The sports weeks come, the sports weeks go. When the latter occurs, Sunday State of Mind shows up to remind you of the former.
Cam Newton is back in the blue black and gray Signed earlier this week, scored twice on Sunday A quick turnaround for the big quarterback Announced to the league “I’m back, I’m back”
More NFL moves, Rams did it again Signed Odell Beckham, they’re still all in OBJ in LA, it just sounds right Rams O has no reds, only green lights
The Detroit Lions did not lose! They didn’t win either, don’t get confused A tie with the Steelers, score was 16-16 No victory or loss, something in between
This week we tipped off college basketball Really getting into the sports schedule of fall Field seems wide open, blue bloods and mid majors Plenty of action out there for some wagers
A spooky, after dark edition of SSM this week. We take a scary hayrack ride through the week that was in the sports world. Those scrappy bad guy Astros, just keep hangin’ ’round The Braves could have been World Series champs, no king yet has been crowned Atlanta still up 3-2, one more win on the way? They’ll get a chance to become champs this coming Tuesday
The Jets have won a game! What a New Jersey dream Even more impressive, they beat a first place team Tough loss for the Bengals, hopefully a minor stop In what would be a great season while rising to the top
Sticking in the AFC East, but opposite result Dolphins lose their seventh straight, total football insult The Bills bounce back for a win, after a Monday loss Come playoff time, Bills Mafia will not be crossed
The NBA is in full swing, the sports world has no lulls The Eastern Conference has been surprising: Knicks, Hornets, and Bulls Out in the Western Conference, Clippers are 1-4 Hope it will get better, a start the Clips ignore
Got an in state battle, down in East Lansing Sparty came out, beat big brother, totally did their thing A tough loss for Michigan, but they’re still top 10 Another ranked opponent beating Jim Harbaugh again
A really tough two weeks for Iowa football Number two two weeks ago, since then been all fall After losing to Wisconsin, another unranked foe Hawkeyes fall to number 19, there their playoff dreams go
Caleb Williams and the Sooners, rolled up Texas Tech Six touchdowns through the air, Red Raiders saying “what the heck?” Incredible start to a career, the young man is a battler Continues to be special and play over Spencer Rattler
We saw anything and everything this week in sports. We look back fondly in the latest edition of Sunday State of Mind.
A rarely seen building raid, in the NFL Washington Football Team, what in the actual hell? Head trainer got busted, DEA involved Wonder what the charges are, once this all gets solved
Another rarity in sports, a big time title fight Fury/Wilder III, a boxing fan’s delight Fury did his job, retained the title belt A crushing blow to Wilder, to whom defeat was dealt
Number three vs. number four, in college football Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes, big defensive brawl Iowa losing early, came back from down 14 Huge win over PSU, a storming the field scene
Another storming happened, down in College Station Texas A&M pulled the upset for Aggie Nation Such a rarity to see Alabama lose Anytime it happens it’s legit breaking news
Playoff time in baseball, division series round Most series are tight, good matchups can be found At the time of writing, only the White Sox down 2-0 Getting swept after their year would be a major blow
The biggest sporting event in the great state of Iowa is this week. That’s right, it’s Cy-Hawk football week. While the Cy-Hawk, as noted in the picture above, is technically a series, the biggest event between The University of Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones is the annual football game. So much so, that the football game itself is worth three points, while the rest of the sports are worth two.
This year’s game is just a bit bigger, though. Both teams are ranked in the top 10, surprisingly the first time both teams have been ranked at all before kickoff. Additionally, ESPN’s College GameDay will be in Ames. Any college football fan knows when Corso and the squad are Comin’ To Your Citaaay, it just hits different.
On Wednesday, the Cyclone Equipment Staff announced their uniform selections for the big game:
Now, for the uninformed, it must be noted that these are typically Iowa State’s uniforms. In the interest of fairness, these are typically Iowa’s uniforms.
Before we dig any deeper here, transparency is key. I am a graduate of The University of Iowa. Hand up, I have some skin in this game. OK, now I feel better.
This is an ultimate troll by ISU, and I love it. As you can imagine, the troll worked perfectly and the Twitter mentions were an absolute dumpster fire. If you don’t have the time or the heart to look, here’s the generic back and forth:
Every Hawkeye Fan: LOLZ! Why does little brother have to dress like us?!?!
Every Cyclone Fan: I wasn’t aware Iowa owns the color black, dumbass!
This is what sports are all about. Rivalries are always fun, especially ones like this, where there isn’t a whole lot else to get up for sports-wise in my home state. So, let the corn on the cob boil, the Busch Light flow, and all Iowans come together for the most important game in a series that dates back to 1894.
What a long holiday weekend. So long that SSM was delayed until the following week. Let’s look back at the week that was in last week’s Sunday State of Mind.
College football’s back, a fact you can’t deny America’s favorite sport’s existence is no longer dry Had some big time matchups, more on that below We won’t be without football until we all see snow
Biggest matchup of the week was Georgia and Clemson Number three and number five, pregame sounded fun A battle of attrition, final score was 10-3 Georgia with the “upset,” week one victory
The other name brand matchup, ‘Bama and The U Crimson Tide and Miami, Bama’s lead just grew and grew Coach Saban and the boys took it to the Canes A 30+ point win, all that’s left were The U’s remains
Our final review of Week 1, FSU and Notre Dame Just another one of this debut week’s big time games The Irish got the dub, that’s the result that’s built in Best story from the game though, the returning McKenzie Milton
After a long week of sports, we’re here to review in this week’s SSM.
