Cnotes 2021-2022 nba trends, news, best bets and opinions thru the playoffs !

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Sunday’s 6-pack
NFL teams with most room under the salary cap:
$40,965,823— Cleveland
24,761,087— Carolina
22,629,843— Las Vegas
22,552,602— Dallas
22,242,500— Chicago
20,696,961— Pittsburgh

Quote of the Day
“I didn’t know anything about fronts, route combinations, defenses, footwork…..I didn’t know anything about that.”
Luis Perez, QB of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, explaining how he learned a lot about playing QB from watching videos on YouTube

Sunday’s quiz
Mets have played in five World Series, under five different managers; who are they?

Saturday’s quiz
Mark Jackson was Golden State’s coach before Steve Kerr.

Friday’s quiz
Steve Kerr played his college basketball at Arizona.

*****************************

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday

13) Our fantasy baseball league is 18 years old; it is a keeper league. We have 14 teams now, started out with 18 teams. Our first draft took 87 days to complete; it was a running draft, the person whose turn it was would text me their pick, and I would post it. It went the whole damn winter, just about.

My first three picks that year were Matt Holliday, Brandon Webb, Adam Dunn; I bring this up because Matt Holliday’s son is expected to be a first round pick in the amateur draft next month, another thing that is making me feel old(er).

12) Phillies 7, Angels 2— Joe Girardi got fired this week, because teams with lousy pitching don’t win much, especially when they don’t field well. Phillies spent lot of $$$ this winter on couple of sluggers, Schwarber/Castellanos, but they aren’t good fielders.

Enter the Angels, who have a similar approach; outscore your opponents. Well, the Angels have now lost 10 games in a row; they’re 27-27 and Mike Trout hasn’t had a hit in a week. Think Joe Maddon is on the hot seat?

11) Dodgers have a payroll of $310.6M, will be subject to a tax of $47M or so, which would be a new MLB record. Dodgers are 36-17; they’ve been in the playoffs nine years in a row- they sell out a lot of games, and by the way, their pitching, when healthy, is pretty good.

10) Mets sent 1B/OF Dom Smith to AAA this week; it took him a few days to catch up with his new team, but he’s gone 3-9 in his first two AAA games, with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI. It figures that sometime this summer, Smith will be dealt for a pitcher.

9) Former big league catcher AJ Pierzynski does games on FS1; he is a good analyst, speaks his mind, which isn’t always the case. He was talking last night about how catching foul tips is mostly luck, no real skill to it. He should know, having caught in the big leagues for 19 years.

8) There are three current big leaguers with a career .300 average and 100+ stolen bases:
Jose Altuve, Mike Trout, Trea Turner

7) Albert Pujols played in his 3,000th career game Saturday, quite a milestone. He is only the 10th big leaguer ever to play in 3,000 games.

6) Cardinals 7, Cubs 3 (10)— Chicago is 0-25 when it trails after six innings.

5) Las Vegas sportsbooks are posting odds on football games already; SouthPoint opened UNLV as a 33-point underdog at Notre Dame. Golden Nugget posted that game at 26; wonder how many people played the middle in that game, taking UNLV +33, Notre Dame -26, hoping the game falls in between those two numbers.

4) Yordan Alvarez signed a 6-year, $115M deal with the Astros this week; he celebrated by hitting couple of home runs Friday, off a pitcher on my fantasy team. Awesome.

3) Auburn-USC will play a home/home basketball series this year and next; this fall’s game is at the Galen Center at USC December 18.

2) Game 2 of the NBA Finals is tonight; Game 1 was Thursday. I understand that they don’t want games on Saturday, because fewer people watch TV on Saturdays, but shouldn’t they play Game 1 on Friday- you don’t need three days between games when there is no travel.

1) Not sure I’ve ever seen this before, and if I have, its been a while:

Bottom 4th in LA, Mets lead 6-4. Dodgers have guy on 2nd, two out, Mookie Betts is up. Betts hit a 3-run double in his last at-bat, off starter David Peterson, but they leave Peterson in.

Betts hits a vicious line drive down the left field line, just foul. 0-1 count; Buck Showalter had seen enough. He takes Peterson out, brings in a righty reliever, who strikes Betts out looking.

Not often a pitcher is removed during a count.

 

[Udog]

GOLDEN STATE is 7-0 Under (7 Units) in home games playing with 2 days rest in the current season.




NBA
Dunkel

Sunday, June 5

NBA

Sunday, June 5

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Trend Report
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Boston @ Golden State
Boston
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Golden State
Boston is 13-1 ATS in its last 14 games on the road
Golden State
Golden State is 11-1 SU in its last 12 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Golden State's last 8 games when playing at home against Boston


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The Warriors are 5-2 ATS in their last seven games.
The Celtics are 4-1 ATS in their last five games.
The Warriors are 11-1 SU in their last 12 home games.
The Celtics are 13-1 ATS in their last 14 road games.
The Celtics are 5-0-1 ATS in their last six matchups against Golden State.
The Warriors are 1-7 SU in their last eight matchups against Boston.
The Celtics are 5-0 SU in their last five road games against Golden State.
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of the last 14 matchups between Boston and Golden State.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack
NFL teams with least room under the salary cap:
$1,007,383— New England
4,754,181— San Francisco
5,278,202— LA Rams
5,663,870— Buffalo
6,649,869— NJ Giants
7,369,070— Houston

Quote of the Day
“I’m so happy for (Bryson Stott), man. What an at-bat. What a situation for him. Being able to put our trust in our young guys the last couple days, and really let them just play. It’s been great. And it paid off today………The thing about Bryson is he’s got to play. He’s used to playing every day. From high school, to college, to minor league baseball, to now. He’s used to playing every day, and that’s what we’ve got to do for our young guys…”
Bryce Harper

Monday’s quiz
In the movie Last Vegas, what hotel do the four old friends stay in for the weekend?

Sunday’s quiz
Mets have played in five World Series, under five different managers:
Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine, Terry Colline

Saturday’s quiz
Mark Jackson was Golden State’s coach before Steve Kerr.

