Armadillo Sports
Wednesday’s 6-pack
NFL teams with easiest 2022 schedules, based on 2021 records:
.462— Dallas, Washington
.464— Philadelphia
.465— Giants
.467— Detroit
.469— Jacksonville, Indianapolis
.471— Tennessee
Quote of the Day
“You can never have enough offensive linemen.”
Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson
Wednesday’s quiz
Which major league team has gone the longest without making the playoffs?
Tuesday’s quiz
Actor/pro wrestler Dwayne Johnson also played college football; he played at Miami, where he backed up Warren Sapp.
Monday’s quiz
When the Houston Astros were an expansion team back in the early 60’s, they weren’t called the Astros; they were the Houston Colt 45’s.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..
13) Went to the Arizona State-UNLV baseball game Tuesday night; game was at the new ballpark in Summerlin, where the AAA Las Vegas Aviators play ball. Beautiful facility, was a weird game. UNLV won 11-10, scoring the winning run on a 9th inning wild pitch.
12) The place is too nice for a minor league ballpark; we sat on the club level, had a great view of the game. Former big leaguer Willie Bloomquist is the new coach at Arizona State; this is his first year in Tempe. ASU is 11-15 and struggling a little; pitching is a problem.
Was a fun night with friends; I’ll have to see an Aviators’ game out here sometime, seeing how they’re the A’s AAA team.
11) Saint Peter’s Cinderella run to the Elite 8 made the MAAC an extra $6.1M this spring, to be divided evenly among the 11 league schools- that translates to $554,455 per school, which is a bonanza for teams at that level.
10) Villanova is #323 in country in bench minutes; figures that the Achilles injury to Justin Moore is really damaging to their chances of winning this weekend. Moore is Villanova’s #2 scorer; tough to replace his production.
9) Saw an NFL mock draft that had no quarterbacks taken in first ten picks; last time that happened was 2013, when EJ Manuel was the first QB taken (16th pick). Before that was 2000, when Chad Pennington was the first QB taken (18th pick)
8) One of the great reality shows would be if NFL Films brought us behind the curtain on how the league’s schedule is made every year.
This season, NFC teams play nine home games each, AFC teams eight; Tampa Bay is playing a “home” game in Germany, but they can pick one opponent that cannot be the team they play in Germany. Apparently, they chose Green Bay, so that’ll likely be a primetime game.
7) Golf betting nugget: This weekend is the Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour; seven of the last nine years, the golfer who won the week before The Masters wasn’t in the Masters field.
6) Buffalo Bills are getting a new stadium, which is supposed to be ready by 2026.
5) NFL changed its overtime rules Tuesday; each team has to get the ball once now. In 7 or last 12 playoff OT games, the team that won the coin toss scored a walk-off TD on their first drive.
4) I’m sitting in Bellagio’s sportsbook Sunday, watching the Kansas-Miami game; they have really nice chairs in that room, but the guy in front of me fell asleep, so much so that his head was resting on the shoulder of the guy to his right. I mean, he was out of it, and no one said anything. Usually a casino worker will wake up a guy sleeping like that, but not this guy.
3) Was very windy on the Strip Monday; took a walk to the Cosmopolitan, and my damn hat flew off. Sportsbook in the Cosmopolitan is pretty nice; a big bar in between the horse racing book and sports betting area, with a pool table on the side and a Starbucks at one end.
2) Detroit Lions are the featured team on HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer, so we’ll get to see if coach Dan Campbell is as offbeat as he seems on game days. When Detroit lost to the Rams last year, they succeeded on two fake punts and an onside kick, two of which happened in the first 5:00 of the game. I’m guessing that had never happened before.
Jared Goff was in Hard Knocks when he was a rookie with the Rams, and again couple years ago, when we saw he had a putting green in his backyard. Doubtful he has one of those in Detroit.
1) This is the 7th time in last 12 years only one #1-seed made the Final Four; of those seven years, the #1-seed went 5-2 in national semi-final, won four national titles.