Smack Zone — Serena Williams

Five things worth a bit more reflection after an eventful weekend in sports:

1. As BYU backup quarterback Tyler Mangum ranged to his right and launched the game-winning 42-year Hail Mary pass in his team’s 33-28 victory against Nebraska Saturday, a fan hundreds of feet away in the opposite end zone had his camera rolling.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7QJ8ecLv4] We found that video on YouTube. We like it because it gives us a different look at the Play of the Year so far in college football (yeah, we said it). We LOVE it because of the fan’s burst of laughter at the :20 mark. Laugh smack is the best smack.

2. Mets ace pitcher Matt Harvey took a lot of heat in New York over the weekend for not pounding his chest and exclaiming that he would defy the recommendation of surgeon James Andrews (and, perhaps more importantly, the orders of agent Scott Boras) by blasting right through his medically mandated 180-inning limit this season.

[caption id="attachment_930" align="alignleft" width="240"] Image: NY Daily News.[/caption] Harvey, known affectionately to Mets fans as the Dark Knight, was smacked HARD by the Daily News with a pretty brilliant depiction of the big right-hander as Harvey Dent, AKA Batman’s nemesis Two Face. Harvey fired back with a first-person vow in Derek Jeter’s the Player’s Tribune that he would, in fact, pitch in the playoffs. This all seems like a big none story to us at this point. After all, the Mets still have to GET TO the postseason for Harvey to pitch there. And don’t look now, but those under-achieving Washington Nationals are coming on hard and fast.

3. There might not be a more compelling sibling rivalry in sports history than Venus vs. Serena. The Williams sisters easily won their respective U.S. Open Round of 16 matches on Sunday, so they advanced to meet one another in the quarterfinals. At stake: Serena’s quest to hold all four tennis major titles in the same calendar year.

This one has all the elements of a truly historic sports rivalry: two great champions, one (Venus) aging but still brilliant, one (Serena) among the most accomplished professional athletes in U.S. history. A historic milestone, the tennis Grand Slam. All with the added drama of sister vs. sister. We will be watching.

4. This video from a high school football game in Texas is an illustration of everything wrong with sports. Two players from San Antonio John Jay High targeted a referee with cheap shots from behind during the play.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNCrs63JeuM] The two players have reportedly been suspended by their school district (gee, ya think?). The John Jay coach apologized for the attack, but clearly that was not going to be enough to make amends. Come on, Texas. Let’s keep it civil, eh? If you have an issue with the ref, take the high road and stick to the time-honored tradition of creative insults punctuated with off-color language.

5. We don’t even know what to make of this. The Kansas State band broke into its Star Trek routine at halftime Saturday, but suddenly a giant Kansas Jayhawk appeared … in … space? And attacked … a cylindrical … what IS that? The Enterprise? REALLY?

Here’s how it was SUPPOSED to look: [caption id="attachment_931" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Image: Kansas State University.[/caption] This video shows how it ACTUALLY looked: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKGwf7CBWuw] Um. OK. There were a number of interpretations of the band’s routine floating around the Internet this weekend. We’ll leave it to you to decide what … it … really … is.