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You probably noticed that big full moon over the weekend. This year’s Harvest moon occurred on Saturday (9/26).
According to astronomy experts, the Harvest moon occurs closest to the first day of autumn.
The fall equinox occurred on September 23.
Full moons tend to produce some weird occurrences. This weekend was certainly no exception.
A rare September N’orEaster brought rain and win to the eastern seaboard this weekend.
Out west, a late September hurricane named Polo with 115 MPH winds is located just west of Baja California. This storm will decrease in intensity this week and then turn northeastward. It will (hopefully) bring some much-needed rain into the Southern plains and South Central US states later this week.
This weekend’s sports scene was filled with its share of “full moon” moments, too.
Houston Astros won the American League West with an underwhelming 81-81 record
The race to win the American League West was more like a game of “Hot Potato” this baseball season. Neither the Houston Astros nor the Texas Rangers seemed to want to win the division title.
The Houston Astros finished with a blazing (ha ha) 5-5 closing stretch record to hold off the slightly-more-inept Texas Rangers by one game to finally claim the AL West.
Houston won game #162 of baseball’s regular season on Sunday with a 9-0 win at the Athletics of Sacramento. Texas lost at Minnesota 6-4 to finish the season one game back.
Houston has now won the American League West five times in the past six seasons.
The Astros will host the surprising Chicago White Sox in a best-of-three opening round playoff series in Houston beginning Tuesday afternoon.
Chicago’s White Sox finished 83-78 to claim a Wild Card spot this year. The ChiSox posted a 24-game improvement from last year’s dismal 60-102 record.
This week’s playoff match-up will be available on Peacock (NBC’s $13/month internet site). It will also be televised on the NBC Sports Network (a cable sports station which isn’t carried by some cable systems).
Three major college football players acted like fools this weekend. Each deserves to wear a dunce hat.
The AP’s #1 Texas Longhorns survived a late Tennessee rally to defeat the Volunteers 17-14 on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
That same #1 team had one of their defensive players who – uh – simulated taking a “#1” on the football field Saturday after sacking the Tennessee quarterback. Defensive end Colin Simmons “celebrated” his quarterback sack afterwards with his personal fake watering job onto the Tennessee turf.
This “Texas Tinkle” cost the Longhorns a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Texas coach Steve Sarkesian said afterward, “Unfortunately…we live in a ‘Look at me’ society”.
The highly-forgiving coach is not likely to keep Colin Simmons on the bench for the Longhorns’ next game against Oklahoma, though. That’s what five sacks in one game can do for you.
South Carolina Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer has enough problems to deal with. His Gamecocks fell to 2-2 after an embarrassing 49-18 loss at Alabama on Saturday.
Coach Beamer then had to deal with one of his own players who threw a punch at the helmet of an Alabama football player.
Carolina defensive end Dylan Stewart swung his fist and hit the helmet of Bama tight end Josh Ford. Stewart received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and then raged at his own coaches along the Gamecocks’ sideline.
On Sunday, Stewart was suspended indefinitely by the South Carolina football coach.
Coach Beamer commendably told the media, “That’s not how we do things around here”.
Finally, did you see the dirtiest play in college football this season on Saturday night?
Oregon quarterback Dante Moore was running with the football and slid feet first to avoid a direct hit from an oncoming Southern Cal defender. His surrender didn’t matter to Trojans linebacker Desman Stephens, though. He lowered his helmet and rammed it directly into the helmet of the Oregon quarterback. It jarred the defenseless quarterback’s head back into the turf.
His late hit was totally unnecessary and extraordinarily dangerous.
Believe it or not, Desman Stephens then started jumping for joy celebrating his own cheap shot dirty play.
Oregon quarterback Dante Moore laid still on the field for several minutes. Emergency personnel carefully placed him into an ambulance where he was evaluated at a Los Angeles hospital.
Moore has been diagnosed with a severe concussion. Fortunately, MRI and CT scans did not reveal further damage. His long-term prognosis is uncertain as of Monday.
