2023 World Series

Rangers over D-Backs in 5

The Rangers were one of the better teams in the AL this year, started hot, cooled off for a while, got hot again, cooled off again, blew the division lead but still managed to hold on to a Wild Card slot. They went to Tampa where they quickly dispatched the 2nd best team in the AL, then on to Baltimore where they quickly dispatched the best team in the AL. Went back to Texas where they outdueled the Astros (and set the stage for next year's must-watch grudge match). They were 5th in the AL but when the post-season came, they blasted their way through to the World Series by winning 8 of the 9 games they played, mostly on the road.

The D-Backs, similarly, were a 2nd tier team in the NL but swept the Brewers and then swept the Dodgers (*) and took the Phillies to 7 games (the first 7th game in Phillies history--really?!?!), a great series. And while I think the Phillies would've given the Rangers a better match, the D-Backs were electric in that series and the worthy NL champ.

I thought Corey Seager was the deserving MVP, I struggle to remember anyone hitting as many timely home runs as Seager did here. Adolis Garcia was a monster in the ALCS but missed the last two games of the World Series and wasn't quite as impactful, I thought, as Seager. Nathan Eovaldi cemented his status as a big-game pitcher, but even he wavered in his first start. The Rangers got not much out of Max Scherzer (just 3 innings) and though they rode Jordan Montgomery through the AL, he didn't do much in the World Series (lost his one start). And the bullpen that got them out of so many jams in the AL was fine but not as necessary in the final. 

The D-Backs were fine, I'm now a big fan of Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte, those guys just kept making big plays throughout the playoffs. They overachieved but they won the games they needed to win--stuck the Dodgers and Phillies in their eyes, so good for them.  

The World Series itself was a pretty good mix: Game One was a classic (see above), Games Two and Four were blowouts, while Games Three and Five were loaded with tension and drama. That's good stuff, man, I love baseball as much as I ever have. I don't obsess over the players or the numbers like I did when I was a kid (that obsession has drifted to the NBA) but good baseball is still as good as anything in sports. Now if my Guardians could find a replacement for Coach Francona and some pop in the middle of the lineup, I can watch my own team win instead of the vicarious thrill.

(*) Lots of people were complaining about the MLB playoff format, but I mostly thought it was salty Dodgers fans. They talked of rule changes to facilitate a better playoff experience. Okay, here's what I propose: if the Dodgers score less runs than their opponent, they get to win anyway. Does that sound good, Dodger fans? Is that the rule change you were looking for? I get it: baseball players gotta play baseball and giving the good teams time off is a luxury in other sports but kind of an impediment in baseball. But the game is the same as it always was: you've got to score more runs to win games to advance. Figure it out, Dodger fans, this is baseball and if you can't play it, I got no sympathy. This was a great MLB post-season--GREAT!--and the fact that your team didn't bother to show up mattered not a whit to me. 

2023 US Open

Men's 

(3) Medvedev 3/6/3 - 6/7/6 (2) Djokovic

Medvedev never seemed ready to be in this match, he dropped his first serve and that was pretty much that. He rallied to a tie-break in the 2nd set and I thought he was going to take it, then on set point it was like he was forgot he was playing tennis or something, just flaked away his last service and it was all over. Then in the 3rd he put up no effort at all. Djokoic is so effortlessly awesome that we just assume he's going to win all the time but I think Alcaraz would've pushed him (as he did at Wimbledon), whereas Medvedev already looked as if he'd lost from the jump. Kinda lame Final really, since Alcaraz was watching on TV instead of hoisting the trophy. 

(1) Alcaraz 6/1/6/3 - 7/6/3/6 (3) Medvedev

Wow, I was shocked when Medvedev won that first set tie-break, it just felt like Alcaraz was going to roll up over him pronto, but Medvedev hung tight and was able to steal the tiebreak.  Then Alcaraz fell asleep to start the 2nd set and Medvedev was in the driver's seat. Alcaraz is the man right now, not sure why he flamed out so badly here because he was dominating early on, faltered, gave away a set and then was too deep in the hole to rally. I think he had a good shot at hanging with Djokovic in the final, not sure what happened against Medvedev because he should've won this match. 

