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- The elusive Sports Equinox 🌙
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Halloween is just around the corner. Daylight savings kicks in next week. We have a legendary “Sports Equinox” happening Monday. You could say things are getting a bit spooky around here as we dive deeper into Fall. Some fun stories for you this week (in no particular order):
Swifty football 🏈 → Rude babies 👶 → World Series Baseball ⚾️ → Pigs 🐗 → Yards 📏
Lets go ⬇️
THIS PAST WEEK ⏮
You could say things are getting serious
Taylor Swift ⭐️ has now been to 4 of the last 5 Kansas City games and has served as a good luck charm for the team — even the analytics prove it! During the airing of the game, CBS flashed a metric showing how Travis Kelce 🏈 averages more than double the number of yards when Taylor is in the house. He kept the ball rolling Sunday with a career-defining game, catching 12 passes for 179 yards and 1 touchdown (all very good numbers). |  |
Sports psychic?
📅 Last week: SportsBall created a SKIMS vs MLB chart saying there should be a collab. 📅 This week: Kim K announces the SKIMS Men product line fronted by some of the biggest athletes in sports. Names like Nick Bosa 🏈, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 🏀, and Neymar Jr. ⚽️ all appear in the first look — we must have our finger on the pulse over here. |  |
Start ‘em young
In our ~featured NFL 🏈 game~ last weekend, the Eagles beat the Dolphins by a score of 31-17, again cementing them as a premier team in the league. One thing to know about the Eagles is that the fans in Philadelphia can be a bit… well… greasy. They’re known for their lovable(?), rude behavior and we saw a great clip of an up-and-coming supporter learning the ways of Philadelphia. ➡️ Philly also donned some sweet new “Kelly green” jerseys you can see here. |  |
Everything’s bigger in Texas
In the MLB ⚾️, we now have the final matchup set for the World Series. This comes after a very dramatic week with both series ending in a “winner-take-all” game 7. On Monday, the Texas Rangers thumped the Houston Astros. This is largely thanks to a legendary game/series from Adolis Garcia, who had multiple huge home runs. ➡️ |  |
I got Snakes fever!
On Tuesday, the Arizona Diamondbacks ⚾️went into Philadelphia and won game 7 against the Phillies, quieting the Philly crowd and continuing their Cinderella story. When the playoffs started, the Diamondbacks only had a 6% chance to make the World Series compared to a whopping 41% chance for the favorite Braves. We love an underdog, and they now have the chance to win their first championship since 2001! Don’t miss our Athlete of the Week section below to see how the chaos is continuing in Arizona. ⬇️ |  |
LEARNING MODULE 💡
Quarterback Yards 🏈
1 yard = 3 feet = the simple metric that the NFL relies upon for just about every type of stat. Quarterbacks are commonly measured on how many passing yards they get in a game:
Over 300 = 🤯
200-300 = 😉
100-200 = 😧
Under 100 = 😵
Something folks may not know is that passing yards can be split into two categories, “air yards” and yards after catch. For example: Claire the QB throws the ball to Riley the receiver who is 3 yards away. Riley then catches it and runs 27 more yards (go Riley). Claire the QB is then awarded 30 passing yards for that play which was really just 3 air yards and 27 yards after the catch. See how it can be a bit confusing?
This concept also lends itself to quarterbacks getting doubted and questioned throughout the year. Something you could hear someone say is “Brock Purdy is only good because he throws short passes to Cristian McCaffrey who then runs a long way”. This would be like someone saying “Olivia Rodrigo is an industry plant who’s only popular because of her label”. Obviously, we had to take a deeper look at what is really going on.
We put together a SportsBall chart that compares NFL quarterback air yards to yards run by receivers after they catch the ball, in an effort to see which QB is really getting the most help from their receivers so far in 2023. Essentially, who can we rightfully throw shade at? On the left side, we rank the air yards each quarterback has, and on the right side, we rank the yards after the catch that the quarterback still gets credit for. A helpful translation below:
Upslope 📈: Quarterbacks that get more help from receivers
Downslope 📉: Quarterbacks that are doing it all themselves
What we can see here is that someone who is scrutinized like Brock Purdy actually does a lot more himself than counterparts like Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. Then you have Matt Stafford who essentially gets no help from his receivers, poor guy. And Olivia Rodrigo is for real.
Next time you see the yardage stats flash on the TV, you can understand a level deeper and maybe spark a little debate. So the question now: is Travis Kelce doing all the work for Patrick Mahomes?
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 🏆
The Conqueror of Golf
The PGA Tour ⛳️ season doesn’t kick off until January but we’re already seeing domination on the golf course in early fall. Who could it be? Rory McIlroy? Scottie Scheffler? No!
The newcomer who’s been tearing up golf courses in Arizona this week is none other than the mighty Javelina. ➡️ I know what you’re thinking… That’s a cute little harmless wild pig. |  |
But what you may not know is these little omnivores roll around the American Southwest in huge packs, scouring for food and running amock. This past week, a groundskeeper at Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona showed up to work only to find that the golf course was torn to shreds by our furry friends. Javelinas eat mostly plants, roots, and insects, meaning their “hunts” include digging. It just so happens that this buffet took place on an unlucky golf course Sunday.
This may be an uphill battle for the golf community. Previous enemies of the sport include water sanctions and land conservationists, so winning a PR war against a cute little rodent isn’t in the golf industry’s wheelhouse. Plus, javelinas are technically a game animal in Arizona meaning you can’t “get rid” of them even if they’re being a nuisance. That might look a little different in Texas… |  |
The tenacity and moxie of the javelinas have landed them as the SportsBall Athlete of the Week 👑, a storied group.
THIS NEXT WEEK ⏭
Sports Equinox
For all the astrology fans out there, this upcoming Monday is the 29th Sports Equinox ever. This means that every major sport has games played on the same day. There will be game 3 of the World Series ⚾️, Monday Night Football 🏈, 11 NBA 🏀 games, and 9 NHL 🏒 games all coinciding at once.
Mondays am I right?
Rugby 💪
The championship match of the Rugby World Cup is happening Saturday between New Zealand and South Africa at 12PM PST on Peacock. We watched the semifinals last week and the sport was so easy to follow and entertaining for newcomers, even Claire loved it. So give it a shot and make sure to tune in a little early to see the New Zealand squad performing the Haka. |  |
MLB World Series ⚾️
Between now and next Thursday, there will be at least four World Series games between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers. The Rangers currently have a 52% chance of winning but if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that the odds can get thrown out the window. Game times below:
Game 1: Friday 10/27 in Texas
Game 2: Saturday 10/28 in Texas
Game 3: Monday 10/30 in Arizona
Game 4: Tuesday 10/31 🎃 in Arizona
Game 5 (if needed): Wednesday 11/1 in Arizona
NFL 🏈
It’s a bit of a dud weekend for the NFL, with no huge games between good teams and nothing tickling our fancy over here. Rest assured, the men in your life won’t be dissuaded from watching seven straight hours on Sunday! The three games that miiiiight be good are below ⬇️
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Sunday 10AM PST
Cleveland Browns vs. the Seattle Seahawks: Sunday 1PM PST
Cincinnati Bengals vs the San Francisco 49ers: Sunday 1:25PM PST
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to share SportsBall with your referral link.
— Riley and Claire
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