Sports

By: Pablo Sabater (11)

It’s been a while since the last NEST publication, and a while in real life is like a lifetime in the sports world. There’s the obvious events like the super bowl, sports in the middle of their seasons like the NBA, and the MLB postseason being long retired since November of last year. Like I said, a lifetime.

Kicking it off with a quick recap of the MLB for the sake of reporting it, the Braves won the title in 6 games against the Astros, being crowned champions after 26 years of heartbreaking losses. Well deserved Atlanta.

Now, whether or not you watch the NFL, the Super Bowl has to be one of the most anticipated events of every year. While the teams this year may have been a little unexpected, it still made for an entertaining championship game. Joe Burrow, the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, saw himself turn into an internet sensation overnight, appearing in countless memes and being donned nicknames such as “Joe Brrr’’ and “Joe Shiesty’’ for his unprecedented swagger and performances in clutch situations with his back against the wall and everybody doubting him.

Burrow seemingly loves these situations, like the 3-23 comeback he led against the chiefs in the AFC game. However, Joe Shiesty and the Bengals could not pull away with the win falling short by 3—20 to 23—against the LA Rams. Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams delivered a game for the record books, earning Stafford, Odell Beckham Jr, the Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp, and possibly the best defensive player to play in the NFL, Aaron Donald, their first championship rings.

It’s debatable but I would say that both teams played way better on defense than offense, however Ja’Marr Chase and OBJ had some crazy highlight catches. If there’s anything we can count on with Joe Brrr, it’s that he’ll be back soon enough. If you and a bunch of others don’t believe that, it’ll only make Burrow hungrier for that championship. Nonetheless he will likely be the face of the league, if not definitely the Bengals, for a long time to come. Why is that? Well, Tom Brady retired. Yeah I cried too, it’s difficult to imagine the NFL without Brady and everything that he did for the league. As much as I would have loved for him to run it back with the Patriots one last time, I am eternally grateful to have been a part of one of the winningest franchises in NFL history, all thanks to TB12. If he’s not the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), I don’t think anybody can be.

As for the halftime show, well, most people think it was pretty forgettable. I would disagree and go as far to say that it was one of the best ones in a while. It was as much about the message Dr. Dre, Snoop, and all the artists sent to the audience as it was about the music. They played some classics there, and you couldn’t help but smile at all the energy and memories that these people brought back. Snoop Dogg high as ever, Anderson .Paak being the happiest drummer I have ever seen, and a guest appearance from 50 Cent the bat. Overall, lots of great stuff from this NFL season.

Lastly, it is only right to end this issue with the best sport of all, and of course I’m talking about basketball and the NBA. A lot has happened since November, more specifically each team has played around 60ish games, well over half of their 82. We can more or less make solid conclusions about each team and where they will land when the postseason rolls around.

Sitting at the top of the league are the Phoenix Suns, with an outstanding 49 and 11 record. They’ve quietly been the best regular season team this season, going on long win streaks every once in a while, and I predict the same will be true for the post season and they’re still my favorites to win the stacked western conference. Sitting behind them are the surprising Warriors with 43 and 17, they’ve dropped off their high horse a little since the start of the season, but the lethal backcourt of Stephen Curry and the returning Klay Thompson continues to be one of the scariest pairings in the league.

A few other notable standings are the red hot Celtics with 36 and 26, winning 13 of their last 14, what used to be the scariest team in the league in the Brooklyn Nets with 32 and 29, and teams like the Cavs and Raptors putting in work to rise in the standings.

Part of the reason for these records comes from some big signings in free agency which ended earlier last month. The biggest trade by far came from the Sixers and Nets, trading Ben Simmons and a few other role players for James Harden. Not a huge surprise in my opinion, but nonetheless it will shake the league for years to come on both ends. The pairing of Harden and Embiid has a lot of people looking back at Kobe and Shaq, which by the way I think is a horrendous comparison. Nobody gets close to Kobe and Shaq, nobody. The Nets get a versatile defender which they desperately needed too, so I think it’s a win-win scenario.

The only issue I see with the Nets is they now have two of the most controversial players in the whole league, Kyrie Irving the flat-earthed anti-vaxxer, and Ben Simmons the cry baby. The Lakers held onto Russell Westbrook who has been getting a crazy amount of hate lately for underperforming, it’s gone so far that he’s starting to get benched in late game situations, which is not a good sign for somebody being paid 44 million dollars a year. But that about wraps up all the big news from these three mammoths of the sports world, maybe next time I’ll try to cover the ending of the NHL season and the winter olympics I guess. I’m going to have to do my research for this one.