CNOTES 2023-2024 NBA TRENDS, NEWS, BEST BETS AND OPINIONS THRU THE PLAYOFFS !

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Sunday’s 6-pack:
Most home runs in New York Mets’ history:
262— Darryl Strawberry
242— David Wright
220— Mike Piazza
204— Pete Alonso
192— Howard Johnson
154— Dave Kingman

Quote of the Day
“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”
George McDonald

Sunday’s quiz
When was last time an Eastern Conference team won the NBA title?

Saturday’s quiz
Darryl Strawberry played 17 years in the majors, for four teams; the two New York teams, and the Giants/Dodgers.

Friday’s quiz
Rick Carlisle was the Dallas Mavericks’ coach when they won their only NBA title, in 2011.

******************************************************

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday…….

— Chicago Bears will be on this summer’s version of HBO’s Hard Knocks, which should be very interesting, seeing how they have a rookie QB and all. Bears are 16-35 the last three years, have not had a winning season since 2018.

— Last year, Notre Dame poached QB Sam Hartman from Wake Forest, after he started for the Deacons for four years; he probably made a lot of $$$ making the move, but a disturbing lack of loyalty. Wake Forest is in the ACC after all, but then after a 9-3 regular season, Hartman sat out Notre Dame’s bowl game, so he could prepare for the NFL Draft.

Oy.

Problem is, Hartman never got drafted; he will be in the Washington Commanders’ camp as an undrafted free agent. Too bad the Commanders aren’t on Hard Knocks.

— Miami Dolphins inked WR Jaylen Waddle to a 3-year deal worth $84.75M, with $76M of that money guaranteed. He is now the 4th highest-paid WR in the league.

Last year, Waddle caught 72 passes for 1,014 yards, and 4 TD’s; he’s had 1,000+ receiving yards in all three of his years in the NFL.

— Bought my first college football magazine of the year couple days ago; hard to process the shuffling that has gone on in college sports.

The Big 10 is now the Big 18
Stanford, Cal and SMU are in the ACC, which makes zero sense.
Oklahoma/Texas are in the SEC.

— Mets retired Darryl Strawberry’s #18 Saturday; Strawberry last played for the Mets in 1990- since then, 19 different players have worn #18 for Mets, but no one else will anymore.

— Sacramento Kings more than doubled coach Mike Brown’s salary; he re-upped with the Kings for $8.5M a year, a deal that runs thru 2027. Sacramento was 94-70 the last two seasons, ending a 16-year playoff drought.

— All four of these guys went to the same college, three of them played QB there:
Jimmy Garoppolo
Sean Payton
Tony Romo
Mike Shanahan

Pretty impressive list; I never would’ve guessed they all went to Eastern Illinois.

Famous birthdays, June 2nd:
Jerry Mathers, 76
Lawrence McCutcheon, 74
Joanna Gleason, 74

Dennis Haysbert, 70
Dana Carvey, 69
Al Wood, 66

Earl Boykins, 48
Nikki Cox, 36
Austin Davis, 35

— Panthers 2, Rangers 1
Florida wins series 4-2, is in Stanley Cup for third time ever, second year in a row. They also made the finals in 1996, their third year in existence.

— Orioles 9, Rays 5
Ryan Mountcastle hit two homers.
Tampa Bay lost nine of its last 12 games.

— A’s 11, Braves 9
Miguel Andujar was 4-5, with 3 runs scored, 4 RBI
Atlanta is 3-8 in its last 11 home games.

— Phillies 6, Cardinals 1
Phillies have won eight in a row at home.
P Ranger Suarez got hit in the hand with a line drive; x-rays came back negative.

— Brewers 4, White Sox 3 (10)
Chicago has lost ten games in a row.
Milwaukee is 5-0 when Robert Gasser pitches.

— Rangers 7, Marlins 0
Michael Lorenzen tossed 6.1 scoreless innings.
Texas has won four of its last five games.

— Some media people have been mumbling about Shohei Ohtani winning MVP this year; can’t see how a DH could ever win MVP- he doesn’t play the field, all he does is hit, plus the Dodgers have Mookie Betts hitting in front of him, Freddie Freeman behind him. Lot of talent there; why would one guy be more valuable than the other two?

— Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson has a deal in his contract where he has to participate in 80% of the Ravens’ offseason workouts to earn a $750,000 bonus, but when you sign a contract worth a total of $260M, $750,000 probably seems like pocket change.

Jackson has missed most of Baltimore’s workouts this spring.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack:
Last six Stanley Cup champs:
2023— Vegas Golden Knights
2022— Colorado Avalanche
2021— Tampa Bay Lightning
2020— Tampa Bay Lightning
2019— St Louis Blues
2018— Washington Capitals

Quote of the Day
“It’s a lot that myself, and we can learn from that experience being in the Finals, and this time, this go-around is a lot different. Obviously, we’ve been there before, we came up short. And a great opportunity to make it to the Finals again. You don’t always get a second chance, so really just looking at it as a second chance and trying to simplify things as much as we can.”
Celtics star Jayson Tatum

Monday’s quiz
Who was coach of the Boston Celtics, last time they won the NBA title?

Sunday’s quiz
2021 was last time an Eastern Conference team won the NBA title, when the Milwaukee Bucks beat Phoenix 4-2 in the Finals.

Saturday’s quiz
Darryl Strawberry played 17 years in the majors, for four teams; the two New York teams, and the Giants/Dodgers.

****************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend…….

— Baseball front offices have been overrun by over-educated morons; the new thing is that a marginal starting pitcher is only allowed to face 18 batters, no matter how he is doing. There is evidence that pitchers struggle when they go thru lineups a third time, but for the love of Christ, use some freakin’ common sense.

Saturday afternoon, Arizona is beating the Mets 4-1 in bottom of the 5th; rookie pitcher Slade Cecconi is pitching. Mets have a man on 2nd, two out- Cecconi got the last two hitters out, but they take him, because he had gone thru the lineup twice.

How the hell is he supposed to develop into a dependable starting pitcher if he isn’t allowed to finish the 5th inning? He had only thrown 71 pitches. It makes no sense.

— Baltimore Orioles are 37-20, they’re probably going to make the playoffs; they’re 3 games out of first place in the AL East, but they’ve got an 8.5-game lead for a Wild Card slot, so they’re a solid bet to make the playoffs.

Problem is, their starting pitching is banged up; Means/Wells are out for the year, and they’ve got several position player prospects in the minors. It makes sense that between now and July 31 (the trade deadline), Orioles are going to trade for a couple starting pitchers.

— Detroit 8, Boston 4 (10)- Tigers have won five games this year that they trailed in by 3+ runs, more than any American League team.

— Arizona 5, Mets 4- Mets, on the other hand, have lost six games that they led after eight innings. Mets have the 3rd-worst record in the National League. Ketel Marte homered twice; the second one was a 2-run blast in the ninth inning.

— Texas 6, Miami 0- Marlins start out June by getting beat 7-0/6-0. Not ideal.

