Sunday’s six-pack
Six most popular picks for Week 13 in the Westgate Super Contest
— Detroit Lions +6 (564)
— Atlanta Falcons -4 (516)
— New Jersey Giants +6.5 (515)
— Green Bay Packers -6.5 (447)
— Seattle Seahawks -6.5 (417)
— Washington Redskins +2.5 (408)
Sunday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday……
13) UCLA 97, Kentucky 92— Wildly entertaining, 83-possession game where Bruins showed they’re a legit top-10 team this year. Six of seven Bruins who played double figure minutes scored double figure points.
Both teams basically played seven guys, which is typical of modern college hoops; teams have very little quality depth, so injuries have a lot more impact now.
12) Alabama 54, Florida 16— Crimson Tide is so much better than anyone else this season, it isn’t funny. Doesn’t guarantee they’ll win the 4-team playoff, but it does guarantee they’ll be a heavy favorite in the national semifinal.
11) Life comes full circle: Yesterday was Verne Lundquist’s last SEC title game broadcast; the first football game he ever worked on network TV was a 1974 game involving Kent State, who at the time had a graduate assistant coach named Nick Saban.
10) Brown University has a basketball player named Steven Spieth who went over the 1,000-career point mark earlier this week. He is Jordan Spieth’s younger brother and he lists golf as one of his hobbies. On Brown’s sports website, his older brother is barely mentioned.
9) Maryland 71, Oklahoma State 70— Terrapins are now 26-5 in Melo Trimble era in games decided by six or less points. Maryland ended this game on a 23-10 run.
8) Because there are 40 bowl teams and only 128 I-A college football teams, there have to be some under-.500 teams playing in bowls. There will be three such teams this year:
Mississippi State and North Texas are 5-7, Hawai’i is 6-7- they’ll go bowling.
7) Northwestern 80, DePaul 64— This game was 54-18 at halftime, Fifty-four to eighteen.
If you’re a Big East team and you’re down 36 at the half to Northwestern, there are major issues. Why can’t a Big East team in Chicago win? The Big East team in Omaha wins; the team in Indianapolis wins; the team in Cincinnati wins; why not DePaul?
DePaul hasn’t been good for years; last time they were in NCAA tournament was 2004.
6) West Virginia 66, Virginia 57— Excellent road win for the Mountaineers, who got whacked by the Cavaliers 70-54 on a neutral floor LY.
5) Baylor 76, Xavier 61— Why shouldn’t the Bears be #1 in the country this week? They’re 8-0, have wins over Oregon-VCU-Louisville-Xavier. Real good team.
4) Seattle Mariners signed lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski to a 2-year, $11M contract. Here is how Mr Rzepczynski fared LY:
He appeared in 70 games, faced 215 batters, so he faced three hitters a game and appeared in less than half his teams’ games. 47.4% of the hitters he faced were right-handed- they had an on-base % of .422 against him- not good. He was tougher on lefties (.265 BA, .322 OB%), but he is making $5.5M a year and is basically an average situational lefty.
Moral of the Story: If you have a little son who likes baseball, teach him to throw lefty.
3) Omaha 98, Iowa 89— Big 14 teams aren’t supposed to lose at home to Summit League teams; at least Indiana’s loss to Fort Wayne was a road game.
2) Temple 34, Navy 10— Matt Rhule is 28-23 as coach of Temple, 20-7 the last two years. Temple, the team that went 24-100 from 1996-2006. Rhule is 28-23.
How does this guy not have a better, higher-paying job by now?
1— Jeff Walz is the women’s basketball coach at Louisville; at a news conference earlier this week, he launched into an extended monologue about players working hard and other players who think they’re entitled to play, just because they’re…….there. It was good stuff, biting without sounding bitter.
Sports is supposed to prepare young people for real life; in real life people who work harder are generally the ones who succeed more, and the sooner young people learn that, the better off they’ll be.
Unless they inherit a fortune, then forget everything I just wrote.