********************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..

13) Golden State 107, Boston 88:
— Warriors outscored Boston 35-14 in third quarter.
— Celtics shot only 15-43 (34.9%) inside the arc.
— Series heads east to Boston, tied 1-1.

12) Phillies 9, Angels 7:
— Angels led 6-2 in 8th inning.
— Harper hit grand slam in 8th; Stott walked it off with a homer in 9th.
— Phillies are 4-0 since they changed managers.

11) Meanwhile, Angels have now lost 11 games in a row; Mike Trout is 0 for his last 26, and if Joe Girardi got fired this week, can Joe Maddon be far behind? Angels are 27-28; much like the Phillies, they don’t have enough pitching, no matter who the manager is.

10) Mets 5, Dodgers 4 (10)— In 12 career games at Dodger Stadium, Pete Alonso is hitting .360, with 7 homers, 16 RBI, 11 runs scored. Mets blew a 4-2 lead in ninth inning here, but scored in 10th inning and split this four-game series.

9) Dodgers messed up a new rule in Saturday night’s game; trailing 9-4 after eight innings, LA wanted a position player to pitch the ninth inning, but there is a new rule that says a team has to be behind by six runs to use a position player to pitch.

Dodgers had no idea about the new rule; all of this caused an 11-minute delay in the game; they let the regular pitcher take his normal warm-ups, which greatly annoyed the Mets’ TV crew.

8) Why do people discuss the MVP race on June 5th? Season still has over 100 games left, long way to go, but talking heads on TV have to speculate who the MVP will be. Come up with better things to talk about, such as………

While the Dodgers are going to pay a $47M payroll tax this year on their $310M payroll, the entire payroll of the Oakland A’s is $48,411,301. For the whole team; that seems fair.

Week 8 of the USFL……..
7) New Jersey 29, Pittsburgh 18:
— Generals have won seven in a row.
— Pittsburgh has been outscored 121-45 in first half of games.
— New Jersey outgained Pittsburgh 379-290.
— Maulers had a pretty good QB in Vad Lee, but benched him; not good.

6) Birmingham 10, New Orleans 9:
— I’ve been upbeat about the USFL, but this was a sloppy game.
— Both teams turned ball over three times.
— Stallions kicked a field goal with 1:48 to keep their perfect record (8-0) intact.
— Breakers scored 23+ points in their wins, 13-17-9 in losses.

5) Philadelphia 46, Michigan 24:
— Stars outgained Michigan 25-6 in second half.
— Philadelphia averaged 8.8 yards/pass attempt.
— Last five weeks, Stars are +9 in turnovers.
— Michigan is 1-4 ATS as an underdog.

4) Tampa Bay 13, Houston 3:
— Gamblers have now lost seven games in a row.
— Houston outgained Bandits 244-214; Tampa threw for only 69 yards.
— Neither team scored in second half.
— Tampa Bay is 4-4 despite their minus-11 turnover ratio.

3) Quin Snyder quit as coach of the Utah Jazz after eight years there; he had a 372-264 record in regular season games, 21-30 in playoffs. Apparently the Utah front office tried to talk him out of it, but Snyder believes the Jazz “……need a new voice”

2) Is it my imagination, or do more hitters swing at 3-0 pitchers now, figuring that might the only time they’re ever going to see a fastball?

1) Orioles pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez has a Grade 2 lat strain, could miss the rest of the season. Rodriguez is listed as MLB’s #5 prospect; he was expected to make his major league debut this summer. Now next spring looks more likely.

 

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume Wednesday.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack
Odds to win the Canadian Open golf tournament this weekend:
17-2— Scheffler
9-1— Thomas
10-1— McIlroy
12-1— Cam Smith
14-1— Burns
16-1— Fitzpatrick

Quote of the Day
“He’s brilliantly smart. He came in, got in his book and got to work. He’s just one of those guys that works at it. And in some respects, it was similar to when I was in San Diego and I saw the way Philip Rivers was, how smart Philip was. And this guy is smart. Watching Carson (Wentz), it’s like, this guy’s got it, and he really did remind me of Philip to a degree. … It was really pleasing to see,”
Washington Commanders’ coach Ron Rivera

Tuesday’s quiz
Whose picture is on the $10 bill?

Monday’s quiz
In the movie Last Vegas, the four old friends stay at the Aria Hotel for the weekend.

Sunday’s quiz
Mets have played in five World Series, under five different managers:
Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine, Terry Collins

********************************

Tuesday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….

13) Good news: Rams signed DT Aaron Donald to a $40M raise over the final three years of his contract, which makes him the highest non-quarterback in the NFL.

12) Cleveland Browns’ season over/under for wins and Super Bowl odds are all off the boards until the Deshaun Watson situation is resolved. It figures that Watson is going to be suspended for at least six games; training camp starts next month, a decision is due fairly soon.

11) Wasn’t sure if I knew this or not, but during the season, NFL starting quarterbacks are required to meet with the media twice a week. Once Watson’s suspension is over, his press conferences will become required viewing.

10) Was little weird watching the Celtics-Warriors game Sunday night; Vivek Ranadive, the guy who owns the Sacramento Kings, was sitting right behind the Celtics’ bench during Game 2.

What makes it weird is that Mike Brown is an assistant coach for Golden State, but as soon as the Finals end, he becomes Sacramento’s head coach. Is Ranadive doing Brown a favor, being close enough to the Boston bench to hear what they’re saying?

It is a little paranoid to suggest that, but stranger things have happened.

9) Random fact: in 1892, Benjamin Harrison became the first American President to go to a major league baseball game.

8) 40 years ago, Mike Fratello applied for but didn’t get the head coaching job for the Chicago Bulls; one of Chicago’s co-owners decided that Fratello was too short to command the respect of NBA players.

Seriously; he didn’t get hired because he is 5-foot-7.

Fratello wound up coaching three other NBA teams, compiling a 667-548 record (.549) with 11 winning seasons out of 16. Then he became an excellent broadcaster.

7) Things turned out OK for the Bulls; they did lousy with the coach they did hire, fired that guy, did lousy again the next year, then drafted a guy named Michael Jordan. Things got better.