— Brewers 6, White Sox 3
Chicago has now lost 11 games in a row.
OF Tommy Pham had been a bright spot for Chicago, but he was 2-21 last week.

— Oilers 2, Stars 1
Edmonton is in Stanley Cup finals for first time since 2006.
Oilers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1990.

There is a player on Edmonton, Corey Perry, who is the first player in NHL history to play in the NHL’s Final Four for five different teams. He is 39 now, has been in NHL since 2005; he was on the Anaheim Ducks when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007.

Florida Panthers opened as -125 favorites to win the Stanley Cup final.

Famous birthdays, June 3rd:
Billy Cunningham, 81
Anderson Cooper, 57
Az-Zahir Hakim, 47
Al Horford, 38
Rafael Nadal, 38
Imogen Poots, 35
Harrison Bader, 30
Luis Gil, 26

Host of The Gong Show, Chuck Barris, was born on June 3, 1929. The Gong Show was one of the funniest game shows ever; it was American Idol without talented contestants.

— Week 10, UFL:
Birmingham 20, Michigan 19
These teams meet again in the playoffs next week.

St Louis 13, San Antonio 12
These teams also meet again in the playoffs next week.

Arlington 32, DC Defenders 31
Arlington drove 41 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:28 left.

Memphis 19, Houston 12
Houston lost despite outgaining the Roughnecks, 323-203.

Four games decided by total of 10 points in the last week of the regular season.

— Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel is now an assistant with the Cleveland Browns; I was so hoping Browns-Titans played each other this fall, but they don’t. Vrabel coached under Cleveland DC Jim Schwartz in Tennessee.

— Ever hear of Reese Poffenbarger? Didn’t think so.

Reese Poffenbarger played QB for the I-AA Albany Great Danes, which is where I went to college. Back then, Albany was D-3; they ran the wishbone and usually won. My work-study job in college was doing stats for football/basketball games, a really good work-study job.

These days, Albany is I-AA, and Poffenbarger has thrown for 6,613 yards and 60 TD’s the last two years— he is very good. Good enough to get poached by an ACC team.

Miami’s QB the last three years, Tyler Van Dyke bolted to Wisconsin, so Miami hit the transfer portal and paid Poffenbarger, but then they also hit the portal for Washington State QB Cam Ward, so now Poffenbarger gets paid to run the scout team, unless Ward gets hurt.

— New York 7, Giants 5
Juan Soto homered twice, including the game-winner in the 9th inning.

Blake Snell left in the 5th inning with a leg injury, is likely headed to the IL.
Snell, who signed a 2-year, $62M deal just before the season, is 0-3, 9.51 in six starts.

— All six division leaders have a 3+ game lead in their division; the three NL leaders have leads of 6.5, 6.5 and 7 games over the second place teams. Good thing the Wild Cards exist.

— Clemson was playing Coastal Carolina in the college baseball tournament, and they actually used the hidden ball trick in the second inning- it worked. Clemson won the game 12-5; college baseball is high-level stuff. How do you fall for the hidden ball trick?

— Early part of the week is going to be quiet; NBA Finals don’t start until Thursday, Stanley Cup Finals start Saturday.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Last six NBA champs:
2023— Denver Nuggets
2022— Golden State Warriors
2021— Milwaukee Bucks
2020— Los Angeles Lakers
2019— Toronto Raptors
2018— Golden State Warriors

Quote of the Day
“I think I was able to reel it in a little bit, got right into the at-bat. I guess there’s something about competing against the people you know that makes you lock in a little bit. But also, the guy on the mound [Wheeler] was pretty good tonight, so you better do that, or you’re probably not going to have too much of a chance.”
Milwaukee DH Rhys Hoskins, talking about his first game against his old team

Tuesday’s quiz
In the first-ever episode of Cheers, why was Diane (Shelley Long) in Sam Malone’s bar?

Monday’s quiz
Doc Rivers was coach of the Boston Celtics, last time they won the NBA title.

Sunday’s quiz
2021 was last time an Eastern Conference team won the NBA title, when the Milwaukee Bucks beat Phoenix 4-2 in the Finals.

*********************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….

— Vikings’ WR Justin Jefferson broke the bank Monday, landing a 4-year, $140M deal, with $110 of that money guaranteed, the biggest contract ever for a non-quarterback.

In four seasons with Minnesota, Jefferson has 392 receptions for 5,899 yards, 30 TD’s.

His problem is that Kirk Cousins lives in Atlanta now, so at some point this fall, the Vikings will be breaking in a rookie QB, which figures to hamper Minnesota’s passing game, at least for a little while.

— Read this Monday and thought it was interesting:

Say there are two NHL players, both of whom earn $3M a year; one plays in Toronto, the other guys plays for Tampa Bay or Florida.

The guy on the Maple Leafs will play roughly $500,000 more in taxes than the guys who call Florida home. Has to hurt the Canadian teams in free agency, right?

— Edmonton beat Dallas 2-1 Sunday night to win the Western Conference; they got outshot 34-10, tied for the fewest shots on goal ever for a team that won a playoff game.

— Tigers 2, Rangers 1
Jake Rogers, Detroit’s #9 batter, hit two homers.
Wonder how many times a team scored two runs, won the game, with both runs coming on home runs hit by the #9 hitter?

— Diamondbacks 4, Giants 2
Pavin Smith hit a 2-run, pinch-hit, walk-off home run for Arizona.
Giants have lost five games in a row.

— Seattle Mariners are 34-27, lead the AL West, but they recently fired their bench coach.

Brant Brown was the bench coach/offensive coordinator; he was the Marlins’ hitting coach LY, when Miami made the playoffs, but this year’s Mariners are 29th in runs/game and have struck out the most of any team.

Firing a 1st-year assistant coach on a successful team around June 1st? Must be an interesting story there.

Famous birthdays, June 4th:
Terry Kennedy, 68
Xavier McDaniel, 61
Scott Servais, 57

Noah Wyle, 53
Darin Erstad, 50
Angelina Jolie, 49

Aaron Nola, 31
Freddy Peralta, 28
Skylar Thompson, 26

— Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, Brewers beat the White Sox 6-3; Freddy Peralta’s line was mediocre, three runs in 5 IP (97 PT) but a deeper dive shows that he threw 43 pitches in the first inning, barely survived that, then needed only 54 pitches to get thru the next four innings and get the win.

When you’re the ace of a staff, part of your job is to eat up innings, to take strain off the bullpen. Getting knocked out in the first inning would’ve screwed up the bullpen for a couple days.

— Reds 13, Rockies 3
Cincinnati is 7-3 in its last ten games.
Spencer Steer is 8-14 in his last three games.

— Astros 7, Cardinals 4
Alex Bregman tied game with an 8th inning home run.
Yainer Diaz hit a 2-run homer later that inning for game-winning runs.

— Angels 2, Padres 1
Angels snapped their 5-game losing streak.
Manny Machado homered for San Diego’s only run.

