By Nunnie Robinson, Westside Gazette Sports Editor
The Dolphins were off this weekend after suffering a disappointing 30-17 Thursday night loss to an excellent Green Bay Packers team, which ended the Fins’ 3 game winning streak. Although a wild card possibility still exists, they must win out and hope other contenders don’t fare as well.
The Miami Heat are currently in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 9-10 won/loss record, trailing the division leading Orlando Magic and the second place 11-11 Atlanta Hawks. The Heat recently suffered a blow out loss to the NBA championship Boston Celtics 108-89. Normally reliable Bam Adebayo has been in a scoring slump and Jimmy Butler was out injured along with rookie first round draft pick, 7’0” center Kel’el Ware. Typically, when the Heat don’t shoot well they struggle. Hopefully they can right the ship against a struggling Lakers team on December 4, before taking on a much improved Phoenix Sun squad led by all-stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. A weak Atlantic division provides hope.
The Florida Panthers and their next opponent both enter the matchup riding three-game winning streaks. The Panthers (15-9-1) will face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins (10-12-4) at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Breaking out of their first slump of the season, the Panthers will start their Pennsylvania road trip coming off a 6-0 statement win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.
The free for all that followed several college rival games displayed the ugly side of the sport. Attempting to symbolically plant the winning team’s flag on the loser’s 50 yard line mascot incited melees among OSU/Michigan, Florida/FSU, and Arizona/Arizona State. Because the game was televised earlier, the Wolverines/Buckeyes brawl garnered much of the attention. In addition, the importance of the game had critical ramifications for the Buckeyes as they were favorites to win against a supposedly inferior Wolverine squad that had lost 5 regular season games. Plus OSU would have guaranteed itself a spot in the Big Ten Conference championship game and a CFP spot. Losing the game and watching the Michigan players plant their flag on the Buckeye logo proved intolerable, thus the ensuibg melee. Each school was fined $100,000 with no player suspensions. Buckeyes head coach, Ryan Day, is definitely on the hot seat and needs to make a deep run in the playoffs.
In HBCU land, T. C. Taylor was named 2024 SWAC Coach of the Year after leading his Jackson State University Tigers to a 10-2 record. They play Southern for the SWAC title, and the winner goes to the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta versus South Carolina State to decide the Black National Champions. Obviously, many questions will be answered this weekend, and I can’t wait!
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