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  4 visually impaired Paralympians finished the 1500m final with times that would have won Olympic gold

  On Sunday, at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Abdellatif Baka of Algeria and three other visually impaired runners ran the 1500m T13 final seconds faster than the Olympic gold medalist who ran the same race in Rio. Baka set a new Paralympic world record of 3:48.29; his brother Fouad’s 1500m time of 3.49.84 was faster than that of Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz, but earned him only a fourth-place finish in the Paralympic 1500m.
  Distance races vary in pace — and this year’s Olympic 1500m was slower than most — but the comparison between the two races still helps shine a light on just how impressive these Paralympians are.
  Here’s the final result for the first five runners:

  Here’s what Baka had to say after winning gold, per the official Rio 2016 website:
  “It wasn't easy to get this gold medal,” said Baka. “I’ve been working one or two years non-stop and it’s been very, very hard for me,” said Baka.
  Congrats, Abdellatif!
  (h/t Huffington Post)

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  Giovani dos Santos wins MLS Player of the Week for Week 27

  While the spotlight was on his new-slash-old LA Galaxy teammate, Gio dos Santos had himself a fantastic game this weekend. The LA Galaxy is on everybody's minds right now. Most of that has to do with Landon Donovan's surprise return last week after retiring in 2014, but a fair amount is also due to the exploits of Giovani dos Santos.
  The Mexican international had probably the most consistent week around, as he scored four goals in two games, and earned the accolades of the voting panel in winning SB Nation's MLS Player of the Week award.
  Considerable questions remain for the Galaxy at this point in the season, as they are generally good on defense and sometimes good on offense but have had a ton of injuries and some international absences taking away their best players at times, and are therefore wildly inconsistent. Despite that, they are still second in the Supporters' Shield standings and if Dos Santos is playing well, one figures they'll get results more often than not as we head into the playoffs.
  Full results for Week 27, with first-place votes getting three points, second-place votes receiving two points and third-place votes earning a point each:

  Player
  Points

  Giovani dos Santos
  27

  Tim Howard
  12

  Juan Agudelo
  6

  Jozy Altidore
  6

  Kaká
  3

  Micheal Azira
  2

  Lamar Neagle
  2

  Lee Nguyen
  2

  Bill Hamid
  1

  Daniel Royer
  1

  Steve Birnbaum
  1

  Bradley Wright-Phillips
  1

  Joao Plata
  1

  Vytautas Andriuskevicius
  1

  And here are the full ballots for Week 27:

  Voter
  1st
  2nd
  3rd

  Kartik Krishnaiyer (Bitter and Blue)
  Tim Howard
  Kaká
  Bill Hamid

  Jake Catanese (The Bent Musket)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Juan Agudelo
  Jozy Altidore

  Drew Epperley (Big D Soccer)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Micheal Azira
  Kaká

  Austin Fido (Once a Metro)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Tim Howard
  Daniel Royer

  Sam Dunn (Hudson River Blue)
  Tim Howard
  Lee Nguyen
  Steve Birnbaum

  Jason Anderson (Black and Red United)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Jozy Altidore
  Bradley Wright-Phillips

  Michael Citro (The Mane Land)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Tim Howard
  Joao Plata

  Jason Longshore (Dirty South Soccer)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Tim Howard
  Juan Agudelo

  Eugene Rupinski (Brotherly Game)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Jozy Altidore
  Juan Agudelo

  Dave Clark (Sounder at Heart)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Lamar Neagle
  Vytautas Andriuskevicius

  Alicia Rodriguez (Angels on Parade)
  Giovani dos Santos
  Juan Agudelo
  Jozy Altidore

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  Adrian Beltre hit a home run on 1 knee, again

  Adrian Beltre is a very good baseball player with several above average skills, but this is the best one.

  This seems more or less impossible, but he does it all the time. Maybe he should just start out on one knee. Of course, that would probably take this work of art out of the equation, so he can stick with what he's been doing.

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  1,122 good dogs attended the White Sox game, which is a Guinness World Record

  So many good dogs. There are Guinness World Records for just about everything, including the number of dogs to attend a sporting event. No really, that’s an actual record. And now the Chicago White Sox hold it.
  The White Sox held a dog night on Tuesday and encouraged as many canines as possible to attend in an attempt to set the world record. They succeeded when a whopping 1,122 dogs showed up.

