Ex-teammates Brady, Garoppolo at helm of last unbeatens
BULLS OF THE WEEK
It’s ironic that the former quarterbacking tandem of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo are at the helm of the two undefeated teams left standing in the NFL this season.
At an annual salary of US$35 million per year, the 42-yearold Brady and his New England Patriots are 7-0 while Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers are 6-0. In the second year of his fiveyear, Us$137.5-million contract that averages US$27.5 million per season, Garoppolo, 27, has already cashed in on US$74.1 million in guarantees and last year’s $35-million signing bonus.
Despite all of that star power and investment in the QB slot, both teams are where they are going into Week 8 because of their suffocating team defences.
In the opening week of the new NBA season, Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors made headlines, picking up where they left off as champions in June. The only difference is that Leonard is now making a splash with the Los Angeles Clippers, who are looking dominant after two double-digit margins of victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.
The Raptors will be hardpressed to repeat last year’s first NBA title, but they enjoyed their night of championship banners and rings before an average national audience of 744,000, making their home opener the most-watched NBA regular season game in Canadian TV history. A total of 2.6 million Canadians tuned into at least some of the game, an overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Yet no one has been more bullish in the business of sport this week than the Washington Nationals. For the third consecutive week, the Nationals are dictating the tempo for Major League Baseball. Winning the first two games of the World Series on the road is impressive. After winning a record eight straight in the post-season and 16 of their last 18 games, The Nationals entered Friday’s Game 3 favoured to win their first World Series championship.
It’s an unfamiliar position for the Nationals, who have been associated with heartbreak in their 15 years in Washington, D.C. and their previous 35 years as the Montreal Expos.
BEARS OF THE WEEK
While this has been such a giddy ride for the Washington Nationals, the Houston Astros have gone from World Series favourites to World Series pariahs. Riding a 107-win regular season and arguably the most balanced roster in Major League Baseball, instead of honing in on their second World Series title in three years, the Astros have been mired in the PR nightmare created by an irrational locker-room rant by Brandon Taubman, their assistant general manager. It was a self-inflicted wound that has stained the reputation of the Astros organization.
Firing Taubman Thursday was a desperation measure — and a necessary one — to quell the distraction of the backstory around former Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna, who was suspended for 75 games last season for violating baseball’s domestic violence policy.
Despite the firing and an apology to Stephanie Apstein and Sports Illustrated for attacking her story, Houston’s handling of the issue has been unfathomably bad. It will stick for years, especially if the Astros fail to realize the promise of an impressive season on the field.
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