Sports hightlights: MLB, NCAAF, NFL, EPL

What a weird day in MLB on 9/11 with so many batters got hit! Hope Miami Marlins Giancarlo Stanton has a quick recovery. Can't believe 2 batters got hit in 2 innings of the Rays-Yanks game with the former leading 4-0 and a potential no-hitter becoming the loser because of the walk-off homer by former A's Chris Young. The A's could definitely have used more power as they scored a combined 1 run in 2 games against the "lowly" White Sox. Even the Giants had a weird episode against the D-backs when pitcher Jake Peavy's bat flew off his hands during his at-bat. Speaking of Peavy, after 3 shaky starts with the Giants, he has finally showed the stuff that made him a great pitcher at San Diego (and a good one with White Sox) The Giants were riding the momentum back home to win the first game against the Dodgers but then the next game was brutal, losing 0-17. The only memorable moment was Bruce Bochy calling his son Brett in for relief, the first time a father and son did it in MLB history. 

An interesting Saturday for college football that 4 teams in Top 25 lost to lower-ranked teams (#6 Georgia, #9 USC, #17 Virginia Tech and #21 Louisville) #12 UCLA was almost one of them but they came from behind to beat the Texas Longhorns. Coach Strong is 0-2 against ranked teams so far.

The highlight on Saturday came from the newly "rebuilt" Manchester United's 4-0 victory against Queens Park Ranger with contributions from new comers like Di Maria. Mata and Rooney both scored. Definitely a confidence boosting game.

Another highlight was the Cowboys' first win of the new NFL season against Tennessee Titans (former Houston Oilers if you will) They played solid but nothing spectacular as I felt they should have scored a few more TD instead of FG. Still, it's better than losing to the underdog in the inaugural regular season game at their highly hyped brand new stadium (Bears at 49er. 28-20) or down by 24-0 at one point (Texan at Raiders) I hope the Raiders will not ruin the career of yet another QB. The list of QB who didn't play well with the Raiders since 20 years ago is a long one:

• Jeff George
• Kerry Collins
• JaMarcus Russell
• Jason Campbell
• Carson Palmer
• Terrelle Pryor

Note that Kerry Collins and Carson Palmer have both performed better on other teams before and after playing for the Raiders! In fact, here were only 2 successful Raider QB in the last 20 years: Jeff Hostetler and Rich Gannon. Hopefully the rookie Derek Carr will join the latter list instead of the former, unlike his older brother David Carr, who was a bust drafted by the Texan as #1 pick.