Sunday’s 6-pack
— If an NFL player throws a football into the crowd, he is fined $6,076.
— Since 2002, only NFL teams not to win a division title: Bills-Lions-Browns-Jaguars.
— Atlanta Falcons won their last eight home openers; Seattle won its last seven.
— Of the 256 NFL regular season games LY, 132 were decided by 7 or less points.
— Since 2003, 20 NFL teams won their division after finishing last the year before; Redskins did it last year.
— Carson Wentz has a hairline fracture in his ribs, is expected back before the end of training camp.
Sunday’s List of 13: Stuff for a steamy Sunday
It is amazing how humid it has been in Albany this week; like a damn sauna inside Armadillo World Headquarters.
13) This is how fine a line there can be between obscurity and stardom in major league baseball.
In 2012 Scott Sizemore was supposed to be the A’s 3B, but he blew his knee out the first day of spring training. Josh Donaldson was a backup catcher at AAA Sacramento; a former first round pick of the Cubs, the A’s decided to make him a 3B after Sizemore’s injury, and he started the season in Oakland, sharing 3B with veteran Brandon Inge.
On June 13, Donaldson was hitting .153 and was sent back to AAA; Inge became the full-time 3B, until he separated his shoulder in Chicago August 11. Donaldson was brought back from AAA and helped the A’s make the playoffs the next three years, becoming a big star.
Now he is one of the best hitters in baseball, but if Sizemore hadn’t hurt his knee in spring training that day, or if Inge’s shoulder had stayed in its socket, Donaldson might’ve never got the chances he got.
12) Padres’ 3B Yangervis Solarte didn’t run out an infield pop-up in the first inning the other night and was yanked from the game. Management in San Diego has been vocal in criticism of its players; manager Andy Green took his #3 hitter out in the first inning of the game.
11) Chicago White Sox were 55-60 thru 115 games, for the third year in a row. Consistency is good, just not consistent failure.
10) Milwaukee Brewers scored in every inning Thursday night, just 19th team since 1900 to do that.
9) Major league teams have names and biographical sketches of umpires in their clubhouse before games, so players can be familiar with the men in blue (they wear black now). Sucking up has become an art form.
8) A guy in Las Vegas put $10,000 up on the money line on the American basketball team to beat Australia Wednesday; guess he figured it was an easy $100, but what genius risks $10,000 to win $100? Guy had to sweat it out, too; it was a 4-point game late, before the US won by 10.
7) Friday night was first time all season that all 30 starting pitchers got a decision in their game; no late-inning heroics anywhere in baseball Friday night.
6) Washington Nationals released former closer Jonathan Papelbon, who shouldn’t be out of work too long. Papelbon seems like a surly guy, but he also has a solid resume.
5) Both teams had a safety in Cleveland-Green Bay game Friday; don’t see that a lot. Packers started Joe Callahan, a kid who played D-III college ball at Wesley College in Delaware, a school I’ve never heard of. Wesley went 23-4 the last 2 years.
4) Was reading an article this week about cryotherapy, which football teams are starting to use to promote recovery from tissue injuries. This quote from the article: “……..a line of players are willing to subject themselves to 2½ minutes of air cooled to around minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit by liquid nitrogen.” Yikes.
3) Rams (35,952 miles) and Raiders (31,622) will travel most miles to road games this year. Steelers (5,142) and Browns (6,074) will travel the fewest.
2) Every year since 1990, at least four teams that missed the playoffs the year before made the NFL playoffs.
1– Houston is hosting the Super Bowl this season; after this year, the next four Super Bowls will be played in stadiums that haven’t even opened (or been built, except for Minnesota) yet.
— If an NFL player throws a football into the crowd, he is fined $6,076.
— Since 2002, only NFL teams not to win a division title: Bills-Lions-Browns-Jaguars.
— Atlanta Falcons won their last eight home openers; Seattle won its last seven.
— Of the 256 NFL regular season games LY, 132 were decided by 7 or less points.
— Since 2003, 20 NFL teams won their division after finishing last the year before; Redskins did it last year.
— Carson Wentz has a hairline fracture in his ribs, is expected back before the end of training camp.
Sunday’s List of 13: Stuff for a steamy Sunday
It is amazing how humid it has been in Albany this week; like a damn sauna inside Armadillo World Headquarters.
13) This is how fine a line there can be between obscurity and stardom in major league baseball.
In 2012 Scott Sizemore was supposed to be the A’s 3B, but he blew his knee out the first day of spring training. Josh Donaldson was a backup catcher at AAA Sacramento; a former first round pick of the Cubs, the A’s decided to make him a 3B after Sizemore’s injury, and he started the season in Oakland, sharing 3B with veteran Brandon Inge.
On June 13, Donaldson was hitting .153 and was sent back to AAA; Inge became the full-time 3B, until he separated his shoulder in Chicago August 11. Donaldson was brought back from AAA and helped the A’s make the playoffs the next three years, becoming a big star.
Now he is one of the best hitters in baseball, but if Sizemore hadn’t hurt his knee in spring training that day, or if Inge’s shoulder had stayed in its socket, Donaldson might’ve never got the chances he got.
12) Padres’ 3B Yangervis Solarte didn’t run out an infield pop-up in the first inning the other night and was yanked from the game. Management in San Diego has been vocal in criticism of its players; manager Andy Green took his #3 hitter out in the first inning of the game.
11) Chicago White Sox were 55-60 thru 115 games, for the third year in a row. Consistency is good, just not consistent failure.
10) Milwaukee Brewers scored in every inning Thursday night, just 19th team since 1900 to do that.
9) Major league teams have names and biographical sketches of umpires in their clubhouse before games, so players can be familiar with the men in blue (they wear black now). Sucking up has become an art form.
8) A guy in Las Vegas put $10,000 up on the money line on the American basketball team to beat Australia Wednesday; guess he figured it was an easy $100, but what genius risks $10,000 to win $100? Guy had to sweat it out, too; it was a 4-point game late, before the US won by 10.
7) Friday night was first time all season that all 30 starting pitchers got a decision in their game; no late-inning heroics anywhere in baseball Friday night.
6) Washington Nationals released former closer Jonathan Papelbon, who shouldn’t be out of work too long. Papelbon seems like a surly guy, but he also has a solid resume.
5) Both teams had a safety in Cleveland-Green Bay game Friday; don’t see that a lot. Packers started Joe Callahan, a kid who played D-III college ball at Wesley College in Delaware, a school I’ve never heard of. Wesley went 23-4 the last 2 years.
4) Was reading an article this week about cryotherapy, which football teams are starting to use to promote recovery from tissue injuries. This quote from the article: “……..a line of players are willing to subject themselves to 2½ minutes of air cooled to around minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit by liquid nitrogen.” Yikes.
3) Rams (35,952 miles) and Raiders (31,622) will travel most miles to road games this year. Steelers (5,142) and Browns (6,074) will travel the fewest.
2) Every year since 1990, at least four teams that missed the playoffs the year before made the NFL playoffs.
1– Houston is hosting the Super Bowl this season; after this year, the next four Super Bowls will be played in stadiums that haven’t even opened (or been built, except for Minnesota) yet.
