Tuesday’s 6-pack
Since 2010-11, college hoop teams with the best winning %age:
.865 — Gonzaga
.811 — Kansas
.786 — Duke
.768 — Arizona
.762 — Kentucky
.761 — San Diego State
Quote of the Day
“It’s an ongoing process. I’m following it very closely, just like everybody else is here and looking forward to a resolution. I’m excited. Thinking about Lamar all the time. Thinking about him as our quarterback. We’re building our offense around that idea. I’m just looking forward to getting back to football and I’m confident that’s going to happen.”
Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh
Tuesday’s quiz
Which baseball Hall of Famer once played point guard for San Diego State’s basketball team?
Monday’s quiz
In the movie Rounders, John Malkovich played Russian mobster Teddy KGB.
Sunday’s quiz
Cal-Santa Barbara’s basketball team is known as the Gauchos.
************************************************
Tuesday’s Den: XFL trends, and other football stuff in March……..
— Opening Day of baseball season is Thursday, so of course the NFL owns the headlines today, because the NFL doesn’t have much of an offseason anymore.
— I’m told that quarterback is an important position in football; right now the Baltimore Ravens have a QB who wants a boatload of guaranteed $$$, the Ravens don’t want to guarantee a whole lot of that money and since the QB is acting as his own agent, things have gotten personal.
Lamar Jackson has a career W-L record of 45-16 in the regular season, which is really good; in the playoffs, he is 1-3, with Baltimore scoring 13.5 ppg in those games. Not so good.
Here’s the thing: Jackson didn’t play in the Ravens’ last six games last year, he didn’t play in their last four games the year before. Leg injuries for a running QB aren’t good. Ravens are 18-17 the last two years; expectations are higher than that.
One of the best abilities is availability/dependability; good QB’s make $35-$40M a year in the NFL, with the expectation that he is your leader, the face of your franchise. He is expected to play and play very well, not to mention being a leader.
Schedule comes out in a few weeks; would be a lot easier to sell those season tickets if your quarterback/leader isn’t at odds with the team.
So there is a standoff; this is bad for the NFL, bad for the Ravens, bad for Jackson.
Ravens can come out of this smelling like a rose if they trade Jackson for a couple of first round picks and then land another QB (Carson Wentz, Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Ryan???) to back up Tyler Huntley, who has a 3-6 record in nine NFL starts.
If the Ravens trade Jackson to the Colts, they could use the Colts’ draft pick they’ll get back to draft their QB of the future, which buys them time with their fans.
What happens if Jackson refuses to budge on his contract demands? Does he simply not play? How is this good for him? Who is advising him? Do you want to put your entire franchise in the hands of someone who may be being advised by sketchy people?
— NFL schedule comes out in a month or so; there is a lot of $$$ involved with which games are on in primetime. Would be nice to know who each team’s quarterback is going to be.
Indianapolis Colts, who used to call Baltimore home, visit the Ravens this season; if Jackson is traded to the Colts, guaranteed that is either a Monday night game or a Thursday Amazon game.
— Jets/Packers are still at odds over the Aaron Rodgers trade. Just let me know when they make a decision. This whole debacle has become exhausting.
Jets by the way, have nine home games this year (all AFC teams have 9, NFC teams 8) plus one of their “road” games is against the Giants in the stadium they share, so the Jets really only have seven road games this coming season.
If/when Rodgers becomes a Jet, Jets will gain 2-3 more primetime slots, you can bet on that.
— Detroit Lions’ over/under win total this season is 9.5, the highest it has been in the last 30 years.
Let me say right here that I think it is foolish to bet on season win totals before the schedules come out. As the great Bud Grant used to say, “Its not who you play, it is when you play them”
— Texas Longhorns did the right thing Monday and signed basketball coach Rodney Terry to a 5-year, $15.3M contract. Good for everyone; for once, sanity prevails.
— North Carolina’s leading scorer Caleb Love is in the transfer portal, will bolt Chapel Hill after UNC went 20-13 this season, turning down a chance to play in the NIT. When you see a team choose to end their season like that, you can assume they had internal issues, and Love’s going into the transfer portal seems to confirm that.
— Here are trends for all eight XFL teams, six weeks into a 10-game regular season.
Arlington Renegades (3-3)
Last five games stayed under the total.
All three wins were by 6 or less points.
Allowed 15 or fewer points in three of last four games.
0-3 ATS as a favorite.
DC Defenders (6-0)
Won/covered all six games.
Five of those six games went over the total.
Last four games, Defenders scored 32.8 ppg.
Houston Renegades (4-2)
Lost last two games, after a 4-0 start.
3-0 SU/ATS at home, winning by 21-9-9 points.
Favorite covered five of their six games.
Las Vegas Vipers (1-5)
Only win was 35-32 over 0-6 Orlando.
Vipers are 0-5 ATS in their last five games.
Last four games, Las Vegas allowed 30.8 ppg.
Three of their last four games went over total.
Orlando Guardians (0-6)
Orlando beat spread in three of last four games.
Five of their six games went over total.
Guardians are giving up 29.7 ppg.
St Louis Battlehawks (4-2)
Both their losses are to 6-0 Defenders (34-28/28-20)
St Louis allowed 18 or less points in its wins
Battlehawks covered both times they were favored.
San Antonio Brahmas (2-4)
Brahmas were held to 15 or less points in five of six games.
Five of their six games stayed under the total.
Average total in their last three games: 22.3.
Seattle Sea Dragons (4-2)
Seattle won its last four games, after an 0-2 start.
Their three road games all went over the total.
Last three games, they allowed only 13 ppg.