6) When Bryce Harper hit a game-tying grand slam Sunday, it was the first time the Phillies hit a game-tying grand slam in the 8th inning or later since 1954, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

5) Red Sox 1, Angels 0— Michael Wacha threw a complete game shutout; Angels have now lost 12 games in a row, but hey, at least Mike Trout got a hit. He is now 1 for his last 28.

4) Colorado 6, Edmonton 5 (OT):
— Avalanche sweeps Edmonton 4 games to 0.
— Oilers led 4-2 midway thru third period.
— Big year for Colorado owner Stan Kroenke, who also owns the Super Bowl champion Rams.

3) Missouri Tigers poached one of the best remaining transfers; Isiaih Mosley picked the Tigers over Kansas and Mississippi State. Mosley scored 20.4 ppg, grabbed 6.2 rebounds/game while hitting 42.7% of his 3-pointers as a junior last year.

2) Since 2019, Jimmy Garoppolo’s passes have averaged 6.8 yards after catch, by far the best average in the NFL; this is what the Miami Dolphins are hoping will happen with their QB, Tua Tagovailoa, why they acquired WR Tyreek Hill.

Miami brought in Mike McDaniel to run the Kyle Shanahan offense; we’ll see if Tagovailoa can pull it off.

1) College baseball tournament is going on now; a pitcher on Maryland threw 109 pitches in Saturday’s game, then pitched again in relief Monday. This is where college baseball becomes dicey; if the kid is a pro prospect, does the manager risk that career for the good of his team?

I remember LSU’s Ben McDonald pitching in relief in the College World Series, the day after he threw a complete game. McDonald wound up pitching nine years in the majors; could he have had a better, longer career had that not happened? We’ll never know.

 

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume tomorrow.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack
— Red Sox 5, Angels 4 (10)- Halos have lost 13 games in a row.
— Plus, Mike Trout got hurt and they fired manager Joe Maddon.
— Astros 4, Mariners 1— Verlander struck out 12 Mariners in seven IP.
— Phillies 3, Brewers 2— Bohm/Vierling homered off Hader in 9th inning.
— Rays 4, Cardinals 2 (10)— Walk-off homer for Taylor Wells in 10th inning.
— Group headed by Walmart heir Rob Walton bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65B, that’s billion, with a B.

Quote of the Day
“The playing is easy. That’s the easy part. It’s the other part that’s a grind. … It seems like a slightly bigger commitment to come up to being the guy again in another season. Obviously I don’t want be a bum standing back there playing like crap and not able to move around, so if the talent goes, it’s a no-brainer, but it’s a little harder when you still can really play and the mental part is difficult.”
Aaron Rodgers

Wednesday’s quiz
What QB got hurt in a 1999 exhibition game that made Kurt Warner the Rams’ starting QB?

Tuesday’s quiz
Alexander Hamilton’s picture is on the $10 bill.

Monday’s quiz
In the movie Last Vegas, the four old friends stay at the Aria Hotel for the weekend.

******************************************

Wednesday’s Den: In a perfect world, where I make all the decisions……

1) Major League Baseball needs a Hard Knocks-type show during spring training, to show the inner workings of his a team is built. It works great with NFL teams in training camp; it would be better with baseball.

There is so much free time in spring training; you can mike players/coaches in spring training games, show players getting sent down to AAA. We’ve seen it in movies, how about real life?

It would also work during the season, just like the NFL is doing now.

2) College football needs an 8-team playoff system; actually 16 teams or 12 teams would be better, but eight is good, for now. Fewer meaningless bowl games, more playoff games that would increase TV ratings, attendance and most important, the $$$ would be bigger.

3) In all pro sports, higher-seeded teams should be able to pick who they play in the playoffs; for example, seven teams from each conference make the NFL playoffs.

Home seed gets a bye; the #2-seed would then get to pick from seeds #5-7 who they want to play first, then #3-seed gets next choice- the two remaining teams would play each other.

Next round, #1-seed gets first choice of who they want to play, and so on. Can you imagine the TV ratings this would get? It would ramp up interest astronomically.

4) Baseball needs both a salary cap and, more importantly, a salary floor; cheap teams who don’t even try to win are hurting the game, both aesthetically and financially.

This season, I care way more about my fantasy team that I do about the A’s, and I’ve been as A’s fan since 1965. They’re not trying to win; I’m too damn old to sit there and watch them get their butts beat most every night, so I focus on my fantasy team. At least I’m TRYING to win.

5) Admission to racetracks should be free, just like walking into a casino is free. You go to a track to bet on the horses, you’re going to bet on the races, you’re going to buy the (overpriced) food and drinks, you’re going to buy souvenirs, why should we have to pay $7 just to get in the door?

If need be, make people pay $10 to get in, but everyone gets a $10 voucher for betting, souvenirs or eating that day.

6) Spring football is a viable thing; when the XFL starts up next year and with the USFL already a thing, the two leagues need to merge and form a 16-team spring league that people will love, much like the USFL back in the 80’s.

7) High school basketball players should be able to go right from high school to the NBA, the way they used to; Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant didn’t play college ball. Going to college for one year is useless; it doesn’t help the college game much, it doesn’t help the NBA, it doesn’t help the players much.

8) Major league baseball should realign geographically; no more American/National leagues, let crosstown rivals compete with each other year-round. Save money on travel, and attendance would be better. More Cub-White Sox, A’s-Giants, Dodger-Angel games, Subway series games.

9) College football teams should not be allowed to schedule I-AA opponents; it is cheating the fans who pay lot of $$$ to see Alabama play Mercer. It is STUPID; play Sun Belt teams, MAC teams, Mountain West teams, but not I-AA teams. It is stealing money.

10) This one will never, ever happen, but NBA playoffs would be way better if every round was best-of-3, and the Finals best-of-5. It would be more like March Madness; more dramatic, more upsets, more fan interest. Losing games would cost the league $$$, which is why it’ll never, ever happen, but the playoffs would be better this way.

11) This one will happen, probably next year. Baseball needs to ban shifts; all four infielders have to be on the infield dirt, two on each side of second base. Baseball needs more line drive hitters, fewer guys trying to hit every pitch over the fielders’ heads, out of the park.

