Thursday Night Football
Seattle Seahawks 36, Green Bay Packers 16
Okay, so, the NFL season officially got underway last night, as the Green Bay Packers visited the defending Super Bowl champions in Seattle.
Before that, however, the city of Seattle celebrated.
For hours before the game - and the season - kicked off, there were celebrations all over. Soundgarden was one of the bands that participated, on what looked like a sunny and beautiful day in Seattle!
Once the game finally got underway, the Seahawks pretty much dominated. Green Bay tried to get their quicker tempo offense going, but Seattle is a very tough place in which to make any offensive scheme work!
The Seahawks were just a bit too much for the Green Bay Packers, who lost their opening game of the season for the third consecutive season. Each time was to a tough NFC West opponent, with the previous two losses both coming to the San Francisco 49ers.
In the meantime, the Seahawks started their title defense in solid fashion, playing well on both offense and defense, and started off their season impressively by earning a convincing victory over a team that should be a solid contender this season. The Packers kept it close through the first half, but Seattle really pulled away in the second half. That can easily, and often quickly, happen to opponents when they visit Seattle.
Marshawn Lynch had 110 yard on 20 rushes, and got two touchdowns. Russell Wilson threw 19 completions in 28 pass attempts for 191 yards and two touchdown passes. He was sacked once.
Aaron Rodgers completed 23 of 33 pass attempts for 188 yards, including 1 touchdown and 1 interception, and he was sacked three times, in what was ultimately a losing effort.
Also, even if this is not particularly related to the game last night, there is a computer out there that apparently accurately forecast this summer's World Cup, right down to the eventual winners, Germany. And it made predictions for every single game this season, too, starting with week one.
Here is the article, if you want to find out what it predicted for the upcoming week:
The Microsoft Engine That Nailed The World Cup Is Predicting Every NFL Game — Here Are Its Picks For Week 1 byh Tony Manfred of Business Insider, September 4, 2014:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-engine-nailed-world-cup-143528755.html
The "Other" Football Returned, Too!
Argentina 4, Germany 2
That's right! International play (albeit friendly matches) were all over the place yesterday as well, with the marquee match being a familiar one that we saw only weeks ago for the biggest prize of them all - the World Cup Final!
You may recall that Germany won that match in mid-July, 1-0.
Well, those two teams met again yesterday, and Germany played the part of gracious hosts by not showing off the newly won World Cup trophy, as a sign of respect for the visiting team, Argentina.
Still, the home fans were, understandably, in a celebratory mood. Yet, Argentina won this rematch of the World Cup finalists, 4-2.
But whether or not Germany showed the trophy off or not, they obviously got the prize that matters most!
In other matches, France topped Spain, 1-0, and Belgium beat Australia, 2-0, and the United States beat the Czech Republic on the road!
Here is one article that helped me write this part of the blog entry:
Germany keep the World Cup trophy out of sight as show of respect to visiting Argentina by Brooks Peck of Dirty Tackle, September 3, 2014:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/germany-kept-world-cup-trophy-out-of-sight-as-show-of-respect-to-visiting-argentina-233139857.html
And here is a highlight goal from that game between Germany and Argentina:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/argentina-player-starts-blowout-win-204634031.html
US Open Tennis - Federer Survives a Big Scare From Monfils to Advance
Gael Monfils was having a superb tournament at this year's US Open so far, but he was on the verge of pulling off the biggest win not only of the tournament for him so far, but quite possibly, the biggest victory of his career! A win that might have become the defining victory of his career!
Monfils had the seventeen-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer on the ropes, up two sets to one, and up two match points, with Federer serving. He had been playing with such energy and intensity, that it looked inevitable that he would win. He took the first two sets, although Federer had taken the third. Still, it looked like Monfils was about to hammer the final nails in the coffin of Federer's US Open hopes this year, and possibly to his hopes of winning another Grand Slam title in his career! Federer was looking like a beaten ex-champ that looked ready for retirement.
I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people (myself included) were watching, expecting Federer to go off quietly into the night. In fact, I'll bet many people lost sleep watching what ensued.
Somehow, Federer staved off what seemed the inevitable elimination, and battled back, taking the fourth set in a tough and close battle, then winning the decisive fifth set surprisingly easy, to move on to the semifinal round.
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