Shelton 3/2/6 - 6/6/7 (2) Djokovic

I watched Shelton in his Round of 16 match and was impressed with his power game (BIG serve!) but in that match mostly what I noticed was how badly his opponent flailed. So when it came time for the young American upstart to go up against Djokovic, I didn't give him much of a chance. And Djokovic didn't either. He was spunky enough to get a 3rd set tie-break (nice work), but that was too little, too late. Shelton is interesting but I can't help thinking he overachieved this year and probably isn't quite ready to hit the top ten just yet. 

Women's

(6) Gauff 2/6/6 - 6/3/2 (2) Sabalenka

Sabalenka doomed herself with way too many unforced errors, if she could've stopped spraying her returns and stayed within the lines, I think she would've overpowered Gauff. But Sabalenka was wild, Gauff was measured and stayed within her game plan and though I think Gauff arrived here a little early, she is now a Major champion. Good for her! She's got real star power, a total cutie, amazing athlete, slyly good serve and her lateral quickness is going to keep her deep in tournaments for years to come. I think right here, right now Sabalenka is the more talented player, but in this Final she couldn't keep her game together (Russians, man, I'm just sayin'...) and I'm curious to see if Sabalenka can get back to the top (I'd say 50/50).  

(6) Gauff 6/7 - 4/5 (10) Muchova

Gauff was the better player, Muchova is a nice player but just doesn't have the quickness or staying power that Gauff possesses. Gauff was really impressive here, just sticking to her plan and getting it done. 

(17) Keys 6/6/6 - 0/7/7 (2) Sabalenka

I missed the first set, Sabalenka obviously had trouble getting started. But once she got going, Keys just couldn't keep up. Keys is a nice player but I think she was over her skis in this semifinal. 

2023 FIBA World Cup (Final)

1st place

Germany 83-77 Serbia

Germany was a cohesive team all the way through this tourney, never overwhelming but consistently solid. Denis Schroeder was their lodestar, Daniel Theis was the veteran dirty work guy (and even in int'l play, he still doesn't get calls!), the Wagner brothers were the offensive anchors of the team (I thought Mo was the better of the two, he seemed to be everywhere), and Isaac Bonga and Johannes Voigtmann gave reliable dirty work minutes off the bench. They weren't deep but in a tourney like this depth is just for injuries, not for rotation. I was impressed with the German game plan and their consistency, again, they weren't overwhelming but they never went away, they were never out of any game. 

Serbia was arguably the best team of the tourney with wins over Canada, Lithuania and Dominican Republic. And, for good measure, I thought Bogdan Bogdanovic was the MVP of the whole thing, with Aleksa Avramovic being a 1st team possibility. Until the 4th quarter of the Final, Bogdanovic was one of the most reliable filler-uppers in the tourney. (And that 4th quarter shows one of the main differences in the int'l game: with no in-game time-outs, its harder to get rest time for the stars because getting them back into the game is incredibly unpredictable; so in the Final, Bogdan was worn out but ended up spending too much time on the bench) In the Final, they hung with Germany until the 3rd quarter when the Germans went on a run and the Serbs just never could quite make it up. Good run, though, hell of a showing for the Serbs. 

3rd place

USA 118-127 (OT) Canada

Canada pretty well dominated the game for the first 3 quarters. Early in the 4th Canada had a 10-point lead and the Americans went on an out-of-nowhere 10-0 run to tie it up. Then Canada outplayed them for the rest of the quarter, until Mikal Bridges with under 5 seconds left had the most improbable 4-point play I've ever seen it to tie it up. Then in OT the Americans rode the high of the shocking comeback to....oh, wait, no the Canadians pummeled the Americans in the OT period, just making the extra 5-minute session an unnecessary waste of time. 

Canada was really good all the way through with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being an MVP candidate and Dillon Brooks deserving of a 1st team nod (did they even do that stuff in this tourney?). The rest of the team was good, they played well together and they reminded the world that Canada has plenty of talent (and maybe should've gone further). I didn't see the semifinal where they lost to Serbia, they would've been fairly evenly matched. 

