Miesha Tate

The Rundown: 5 Things to Know about the NFL

Are you ready for some football? The NFL regular season starts tomorrow night and we can see the excitement written all over your face. Don’t worry, even if you’re not planning to watch one game, we have you covered so you can still talk shop with the best of them. 

Huddle up,

The Last Night’s Game Team

PS – We are working on a football FAQ to answer all of your curious football questions. Stay tuned! Have one you want us to answer? Email us!

Five things to know about the 2016 NFL season

  1. The season is longer than Taylor Swift’s last relationship - it starts in September and ends with the Super Bowl, which is typically the first Sunday in February. Over 17.6 million fans saw a game in person last season.   
  2. This year, four regular season NFL games will be played outside of the U.S. with three games in Europe and and one in Mexico City. There’s an agreement in place to play a game in China in 2018.  
  3. NFL does not have fully guaranteed contracts like the NBA and MLB where a player’s contracts states they will receive the full amount no matter what. Football players play one of the most demanding sports but they can face a career ending injury and not be paid out the contract balance. Although some players have been able to negotiate in a cushion. For example, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck signed a six-year, $120 million deal; of that $87 million guaranteed. 
  4. The NFL was a tax exempt organization from 1942-2015 despite the fact that television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales and other revenue earned by the 32 teams were all taxed. Dropping this status means that the NFL will no longer have to disclose important financial information such as Commissioner Roger Goodell’s $44 million salary. 
  5. According to Vegas Insider, these teams are the favorites to win Super Bowl 51 :
    1. New England Patriots
    2. Green Bay Packers
    3. Seattle Seahawks
    4. Pittsburgh Steelers
    5. Carolina Panthers

NFL (National Football League)

  • Here we go! The NFL season will kick off tomorrow night with a rematch of Super Bowl 50. The Carolina Panthers will take on Denver Broncos in Denver. Tune in to see if Cam Newton will be giving away footballs to kids or if Super Bowl MVP Von Miller will be dancing his way to victory.  
  • Slap in the face. Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman has been an analyst for FOX NFL since 2001. Despite his tenure, FOX signed Aikman’s nemesis Skip Bayless for his own show this fall. Aikman and Bayless have a history of bad blood stemming from the time Bayless claimed in his book that Aikman was gay - without any proof. "To say I’m disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be an enormous understatement,” Aikman said. 
  • Quick recovery. Houston Texans standout defensive player JJ Watt has been cleared to play in week one after undergoing back surgery in July.

Overtime

  • UFC’s Miesha Tate flexed her muscles for good over the weekend. She was hiking Nevada’s Mt. Charleston when she came across a little girl, Kai, who had broken her arm while hiking with her mom. Mom was struggling to get Kai down the mountain so Tate picked her up and carried her down the rest of the two-mile trail. Afterward, there was no shortage of mutual love going on between the two on social media.   

Sideline stat

Coaches’ corner

  • It takes a strong woman to be the head coach of the house during football season and the NFL has its fair share of celebrity power couples who do just that.
    • Singer Ciara and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson
    • New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and model Giselle Bündchen
    • TV star and designer Kristin (Cavallari) Cutler and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler
    • New York Jets receiver Eric Decker and singer Jessie James Decker
    • Actress Olivia Munn and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers

The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up - Historic Win

History was made this weekend and no we're not talking about Finding Dory. The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the NBA's reigning champions, Golden State Warriors. Didn’t catch the game? Don’t worry we have the recap so you can join the conversation at the water cooler this Monday morning.

Just keep swimming,

The Last Night’s Game Team

NBA (National Basketball Association)

  • Streak broken. Last week the Cleveland Cavaliers were down 3-1 and they were on a nearly impossible path to an NBA Championship. In fact, no team in the NBA Finals had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the championship. Queue LeBron James who made a promise to Cleveland two years ago that he would win them a championship; something the city of Cleveland hadn’t had in any sport since 1964.

Last night in one of the most exciting game sevens in NBA history, the Cavs won it all. The game was tied with under one minute to go when Cavs' Kyrie Irving hit an eventual game winning three-point shot. James sunk a free throw (after injuring his wrist) to close out the game and bring home a 93-89 win.

  • MVP. An emotional James won his third NBA Finals MVP title and became the first player to lead all players in a series in points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks.

College Baseball World Series

  • Upsets abound. In Omaha, unranked teams from University of Arizona and Coastal Carolina provided big upsets over University of Florida (#1) and University of Miami (#3) to move on to the next round. Follow the bracket here. 

PGA Golf (Professional Golfer's Association of America)

  • Achievement. Dustin Johnson came from behind to win the U.S. Open and his first major. Johnson was able to avoid big mistakes as everyone else around him seemed to fade. (Johnson's fiancée is NHL great Wayne Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina. He is also a bit of a bad boy known for his failed drug tests and alleged extramarital affairs with a fellow golfer’s wife).

Soccer

  • Big game. It's a big game on Tuesday night for U.S. Men’s Soccer. The team will face Argentina and one of the best players in the world, Lionel Messi, in the Copa America Centenario semifinals. Argentina has scored 14 goals while only giving up two in four games. The U.S. will be without two key players because of penalties. Both Jermaine Jones and Bobby Wood received red cards during the last match and therefore must sit out Tuesday night.  You can watch the match at 9 pm (EST) on Fox Sports One.
  • Mission accomplished. On Saturday Chile handed Mexico an embarrassing loss defeating them 7-0 and eliminating them from the tournament. Chile will face Columbia on Wednesday for a spot in the finals.

Overtime

  • UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) bantamweight champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate will join Team Coco tonight when she makes an appearance on the Conan O’Brien Show (TBS). Tate is best known for taking down UFC champion Holly Holm.

Sideline stat

  • Last night’s NBA Finals featured 20 lead changes and 11 ties - now that's exciting!

Coaches’ corner

  • Nico Rosberg added to his overall lead in the F1 standings by winning the European Grand Prix. Rosberg may have won but F1 racing’s radio communication ban was the star of the show. The ban limits radio communication between the driver and crew with the goal of making sure the driver is driving the car on their own, that they're not being told how to drive the car. The ban really came to light when frustrated driver Lewis Hamilton was in need of assistance. He somehow managed to change an engine setting on his car and his crew was unable to tell him how to fix it because of the ban. Luckily for Hamilton, he eventually figured it out but it cost him points in the race. 

 

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