Heading into the 2020 MLB season the Houston Astros still have a lot of questions marks surrounding the franchise and the entire team. With the club having a new manager, Dusty Baker is looking to change the direction the team was heading towards. He is a long-time veteran manager with lots of experience he most defiantly is taking on a lot with accepting this job. The cheating scandal has ruined a lot of careers for the Astro players and just their entire legacy as a franchise over the last couple of years. Getting rid of these toxic traits in the franchise gives them a new hope that things will turn around with the leadership of players such as Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and George Springer. 

Throughout spring training there was always news of a new player on the Astros team that was getting hit by a pitch on “accident” in games. This may be a concern of the MLB as putting this team on the field could be endangering the players. Other players around the league have voiced their not so nice opinions on this situation that was going on. The players should be punished that were participating in this cheating, but players that weren’t apart of it should not be punished at all.  

The team looks to prove the haters wrong this season going forward with the cheating scandal behind them. The team didn’t lose any of the star players other than Cole. The only question with the line-up is the pitching rotation, just how strong will Verlander and Grienke be with age catching up to them. The batting order looks just as strong as it always was, but just how good will the players be when they are cheating. This season looks to be a great one for the Astros proving just who they really are. 

With the recent suspension of the NBA season there hasn’t been much basketball to watch for the fans of the NBA or sports in general. The solution to this problem has been making more sports virtual in a way for athletes to participate from home and for the fans to watch while at home.

The NBA took to the video game version of the league 2K20, a basketball game that is for the NBA. The owner of this game decided to have a player only tournament that involved 16 of the leagues players. Each player was able to choose 8 teams and they can only use each team once making it essential to pick the best teams, while picking when to use each team smartly. This tournament has been showed on ESPN to the public in substitution of real NBA games. The winner of this tournament would win $100,00 that would be donated to a coronavirus related charity. Having this tournament on ESPN has really helped fans be able to just watch something sports related on tv.

Personally, it has been hard to not be able to watch any sports missing the speculation of trades, close games, and playoff implications. This tournament has given me something to get into that was sports related for the time being. I don’t see this becoming a regular thing for the NBA to do, but I really could see them using 2K more often in the future to gain more attention from the fans around the league.

The coverage this little video game tournament has gotten on social media and ESPN is just about the same amount of coverage a normal NBA game would get. I think this was a great idea from the NBA, I really appreciate them trying to give fans something to follow that was related to the NBA season. 

With the regular season coming to an end for the Blue Jays and the conference tournament the next weekend this game against Seton Hall is the biggest game of the year. With a win from the Blue Jays this would give them a share of the Big East regular season championship. This game had all the looks of a big-time game having both tournament and Big East seeding implications.

From the opening tip of the game it was back and forth matching bucket for bucket from both teams. Seton Hall’s best player Myles Powell was being guarded by Creighton’s best player as well Ty-Shon Alexander. This matchup was a big point for the coaches after the first half completed as it was tied at 32-32 after a hard-fought battle from both teams. Games like this are never won in the first half in college basketball, games are won in the final five minutes of basketball games. 

Starting off the second half the Creighton home crowd gave the advantage giving the team a needed boost to get them hot. The home court crowds in college sports can make a great impact on games. The momentum of games can be changed in seconds based on different types of plays. As I said before the final five minutes of games are key Creighton finished the game on a 21-6 run that gave them an extended lead making the overall difference in the game.

Stepping up for the team was Marcus Zegarowski having 25 points as well as making 5/5 three pointers giving them that extra push to get passed Seton Hall. Creighton’s fans rushed the court celebrating the victory of the Big East shared title for the team. This game defiantly lived up to the hype of the implications involved coming from the game. 

            With the season starting to heat up as it gets closer to April the Evansville Thunderbolts are on a 2-game win streak as they host Quad City Storm February 29^th. To end the month with a battle between a couple of solid teams is the right way to do it. The night was headlined by a few specials like the Nickelodeon Paw Patrol/Dogs’ Night Out and #2bucks4thepuck. These of course added up to a create a great crowd for the matchup. 

            As the game got off to the start things were slow with both teams trying to find a hole in the opponents defense to find a scoring opportunity. With the first score of the game was Vincent Beaudry for Quad City as they take the lead. The Thunderbolts needed to answer back with a score of their own. Well indeed they did just that with a pair of goals coming 3 minutes apart. This gave Evansville the lead heading into the second period of action. 

            Unlike the first period the second period had 0 goals from either team. This way due to the great amount of defense played throughout the period. Hockey is a very strategic sport that involves well planning to get a score from the players. Most games are low scoring with few big plays happening that will catch eyes. 

            The third period was full of action that really shaped the course of the game. Quad city tied the game up halfway through the period, but Evansville wasn’t going to quit as they scored again. The score was 3-2 going into the last minutes Quad City somehow found a gap in the defense getting a score off to tie the game up forcing OT. Fitting nobody scored in the OT which means a Shootout must take place. The Thunderbolts won going 2-0 in the shootout. 

            As the All-Star game makes its trip to Chicago the entire game will have a whole new look due to the passing of legend Kobe Bryant. The teams wore #24 and #2 to pay respects to Kobe and Gianna Bryant, as well as at the end of the 3^rd quarter the team with the most points would have 24 points added to that number to create a target score for the teams to reach to win. Another new major rule change I thought contributed to a better overall performance from players was the prize money for the winning team. 

