Sports Brief: September 8

Intramurals

The flag football intramural season begins this Sunday, Sept. 10.

The big matchup to start off the women’s league will be a rematch of the final last year, Gamma Rho versus Lambda Chi Zeta. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m.

The men’s A league will not begin until Sept. 12, with the men of Delta Gamma Sigma playing the men of Kappa Sigma Tau at 9 p.m. and the men of Chi Lambda Phi taking on the freshmen class at 10 p.m.

No changes to the all-sports standings have been made.

National Football League

The National Football League’s (NFL) season has officially begun with a shocking upset. 

The Detroit Lions beat the Kansas City Chiefs while on the road 21-20. Several uncharacteristic drops held the Chiefs back as well as tight end Travis Kelce missing the game after hyperextending his leg at practice. To the Lion’s credit, the whole team played well, outrunning and outpassing the Chiefs to a total yardage stat of 368 compared to the Chief’s 316. 

The Lions will host the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 17. Kickoff is at 12 p.m CST. Meanwhile, the Chiefs will travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. Kickoff will also be at 12 p.m CST.

The rest of the NFL are preparing for their first week games. The remaining prime time games will be inter-divisional rivalries, as the New York Giants host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CST on Sept.10. The Bills will travel to New York to play the Jets on Monday Night Football, kickoff is 7:15 p.m. CST on Sept. 11.

Major League Baseball

The Major League Baseball season has entered its final month of regular season games. 

The Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers sit at the top of their divisions with comfortable leads. However, the Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers have significantly less comfortable leads, with the Astros only holding a half-game lead over the Seattle Mariners.

Tennis

The US Open is coming to a close, with only the men’s singles division and the women’s doubles division having yet to play their semifinal matches. 

Ben Shelton plays Novak Djokovic Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. CST in the men’s singles division. The winner will play the winner of Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, who play at 6 p.m. CST.

The women’s doubles division semifinals will be Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski versus Wang Xinyu and Hsieh Su-wei at 11 a.m. CST, followed by Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva vs Jennifer Brady and Luisa Stefani at 12:30 p.m. CST. 

The women’s singles final will be between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka, the game has not yet been scheduled. 

The men’s doubles final of Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna versus Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will be at 11 a.m. CST. The mixed doubles final has not yet been scheduled, but the match will be Austin Krajicek and Jessica Pegula versus Anna Danilina and Harri Heliövaara.

Major League Soccer

Lionel Messi played his first major league game without any goal contributions after nine games, meaning no goals or assists. 

Inter Miami tied with Nashville on Aug. 30 with a final score of 0-0. Messi would later go on to have two assists to help Inter Miami beat The Los Angeles Football Club 3-0. 

Inter Miami will play Sporting Kansas City at 6:30 p.m. CST today.

Swimming

Maximus Williamson is now the second fastest U.S. male teenager in history for the 200 Individual Medley, only behind Michael Phelps. 

Williamson finished the World Juniors final with a time of 1:57.29. This time is fast enough that Williamson would have qualified for the senior-level world’s team that competed earlier this year. 

Williamson has edged out Carson Foster, who now sits as the third all time fastest in the 17-18 age group with his best time of 1:57.59. Michael Andrew’s time of 1:59.12 has now moved to fourth.