Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Interesting college football spreads for this week:
— Missouri (-7) @ Arkansas
— Air Force @ Boise State (-4)
— Oregon State @ Oregon (-13)
— Florida State (-7) @ Florida
— Kentucky @ Louisville (-7)
— Clemson (-9) @ South Carolina
Quote of the Day
“I think he should go back to Division III football where he belongs. Look, this guy. Look at his resume, man. I mean, I’m sorry. He spent one year coordinating a team that my wife could coach with Aaron Donald and all those guys. Stop it. And trust me, she’d do a hell of a lot better job than this guy’s doing with his defense. They’re the second-highest payroll in the National Football League and they’re the second-worst. Like, this team is atrocious.”
ESPN’s Rex Ryan, talking about Chargers coach Brandon Staley
Tuesday’s quiz #1
The last time the Angels made the baseball playoffs was 2014; what team swept them in the divisional round?
Tuesday’s quiz #2
Who is the all-time leading in passing yardage for the Rams?
Sunday’s quiz
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was an NFL QB for 14 years, playing for four different teams; he played the most games (89) with the Chicago Bears, 53 more with the Colts.
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— Eagles 21, Chiefs 17
Kansas City led 17-7 at halftime.
Swift ran ball 12 times for 76 yards and a TD.
Eagles won nine of first ten games (6-2-2 ATS)
Hurts is 34-14 as an NFL starter.
Chiefs in first half: 38 plays, 200 yards, 17 points.
Chiefs in 2nd half: 37 plays, 137 yards, no points.
Last three games, KC was outscored 38-0 in second half.
Chiefs averaged only 3.8 yards/pass attempt.
— Next football season, I’m going to change the definition of turnover in my stats, to include teams who go for it on 4th down outside of field goal range and don’t get the first down. It is basically the same as a turnover, maybe worse.
Chargers-Packers game, both teams went for it in 4th down around midfield on their first series of the game, and both failed. I know it is 2023 and all, but field position is still important.
— 45 years ago Sunday was the infamous Joe Pisarcik fumble, when the Giants were going to beat the Eagles in a close game, but teams didn’t take a knee at the end back then, they just handed the ball off to a RB, but Pisarcik fumbled the handoff, and Herm Edwards ran the ball into the end zone for a very unlikely, disturbing loss for the Giants.
As a Rams fan, the game turned out to be oddly significant; Dick Vermeil was coaching the Eagles back then; 23 years later, he won a Super Bowl coaching the Rams.
Back then, John McVay was coaching the Giants, Sean McVay’s grandfather.
— Cleveland Browns signed QB Joe Flacco to be a backup for Dorian Thompson-Robinson; Flacco has played 15 years in the NFL— he started four games for the Jets last year.
From 2010-12, he went 40-16 as the Ravens’ QB, winning the Super Bowl 11 years ago, but since 2019, he is 3-14 as an NFL starter. Lot of experience, though.
— Jets are benching Zach Wilson, he won’t even be the backup this week. Tim Boyle (0-3 as an NFL starter) will get the start, with Trevor Siemian the backup.
— Falcons will start QB Desmond Ridder this week; Taylor Heinicke started Atlanta’s last couple games.
— Cowboys’ DB DaRon Bland has four pick-6 touchdowns this year, giving him as many TD’s this season as the Raiders’ star WR Davante Adams.
— We need an LSU-Iowa bowl matchup; under is 10-2 in Iowa games, over is 11-0 in LSU games.
Iowa played three games in a row that ended 15-6/12-10/10-7.
LSU lost a game 55-49, won other games 49-39/52-35.
Contrast of styles make for interesting bowls.
— USC’s football team the last two years:
2022- 11-3, they were +21 in turnovers
2023- 7-5, they’re minus-2 in turnovers.
— There are ten I-A college football coaches who are the head coach at their alma mater.
— Word of the Day: Doppelgänger- A double of a person; having a keen resemblance between two otherwise unrelated people.
Example: Lakers’ GM Rob Pelinka and the actor Rob Lowe.
— Happy birthday to the great actress Sally Field, who turned 77 last week; she was the star of The Flying Nun when I was a kid, kind of a weird show. She’s won two Academy Awards, and recently played the mother of Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss in HBO’s Winning Time.
Happy 79th birthday to Danny DeVito, who was Louis DePalma in Taxi and was great in Other People’s Money and The Rainmaker. Now we see him all the time in Jersey Mike’s commercials.
