FOOTBALL

In the NFL, it was Monday Night Football between the New York Jets and the Atlanta Falcons.  Not many people would have thought that the Jets would actually have a better record than the Falcons at this point in the season.  The Falcons were expected to be a Super Bowl contender this year, but something looks seriously wrong with them.  But, surely they would beat the Jets, who was starting Geno Smith, a rookie quarterback, again.  Everybody picked the Falcons in this one, but the Jets got out to a hot start.  They completely picked apart the Falcons defense, and pulled out to an early lead.  Meanwhile, the Falcons kept trying to run, but couldn’t do anything against the Jets brutal defensive line.  In the end, the Falcons just couldn’t do enough to catch up, and the Jets stole the road win.  The Falcons seriously need to take a look in the mirror, because they are 1-4, and the season is slipping away.  NY Jets 30, Atlanta 28.

BASEBALL

And in the baseball playoffs, the St. Louis Cardinals faced an elimination game in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.  Pittsburgh is a very tough ball park to play in now, because this crowd hasn’t seen a winning team in over 20 years and they are hungry to cheer.  But if St. Louis could nab the win, then the series would head back to St. Louis for a deciding game 5.  The Cardinals couldn’t play their best pitchers, so they had to play young guys (21,22) on the mound.  This one was close all the way until the 9th inning, but the Cards were able to keep their one-run lead and survive the madness in Pittsburgh.  We’re headed back to St. Louis.  St. Louis 2, Pittsburgh 1.

Finally, elsewhere in the baseball playoffs, the Atlanta Braves, who were favored to win it all at the beginning of the post-season, suddenly found themselves down 2-1 in the series against Los Angeles.  And the Dodgers were going to put it all on the line and start their best pitcher on short rest to try and win the game in LA.   Yep, they called upon Clayton Kershaw to work his magic — taking the risk that he would be ready.  The Dodgers did not want to play a Game 5 against the Braves in Atlanta, so they gambled everything started Kershaw.  Kershaw kept the Braves in check, but the Braves still had a 1-run lead in the 8th.  The Dodgers’ Juan Uribe came up to the plate, and tried to lay down a bunt to advance a runner to second.  He failed.   So instead, he decided to swing away, and BOOM, he smacked a 2-run homerun to give the Dodgers the lead!!!  It was glory days in LA, and they held on for the victory!!  The Dodgers are headed to the National League Championship Series (NLCS.)  LA Dodgers 4, Atlanta 3.