Starting Five

Five sports topics that will be discussed at water coolers across America

1. No Performance Anxiety for Kelce

The Scoop: It’s this simple: when Taylor arrives, Travis puts on a show. Yesterday, Kelce put up an astonishing 179 yards and hauled in a touchdown. The broadcast even showed this graphic, with the stats of Kelce’s performance with and without his better half in attendance. Speaking of Taylor, did you catch the new handshake she has with Brittany Mahomes?

Conversation Starter: If your significant other came to watch you do your job, would you perform better or worse?

2. Bench-Clearing Brawl & Dramatic Ending

The Scoop: On Friday night, Rangers star Adolis Garcia hit a home run and showed up the pitcher by walking to first base. His next at bat? Hit by a pitch at 98 mph. Assuming it was retaliation for swaggering to first his last at-bat, players rushed from the bench to fight. Debate rages on whether or not he was hit on purpose, but the story continued to Sunday. In a win-or-go-home game for the Astros, Adolis Garcia hit a Grand Slam in the 9th inning to seal a victory and force a decisive Game 7. Tensions will run high Monday night with a trip to the World Series on the line.

Conversation Starter: Should unwritten rules about respect and etiquette be followed in sports?

3. Ohio State & Michigan Defensive Brilliance

The Scoop: The historical rivals once again look to be two of the nation’s best. OSU’s defense took all the headlines, keeping a Penn State offense previously averaging over 35 points per game to just 12 in a tight 20-12 victory. Ohio State is 7-0, but their dreams of a championship put them on a collision course with Michigan. On Saturday, the Wolverines put away their “little brother” Michigan State 49-0. Michigan and OSU are slated to match up over Thanksgiving weekend, and both teams should be 11-0 when they meet in Ann Arbor. Only 4 teams can make it to the College Football Playoff, so neither OSU nor Michigan can avoid any slip ups.

Conversation Starter: Do you like when the same teams dominate, or do you think there should be more parity?

4. Packers Struggle Without Aaron Rodgers

The Scoop: The Green Bay Packers have had a horrible start to the season, and things got worse Sunday as they lost to the Denver Broncos 19-17. The Packers are just 2-4 and show no signs of improving. When Aaron Rodgers left after last season, fans and media expected a drop off, but not this badly. Quarterback Jordan Love floundered once again with the game on the line, throwing this interception to lose. This has been a pattern, when Brady left the Patriots, they missed the playoffs. When Peyton Manning left the Colts, they went 2-14. Maybe the Packers can turn it around, but for now it looks unlikely.

Conversation Starter: Is there another sport where one player can be this irreplaceable?

5. Fantasy Round Up: Quick Talking Points

Star QBs do Star QB Things: Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen showed why they’re the most valuable quarterbacks in fantasy football putting up big numbers and leading the league.

Wait…Who?: Some surprising names showed up as points leaders. Third String Bears Running Back D’onta Foreman scored 3 touchdowns, Colts rookie receiver Josh Downs caught a 50+ yard TD pass, and Colts backup QB Gardner Minshew threw for 2 TDs and rushed for 2 more.

Top Tight Ends Again: Fantasy Football players will tell you getting a great tight end can win your fantasy league, and Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews are the two best. They proved it again this week with Kelce putting up monster numbers and Andrews scoring twice.

A Little Kicker Love: Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins made 4 field goals, 2 over 50 yards and 3 extra points and was one of the top scorers in the league!

Conversation Starter: How’d your fantasy team do this week?

“Sports” Moments of the Weekend

One thing we love about sports is the funny moments they deliver, here are some rapid fire viral memes, videos, and posts for your enjoyment!

Mississippi State and Arkansas with an all-time nickname game

Western Kentucky’s Mascot Big Red sure is versatile on their awesome helmets

She’s back, and is sponsored by Bdubs

That’s gotta hurt!

LA has a different kind of entertainment for games

… What possible explanation could there be for this MSU?

What We’re Watching This Week

If you're at a bar, they might be showing these games. Here's what you should know:

Monday Night Football

Minnesota Vikings vs San Francisco 49ers: A struggling offense vs the best defense in football. We hope the Vikings can make it interesting, but fear it may get ugly!

MLB Playoffs

League Championship Round (See the live bracket here)

• Texas Rangers vs Houston Astros: Monday Night. Game 7. One shot for the World Series

• Arizona Diamondbacks vs Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies are a win away and have 2 chances to do it. Can the D-Backs rally?

Champions League

The Group Stages of UEFA Champions League are in full swing with 8 games each on Tuesday and Wednesday, some top matchups include:

• AC Milan vs PSG: “Captain America” Christian Pulisic leads AC Milan against Kylian Mbappe and PSG

• Newcastle vs Borussia Dortmund: One of the best in England vs one of the best in Germany

• Arsenal vs Sevilla: Arsenal’s first time back in the Champions League since 2017, time to make a statement

• Galatasaray vs Bayern Munich: The Turkish Giants face off against one of the Tournament favorites for first place in the group

Subscriber Question of the Week

Do you have a sports topic you want to get smart on? Let us know here.

This week, Ian from Ohio asked, "Everyone this week was talking about the Michigan Cheating Scandal, what happened?"

Hi Ian! Yeah, I imagine folks in Ohio are pretty angry about this one, let’s discuss!

In College Football, coaches use signals to let players know what plays to run. A Yahoo Sports news story that came out last week accused Michigan of sending scouts to opposing teams’ games to learn their signals and gain a competitive advantage. However, this violates the NCAA rules which prohibit teams from performing in-person scouting.

While there is currently no definitive proof, there is an ongoing investigation into the legitimacy and depth of the allegations, which could potentially result in punishments to the Wolverines. This is bad news for Michigan, who won the last two Big 10 Championships and currently look like the best team in College Football.

We will of course give you the talking points if anything new comes out, but for now, we hope this helps.

Get Others in the Game

Know someone else itching to learn how to "talk sports"? Share this with them! For every referral you send our way, we'll toss your name into our monthly drawing hat. If you win, we'll answer your subscriber question in a future newsletter. So spread the sports love! 🏀⚽🏈🎾

Your Wish is My Command

What do you think of today’s email?
As you may know, we are just getting started, and your opinion matters to us! Please share feedback, ideas, or insights on how we can make this even more useful for you! Use this link or just respond directly to the email!

• loved it ⭐⭐⭐

• average ⭐⭐

• it sucked ⭐

Until next week,

The Fastbreakk