— Long Beach State 94, Michigan 86
This win helps raise the Big West’s profile.
Illinois State 61, Long Beach State 52
This loss doesn’t raise the Big West’s profile.
— San Diego State 100, Washington 97, OT
This game was played late Sunday night, after I had posted yesterday’s Den.
Aztecs led by 12 with 4:23 left in regulation; they blew that lead, but won in OT- they were 31-41 on the foul line. Washington was 18-21.
— Washington-Washington State won’t be in the same league anymore after this season, but the good news is, the schools agreed to play each other in football every year thru 2028, with next year’s Apple Cup game in Seattle, then the next four years at campus sites.
— Syracuse fired football coach Dino Babers, who went 41-55 coaching the Orange; he had gone 18-9 in two seasons at Bowling Green, but couldn’t parlay that success into winning in the ACC.
— Phillies signed P Aaron Nola to a 7-year deal worth around $24.5M a year.
— This is a great week for college basketball, lot of good tournaments, but I do miss the Great Alaskan Shootout, which used to always be this week. ESPN killed the event by hosting their tournaments in warm weather places, more appealing for players/fans to go to.
But the Alaskan Shootout was unique; the last first round game the first two nights would begin around 2am here in the east, so you could watch ball all night.
Dwyane Wade, Klay Thompson were both MVP’s of the Shootout; one year, Cincinnati beat Duke in the final— they attracted really good teams. It was fun to watch.
— Tennessee 73, Syracuse 56
Last time Jim Boeheim wasn’t the Syracuse coach, I was in 10th grade, long time ago; they play man-to-man defense now, and try to run more. Syracuse shot 35% in this game, which isn’t going to win many games, especially against good teams.
— Purdue 73, Gonzaga 63
Boilers outscored Gonzaga 43-28 in second half.
Zags were 6-32 behind the arc.
Purdue big guy Edey had 25 points, 14 rebounds.
— Kentucky 96, St Joe’s 88, OT
Underdog Hawks made 15-37 on the arc.
Kentucky outscored Hawks 18-9 on foul line.
Wildcats played eight guys, including five frosh and a sophomore.
Interesting college football spreads for this week:
— Missouri (-7) @ Arkansas
— Air Force @ Boise State (-4)
— Oregon State @ Oregon (-13)
— Florida State (-7) @ Florida
— Kentucky @ Louisville (-7)
— Clemson (-9) @ South Carolina
Quote of the Day
“I think he should go back to Division III football where he belongs. Look, this guy. Look at his resume, man. I mean, I’m sorry. He spent one year coordinating a team that my wife could coach with Aaron Donald and all those guys. Stop it. And trust me, she’d do a hell of a lot better job than this guy’s doing with his defense. They’re the second-highest payroll in the National Football League and they’re the second-worst. Like, this team is atrocious.”
ESPN’s Rex Ryan, talking about Chargers coach Brandon Staley
Tuesday’s quiz #1
The last time the Angels made the baseball playoffs was 2014; what team swept them in the divisional round?
Tuesday’s quiz #2
Who is the all-time leading in passing yardage for the Rams?
Sunday’s quiz
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was an NFL QB for 14 years, playing for four different teams; he played the most games (89) with the Chicago Bears, 53 more with the Colts.
***************************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— ESPN needs to bring Jon Gruden out of retirement to do the interviews he does with QB prospects for the NFL Draft. This is going to be a fascinating year for drafting QB’s, and Gruden is the best I’ve seen at grilling kids and learning what they’re about.— Eagles 21, Chiefs 17
Kansas City led 17-7 at halftime.
Swift ran ball 12 times for 76 yards and a TD.
Eagles won nine of first ten games (6-2-2 ATS)
Hurts is 34-14 as an NFL starter.
Chiefs in first half: 38 plays, 200 yards, 17 points.
Chiefs in 2nd half: 37 plays, 137 yards, no points.
Last three games, KC was outscored 38-0 in second half.
Chiefs averaged only 3.8 yards/pass attempt.
— Next football season, I’m going to change the definition of turnover in my stats, to include teams who go for it on 4th down outside of field goal range and don’t get the first down. It is basically the same as a turnover, maybe worse.
Chargers-Packers game, both teams went for it in 4th down around midfield on their first series of the game, and both failed. I know it is 2023 and all, but field position is still important.
