Saturday’s 6-pack:
Highest Opening Day payrolls in the major leagues:
$226M— Bronx
$221M— Phillies
$212M— Mets
$204M— Blue Jays
$199M— Braves
$192M— Dodgers (doesn’t include Ohtani’s $68M deferred $$$)
Quote of the Day
“I think the goal is to make the playoffs. Pretty simple. Let’s not overthink this. If we don’t make the playoffs, obviously I’d be disappointed.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen
Saturday’s quiz
When was the last time a Pac-12 team won the college basketball national title?
Friday’s quiz
Archie Manning was the last QB the New Orleans Saints drafted in the first round, in 1971.
Thursday’s quiz
On the classic TV show Batman, Cesar Romero played the Joker.
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Guy hits a home run, he crosses the plate, is handed his bat and gets to hit again.
I’d like to see a minor league try that rule out for a year or two.
— NC State 67, Marquette 58
Wolfpack lost seven of its last nine regular season games.
Wolfpack is 8-0 in postseason games; they start four seniors.
Marquette shot only 4-31 on the arc.
This year is 50th anniversary of NC State beating Marquette in the national title game.
— Duke 54, Houston 51
Houston star Shead sprained his ankle, sat out the second half.
Houston lost by 3; they shot 2-8 on the arc, 9-17 on the foul line.
Duke has allowed 51 ppg in its three NCAA Tourney wins.
Since 2000, there have been eight regional finals between conference rivals; the underdogs went 5-3 SU/6-2 ATS in those eight games.
— Tennessee 82, Creighton 75
Creighton led 35-34 at halftime.
Tennessee is in Elite 8 for second time, first time since 2010.
Teams combined to shoot 22-47 on the arc.
— Purdue 80, Gonzaga 68
Boilers beat Gonzaga by 10 points in November, by 12 here.
Zach Edey scored 27 points, had 14 rebounds.
In 2018, Virginia was the first #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
In 2019, Virginia won the national title.
Last year, Purdue was the second #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
Boilers are three wins away from duplicating Virginia’s feat.
— Was sitting next to a guy in the sportsbook during the Creighton-Tennessee game; big guy missed a layup and the guy says “Hell, I would’ve made that one.”
He was on at least his third Corona; I was skeptical.
— Sitting in a sportsbook for last four days, with ton of TVs around, it is obvious that ESPN cares very little about baseball; there was more talk about NFL prop bets for the fall than there was about the first couple days of baseball season.
— Anyway, why would you bet on NFL season win totals before the draft, especially since there might be some big trades happening in the next 3-4 weeks?
— Famous birthdays for March 30:
John Astin, 94
Jerry Lucas, 84
Eric Clapton, 79
Celine Dion, 56
Richard Sherman, 36
Chris Sale, 35
Alex Bregman, 30
— RIP to the great actor Louis Gossett, who passed away this week at age 87; he won both an Oscar and an Emmy. I remember him best as a priest in Blue Chips; he taught at the school where Penny Hardaway’s character played ball. All the famous coaches were recruiting him.
RIP, sir.
— Braves 9, Phillies 3
Phillies led 2-0 after six innings.
— Brewers 3, Metgs 1
Freddy Peralta allowed one hit in six IP.
— Giants 8, Padres 3
Matt Chapman hit two homers, knocked in five runs.
— Dodgers 6, Cardinals 3
Teoscar Hernandez homered twice for the Dodgers.
— Mariners 1, Red Sox 0
George Kirby got 20 outs, didn’t allow a run.
— There was a great article in The Ringer this week, about TV announcer Ian Eagle, who will be calling his first Final Four next week.
Eagle is the son of a comedian and a singer; when he was 6, he was on stage at a club in the Catskills, doing imitations of celebrities.
Back in the late 70’s, there was a very popular Xerox commercial, about a monk who copied his precious documents, instead of copying them by hand. Brother Dominic was the monk; the actor who played him was Ian Eagle’s father.
This article made it clear that Ian Eagle is universally respected/liked, an unusual combination these days. It was encouraging to read it.