  In writing! pic.twitter.com/YGVYATZSKx— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  That is a lot of very good dogs. We unfortunately don’t have pictures of all 1,122, but let’s instead enjoy a sampling of the good dogs who helped make the record happen.
  These are good dogs.

  Some of the #SoxDogs in attendance for #BarkinthePark tonight. pic.twitter.com/tAR3CdBN90— CSN Chicago (@CSNChicago) September 14, 2016

  Same with these.

  #SoxDogs pic.twitter.com/nqDvWtFyc0— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  Definitely some good dogs here.

  So. Many. Dogs. #SoxDogs pic.twitter.com/XW2cObmiem— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  And here.

  #SoxDogs pic.twitter.com/mXJr4sVX2T— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  Bandit is such a good dog.

  Best @whitesox game of the year is here! Bandit can't wait to enjoy the game & a hotdog #BarkAtThePark pic.twitter.com/fpCIZRWSrh— ktkat (@bpsoxgal) September 13, 2016

  Very good dog.

  Someone is ready for her first @whitesox game! pic.twitter.com/QVrVkLCBNf— Zavala (@Zavala5) September 13, 2016

  Wonderful dog.

  Jaxon is ready for @whitesox Bark at The Park! pic.twitter.com/ItO98zSQ9b— Sarah henneke (@Soxgrl05) September 13, 2016

  Some good dogs wore tutus.

  When you look good in your tutu: pic.twitter.com/Ev0uR5p61b— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  Other good dogs wore hats.

  pic.twitter.com/4nBVehJ8yA— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  This good dog wore some sunglasses.

  pic.twitter.com/p6KExdEZtB— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  What a great dog.

  pic.twitter.com/Dl1SBtf4Ra— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016

  Congrats to the White Sox on their record. And congrats to all those dogs on being so good.

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  Louisville will shine against Florida State, or at least its red chrome helmets will

  Ooooooo, shiny. I have personal credo: chrome helmets are always good. Therefore these new Louisville lids are good.

  We will be debuting our new red chrome helmets this Saturday for @CollegeGameDay! pic.twitter.com/dqTp0atc0m— Louisville Equipment (@UofLEquipment) September 14, 2016

  You may think to yourself, “Yeah but it’s still a bird with teeth.” Sure, you’re right, but it’s a shiny bird with teeth. That’s important, especially with the youngsters watching the game in person or on TV thinking to themselves, “I’d love to go to Louisville and wear something like that and play in a big game like this against a big team.”
  You are not them. You are probably a few years, if not decades, removed from that age. You are not the target audience. These are also much better than Louisville’s last two alternate helmets as well, so props for that, UL.
  You may remember the very, very angry bird the Cards sported on their noggins last season. And who among us can’t recall the matte camo lookin’ things that they wore the last time they played FSU, a loss due in large part due to the zombie magic quality of Jameis Winston in 2014.
  These are certain to shine in the afternoon sun when Louisville takes on Florida State Saturday.

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  NFL picks 2016, Week 2: Can the Cardinals and Cowboys get their first wins?

  Our panel of experts is unanimous in its faith that the Cardinals will get back in the win column this week. They're more divided over the Cowboys and a few others. It's hard to pick games for the opening week of the season. You don't have anything to go on other than the depth chart and whatever precedent carried over from the year before. Plus, it takes some teams more time than others to shake off the offseason rust (looking at you, Arizona Cardinals).
  So major props to our panel of experts here. Nobody finished the week with a losing record, even the computer came in at a healthy 9-7. The big winner was Joel "The Blog Father" Thorman. I'm not sure what his secret is, but he wiped the floor with the rest of us, going 12-4 with his Week 1 picks. What really set him apart was that he was the ONLY person on the panel to pick the Patriots to beat the Cardinals last week.
  Joel broke with the pack again this week, making the Colts his underdog team, while everyone else is going with the Broncos. Most sportsbooks have the Broncos as six-point favorites. And our picks are straight up, not against the spread. Joel's really going out on a limb here, but maybe he's onto something.
  There's not a lot of consensus among the picks for Week 2. Everyone is taking the Raiders to beat the Falcons, the Cardinals to beat the Bucs and the Panthers to prevail over the 49ers. All of those look like very reasonable, very safe choices for your survivor pool. If there's an upset in that bunch it might be the Buccaneers, albeit a longshot.
  The toughest game to pick when you compare the two teams side-by-side is Cincinnati at Pittsburgh. Both teams are very complete from top to bottom, both can score a ton of points, and they also have a knack for beating the living hell out of each other.
  Re-picks
  As a reminder, because we do our picks so early in the week, our panel gets the chance to make a couple re-picks on Thursday, based on late developments. Last week, we only had one person re-pick a game: Fooch flipping from the Titans to the Vikings, very prescient.
  I suspect everyone will be watching the status of Russell Wilson. Pete Carroll has said that the Seahawks starting quarterback wasn't dealing with anything serious, but that was a painful ankle injury he suffered last week.

