SPORTS TEASER By George Hassell
Hello Sports Teaser fans, back for another month and thankfully there’s a lot to get to in the world of sports. Hard to believe that it’s already fall but in this
year 2020 anything goes. Is it really fall? Isn’t it still March? Whatever day or time or month it is we can talk sports at least. So let’s get to it!
Fall brings us our beloved football, fortunately, with college and pro games being played. Hopefully they will be able to complete this season and playoffs
and Super Bowl safely; we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
In the NFL the favorite seems to be the Kansas City Chiefs once again. Until somebody slows them down, I don’t see why not. Baltimore might have a
say but I just don’t see any other AFC team on their level. Watch out for Tennessee as well. Most of the attention will focus on the NFC where Tom Brady is
now a Tampa Bay Buccaneer…what??? They have certainly given him some weapons and toys to play with and they should be exciting to watch, He might
just lead them to the promised land or at least the playoffs. A fashionable pick as always seems to be the Dallas Cowboys, but until they prove it on the
field they may be another playoff-less season. San Francisco should compete as well. Locally I see a .500-ish season for the Falcons and a #TankForTrevor
season in Jacksonville.
College football is underway as well, with 3 of the Power 5 conferences playing a limited schedule, mostly conference games only. The Big Ten and Pac 12
have bowed out for this year. As of this writing, the SEC and Big 12 will have just kicked off its 10 game conference schedule and the ACC will have played
about three games. We’ll see how it shapes out with the usual suspects of Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Georgia seeming to be the cream of the crop.
You might add Florida into the mix, especially with the quarterback change at UGA. And, of course the Big Ten will kick off around Thanksgiving ha ha…
NO way that happens! Poor Justin Fields!
The boys of summer are at the tail end of their 60 game shortened season. The World Series should be up for grabs but the Dodgers seem to be the
favorite as they are loaded. Starting pitching is at a premium, as we have seen with the Braves lack thereof! Hopefully their highly potent offense will slug
them through the playoffs and to a World Series championship. Of course, this would be the year that they win it all and the season has a big ole’ asterisk
right next to it!
The PGA season ended with Dustin Johnson hoisting the FedEx cup, playing relentlessly through the playoffs. Only about 40 days until the Masters in
November...yes I said November. Although spectators (patrons at Augusta) will not be allowed, it’s still the Masters and will garner huge interest (stocking up
on my pimento cheese now). With the U.S. Open just being completed, we will have 6 majors within a 10 month period. One benefit of the condensed season
this past year and the upcoming majors is the PGA starts have come out and played in most of the tournaments, making it great golf theatre. Remember golf
and NASCAR were the first sports to emerge after the shut down and both probably garnered a lot of fans as a result of their desire for life sports.
Happy fall people and I’ll have some more crack sports analysis in November. Enjoy Tybee Time again!
22 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | OCT 2020