College football championships kick off Monday evening. Alabama's Crimson Tide is taking on the Georgia Bulldogs. Last week's semifinals achieved one of cable history's highest viewerships, and ESPN saw double digit audience growth year-over-year. ThePostGame.com Senior Editor Jeff Eisenband and FiveThirtyEight's Senior Sportswriter Neil Paine explain their expectations for the final.
"It will be something special," says Eisenband. The game kicks off at 8:00 pm ET on ESPN, who is offering the event through multiple viewing platforms. College football has been a ratings success for the network who has faced layoffs and shifted gears in 2017.
This is also the first major sports event at Atlanta's new stadium. Paine says there is a concern nationally over interest in a game that is so regional in nature.The college championship is increasingly trying to market itself as the "super bowl" of college football.
Selling beer and wine inside college football stadiums has become the norm over the past decade, a way for schools to bring in more revenue and attract fans who might otherwise be inclined to stay home.
Five-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Missy Franklin was at the top of her sport when a shoulder injury forced her to retire. After that, her father was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease that forced her family to come together to support him. Now Franklin is working with Otsuka Pharmaceutical to raise awareness of genetic diseases and ADPKD, the disease that affected her father.
Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills football player who suffered a cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January, was back in the city over the weekend.
Ryan Blaney raced to his first career NASCAR championship on Sunday by banging his way past contender Kyle Larson in the closing laps at Phoenix Raceway to give Team Penske back-to-back Cup titles.
The team waited six decades for its first title. Colorado, Milwaukee, San Diego, Seattle and Tampa Bay are the franchises that remain without a World Series championship.
