Bad weekend for many in sports world

The Sentinel-Record sports writer Bob Wisener poses at Oaklawn Park Thursday, May 20, 2010. (The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen)
The Sentinel-Record sports writer Bob Wisener poses at Oaklawn Park Thursday, May 20, 2010. (The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen)

It was a sports weekend that for many should have ended Friday night with one's favorite high-school football team winning. Hot Springs, Lake Hamilton, Lakeside and Mountain Pine were among those celebrating under a harvest moon.

On the flip side, the weekend started ominously for St. Louis Cardinals fans and got worse. The NL Central champion's offense was stopped cold on four hits, making one wonder if Walter Johnson -- or perhaps Max Scherzer, Saturday's starter opposite Adam Wainwright -- worked both games for the Washington Nationals.

The Cardinals went to the nation's capital for Game 3 of the NL championship series Monday night down 2-0 without having seen Stephen Strasburg. It required some optimism to believe that, with three games in Washington, St. Louis could host a Game 6 Friday. The Cardinals did not strike a home run in 2-0 and 3-1 losses at Busch Stadium and did not appear likely to hit another until spring training.

On to football, where cheering for Texas' loss (34-27 to Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl) was tempered by Alabama's 47-28 dismantling at College Station of Texas A&M. Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa, despite throwing his first interception of the season, remained viable in an already gripping Heisman Trophy race with four touchdown passes, giving him 81 for his career.

Tide coach Nick Saban didn't let a road victory keep him from sounding words of caution with a stinger to his friends in the press: "When I hear things in the media whether guys are first-round picks or they're setting great records, or all that type of thing, that's not really what I like for players to be focusing on right now.

"You got to focus on what are you doing right now, not what's gonna happen in the future, not really what happened in the past," said TV's pitchman of late for Aflac insurance. "Because that's what's gonna affect the future in a positive way. So that's how we want our players to think regardless of how difficult y'all make it sometimes with some of our players."

Alabama, climbing past Clemson a few weeks ago, is No. 1 in both polls again, which ranks with Meryl Streep receiving an Oscar nomination as breaking news. It seems doubtful here that Arkansas can hold Alabama under 60 points Oct. 26, a night kickoff in Tuscaloosa that looks on its face like poor TV counter-programming against the World Series. Barring an Alabama loss to Tennessee this week, at least the nation's No. 1 team (alphabetically and otherwise) will be involved for that prime-time special.

A&M, paying a bundle to second-year coach Jimbo Fisher to shake down the thunder or whatever he used to bring Florida State a national title, has three losses and prospects (LSU and Georgia) of more. The Aggies consider winning football games a moral imperative and, as some past A&M coaches can attest, are willing to cut their losses in a blink.

With Saturday night came an Arkansas loss to Kentucky (24-20 at Lexington) that revealed the Razorbacks solidly as a second-tier Southeastern Conference team -- a third-tier squad if one considers Arkansas and Vanderbilt on equal footing.

Arkansas, as you might have heard, proved helpless defensively against a Kentucky receiver-turned-quarterback who passed for one touchdown and ran for two scores. Arkansas coach Chad Morris, now 0-11 in SEC games and 4-14 overall at UA, stuck with Nick Starkel (7 of 19 for 41 yards) until much too late. Ben Hicks played well enough in relief to earn Wally Hall's nomination in the next day's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as the starting QB Saturday against Auburn. If that game goes as expected (Auburn was favored by 18 1/2 Monday night), expect many to leave Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium early, the better to check out fall foliage in northwest Arkansas or something.

Razorback fans, meanwhile, are increasingly concerned that Morris is overmatched as an SEC coach. They were further depressed Sunday to learn that a prospective recruit has decommitted to UA. Eric Musselman's basketball Razorbacks are likely to generate more interest at SEC Media Days this week than Morris' Hogs in preparing for Auburn.

Among those taking the Hogs' season hardest is one Jerral Wayne Jones, whose grandson, John Stephen, in his second year at UA, is a non-playing quarterback on a team with a quarterback quandary. Jerry turned 77 Sunday and, courtesy of the NFL schedule maker, figured to enjoy his birthday with a Dallas Cowboys victory against the winless New York Jets.

Dallas started 3-0 against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins -- teams that, respectively, have benched a future Hall of Fame quarterback, fired their head coach (leaving one Gruden, Jon, at Oakland, on an NFL sideline) and are suspected of tanking games.

Dallas is 3-3 after a 26-24 howler against a team once quarterbacked by Joe Namath (but not lately). Favored by seven on the road, the Cowboys missed a two-point conversion attempt that would have sent the game to overtime.

Losing at New Orleans (even if to a reserve Saints quarterback) and at home to Green Bay shook the confidence of those expecting 16-0 for the Cowboys but could be looked upon as customary lapses in an NFL season. Losing to the Jets brought the latest cries from the Dallas/Fort Worth media that the Cowboys, to borrow from Elton John, know not if it's dark outside or light.

Mac Engel, writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, said "Jerry would be justified in firing (coach) Jason Garrett. And everyone else in his organization."

Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, out since Week 1 after he was diagnosed with mononucleosis, "cut up and trashed the Cowboys' defense like he was Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers," Engel said.

It can get worse for the Cowboys, who play NFC East co-leader Philadelphia at home Sunday night and, gulp, have a Nov. 24 roadie with the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. On a more cheering note, the State Fair of Texas remains in town another week -- and StubHub.com might have some really nice tickets at discount prices for the Cowboys-Eagles game.

Sports on 10/15/2019

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