12) ESPN needs to bring back their 24-hour college basketball marathon in November; that was so much fun, games on all night long, giving obscure teams some recognition. I remember being at a bar in Las Vegas playing video poker, watching a game from Hawai’i, then a game with Colgate or Iona or some unknown eastern teams playing— it was awesome.

13) Super Bowl needs to be on Presidents’ Day weekend, where everyone has the next day off from work. Add an 18th game? Give teams two byes instead of one? I’d prefer the 18th game, but the league would be better off if the Super Bowl was just before spring training started.

 

[Udog]

BOSTON is 7-0 ATS (7 Units) after scoring 90 points or less in the current season.




NBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, June 8

NBA

Wednesday, June 8

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Trend Report
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Golden State @ Boston
Golden State
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Golden State's last 15 games when playing Boston
Golden State is 18-5 SU in its last 23 games
Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Boston's last 15 games when playing Golden State
Boston is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing Golden State


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The Warriors are 6-2 ATS in their last seven games.
The Celtics are 13-6 ATS in their last 19 games.
The Warriors are 1-5 ATS in their last six road games.
The Celtics are 13-6 SU in their last 19 home games.
The Celtics are 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven matchups against Golden State.
The Warriors are 2-7 SU in their last nine matchups against Boston.
The total has gone UNDER in seven of Boston's last ten home games against Golden State.
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of the last 15 matchups between Boston and Golden State.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Friday’s 6-pack
MLB leaders in OPS:
1.055— Aaron Judge, NYY
1.026— Yordan Alvarez, Hst
1.017— Paul Goldschmidt, StL
1.007— Jose Ramirez, Clev
1.001— Bryce Harper, Phil
.989— Mike Trout, LAA

Quote of the Day
“Is there some question about whether that was good move or not? Do you know what [Turner] hits against left-handed pitching with 0-1 or two strikes? Do you know what Muncy hits with two strikes against a left-handed pitcher? Is that really a question? We had an open base and Muncy happened to be the guy behind him and that’s a better matchup.”
Tony LaRussa, after walking Trea Turner intentionally with a 1-2 count

Friday’s quiz
Who was the Knicks’ coach last time they won a playoff series?

Thursday’s quiz
Joe Musgrove threw the only no-hitter in San Diego Padres’ history.

Wednesday’s quiz
Trent Green got hurt in a 1999 exhibition game that made Kurt Warner the Rams’ starting QB.

**********************************

Friday’s Den: USFL Week 9 preview and other random stuff

— When a major league manager makes an unusual strategic move and it blows up, he gets raked over the coals, doubly so if the team is struggling.

Thursday in Chicago, Dodgers led White Sox 7-5 in top of 6th inning; Trea Turner had a 1-2 count on him, with Freddie Freeman moving to second base on a wild pitch. With a lefty on mound, first base open with two outs and lefty Max Muncy up next, White Sox skipper Tony LaRussa had Turner walked intentionally, even with a 1-2 count.

Muncy hit a 3-run homer; the peanut gallery was not amused. White Sox are 26-29; they’ve had lot of injuries, but they’re struggling and LaRussa is 77 years old and people are fickle- they don’t care that LaRussa is already in the Hall of Fame, that he was managing in the big leagues before any active major leaguer was born.

What have you done for me lately?

— Oakland A’s are having a terrible season because they have a minor league roster, but the guys who are playing for Oakland are doing their best; it just isn’t good enough.

1B Christian Bethancourt hit his second home run of the season Thursday; this is a guy who played for the Braves/Padres from 2013-17, then was out of the major leagues…..until this year.

He went six years in between major league home runs; that doesn’t happen much.

— New York 10, Minnesota 7: Thursday night in Minnesota, Garret Cole gave up home runs to Arraez-Buxton-Correa, the Twins’ first three batters. This was only the 7th time in MLB history a team hit back-back-back homers to start the first inning of a game.

Twins are second of those seven teams to lose after starting with three home runs.

Gerrit Cole makes $36M a year; you figure based on 32 starts, that is $1.125M per start. Here is what New York got for their $1.12M Thursday:

70 pitches, 2.1 IP— 8 hits, 7 runs allowed, all earned runs. He gave up five home runs.

— Minnesota Twins have lost their last 18 playoff games, the longest postseason losing streak, not just in baseball, but in any sport.

— Marlins 7, Nationals 4— Stephen Strasburg pitched in his first MLB game in a year, coming off of thoracic outlet surgery; he allowed seven runs in 4.2 IP (83 PT)

From what I’ve heard on TV, thoracic outlet surgery is difficult to come back from, more so than other injuries pitchers usually suffer.

— Angels 5, Red Sox 2— Angels snap a 14-game losing streak; Ohtani threw seven innings and also hit a home run.

— Phillies 8, Brewers 3— Phillies are 5-0 since they changed managers, are only 2.5 games out of the last playoff spot.

Week 9 USFL games……..
Michigan vs New Jersey (-7.5)
Michigan Panthers (1-7)
— Lost their last five games (0-4-1 ATS)
— 0-4 in games decided by 5 or fewer points.
— Last five games, they’re minus-7 in turnovers.
— Their only win was 24-0 over 1-6 Pittsburgh.
— Last five games went over the total.
— Michigan is 1-4 ATS as an underdog.

New Jersey Generals (7-1)
— Won last seven games (5-2 ATS), scoring 24.7 ppg in last six.
— Generals held last six opponents to 16.7 ppg.
— Outscored last two foes 40-10 in first half.
— 3-2 ATS as a favorite
— Four of their last five games went over the total.

First meeting:
— Week 1, Generals (-1) beat Michigan 10-6.
— Game was 10-6 at half, scoreless in second half.
— Total yardage: 263-258, Michigan
— New Jersey won, despite being minus-2 in turnovers.

Houston vs Birmingham (-13.5)
Houston Gamblers (1-7)
— Lost their last seven games (2-5 ATS)
— Led seven of their eight games at halftime.
— Have a bad record, despite a +5 turnover ratio.
— Six of last seven games went over total
— Outscored 107-39 in second half.