Highest Opening Day payrolls in the major leagues:
$226M— Bronx
$221M— Phillies
$212M— Mets
$204M— Blue Jays
$199M— Braves
$192M— Dodgers (doesn’t include Ohtani’s $68M deferred $$$)
Quote of the Day
“I think the goal is to make the playoffs. Pretty simple. Let’s not overthink this. If we don’t make the playoffs, obviously I’d be disappointed.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen
Saturday’s quiz
When was the last time a Pac-12 team won the college basketball national title?
Friday’s quiz
Archie Manning was the last QB the New Orleans Saints drafted in the first round, in 1971.
Thursday’s quiz
On the classic TV show Batman, Cesar Romero played the Joker.
****************************************
Saturday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…..
My suggestion for a new rule in baseball; think about it for a minute before you scoff:Guy hits a home run, he crosses the plate, is handed his bat and gets to hit again.
I’d like to see a minor league try that rule out for a year or two.
— NC State 67, Marquette 58
Wolfpack lost seven of its last nine regular season games.
Wolfpack is 8-0 in postseason games; they start four seniors.
Marquette shot only 4-31 on the arc.
This year is 50th anniversary of NC State beating Marquette in the national title game.
— Duke 54, Houston 51
Houston star Shead sprained his ankle, sat out the second half.
Houston lost by 3; they shot 2-8 on the arc, 9-17 on the foul line.
Duke has allowed 51 ppg in its three NCAA Tourney wins.
Since 2000, there have been eight regional finals between conference rivals; the underdogs went 5-3 SU/6-2 ATS in those eight games.
— Tennessee 82, Creighton 75
Creighton led 35-34 at halftime.
Tennessee is in Elite 8 for second time, first time since 2010.
Teams combined to shoot 22-47 on the arc.
— Purdue 80, Gonzaga 68
Boilers beat Gonzaga by 10 points in November, by 12 here.
Zach Edey scored 27 points, had 14 rebounds.
In 2018, Virginia was the first #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
In 2019, Virginia won the national title.
Last year, Purdue was the second #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
Boilers are three wins away from duplicating Virginia’s feat.
— Was sitting next to a guy in the sportsbook during the Creighton-Tennessee game; big guy missed a layup and the guy says “Hell, I would’ve made that one.”
He was on at least his third Corona; I was skeptical.
— Sitting in a sportsbook for last four days, with ton of TVs around, it is obvious that ESPN cares very little about baseball; there was more talk about NFL prop bets for the fall than there was about the first couple days of baseball season.
— Anyway, why would you bet on NFL season win totals before the draft, especially since there might be some big trades happening in the next 3-4 weeks?
— Famous birthdays for March 30:
John Astin, 94
Jerry Lucas, 84
Eric Clapton, 79
Celine Dion, 56
Richard Sherman, 36
Chris Sale, 35
Alex Bregman, 30
— RIP to the great actor Louis Gossett, who passed away this week at age 87; he won both an Oscar and an Emmy. I remember him best as a priest in Blue Chips; he taught at the school where Penny Hardaway’s character played ball. All the famous coaches were recruiting him.
RIP, sir.
— Braves 9, Phillies 3
Phillies led 2-0 after six innings.
— Brewers 3, Metgs 1
Freddy Peralta allowed one hit in six IP.
— Giants 8, Padres 3
Matt Chapman hit two homers, knocked in five runs.
— Dodgers 6, Cardinals 3
Teoscar Hernandez homered twice for the Dodgers.
— Mariners 1, Red Sox 0
George Kirby got 20 outs, didn’t allow a run.
— There was a great article in The Ringer this week, about TV announcer Ian Eagle, who will be calling his first Final Four next week.
Eagle is the son of a comedian and a singer; when he was 6, he was on stage at a club in the Catskills, doing imitations of celebrities.
Back in the late 70’s, there was a very popular Xerox commercial, about a monk who copied his precious documents, instead of copying them by hand. Brother Dominic was the monk; the actor who played him was Ian Eagle’s father.
This article made it clear that Ian Eagle is universally respected/liked, an unusual combination these days. It was encouraging to read it.