— Mets 8, Nationals 7
Starling Marte had three hits, scored two runs.
Jose Iglesias had three hits, including the go-ahead single.

— Phillies 3, Brewers 1
Zach Wheeler pitched seven strong innings for the home team.
Rhys Hoskins homered against his old team, his first game back in Philly.

— Orioles 7, Blue Jays 2
Austin Hays homered twice for Baltimore.
Orioles are 9-2 in their last eleven games.

— Detroit Tigers are going to retire former manager Jim Leyland’s number 10 in a ceremony August 3rd, two weeks after he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Major league leaders in runs scored:
54— Bobby Witt Jr, KC
48— William Contreras, Milw
47— Gunnar Henderson, Balt
46— Jose Ramirez Clev/Juan Soto NYY
44— Kyle Schwarber Phil/Aaron Judge NYY
43— Marcus Semien Tex/Mookie Betts LA/Anthony Volpe, NYY

Quote of the Day
“That was a terrible game by us today, especially the early portion of the game. When you’re going through losing streaks, at least you fight. For the most part we have. That was an awful game.”
Giants’ manager Bob Melvin, after an 8-5 loss in Arizona.

Wednesday’s quiz
Who is the San Diego Padres’ all-time leader in home runs?

Tuesday’s quiz
In the first-ever episode of Cheers, Diane (Shelley Long) was in Sam Malone’s bar because she was with her fiancee, waiting to get married, but he wound up walking out on her and Sam hired her as a waitress in the bar.

Monday’s quiz
Doc Rivers was coach of the Boston Celtics, last time they won the NBA title.

***************************************************

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….

— There is an excellent 90-minute special on HBO with former NBA player/US Senator Bill Bradley; he talks about his very interesting life and one of the stories he told was especially interesting, at least to me.

Jerry Lucas was a very good ballplayer; he played for the ’73 Knicks championship team, he scored over 14,000 points in his career, but he was also a memory expert- he wrote books with a guy named Harry Lorayne about how to improve your memory.

I bought one of his books when I was in high school, but I forgot where I put it

Bill Bradley tells this story about how Lucas met the great chess champion Bobby Fischer, and Lucas told Fischer how he memorized pages in a phone book. He could tell you anyone’s phone number in the book; Fischer didn’t believe him.

Fischer picks a page in the phone book, asks Lucas for the phone number of the 10th name on that page, and Lucas rattles it off, no problem.

An amazing skill, but not sure how marketable it was.

— Northwestern’s basketball team is taking a 10-day trip to Italy/Greece August 20-30; trips like those help with team bonding, especially in this transfer portal era, when teams get cobbled together quickly.

— 49ers signed Christian McCaffrey to a 2-year, $38M contract extension; there are only five running backs who are making $10M+ a year.

— Today is June 5th; the baseball trade deadline is eight weeks from tomorrow, so for the next 57 days, writers will guess which players the contending teams will poach from the poor teams before July 31st. No bueno.

All this stuff gives fantasy baseball managers a headache; one of your players gets traded to a smaller ballpark (or a pitcher to a bigger one) that helps. Of course the opposite can also happen; real-life trades will keep us on our toes next month.

— Tuesday was a rough day for my fantasy squad; three of my players went on the IL, one of whom sprained his ankle stumbling on the dugout steps during Sunday’s game. Seriously, a 24-year old pro athlete is out for three weeks because he tripped on the dugout steps.

Oy.

— Phillies 2, Brewers 1 (10)
Alec Bohm tied the game with an 8th inning home run.
Phillies are 43-19, 26-9 at home; they lead NL East by 7 games.

— Pirates 1, Dodgers 0
Jack Suwinski’s home run was the game’s only run.
Jared Jones tossed six shutout inning for Pittsburgh.
Dodgers were 0-12 with runners in scoring position.

Famous birthdays, June 5th:
Leslie Hendrix, 64
Jeff Garlin, 62
Mark Wahlberg, 53
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 49

Torry Holt, 48
Andrew Heaney, 33
Joe Ryan, 28
Sam Darnold, 27

— Guardians 8, Royals 5
Kansas City led 5-0 in fifth inning; Bobby Witt hit two homers.
Cleveland leads AL Central by 5 games over the Royals.

— Rays 9, Marlins 5
Brandon Lowe hit a 3-run homer, knocked in five runs.
Tampa Bay is 21-4 in its last 25 games against the Marlins.

— Cubs 7, White Sox 6
White Sox led 5-0 in fifth inning, still lost their 12th game in a row.
Cubs won for only third time in their last 12 games.

— Tigers 3, Rangers 1
Jack Flaherty tossed five shutout IP (60 PT), left with back tightness.
Detroit is over .500 for first time since May 18th.

— Astros 8, Cardinals 5
Yanier Diaz homered for the second game in a row.
Alex Bregman scored three runs for Houston.

— Reds 4, Rockies 1
Frankie Montas allowed only one hit in 7 IP.

Hideo Nomo threw the only no-hitter in Coors Field history, in 1996.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Padres, Cubs
AL: New York, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Orioles, Royals, Twins

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
— Rays 5, Marlins 3— Tampa Bay won 23 of last 26 games vs Miami.
— Cubs 7, White Sox 6- Pale Hose led 5-1 in fifth inning.
— Reds 12, Rockies 7- Cincinnati scored six runs in ninth inning.
— Pirates 10, Dodgers 6- Pittsburgh scored seven runs in 2nd inning.
— Angels 3, Padres 2- Zach Neto hit a 2-rum homer.
— A’s 2, Mariners 1- Joey Estes had a perfect game going until 7th inning.

Quote of the Day
“It just wasn’t perfect for us playing together, and it didn’t work out. And that’s it. There’s no ill will, I don’t think from their side. For sure, [there is not] from my side. I don’t think there should be. It just didn’t work out, but I have nothing but love for Dallas and for my teammates and for everybody there.”
Celtics C Kristaps Porzingis, talking about his time with the Mavericks

Thursday’s quiz
Dave Winfield was a Hall of Fame baseball player, was drafted by four pro teams in three different sports. Where did he go to college?

Wednesday’s quiz
Nate Colbert is the San Diego Padres’ all-time leader in home runs, with 163.

Tuesday’s quiz
In the first-ever episode of Cheers, Diane (Shelley Long) was in Sam Malone’s bar because she was with her fiancee, waiting to get married, but he wound up walking out on her and Sam hired her as a waitress in the bar.

************************************************

Thursday’s Den: Random college football knowledge​

— Replacing Nick Saban at Alabama is going to be really difficult; the fanbase is spoiled, the SEC is a really tough league. Very little chance this ends well.
Remember Gene Bartow coaching basketball at UCLA? The guy replaced John Wooden, he went 52-9 in two years, then beat feet to start the program at UAB, because back then, 52-9 at UCLA wasn’t good enough. Kind of like Alabama now.
Kalen DeBoer went 25-3 in two years at Washington, 12-6 in two years at Fresno State and before that, he was 67-3 at an NAIA school. Very good coach.
But Alabama has only 8 of 22 starters back from last year; good luck.

