Year In Sports 2016!

2016 has been a crazy year in the world of sports! We've seen a little bit of everything. People saying stupid stuff, a major slump getting busted, interesting stuff coming from Rio, a major upset in premiere league. All of that and so much more has gone down in 2016! Just in case you missed anything, we've got you covered. Below is a full list of every important championship that was won during the calender year 2016.

College Football Playoff National Championship:
Alabama defeated Clemson 45–40

Super Bowl 50:
Denver Broncos beat Carolina Panthers 24-10

World Series:
Chicago Cubs beat Cleveland Indians 4 game to 3

College World Series:
Costal Carolina beat Arizona 2 games to 1

NBA Finals:
Cleveland Cavaliers beat Golden State Warriors 4 games to 3

NCAA Basketball:
Men: Villanova beat North Carolina 77–74
Women: UCONN beat Syracuse 82–51

Golf:
Masters Tournament Winner: England's Danny Willett 
U.S. Open Winner: United States Dustin Johnson 
Open Championship Winner: Sweden Henrik Stenson
PGA Championship Winner: United States Jimmy Walker

Hockey:
Stanley Cup: Pittsburgh Penguins beat San Jose Sharks 4 games to 2
College Hockey National Champions:
Men: Minnesota beat Boston College 3-1
Women: North Dakota beat Quinnipiac Bobcats 5–1

NASCAR:
Sprint Cup Series: Jimmy Johnson
Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin
Coca-Cola 600: Martin Truex Jr.
Brickyard 400: Kyle Busch

Tennis:
Australian Open
Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles: Angelique Kerber
French Open
Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles: Garbiñe Muguruza
Wimbledon Championships
Men's Singles: Andy Murray
Women's Singles: Serena Williams
US Open
Men's Singles: Stan Wawrink
Women's Singles: Angelique Kerber

In Memoriam:
-Monte Irvin (96)
-Dave Mirra (41)
-Andy Bathgate (83)
-Muhammad Ali (74)
-Gordie Howe (88)
-Arnold Palmer (87)
-Jose Fernandez (24)
-Rick MacLeish (66)
-Dennis Byrd (50)
-Joe McKnight (26)
-John Brophy (83)
-Kimbo Slice (42)
-Dennis Green (67)
-Buddy Ryan (82)
-Pat Summitt (64)
-Craig Sager (65)
-John Saunders (61)
-Ed Snider (83)

That was the year that was 2016! Here4's to 2017!

College Football Playoff Preview

The time has arrived. Four teams are left standing to be considered the best in all of College Football. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. These four schools are all that's left to try and figure out who really is the best college football team in the entire nation in 2016! There are some question marks going into the weekend. Will Alabama run the table by dispatching of Washington in the Peach Bowl and move on to the national title game? Will Ohio State prove it actually deserved to be the home team in the Fiesta Bowl by taking down a once-underwhelming but suddenly hot Clemson team? Only time will tell. Since kickoff for the title run begins today, let's break down the two big bowl games.

First up, we have the Peach Bowl, which will pit the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide going against the #4 Washington Huskies. Kickoff for this game is slated for 3PM on ESPN. This marks the 49th ever playing of the Peach Bowl, this being the first appearance for both Alabama and Washington in the Peach Bowl. This will be the fifth meeting between the schools, with Alabama having won all four previous ones. The most recent meeting was the 1986 Sun Bowl, where the Crimson Tide defeated the Huskies 28–6. This will be the first bowl game between a Pac-12 team and an SEC team (or a predecessor conference) since the 2011 BCS National Championship Game when Auburn beat Oregon.

