NASCAR Championship Weekend

The 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season ended on Sunday night with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Miami, Florida. This race was the 36th and final race on the schedule. NASCAR also has a playoff system where the top 12 drivers in points from the first 26 races advance to The Chase for The Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson won the Sprint Cup for his sixth title and his sixth in the last eight years. Johnson beat Matt Kenseth by a total of 19 points and third place Kevin Harvick by 34 points. The Sprint Cup Series is the highest series on the NASCAR circuit. The next top series also finish over the weekend with the NASCAR Nationwide Series concluded with Austin Dillon winning the championship over Sam Hornish Jr. by 3 points. Friday night was when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finished. The champion was Matt Crafton and he won the title over Ty Dillon by 40 points.

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/live-standings.html

High School Football Player Collapses, Later Dies

A high school football player in Arizona died at a local hospital after collapsing on the field late in a blowout playoff loss. Charles Youvella, a running back from Keams Canyon Hopi High school, made a catch midway through the fourth quarter, he was tackled and hit his head hard on the field. He got up, looked fine according to sources and then collapsed two plays later. He was conscious when he was taken in an ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. When he arrived in the hospital, he was in critical condition. Late Monday night, Charles Youvella died. He was the second leading rusher on the team during their 9-1 season. His death was likely caused by a major head injury. This brings up more thoughts of concussions and other head injuries at any level of football. Riddel and other helmet providers have been working on making helmets that stop head injuries but they don't look like they'll be perfected in the near future.

http://www.azcentral.com/12news/free/20131111northern-arizona-high-school-football-player-critical.html

World Series Over, Free Agency Begins

The Boston Red Sox won the 2013 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals in six games. Game six was played at Fenway Park and was won by the Red Sox on October 30. Both teams have key players with expiring contracts who may be on the move in free agency. Possible free agents include Jacoby Ellsbury, Stephen Drew, Mike Napoli, Carlos Beltran and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Teams had five days to offer contracts to their own free agents before they can negotiate with any team. Free agents who received a qualifying offer on Monday, November 4 could award their former team compensation from the signing. Players were offered a $14.1 million dollar-1 year contract if a GM chooses to attempt to sign the player. If a major free agent signs with a team that they didn't play for in 2013, their former team is awarded a draft pick for each player in next year's 2014 MLB First Year Player Draft in June. Players who played in a foreign league don't give their former team a draft pick, instead they are often offered cash value for the player. A few foreign free agents who might play in the Majors next year may be Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Dariel Abreu, Alexander Guerrero and Suk-Min Yoon. Top free agents in this offseason include: Robinson Cano, Shin-Soo Choo, Matt Garza and Brian McCann.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions/free-agents