— 45 years ago Sunday was the infamous Joe Pisarcik fumble, when the Giants were going to beat the Eagles in a close game, but teams didn’t take a knee at the end back then, they just handed the ball off to a RB, but Pisarcik fumbled the handoff, and Herm Edwards ran the ball into the end zone for a very unlikely, disturbing loss for the Giants.
As a Rams fan, the game turned out to be oddly significant; Dick Vermeil was coaching the Eagles back then; 23 years later, he won a Super Bowl coaching the Rams.
Back then, John McVay was coaching the Giants, Sean McVay’s grandfather.
— Cleveland Browns signed QB Joe Flacco to be a backup for Dorian Thompson-Robinson; Flacco has played 15 years in the NFL— he started four games for the Jets last year.
From 2010-12, he went 40-16 as the Ravens’ QB, winning the Super Bowl 11 years ago, but since 2019, he is 3-14 as an NFL starter. Lot of experience, though.
— Jets are benching Zach Wilson, he won’t even be the backup this week. Tim Boyle (0-3 as an NFL starter) will get the start, with Trevor Siemian the backup.
— Falcons will start QB Desmond Ridder this week; Taylor Heinicke started Atlanta’s last couple games.
— Cowboys’ DB DaRon Bland has four pick-6 touchdowns this year, giving him as many TD’s this season as the Raiders’ star WR Davante Adams.
— We need an LSU-Iowa bowl matchup; under is 10-2 in Iowa games, over is 11-0 in LSU games.
Iowa played three games in a row that ended 15-6/12-10/10-7.
LSU lost a game 55-49, won other games 49-39/52-35.
Contrast of styles make for interesting bowls.
— USC’s football team the last two years:
2022- 11-3, they were +21 in turnovers
2023- 7-5, they’re minus-2 in turnovers.
— There are ten I-A college football coaches who are the head coach at their alma mater.
— Word of the Day: Doppelgänger- A double of a person; having a keen resemblance between two otherwise unrelated people.
Example: Lakers’ GM Rob Pelinka and the actor Rob Lowe.
— Happy birthday to the great actress Sally Field, who turned 77 last week; she was the star of The Flying Nun when I was a kid, kind of a weird show. She’s won two Academy Awards, and recently played the mother of Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss in HBO’s Winning Time.
Happy 79th birthday to Danny DeVito, who was Louis DePalma in Taxi and was great in Other People’s Money and The Rainmaker. Now we see him all the time in Jersey Mike’s commercials.
— Long Beach State 94, Michigan 86
This win helps raise the Big West’s profile.
Illinois State 61, Long Beach State 52
This loss doesn’t raise the Big West’s profile.
— San Diego State 100, Washington 97, OT
This game was played late Sunday night, after I had posted yesterday’s Den.
Aztecs led by 12 with 4:23 left in regulation; they blew that lead, but won in OT- they were 31-41 on the foul line. Washington was 18-21.
— Washington-Washington State won’t be in the same league anymore after this season, but the good news is, the schools agreed to play each other in football every year thru 2028, with next year’s Apple Cup game in Seattle, then the next four years at campus sites.
— Syracuse fired football coach Dino Babers, who went 41-55 coaching the Orange; he had gone 18-9 in two seasons at Bowling Green, but couldn’t parlay that success into winning in the ACC.
— Phillies signed P Aaron Nola to a 7-year deal worth around $24.5M a year.
— This is a great week for college basketball, lot of good tournaments, but I do miss the Great Alaskan Shootout, which used to always be this week. ESPN killed the event by hosting their tournaments in warm weather places, more appealing for players/fans to go to.
But the Alaskan Shootout was unique; the last first round game the first two nights would begin around 2am here in the east, so you could watch ball all night.
Dwyane Wade, Klay Thompson were both MVP’s of the Shootout; one year, Cincinnati beat Duke in the final— they attracted really good teams. It was fun to watch.
— Tennessee 73, Syracuse 56
Last time Jim Boeheim wasn’t the Syracuse coach, I was in 10th grade, long time ago; they play man-to-man defense now, and try to run more. Syracuse shot 35% in this game, which isn’t going to win many games, especially against good teams.
— Purdue 73, Gonzaga 63
Boilers outscored Gonzaga 43-28 in second half.
Zags were 6-32 behind the arc.
Purdue big guy Edey had 25 points, 14 rebounds.
— Kentucky 96, St Joe’s 88, OT
Underdog Hawks made 15-37 on the arc.
Kentucky outscored Hawks 18-9 on foul line.
Wildcats played eight guys, including five frosh and a sophomore.