Alabama is the only unbeaten team left in the college football playoffs, standing here at 13-0. Nick Saban has his Crimson Tide ready to rock and roll, as they are once again the heavy favorite to come out of this game and play for the national title. This could be the best Bama team that Saban has coached, and he's already won four national titles with them. The Crimson Tide rank first in the nation in scoring defense, averaging 11.8 points per game. The Tide rolled on offense as well. They churned out a 10th-ranked 41.3 points per game during a regular-season campaign that saw them blitz SEC competition with remarkable ease. The only game that Alabama played this year in which they didn't score at least 30 points in a game was on November 5th, a 10-0 win over the 15th ranked LSU. Sure, the offense in Alabama is very good, but what is really the strength of this team, a lot like the Denver Broncos in last years Superbowl, is their defense. They will knock you around and not even feel the slightest bit of guilt about it.

Washington is no pushover. Washington is averaging 44.8 points per game, which is good enough to be ranked third in all of the country. They can score, there's no doubt about it. Washington's only loss of the season was on November 12th against USC. That was the only time this year that Washington failed to score 30 or more points in a game. One of the big reasons that Washington is where they are this year is because of quarterback Jake Browning, wide receiver John Ross and running back Myles Gaskin. To prove that Washington is rolling at the right time was the 41-10 thrashing of the Colorado Buffaloes' vaunted defense in the Pac-12 title game. Washington has been putting up big numbers all year, and based on the numbers, they do deserve to be playing in this football game.

A lot of what Washington was able to do this year is based off their running game. If Washington even wants to have a chance in this football game, they need to get the running game going, and get it going fast. But lets say, for the sake of argument, that Washington can't really get the running game going. That means that Browning, as good of a quarterback as he is, will be forced to drop back and sling the ball to try and get his team in it. And as we've seen all season, that's not a winning formula against a Crimson Tide defense that can turn a single mistake into seven points in a matter of seconds.

Prediction: Alabama 34, Washington 27

Next, we have the Fiesta Bowl, which will pit the #2 Crimson Tigers going against the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes. Kickoff for this game is set for 7PM on ESPN. This game is the 46th playing of the Fiesta Bowl, it marks the first time ever that Clemson is playing in this game, and the 9th time ever that Ohio State is playing in a Fiesta Bowl. This will be the third meeting between the schools, with Clemson having won both of the previous matchups. The most recent meeting was the 2014 Orange Bowl, where the Tigers defeated the Buckeyes by a score of 40–35.

The only blemish on the record for the Buckeyes this year came against Penn State on October 22nd, it was a 24-21 loss, that's been it. They've had a few other games this year that have been nail bitters, like the overtime wins over Wisconsin back in October and a double overtime win over Michigan in late November. You can also add into that a one point win over Wisconsin in early November as well. Ohio State is no push over, they can score at will. Don't believe me? Look at these numbers. Ohio State led the Big Ten in scoring offense (42.7 points per game), total offense (479.5 yards per game) and rushing offense (258.3). Junior quarterback J.T. Barrett is 26–3 as a starter. But Ohio State has sputtered against stout defenses, yielding six sacks and 11 tackles for loss to Penn State and eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss to Michigan. Any hopes of a national title in Columbus center on fending off perhaps the country's two best defensive lines, Clemson's and Alabama's.

Meanwhile, for Clemson, the only loss the Tigers had was a one point loss to Pitt on November 12th. That loss may have been a bit of a wakeup call for Clemson, at least on defense, because they've been able to hold stead fast the rest of the way. Oh yeah, it also doesn't hurt the fact that you've got the Heisman Trophy winner in your lineup, in the form of Quarterback DeShaun Watson, who had a fantastic season for the Tigers. Clemson has been a top four school in the coaches polls in every week this year except four times, so they know what they're doing. if they weren't in the top four, they sat at 5th, so the Tigers are ready to rock and roll this year in the playoffs. And lets not take anything away from their defense. The Tigers enter the playoff with the #6 overall defense, thanks in large part to 112 tackles for loss, which is tied for third nationally. Their top three linemen, senior Carlos Watkins, sophomore Christian Wilkins and ACC defensive rookie of the year Dexter Lawrence, each weigh more than 300 pounds but have disruptive speed and agility. No shock that they combined for 32 tackles for loss and 15 quarterback pressures alone, because most offenses can't budge or elude all of them at once.