— Georgia scored 40.1 ppg last year; they’ve got nine starters back on offense, but lost four assistant coaches, two of whom became head coaches (Georgia State/Syracuse).
Last time Georgia didn’t play in a bowl: 1996.

— USC is in the Big 18 now; they got a break with their schedule- their three eastern road trips are in September/October. Trojans’ over/under win total is only 7.5, not very high; they’ve got only nine starters back. Who will play QB; last year’s backup, Miller Moss or UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava?

— Oklahoma/Texas are both in the SEC now; Sooners figure to struggle some.
Oklahoma has a new:
Offensive coordinator
Quarterback
5 new offensive linemen
Sooners open with four straight home games, but Houston/Tennessee are two of those.

— As for Texas, they’ve got 5 starters back on offense, 7 on defense; their QB is back, and so are 4 of their starters on the offensive line, which is good. They’ve got a tough road game September 7 at Michigan.
Last year, Longhorns were #70 in country in 3rd down conversions (38.4%), 120th in country in TD %age in the red zone (50.8%). Those numbers need to improve.

— Florida’s November schedule is kind of hard:
November 2- vs Georgia
November 9- @ Texas
November 16- LSU
November 23- Ole Miss
November 30- @ Florida State
No bye weeks in there; not ideal.

— Coordinators who changed jobs since last year:
Ohio State OC Chip Kelly was head coach at UCLA last year.
Alabama DC Kane Wommack was the head coach at South Alabama last year.
Arkansas OC Bobby Petrino was head coach at Missouri State last year.
UCLA OC Eric Bieniemy was OC for the Commanders last year.
Boise State OC Dirk Koetter comes out of semi-retirement to revive the Broncos’ offense.
Michigan DC Wink Martindale was the Giants’ DC last year.

— Famous birthdays for June 6th:
Max Venable, 67
Cam Neely, 59
Paul Giamatti, 57
Mark Ellis, 47
Anthony Rendon, 34
DeAndre Hopkins, 32
Joey Lucchesi, 31
Kenny Pickett, 26

— 12-team college football playoff starts with two games each December 20-21.
Quarterfinals will have two games each December 31-January 1st.
Semi-finals are January 9-10.
National championship game is January 20th.

— Last year, I-A teams went 113-4 vs I-AA teams; it is stupid that these games are played, it is stealing money from fans to watch non-competitive games. This year, there are 121 of these games. Awesome.
I-A teams that lost to a I-AA team last year:
Buffalo, Nevada, Northern Illinois, Stanford.

— Michigan QB Jack Tuttle was the 7th-rated QB in the 2018 freshman class; he is still a Wolverine. Here are some other QB’s who were also in that class:
#1- Trevor Lawrence- Was #1 pick in the 2021 draft
#11- Justin Fields- #11 pick in ‘21 draft just got traded to the Steelers.
#25- Zach Wilson- #2 pick in ’21 draft just moved to the Broncos.
#36- Michael Penix- #8 pick in 2024 draft by Atlanta.
#50- Brock Purdy- #262 pick in ’22 draft starts for the 49ers.
Tuttle isn’t the only QB in his 7th year of college football.
Oklahoma State’s Alan Bowman used to play at Texas Tech.
Utah QB Cam Rising used to play at Texas.

— Clemson won its last five games LY, after starting the season 4-4; six true freshmen started 3+ games last year, and none of them transferred. This year, Tigers play Georgia, Florida State, NC State in their first five games.
Last year was first time in 12 years Clemson didn’t win 10+ games; they’ve only got three starters back on defense, but the offense figures to be improved.

— Coaches on the hot seat, alphabetically by school:
(In reality, every coach who lost his last game is on the hot seat, but still…….)
Arkansas- Sam Pittman- Hired Bobby Petrino to save his offense.
Baylor- Dave Aranda- Bears are 3-10 in last 13 games, with a home loss to Texas State.
BYU- Kalani Sitake- Were 118th in country running ball LY, now they’re in the Big X.
Florida- Billy Napier- He is 11-14 in two years, but has 13 starters back this season.
Pittsburgh- Pat Narduzzi- Pitt was 3-9 LY, then fired the offensive coordinator.

— Top QB’s who transferred this year:
Dillon Gabriel (Oklahoma to Oregon)
Cam Ward (Washington State to Miami)
Riley Leonard (Duke to Notre Dame)
DJ Uiagalelei (Clemson to Oregon State to Florida State)
Cam Howard (Kansas State to Ohio State)

— With all the conference shuffling going on, Oregon State/Washington State got screwed over, left behind to fend for themselves, all of which makes Oregon State-Oregon, Washington-Wazzu must watch TV this fall.
Beavers/Coogs are basically playing a Mountain West schedule for now; Oregon State’s coach bolted to Michigan State, and he’s an OSU alum. Not a good sign for the future.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, June 6

NBA

Thursday, June 6

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Trend Report
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Dallas vs Boston
Dallas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Dallas is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Boston is 21-3 SU in its last 24 games at home


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[CNOTES]

THURSDAY, JUNE 6​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
DAL at BOS	08:30 PM	DAL +6.5 O 215.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
Highest-paid coaches, by league:
NFL— Andy Reid, Chiefs, $20M
NBA— Steve Kerr, Warriors, $17.5M
MLB— Craig Counsell, Cubs, $8.5M
NHL— Mike Sullivan, Penguins, $5.5M
CFB— Kirby Smart, Georgia, $13M
CBB— Bill Self, Kansas, $10.6M

Quote of the Day
“Either you lose or you win. First to four (wins), we’ve got to focus on the next game.”

Luka Doncic
Friday’s quiz
In the movie Major League, what number did Corbin Bernsen’s character (Roger Dorn) wear for the Cleveland Indians?

Thursday’s quiz
Dave Winfield was a Hall of Fame baseball player, was drafted by four pro teams in three different sports. He went to college at Minnesota.

Wednesday’s quiz
Nate Colbert is the San Diego Padres’ all-time leader in home runs, with 163.

************************************************

Friday’s Den: Trends for all 30 MLB teams……..​

— Giants lost six of their last seven games.
San Francisco is 17-11 in day games, 13-22 in night games.

— Nationals lost six of their last seven games,
Rookie P Parker is 4-3, 3.47 in his first 10 MLB starts.

— Famous birthdays for June 7th:
Cazzie Russell, 80
Don Money, 77
Terrell Buckley, 53
Allen Iverson, 49
Anna Kournikova, 43
Kellen Clemens, 41
Christian McCaffrey, 28

— Orioles are 14-6 in series openers.
Baltimore is 13-5 vs lefty starters.

— Red Sox are 6-11 vs lefty starters; last two years, they were 47-31.
Boston is 1-9 in home series openers.

— White Sox have 14 games in a row.
Lefty P Garrett Crochet is 4-1, 1.03 in his last six starts.

