As sports fans, one of the biggest days of the year was thrust upon us this past Sunday as over a hundred million people congregated to watch Super Bowl LVIII. Since the MLB offseason has decided to take its sweet time and NBA has been chugging right along, enjoy this very special edition of Sports of the Week: Super Bowl Edition.
NFL
Super Bowl LVIII ended in many saddened losses, but a victory for the Kansas City Chiefs, who became one of the only teams to have a repeated Super Bowl championship two years in a row. The victory puts the Chiefs in what they called, “a beginning of a dynasty.” However, this game against the San Francisco 49ers, with 24-year old quarterback Brock Purdy, is one to remember.
The game began with a fumble by 49ers running back Christian McCaffery, but they regained it and gained a few yards before the possession returned back to Kansas City. The repeated possessions without a touchdown lasted until the beginning of the second quarter, when 49ers kicker Jake Moody successfully completed a three-point field goal. Soon, multiple repeating penalties were given to San Francisco, causing them to lose a great number of yards, lowering their chance of completing a touchdown in multiple possessions within the second quarter. However, in a phenomenal trick play, quarterback Brock Purdy threw a pass to #15 wide receiver Jauan Jennings, who then threw a pass to running back Christian McCaffery who took it to the end for a touchdown completion, followed by a successful PAT. The second quarter ended with a successful field goal attempt by the Chiefs, putting the halftime score at 10-3 with the 49ers leading.
The much awaited halftime show by eight-time Grammy winning pop-star Usher Raymond, or “Usher,” was filled with surprise appearances of many celebrity singers. Usher began his performance with singing “Caught Up,” “Love in this Club” and many more. A surprise appearance made by Alicia Keys, she put on a show-stopping performance of “Ain’t Got You” and “My Boo” with Usher. Other singers including, Lil Jon, Ludacris, H.E.R, and Will.i.am, made appearances and collaborated for a final performance of Usher’s hit song “Yeah!” to end the halftime show at SuperBowl LVIII.
The third quarter began with back and forth possessions between both the Chiefs and 49ers, and started with a successful field goal by Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. Soon after, the Chiefs completed another touchdown completion from quarterback Patrick Mahomes to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, with another successful PAT by Harrison Butker. This put the end of third quarter score at 13-10 with the Chiefs in the lead for the first time this game.
Going into the anxious fourth quarter, the 49ers completed a three-point field goal two minutes into the quarter, followed by a completed three-point field goal by the Chiefs two minutes after. Multiple successful passes by both teams lead them to create an intense atmosphere as the game clock continued to go down. Two more successful field goals by both teams put the end of fourth quarter score as 19-19, going into overtime.
The new overtime rules state that both teams will receive at least one chance at a possession to score. If the first possession scores a touchdown, the second possession team must score a touchdown as well. If the first possession team scores a field goal, the second team must score a field goal to continue. If the second team fails to score, the first possession team will win and the game will end, vice versa. If both teams score equally, the game will continue with three additional quarters, creating a new game.
For SuperBowl LVIII, the 49ers gained the first possession and completed a successful field goal for three points. The possession then went to the Kansas City Chiefs. Multiple injured players from the 49ers defense caused them to break their containment of the Chiefs offense. With 14 seconds left in the overtime first quarter, the Chiefs successfully get into field goal range, but with continuous first down completions, they are able to get into touchdown range. As they use a play they call “hotdog,” which they successfully used last Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles, they were able to complete a touchdown pass from Mahomes to wide receiver Mecole Hardman, which ended with the Kansas City Chiefs as the SuperBowl LVIII champions, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes as the SuperBowl MVP. [Ayushka Chethan]
MLB
While the Super Bowl anticipation and action had sports fans distracted for at least a few days, it remains obvious that free agent hotshots are still valuing themselves too highly in a stagnant market. While some miscellaneous signings went down over the past week, bigger news has been from outside the realm of free agency.
Dodgers fans have known for a few weeks that Fanatics had decided to change uniform designs for the upcoming season; this news has just now reached the rest of MLB fans. Player lettering on the backs of jerseys has been shrunk and lowered, along with the MLB logo, and the numbers—on both sides for certain teams—are now perforated to create a more athletic appearance. What Dodgers fans specifically noticed, however, is that their timeless “Dodgers” logo on the home whites is now separated from the middle of the second “d” instead of in between the “o” and the “d” as it was for decades.
Needless to say, both Dodgers fans and MLB fans as a whole are quite unhappy with the new changes. A new eggshell white for home jerseys has replaced the consistent chiffon white that all MLB fans know and love, and it raises the question as to whether changes will once again be made after seeing the reaction from fans across social media. Thankfully, I got my fantastic, amazing, beautiful Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani jersey before these changes were made.
In other news, the actual biggest star in Los Angeles, future Hall of Famer and left-handed starter Clayton Kershaw, agreed on a one-year contract for the 2024 season worth $5 million but could be worth up to $12 million if his club option for 2025 were to be exercised. Presumably, he saw the team the Dodgers were putting together and decided that yes, he would like to continue pitching.
Oh yes, outfielder and DH Jorge Soler, who previously opted out of the rest of his contract with the Miami Marlins, came to an agreement with the San Francisco Giants on a three-year, $42 million contract for the 2024-2026 seasons. Indeed, a very nice pickup to make up for missing out on the best free agents on the market in 2022 and the biggest free agent in sports history this last winter. Don’t blame me, I just write about it.
Other signings included breaking news that outfielder Jurickson Profar signed back with the San Diego Padres on a one-year deal that was so life-shattering that it deserved an entire post on MLB’s Instagram the date of its occurrence. I mean seriously, someone please sign already.
Jenny Cavnar, who has over 15 years of baseball play-by-play experience, was hired by the Oakland Athletics to be their primary play-by-play announcer for the 2024 season. This is the first time in MLB history that a team hired a female primary play-by-play announcer.
Jose Altuve, still one of the best second basemen in baseball at 33, agreed on a five-year, $125 million extension with the Houston Astros that would most likely ensure that he retire as a one-team career player with the Astros. Despite only playing 90 games last year, Altuve still racked up 4.0 fWAR with his 154 wRC+ to earn himself the extension.
Despite these sporadic events making MLB headlines over the past week, they certainly wouldn’t in any normal free agency market. The same names still refuse to sign—I won’t even bother to name them at this point. Once again, we’ll see if that changes by next week. [Avery Rosas]