Since 2010-11, college hoop teams with the best winning %age:
.865 — Gonzaga
.811 — Kansas
.786 — Duke
.768 — Arizona
.762 — Kentucky
.761 — San Diego State
Quote of the Day
“It’s an ongoing process. I’m following it very closely, just like everybody else is here and looking forward to a resolution. I’m excited. Thinking about Lamar all the time. Thinking about him as our quarterback. We’re building our offense around that idea. I’m just looking forward to getting back to football and I’m confident that’s going to happen.”
Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh
Tuesday’s quiz
Which baseball Hall of Famer once played point guard for San Diego State’s basketball team?
Monday’s quiz
In the movie Rounders, John Malkovich played Russian mobster Teddy KGB.
Sunday’s quiz
Cal-Santa Barbara’s basketball team is known as the Gauchos.
************************************************
Tuesday’s Den: XFL trends, and other football stuff in March……..
— Opening Day of baseball season is Thursday, so of course the NFL owns the headlines today, because the NFL doesn’t have much of an offseason anymore.
— I’m told that quarterback is an important position in football; right now the Baltimore Ravens have a QB who wants a boatload of guaranteed $$$, the Ravens don’t want to guarantee a whole lot of that money and since the QB is acting as his own agent, things have gotten personal.
Lamar Jackson has a career W-L record of 45-16 in the regular season, which is really good; in the playoffs, he is 1-3, with Baltimore scoring 13.5 ppg in those games. Not so good.
Here’s the thing: Jackson didn’t play in the Ravens’ last six games last year, he didn’t play in their last four games the year before. Leg injuries for a running QB aren’t good. Ravens are 18-17 the last two years; expectations are higher than that.
One of the best abilities is availability/dependability; good QB’s make $35-$40M a year in the NFL, with the expectation that he is your leader, the face of your franchise. He is expected to play and play very well, not to mention being a leader.
Schedule comes out in a few weeks; would be a lot easier to sell those season tickets if your quarterback/leader isn’t at odds with the team.
So there is a standoff; this is bad for the NFL, bad for the Ravens, bad for Jackson.
Ravens can come out of this smelling like a rose if they trade Jackson for a couple of first round picks and then land another QB (Carson Wentz, Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Ryan???) to back up Tyler Huntley, who has a 3-6 record in nine NFL starts.
If the Ravens trade Jackson to the Colts, they could use the Colts’ draft pick they’ll get back to draft their QB of the future, which buys them time with their fans.
What happens if Jackson refuses to budge on his contract demands? Does he simply not play? How is this good for him? Who is advising him? Do you want to put your entire franchise in the hands of someone who may be being advised by sketchy people?
— NFL schedule comes out in a month or so; there is a lot of $$$ involved with which games are on in primetime. Would be nice to know who each team’s quarterback is going to be.
Indianapolis Colts, who used to call Baltimore home, visit the Ravens this season; if Jackson is traded to the Colts, guaranteed that is either a Monday night game or a Thursday Amazon game.
— Jets/Packers are still at odds over the Aaron Rodgers trade. Just let me know when they make a decision. This whole debacle has become exhausting.
Jets by the way, have nine home games this year (all AFC teams have 9, NFC teams 8) plus one of their “road” games is against the Giants in the stadium they share, so the Jets really only have seven road games this coming season.
If/when Rodgers becomes a Jet, Jets will gain 2-3 more primetime slots, you can bet on that.
— Detroit Lions’ over/under win total this season is 9.5, the highest it has been in the last 30 years.
Let me say right here that I think it is foolish to bet on season win totals before the schedules come out. As the great Bud Grant used to say, “Its not who you play, it is when you play them”
— Texas Longhorns did the right thing Monday and signed basketball coach Rodney Terry to a 5-year, $15.3M contract. Good for everyone; for once, sanity prevails.
— North Carolina’s leading scorer Caleb Love is in the transfer portal, will bolt Chapel Hill after UNC went 20-13 this season, turning down a chance to play in the NIT. When you see a team choose to end their season like that, you can assume they had internal issues, and Love’s going into the transfer portal seems to confirm that.
— Here are trends for all eight XFL teams, six weeks into a 10-game regular season.
Arlington Renegades (3-3)
Last five games stayed under the total.
All three wins were by 6 or less points.
Allowed 15 or fewer points in three of last four games.
0-3 ATS as a favorite.
DC Defenders (6-0)
Won/covered all six games.
Five of those six games went over the total.
Last four games, Defenders scored 32.8 ppg.
Houston Renegades (4-2)
Lost last two games, after a 4-0 start.
3-0 SU/ATS at home, winning by 21-9-9 points.
Favorite covered five of their six games.
Las Vegas Vipers (1-5)
Only win was 35-32 over 0-6 Orlando.
Vipers are 0-5 ATS in their last five games.
Last four games, Las Vegas allowed 30.8 ppg.
Three of their last four games went over total.
Orlando Guardians (0-6)
Orlando beat spread in three of last four games.
Five of their six games went over total.
Guardians are giving up 29.7 ppg.
St Louis Battlehawks (4-2)
Both their losses are to 6-0 Defenders (34-28/28-20)
St Louis allowed 18 or less points in its wins
Battlehawks covered both times they were favored.
San Antonio Brahmas (2-4)
Brahmas were held to 15 or less points in five of six games.
Five of their six games stayed under the total.
Average total in their last three games: 22.3.
Seattle Sea Dragons (4-2)
Seattle won its last four games, after an 0-2 start.
Their three road games all went over the total.
Last three games, they allowed only 13 ppg.
