When I turned on my phone Saturday morning I was greeted by several messages that at first I thought had to be a mistake. Twitter had exploded overnight with the news that Monmouth University had beaten UCLA in the college basketball opener for both teams.

I kept rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I read about the Hawks stunning 84-81 overtime victory. Okay so this is not supposed to be a vintage UCLA team and they’re not ranked in the pre-season top 25. But beating the Bruins at famed Pauley Pavilion, the home that John Wooden built is an indication that this Hawks team just might be the best they have had in a long time.

Tonight Monmouth will try and make it an LA sweep when they face USC with tipoff at 10pm. All Hawks road games can be heard on News Talk Radio WOBM 1160 and 1310 AM  as well as shoresportsnetwork.com. Monmouth plays their first eight games away from home before hosting Wagner at the MAC on December 13th.

This will be a tough morning for Giants fans who saw their bid for an upset of the undefeated Patriots end when Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 54-yard field goal with one second left at MetLife Stadium Sunday. As is often the case with average teams they just did not make the plays down the stretch which might have changed the outcome as Odell Beckham Jr. dropped a touchdown pass and Landon Collins let an interception slip out of his hands on the final drive.

The Giants have a bye next weekend and at 5-5 actually still lead the NFC East by a half game but if they miss the playoffs they’ll look back on the New England game for sure.

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway
Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
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I’m not a NASCAR fan by any means but next Sunday I’ll keep an eye on the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway because after 35 races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup a Southern Regional High School alumnus is in the final four.

Martin Truex Jr. will compete with Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch for the biggest prize in NASCAR with the highest finisher coming away with the championship. Truex is a 1998 graduate of Southern and was inducted into the school’s Wall of Fame in 2008.

There are many TV shows I really like but the one that is consistently good all the time is Blue Bloods starring Tom Sellick which airs Friday nights on CBS. Just wanted to mention that.

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