If your looking for drama in the College Football Playoffs, this game is going top be sure to provide plenty of it, especially with the battle of quarterbacks that's going to take place. Clemson quarterback and Heisman finalist Deshaun Watson will square off against Ohio State signal-caller J.T. Barrett in an epic clash, and the result may very well come down to how well Barrett handles pressure. I'm not too sure how well he's going to be able to, lets be honest here. The Buckeyes are armed with enough talent to push Clemson until the final horn, but Watson's experience on the big stage coupled with the physicality of the all-feared front should thrust the Tigers back into the championship game for the second year in a row.

Prediction: Clemson 33, Ohio State 30

Clinching Scenarios Week Seventeen

We're at the cusp of the playoffs in the National Football League. Its the final weekend of the regular season in the NFL and there's still quite a bit to be decided around the league, as far as playoff contention goes. So here's what it looks like for teams to clinch playoff spots this weekend.

AFC
CLINCHED: New England -- AFC East and first-round bye; Pittsburgh -- AFC North; Houston -- AFC South; Oakland, Kansas City, Miami -- playoff berth

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (at Miami Dolphins, Sunday)
New England clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs if the following happens:
-NE win or tie OR
-OAK loss or tie

OAKLAND RAIDERS (at Denver, Sunday)
Oakland clinches AFC West title and a first-round bye if the following happens: 
-OAK win or tie OR
-KC loss or tie

Oakland clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs if the following happens:
-OAK win + NE loss

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (at San Diego, Sunday)
Kansas City clinches AFC West title and a first-round bye if the following happens:
-KC win + OAK loss

NFC 
CLINCHED: Dallas -- NFC East and home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs; Atlanta -- NFC South; Seattle -- NFC West; New York Giants -- playoff berth

ATLANTA FALCONS (vs. New Orleans, Sunday)
Atlanta clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-ATL win OR
-ATL tie + SEA loss or tie OR
-SEA loss + DET loss or tie OR
-SEA tie + DET loss

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (at San Francisco, Sunday)
Seattle clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-SEA win + ATL loss or tie OR
-SEA tie + ATL loss + GB/DET tie

DETROIT LIONS (vs. Green Bay, Sunday night)
Detroit clinches NFC North title if the following happens:
-DET win

Detroit clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-DET win + SEA loss or tie + ATL loss

Detroit clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-DET tie OR
-WAS loss or tie

GREEN BAY PACKERS (at Detroit, Sunday night)
Green Bay clinches NFC North title if the following happens:
-GB win or tie

Green Bay clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-WAS loss OR
-WAS tie + TB win + GB clinches at least a tie in strength of victory tiebreaker over TB*

WASHINGTON REDSKINS (vs. New York Giants, Sunday)
Washington clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-WAS win + GB-DET game does not end in a tie OR
-WAS tie + GB loss + TB loss or tie

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (vs. Carolina, Sunday)
Tampa Bay clinches a playoff berth with: TB win + WAS tie + GB loss + TB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over GB

Best & Worst Of NFL Week Sixteen

We are so close to the start of the playoffs in the National Football League season, the playoff picture is almost fully set. The AFC has seen everybody lock up a playoff spot, so they are all set. Meanwhile, the NFC is still working out a few things that will need to be decided on the last day of the season. Christmas weekend football told a lot of stories. The Cleveland Browns won a football game for the first time in about a year, Oakland likely lost its starting quarterback, Derek Carr, for the rest of the season. Some saw a bounce back week, while others still decided that they weren't going to be at there best this week. Oh the taste and smell of playoff football is in the air and its a beautiful thing. As we do each and ever week, here are some of the best and worst performances and performers from week sixteen in the NFL.

