The Cheat SheetBy David Lauterbach on

Tuesday came and went with very little happening in the world of sports except for the terrific Jeopardy! story of Cindy Stowell, Aaron Hernandez could be connected to another murder, an analysis of college football players skipping bowl games, and a great reunion in South Bend. 

The Cindy Stowell Story Continues

Cindy Stowell's 6th win

Cindy Stowell passed away on December 5th, not making it long enough to watch her episodes air. Heading into the broadcasts, no one really knew how many games she won, so her run for five wins was amazing to watch. On Monday, she went into the Double Jeopardy! round in the red, but came all the way back to lead heading into Final Jeopardy!, answering correctly for the win.

Stowell played great tonight, but was outshone by Julia Kite for the majority of the game. Julia dominated the first two rounds, including answering both Daily Doubles correctly in Double Jeopardy!, and held a commanding lead heading into the final round.

The Final Jeopardy! category was 2016 U.S. Olympians, and wagering would be important. Julia didn’t quite manage to turn the game into a runaway, but with a $23,800 to $13,600 lead, she still held the edge in the event of everyone missing the question. (Note: Colleen should not bet it all in this situation; she likely has no chance of finishing first, so playing for second, and a prize of $2,000 instead of $1,000, is the smart play. Colleen did not do that.)

Here’s the final clue:

And the final answer:

Aaron Hernandez Could’ve Been Involved in Another Murder

Aaron Hernandez Court Appearance

Aaron Hernandez is already serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, but the former Patriots tight end could be in even more trouble thanks to the testimony of an eyewitness in another shooting.

According to the Associated Press, a man named Raychides Sanches has identified Hernandez as the triggerman in a drive-by double murder that took place in the South End of Boston on July 16, 2012.

Prosecutors on Tuesday asked Raychides Sanches to describe the chaotic scene during a hearing in Suffolk Superior Court.

When asked who the shooter was, Sanches said “Hernandez” and nodded in his direction.

Sanches made the identification at a pretrial hearing for Hernandez, who is charged in the deaths of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu.

Skipping Bowl Games Is A Smart Business Decision

mccaffrey-rose

Our own Phillip Bupp did a deep dive into why skipping bowl games is a smart business decision for college football players. Here’s an excerpt:

“The NCAA views college football as a business, Division I college football teams view college football as a business. Those on each individual bowl committee view college football as a business. So why is it a problem for a college football player to view college football as a business?

Here’s the thing, college football is a business. It’s a business when the NCAA is worth billions based on college sports. It’s a business when top college football teams are making so much money that they are using it to build outrageous training centers with slides, barber shops and bowling alleys for the football team. And it’s not even the top football teams. The University of Kansas have been 19-77 since 2009 and they’re getting that kind of treatment.

…

When it comes down to it, Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette have to make the best decision they can make for themselves and themselves only. When everyone within college football is only thinking for themselves, players have a right to do the same thing. Loyalty is a great thing to have and it’s a trait I value, but loyalty only works when both sides show the same amount toward each other. When one shows way too much loyalty to the other, at some point they get hurt. McCaffrey and Fournette are simply trying to decide what’s best for their life and are choosing to sit out in a couple of irrelevant bowl games. Don’t be surprised if this happens more often.”

A Tearful Reunion in South Bend

notre-dame-soldier-reunion

Okay, sometimes things are just objectively great. Matt Farrell plays point guard for Notre Dame. Notre Dame hosted Colgate on Monday night, which ordinarily is not the sort of game to garner headlines. Notre Dame is pretty good, Colgate is very bad.

And things played out pretty much like you’d expect, though Colgate actually managed to keep the margin of defeat respectable. But after the game, the Irish gathered on the court to check out a special message on the Joyce Center scoreboard. Notre Dame point guard Matt Farrell has a brother (Bo) serving in Afghanistan, and Bo’s message promised that he would see his brother soon.

As it turned out, he was telling the truth:

I’m not crying you’re crying. Okay we are both crying.

Quick Hits

Seattle Seahawks v Baltimore Ravens

– Richard Sherman went off once again and this time it was at a radio host who he threatened to end his career.

As Sherman walked off the stage and down a walkway that headed out of the auditorium, he passed Moore and said “You don’t want to go there. You do not. I’ll ruin your career.”

Said Moore: “You’ll ruin my career? How are you going to do that?”

Said Sherman: “I’ll make sure you don’t get your media pass anymore.”

However later on, Sherman did apologize for his actions.

– Iowa Men’s Basketball defeated North Dakota 84-73 and at the end of regulation North Dakota shot a buzzer beater that pissed off Fran McCaffery to the point that he made Iowa walk off without shaking hands.

– The Boca Raton Bowl actually featured two pretty entertaining teams this year, with Memphis taking on Western Kentucky. WKU just lost its coach to Purdue, but they didn’t lose any of their trickeration.

– In what may be the fastest injury in the history of college basketball, Ohio State starting center Micah Potter got hurt on the opening tip.

– Even Golden State Warrios’ fans can drop buckets!

– The police camera video of Michael Floyd’s arrest finally leaked.

– Forget Deflategate. Bring on walkie-talkiegate!

But seriously can we stop just adding ‘gate’ to the end of scandals.

– The Dallas Cowboys have a strange new coach.

– The terrific tributes for Craig Sager continue to pour in.

– Rutgers football went 2-10 this year, but the NCAA is hot on their tail.

The accusations are far-ranging and involve the football program under Kyle Flood’s coaching regime. Flood was fired following the 2015 season, months after he was suspended for three games by the university for academic improprieties.

The NCAA charges that Flood provided former cornerback Nadir Barnwell with an impermissible extra benefit by directly contacting a professor seeking special consideration for Barnwell in an academic course relating to the 2014-2015 academic year.

In addition, it’s believed that Flood is charged with failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance in the football program, violating the principles of NCAA head coach responsibility legislation.

– Our own Sean Keeley ranked five fictional religions better than the Temple of the Jedi Order seeing as a commission in England ruled ‘The Temple of the Jedi Order’ is not an official religion.

– One lucky Philadelphia Eagles fans keeps on winning the team’s giveaway contests. Note the dates on these tweets:

– And congrats to Jaromir Jagr on just being the man.

A Random ‘The Office’ Related Video:

I wish there was a spinoff trio of episodes featuring Creed as manager.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-pBpmQ_7zI

One Last Glorious Moment of Procrastination:

I’ve pulled this prank on people and it’s too much fun. Really? People actually believed there was a band called “The Obesity Epidemic”!?!?!?!?

About David Lauterbach

David is a writer for The Comeback. He enjoyed two Men's Basketball Final Four trips for Syracuse before graduating in 2016. If The Office or Game of Thrones is on TV, David will be watching.

View all posts by David Lauterbach