USA had the expectations problem: they just expected to win though they didn't have the best team or the best plan. Also, I hate to be that guy but....over the last year I have soured quite a bit on Steve Kerr and as I never understood what he was doing with the lineups (re: the overall team strategy), I got to put most of this flame out on Coach Kerr. He was trying to force Brandom Ingram early on (did he even play in the 3rd place game?), starting Jalen Brunson didn't make sense to me, Josh Hart got too much playing time (with too little understanding of his role), he got the least out of Jaren Jackson and he made Walker Kessler completely disappear. What did Coach Kerr do that was good in the entire tournament? Oh well, it don't matter since I assume he won't be back anyway, just thought I'd get in some shots at the coach that I think is overrated (rather than the players). 

As for USA, I thought Halliburton, Bridges and Reaves were consistently good, Anthony Edwards was good but perhaps not quite the bust out star we thought he might be, Paolo Banchero was pretty good (but with the occasional disappearing act), Jaren Jackson was okay but maybe not the ideal fit for this squad, Brandon Ingram sulked like a movie star, Cam Johnson and Kessler and Bobby Portis kinda disappeared and while I like Brunson in a Knick uni, I never thought he was the right fit for int'l competition. 4th place is nothing to sneeze at and yet it feels disappointing--we ended up with 3 L's. 

 

Semifinal matches

Serbia 95-86 Canada

USA 111-113 Germany

Germany was just better than USA. Neither team ever had a major lead but Germany was the pace-setter pretty much throughout and USA could never catch up. 

5th place

Latvia 98-63 Lithuania

7th place

Italy 85-89 Slovenia

5-8 Placement 

Italy 82-87 Latvia

Lithuania 100-84 Slovenia

Suggestion: If this was a 16-team final, rather than 32, the two group rounds could rank all teams 1-16, which could be followed by a one-and-done style tournament that would be even more exciting. Also, by limiting it to the top 16, the best teams would get more tough games, more exposure and the one-and-done tourney would feature even more talented (and desperate!) squads. Just a thought, I know the int'l crowd loves ranking each team out and in this format that is the way to do it and generally I want to include more teams but for FIBA, the final tourney would be a lot more exciting with fewer teams playing a more furious style of tournament. Just a thought. 

Also, as always the problem with USA basketball is we worship the Olympics and don't give a shit about the World Cup. I think the Olympics should be a youth competition--or at least have a series of age-bracketed divisions--and the World Cup should be the real competition. But Americans watch the Olympics, so the big stars want to play for that audience (a bland, nationalistic, every-four-years kinda audience) rather than the real fanatics (the live and breathe basketball crowd). So we prefer spectacle and audience dynamic rather than actually trying to put the best team in the best competition. Oh well, we're America, we keep getting away with our dumb mistakes, so what good is learning?

2023 FIBA World Cup (Quaterfinals)

Lithuania 68-87 Serbia

The first quarter was amazing back and forth action but Lithuania's hot shooting just couldn't counter Serbia's ability to get easy buckets. Man, Serbia had so many dunks and layups, the Lithuanian defense just couldn't shore up protection in the lane and Serbia sliced and diced them up. A really impressive performance by Serbia, if they can keep the scoring going, they're going to be tough to beat. 

Italy 63-100 USA

USA's offense was rolling here, Italy just never had a chance. USA's defense, too, was really good, tight and in control. This was the best, most complete USA performance that I've seen so far. Italy played hard but this was like when a loaded Kansas squad comes up against a plucky overachieving Wisconsin-Green Bay or something: it was clear quickly who the better team was. It still seems plainly obvious to me that USA's best 5 is Tyrese Halliburtaon, Austin Reaves, Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges and Jaren Jackson (and I'm loving Paolo Banchero off the bench), still not sure what the fascination with Josh Hart is or the desire to make Jalen Brunson the tone-setter (when he strikes me as the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guy); but the team as constructed may well be good enough to win it all anyway, so we'll see. 

Latvia 79-81 Germany

Tight game for the most part, Germany had a burst of scoring early in the 4th quarter that gave them enough of a lead to hold off Latvia's furious attack down the stretch. Potential game-winning shot (courtesy of Davis Bertans) doinked away as the clock expired. Close game, Germany was the better team but just barely. Germany is nice squad but they strike me as losing focus at times, if they play for 40 straight minutes, they'll be a tough out but I feel like they're the 4th best team remaining; we'll see.

