the San Antonio Spurs at home on Tuesday night.

College Basketball

The Associated Press has released their pre-season All-American picks for the college hoops season. This year’s team includes: Marcus Paige (PG – UNC), Montrezl Harrell (F – Louisville), Frank Kaminsky (F – Wisconsin), Fred VanVleet (PG – Wichita State) and Jahlil Okafor (C – Duke). Okafor is the only freshman on this year’s All American pre-season squad.

Indiana forward Devin Davis is expected to be released from the hospital in Bloomington and moved to a hospital closer to his hometown in Indianapolis. The sophomore suffered a head injury after a car accident but Coach Tom Crean stated to ESPN: “There’s not a timeline, though. In a nutshell, we were not given any reason that he won’t have a full recovery. The timing isn’t clear. But no one said he won’t be able to play again.” Here’s to wishing him a full recovery.

The college hoops regular season kicks off this Friday night. We couldn’t be more excited! Make sure you check out the TV schedule so you can catch all the action!

Other

WNBA star Brittney Griner was attacked in China this past Monday. The man followed Griner and teammates towards their team bus with a knife in hand. Thankfully, Griner is okay after being cut on the elbow (thanks to the winter coat she was wearing). So scary.

In all things NHL, Sidney Crosby had 5 assists for his Pittsburgh Penguins, who beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 on Saturday night. That’s the 7th straight win for the Penguins, and 5 assists in one game is a lot!

NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick is this week’s big winner. The driver put on a strong performance at the Phoenix International Raceway, which is important because he has now moved onto the Sprint Cup championship finale stage.

 

JUST FOR FUN

Post-game Fright
After the Knicks got their butts kicked in Brooklyn, ‘Melo showed up to the post-game show with this hat that served as a great distraction

 

STORIES FOR INSIGHTS, COOL FACTOR + DEBATE

“When I’m cold, I’m cold; when I’m hot, I’m hot”
Surely we can all agree with that statement… but surely most of us aren’t as hot as Rick Nash is right now
The New York Rangers’ player is on fire, and we can’t wait to see how the season turns out

No Show
LSU’s Mike the Tiger won’t join his team
He just doesn’t feel like attending game days this year

MVP Potential
Now that we’re hitting the middle of the NFL season, it’s time to start considering the contenders
Because the QB is usually the one bringing home the win, they usually get the MVP award — but that’s no reason to forget about the others!

Getting to Know You
Lance Stephenson talks about so many things
Check out his interview with Grantland’s very own hoops expert Zach Lowe

Landon Donovan
The Galaxy star wasn’t quite ready for his career to be over
He made three goals against Real Salt Lake to ensure a win for his team in the Western Conference Semifinals

Fan Nation
Where in America does college football matter the most?
The NY Times collaborated with Facebook to find out the proportion of the population in a location who are fans of any college football team

Diversity and Inclusion
The PGA is making an effort to “do good business”
They want the game of golf — both the players and the audience — to better reflect society