49ers vs Chiefs || Sinner and Sabalenka for the AO W! || Tigers make a Padre decision || Oakland Athletics sign Alex Wood.

Edition #47

Intro:

The 49ers came back 17 POINTS to beat the Lions. Taylor Swift… Didn’t want the NFL to film her? The only person to beat Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open has won the Australian Open… The Oakland Athletics actually made a free-agent signing that’s a bit big… The Tigers became the 2023 Padres…. All of these stories. Only on Sports Square.

49ers vs Chiefs

I had the Lions vs Chiefs, but this one has enough drama in it to sustain me 2 weeks.

A rematch

Not a regular season rematch.

A SUPER BOWL rematch.

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For the 2nd time in consecutive years, and the 4th time in 5 seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl. One of those 4 out of 5 seasons. They played the same team they’re going to play in the Super Bowl in 2 weeks.

The San Francisco 49ers.

If the Kansas City Chiefs win this, there is no question this cannot be compared to Brady and the Patriots. If they lose this, there is no question this cannot be compared to Brady and the Patriots.

Obviously, you've probably heard of the NFL Super Bowl logo theory. I’ve talked about it myself in a newsletter, but if you haven’t, here it is.

So for the last 3 years, the NFL has been coloring the Super Bowl logo. In 2021, the colors were orange and yellow, so Rams vs Bengals. In 2022, the colors were green and red, so Eagles vs Chiefs. In 2023, the colors are red and purple, but instead, we’re getting a red vs red Super Bowl. This logo thingy is BROKEN.

For all the NFL cares? Get Taylor Swift on camera in the biggest spotlight ever. The Super Bowl. But the Chiefs? It wasn’t always supposed to be like this, this season.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had lost their mojo, with Kelce supposedly “distracted” by his high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift. The receiving corps was a miscue waiting to happen (Just look at MVS in the eagles game...). Steve Spagnuolo’s defense was vicious, but it had its moments of inconsistency, too.

But of course… The playoff chiefs are the playoff chiefs…

Travis Kelce passed Jerry Rice for the most postseason reception against the Ravens. MVS. The same guy who sold the Super Bowl 57 rematch in the regular season, had a biggggg play down the stretch.

"It’s tough (to do) back to back to back seasons," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. "It‘s a tough thing and you’ve got to work through that, got to work through that mentally. It’s not an easy thing. I’m so happy for the guys and how they handled that. When the time came to put the hammer down, they put the hammer down.

What did Kyle Shanahan say?

"They’re a hell of a team. Got a hell of a coach, hell of a quarterback, hell of a defense," Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said. "Haven’t gotten to see them much this year because we haven’t had a lot of crossover tape.

"But we already have a pretty good idea of how it’s going to look," he added. "They've been doing it for a while, since we met them in '19. Seems like they’ve been there every year since. We’ve been trying really hard to get back to that moment. Been close a number of times, and this time we got it done."

Ya know what? We’ll talk more about this Super Bowl Week. For the next week? We’re not going to talk about the Super Bowl on the newsletter, and this is a promise. (Unless we get some major news…)

The Tigers do the Padre

The Tigers did the San Diego Padres, spending big money on an unnecessary long contract. With no major league experience, signing 22-year-old infield prospect Colt Keith to a six-year contract Sunday that guarantees him $28,642,500.

His deal includes three team options that could make it worth $64 million over nine seasons, and the Tigers said there are escalators that increase the value to $82 million over nine years.

But here’s the thing. He’s the #22 Big League Prospect on mlb.com.

STATS:

He hit .325 with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs in 59 games last year for Double-A Erie, then was promoted to Triple-A Toledo on June 26 and batted .287 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs in 67 games.

Definitely not bad…

SALARY DETAILS:

Keith gets a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $2.5 million in 2024, $3.5 million in 2025, $4 million each in 2026 and 2027 and $5 million apiece in 2028 and 2029. Detroit has a $10 million option for 2030 with a $2,642,500 buyout, a $13 million option for 2031 with a $1 million buyout and a $15 million option for 2032 with a $2 million buyout.

That’s long…

This is still less than what the Milwaukee Brewers gave 19-year-old Jackson Chourio (8 yrs, 82 million bucks.) for the highest paid contract without major league service.

Sinner and Sabalenka wins Australian Open

The 22-year-old tennis sensation.

The 25-year-old can’t stop winning.

Watch out Djokovic. Sabalenka is blazing past you, Pegula.

That’s tennis.

Jannik Sinner was down 2-0 in sets. On the verge of losing 3-0 in the Australian Open Championship. But then, a spark ignited inside of him. 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, were the final 3 sets of the game. Yes. Daniil Medvedev had lost 3-2, in one of the BIGGEST comebacks ever.

Yeah. Crazy right?

Of course, Medvedev had done this before.

Scrambling to stay in the match in the third set, Sinner took advantage of a tiring Medvedev to cut his deficit as Rod Laver Arena came alive for the first time all night — the screaming Italians in the crowd finally had something to scream about. Suddenly Medvedev looked like he was having visions of the 2022 final when he coughed up a two-set lead to that irresistible tennis force, a surging Rafael Nadal. 

The one reason we all know that Sinner lost the first two games? It’s his first time in a big stage, just like this one. Medvedev? 6th time…

WOMEN’S

Statistically, this is probably not a deserving match of a Australian Open finals.

Yeah.

This was the final score of this game.

For the seventh time in as many matches, Sabalenka, a 25-year-old power hitter from Belarus, overwhelmed her opponent for much of the match, blitzing Zheng with her booming serve, her punishing forehands, and pounding backhands that, when she isn’t sending them off the court or into the net, are nearly impossible for her competition to handle.

All it took for her to win? 76 minutes/1 hour and 16 minutes.

It was Sabalenka’s second consecutive title at the Australian Open and the first time a woman has won back-to-back Grand Slam titles on a hard court since 2014.

But Zheng isn’t a bad player…

Zheng, the rising 21-year-old from China who, during the past six months, has begun to fulfil the promise that, so many have predicted for her in recent years, a player who could succeed Li Na as China’s next tennis champion. There were large pockets of Chinese fans screaming for her and waving China’s flag from the first ball, doing their best to raise Zheng higher. 

The thing is, just like Sinner, Zheng was probably not able to handle her nerves. Medvedev’s a bit old and can run out of gas pretty fast, but Sabalenka doesn’t. The women’s final? Sinner may have made a big comeback, but Sabalenka vs Zheng should’ve been advertised a bit more… That’s how an actual Australian Open final should look like.

Oakland Athletics sign Alex Wood.

Both Bay Area teams are swapping a player or Alex Wood is swapping Bay Area teams…

The deal is pending a physical, though no contract figures or length of deal were reported.

Wood, who recently turned 33, is coming off three years with the Giants. The left-handed pitcher posted a 23-21 record in that span, along with a 4.41 ERA and 1.270 WHIP.

In 367 innings pitched, Wood allowed 355 hits, 193 runs, 40 homers, 111 walks and 357 strikeouts. In 2023, he had a 4.33 ERA and 1.433 WHIP in 12 starts and 17 relief appearances.

Wood also played with the Los Angeles Dodgers (five years), Atlanta Braves (three years) and Cincinnati Reds (one year).

He'll enter an A's rotation that has JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina, Paul Blackburn, Joe Boyle, and others.

Conclusion

Well, that’s it for this edition! See ya tomorrow or Wednesday with more sports news. Btw, since I missed the sports quote for Friday, I’ll give 2 today!

“The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.” —Ernie Banks

“One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.” —Knute Rockne