Slovenia 89-100 Canada

Close at halftime, but Slovenia kinda melted down in the 3rd quarter when Canada started attacking the basket and racking up frustration fouls. It struck me early on that a 10-point lead on either side could be insurmountable and in the 3rd period, Canada put that into practice, getting up by 16 and taking advantage of Slovenian frustration (eh, the refs kinda favored the Canadians, I thought). A tit-for-tat ejections of Dillon Brooks and Luka Doncic spiced up the post-game talk but petty much killed whatever momentum Slovenia might have been able to regain. Canada was the better team but the game was closer than the score looks. 

2022-23 NBA Playoffs (3rd Round, 5 games in)

Lakers 126-132 Nuggets

Lakers 103-108 Nuggets

Nuggets 119-108 Lakers

Nuggets 113-111 Lakers

Game One felt to me like it would be the template of the series: Nuggets came out dominant, built a huge lead, Jokic was breaking NBA records by halftime and then the Lakers salted away that lead and came close to overtaking the home team, when the Nuggets put the clamp down on (scrum at the Lakers end led to a breakaway dunk for Gordon with about a minute to go and that was that). Takeaway: Nuggets offense is pretty great and their defense is pretty bad. 

But the next three games went the other way: Lakers came out strong but couldn't ever really hold the Nuggets off. Can't tell you how many times the Lakers would go on a crazy run, getting buckets, making plays, got all the momentum....and you'd look up and they're ahead by 4....really? This Nuggets team doesn't stay cold for long and no matter how bad their D is, they've always got a chance to seal it late. And they did in each of the last three games. 

The Lakers had a nice run after a sloppy regular season but they just weren't as good as the Nuggets (were they really better than the Grizzlies or Warriors?) and Lebron's first loss in the final four was the end result. Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura were the big revelations (and the next big off-season question marks), so Laker fans can still say they had a good season and look forward to next year. And, in true look-at-me fashion, Lebron hinted at retirement (*), so we talked about that for a week rather than acknowledging the obvious truth that the Nuggets are the best team and Nikola Jokic is the best player in the league right now.  

Heat 123-116 Celtics

Heat 111-105 Celtics

Celtics 128-102 Heat

Celtics 102-82 Heat 

Heat 97-110 Celtics

The Heat just outplayed the Celtics in the first two games in Boston, then mopped the floor with the listless Celtics in Game Three. But the Celtics woke up, rode a hot 3rd quarter to a season-saving W in Game Four and then came out hot (and the Heat kinda mailed it in) in Game Five to keep the series alive. 

Right off the bat: all the Celtics looked great in Game Five and utterly awful in Game Three. But otherwise, Jaysun Tatum has been good not great, Jaylen Brown has been ineffective (to use the charitable term), Robert Williams has actually been pretty great but Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Al Horford have all been okay in the wins and not so good in the losses. 

For the Heat Jimmy Butler was dominant in the 3 W's and MIA (**) in the two losses. Man, something I noticed about Bam Adebayo: he's typically always great at either defense or offense but he's never great (or bad) at BOTH ends and, holy shit, that kid never gets any calls! Considering how hard he works and what a nice guy he seems like, it's kind of amazing how little love he gets from the refs. Caleb Martin has been great all through this post-season--I'd say he's the real difference maker on this year's run. Kyle Lowry veers between sneaky good and utterly unplayable. Duncan Robinson has returned to the rotation and occasionally looks like really good. Max Struss has generally been good, though he strangely disappeared in Game Five. Gabe Vincent has been nice and they even got some good minutes out of Heywood Highsmith. 

The reason the Heat found themselves up 3-0 in the conference finals is because they've been hitting crazy shots (especially Martin) for three straight rounds now. If that continues, they'll mow down the Celtics; if it doesn't, they'll have to dig deep because the momentum has swung back  to the Celtics, who suddenly have nothing left to lose.

I think the Heat will win tonight--and if they don't, I still think they'll win in Game Seven back in Boston. So though I picked the Celtics in 7, still very much on the table, I wasn't that enthusiastic about that pick and even though they seem to have right the ship, I'm still dubious of their chances of taking two more from the Heat. Looking forward to Game Six tonight because both teams need to bring it. 