— Guardians are 19-5 in their last 24 home games.
Cleveland is 12-4 vs lefty starting pitchers; LY, they were 24-35.

— Tigers are 8-4 in their last 12 games.
Over is 10-3 in their last 13 road games.

— Under is 11-3 in Astros’ last 14 games.
Last 2 years, Houston was 70-33 vs lefty starters; this year, they’re 6-12

— Royals are 3-7 in their last ten games.
Kansas City is 22-10 at home, 15-16 on road.

— Angels won three games in row for first time since April 3rd.
Under is 5-1 in their last six home games.

— Under is 8-2 in their last ten home games.
Since 2002, Twins are 44-123 against New York.

— New York won 26 of its last 32 games.
NY scored in first inning in 12 of its last 21 games.

— A’s lost 12 of their last 14 road games.
Under is 9-2 in their last 11 games.

— Mariners are 9-1 in home series openers, 4-6 in road series openers.
Seattle is 17-5 in its last 22 home games, overall.

— Rays are 11-5 vs lefty starters, 20-26 vs righty starters.
Tampa Bay is 3-8 in home series openers.

— Texas lost nine of its last 12 road games.
Under is 20-6 in Rangers’ last 26 home games.

— Toronto is 7-3 in its last ten games.
Blue Jays are 7-3 in road series openers.

 

[Udog]

Game 2 happens Sunday.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack:
NFL Week 1 spreads:
— Ravens @ Kansas City (-2.5, 46.5)
— Packers vs Eagles (-1.5, 49)
— Titans @ Chicago (-4.5, 43.5)
— Texans (-2, 48) @ Indianapolis
— Cardinals @ Buffalo (-7, 48)
— Patriots @ Cincinnati (-9, 42)

Quote of the Day
“We’re not looking next year. We’re forecasting where FSU is going to be five, 10, 15 years from now and how do we make sure we’re doing our due diligence now to position ourselves. Where is college athletics going to be five,10 years from now and making sure this is a part of it.”
Florida State athletic director Michael Alford

Saturday’s quiz
Which active major leaguer has the most career home runs?

Friday’s quiz
In the movie Major League, Corbin Bernsen’s character (Roger Dorn) wore #24 for the Cleveland Indians.

Thursday’s quiz
Dave Winfield was a Hall of Fame baseball player, was drafted by four pro teams in three different sports. He went to college at Minnesota.

**********************************************

Saturday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here……..

— Royals 10, Mariners 9
Seattle led 7-0 in top of the first inning…….but lost.
MJ Melendez hit a grand slam for the Royals.

— New York Mets have played nine extra inning games this year; they haven’t scored a run in the 10th inning in any of the games, even though every half-inning starts with a runner on second base. Astros have played five extra inning games, also don’t have a 10th inning run.

— Mets cut Omar Narvaez/Jorge Lopez this week, which raises their dead $$$ count to $76M this season- they’re paying $76M this season to players who aren’t in their organization.

By way of comparison, the Oakland A’s ENTIRE payroll for this year: $63M.

— Congrats to Justin Turner, who got his 1,500th career hit this week; Turner was mostly a stiff in his first five big league seasons, with Orioles/Mets. He went to the Dodgers and pretty quickly became a star, with an .865 OPS in nine years. 1,088 of his hits were with the Dodgers.

— UConn basketball coach Danny Hurley apparently met with the LA Lakers Friday; if he takes the Lakers’ head coaching job, there will be an interesting domino effect of other people changing jobs, and maybe UConn players bolting to other schools.

— West Virginia’s basketball team is off to Italy for 10 days in August, another one of those foreign trips that help team bonding.

— Celtics beat Dallas in Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday; Game 2 isn’t until Sunday; I understand that TV ratings/TV $$$ drive all these decisions, but there were eight days in between the semi-finals and Game 1 of the Finals, now three more days until Game 2.

They’re not exactly capturing the attention of their target audience, or any audience.

— I went to the horse races at Saratoga Thursday, hung out with friends and got some fresh air; they have races in Saratoga for four days this weekend, with the Belmont Stakes Saturday (Belmont is being refurbished). The regular Saratoga meet doesn’t start until next month.

Two total strangers made fun of my hair (they said it is too long, and I had a hat on), I paid $6.42 for a 20-ounce Coke, but other than that, it was a very good day.

— Famous birthdays for June 8th:
Bob Tucker, 79
Sonia Braga, 74
Julianna Margulies, 58
Tom Nutten, 53

Mark Feuerstein, 53
Bryant Reeves, 51
Connor Norby, 24
Tyson Bagent, 24

— Brewers 10, Tigers 0
Blake Perkins hit two triples, his first two triples in the big leagues.
Tobias Myers tossed eight scoreless IP for Milwaukee.

This was the Brewers’ 9th game this year with 10+ runs, most in the major leagues.

— Random stat: Last major leaguer with three triples in a game: Yasiel Puig, who hit three triples against the Giants on July 25, 2014, in an 8-1 Dodger win.

— A’s 2, Blue Jays 1
JJ Bleday hit a walk-off homer for the A’s;
Hogan Harris tossed six shutout IP for Oakland.

— Blue Jays haven’t scored a first-inning run in their last 29 games.

By way of comparison, Angels’ P Griffin Canning has allowed 15 first inning runs in his 13 starts.

— White Sox 7, Red Sox 2
Chicago ends its 14-game losing streak.
Garrett Crochet is 6-5, 3.33 and is headed to the All-Star Game.

— Pirates 3, Twins 0
Mitch Keller won his sixth straight start, first Pirate to do that since 2015.
Minnesota was shut out for the fourth time this season.

— Nationals 2, Braves 1
Jake Irvin tossed six shutout IP for Washington.
Chris Sale lost for the first time since April 13.

— Reds 3, Cubs 2
Cincinnati won its sixth game in a row.
Nick Lodolo allowed one run in 6 IP.

— Pat Sajak signed off as host of Wheel of Fortune Friday, ending his 41-year run on the show. Imagine having a job that is so much fun that you do it for 41 years, and he did it very well.

We need more game shows on TV, of that I am sure.

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday’s 6-pack:
NFL Week 1 spreads:
— Broncos @ Seattle (-5, 42.5)
— Raiders @ LA Chargers (-3.5, 43.5)
— Cowboys (-1, 44) @ Cleveland
— Commanders @ Tampa Bay (-4, 42)
— Rams @ Detroit (-3.5, 51)
— Jets @ San Francisco (-5.5, 45.5)

Quote of the Day
“This is a team sport. We understand that. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have JB on our team, and we could say that for a lot of guys. We all played a part in getting to where we’re at. We understand that people try to drive a wedge between us. It’s a smart thing to do, or try to do.”
Celtics star Jayson Tatum

Sunday’s quiz
Which NBA team did Larry Bird used to coach?

Saturday’s quiz
Giancarlo Stanton (417) has the most career home runs of any active major leaguer.

