Armadillo Sports
Saturday’s 6-pack
— Hawks 111, Heat 110— Atlanta’s three subs were a combined +61.
— Bucks 111, Bulls 81— This one was over early; bucks led by 19 at half.
— Suns 114, Pelicans 111— Chris Paul scored 28 points, had 14 assists.
— Phillies 4, Brewers 2— Alec Bohm had the game-winning hit in 8th inning.
— Orioles 5, Angels 3— Under is 13-0-1 in Baltimore games.
— Under was 12-2 in Friday’s games; why can’t anyone hit anymore?
Quote of the Day
“…….we used to have to fund these kids for years, until they got their NFL contract. Now the school boosters do it. It is saving us so much money. It’s awesome!!”
An anonymous NFL agent
Saturday’s quiz
There were 15 QB’s drafted in 2016; who is the only one of those 15 who is still with the team that drafted him?
Friday’s quiz
Other than the Seattle Mariners, the Phillies gone the longest since they last made the playoffs.
Thursday’s quiz
Steve Lappas was the basketball coach at Villanova before Jay Wright
****************************
Saturday’s Den: 20 of my favorite non-sports movies
In honor of Weekend at Bernie’s being on TV tonight. Here are 20 of my favorite non-sports movies (in alphabetical order)
— Begin Again— A down-and-out music executive discovers a young singer in a New York City bar; the two go into business together. James Corden is excellent as the young lady’s friend from back home in England. If you like music, you’ll like this movie.
— The Bodyguard— A former Secret Service agent becomes the bodyguard for a famous singer, but the singer thinks he works too hard at protecting her, until her attacker kills her sister.
Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wuhl, Ralph Waite (the father on The Waltons) have bit parts.
— Bulworth— A suicidal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters. In the meantime, he falls head over heels for a young lady, who turns out to be hit the hit man who was hired to kill him.
Halle Berry, Jack Warden, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Wendell Pierce; excellent cast.
— Cousins— Two married people find out their spouses are having an affair with each other, which brings them closer together.
End of this movie has the two main characters (Ted Danson/Isabella Rossallini) sailing off into the sunset together. 26 years later, the final scene of CSI has William Peterson/Jorja Fox sailing off into the sunset. Very similar scenes.
Danson/Peterson were both in Cousins; they were also both head of the crime lab on CSI.
— Danny Collins— An aging rock star discovers a 40-year-old letter written to him by John Lennon; he then decides to look up his son in New Jersey, who he had never met.
Quality cast: Al Pacino, Jennifer Garner, Christopher Plummer, Annette Bening.
— Dave— Guy who runs a temp agency is hired by the Secret Service to become a momentary stand-in for the President of the United States- they look exactly alike. Then the President has a stroke, and the stand-in finds his role extended indefinitely.
Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Charles Grodin, Frank Langella, Ving Rhames, Kevin Dunn, Ben Kingsley. Quite a cast.
— Fabulous Baker Boys— Two brothers play smaller clubs as dueling piano players; their business picks up when they add a beautiful, up-and-coming singer to their act. Michelle Pfeiffer is the singer; Jeff/Beau Bridges are the two brothers.
— Good Will Hunting— A young janitor at M.I.T. has a gift for math, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Robin Williams is great in this as the psychologist; Matt Damon is the math whiz, Ben Affleck plays his friends who offers good advice now and then. Minnie Driver plays a Harvard student who is surprised that she is attracted to a janitor from south Boston.
— Last Vegas— Four senior citizen friends throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal. Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen. Quite a cast.
— Leap of Faith— A huckster preacher is stranded in a small town when his tour bus breaks down; they set up their tent and put on shows in a smaller down suffering through a drought.
Steve Martin, Debra Winger, Liam Neeson, Meat Loaf, Philip Seymour Hoffman. I’m a huge Steve Martin fan; this is some of his best work.
— Let It Ride— Richard Dreyfuss plays a cab driver/degenerate gambler who gets a hot tip on a race horse and wins big, and for one day, he can’t seem to stop winning.
If you’ve spent any time at the track, you’ll laugh hard at some of this stuff; Dreyfuss is great, with help from David Johansen, Jennifer Tilly, Robbie Coltrane, Teri Garr.
— Lost in Translation— An aging movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo, where the movie star is getting paid a 7-figure sum to do whiskey commercials. Bill Murray is great in this non-comedic role; Scarlett Johansson is his new friend.
— Molly’s Game— The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game after she quit skiing. This movie is a continuation of the book she wrote to help pay all her legal bills.
Book/movie are both excellent, helping prove that real life is stranger than fiction. Idris Elba, Jessica Chastain are the stars of the movie; Kevin Costner has a small role as Molly’s father.
— One More Time— Christopher Walken plays a fading singer who plots his comeback, while dealing with two adult daughters with a sibling rivalry.
Oliver Platt is in this movie; he’s been in a lot of good stuff. Bulworth, A Time to Kill, The West Wing, just to name a few. Quite a resume he has.
— Prince of Tides— A high school football coach from South Carolina comes to New York City to meet with his sister’s psychiatrist, after the sister threatens suicide. Because it is a movie, the two of them fall for each other, even though both of them are married.
The scene at the dinner party with the expensive violin is the best part of this movie.
Great cast: Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand, George Carlin, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan.
— Rounders— A young gambler who quit after being cleaned out returns to playing big stakes poker to help his sleazy friend pay off loan sharks.
Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Martin Landau make up an excellent cast. The guys who wrote this movie also write Billions, the Showtime series.
— Searching for Bobby Fischer— A sportswriter realizes that his 7-year old son is a chess prodigy, then struggles with how to help his son realize his potential.
Back in junior high, I loved chess and my last name is Fischer— this was about the same time that Bobby Fischer was a world champion at chess, so I was a big fan, although Bobby Fischer turned out to be kind of a wack job, albeit the best player in the world.
Joe Mantegna is the sportswriter, Joan Allen plays his wife. Laurence Fishburne, Ben Kingsley play the kid’s two chess mentors, who have vastly different philosophies.
Excellent movie about chess, and also about how parents push their kids, whether that’s the right thing to do or not.
— A Star Is Born— A famous singer discovers a young singer in a drag bar; the two become friends, as her career takes off, while he struggles with personal problems.
This is the fourth time this movie has been made; this version is very similar to the 1954 version, with James Mason/Judy Garland.
Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga are the stars; Andrew Dice Clay adds a lot to the movie as her father.
— This is Where I Leave You— After their father dies, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof for a week.
My dad died in 2015; when I came home from the funeral, I put the TV on and this movie was on HBO, first time I had ever seen it, which was a little weird.
Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Connie Britton, Corey Stoll, Rose Byrne, Adam Driver, Jane Fonda. Impressive cast.
— Weekend at Bernie’s— Two young men are trying to make their way in business; when they go to the president of the company with a serious financial error on a printout, he pretends to be thrilled and invites them to his beach house for the weekend. He actually plans on having them killed, to keep his chicanery out of sight.
The boss gets murdered because he is messing around with his work partner’s wife; the two guys then pretend Bernie is still alive, because they think they’ll get blamed for his death otherwise.
I didn’t explain that very well, but the movie is on Sundance tonight. Very funny.