Birmingham Stallions (8-0)
— Both their quarterbacks were banged up last week.
— Trailed at halftime in half of their eight games
— Outscored opponents 117-50 in second half.
— Outrushed last five foes 797-404
— 6-2 against spread, 0-2 last two weeks.

First meeting
— Stallions (-3) beat Houston 33-28 in Week 2.
— Gamblers led that game 18-13 at halftime.
— Total yardage: 391-285, Stallions.

Tampa Bay vs New Orleans (-3)
Tampa Bay Bandits (4-4)
— Bandits lost three of their last five games.
— Minus-11 in turnovers— have only four takeaways.
— 1-2 ATS as an underdog.
— Were shut out in second half in 4 of 8 games.
— Under is 5-3 in their games.

New Orleans Breakers (5-3)
— Scored 23+ points in their wins, 13-17-9 in losses.
— Four of last five games went over the total
— Last six games, they’re minus-5 in turnovers (8-13)
— 2-0 ATS this season as an underdog.
— Lost on last play LW, 10-9 to 8-0 Birmingham.

First meeting:
— Breakers (+2.5) waxed Tampa Bay 34-3 in Week 2.
— New Orleans was +3 in turnovers; they led 21-3 at halftime.
— Bandits were only 11-29/64 yards passing.
— Breakers outgained Tampa Bay, 374-194

Philadelphia (-8.5) vs Pittsburgh
Philadelphia Stars (5-3)
— Won four of last five games, are 2-2-1 ATS as favorites.
— Last five weeks, they’re +9 in turnovers.
— Gave up 23+ points in all eight games (over 6-1 last seven).
— Have been outgained in six of eight games (3-4-1 ATS).
— Scored 30-26-35-35-46 points in wins; 17-16-17 in losses.

Pittsburgh Maulers (1-7)
— Have been outscored 121-45 in first half of games.
— Are 1-7 with an even turnover ratio.
— Completed less than half their passes in four games.
— Six of their last seven games went over total.
— Covered spread three of last five weeks (3-4-1 ATS for year).

First meeting:
— Stars (-7) beat Pittsburgh 30-23 in Week 2.
— Maulers outrushed Philly 123-45, outgained them 348-303
— Philly led 21-16 at halftime.
— Stars won despite turning ball over three times (-1).

 

[Udog]

GOLDEN STATE is 8-0 Over (8 Units) in road games as a dog of 3.5 to 9.5 in the current season.




NBA
Dunkel

Friday, June 10

NBA

Friday, June 10

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Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Golden State @ Boston
Golden State
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Golden State's last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Golden State's last 9 games on the road
Boston
Boston is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games when playing Golden State
Boston is 6-1-1 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Golden State


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




The Warriors are 6-3 ATS in their last nine games.
The Celtics are 5-2 ATS in their last seven games.
The Warriors are 1-6 ATS in their last seven road games.
The total has gone OVER in four of the last five Warriors' games.
The Celtics are 14-6 SU in their last 20 home games.
The Celtics are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight matchups against Golden State.
The Warriors are 2-8 SU in their last ten matchups against Boston.
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of the last 16 matchups between Boston and Golden State.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack
Spreads for NFL games this fall:
Week 10 — Arizona @ LA Rams (-5.5)
Week 11— Chicago @ Atlanta (-1)
Week 12— Baltimore (-4.5) @ Jacksonville
Week 13— Buffalo (-3) @ New England
Week 14— Carolina @ Seattle (-2.5)
Week 15— Philadelphia (-3) @ Chicago

Quote of the Day
“You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.”
Joe E Lewis

Saturday’s quiz
Who was the last player from Santa Clara drafted by an NBA team?

Friday’s quiz
Mike Woodson was the Knicks’ coach last time they won a playoff series.

Thursday’s quiz
Joe Musgrove threw the only no-hitter in San Diego Padres’ history.

**************************

Saturday’s Den: Random stuff with weekend here……..

13) Warriors 107, Celtics 97:
— Golden State outscored Boston 58-43 in second half.
— Steph Curry scored 43 points, had 10 rebounds.
— Series is tied 2-2; the accountants are happy.

12) Warriors have won at least one road game in 27 consecutive playoff series, which is an NBA record. Golden State was +13 on the boards in Game 4.

11) Charlotte Hornets are expected to hire Kenny Atkinson as their new coach; he would be the second Warriors assistant to be hired as a head coach this spring. Mike Brown will be Sacramento’s coach next season.

10) New York 2, Cubs 1 (13)— Teams combined to go 1-37 with runners in scoring position. Cubs played nine games last week; this was their second game this week.

9) Giants 7, Dodgers 2— LA starter Walker Buehler will undergo an MRI on Saturday after leaving this game early because of discomfort in his right elbow.

8) Indians 3, A’s 2— Oakland led 2-0 in ninth inning, but because this is the A’s worst season since the end of the Charlie Finley era in the late 70’s, Cleveland scored three times in the ninth inning, sending Oakland to its 10th consecutive loss.

7) Friday was also an especially dreadful night for my fantasy baseball team, so I watched a movie on HBO Max; Card Counter, which was only a little bit about poker, and mostly about an ex-military interrogator haunted by the ghosts of his past.

Pretty good movie until the end, which was extremely disappointing, but it was still better than watching the under-achieving Armadillos go 8-35 with one RBI.

6) Phillies 7, Arizona 5— Philadelphia has won eight games in a row, is 7-0 under interim manager Rob Thompson, who may not be an interim manager for long.

5) Washington 11, Milwaukee 5— Brewers have lost seven games in a row.

4) Hot teams:
Braves have won 9 in a row.
Phillies have won 8 in a row
Marlins have won 4 in a row

Cold teams
Angels have lost 15 of their last 16 games.
Oakland has lost 10 in a row
Milwaukee has lost 7 in a row

3) Baseball injuries:
— Detroit P Casey Mize (elbow) is out for the year
— Boston P Garrett Whitlock (hip) is on the IL
— Tampa Bay P Andrew Kittredge (elbow) is out for the year
— Minnesota SS Royce Lewis (knee) is out for the year.