Best:
Aaron Rodgers, Quarterback Green Bay Packers
There's a reason why he's one of the elite quarterbacks in all of football. This, after a slow start for  Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense. They looked out of sync for a while at the start of the season, but now it appears that they have found there groove again. Green Bay came away with a 38-25 win over Minnesota over the weekend, allowing them to stay on pace with the Detroit Lions for the NFC North crown! Rodgers was back to his mercurial best against the Vikings, completing 73.7 percent of his passes, despite three drops from his receivers. He finished the day going 28 of 38 for 347 yards and four, yes four, touchdowns. Under pressure, his passer rating was 139.2. Oh yeah, it was Rodgers third time this year that he has thrown for four touchdowns and his 13th multi-scoring effort of the year. He will take on the Lions in week 17 as he tries to march Green Bay into their eighth consecutive postseason appearance.

Worst:
Matt Barkley, Quarterback Chicago Bears
People have been really believing in Matt Barkley to help turn the Bears around after what was going on with Jay Cutler. Well, I'm sorry to have to say it but it looks like the Matt Barkley hype train came skidding off the rails in spectacular fashion in Week 16. Barkley’s touchdown-to-interception ratio this year has always been a little harsh on his performance, given the play of his receivers, but this week, it was entirely fair, as he threw five picks. Yeah, that's not good. He finished the day going 24 of 40 for 323 yards and two touchdowns to go along with those five picks, in a Bears 41-21 loss to Washington. There was the occasional flash of nice play, but this was the poor game that he had previously avoided in his run of starting games this year, and probably removes any shot he had at fighting for a starting spot in 2017.

Best:
David Johnson, Running Back Arizona Cardinals
If you didn't know it already, David Johnson of the Cardinals is kinda good. For the 15th straight game, he racked up 100 or more yards from scrimmage in the Cards 34-31 win over the Seahawks in Seattle, which is a very tough thing to be able to do. Johnson had a huge day once again, finishing with 136 total yards on the day. He had 28 carries for 95 yards and three touchdowns. To make his day better, he added 4 receptions for another 41 yards. Johnson is the first back since Barry Sanders in 1997 to total 100 yards in 15 games and the only player to do it in 15 consecutive. Last week Johnson topped Edgerrin James’ 13-game streak, setting an NFL record with 14 such performances in a row, and with Saturday’s performance, he added his 15th.

Worst:
New York Jets
There's no real easy way to say this but here it goes. The New York Jets flat out and out suck. They get blasted by the New England Patriots 41-3 and showed no life what so ever against New England. It was an embarrassing thing to really look at. New York got no really offense at all in this football game, finished with 136 passing yards and 111 yards on the ground. Tom Brady finished with 214 yards passing. he came up 33 yards short of the entire Jets offense all by himself, which is a sad statement to make if your the Jets. That game was just embarrassing and something needs to be done with this Jets team because this clearly isn't working

Best:
Cleveland Browns
It's only happened once in the history of football. The 2008 Detroit Lions were the only team ever to go winless on the year, finishing the season 0-16. Cleveland came into the game on Sunday against the Chargers, sitting at a record of 0-14. But that's where the winlessness stopped. Cleveland picked up their first victory of the season, pulling out a 20-17 win over the San Diego Chargers. The Browns narrowly avoided infamy as Chargers’ kicker, Josh Lambo, pushed a kick wide right in the closing seconds of Saturday’s contest. With the celebration that ensued, it was as if the Browns were headed to the Super Bowl. They will try for their second win of the year when they close out the season in Pittsburgh.

Worst:
Minnesota Vikings Defensive Backs
Not only did the Vikings’ secondary get picked apart by Rodgers and Nelson, it was of their own volition. Rodgers threw for 347 yards, while Nelson caught 154 of those yards. Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer had a game plan in place for this one against the Packers, but the defense collectively decided to stick to their sides, instead of their assignments. Nelson shredded the Vikings’ secondary for 145 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. In what was supposed to be a whole game of Xavier Rhodes shadowing Nelson, turned into just the second half, in which he was held to just two catches for nine yards. By the time the Vikings made an adjustment, the damage had been done. The concern is growing in Minnesota, leading many to question, “What is going on?”