Six most popular picks for Week 13 in the Westgate Super Contest
— Detroit Lions +6 (564)
— Atlanta Falcons -4 (516)
— New Jersey Giants +6.5 (515)
— Green Bay Packers -6.5 (447)
— Seattle Seahawks -6.5 (417)
— Washington Redskins +2.5 (408)
Sunday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday……
13) UCLA 97, Kentucky 92— Wildly entertaining, 83-possession game where Bruins showed they’re a legit top-10 team this year. Six of seven Bruins who played double figure minutes scored double figure points.
Both teams basically played seven guys, which is typical of modern college hoops; teams have very little quality depth, so injuries have a lot more impact now.
12) Alabama 54, Florida 16— Crimson Tide is so much better than anyone else this season, it isn’t funny. Doesn’t guarantee they’ll win the 4-team playoff, but it does guarantee they’ll be a heavy favorite in the national semifinal.
11) Life comes full circle: Yesterday was Verne Lundquist’s last SEC title game broadcast; the first football game he ever worked on network TV was a 1974 game involving Kent State, who at the time had a graduate assistant coach named Nick Saban.
10) Brown University has a basketball player named Steven Spieth who went over the 1,000-career point mark earlier this week. He is Jordan Spieth’s younger brother and he lists golf as one of his hobbies. On Brown’s sports website, his older brother is barely mentioned.
9) Maryland 71, Oklahoma State 70— Terrapins are now 26-5 in Melo Trimble era in games decided by six or less points. Maryland ended this game on a 23-10 run.
8) Because there are 40 bowl teams and only 128 I-A college football teams, there have to be some under-.500 teams playing in bowls. There will be three such teams this year:
Mississippi State and North Texas are 5-7, Hawai’i is 6-7- they’ll go bowling.
7) Northwestern 80, DePaul 64— This game was 54-18 at halftime, Fifty-four to eighteen.
If you’re a Big East team and you’re down 36 at the half to Northwestern, there are major issues. Why can’t a Big East team in Chicago win? The Big East team in Omaha wins; the team in Indianapolis wins; the team in Cincinnati wins; why not DePaul?
DePaul hasn’t been good for years; last time they were in NCAA tournament was 2004.
6) West Virginia 66, Virginia 57— Excellent road win for the Mountaineers, who got whacked by the Cavaliers 70-54 on a neutral floor LY.
5) Baylor 76, Xavier 61— Why shouldn’t the Bears be #1 in the country this week? They’re 8-0, have wins over Oregon-VCU-Louisville-Xavier. Real good team.
4) Seattle Mariners signed lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski to a 2-year, $11M contract. Here is how Mr Rzepczynski fared LY:
He appeared in 70 games, faced 215 batters, so he faced three hitters a game and appeared in less than half his teams’ games. 47.4% of the hitters he faced were right-handed- they had an on-base % of .422 against him- not good. He was tougher on lefties (.265 BA, .322 OB%), but he is making $5.5M a year and is basically an average situational lefty.
Moral of the Story: If you have a little son who likes baseball, teach him to throw lefty.
3) Omaha 98, Iowa 89— Big 14 teams aren’t supposed to lose at home to Summit League teams; at least Indiana’s loss to Fort Wayne was a road game.
2) Temple 34, Navy 10— Matt Rhule is 28-23 as coach of Temple, 20-7 the last two years. Temple, the team that went 24-100 from 1996-2006. Rhule is 28-23.
How does this guy not have a better, higher-paying job by now?
1— Jeff Walz is the women’s basketball coach at Louisville; at a news conference earlier this week, he launched into an extended monologue about players working hard and other players who think they’re entitled to play, just because they’re…….there. It was good stuff, biting without sounding bitter.
Sports is supposed to prepare young people for real life; in real life people who work harder are generally the ones who succeed more, and the sooner young people learn that, the better off they’ll be.
Unless they inherit a fortune, then forget everything I just wrote.