The Celtics coming back from 3-0 would be one of the weirder things I've seen in the NBA in a while--and that's considering the #1 Bucks got dusted, the #2 Grizzlies couldn't hang, the defending champ Warriors (***) stumbled around all season long and the left-for-dead Lakers made a run to the final four. Been a weird season, weird playoffs--and a weird summer awaits! 

(*) Will Lebron retire this summer? No fuckin' way! The only scenario that would keep Lebron from coming back next year is if this summer's surgery goes horribly horribly wrong, which I don't anticipate will happen. So unless Lebron gets hit by a comet, I fully expect him to be back next season. 

(**) "Ask me why...am I....M-I-A...Am I in heaven or am I in Miami"....Ah, an old favorite. 

(***) Weird observation. The Nuggets swept the Lakers but all four games were competitive. I can't help thinking that if the Nuggets had played the Warriors instead, the Warriors would've gotten hot and stole a game...but would've gotten absolutely curb stomped in the other four games. Does that make sense? Nuggets-Lakers was a tennis match where the two competitors were actually pretty close though the scoreline looks like a walkover, whereas the Nuggets-Warriors would've been a pummeling where the scoreline would've looked a little less bad for the loser. Weird season, man, and I love it. 

2023 World Baseball Classic

Japan 3-2 USA

Damn! I love baseball, only caught snippets of this tourney, would've loved to see more. (Indeed, I'm ready for this to be a much longer tournament that periodically interrupts the MLB season culminating in a final after the World Series....but it'll be a while before that happens, I reckon)

Ohtani v Trout, 2 outs, bottom of the 9th, 1-run game....no way MLB does anything this awesome this season. Hate to say it, but it's just a fact! You know it, I know it, the American people it and Jomboy knows it, too. 

2023 Champions League (Round of 16) (2nd Leg)

Benfica 5-1 Brugge (agg 7-1)

Didn't watch this one, looks like I didn't miss anything. Of the 16 teams here, Brugge was easily the least of them--so much so that it's hard to tell how good Benfica actually is. They look capable of pushing forward and attacking but we'll see in the quarterfinals. Obviously a great season for Brugge. 

Chelsea 2-0 Dortmund (agg 2-1)

Chelsea was the better team throughout and 2-1 aggregate was probably about right....but....man, that PK was wonky, bro. I don't think I've ever seen an encroachment call so I'm not exactly sure what the rule says but look at this pic:

Chelsea is the one encroaching, right? Yes, one of the Dortmund defenders is in the box but clearly he is reacting to the Chelsea attacker--so how is that an infraction on Dortmund? I dunno, man, felt like the ref was determined to make sure Chelsea finished this PK. Oh well, Chelsea was the better side throughout and 2-1 over the course of 180 minutes is probably right, but...if I were Dortmund I'd be pretty pissed.

Bayern Munich 2-0 Paris St. Germain (agg 3-0)

I never fail to be shocked by how casually PSG takes the Champions League, they just didn't show up again though their stacked roster seemed prime to best Bayern. PSG had their moments but Bayern was consistently the better attacking side, much more dangerous around the goal and they got the finishing touches they needed. Is PSG one of those teams that just can't win? Is Bayern really this dominant? I dunno. I'm certain that Bayern doesn't suck but I'm not yet sure they are the team to beat.

Tottenham 0-0 AC Milan (agg 0-1)

A bit of a snooze of a match.  No one really controlled much of anything and yet the back-and-forth action was never particularly compelling. Milan scored early in the 1st leg and from then on both sides kept each other from doing much. Just a perfect matchup or is AC Milan lucky to be in the quarters?

Manchester City 7-0 Leipzig (agg 8-1)

Well, this one was over quick. Probably over after the first goal--definitely over after the second goal--Leipzig just never got going and by halftime looked really uninterested in playing soccer any more. Like, I felt bad for Leipzig--clearly God did not want them to win this game! Man City was obviously the better team but a result like this is more than just better-ness. Again, such a walkover that its hard to tell how good Man City actually is. 

Porto 0-0 Inter Milan (agg 0-1)

Didn't see this one, seems like I didn't miss much. I enjoyed the 1st leg but I wasn't able to catch the return match. 

Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool (agg 6-2)

Over before it began, bit of a lackluster match, actually. Real had moments in the 2nd half where they were having fun out there but Liverpool just looked like they were running in mud the whole time. Wow, the first ten minutes of the 1st leg was so different from the 170 minutes that followed! Real looks like the best team (unless you think Bayern's mastery of PSG was for real).

Napoli 3-0 Eintracht Frankfurt (agg 5-0)

Napoli was better throughout, controlled the pace all through the first half, scored right before the half and that was probably it. I thought the two sides were fairly evenly matched but Frankfurt just could not get going in the return match and this was an easy one for Napoli. Just a fortuitous matchup or is Napoli really this dangerous? I'm ready to find out. 

The quarterfinal matches:

Real Madrid v Chelsea (Gotta go with Real though Chelsea is gonna be ready)

Benfica v Inter Milan (No idea...both sides had such weird R16 matchups that I have no idea which one is superior)

Manchester City v Bayern (Fun one, but I think Bayern will move on)

AC Milan v Napoli (Again: no idea! Two Italian teams (what NFL-ers would think of as a Division game), they probably have their own rivalry that I don't even understand, my gut is Milan is better but I dunno)

2023 Champions League (Round of 16) (1st leg)

Paris St. Germain 0-1 Bayern Munich

I was kinda surprised how easily Bayern pushed PSG around on their home field--and why on earth did Mbappe not start? For the first 20 mins or so, Bayern absolutely dominated possession, though PSG's counter attack seemed kinda dangerous. Bayern took the lead early in the 2nd half (easy-as-you-please finish by Coman off a long cross into the box), felt like PSG was gonna ramp up the intensity, they brought Mbappe off the bench (I do not understand European 'load management': dude, these are the games you want your stars to play--this is WHY you signed them to begin with!), and in the last 10 mins or so, PSG did dominate the possession but outside of one nice run that led to a goal called back for offside (dude, arguably the closest offside call I've ever seen!), they never really did much to control the attack. I didn't think Bayern was the better team--that PSG roster is stacked! But they played the smarter game plan and they brought the intensity that PSG didn't. 2nd leg will be fun, PSG still has a killer lineup and they'll need to bring it in Munich, but I gotta think Bayern won't squander this lead (they are not sqaunderers). 

AC Milan 1-0 Tottenham

Milan got the early goal (keeper just got bum rushed, nothing he could do) and made it stand up. Thought the rest of the match was fairly even, Tottenham may have even had slightly better chances. The 2nd leg of this game is wide open, Milan did well to get the goal advantage. 

Dortmund 1-0 Chelsea

Wow, I thought Chelsea was in every way the better side in this match, better offense, better defense, better chances, better possession, etc. If Dortmund had come out with a scoreless draw, they would've been lucky. So to come up with the one moment of brilliance and stealing the W is a phenomenomal result for Dortmund. And, oh yeah, it was brilliant: dude, absolutely everything he does on this run is perfect--perfect timing to separate from the defender, perfect spacing to elude the keeper, just a fuckin' perfect play. Dortmund did well to steal this first leg, but, man, Chelsea was better and I would expect them to get it done back home in the 2nd leg (perhaps in PKs).  

Bruges 0-2 Benfica

Benfica was the better side, the better attack. I wasn't a huge fan of that penalty call (yeah, yeah, there was contact but I thought it was more even than ya think) but it wasn't a terrible call. The second goal late was a brilliant steal and lovely finish (keeper was cooked, defense let him down) to pile it on. Bruges played hard but they were never dangerous around the goal and it was really only a matter of time before Benfica found the goal. I'd say this one is done, I'd be pretty amazed if Bruges came back in this one. 

Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid

Ha! The first coupla minutes of the game featured intense on-ball defense that suggested the speed of the game would overwhelm the players on the pitch; then, outta nowhere, Liverpool sneaks a pass behind Real's back line for a cheeky backheel that caught the keeper (and all viewers of the match!) completely off guard. A coupla minutes later GK Coutois made one of the worst goofy mistakes I've ever seen (well, until a little later in the match!) and suddenly Liverpool was up 2-0 at home before anybody had even warmed up. But, then that was about it for Liverpool. Real got on the board before halftime on a really lovely Vini rip from the top corner of the box and then soon after followed with the NEWEST goofy goalie mistake I've ever seen--dude, Vini wasn't even looking at the ball when he scored! And it was a draw at halftime when it felt like the game could've/should've been long over. Real scored early in the 2nd half on the maybe the most clinical pass to header plays I've ever seen. From there Benzema (MIA in the World Cup, nice to see him back on the pitch), took over, piling on and then piling on some more. Early on, I was thinking Real might be past their prime, felt like maybe the talent wasn't going to mesh and maybe it was time for a Utah Jazz-style blowup....but, uh....yeah, I don't think that any more. Benzema and Vini are back to looking like a killer 1-2 combo up front and suddenly they look like the team to beat. Can Liverpool go on the road and get a big W? Uh....I mean....I guess it's possible, but....no. 

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-2 Napoli

I wasn't blown away by Napoli but they were the better team throughout and even though they missed a PK (weird play but the right call, nice save), they didn't lose their cool. Then when Eintracht got a red card (yeah, brutal play but I think it was yellow), Napoli just dominated possession and were able to poke in a pile-on goal late to seal it. Gotta figure this one is over, Napoli looks to be the better side and heading back home with 2 goal lead is probably an insurmountable climb for Frankfurt. 

Inter Milan 1-0 FC Porto

Fun game! Back and forth, both teams had good possession, good opportunities, felt like Inter took the upper hand down the stretch but it still took quite some time before Lukaku was finally able to get on the end of one. Felt like it was gonna be a scoreless draw but Inter pulled it out at home. Wouldn't be shocked if Porto was able to take it back home, there's still some action left in this match.

Leipzig 1-1 Manchester City

Man City felt like the better side throughout. They got the early lead, felt like they were gonna make it hold up but Leipzig was able to connect on a corner (keeper in no man's land, huge pile of goal to shoot at) and that earned the draw. Man City is not unbeatable or anything, but I felt like they only got stung when they lost their focus. Leipzig has a puncher's chance, but I think Man City will finish this off back home. 

2022-23 NFL Conference Championships

Niners 7-31 Eagles

Well, this was shaping up to be a good match but when QB Brock Purdy was knocked out early on and the Niners had to go to their 4th (!) string QB, well, that was the ball game. The Niners put up a game effort, as lopsided as the score looks, the Eagles didn't exactly dominate. The killer: right before halftime, the Niners tried to be aggressive (not a bad idea: the 2-minute drill is the one thing the backup QB probably practiced most), but when QB fumbled, it set the Eagles up for a quick TD before the half. That was bad. Up til then the Niners had at least been in striking distance but that giveaway pretty much finished them off. The Eagles didn't really do much after that, they didn't have to. 

Bengals 20-23 Chiefs

I thought the Bengals started slow, didn't make the most of their chances and still could've won this game (or at least get it to OT). Some blamed the refs but I don't see it that way at all, I think the Bengals played their worst game since September--and still could've pulled this out! To me the lesson was that the Bengals were the best team in the AFC this season and only Patrick Mahomes kept them from the glory. Mahomes was pretty great, even on a shredded ankle. The Bengals were the better team but you still gotta beat the Chiefs.

Chiefs @ Eagles (-1.5) (o/u 51)

I expect a good game, fun game, but I don't think it goes down to the wire. My initial thought was to go with the Chiefs as the underdog, but I've come around to thinking that the Eagle pass rush will be tough to beat. Much has been made of the Eagles' weak competition all season long, especially two playoff games where they were barely tested at all. Fine. But it got them to this point and I think that D is gonna be too much for Mahomes to overcome. I love Mahomes but I kinda feel like he's all the Chiefs have and I don't think he can elude the Eagles D for long enough to make this a game. I can see either team winning a close match, but I can't see the Chiefs laying a beatdown on the Eagles--but I can see the Eagles laying a beatdown on the Chiefs. If Mahomes gets knocked out, I'd say the game is over; but even if not, I'd say the Eagles can still shut him down and move the ball well enough to dominate. I don't really care that the Eagle schedule was soft, that don't matter at all. All that matters in this game is Mahomes' ankle and its not 100%, so I gotta go Eagles. I'll say Eagles 27-17 (Eagles and the under).