by Doc's Sports - 2/27/2017 La La Land just made the recent championship-costing collapses by the Warriors, Indians, and Falcons pale in comparison to its demise on Sunday night at the Academy Awards. After all, the three aforementioned teams had not entirely won (well, the Falcons basically had) before they ended up losing. La La Land, however, did win Best Picture-before it didn't. That's right; the Oscars ended in such stunning fashion that even Steve Harvey would be proud.

La La Land . How it went down may not ever be known with certainty, but what went down is as follows: presenter Warren Beatty opened the envelope for what he thought was Best Picture and-after long pauses of confusion-handed it to fellow presenter Faye Dunaway. Seeing La La Land on what was actually the card for Best Actress (La La Land's Emma Stone won that category), Dunaway announced La La Land as the winner. After several speeches by the La La Land crew, the Academy made it known that Moonlight was the actual Best Picture. Oops! Speaking of films, Luke Skywalker is a +150 favorite to be the first to die in Episode 8 of Star Wars.

Chase Elliott . Elliott started on the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500, led 39 laps (second most behind Kevin Harvick), and was in contention on the last lap. But the No. 24 car was among several that ran out of fuel just before finding the checkered flag. Elliott fell back to 14th place as fast as he stormed out of Daytona without talking to reporters. "There's nothing he can do," crew chief Alan Gustafson said of his driver. "I'd rather lose like that than I would be sitting in the garage or running 12th or 13th or 10 or lucking into a fifth, right? I don't think that's a bad thing. You go to the race track and you fight your guts out, and you win the pole, you win a Duel, and lead the Daytona 500 with two laps to go. I don't know that you should be sad about that." Well, Elliott should-because he didn't win. And in the words of legendary driver Ricky Bobby, "If you ain't first, you're last."

Brooklyn Nets . The annual race for the most ping-pong balls in the NBA Draft Lottery is often a hotly-contested affair that goes down to the wire. To say that is not the case this season would be a gross understatement. No team has come close to keeping up with unbelievably bad Nets, who are 9-49 and have lost 16 games in a row. They have allowed more than 100 points in 15 of the 16 setbacks, including more than 110 on 10 of those occasions. Brooklyn has at least an 8.5-game "lead" over everyone else in the field for the league's worst record (Phoenix is 18-41). The Warriors, who handed Brooklyn its latest loss, are -220 to win the NBA title.

Gonzaga . There will be no undefeated team in men's college basketball heading into the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga was the last such squad standing, but it suffered a shocking 79-71 home loss to BYU last Saturday night in its final game of the regular season. The Zags, who were 20.5-point favorites, led 41-35 at halftime only to be outscored by a whopping 14 points over the second 20 minutes. They were a futile 3-for-16 from three-point range and missed a horrendous 13 of 29 free-throws. "The season isn't over," guard Jordan Mathews assured. "It is a great season. We'd love to be 30-0, but we are 29-1." Gonzaga is +800 to win the National Championship.

Vancouver Canucks . The Canucks have lost two games in a row and four of their last five, and they have not won in regulation since Feb. 12. Vancouver's skid has the team tied for 11th in the Western Conference and nowhere near a playoff spot. Adding insult to injury, or vice versa, a highly-contagious case of the mumps has infected the clubhouse. Seven players-defensemen Troy Stecher, Chris Tanev, Ben Hutton, and Nikita Tryamkin, forwards Mike Chaput, Anton Rodin, and Markus Granlund-have shown symptoms. All have been quarantined for a five-day period or until tests come back negative. The Capitals are the Stanley Cup favorites at +380.

Jason Day . Day lost his world No. 1 ranking to Dustin Johnson earlier this month when Johnson won the Genesis Open at Riviera. Now the Australian is out of this week's World Golf Championship in Mexico City. He recently announced his withdrawal due to a double ear infection and the flu. Thus continues the unfortunate trend of physical problems for Day, who has dealt with thumb and back injuries-just to name a few-throughout his career."I'm truly disappointed to announce that I won't be able to play in [the] World Golf Championship-Mexico Championship," Day stated. "I have heard great things about the Mexico Championship and the golf course…. I look forward to teeing it up there next year." Day is -220 to win zero majors in 2017.

Atletico Madrid . FC Barcelona got blown out in the first leg of its Champions League round of 16 matchup earlier this month (4-0 by Paris Saint-Germain), but Atletico Madrid could not extend the woes of Lionel Messi and company this past Sunday. In a La Liga showdown at the Vicente Calderón in Madrid, Atletico failed to capitalize on home-field advantage and lost to Barcelona 2-1. The host side scored a second-half equalizer six minutes after its opponent had gotten on the scoreboard first, but Messi found the back of the net in the 86th minute to give the visitors a crucial victory. Barca is now within one point of Real Madrid atop the table, while Atletico is still in fourth place-10 points behind Real. Barcelona is a -1200 favorite over Sporting Gijon on Wednesday.
 

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