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  Jets vs. Bills 2016 odds: Buffalo, New York set for pick ’em betting matchup Thursday night

  The Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets will both try to pick up their first win on Thursday in a matchup too close to call at the sportsbooks. The Buffalo Bills are a perfect 5-0 straight up and against the spread in their last five games against the New York Jets. The Bills will try to pick up a sixth straight win over their division rivals this Thursday night at home.
  Buffalo and New York are going off as a pick 'em at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Both games between Buffalo and New York had the same final score in 2015, with the Bills coming out on top 22-17.
  No team had fewer yards on offense in their season opener last week than the Buffalo Bills, who with just 95 passing yards and 65 rushing yards accumulated only 160 yards in a 13-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
  With that road loss, the Bills fell to 0-5 SU and 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games on the road. This week's return home could help Buffalo as the Bills are 4-0 SU and ATS in their last four games at New Era Field.
  The Bills have also played well coming off a loss recently with an 8-3 SU and ATS record in their last 11 games following a loss per the OddsShark NFL Database. Buffalo is 19-6 ATS in its last 15 games played in Week 2.
  Betting Line / Total: Buffalo PK / 40.5 Points
  Trend: The Jets are 0-5 SU and ATS in their last five games against the Bills.
  Trend: The total has gone UNDER in 10 of the Bills' last 14 games as home favorites.
  The Jets held the lead through most of their season-opening game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but a 47-yard field goal with 54 seconds left on the clock gave the Bengals a 23-22 road win.
  On the bright side for the Jets, offseason free agent acquisition Matt Forte seemed to fit well in the offense, rushing for 96 yards and catching five passes for 59 yards. The passing defense will need to be better this week after giving up 366 yards through the air on Sunday. New York is 5-1-1 ATS in its last seven Week 2 games.
  Thursday night's total is set at 40.5 points. The UNDER is 3-0 in the last three games between these two teams.
  With the New England Patriots seemingly in good hands with backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, neither of these teams can likely afford to fall to 0-2 in the AFC East. Plenty will be on the line for both of these teams as they fight for an important spot in the win column.
  New York Jets at Buffalo Bills
  When: Thursday, Sept. 15, 8:25 p.m. ET
  Where: New Era Field, Buffalo, N.Y.
  Jets at Bills OddsShark Matchup Report

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  Duke is holding its own preseason NBA scouting combine, just like Kentucky

  Then Mike Krzyzewski is closing his practice doors to NBA scouts for the rest of the season. Duke is following Kentucky's lead in more ways than one. After beating out John Calipari's team for five-star freshmen Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles and Marques Bolden, Duke will host NBA scouts for a preseason combine on Oct. 19 and Oct. 25, according to Adrian Wojnarowki of The Vertical. Duke will then ban NBA scouts from attending practice for the rest of the season.
  Calipari has hosted a similar combine the last two seasons, which was broadcast on ESPNU. Kentucky is doing it again on Oct. 9 and 10.
  Duke will begin the new season as the No. 1 team in America thanks in part to a top-rated recruiting class that includes four McDonald's All-Americans. Duke currently has three players projected as first round picks in the 2017 NBA Draft by DraftExpress, with freshmen Giles and Tatum coming in at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, and junior guard Grayson Allen pegged at No. 25.
  This is just the latest evidence that Duke and Kentucky are much more similar than different. Kentucky brought in the No. 1 recruiting class from 2009-2013, until Mike Krzyzewski began going after the same sort of one-and-done talents Calipari was known to target. Duke has now finished ahead of Kentucky in 247 Sports' recruiting rankings two of the last three years, including in 2016 when Tatum, Giles and Bolden all chose the Blue Devils over the Wildcats.
  Calipari has not completely shut his practice doors to NBA scouts in years past, but he has limited the number of teams he'll allow to watch practice. Duke's second pro day coincides with the beginning of the NBA season on Oct. 25, when there are three games on the league slate.

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