TGIF! Premier League starts today! First up is Liverpool vs. Norwich at 2pm! Also, look out for ManU vs Chelsea on Sunday at 10:30am!
Enjoy the weekend!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this Blog, follow Suga Lifestyle Online, on Instagram (@sugalifestyle), Twitter (@sugalifestyleja) or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
English Premier League
Arsenal got a massive win over Chelsea, 2-0.
Manchester United continue their winning streak, beating Brighton and Hove Albion 2-1 with goals from Pogba and Rashford.
Tottenham Hotspurs were able to secure their spot on the table with a 2-1 win over Fulham.
Manchester City close in on table leader, Liverpool with a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town.
Liverpool will continue to stay at the top of the table with a 4-3 win over Crystal Palace.
NFL Championship Sunday
NFC Championship -Â Los Angeles Rams vs. New Orleans Saints
It was the Rams who came out with a controversial win over the Saints in OT, 26-23, booking their spot in the Super Bowl!
The NFL Refs failed to make a crucial call late in the game with the score tied at 20. On third down, it was clear that Rams Nickell Robey-Coleman of the Rams committed pass interference with a hit AND helmet-to-helmet contact. There was only 1:45 left in regulation.
The Saints would have had first-and-goal at the Rams’ 6-yard line. So if the officials made the right call, the Saints would have more than likely be the ones going to the Super Bowl.
After that drama, there was more drama.
AFC Championship – Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots
It’s the Patriots that head to the Super Bowl for the 3rd straight time with a 37-31 win over the Chiefs in OT!
GOAT, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were the underdogs of this Championship versus young QB, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
I think the experienced Patriots Coach, Bill Belichick outcoached the Chiefs in the 1st half, locking down Mahomes with his defense.
It was a low scoring game up to the beginning of the 4th quarter that ended up being the AFC Championship with the most points scored in a 4th quarter. There were 5 lead changes in the 4th!
When it came down to it in OT, Tom Brady made the right call on the coin toss and executed a TD play on the 1st drive to head to his 9th Super Bowl.
Tennis – Australian Open
This weekend at the Australian Open was the definition of how the mighty have fallen.
Sharapova kicked things off, by upsetting defending champ, Wozniacki in 3 sets.
Just when the thought entered our minds that Sharapova could be making a comeback, Barty defeated her. Ash Barty defeated Maria Sharapova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to become the first female Aussie to reach the Australian Open Quarterfinals since 2009.
Then there was a huge upset on the Men’s side. Young Greek, Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated GOAT, Roger Federer. Tsitsipas fought off 12 break points from Federer during the epic 4-setter that he won 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6. Well done Stefanos.
Is Federer going to retire this year? Nobody knows, but it looks like he is going all in as he will play the French Open for the first time since 2015.
There were more upsets on the ladies’ side, with favourites, Angelique Kerber, and Sloane Stephens being defeated.
Garbine Muguruza is also out with her loss to the higher seed, Karolina Pliskova.Â
Who won the duel with Serena Williams versus World no. 1 Simona Halep early this morning?!Â
It was GOAT, Serena Williams who came out on top to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Both women played their best. It was quite a thriller.
Serena will play Pliskova next!
Back to the Men’s side, Alexander Zverev was expected to go the distance this Australian Open and he was upset by Milos Raonic. He had probably the biggest meltdowns in Australian Open history.
Who’s still surviving?
Young Kei Nishikori, Vets Rafael Nadal and World no. 1 Novak Djokovic!
World no. 4, Naomi Osaka, 2018 US Open Champ stays ‘lurkin’ on Serena’s side of the draw. She plays Elina Svitolina. Winner plays the winner of the Williams-Pliskova Quarterfinal.
Stay tuned!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this Blog, follow Suga Lifestyle Online, on Instagram (@sugalifestyle), Twitter (@sugalifestyleja) or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
This Weekend was an action packed weekend for sports. Suga thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
Where do I begin?!
With the biggest news of course.
English Premier League – Football/Soccer
Manchester City finally lost their 1st Premier League match of the season. Liverpool beat them 4-3 without Coutinho, who was sold to Barcelona.
The match was off to a blistering start with Liverpool scoring within the first 10 minutes. Man City’s Sané leveled the score a little before halftime.
Liverpool took 10 minutes to score 3 goals, making it 4-1 at 68′. Liverpool then scored twice in the last 10 minutes to set up a nervy ending for Liverpool to anticipate the sound of the whistle and win in true Liverpool fashion.
If you missed the Goals and excitement or would like to relive the moments, watch it here.
The Battle for 2nd spot is on. Here is the table now:
Australian Open – Tennis
The Australian Open has begun and it isn’t looking good for the American women.
Defending Champ, Serena Williams withdrew from the Open and her big comeback because she did not feel ready to go all the way.
2017 US Open Champ and American, Sloane Stephens has already been knocked out, along with fellow Americans, Coco Vandeweghe and Venus Williams.
Venus Williams was knocked out by a former top 10 player, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 3-6, 5-7.
