Friday’s 4-pack
XFL odds for Week 2:
— New York @ Washington (-5.5, 48)
— Tampa Bay (-2.5, 45) @ Seattle
— Dallas (-4.5, 48) @ Los Angeles
— St Louis @ Houston (-8, 50)
Quote of the Day:
“It’s about continuing to move forward, it’s about trying to learn from your mistakes, it’s about trying to not repeat your mistakes or bad decisions, and just try to continue to develop the group. I work from a position of positivity always. I don’t dwell on negativity, and I always believe something better’s on the horizon.”
Joe Maddon
Friday’s quiz
In between coaching Cincinnati and West Virginia, Bob Huggins went 23-12 in one season as head coach of which Big X team?
Thursday’s quiz
Golfer Dustin Johnson has a famous father-in-law, the great hockey player Wayne Gretzky.
Wednesday’s quiz
Red Sox have won four World Series since 2004, under Terry Francona (2), John Farrell, Alex Cora.
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Friday’s List of 13: Random stuff with weekend here…….
13) When ESPN first started 40 years ago, during the NCAA tournament, they would replay games all night long; it was excellent. You could basically go from noon Thursday to 6:30 Sunday night, constantly watching basketball, except you have to sleep, so I’d pick crummy games to catch naps during, two hours at a time.
These days, CBS Sports Network does that during the tournament, and ESPNU has started showing games all night long during the regular season. Tremendous.
12) Cincinnati 92, Memphis 86— Young Tigers led by 10 with 6:11 left, but couldn’t finish the job and are now 4-5 in their last nine games, after starting season 12-1.
11) Oregon 68, Colorado 60— Ducks’ G Payton Pritchard is only player in country to lead his team in assists per game, and scoring. He had 15 points, six assists in this game.
10) Jeff Bezos is the CEO of Amazon; he just bought a mansion in Beverly Hills, for $165M. Not sure what the hell is in a mansion that costs that much money— pinball machines, bowling alleys, saunas, swimming pools. I’d want a movie theater and a basketball court, for $165M. Maybe even a golf course.
9) Mike Trout has been in the major leagues for eight years, and has never won a playoff game. Looking at the Angels’ pitching rotation for this year, its not looking good for 2020, either.
8) There are keeper fantasy baseball leagues that use only one league, so if you’re in an AL-only league and you had Mookie Betts, him getting traded to the Dodgers makes him ineligible, which is a total freaking disaster for your team. Wouldn’t want to be in a league like that.
7) Upsets:
— Idaho (+14) 74, Eastern Washington 71
— SIU-Edwardsville (+10) 76, Eastern Illinois 74
— UL-Monroe (+6) 74, Troy 71
— Gardner-Webb (+5) 74, Winthrop 70
— Eastern Kentucky (+4) 78, Morehead State 71
6) UCLA 86, Washington State 83 OT— Bruins were down 12 in second half, rallied to win despite a 3-10 night on foul line from freshman G Campbell, who did have four steals and three assists. Kid is shooting 63.3% on foul line for season, so he just had a bad night.
5) Austin Peay 71, Murray State 68— In three years under Matt Figger, Governors are 36-13 in Ohio Valley games, after going 27-53 the previous five years. Excellent coaching job, but there may be big-money teams looking to poach coach Figger this spring.
4) Indiana 89, Iowa 77— Hoosiers made 11-21 on arc, broke a 4-game losing skid, surviving a 38-point outburst from Luka Garza.
One of the most interesting parts about March Madness will be how all these middling Big 14 teams do in the tournament- their TV network makes every team in the league sound like the Kareem/Magic Lakers.
3) Texas State 74, Little Rock 66— This is a likely semi-final matchup in Sun Belt tourney; this loss breaks the Trojans’ 7-game win streak. Kid for Texas State scored 26 points and he didn’t start the game; the Sun Belt tournament is going to be fun.
2) Celtics 141, Clippers 133, 2OT— Between this game and the LA-Denver game Wednesday night, two good advertisements for the NBA, as they head into their week off for the All-Star Game. Hard-fought games between good teams. Fun to watch.
1) Here’s a tip for major league baseball; put an earpiece in the catchers’ ear, put a little mike on the pitcher. Then the pitcher can cover his mouth, talk to the catcher, call his pitches, and there is no issue with this BS/sign stealing stuff. It is 2020, for Pete’s sake. Let’s get creative.