2) If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL— Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers Wild Cards: Milwaukee, San Diego, San Francisco
AL— New York, Twins, Astros Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox

1) Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos has been accused of “misogynistic” behavior, “self-dealing” and repeated “breaches of fiduciary duty” by his sister in a lawsuit that escalates the siblings’ ongoing legal battle over control of the team.

Four Spanos siblings each own 15% of the team; a trust owns 36% of the team, 4% is owned by non-family members. The legal struggle is over control of the trust.

Also, Baltimore Orioles CEO John Angelos was accused in a lawsuit this week of seizing control of the team at the expense of his brother, Lou — and in defiance of their father Peter’s wishes.

Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos turns 93 next month; there will be a struggle over who controls the franchise, because the franchise is worth a ten-figure sum.

It is good to know that rich people have problems too.

 

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume Monday.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Sunday’s 6-pack
— Seattle 7, Boston 6— Mariners scored twice in bottom of 9th.
— Phillies 4, Arizona 0— Phillies have won nine games in a row.
— Braves 10, Pirates 4— Atlanta scored eight times in 7th inning.
— Angels 11, Mets 6— Jared Walsh hit for the cycle.
— Padres 2, Rockies 1 (10)— Winning run scored on a throwing error after a wild pitch.
— Lightning 3, Rangers 2— Tampa Bay vs Colorado is the Stanley Cup final.

Quote of the Day
“Obviously, like I’m gonna go with 15 (Mahomes) as the strongest arm, but as far as accuracy-wise, I’m going with Tua all day.”
WR Tyreek Hill, newly signed with the Dolphins

Sunday’s quiz
Keith Hernandez wore number 17 with the Mets; what number did he wear with the Cardinals?

Saturday’s quiz
Steve Nash was the last player from Santa Clara drafted by an NBA team.

Friday’s quiz
Mike Woodson was the Knicks’ coach last time they won a playoff series.


***********************************

Sunday’s Den: 13 of my favorite quotes

13) “I think everyone should go to college and get a degree, and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cab driver. Then they would really be educated”
Al McGuire

12) “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer”
Albert Einstein

11) “Be nice to people on way up, because you meet them on your way down”
Jimmy Durante

10) “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards”
Soren Kierkegaard

9) “Money won is twice as sweet as money earned”
Fast Eddie Felson, from The Color of Money

8) “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”
Thomas Edison

7) “To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved”
George McDonald

6) “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts”
John Locke

5) “The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer everyone else up”
Mark Twain

4) “Success is never final”
Winston Churchill

3) “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more of it I have”
Thomas Jefferson

2) “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made”
Jean Giraudoux

1) “Trust everybody, but cut the cards”
Fimley Peter Dunne

---

 

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume Monday.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack
— Seattle 7, Boston 6— Mariners scored twice in bottom of 9th.
— Phillies 4, Arizona 0— Phillies have won nine games in a row.
— Braves 10, Pirates 4— Atlanta scored eight times in 7th inning.
— Angels 11, Mets 6— Jared Walsh hit for the cycle.
— Padres 2, Rockies 1 (10)— Winning run scored on a throwing error after a wild pitch.
— Lightning 3, Rangers 2— Tampa Bay vs Colorado is the Stanley Cup final.

Quote of the Day
“If teams are gonna give us favorable one-on-one matches against their best corner, I don’t see why teams don’t utilize their best receiver. And that’s where probably like me and the Chiefs fell apart right there. When I’m like, yo, I don’t mean to talk or be a diva in some situation, but can I see the pill some time, please? Just give me the ball, please.”
WR Tyreek Hill, newly signed with the Dolphins. If he didn’t like playing with Patrick Mahomes, not sure how he’ll feel about catching passes from Tua Tagovailoa

Monday’s quiz
Who scored the first touchdown in the Super Bowl four months ago?

Sunday’s quiz
Keith Hernandez wore number 17 with the Mets; he wore number 37 with the Cardinals.

Saturday’s quiz
Steve Nash was the last player from Santa Clara drafted by an NBA team.

************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..

13) When they vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next winter, these two quarterbacks will be up for the vote. Here are their blind resumes:

— Quarterback A: 72-72 regular season W-L record, 8-2 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.
— Quarterback B: 117-117 regular season W-L record, 8-4 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.

Is Player B more qualified because of the extra 90 regular season (45-45) games?
Interesting question.

12) Was watching the replay of last year’s Super Bowl last night; I forgot that Dick Vermeil is getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, which is just tremendous. His speech should be excellent.

11) Mets 4, Angels 1— Unfortunate scheduling; this was the last game of an 11-day road trip for the Mets, and was the ESPN Sunday night game. That means that you might be reading this before the Mets’ plane landed back in New York City, expected to be around 9am Monday.

10) Rangers 8, White Sox 6 (12)— Chicago isn’t playing good baseball; this game ended with a runner getting thrown out at third base, when he tagged up after a fly ball. That run meant very little; you can’t ever get thrown out in that situation. It just isn’t smart.

9) Since 2015, Tampa Bay Lightning has won 82 NHL playoff games, more than any other team; Pittsburgh is next on that list, with 45.

USFL Week 9 games:
8) New Jersey 25, Michigan 23:
— Generals won their last eight games.
— Michigan outgained the Generals, 336-251.
— 1-8 Panthers turned ball over three times (-2).

7) Generals’ QB Luis Perez has bowled 12 perfect 300 games; he bowled four games of 299 before his first perfect game, which came when he was 12 years old.

6) Houston 17, Birmingham 15:
— First loss of season for the Stallions, who scored 10-15 points in last two games.
— Birmingham outgained the Gamblers, 329-187
— Houston snapped a 7-game losing streak.

5) New Orleans 17, Tampa Bay 6:
— Breakers clinch spot in playoffs in two weeks.
— New Orleans led this game 17-0 at halftime.
— Tampa Bay outgained the Breakers 352-215, but turned ball over four times (-2)

4) Philadelphia 17, Pittsburgh 16:
— Pittsburgh kicker made a 58-yard FG, also threw a TD pass on a fake FG.
— But he also missed a 49-yard FG with 0:59 left in game.
— Pittsburgh is a much better team when Vad Lee plays QB, like he did in this game.