NBA – Basketball
The Cavs are on a 3-game losing streak!
After a blowout 99-133 loss to the Toronto Raptors and the release of a video with an angry LeBron James in a team huddle last Thursday night, the Cavs were trying to break their 2-game losing streak versus the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.
After the Cavs blew a 22-point lead, with just a few seconds left, LeBron James stepped out-of-bounds on a baseline drive to the hoop, then to add insult to injury, missed the last shot as well. Pacers rallied to beat the Cavs 97-95. Not a good week for LeBron and the Cavs.
Cavs play the Warriors tonight at 8pm, which won’t be an easy task either.
The Warriors had a different fate with the Raptors, holding them off 127-125 last Saturday night and the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to win.
NFL – American Football
Super Bowl Sunday is set for February 4th and the AFC and NFC Championships are 1 week away to see who will be in it!
3 of the last 4 teams remaining have never won a Super Bowl. Schedule for Next weekend’s AFC and NFC Title games:
How did we get there?!
On Saturday, Top seed in the AFC, the New England Patriots led by Tom Brady beat the Tennessee Titans 35-14.
The Titans started off with a lead by a Touchdown (TD) at the end of the 1st quarter.
The Patriots scored 2 TD in the 2nd and never looked back. They scored a 3rd TD just before the half and entered the 3rd quarter, 21-7. Patriots’ Defense tore up the Titans and they led 28 -7 in the beginning of the 4th and sealed victory with another TD to finish 35-14.
The Philadelphia Eagles held off the Atlanta Falcons 15-10 to book their spot in the NFC Championship.
The Falcons led for most of the half, until Eagles’ Jake Elliott scored a 53 yard FG with 1s remaining before halftime to bring the score to Falcons 10- Eagles 9.
The Eagles later on scored to take over the lead 12-10. In the beginning of the 4th, they scored another FG to go up 15-10.
With a few mins remaining, the Falcons were unable to come up with the catch in the end zone.
The Jacksonville Jaguars pulled off the upset of the Playoffs and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 45-42.
The Jaguars led for the majority of the game and did well to hold off the Steelers who kept trying to make a comeback.
The NFL Game of the weekend goes to the Minnesota Vikings versus the New Orleans Saints! Vikings beat the Saints 29-24.
The game was quite a snooze until the Saints finally got on the board with a Touchdown in the 3rd to make it 7-17. Then another in the beginning of the 4th to make it 14-17.
It all started with the interception by Saints’ rookie, Marcus Williams.
With 3:01 left in the 4th, the Saints were up 21-20.
With 1:29 left, Vikings got themselves in FG range and scored to make it 21-23.
The Saints then scored a FG with 25s left to make it 24-23.
Then all of a sudden, Vikings win 29-24Â TD!
Ironically, the Saints’ rookie, Marcus Williams who initially turned the game around for the Saints also ended it for them, failing to stop Vikings’ Diggs.
Stefon Diggs scored the game-winning 61-yd TD and in his post-game interview said, ‘I don’t stop playing till the clock hits zero.’
With that wild finish, The Vikings head to NFC Championship to face the Eagles next Sunday.
If you missed the only 4th quarter ‘Walk-off’ TD in NFL Postseason history, Check it out here.
Sports Season is now in high gear. Stay tuned!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
Tennis
British Tennis star, Andy Murray had a successful hip surgery and targets return in time for Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon in July.
Football – English Premier League
Manchester City seems to be running away with the title this year. Here is how the table looks so far:
So, for those who would just like to watch exciting matchups ahead, see the Schedule for this weekend below:
Basketball – NBA
Athletes in the NBA have been plagued with many injuries within the past year.
The Star Forward for the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard got injured in a game they won versus the Phoenix Suns last Friday. He has a partial tear in his Left Shoulder and sat out Sunday night’s game versus the Trail Blazers, which they lost 110-111. They bounced back without Kawhi last night and beat the Sacramento Kings 107-100.
While Point Guard, Isaiah Thomas (IT) has returned from his Hip injury to his new team, the Cavaliers and had a good start until last night versus the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves headed by Jimmy Butler and Anthony Wiggins, is a team to watch this year from the West. IT clotheslined Andrew Wiggins in the 3rd quarter when the Cavs were down 52-82, resulting in his ejection from the game.
It is still questionable how many minutes IT can play in games and if his hip will last until the end of the season and the Cavs’ possible run in the Playoffs.
Another highlight of the game was when Tyus Jones of the Timberwolves got revenge with a huge dunk on LeBron James.
The Timberwolves restricted LeBron James to a season-low of 10 points to win the game with an impressive 127-99 points.
The biggest story of last night though was a sad one. Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors was out for a while last year with a wrist injury, also taking him out of the MVP race. After his return, playing like himself again, he had a nasty fall versus the Brooklyn Nets in OT and had to be carried off the court.
The Raptors still outlasted the Nets 114-113.
Prayers go out for Kyle Lowry with the hope of a quick return.
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this blog, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.