            Onto the actual game the first quarter was heavily dominated by Team LeBron with their dominating offensive stars of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard. Team Giannis would need to get better shots off to have a chance to take the lead away from Team LeBron in the second quarter. As the starters were replaced with bench players Giannis took the game into his hands by going off for his team to now take the lead heading into halftime. 

            With the third quarter beginning Team LeBron needed to find a way to stop the dominate force of Giannis. With him out of the game getting some rest guard Chris Paul took advantage of this by flooding the lane using his mix of handles. Team LeBron unfortunately was still down after a hard fought third quarter. Little did anyone know we were in for a great game finally. 

            The fourth quarter of this game was one of the greatest quarters in All-Star game history the amount of effort players played with was unseen. Team LeBron completed the comeback finally making the game so close with it down to just a free throw from Anthony Davis to seal the deal. Of course, he missed the first one, but he finished the game off right with a final free throw to give Team LeBron the victory. Winning the MVP was Kawhi Leonard with his impressive rain of 3pointers and fabulous defense. 

            In the thick of the GLVC conference schedule for the USI Screaming Eagles the men’s basketball is preparing against a tuff opponent in the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Coming into this game USI is currently on a four-game win streak with the record of 18-5 overall and 11-5 in the conference. While the University of Missouri-St. Louis is ranked #19 in the nation with an overall record of 21-3 and 12-2 in the conference. Saturday is slated to be an outstanding game with a big crowd to be on attendance. 

            The start of the game started off well for both teams trading scores, but the Screagles were determined to give the crowd a good run. USI went on a 12-3 run forcing University of Missouri-St. Louis to have to make a comeback with the momentum against them. 

            At the end of the first half USI had a solid 11-point lead with a score of 34-23 with the help of a giant crowd in attendance for homecoming. The Tritons were going to need to find a way to get things happening on the offensive end only shooting 24.1% from the field. 

            Yes, indeed the offensive game clicked for the Tritons making a massive run of 19-3 over a five-minute stretch forcing the Screagles to fight back. USI needed to get some key defensive stops to end the run. Emmanuel Little played a big role on the defensive side of the ball getting 16 total rebounds that would come in clutch for the team. As well as on the offensive side of the ball adding in nine points into the final Screagle rally on a 15-4 run to end the game. To seal the game was Mateo Rivera at the free throw line. Giving USI the victory at home over a ranked opponent by the score of 67-66. 

            As the National Football League celebrated its 100^th season the super bowl would be one for the history books. Following a season full of memorable moments with emerging new stars in the league a matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs would be a great game for the super bowl. 

            The 54^th super bowl was headed to famous Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. The last super bowl held in this stadium my beloved Indianapolis Colts fell short to the New Orleans Saints. This year though, the 49ers were coming off a big season with 3 loses in close hard-fought battles while being led by their defensive rookie of the year Nick Bosa. While the Chiefs had a tough season with minor injuries to players they still managed to make the playoffs with the help of star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. 

            Before the game got under way the 100^th year team was honored with a historic round of introductions to the players. Following was an amazing national anthem performed by Demi Lovato to get the super bowl rolling. 

            As the first quarter came to an end the Chiefs were leading 7-3 with the momentum in their corner. Once the second quarter started it was clear that the 49ers weren’t going to give up easily as the defense got a consecutive key stops to allow the offense to have a chance. The offense was having trouble the first quarter, but the run game picked up which opened up the field for the slugger Jimmy Garoppolo to torch the Chiefs defense. The 49ers tied it up 10-10 heading into halftime with them receiving the ball in to 2^nd half. 

            Following an entertaining close first half the 49ers drove down the field strong but settled for a field goal making the game 13-10. On the next possession 49ers were able to force an interception and capitalize on this with a TD making it a 20-10 lead. The Chiefs now looked to Patrick Mahomes to turn the game around with another historic comeback. He would indeed do this scoring 21 unanswered points giving the Chiefs the super bowl win.

This was of course the first super bowl win for Coach Reid. Winning the MVP was no other than Patrick Mahomes with a remarkable performance from him once again.

            An exciting weekend of hockey just took place in St. Louis, Missouri. As the annual all-star weekend for the NHL rolled through the city. One of the fan favorites of the weekend was the Fan Fair. This gave the fans an opportunity to view the defending champs Stanley Cup over the course of four days. 

The main event of Friday night was headlined by different skills competitions such as fastest skater, save streak, accuracy shooting, hardest shot, shooting stars, and women’s 3-on-3.  My personal favorite event Shooting Stars was won in a tiebreaker by Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks. The women’s 3-on-3 was a unique event as it gave the women a chance to showcase their hockey talents in front of thousands of fans viewing the action. In the future, I can envision there being a completely separate full women’s hockey games being played before the men’s all-star games. 
            Continuing the weekend festivities Saturday was full of competitive hockey action all day long. Four teams were made up from the four divisions Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific they then competed in a two-round tournament while being played in a 3-on-3 style. 

In the first round Atlantic defeated Metropolitan 9-5 lead by David Pastrank and Anthony Duclair with a hat trick each. In the next matchup Pacific took down Central 10-5 with the help of star player Tomas Hertl. Now for the final game of the weekend to end the amazing all-star weekend a championship matchup between Pacific versus Atlantic. By winning this final game the winner will then secure a one-million-dollar prize money amount. Taking home of the grand prize of the weekend was the Pacific team winning in a close game by 5-4. Once again Tomas Hertl was the star of the game scoring the final goal to end the 4-4 tie. 

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

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