Best:
Adam Thielen, Wide Receiver Minnesota Vikings
As a whole, this week wasn't exactly a very fun one for the Minnesota Vikings. There was one big bright spot for the Vikings was Adam Thielen, who went off in the Vikings loss to the Packers. Thielen was thrown at 14 times, catching 12 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns against a porous Green Bay secondary. Those 202 receiving yards were tops for any pass catcher in the league this week, 31 more then the next top receiver, Doug Baldwin of the Seahawks. Thielen spent the day victimizing Quinten Rollins, in particular, destroying the second-year corner with a succession of double moves to get open. He was also overthrown in the end zone by Sam Bradford on what could have been a third touchdown score. Yeah that's a pretty good day.

Worst:
Quarterback Injuries
Talk about a bad week to play Quarterback in the National Football League. Two of the NFL’s best, and most promising, young arms suffer season ending injuries. Oddly enough, both Derek Carr of the Raiders and Marcus Mariota of the Titans, were forced from their respective games on Saturday with broken fibulas. Matt Cassel took over for Mariota in the Titans’ loss to the Jaguars and is expected to start in Tennessee’s season finale with Houston. With Carr out, Matt McGloin came in and held the Raiders’ lead over Indianapolis. McGloin is expected to fill-in under center for the Raiders in week 17 and throughout the postseason. The injury to Carr is seen as a major hit to Oakland’s chances of winning in the playoffs.

Best:
Jay Ajayi, Running Back Miami Dolphins
He started his career off like a house of fire, then seemed to cool off a bit. Now Jay Ajayi is back to those dominating ways once again. Miami's new stud back went off in a 34-31 win over the Buffalo Bills. This was the most evident case of him carrying the Dolphins on his back this season. Not only did Ajayi rack up 206 rushing yards on 32 carries, but 143 of those yards came after contact. Oh yeah, Jay came up big when the team needed him to save this game from reaching a seemingly inevitable tie in overtime. Ajayi rattled off another big gain deep in overtime before forcing his way for another couple of good carries to set up the easy winning kick.

Worst:
Tracy Porter, Cornerback Chicago Bears
Lets face the facts here, its been a tough year for the Bears this season. Chicago got spanked 41-21 by the redskins and Tracy Porter was a big victim in this ballgame.  Porter surrendered four catches for 157 yards, meaning, on average, he was beaten for almost 40 yards per reception by Washington receivers. Porter was also flagged for defensive pass interference on a deep ball intended for DeSean Jackson in order to prevent another huge gain that would have made those numbers look even worse, and he missed a pair of tackles after the catch. That my friends is a day to forget.

Merry Christmas!

From all of us here at Solly On Sports to all of you, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas! As is the tradition with us, we present The Twelve Days of Christmas, only with a twist!

Up first, its the 12 Days of Rick Jeanneret!



Next up, we present the 12 Days of Mike Lange!


And last, but not least, we present the 12 Days of Hockey!


Merry Christmas to one and all!

Grayson Allen Needs Help

Well this kind of seems like a recurring theme here now doesn't it. I wrote an article last year about how Grayson Allen of Duke was quickly becoming one of the most hated players in College Basketball. Well not only has that not changed, this latest incident may have made that case even worse.

Wednesday night, Duke was playing Elon. During the ballgame, Elon guard Steven Santa Ana was tripped up by Allen when attempting to coral a loose ball. Allen received a technical foul in the first half after he extended his right leg to deliberately trip Santa Ana. Then, to make matters seem almost worse for himself, Allen was seen throwing a small temper tantrum on the bench! Here's what the foul and tantrum looked like:


If this had been just a one time thing, then it would have died off right then and there. But because this isn't the first such incident for Allen, it has been made a story. There's that and the fact that the next day, Thursday, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski announced Thursday that junior guard Grayson Allen has been suspended indefinitely.

This leaves two questions asked. One what does this do for Duke? Two, what is this going to do for Grayson Allen?

Lets start with Duke as a team. They sit at 12-1 going into Christmas weekend. They were considered one of the clear favorites to win the National Title this season, and Allen has been a solid contributor to this team. Allen averaged (16 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists a game. He is one of five Duke players to average double figures in scoring this year. Duke has been getting contributions from Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, and Marques Bolden, so I don't really think this is going to end up hurting Duke really long term.

