News Roundup 10/23/20
NBA Bubble Was A Success
The 2019-2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) season concluded on Oct. 11, when the Los Angeles Lakers became champions for the 17 time in team history. After the NBA season was postponed in March because of COVID-19, they resorted to a bubble system in Orlando, FL that started in July and ended recently. During those three months, NBA players and staff were not permitted to leave the bubble or else they got kicked out and masks were mandatory at all times except during games. There were zero positive cases during the bubble because of the strict rules the league had set in order to prevent the virus from spreading.
Source: Sporting News
NFL’s COVID Situation
The NFL has been dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks for the past couple of weeks, leaving many team’s schedules have been affected drastically. The Patriots and Titans were the teams who had outbreaks and caused the leagues to reschedule games. The other teams affected were the Steelers, Broncos, Jets, Dolphins, Chargers, Chiefs and Bills. None of them have any cases of COVID-19. The NFL says that if any more games are postponed, they are open to a Week 18 to make up those games since most of the teams already had their week off.
Source: Sports Illustrated
The World Series is Set
After having COVID-19 concerns, the MLB finally played their season and the fall classic is set. The American League Champions, Tampa Bay Rays, will face off against the National League Champions, Los Angeles Dodgers. Both teams had to play seven game series each in order to advance. The Rays are looking for their first championship after falling short against the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. The Dodgers are making their third World Series appearance in the last four years, after losing to the Houston Astros in 2017 and the Boston Red Sex in 2018. They are looking to become champions for the first time since 1988.
Source: Baseball Reference
Source: MLB
Tennessee Titans May Not Be Punished
The Titans had a COVID-19 outbreak in September, causing the league to postpone and reschedule two of their games. The Bills vs Titans game ended up playing in week 5 instead of week 4 and the Titans vs Steelers games got moved to Week 8 instead of Week 5. After concluding the investigation on how the outbreak happened, the NFL may not punish the Titans like many people expected. People wanted the NFL to forfeit Titans games and take away draft picks, but the harshest thing the NFL will do is fine Tennessee.
Source: CBS Sports
Big Ten Football Returns
After originally postponing fall sports in Aug, the Big Ten decided to play football. After seeing other conferences play and hearing the frustration from players and coaches from their conference wanting to play, they changed their vote in Sept. to bring back football. The teams will be playing a shortened season without bye weeks. B1G teams are eligible for bowl games and for the College Football Playoff. B1G football starts this Friday with Illinois vs Wisconsin and the Pacific 12 returning in Nov. all Division 1 conferences will be playing.
Source: Big Ten
Source: New York Post