Good Morning! Today is Monday, January 27. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

NFL

Isn’t it amazing when a game actually lives up to the hype? Yesterday we got to witness yet another exceptional playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs:

• The first half of the AFC Championship was really awesome, and I feel slightly bad going through it so quickly. Buffalo punted twice and the Chiefs fumbled once– otherwise, every possession ended in a score. Buffalo missed a two-point conversion and settled for a field goal, and that was the difference in the score. Kansas City took a 21-16 lead into halftime.

• The Bills came up with their first big stop of the game to begin the second half, and slowly the momentum turned. A 12-play, 80-yard, seven-minute drive ended with a spectacular James Cook touchdown run on fourth down. The two-point conversion attempt was missed again, but the Bills held a 22-21 lead. A quick Chiefs three-and-out gave Buffalo the ball back, and they worked their way into Kansas City territory to begin the fourth quarter…

• And that brings us to the play of the game. Facing a fourth and one, the Bills ran a QB sneak/tush push/rugby scrum play with Josh Allen. It was a play that had worked all season for them, but Kansas City had provided a bit of resistance when it was run earlier in the game. On this momentous try from the Buffalo 48-yard line, Allen was ruled short of the first down line.*** Well, if you give the two-time defending champs an inch (or in this case, a quarter of a millimeter), there’s no doubt they’ll capitalize. Patrick Mahomes marched his team down the field and ran for his second touchdown of the night. After a successful two-point conversion KC led 29-22.

• Buffalo tied the game on their next drive, as Allen connected with Curtis Samuel for a touchdown on yet another crucial fourth down play. Then the Bills sacked Mahomes on first-and-goal, forcing the Chiefs to kick a field goal with 3:33 remaining and setting up Allen for a potential game-winning drive. But facing yet another fourth down, the Chiefs brought the blitz. A desperation pass fell through the hands of an outstretched Dawson Kincaid, as did the hopes of the Bills season. A few tricky first-downs later, and the Chiefs were the winners. Final score: Kansas City 32, Buffalo 29.

So as we always expected, the Chiefs are back in the big game. No NFL team has won three Super Bowls in a row. In honor of their attempt at history, here’s today’s trivia question: Since 1970, only seven teams in the NBA, MLB, and NHL have won three championships in a row. Can you name them? Answer at the end!

Over in the NFC Championship game, the clock finally struck midnight on the Washington Commanders. Jalen Hurts, Saquan Barkley, and the Philadelphia Eagles ran for seven touchdowns while Washington committed four costly turnovers. A one-sided fourth quarter made the final score of 55-23 look much worse than the game was, but Philly was clearly the better team in this one. We’ve got a rematch of the Super Bowl from two years ago: it’s Eagles vs Chiefs in New Orleans, February 9th!

***If you’ll allow me for a moment, I’d like to address the controversial fourth and one. Was the ball spotted incorrectly? Sure, that’s very possible. In a game this close, it’s easy to point to one particular play as the sole reason for the outcome. But you can just as easily argue that the Bills waited too long to start running the ball, or that they left too many points on the board with all the missed two-point conversions, or– and hear me out– the Chiefs are really, really good in close games and there was a ton of time left. More importantly, I think we should have a discussion about how crazy it is that the National Football League, a multi-billion dollar enterprise, relies so heavily on a metal chain and four guys going, “yeah, I think that’s about right” to spot the ball. That’s insanity! There’s gotta be better technology out there, especially when the spot of the football is such an integral part of the game. If tennis can replace line judges with a computer system and the MLB can test robo-umps for balls and strikes, I don’t think it’s unrealistic for the NFL to put a chip in the ball.

TENNIS

Congratulations to Madison Keys, who won her first ever Grand Slam in spectacular fashion. The American took down number one seed and two-time defending Australian Open champ Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in a wonderful final match. The number 19 seed, Keys beat three of the top 10 players in the world en route to a title. A fantastic conclusion to a spectacular tournament down under. I’m running out of superlatives trying to describe it!