Now for the big story here, and that's Grayson Allen and his attitude. Coach K even went to say that Allen's actions were "unacceptable and inexcusable” and that couldn't be more accurate. Allen has an attitude and an edge to his game, which is what makes him so effective and such a good basketball player. But there are times where that edge can go a little too far. Allen has all the tools, but he needs to work on controlling his emotions better during games. As much as it hurts him to be sitting out of games, it really is his own undoing.

He has all the talent in the world but needs to get his attitude under control if he's going to have any success!

NFL Playoff Clinching Scenarios Week Sixteen

Week Sixteen has arrived and is already getting underway. As is usual around now in the National Football League, the playoff picture starts getting a little muddled. So that's where we come in and help out. Here is what the playoff clinching scenarios for this week. It will be a little confusing I know, but please hang in there. It will be easy to figure out. So here's what the clinching possibilities are for week sixteen.

AFC 
CLINCHED: New England – AFC East and first-round bye; Oakland – playoff berth

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (vs. New York Jets Saturday)
New England clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs if the following happens:
-NE win + OAK loss or tie OR
-NE tie + OAK loss

OAKLAND RAIDERS (vs. Indianapolis, Saturday)
Oakland clinches AFC West division title and a first-round bye if the following happens:
-OAK win + KC loss or tie OR
-OAK tie + KC loss

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (vs. Baltimore, Sunday)
Pittsburgh clinches AFC North division title if the following happens:
-PIT win

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (vs. Denver, Sunday night)
Kansas City clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-KC win or tie OR
-BAL loss or tie

HOUSTON TEXANS (vs. Cincinnati, Saturday night)
Houston clinches AFC South division title if the following happens:
-HOU win + TEN loss

MIAMI DOLPHINS (at Buffalo, Saturday)
Miami clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-MIA win + DEN loss or tie OR
-MIA tie + BAL loss + DEN loss + HOU loss or tie OR
-MIA tie + BAL loss + DEN loss + TEN loss or tie

NFC 
CLINCHED: Dallas – playoff berth; Seattle – NFC West

DALLAS COWBOYS (vs. Detroit, Monday night)
Dallas clinches NFC East division title and home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs if the following happens:
-DAL win or tie OR
-NYG loss or tie

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (vs. Arizona, Saturday)
Seattle clinches a first-round bye if the following happens:
-SEA win + DET loss + ATL loss or tie

NEW YORK GIANTS (at Philadelphia, Thursday night)
New York clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-NYG win or tie OR
-DET loss or tie OR
-GB loss or tie OR
-TB loss or tie OR
-ATL loss

DETROIT LIONS (at Dallas, Monday night)
Detroit clinches NFC North division title if the following happens:
-DET win + GB loss or tie OR
-DET tie + GB loss

Detroit clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-DET win + TB loss or tie OR
-DET tie + TB loss OR
-DET tie + TB tie + ATL win OR
-WAS loss or tie + TB loss + ATL win or tie

ATLANTA FALCONS (at Carolina, Saturday)
Atlanta clinches NFC South division title if the following happens:
-ATL win + TB loss or tie OR
-ATL tie + TB loss

Atlanta clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-ATL win + ATL clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over DET OR
-ATL win or tie + GB loss or tie OR
-ATL win + DET loss or tie OR
-ATL tie + DET tie OR
-WAS loss or tie + GB loss OR
-WAS loss or tie + GB tie + DET loss

GREEN BAY PACKERS (vs. Minnesota, Saturday)
Green Bay clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-GB win + WAS loss or tie + TB loss + ATL win or tie + GB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over TB

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (at New Orleans Saturday)
Tampa Bay clinches a playoff berth if the following happens:
-TB win + GB loss + DET loss + WAS loss OR
-TB win + GB loss + DET loss + WAS tie + TB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over DET