At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm, which is absolutely individual and unique, and yet which connects us to everything else.
Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack
Six interesting spreads for this week’s college games:
— Florida State @ Miami (-14)
— Louisville @ Pittsburgh (-3)
— Tennessee (-3.5) @ South Carolina
— West Virginia @ Oklahoma State (-7)
— Kentucky @ Auburn (-8)
— Duke @ Virginia (-5.5)
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 201,617
Please wear a mask when you go out.
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Armadillo: Thursday's Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….
13) We talked yesterday about the LA Chargers’ QB situation; Wednesday afternoon, word came out that on Sunday, Tyrod Taylor was getting a pain-killing shot for bruised ribs before the game, when the Chargers’ team doctor accidentally punctured Taylor’s lung with the needle.
Oy.
Rookie QB Justin Herbert is likely to start again this week; it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, going forward. I’m thinking the Chargers might also have a new team doctor soon.
12) Thinking out loud here, but is it better to be the #3 seed in the American League than the #2 seed?
#3 seed would play the 2nd-place team with the worst record, which right now would be the Astros, who are 28-28.
#2 seed would play the #1 Wild Card team, which right now would be Cleveland, which is 32-24.
The #1 Wild Card team figures to be a team that ended the regular season on a roll; this is such a unique situation, no real way of knowing until it all plays out.
11) There could be extra games before the playoffs begin; St Louis may have to play a doubleheader on Monday if they’re still in contention to make the playoffs, then there is the possibility that three teams tie for the two Wild Cards in the National League- that could be very cumbersome.
10) Tuesday night in Washington, the Nationals beat Philly 9-8 when 32-year old rookie Yadiel Hernandez hit a walk-off homer for Washington. Hernandez is now the oldest player in MLB history whose first career home run was also a walk-off blast.
9) Tampa Bay 8, New York Mets 5— Rays win their first AL East tile since 2010.
8) RIP to the great running back Gale Sayers, 77, who passed away this week after suffering from dementia the last few years. RIP, sir.
Sayers was a great running back, fast, elusive- he scored six TD’s in a game against the 49ers, but he also hurt his knee in a later game against San Francisco and played only seven years in the NFL. Sayers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he was 34.
7) Back in the early 70’s, ABC had a Tuesday night movie of the week, where the movies were made just for showing on TV, not in theaters. Brian’s Song was one of those, but what a cast: Billy Dee Williams, James Caan, Jack Warden.
The movie chronicled a great friendship between Sayers and teammate Brian Piccolo; Piccolo replaced Sayers when he got hurt, but Piccolo was discovered to have cancer, and he passed away way too young. Very sad movie, but Brian’s Song is one of the best-ever sports movies.
6) Miami 112, Boston 109 (Heat leads 3-1):
— Tyler Herro scored 37 points in 36:00 off the bench.
— Miami was +11 (19-8) in turnovers.
— Celtics took 40 3-point shots, 42 2-point shots.
5) It is interesting to me the total lack of major league catchers who are good hitters; JT Realmuto is far and away the best of the bunch, everyone else is hit-and-miss. Modern baseball values defense more than offense behind the plate.
4) Tuesday night was a rough night for an Australian gambler; this is from Ben Fawkes, who works for VSIN:
– This person wagered $228,733 on Lakers money line (-263) pre-game
– The person then cashed out for $97,624 in the 2nd quarter with Denver leading 44-32
– The person placed all that money on Denver -9.5
Denver won 114-106 after Alex Caruso made an unguarded layup w/ 1.6 sec left. Not good.
3) Random stat: Yu Darvish is having a great season for the Cubs; nine of his 11 starts have been at home at Wrigley Field, but in his two road starts, he’s allowed only one run in 13 innings.
2) Here is some obscure trivia: In many East Asian cultures, including China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the number 4 is considered unlucky.
You probably wouldn’t see a button indicating the 4th floor on an elevator because most apartment buildings and hospitals skip the number four altogether. In Beijing, it’s not even possible to get a vehicle license plate that has the number 4 on it. The Chinese word for the number 4 sounds much like the Chinese word for death., and that is why it is considered unlucky.
1) If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
AL East: Tampa Bay, New York
AL Central: Minnesota, Chicago
AL West: Oakland, Houston
AL wild cards: Cleveland, Toronto
NL East: Atlanta, Miami
NL Central: Chicago, St Louis
NL West: Los Angeles, San Diego
NL wild cards: Cincinnati, San Francisco