Oregon rallied around their fallen leader. Former Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola came off the bench to lead the Ducks to a 41-27 win at USC. Oregon improved to 3-1 this year, while USC fell to 4-1.
Coach Dan Lanning of Oregon said, “It was a disgusting play. The energy changed. A lot of the guys on the sidelines were emotional, including myself”.
USC linebacker Desman Stephens was thrown out of the game for targeting and his team penalized 15 yards. Trojans’ coach Lincoln Riley later suspended Stephens for one game for his juvenile actions.
Based on what I saw Saturday night, Desman Stephens should not be allowed to play football at USC or for any other college program.
Michigan’s football team learned about karma during Saturday’s Harvest moon
You might remember that Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference appeared to have won their season-opening football game a few weeks ago at Ann Arbor against the Big Ten’s Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan’s “Hail Mary” pass into the end zone went incomplete as the clock showed no time remaining. However, the replay officials reviewed the play (and erred) saying there was still :01 left.
That controversial second heave-ho pass attempt by Michigan was caught in the end zone for a touchdown as the Wolverines escaped with a 13-12 win over a bewildered Western Michigan team.
On Saturday, the 3-0 Iowa Hawkeyes came into Michigan for an important early season Big Ten encounter.
This time, it was the Hawkeyes receiving some good fortune. Iowa scored the winning touchdown on a 16-yard pass completion on the game’s final play.
Iowa’s 20-19 win stunned the huge Michigan crowd of 111,126. The Hawkeyes improved their record to 4-0, while Michigan dropped to 3-1 after its first “official” loss of the season.
The dysfunctional US President’s Cup team rallied on Sunday for an epic comeback win
We’ve seen this before. The American men’s professional golfers struggle mightily to play in team competitions where the two US players must work together to help win a match.
The US squad is filled with multi-millionaires who travel in their own private jets and stay in rented homes during golf tournaments. They seem to rarely socialize with each other during the lengthy PGA season.
On the other side, many foreign players (who don’t earn as much money as top PGA stars) seem to enjoy more camaraderie at European, Australian, and Asian Tour events. They often stay in the same hotels, eat together, perhaps enjoy a toddy or two at the bar, and generally like each other’s company.
Americans struggle in team four-ball competition (where each player plays his own ball for the hole with the best score counting). The Yanks have been downright horrible in the foursomes (where one ball is played from tee by Player 1 and the second shot is played from the fairway by Player 2, etc.).
Friday’s second round of the 2026 President’s Cup near Chicago saw the US team lose all five matches in the foursomes competition. The International team led 7-3 after Friday’s foursome sweep.
The International team seemed quite determined this year. Their last share of the President’s Cup came in the 2003 matches in South Africa. They had lost ten consecutive matches to the Americans coming into last weekend’s 2026 event at Medinah Country Club near Chicago.
Captain Geoff Ogilvie’s team still maintained a 3-point lead entering Sunday’s 12 individual matches.
US captain Brandt Snedeker’s squad rallied to post an impressive 9-2-1 record on Sunday.
They roared from behind to claim a 17-13 victory over the International squad in the 2026 President’s Cup.
The Americans were a woeful 2-7 in foursome (alternate shot) competitions but still found a way to overcome that significant deficit to win this biennial golf event.
A 21-year old US rookie who played at Auburn was the only American not to lose a match this week. Jackson Koivun went 2-0-1 in the President’s Cup including Sunday’s 2-up victory over World #14 golfer Si Woo Kim from South Korea.
Koivun said afterwards, “It’s just exciting to call these guys my friends. Now when I go to tournaments, it’s not ‘There’s so and so’. I was on a team with them, and we won the President’s Cup”!
It marked the first time in President’s Cup history that either team had overcome a 3-point deficit in the final day of singles matches to win.
A very relieved US team captain Brandt Snedeker may just keep smiling all week long!