Friday’s quiz
In the movie Major League, Corbin Bernsen’s character (Roger Dorn) wore #24 for the Cleveland Indians.

*********************************************

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday……​

— Scoring is down some in baseball this year; last year, there were 9.24 runs per game. This year so far, there have been 8.64 runs per game.
Any special reason? My first theory was that the baseballs night be a little less lively this year, but that’s hard to prove. I think its true, but don’t know for sure.
My second theory I’m beginning to believe more and more; given the commissioner’s obsession with having shorter games, it appears that umpires are calling way more marginal strikes than they used to, especially younger umpires.
Something to follow as the season moves towards the halfway point.

— Phillies 7, Mets 2
Ranger Suarez is the first 10-game winner this season.
Phillies have won seven of last eight games.
Announced attendance in London: 53,882

— Nationals 7, Braves 3
Atlanta is 9-14 in its last 23 games.
Braves scored 3 or fewer runs in 13 of the 23 games.

— Reds 4, Cubs 3
Cincinnati has won seven games in a row.
Attendance at Reds’ home games is up 18% over last year; fans are excited.

— Pirates 4, Twins 0
Minnesota gets shut out for second day in a row.
Rowdy Tellez’ 7th inning home run snapped a scoreless tie.

— Orioles 5, Rays 0
Kyle Bradish allowed one hit in 6 IP.
Gunnar Henderson hit his 20th home run of the season.

— Giants 3, Rangers 1
Matt Chapman has now reached base in 25 consecutive games.
Texas scored one run in three of their last five games.

— Famous birthdays for June 9th:
Dave Parker, 73
Michael J Fox, 63
Aaron Sorkin, 63
Johnny Depp, 61
Wayman Tisdale, 60
Gloria Reuben, 60
D’Marco Farr, 53
Peja Stojaković, 47
Yuli Gurriel, 40

— Birmingham 31, Michigan 18
Stallions outscored Michigan 19-0 in second half.
Both teams turned ball over four times.
Birmingham advances to the UFL title game next week in St Louis.

— Florida 3, Edmonton 0
Panthers win Game 1 of Stanley Cup finals.
Florida scored one goal in each period.
Panthers won face-offs, 34-23.

— NHL has the right idea; teams have a salary cap, and a salary floor, so teams HAVE TO spend a certain amount of $$$ on salaries. Even the cheapskate teams.
Next year, the salary floor is $65M, the salary cap is $88M.
Maybe baseball should try something like that.

— Surprising fact: San Francisco 49ers are the NFL team that has gone the longest since the last time they had a QB throw for 5 TD’s in a game— 1990. Buffalo/Washington haven’t had a QB throw for 5+ TD’s in a game since 1991.

— Guy on The Price Is Right Friday bid $39,500 on his showcase; the actual retail price was $39,501— he only missed by a freakin’ dollar!!! Amazing……
Would’ve been sad if he went over by a dollar, then he wouldn’t have won.

— If the baseball play-offs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Padres, SF/Cin
AL: New York, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Orioles, Royals, Twins

— Hey, I got two e-mails from George Clooney Saturday; I’m a big fan of his movies, but I was wondering how he got my e-mail address. Then I found out.
Turns out Mr Clooney wants me to donate $$$ to political candidates.
Oy.

In the future, no matter who you are, please don’t ask me for $$$, for anything…….

— $19 a month for deserted animals

— $25 or more for a politician (both parties)

— $45 for people in Israel (seriously, they asked)

Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Sunday, June 9

NBA

Sunday, June 9

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dallas vs Boston
Dallas is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Dallas is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Dallas
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[CNOTES]

SUNDAY, JUNE 9​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
DAL at BOS	08:00 PM	BOS -6.5 U 215.0	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack:
Early season college football spreads:
— North Carolina vs Minnesota (-1.5, 50.5)
— Coastal Carolina vs Jacksonville State (-4, 60.5)
— TCU vs Stanford (-9.5, 60.5)
— Clemson vs Georgia (-13.5, 48.5)
— Virginia Tech vs Vanderbilt (-13.5, 55.5)
— Penn State (-10.5, 49.5) vs West Virginia

Quote of the Day
“Winning (poker) players aren’t afraid to pull the trigger; they aren’t afraid to make the right play, even if it is risky. They also realize that there is a fine line between being bold and being reckless.”
Poker pro Barry Greenstein

Monday’s quiz
When NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner played Arena Football, what team did he play for?

Sunday’s quiz
Larry Bird coached the Indiana Pacers for three years, going 179-87 (32-20 in playoff games).

Saturday’s quiz
Giancarlo Stanton (417) has the most career home runs of any active major leaguer.

********************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..

— Mets 6, Phillies 5
Mets scored three runs in 9th inning to split the 2-game series in London.
Phillies have outscored opponents 49-20 in first inning this year.
Attendance was 55,074- MLB made a lot of $$$ this weekend.

— Former Phillies’ 2B Chase Utley was on the TV broadcast for a while; he lives in England now, working as an ambassador for MLB, trying to promote the sport there, and in Europe.

— Random trivial trivia: The son of ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian was Otto the Orange, the Syracuse mascot, during his time as a college student in central New York.

— Celtics 105, Mavericks 98
Jrue Holiday was 11-14 from floor, scored 26 points, grabbed 11 rebounds.
Boston was +12 in the 23:00 that Kristaps Porzingis was on the floor.
Celtics lead series, 2-0

— You can bet on most anything these days- Luka Doncic’s props for Game 2:
points: 31.5- over
rebounds: 9.5- over
assists: 7.5- over

I’d be sketchy with betting on assist props; they are subjective. When I did analytics for teams, I gave out more assists than most people.

— ABC/ESPN sold out all its commercials for Games 1-5 of the Stanley Cup finals; of the 80 companies who bought commercial time, 51 are advertising on the Stanley Cup finals for the first time.

— This week was the last French Open on NBC; next year, TNT takes over- they paid $650M for a 10-year deal to broadcast the clay court tennis tournament.

— Famous birthdays for June 10th:
Jon McGlocklin, 81
Randee Heller, 77
Ken Singleton, 77

Larry Brooks, 74
Elias Sosa, 74
Dan Fouts, 73

Gina Gershon, 62
Brent Sutter, 62
Kate Upton, 32

— Saturday was Dick Vitale’s 85th birthday; the former college basketball coach has raised over $100M to battle cancer. Vitale was 78-30 in four years coaching at Detroit Mercy in the 70’s, then coached the NBA’s Pistons for a couple years. He is an amazing person; what energy!!!!

Happy birthday, coach.

— Four NFL teams start 2024 with road games in Weeks 1-2:
Raiders, Rams, Jets, Steelers.

Since 1980, teams that played on the road in Weeks 1-2 were 56-80 ATS in their Week 3 home opener.

— Eagles play four of their last five games at home; last time they did that was 1951.

— Bears/Steelers don’t play a divisional game until Week 11, latest ever.

