By Sonny Jones
Teams and leagues make schedules so everyone will know when and where games will be played. However, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” wrote poet Robert Burns in 1786.
Contests get postponed or canceled due to weather, pandemics, events or just because. It’s why Bladen Online offers a sports master calendar (click here) and we do our best to keep it updated with assistance from a lot of folks.
We also offer a standings page (click here) that tracks Southeastern Athletic Conference varsity standings and Waccamaw Conference middle school standings.
• A couple of schedule changes to pass along. The Red Springs at East Bladen volleyball games have been moved up a day and will be played Wednesday. JV game starts at 4:30 p.m. followed by varsity. The West Bladen at Red Springs JV football game has been canceled because Red Springs has folded its JV team.
• Pet Peeve: The misuse of postponed and canceled. Postponed means the event will be rescheduled. Canceled means the event will not be held.
• The NFL’s “roughing the passer” penalty needs to be addressed following Sunday’s call against Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady and Monday’s call against Las Vegas’ Derek Carr. Quarterbacks are the stars and should be protected. Player safety should be a primary concern. But not sure how those defensive players are supposed to make those tackles if those were illegal.
• Rust vs. rest: Will be interesting to see how the four MLB teams that got a first-round bye in the playoffs — Atlanta, LA Dodgers, NY Yankees and Houston — fare today against the four teams that had to win in the wild-card round — Philadelphia, San Diego, Cleveland and Seattle.
TUESDAY’S PICK TO CLICK
Max Fried will give the Braves a solid five innings and Austin Riley will drive in a pair of runs as Atlanta beats Philadelphia in Game 1 of the NLDS. On Sept. 22, Phillies starter Ranger Suarez pitched six scoreless innings and Fried allowed a run in five innings in Philadelphia’s 1-0 win. The Braves get some runs against Suarez like they did early in the season.
MONDAY’S PICK: Kansas City running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire will score a touchdown, rush for 80 yards and catch 3 passes against Las Vegas. RESULTS: Edwards-Helaire rushed for 15 yards, caught 3 passes for 20 yards and didn’t score. Note to self, don’t let your fantasy football needs determine your pick to click.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 1991 — Chip Beck of Fayetteville, N.C., shoots the second sub-60 round in PGA Tour history with a 59 in the Las Vegas Invitational.
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
• MLB PLAYOFFS: Philadelphia at Atlanta, 1 p.m., FOX
• WOMEN’S SOCCER: United States vs. Spain, 2:30 p.m., ESPN2
• MLB PLAYOFFS: Seattle at Houston, 3:30 p.m., TBS
• MLB PLAYOFFS: Cleveland at NY Yankees, 7:30 p.m., TBS
• NHL: Tampa Bay at NY Rangers, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
• MLB PLAYOFFS: San Diego at LA Dodgers, 9:30 p.m., FS1
• NHL: Vegas at Los Angeles, 10 p.m., ESPN
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com and follow on Twitter @FOSonnyJones.
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