Monzanator

16 year old Mirra Andreeva with an emphatic 6-0 6-2 win over Ons Jabeur. Oh yes, those 16 year old Russians are coming and Andreeva has the mighty IMG agency backing so she's here to stay

Bills beat Steelers 31-17 which was the most predictable result while Buccaneers finished the Eagles collapse with a 32-9 win.

Eagles were 10-1 entering December and lost six of the last seven games since. There will be some changes in that franchise and I don't know if HC Sirianni survives this epic collapse.

Divisional Round:

Saturday: Texans @ Ravens (AFC) and Packers @ 49ers

Sunday: Buccaneers @ Lions and Chiefs @ Bills

I don't think Poland has ever lost to Faroe Islands in any team sport before. Could be a historical achievement here

Hold the phone! Detroit Lions have won a playoff game! Only their second postseason win in the Super Bowl era (since 1967). They beat LA Rams 24-23 and will host Buccaneers or Eagles in the Divisional round next weekend.

Packers won 48-32 and the game wasn't even that close. A complete horror show from Cowboys and some heads will roll there. No more sugarcoating the Dak Prescott experience. His ceiling is winning a wild card game and that is it.

Packers lead Cowboys 27-7 at half-time. Could be another huge playoffs choke from Cowboys and HC McCarthy might be axed if it remains a blowout IMO.

Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the Masters over Ali Carter 10-7 in the final. He was trailing 3-6 at one point. So he's both the youngest & oldest Masters winner in history now.

Tournament had two 147 breaks (Ding & Allen)

Linette retired injured. SF points down the drain but it was a tall order she'd have beaten Wozniacki even if healthy.

Alina Korneeva scores her first GS MD win taking down the veteran Sara Sorribes Tormo in three sets.

Texans brushed Browns aside 45-14 while Chiefs beat the pedestrian Dolphins 26-7 in freezing cold (they said it was the lowest temperature measured during a KC game ever).

Brenda Fruhvirtova gets her first Grand Slam MD win (over Ana Bogdan in three sets). Reward is probably Aryna Sabalenka in R2.

Amanda Anisimova takes down #13 Liudmila Samsonova who is the first women's seed to go out.

Rookie QB in first half...

Wild card round is about to start in 20 mins.

Bills vs Steelers has been postponed from Sunday to Monday due to heavy snow alert and a travel ban imposed by the governor

Ski jumping as a sport is nose-diving. The idea to remove quotas from the top nations won't really expand the minnows and well, it will get worse since Sandro Pertile is talking complete nonsense about hosting regular events indoors or in countries like Brazil. Yeah, good luck with that (except Saudi Arabia or Dubai might be the only countries which can afford building such an useless thing as indoor ski jumping hill).

3 hours ago, Federer91 said:

But the night sessions are still there, they are not getting rid of them. 

Yeah, but it's about having only two matches in night session. Expanding R1 into three days means some show courts won't even have a night session on Sunday.

25 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

Aaahm, since when is AO starting on a Sunday  Now why are they doing this and disrupting the Sunday wintersport schedule Tennis Australia wanting to squeeze the good attendance money. 

Since 2024 Obviously it also has something to do with many R1 matches and night schedule that causes public friction among players. Starting a match at 1:00 am ain't no longer cool...

5 hours ago, rafalgorka said:

GB and US war vs Houthi in Yemen? 
 

Rishi Sunak calls the government meet later today , they say

Yup, USA and UK are on it. Probably nobody will even ask for cassus belli since they won't call it a war in first place

Last year's AO Junior champion Alina Korneeva (whom I told to look out for  ) has qualified for her first GS Main Draw. She saved 2 MP in Q2 and breezed over Anna Bondar in the final Q round just now.

New England Patriots will also have a new HC

Some unexpected coach firings the last two days. Mike Vrabel is out @ Tennesee Titans and Pete Carroll will only remain as an advisor with Seattle Seahawks.

35 minutes ago, tuniscof said:

I am very surprised there is no contest in January 2024🤔 no football AFCON, no Asian Cup, no men's handball EURO 2024 or Tennis Australian Open 🤔

The poll results ruled out all events starting in January   The unsinkable water polo contest will start on February 2nd

On 1/6/2024 at 5:09 PM, rafalgorka said:

Btw , I wonder if Andreeva sisters will change their flag as well like some other Russian athletes? We will see

Given how Mirra Andreeva liked the infamous IG post with birthday wishes to Putin I would say that's unlikely to happen.

Those two 40+ yds rushing TD from Michigan really set the tone for this game. Washington was always up against it since then.

15 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Polish former ski jumper Mateusz Rutkowski, 2004 junior world champion, has died, aged 37.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mateusz_Rutkowski

 

Only 11 World Cup starts in his career, which already ended in 2006. I'm sure our Polish users have heard more about it, but according to Wikipedia there had been tons of problems with alcohol, weight issues and such. Sounds tragic  

Yeah, Rutkowski was billed by our media as the "next Małysz" after beating Morgenstern for the individual Junior WCh in 2004 but it all unravelled very quickly due to alcohol. He lost his driving licence for drunk driving in 2005 so he was basically completely gone within two years. Funnily enough Kamil Stoch who was also on the 2004 Junior WCh silver medal team became Małysz's heir.

Regular season ended yesterday. Here's the playoff bracket:

No real surprise for the Top 3 order. Iga Świątek wins the Sports Personality Award, Zmarzlik in 2nd place and Śliwka in 3rd.