Wahoo Wire

Monday September 14

MLB: Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants

With only 18 games left in the regular season, for the third week running in What to Watch for this Week in the World of Sports there has been a three game series between two playoff hopefuls. The circumstances of both the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants have changed since last week though, with the Giants losing four of their last six (including two of three to the National League West leading Los Angeles Dodgers) and the Rockies winning five of their last seven; giving them a four and a half game cushion in the NL Wild Card race. Erasing a four and a half game lead is no easy task but there is no quicker way for the Giants to do it than to sweep the Rockies. With similar ends to each of their seasons (both teams play 9 games against under .500 teams and three games against the Dodgers), if the Giants do not win at least two of three against the Rockies, if not all three for the sweep, they will be fighting an uphill battle to secure a playoff spot. Look for the Giants to take two of three but for the Rockies to still win the Wild Card.

Wednesday September 16

UEFA Champions League Soccer: Barcelona at Inter Milan

The UEFA Champions League group stages are finally upon us and what better way to start it off than with the reigning Champions League, Spanish Primera Liga and Spanish Copa del Rey Winners Barcelona playing reigning Italian Serie A Winners Internazionale (more commonly known as Inter Milan). Though neither side will have trouble getting out of the group stages (as the other two teams in group F Dynamo Kiev and FK Rubin Kazan will not pose threats to such big soccer clubs), finishing first in the group will be of the utmost importance with the second place team having to play a cross over match against a group winner who could potentially be Manchester United, Chelsea or any one of the other big European clubs in the Champions League. This game will also be intriguing as in the summer transfer window these clubs swapped strikers with Samuel Eto’o now at Inter and Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Barca. Even with the riotous home crowd backing them, expect Inter Milan to be outclassed by this seemingly unstoppable Barcelona side.

Thursday September 17

College Football: #14 Georgia Tech at #20 Miami

Last week’s Miami – Florida State game lived up to its billing as the exciting high scoring game went down to the last second literally, with Miami coming away with a solid road win. The intense start to the season continues for Miami as they play another top Atlantic Coast Conference team, this time in the form of a Georgia Tech team that fired on all cylinders in the first half before almost losing to a talented and resilient Clemson. The ACC’s reputation will again be on the line at this game as the ACC is still at rock bottom with another FCS team James Madison giving a serious scare to Maryland in taking them to overtime. Beyond the reputation, this game will also have serious implications for the ACC Coastal Division title with it seemingly going to be a close race between Virginia Tech, UNC, Georgia Tech and Miami (Duke and UVA have no shot). Another close game is in the cards; with the Hurricanes likely to continue their road to reputational redemption with another huge ACC win.

Friday September 18

UVA women’s Volleyball: Marriott Cavalier Invitational (all at home in Memorial Gymnasium); versus Virginia Tech (Friday September 18^th at 7pm), versus Villanova (Saturday September 19^th at 1pm), and versus Albany (Saturday September 19^th at 7pm)

After a tough weekend at the Ameritas Players Challenge in Lincoln Nebraska saw the UVA Volleyball team lose to #5 Nebraska and #8 UCLA and beat BYU, the Cavaliers come back to Charlottesville to host yet another tournament. This time they are not playing two top ten teams in the land of corn but instead are starting their ACC campaign against rival Virginia Tech, as well as playing nonconference teams Villanova and Albany. Though their record of 5-4 doesn’t show it, this UVA women’s team is very strong and has played stronger competition than usual in their lead up to conference play which will prove crucial in big ACC games later on this season. With this “baptism by fire” over with, UVA fans should get excited for some hokie stuffing and crucial wins from the Volleyball team this weekend. This game is also an Orange Passport Event so, if for no other reason, go because this is going to be a good year for UVA basketball.

Saturday September 19

College Football: #19 Nebraska at #13 Virginia Tech

Starting off any season against a top 5 ranked opponent is never easy, thus Virginia Tech is looking to continue to right it ship after a hard loss to Alabama. This past weekend saw them dismantle Marshall and rest assured Frank Beamer will have his team ready for anything Nebraska throws at them. After two easy warm up games, this will be a huge task for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as they play at a hostile Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. With Oklahoma and Kansas looming later on in their schedule, any and all quality non-conference wins could make all the difference in what bowl game Nebraska will get invited to. Though UVA fans (myself included) would love to see another team in Virginia struggle, no one should be surprised if Nebraska is given quite a wake up call as the Hokies whip them.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

NFL: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys

Any NFC East game is always a good game to watch because, regardless of the actual talent on each team, the games are always close. This past weekend was a good example of this with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins playing quite an exciting game even though the vastly superior Giants should have crushed the Redskins. This weekend should be no different in excitement, with both the Giants and the Dallas Cowboys starting off their seasons with wins, not to mention this will mark the first regular season game at new Cowboys Stadium. Watch this game to see many punts hit the 60 yard wide video screen and the Giants pull out a crucial away game victory.

Premiership Soccer: Manchester City at Manchester United

Not many people, if anyone, could have predicted that after 4 or 5 games in the premiership Manchester City and Manchester United would both have 12 points respectively (Writer’s note: In soccer it is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, no points for a loss). Manchester City has continued to impress with their team trying to prove that money can indeed win championships. Though three of their four games came against very weak opponents, wins are wins and their most recent win 4-2 over Arsenal without Argentinean International Carlos Tevez or Brazilian International Robinho is nothing to scoff at. Manchester United on the other hand is playing up to expectations, though an early season mishap saw them shockingly lose to Premiership new boys Burnley at the Turf Moor. Though this derby (Writer’s note: a match between two soccer clubs in the same city) in the past has been dominated by United, look for City to give them everything they can handle in a high scoring match that will most likely end in a draw.