The men’s side had considerably less drama. Defending champ and number one player in the world Jannik Sinner proved yet again why he deserves such an impressive introduction, as he dominated the number two seed Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in straight sets. While Sinner claims his third Grand Slam title, Zverev has now lost each of the three finals he’s reached.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

We’ll start with the women’s game, and these three results that stood out from the weekend:

• Unranked Florida State pulled off one of the upsets of the year yesterday, taking down (13) UNC in Chapel Hill. Ta’niya Latson made a nifty move and hit a layup at the buzzer to win the game 86-84.

• Friday brought us a marquee showdown between undefeated (5) LSU and (2) South Carolina. Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks just keep winning, handing the Tigers their first loss of the year in a very steady 66-56 victory.

• But the number one team in the country continues to be the most impressive. On the road against (8) Maryland, UCLA was dominant. Lauren Betts had 33 points and led the Bruins to an 82-67 win.

Now over to the men’s side… I can honestly say that if you aren’t watching college basketball this season, you’re missing out. Here are a select few scores from an exhilarating weekend of college hoops:

• Texas came back from a 22-point deficit to shock their rival (13) Texas A&M in the final moments. And in the same season their football team beat Alabama, Vanderbilt pulled off another David vs Goliath upset, this time taking down (9) Kentucky 74-69. That adds up to quite a number in fines for field/court-storming. 

• After winning back-to-back titles, UConn continues to struggle this season. The Huskies lost to Xavier 76-72, and may find themselves unranked by the end of the day.

• The games of the weekend, however, were two matchups of top-15 teams. (1) Auburn survived a physical struggle against (6) Tennessee, beating the Volunteers 53-51. Meanwhile, (12) Kansas was in such a secure winning position against (7) Houston that I turned off the TV… only to find out later that the Cougars came back to win! Check out this crazy sequence that took the game to double overtime:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Two more NFL teams have hired a new head coach. First, the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to a deal with legendary coach Pete Carroll. He’ll be one of the oldest coaches in the league, but Carroll brings a winning pedigree to a franchise that badly needs it. Also, the AFC West is stacked at head coach– Carroll joins a division with Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, and Sean Payton. The Dallas Cowboys, on the other hand, have promoted offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. It’s a hire that’s raised a lot of questions around the league.

From coaching hires to the trading block– three major deals were made this weekend in three different sports. First, after a few days of rumors, Houston Astros reliever Ryan Pressley waived his no-trade clause and was sent to the Chicago Cubs for a pitching prospect. Savvy move by the Cubs to pick up a former closer.

Over in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche made “a tough business decision” when they dealt star forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes also added Chicago Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall as part of this blockbuster three-team deal. You can read a full breakdown here, but 1) best of a bad spot for Colorado, 2) love the all-in move by the Canes, and 3) what is Chicago thinking?

And the WNBA gave us an awesome three-way challenge deal, headlined by the Aces acquiring Jewell Loyd, the Sparks getting Kelsey Plum, and the Storm adding the number two pick in this year’s draft. That’s two US Olympians and a top pick, all in the same trade– major players are on the move in the W!

Any lawyers out there want to help out a young sports franchise? The Utah Hockey Club has reportedly been shut down by the trademark office for each of their team name ideas. The list includes Yetis, Blizzard, and Mammoth... I take it back, instead of a lawyer, UHC just needs to think a bit more outside the box.

We’ll end today’s lengthy Remix with a fun fact: did you know there are two players on the Vancouver Canucks named Elias Pettersson? How about that!

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: (2) South Carolina @ (17) Tennessee, 7 PM on ESPN2

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: (3) Iowa State @ Arizona, 10:30 PM on ESPN

TRIVIA ANSWER: Oakland Athletics (‘72-’74), Montreal Canadiens (‘76-79), New York Islanders (‘80-’83), Chicago Bulls (‘91-’93 and ‘96-’98), New York Yankees (‘98-2000), and Los Angeles Lakers (‘00-’02)

“I’ve done a lot of work to no longer need this. I really wanted it, but it was no longer the thing that was going to define me. Kind of letting go of that burden, I think, finally gave myself the ability to actually play for it,” –Australian Open champion Madison Keys, when asked how she became a Grand Slam champion for the first time