by Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist
stressful. Great, no question, but still cumbersome.
The weekend just passed in sports was very interesting, inspiring and entertaining. But if it also doesn’t leave you constipated, nauseous and dizzy and need to recover this morning – instead of starting a new work week – it won’t move as it is supposed to.
If, through all the deliciously stressful mayhem of 18-stroke games, 12-second field goal drives, 15 years of drought, two-point conversions, and three-stroke revivals, you can remember a better, more tense-jangling two-day multi-sport blast, then congratulations are in order.
This Monday column usually focuses on the story of the weekend, except that the dominant story this weekend was…that there are so many stories. Are people still talking about a water cooler these days? If so, they might spend half the morning there and get tremendously hydrated, because there’s so much to talk about.
It’ll go down, somewhat, as in the weekend when Josh Allen narrowly beat Patrick Mahomes in an epic duel, gaining a measure of revenge in a showdown almost cloned from last season’s tag team tour — but this time the Buffalo Bills gave An edge to soothe some lingering wounds.
The Kansas City Chiefs of Mahomes redefined football horology once again, needing just 12 marks to reach their field goal range at the end of the first half, but after results tied in every quarter, Allen was pissed off at a previous missed stumble. A penalty kick, who fired one more walk down to give the Bills the top spot as the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
“We didn’t panic,” Allen said. “Or close your eyes. Nothing we did last year translates to this year. Everything that happened in the past is in its place.”
By the time Allen spoke, Sunday evening, the drama was coming on so thick and fast, we were hopelessly spoiled and expecting nothing less.
For Saturday it was great, especially if you like sports but even more so if you like seeing things you don’t normally like.
There was the strange treatment of an ALDS game between the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners, where they played for over six hours without running, emptying the bulls, and when some of baseball’s top hitters had flat streaks that were 0-for-29, or something like that.
Shortly after it ended – Homer Jeremy Pena in the 18th round for Houston broke the deadlock to finally close the series – the Cleveland Guardians came back in the bottom of the ninth to lead 2-1 over the New York Yankees, a streak that would now look to It’s scheduled for today at 7:07 p.m. ET.
Oscar Gonzalez walks
Cleveland Guardians player Oscar Gonzalez hits a single to knock out the New York Yankees 6-5.
By then, it was one of those weekends when I learned you had other tasks to do instead of watching non-stop sports, but, well, there was no proper window to do them – and anyway, I was dulled by sore thumbs from changing channels frequently.
While post-tidal baseball has been streaming in real time, college football has simultaneously been playing with the emotions of the public, most notably in Knoxville, where Tennessee has been in constant pain against Alabama for the past decade and a half but has exploded in early lead. .
Behind electric quarterback Hendon Hooker, the Volunteers showed enough dynamic attacking to win the match, made enough fouls in poor timing to throw it away, and then somehow crossed the line in a way that showed how difficult Bama could be to beat.
Even as Jalin Hyatt thwarted five receiving TDs, even as Nick Saban uncharacteristically screwed up his clock strategy, an old, shaky articulated ball kick was needed at the last second to snatch the famous victory – which means a lot the locals stole goalie and found a way to bring them into central Knoxville to continue the party.
There was so much going on that other events of questionable value had to take a back seat. On any other Monday, Utah’s audacious two-point attempt to sink the USC’s undefeated record would have gotten more play. And so is the amazing TCU comeback and overtime win over Oklahoma State, to maintain perfection.
There was a lot to keep up with. In Pittsburgh, Tom Brady tried to stimulate his offensive line with a furious force and got lost in the mixing of incoming sports information. In New York, Saquon Barkley took a flight for the game’s winning TD and rarely caused a stir outside the Big Apple. In Indianapolis, Matt Ryan conjured up a last-minute driving dream.
In Philadelphia, well, it’s definitely sunny right now, with a soccer team at the top of the NFL pile and a baseball peer doing a good job of keeping up. The Phillies toppled the World Championships at the Atlanta Braves to start the weekend. The Eagles defeated the Dallas Cowboys to close out Sunday night.
Needless to say, a lot happened between them. If you see most or all of it, take a breath. Because it was everything. It was too much.
Personally, there’s not much left to say except – phew. I need some rest. The weekend is over, but I’m exhausted. I feel like I need two days off. I need to do some yoga and light some scented candles. I need to find some balance.
And maybe, for a while, I need to stop watching a lot of sports…Nah, that won’t happen. Not an opportunity, not when it could be as exciting as this.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX And the Subscribe to our daily newsletter.
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Originally published at San Jose News Bulletin
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