— The last 2.5 years, since the start of the 2022 season, Atlanta Braves have only three sacrifice bunts, none this season.

Cincinnati OF Michael Siani has seven sac bunts, just this season.

— Angels 9, Astros 7
Logan O’Hoppe had four hits, including a walk-off homer.
Jose Altuve was 4-5, with 3 RBI

— Mariners 6, Royals 5 (10)
Game was 1-1 after six innings; bad beat for under bettors.
Seattle avoids getting swept for first time this season.

— Nationals 8, Braves 5
Keibert Ruiz homered, knocked in four runs.
Braves are 9-15 in their last 24 games; they miss Ronald Acuna.

— Twins 11, Pirates 5 (10)
Minnesota scored seven runs in top of the 10th.
Twins didn’t score Friday/Saturday; they snapped a 5-game skid.

— Red Sox 6, White Sox 4 (10)
Red Sox tied game in 9th on a Reese McGuire sac fly.
Paul DeJong hit a 3-run homer and also doubled for Chicago.

 

[CNOTES]

Tuesday’s 5-pack:
NBA teams that won a title after trailing the finals 2-0:
1969— Celtics
1977— Trailblazers
2006— Heat
2016— Cavaliers
2021— Bucks

Quote of the Day
“Chuck Daly and Rudy Tomjanovich have many of the same amazing accomplishments and traits — both won back to back NBA titles, both coached the United States to Olympic gold and both are absolutely beloved in the coaching community because of their great way with people.”
Rick Carlisle

Tuesday’s quiz
Before he went to UConn, what two D-I basketball teams did Danny Hurley coach?

Monday’s quiz
When NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner played Arena Football, he played for the Iowa Barnstormers.

Sunday’s quiz
Larry Bird coached the Indiana Pacers for three years, going 179-87 (32-20 in playoff games).

******************************************

Tuesday’s Den: How college hoop coaches have fared in the NBA…….​

Much ado about nothing.
Danny Hurley turned down the Lakers Monday; apparently they offered him a $70M, six-year contract, but he is staying at UConn. His accountant might not be happy, but staying at a place where he is the king is probably a good thing.
Here is how college coaches have fared in the NBA:

— Rick Pitino was the first coach to lead three different schools — Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville — to the Final Four- he is 854-306 as a college coach.
He was 94-74 coaching the Knicks, but his tenure with the Celtics (98-144) wasn’t good.

— Larry Brown was 262-100 as a college coach, winning the 1988 national title with Kansas.
He was 1,098-904 as an NBA coach, winning the 2004 title with the Pistons. He is the only coach to win a title in college and in the NBA.

— Brad Stevens was 166-49 as a college coach; he got Butler to a Final Four, when they were in the freakin’ Horizon League.
He was 354-282 in the NBA, then stopped coaching and started running the Celtics’ franchise; they’re two wins away from the NBA title.

— Billy Donovan was 502-206 as a college coach, winning consecutive national titles at Florida.
He is 399-319 as an NBA head coach, with Thunder/Bulls.

— Quin Snyder went 128-96 in seven years at Missouri.
He is 418-321 as an NBA coach, mostly with the Utah Jazz.

— John Calipari is 855-262 as a college coach.
He was 72-112 in 2+ years coaching the Nets.

— Fred Hoiberg is 178-150 as a college coach.
In between his Iowa State/Nebraska gigs, he was 115-155 with Chicago.

— Mike Montgomery was 676-318 in college, getting Stanford to a Final Four.
He was 68-96 in two years coaching the Warriors.

— John Beilein was 571-325 as a college coach.
He went 14-40 in one unfortunate season with Cleveland.

— Tim Floyd was 465-280 as a college coach.
He replaced Phil Jackson with the Bulls; it didn’t go well (93-235)

— Jerry Tarkanian was one of the best college hoop coaches ever, but he lasted only 20 games with the San Antonio Spurs, going 9-11 before he walked away from it.
Winning is more fun than losing; besides, the NBA is a player-run thing; college basketball was always a coach-driven thing,

— Famous birthdays for June 11th:
Adrienne Barbeau, 79
Gary Fencik, 70
Joe Montana, 68
Hugh Laurie, 65
Jose Reyes, 41
Brock Holt, 36

— If you’re scoring at home, so far this season, American League leads National League 138-128 in interleague games.

— Orioles 5, Rays 2
Baltimore is 15-0-6 in their last 21 series against divisional rivals.
Gunnar Henderson was 3-5 with three runs scored.

— Mariners 8, White Sox 4
Cal Raleigh hit a walk-off grand slam.
White Sox are 17-50, a terrible team, but if you bet them in the first five innings every game, the White Sox are 28-30-9, which is respectable- they’ve been awful in the late innings.

— Baseball injuries:
Seattle 1B Ty France has a hairline fracture in his right heel.
Royals OF Hunter Renfroe had a 12-pitch at bat Monday, fouling two balls off his left foot. Turns over he broke the big toe on his left foot, is headed to the IL.

— Pittsburgh Steelers signed coach Mike Tomlin to a 3-year contract extension that will keep him in the Steel City thru 2027.
Tomlin is 181-110 as Steelers’ coach, winning a Super Bowl in his 2nd year; he’s never had a losing season in 17 years, but the last seven years, Pittsburgh is 0-4 in playoff games.

— Former Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa, younger brother of Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa, signed with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats practice squad.
Hamilton lost their opener 32-24 to Calgary last week; Tagovailoa wasn’t drafted by the NFL, despite being tied for Maryland’s single-season touchdown mark with current Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich.

— Back in 1991, Washington Redskins started the season 5-0, shutting out three of their first five opponents- they went on to win the Super Bowl. Since then, Washington doesn’t have a shutout; they’re the only NFL team without a shutout in the last 30 years.

 

[CNOTES]

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Major League leaders in total bases:
173— Aaron Judge, NYY
153— Bobby Witt Jr, KC
151— Shohei Ohtani LA/Gunnar Henderson, Balt
145— Juan Soto, NYY
143— Marcell Ozuna, Atl
139— Jose Ramirez, Clev

Quote of the Day
“Whenever the injuries start to stack up, your football mortality kind of comes into the back of your mind. So, that’s definitely something I’ve thought about and something I have had to fight through.”
Bengals’ QB Joe Burrow

Wednesday’s quiz
On the old TV show The West Wing, what state was President Bartlet from?

Tuesday’s quiz
Before he went to UConn, Danny Hurley coached Wagner and Rhode Island.

Monday’s quiz
When NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner played Arena Football, he played for the Iowa Barnstormers.

**********************************************

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings………​

— Professional eater Joey Chestnut is out of this year’s Nathan’s hot dog eating contest, an event he has won every year since 2016, because he signed a deal to represent a different weiner brand that is in direct competition to Nathan’s.
Apparently there is very little chance of the two sides settling their beef.
The hot dog eating contest is every July 4th on Coney Island (Brooklyn); I relish watching it, but if I miss it, I can always ketchup by watching a replay.

