The Cheat SheetBy David Lauterbach on

Thursday was oddly a busy day in the world of sports with an NFL game proceeded by Fox Tails, a massive donation from LeBron James, the USMNT talking to replacements for Jurgen Klinsmann, Justin Verlander going off, and the MLB announcing the 2016 AL and NL MVPs.

Cam Newton showed off his weird style… again

Cam Newton first day of school

See, Cam Newton sometimes has a normal sense of style! Well, that wasn’t the case before the Carolina Panthers faced off against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football.

In case you’re wondering, yes those are gold fox tails attached to the back of Cam Newton’s white, black, and gold zebra cleats.

Meanwhile, Cam’s teammate Mario Addison wore

LeBron James continues to be an amazing person

AKRON, OH - AUGUST 08: LeBron James speaks during a press conference at The University of Akron before the kickoff of his welcome ceremony at InfoCison Stadium at The University of Akron on August 8, 2014 in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Ty Wright/Getty Images)
AKRON, OH – AUGUST 08: LeBron James speaks during a press conference at The University of Akron before the kickoff of his welcome ceremony at InfoCison Stadium at The University of Akron on August 8, 2014 in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Ty Wright/Getty Images)

LeBron James isn’t well liked by some NBA fans who have witnessed King James jump from Cleveland to Miami and back to Cleveland in pursuit of a ring. Regardless of what fans may think of his on the court antics, it’s hard to deny he’s an incredible person off the court.

Anyway, a new Muhammad Ali exhibit will soon be unveiled at the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and will be titled “Muhammad Ali: A Force for Change.”

As a result, LeBron decided to donate $2.5 million to the exhibit.

“When it was presented to me later in the summer, I wanted to make sure I got Lonnie’s blessing,” James said. “Once I got her blessing, I told the museum it was a go. Full throttle. Let’s get it going.”

And James went full throttle with that reported $2.5 million donation.

“I am overwhelmed by the incredible generosity LeBron James has shown,” Lonnie Ali said in a statement. “This exhibit will enable children visiting the Smithsonian to learn more about Muhammad’s work outside of the ring, particularly his humanitarian work and stance on social justice for all people. … I know that if Muhammad was alive today he would be honored.”

The USMNT is starting to make moves towards a change at Head Coach

Peru v United States

Well, they aren’t starting now. Instead, the U.S. Soccer Federation has been working on a potential replacement for Jurgen Klinsmann for nearly a year now.

The Arena Goff is referring to is Bruce Arena, the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy who previously was the USMNT Head Coach from 1998-2006.

The 65-year-old led the United States to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, which was the team’s best finish since the inaugural World Cup in 1930. Arena led the U.S. back to the World Cup in 2006 in Germany, but was fired after the team failed to advance to the knockout round.

Another potential replacement for Klinsmann is Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes. No changes have been made yet however, and there’s no sign they will be made immediately either.

Justin Verlander went off at a reporter who told Kate Upton to ‘pipe down’

upton verlander

We’ve all seen the tweets by now, but if you haven’t here you go!

Those tweets of course came after Verlander lost out on the 2016 AL Cy Young to Rick Porcello despite taking him more first place votes.

Anyway, on Thursday a reporter picked the wrong battle against Upton and her fiancé in Justin Verlander.

To which Verlander responded with…

Rule #1 – Don’t tweet

Rule #2 – If you do tweet, don’t pick a battle against a MLB starting pitcher and super model.

The BBWAA got it right with Mike Trout as the AL MVP and Kris Bryant as the NL MVP

Also, with Trout winning, a bunch of ridiculous stats came out about the 25-year-old (!!) winning his second AL MVP.

Oh there’s this too about Bryant and Trout being really young and good at baseball.

Quick Hits

Frank Beamer
BLACKSBURG, VA – NOVEMBER 21: Head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies Frank Beamer is carried off the field following the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels on November 21, 2015 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images)

– Frank Beamer coached the Virginia Tech Hokies football team from 1987 to 2015. During that time, Beamer took the Hokies to 22 bowl games. With Virginia Tech set to travel to Notre Dame this weekend, Beamer won’t be making the big trip with them.

Instead, he’ll be a motivational speaker at a beauty pageant at Virginia Tech.

We hope his speech looks like this.

– The story of the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series will never end. For one, Tom Verducci is going to write a book about it.

While they won’t be writing a book about it, Funny or Die released a World Series Game 7 and Anchorman mashup video that should be watched by everyone.

– Thursday Night Football was interesting! Well part of it at least.

Anyway, the Panthers thought they had a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown.

Only to have that TD called back. However, on the very next play, the Panthers did finally get that touchdown.

That TD was extremely important as the Panthers ended up winning 23-20.

– In June of 2014, Sports Illustrated declared the Houston Astros the winners of the World Series… in 2017.

Today, the Astros made that look more realistic with a couple big moves to get the Hot Stove cookin’.

The Hot Stove is LIT.

– The Oakland Athletics made some big changes with their Front Office that could have a major impact on the future of the team in Northern California… eventually.

– The Cubs plan on reaching out to a famous fan by the name of Steve Bartman.

– Someone brought this sign to the Wizards vs. Knicks game in Washington D.C.

– The Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders will face off in Mexico City on Monday Night Football this week, but the Texans are being told to stay in their hotel rooms and not order room service.

Despite that team mandate, the Texans’ social media gurus released a video about the team’s lack of Spanish speaking skills.

– Johnny Manziel is back in the news, but once again for wrong reasons. He reportedly reached a deal in his domestic assault case against his ex girlfriend.

– ESPN announced it will be airing seven games during MLB’s 2017 Opening Weekend, headlined by Cubs at Cardinals on Sunday April 2nd.

– The Big Ten Commissioner doesn’t care if the schools in his conference don’t want to play on Fridays.

“It’s created a strong reaction,” he said last night during the Shirley Povich Symposium at the Univ. of Maryland. “Quite honestly, this was not a financial consideration. What we’re trying to do is find a window for good games — maybe not the best games — and putting them on national platforms.”

– And ESPN Broadcaster Dave Pasch likes to talk when it means he can “drown out the fan” who is “just babbling.”

A random ‘The Office’ related video:

The only thing left out of Michael Scott’s roasting rant is “Cam Newton, stop wearing Fox Tails on the back of your cleats.”

On last glorious moment of procrastination

Louisville got pounded by Houston on the road 36-10, so here’s an old picture of the namesake of Louisville’s home football stadium, Papa John.

https://twitter.com/BlackburnReview/status/799439247988047872

Here it is again because it’s just that amazing.

https://twitter.com/BlackburnReview/status/799439247988047872

Oh and here’s an extra moment courtesy of our own Liam McGuire.

https://twitter.com/LiamRMcGuire/status/799362636739706880

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