The Week That Was | College Football Week 9 & NFL Week 8 Recap & Preview | World Series Recap | NBA Season | 50th Anniversary of Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman: The Rumble In The Jungle

The Los Angeles Dodgers are back on top of the baseball heap as they defeated the New York Yankees 4-1 winning the series clincher in Game 5 by score of 7-6. The Yankees had a 5-0 lead but couldn't hold despite the exceptional pitching from Gerrit Cole, in the top of the 5th inning the Yankees defense became porous at the inopportune time when Centerfielder Aaron Judge dropped a routine fly ball that opened up the floodgates for the Dodgers lineup to take advantage of the Yankees' comedy of errors.

Gerrit Cole wasn't able to get to 1st base that could have resulted in a inning ending groundout. Anthony Volpe wasn't able to make an accurate throw to third base. The Dodgers was able to tie the game at 5. The Yankees was able to regain the lead at 6-5 but relinquished it back to the Dodgers when in the top of the 8th inning, there were back to back RBI sacrifice flies by Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts that resulted in the Dodgers taking their first lead of the game at 7-6 which led to the clincher of the World Series championship for the Dodgers.

Freddie Freeman was the unanimous MVP of The World Series rightfully so where he hit 4 home runs including 12 RBIS and a .300 batting average. So The Dodgers have won their second championship this decade not a dynasty but they should be the team to beat in 2025 when spring training begins.

Moving forward to the college football season recap from last week where there wasn't no major upsets Ohio State played close game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers where there could been an upset but the Buckeyes won 21-17. Moving forward to this week's slate of games features a top 4 matchup between #4 Ohio State vs #3 Penn State which will be the moment of truth for Penn State to prove that they can beat the elite programs in college football currently the Nittany Lions have a 7 game losing streak against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Penn State hasn't lost a game on November 2nd since 1935 winning 10 consecutive games in a row on November 2nd. #5 Miami plays at home against Duke, #1 Oregon at Michigan, #18 Pittsburgh vs #20 SMU and #2 Georgia vs Florida.

The NFL season is kind of moving forward to a mid season phase now that it is November the Detroit Lions may be the league's best team at 6-1 after blowing out the Tennessee Titans:52 -14. Despite the absence of Aiden Hutchinson, the Lions are looking formidable now this week overall the best game of the week for Week 9 is between The Detroit Lions and The Green Bay Packers. Both teams are part of maybe the toughest division in the NFC North where every team in the division has a winning record.

The NBA landscape is obviously early but the standout teams that are undefeated are the Cleveland Cavaliers who are atop of the Eastern Conference at 5-0. In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder is undefeated at 4-0. The most disappointing team in the Eastern Conference is the Milwaukee Bucks who are 1-4. The Western Conference's most disappointing team is the Denver Nuggets who are 2-2.

This past October 30th marked the 50th Anniversary of Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman The Fight In Africa AKA The Rumble In The Jungle which was a monumental event where Ali was the 4-1 underdog facing the undefeated Foreman who was the heavyweight champion. Ali had a concept of the rope a dope strategy where he Ali stayed on the ropes and allowed Foreman to throw a lot of punches until Ali knocked out Foreman in the 8th round. The fight between Ali and Foreman may have been arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century. The preview and coverage of the fight was on the cover of Sports Illustrated for October 28th 1974 and November 11th 1974.

NFL Offensive Player of The Week:

Quarterback Jameis Winston of Cleveland Browns

27-41 334 yards 3 touchdown passes against The Baltimore Ravens

Defensive Player of The Week:

Outside Linebacker T.J Watt of The Pittsburgh Steelers

7 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery against the New York Giants