3) Wondering why pro golfers are bolting to this LIV Tour? Charl Schwartzel banked $4.75M for winning the tournament in London this weekend. The big-name players got paid ludicrous amounts of money to join this tour— Dustin Johnson is rumored to have banked $100M, just for showing up.

Johnson’s father-in-law is Wayne Gretzky; I’m wondering what the conversation was like, when Johnson told him that he was skipping the Canadian Open to play in this LIV. Gretzky could be the most popular person in all of Canada.

2) In major league history, there have been 316 no-hitters, 337 cycles. Jared Walsh of the Angels hit for the cycle Saturday night in Anaheim.

1) Last five World Series champs finished in the top 5 in batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP), something to keep an eye on as the season goes on.

 

[Udog]

BOSTON is 10-2 ATS (7.8 Units) after a loss by 10 points or more in the current season.




NBA
Dunkel

Monday, June 13

NBA

Monday, June 13

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boston @ Golden State
Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Boston's last 9 games when playing on the road against Golden State
Boston is 13-2 ATS in its last 15 games on the road
Golden State
Golden State is 12-1 SU in its last 13 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Golden State's last 9 games when playing at home against Boston


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




The Warriors are 7-3 ATS in their last ten games.
The Celtics are 13-7 ATS in their last 20 games.
The Warriors are 12-1 SU in their last 13 home games.
The Celtics are 13-2 ATS in their last 15 road games.
The Celtics are 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 matchups against Golden State.
The Warriors are 3-8 SU in their last 11 matchups against Boston.
The total has gone UNDER in eight of Golden State's last nine home games against Boston.
The total has gone UNDER in 13 of the last 17 matchups between Boston and Golden State.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack
Odds for the US Open this weekend:
12-1— Scottie Scheffler
14-1— McIlroy, Rahm, Thomas
18-1— Cameron Smith
22-1— Morikawa, Schauffele, Spieth, Zalatoris
27-1— Viktor Hovland
29-1— Sam Burns, Shane Lowry

Quote of the Day
“Matt’s an incredibly smart guy, but one of the things I’ve continued to be impressed by—he doesn’t want to expand things, he wants to consolidate things. It’s a little bit Peyton-esque like that: ‘Don’t try to overcoach, don’t get too cute, don’t try to overscheme, let’s just run the same things over and over again…….’”
Colts’ coach Frank Reich, talking about QB Matt Ryan

Tuesday’s quiz
Where did Matt Ryan play his college football?

Monday’s quiz
Odell Beckham Jr scored the first touchdown in the Super Bowl four months ago.

Sunday’s quiz
Keith Hernandez wore number 17 with the Mets; he wore number 37 with the Cardinals.

**************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….

— Warriors 104, Celtics 94:
Golden State was +12 in turnovers (6-18)

Wiggins scored 26 points, had 13 rounds.
Warriors won, despite Curry going 0-9 on the arc.
Golden State leads series, 3-2

— When they vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next winter, these two quarterbacks will be up for the vote. Here are their blind resumes:

Quarterback A: 72-72 regular season W-L record, 8-2 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.
Quarterback B: 117-117 regular season W-L record, 8-4 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.

Is Player B more qualified because of the extra 90 regular season (45-45) games?
Interesting question.

Quarterback B is Eli Manning; Quarterback A is Jim Plunkett.

— Eli Manning’s 8-4 postseason record is interesting; only 3 of the 12 games were at home. He went 1-2 in home playoff games, 5-2 in road playoff games, 2-0 in Super Bowls- the two Super Bowls will get him into the Hall of Fame.

But it says a lot about his mediocre regular season record that the Giants earned only three home playoff games in his 16-year career. He will get into the Hall of Fame, hopefully not on the first ballot.

— There are 21 QB’s from the Super Bowl era who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here are their W-L records in playoff games:
Troy Aikman 11-4
Terry Bradshaw 14-5
Len Dawson 5-3
John Elway 14-7
Brett Favre 13-11
Dan Fouts 3-4
Bob Griese 6-5
Sonny Jurgensen 0-0 (played one game in relief)
Jim Kelly 9-8
Peyton Manning 14-13

Dan Marino 8-10
Joe Montana 16-7
Warren Moon 3-7
Joe Namath 2-1
Ken Stabler 7-5
Bart Starr 9-1
Roger Staubach 11-6
Fran Tarkenton 6-5
Johnny Unitas 6-2
Kurt Warner 9-4
Steve Young 8-6

— Baseball injuries:
Red Sox put P Nathan Eovaldi (back) on IL
Detroit put P Edwin Rodriguez on the restricted list
Dodgers P Walker Buehler is out 6-8 weeks.
Washington put P Stephen Strasburg back on IL
Atlanta 2B Ozzie Albies broke his foot Monday night.

— Duke’s basketball team added four grad transfers for next season, one each from Illinois, Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern.

— Wisconsin-Stanford have an early season basketball game at Milwaukee’s Miller Park on November 11.

— Oklahoma City Thunder have a ridiculous number of draft picks this year and next year; they traded the 30th pick in this month’s draft, and two 2nd-round picks to Denver, for F JaMychal Green and a 2027 first-round pick.

Thunder still has the #2, CSS Examples and Flying Pigskins (NFL) picks in this year’s draft.

— Major league records in Game 3 of a series, if first two games were split:
Arizona 3-5
Atlanta 7-7
Cubs 3-3
Cincinnati 2-2
Colorado 6-4
Dodgers 4-3
Miami 2-4
Milwaukee 5-5
Mets 9-3
Philadelphia 1-6
Pittsburgh 4-3
St Louis 3-4
San Diego 7-5
San Francisco 3-4
Washington 3-5

Baltimore 6-4
Boston 5-5
White Sox 3-5 (0-5 at home)
Cleveland3-3
Detroit 2-7
Houston 5-5
Kansas City 3-3
Angels 7-1
Minnesota 4-4
New York 3-3
A’s 3-4
Seattle 5-4
Tampa Bay 5-4
Texas 3-5
Toronto 5-3

— RIP Philip Baker Hall, who passed away this weekend at age 90; Hall was a great actor with 185 acting credits to his name. I remember him best from a 1996 gambling-themed movie Hard Eight with Gwyneth Paltrow and John C Reilly. RIP, sir.