We crowned a brand new champ this week in the NBA Giannis took the whole thing over, in a dominant way Even better than basketball, maybe his best display Fifty nuggets and an all-time video, drive through Chik-Fil-A
The Tampa Bay Bucs got their fat ass rings One of the better perks of being NFL kings That 43 year old quarterback just continues to linger If he holds on any more, he’s going to run out of fingers
Opposite side of greatness, USA basketball Pre-Olympic struggles, and to France they did fall We’ve been historically spoiled, not used to being rolled Need Pop and the boys to get going, if they want to get the gold
The summer of college football continues to be one of change Texas and Oklahoma, nearing a conference rearrange Leaving the Big 12 to move to the SEC This will not be the last big move, that’s a guarantee
Tuesday was a historic day in college sports. The NCAA officially enacted a name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy that allows “student” athletes to earn money off of their…name, image, and likeness. This finally allows any college athlete to (legally) earn income that they rightfully deserve.
We’ve already seen Fresno State basketball/TikTok stars Haley and Hanna Cavinder signed deals with Boost Mobile and Six Star Nutrition, Miami quarterback D’Eriq King is the new spokesman for the moving company College Hunks Hauling Junk, LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne could crack a million dollars from her NIL, and Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz straight up released his own logo.
An NIL approval plan was looooong overdue. Of course, as most things with the NCAA, it wasn’t handled correctly. But you can’t have sunshine without rain, right? We’ll see our fair share of car dealerships, autograph deals, and card signing gigs after today’s announcement. But what kind of player endorsements could we have missed out on in years past?
College football seems to benefit huge from the NIL agreement. Can you imagine if we could have seen Reggie Bush RE/MAX Real Estate ads? Andrew Luck working with the Palo Alto Mathnasium? Tim Tebow could have been taking a cut of Sunday tithe in any of the churches in the greater Gainsville area; Cam Newton missed an opportunity with the local Edward Jones Financial branch in Auburn, Alabama.
College basketball has had plenty of stars who could have cashed in back in their day. You can’t tell me a Joakim Noah/Gainesville CBD Store partnership wouldn’t have slapped. Greg Oden linking up with the ATI Physical Therapy in Columbus? Get out of here. Tyler Hansbrough toting Off! Bug Spray? Cha-ching. It’s not just the fellas who missed out on securing the bag. Diana Taurasi and Rebecca Lobo, two of the most dominant UConn Huskies of all time, could’ve crushed it with an ad campaign for the Humane Society. Sabrina Ionescu, the 2020 number one overall pick in the WNBA Draft, played her college ball at Oregon. How great would it have been to have a (paid) cameo appearance on “Portlandia?”
Just scratching the surface here, but don’t want to get too deep and depress all of us even more on what could’ve been. We’ll just have to grin and bear it and accept the fact that that these kids who give an incredible amount to their universities will now be duly paid whatever they can get out there and earn on the free market.
A special Easter edition of Sunday State of Mind. Take some time away from the peeps to read this week’s SSM.
Gonzaga’s heading to the title game A buzzer beater worthy of the Hall of Fame Jalen Suggs banked in the buzzer beater The Bulldogs still riding their season-long heater
So the title game’s set, March Madness winding down Tomorrow we’ll know who’ll don the crown It’s Baylor and Gonzaga, the top two squads Whoever cuts down the nets will be basketball Gods
In other sporting news, baseball is back America’s pastime’s fans are jacked First home run of the year, Miggy in the snow! An awesome start to this year for The Show
The Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament is winding down. We saw some regression to the mean and some big dog’s continue to roll. We recap in this week’s SSM.
Loyola has fallen, no more Sister Jean Oregon State was tough, looked plenty mean The Ramblers played well, but OSU played great The twelfth-seeded Beavers headed to the Elite Eight
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, this year’s Cinderella Their parade was rained on by Arkansas, no umbrella The Razorbacks locked up ORU like an old school jailer Next up for Arkansas in the Elite Eight? One seed Baylor.
The top seeds keep rolling including Michigan The Wolverines rolled FSU and won again Juwan Howard has his boys posed for a deep run It looks like Michigan is far from done
The third remaining one seed, Gonzaga Bulldogs Remain clear-minded winners, no signs of fog An 18 point win in the Sweet Sixteen The Zags are 29-0, their perfect record’s still clean
We are coming to the end of one of the greatest weekends on the sports calendar every year. That’s right, March Madness is in full swing, and we’re here to recap opening weekend in this week’s SSM.
Our first big upset, Oral Roberts over Ohio State The Buckeyes were flat, Golden Eagles were great Florida’s next in the bracket for ORU Will the Cinderella story end or continue?
The best team in the country, Gonzaga Bulldogs Came out smooth in round one, no plugs, no clogs They took it to Norfolk, 98-55 was the score Hard not to imagine The Zags in the Final Four
Another huge upset, this time the East bracket Abilene Christian came in and caused a huge racket They took out big brother in the Texas Longhorns Turns out ACU was big brother, Texas were newborns
The Baylor Bears have looked the part Two strong wins so far, a solid start Hartford and Wisconsin caught the Bears wrath Are Scott Drew and the boys on a championship path?