🏉 Time For Some Touchdowns

September 09, 2022

Are you ready for some football, it's Friday, 9 September. You probably know this by now, but the Queen has died. The sports community is honouring and remembering Queen Elizabeth II all around the world today and most likely for the days and perhaps weeks to come. One sporting league that will pay tribute to the Queen is the NFL. It's back today and we look at the upcoming season, Steph Gilmore's record-breaking win and a US Open epic. Let's dive in.

⏱ 1,575 words = 8 minutes

👀 What. A. Shot!

THE MAIN GAME

🏉 American football returns on any given... Friday

286 games, 32 teams, 1 Super Bowl and billions of dollars - the National Football Season is back!

Golden points: The biggest sports league in the USA starts this morning in LA with the defending Super Bowl champions the LA Rams playing this season's Super Bowl favourites the Buffalo Bills. The NFL is absolutely massive in the US. How big? Let's compare it to the AFL, the biggest league in Australia.

  • Now, the US is obviously much, much bigger than Australia but you get the picture - the NFL is massive.

  • Looking at the TV numbers, the Super Bowl this year between the Rams and Bengals was watched by 208 million in the US (roughly 2/3 of the population). Compare that to the AFL grand final last year, which had 3.9 million tuning in (around 15% of the population).

  • The NFL is so popular, the games draw huge crowds (the average was 66,000 across the league before the pandemic) and because demand is higher than supply (shoutout to Year 11 economics) the ticket prices are pricey. The average price for the cheapest match of the season is a cool $235.

  • As for what you can expect on the field, the Bills, Rams, Bengals, Tom Brady's Buccaneers and the 49ers are predicted to be the top teams this season.

  • Bills quarterback Josh Allen is the favourite to be the league's most valuable player. He's tall, big, can pass, can run - can do it all.

  • 14 of the 32 teams make the playoffs, with the grand final aka the Super Bowl played in a different city each season - it's in Arizona this season.

Key click: Here's a fun season preview from the team at The Ringer.

Watch it: Monday mornings are awesome for Aussie NFL fans. Games will be shown on 7mate, Foxtel and Kayo and if you're really keen you can stream every game using NFL Game Pass.

QUICK SINGLES:

👑 Vale: Sport around the world pauses to honour the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. As mentioned at the top, the Queen died this morning aged 96. Day 2 of the England-South Africa Test match in London has been suspended, as has play at the BMW PGA Championship in the UK. Manchester United and Arsenal held a moment of silence before their European matches this morning and the same will happen at the US Open the NFL season opener today in Los Angeles. If the news has you down, check out her entrance to the 2012 London Olympics - only the Queen can keep 007 waiting!

🏏 Cricket: Australia comes from nowhere to beat the Black Caps. Things were looking real bleak for Australia at 5-54, but Steve Smith's 61 and an unbeaten 48-run partnership between tailenders Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood dragged them to 9-195. It turned out that score was more than enough. Starc struck in his 1st over, Adam Zampa took a career-best 5-35 and Sean Abbott finished with figures of 2-1 from 5 overs as the Kiwis were bowled out for 82, their 2nd lowest ODI score against Australia. It means Australia has won the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with a match to spare.

🏄‍♀️ Surfing: Stephanie Gilmore wins her 8th world surfing championship. Gilmore went from the bottom to the top on the final day of the World Surf League season today in California. Gilmore won 3 consecutive heats and beat world #1 Carissa Moore in the final. Gilmore was tied with fellow Aussie Layne Beachley on 7 world titles but she now holds the record all for herself. She won her 1st title as a rookie in 2007 - 15 years later she's considered the greatest female surfer ever. She summed up the win rather nicely: "F*** yeah!".

🎾 Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz wins a history-making quarter-final. Spanish young gun Alcaraz beat Italian Jannick Sinner in 5-sets in more than 5 hours to reach the US Open semi-finals. The match finished at 2:50am local time, making it the latest finish to a US Open match ever. But for those who stuck around at Arthur Ashe Stadium, they witnessed the next generation of men's tennis put together a masterpiece of a match. Some of the points were unbelievable (check out the highlights below). Alcaraz now plays American Frances Tiafoe in one semi and in the other is between Russian Karen Khachanov and Norway's Casper Ruud. The women's semis are on this morning from 9am AEST.

⚽️ Football: Chelsea is hoping for some magic from new manager Potter. Graham Potter has been signed by Chelsea from Brighton (for reportedly $27 million thank you very much) and replaced Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked on Wednesday. Potter took Brighton to 9th on the EPL ladder last year and has them in 4th spot as he leaves to become Chelsea's 30th manager.

LEFT OF FIELD

🏀 NBA: Each year, a new edition of the NBA video game 2K series is released and one of the big talking points is the players' overall ratings. The game comes out today and some of the players ain't real happy about their rating. Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant called his rating of 96 (the 2nd highest in the game) "laughable" - he wants to be a 99. Golden State sharpshooter Klay Thompson called 2K Sports "bums" for rating his 3-point shooting only 88 (he might have a point here). But Aussie youngster Josh Giddey was pretty happy with his rating of 82. Don't hate the player, hate the (video) game.

📽 Highlight reel: Some of the rallies in the Alcaraz-Skinner match were just insane but nothing tops the shot Alacaraz pulls off at the 58-second mark. Nothing!

Vid: US Open

📸 Photo finish: Here's Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee asking Queen Elizabeth II for her autograph during the Centenary Test at the MCG in 1977. The Queen politely declined but a few weeks later Lillee received a signed photo a few weeks later.

Pic: University of Melbourne

THE POLLING BOOTH

Thursday's result: 60.49% agree that Nick Kyrgios will win a tennis singles grand slam one day.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING (HINT: FOOTY!)

  • 🎾 9:00am Friday - Tennis - US Open, Day 11, Women's Semi-Finals - Flushing Meadows, New York City - 9Gem, Stan Sport

  • 🏉 7:50pm Friday - NRL - Panthers v Eels, Qualifying Final - BlueBet Stadium, Penrith - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏉 7:50pm Friday - AFL - Demons v Lions, Semi-Final - MCG, Melbourne - 7 Sport, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🎾 9:00am Saturday - Tennis - US Open, Day 12, Men's Semi-Finals - Flushing Meadows, New York City - 9Gem, Stan Sport

  • 🏉 4:10pm Saturday - AFLW - Cats v Magpies - GMHBA Stadium, Geelong - 7 Sport (Melb), Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏉 5:40pm Saturday - NRL - Storm v Raiders, Elimination Final - AAMI Park, Melbourne - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏉 7:25pm Saturday - AFL - Magpies v Dockers, Semi-Final - MCG, Melbourne - 7 Sport, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏉 7:50pm Saturday - NRL - Sharks v Cowboys, Qualifying Final - PointsBet Stadium, Cronulla - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🎾 9:00am Sunday - Tennis - US Open, Day 12, Women's Final - Flushing Meadows, New York City - 9Gem, Stan Sport

  • 🏉 1:10pm Sunday - NRLW - Knights v Roosters - Allianz Stadium, Sydney - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏏 2:20pm Sunday - Cricket - Australia v New Zealand, 3rd ODI - Cazalys Stadium, Cairns - Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏉 4:05pm Sunday - NRL - Roosters v Rabbitohs, Elimination Final - Allianz Stadium, Sydney - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

  • 🏎 9:30pm Sunday - F1 - Italian Grand Prix - Monza, Italy - Foxtel, Kayo

All times AEST

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