— From 2016-21, 23,687 amateur golfers tried to qualify for the US Open golf tournament; only 23 of them made it.

 

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume Thursday.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack
— Cardinals 3, Pirates 1— Miles Mikolas came within one out of a no-hitter.
— Paul Goldschmidt knocked in eight runs in the St Louis twinbill sweep.
— Braves 10, Nationals 4— Atlanta has won 13 games in a row.
— Padres 12, Cubs 5— Chicago led 5-0 after five innings.
— Astros 4, Rangers 3— Houston scored four times in 8th inning.
— Dodgers 2, Angels 0— Gonsolin is 8-0, 1.42 this season.

Quote of the Day
“I’m praying before training camp. I just want him there Day One of training camp.”
Arizona Cardinals’ coach Kliff Kingsbury, when asked about Kyler Murray’s contract

Wednesday’s quiz
When was the last time the Dodgers missed the playoffs?

Tuesday’s quiz
Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College

Monday’s quiz
Odell Beckham Jr scored the first touchdown in the Super Bowl four months ago.

****************************

Wednesday’s Den: Happy Armadillo Day, everyone!!!!

13) 21 years ago today we started this blog; doesn’t seem like that long ago.

I’d like to thank you for reading; hope you enjoy it and maybe sometimes you learn some stuff, too. We’ll see if I can make it another 21 years

Happy birthday to the Big Dawg; hope he has an excellent day, sitting by his pool.

12) Read on the Interweb today that minor league games where the pitch clock is used are running 24 minutes a game shorter than the other games. MLB experts are assuming that the pitch clock will become a thing in the major leagues next season.

11) There are many major league teams that completely suck; I’m not sure why you would own a team and deliberately not try to at least compete, but here we are:

A’s are a minor league team. It is depressing to see.
Pirates are bad, but at least they’re promoting some prospects, none of whom pitch
Royals are a bad team.
Washington is terrible, and they won the World Series in 2019
What the Cubs are doing is inexcusable; a big market team tanking. Makes no sense.
Cincinnati is also really bad, with no real solutions in sight.

This is why I’m in favor of a mandatory salary floor for MLB teams; at least pretend you’re trying.

10) Doing local TV/radio for these bad teams is a tough job; you have to tell the truth, but you cannot be overly critical, seeing how you travel on the road with the players/coaches you’re broadcasting. Guys who do the Pirate games sound like they’ve been tranquilized before they do do games. They spent half the game Tuesday talking about how hot it was in St Louis.

9) Coming into Tuesday’s game, White Sox’ Albums hitters led the team, with a .477 slugging %age; their Blogs hitters have only a .303 slugging %age, which makes very little sense.

8) Angels have already lost ten games that they led in the 7th inning or later; they’ve spent a lot of money on payroll, but again, their pitching is bad. Pitching is kind of important in baseball.

7) Diamondbacks have been shut out last three times Madison Bumgarner pitched; MadBum was a pretty good hitter. He probably wishes they’d ditch the DH and let him hit.

6) St Louis is a nice place, I mean, the people are genuinely nice. Was there a couple times when the Rams played there. At Cardinal games, when a visiting player makes his MLB debut, the PA announcer tells the crowd it is this guy’s debut, and they politely applaud him.

Could you imagine that happening in New York? Didn’t think so.

5) Just about everything NFL Films does is really good; Tuesday afternoon, I watched an hour-long special on the 2006 Texas-USC Rose Bowl, which Texas won at the very end. The special centered around the two QB’s, Matt Leinart/Vince Young, how they were great college players who fizzled in the pros.

— The two coaches in that game, Mack Brown/Pete Carroll are still coaching 16 years later.
— Vince Young got drafted by the Titans, even though their coach (Jeff Fisher) and OC (Norm Chow) were USC guys. In this film, Fisher made it clear that it wasn’t his choice to take Young, who lasted only six years in the NFL, five with Tennessee.
— Fisher claims that Titans owner Bud Adams overrruled his football people and ordered them to draft Young.
— Leinart got drafted by Arizona; he also lasted six years in the NFL. They both mentioned that if they knew where they would be drafted, they would’ve stayed in college another year.

— This was also the last game the great Keith Jackson broadcast; when I think of college football on TV, I think of Keith Jackson. He was excellent.
— Friend of mine who I met maybe 6-7 years ago told me a great story about how he wagered a lot of money on this game in Las Vegas; luckily for him, he had Texas.
— Reggie Bush got drafted before Leinart/Young; he wound up scoring 54 TD’s in his 11-year NFL career. Key play in the Texas-USC game was the Trojans failing on a 4th-and-1 while leading with 2:13 left. Bush was inexplicably on the bench for that play.

4) Passing yardage leaders in the USFL:
1,750— Kyle Sloter, New Orleans
1,502— Jordan Ta’amu, Tampa Bay
1,241— J’Mar Smith, Birmingham
1,028— Case Cookus, Philadelphia

3) Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson doesn’t have an NFL agent negotiating his pending mega-deal with the Ravens; how is this possible?

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes:
”If you are under the impression that Jackson is some naïve, out-of-his-depth, disengaged vessel in terms of his contract, you would be incorrect. Numerous sources close to this situation indicated he is quite well-versed in the NFL quarterback financial landscape……..”

Good for him, plus he saves the 3% agents usually get.

2) There are 358 Division I college basketball teams; there are over 1,400 transfers this year, which means that October/November will be a nightmare, trying to piece together which teams did well and which teams are going to get hammered because of all the roster turnover.

1) There is a commercial on Minnesota Twins’ TV promoting pheasant hunting in South Dakota; an attractive young woman has herself a rifle and is out in a field firing that rifle at birds, who do not have a gun to fire back at her.

Add South Dakota to the list of states I’ll never visit.

 

[Udog]

No game today.... game 6 tomorrow.