— I’m thinking that baseball is heading to an era where teams will use 6-man starting pitching rotations, with the very best pitchers staying on their normal schedules but other starters getting pushed back some.
Teams are pushing back starters now if they throw 100+ pitches in a game, giving them more time to regroup. Teams in Asian baseball routinely use 6-man rotations.

— Pirates 2, Cardinals 1
Game was scoreless after eight innings.
Pirates are 5-1 when rookie P Skenes is the starter.

— Rays 5, Cubs 2
Brandon Lowe hit a 3-run homer to walk it off.
Cubs are 5-13 in their last 18 games.

— Rockies 5, Twins 4
Cal Quantrill tossed six scoreless IP.
Ezequiel Tovar broke up a scoreless tie with a 3-run homer.

— Padres 4, A’s 3
Kyle Higashioka hit a walk-off homer to make my night a little less pleasant.
Padres lost LF Jurickson Profar to a knee injury.

— Phillies 4, Red Sox 1
Kyle Schwarber hit two homers in his return to Fenway Park.
Phillies lead the NL East by a whopping 10 games.

— Famous birthdays for June 12th:
Timothy Busfield, 67
Rick Hoffman, 54
Ryan Klesko, 53
Antawn Jamison, 48
Dallas Clark, 45
Andre Davis, 45
Earl Watson, 45
Jrue Holliday, 34
Aaron Civale, 29

— 11 of the 15 MLB matchups during the week this week are interleague matchups. Lot of games where the teams rarely play each other.

— College World Series has four ACC teams, four SEC teams; this is the only time since 1950 that only two leagues have been represented in the 8-team event.

— Phillies C JT Realmuto is having knee surgery, is expected to miss a month or so.

— Detroit P Reese Olson has started five games at home this season; Tigers have been shut out in four of the five games, scored two runs in the other one.

— Baseball’s trade deadline this year is July 30, which is a Tuesday.

— UFL championship game is Sunday in St Louis; Birmingham Stallions against the San Antonio Brahmas.
Stallions lost 18-9 in the Alamo Dome three weeks ago; San Antonio’s first TD came on a pick-6 in the first quarter.

— Good news on the network TV front: CBS is bringing back Hollywood Squares back to a Wednesday 10pm time slot. It will be hosted by former NFL WR Nate Burleson.
I’d rather gameshows would be on during the day, like they used to be, but Hollywood Squares will also air on Paramount +, so we can watch it whenever we like.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, June 12

NBA

Wednesday, June 12

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boston vs Dallas
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games when playing Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games when playing at home against Boston


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[CNOTES]

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
BOS at DAL	08:30 PM	BOS +2.5 O 214.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
NFL over/under win totals:
11.5— Chiefs, 49ers, Ravens
10.5— Bills, Bengals, Eagles, Cowboys, Lions
9.5— Falcons, Packers, Texans, Dolphins, Jets
8.5— Rams, Jets, Browns, Colts, Jaguars, Chargers
7.5— Saints, Steelers, Seahawks, Buccaneers
6.5— Cardinals, Raiders, Vikings, Giants, Titans, Commanders

Quote of the Day
“The reason Jerry West is the logo for the NBA is because he embodied the qualities we admire in our best athletes: skills as a player, dedication as a teammate, and integrity as a person. He was my coach, and my advisor, but mostly he was my friend.”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Thursday’s quiz
Where did Jerry West play his college basketball?

Wednesday’s quiz
On the old TV show The West Wing, President Bartlet was from New Hampshire.

Tuesday’s quiz
Before he went to UConn, Danny Hurley coached Wagner and Rhode Island.

**************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..​

— RIP to basketball icon Jerry West, who passed away at age 86.
He was a 14-time All-Star, scoring 25,192 regular season points.
He won nine NBA championship rings, as a player/executive.
He was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1959 Final Four.
He was on the first team All-Defensive team four times.
He led the NBA scoring in 1970.
Two years later, he led the NBA in assists.
He was on the Olympic team that won the 1960 gold medal.
He was voted one of the top 75 players in NBA history.
His silhouette is the NBA’s logo.
RIP, sir.

— Celtics 106, Mavericks 99
Celtics outscored Dallas 35-19 in third quarter.
Boston has won 10 games in a row, and 14 of last 15.
In the history of NBA, teams that trail 3-0 in a playoff series are 0-156 in those series.

— Celtics were an underdog in Game 3, just the 4th time in 99 games this season (2-2) they’ve been an underdog.

— Was looking thru some stuff yesterday, was surprised to see that the LA Clippers have had 13 consecutive winning seasons, though 2021 was only year during that stretch where they made the Western Conference finals.
In those 13 winning seasons, Clippers were 46-60 in playoff games.

— I’m told that Hulu has a series about the Clippers in the Donald Sterling era; my friend said that it is very entertaining.
It is called Clipped, with Ed O’Neill as Sterling, Laurence Fishburne as Doc Rivers; when I get a chance to see it, I’ll weigh in with my opinion.

— Famous birthdays for June 13th:
Marcel Lachemann, 83
Malcolm McDowell, 79
Happy Feller, 75 (seriously, he kicked for Eagles/Saints)
Richard Thomas, 73
Ally Sheedy, 62
Šarūnas Marčiulionis, 60
Steve Novak, 41
Jonathan Lucroy, 38
James McCann, 34

— Rangers 3, Dodgers 1
Corey Seager hit a 3-run homer against his old team.
Rangers threw tying run out at the plate to end the game, after a double to right-center.

— Dodgers acquired utility guy Cavan Biggio from Toronto; the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, Cavan Biggio hit .227 in 5+ seasons with the Blue Jays.
He went 1-3 in his Dodger debut, playing third base.

— Reds 4, Guardians 2
Jeimer Candelario homered twice for Cincinnati.
There was a sellout crowd of 42,427 on Elly De La Cruz bobblehead night.

— Orioles 4, Braves 2
Baltimore has won six games in a row.
Braves have lost five in a row, for first time since 2017.

— Brewers 5, Blue Jays 4
Milwaukee scored all of its runs in the sixth inning.
Total was 8.5; Toronto scored three runs in top of the 9th.

— Mariners 2, White Sox 1 (10)
Luis Robert tied game with a 9th inning homer.
White Sox are 4-22 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Angels 8, Diamondbacks 3
Jose Soriano pitched eight strong innings for the win.
Jo Adell hit a 3-run homer for the Halos.

— Cubs 4, Rays 3
Cody Bellinger hit a 3-run homer in 7th inning.
Cubs won for only 6th time in their last 19 games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Padres, Giants.
AL: New York, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Orioles, Royals, Twins.

 

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
— Florida 4, Edmonton 3- Panthers lead Stanley Cup finals, 3-0.
— Mets 3, Marlins 2- JD Martinez had a walk-off home run.
— Rays 3, Cubs 2- Cubs are 13-15 in one-run games, most in majors.
— Royals 4, New York 3- Maikel Garcia had a walk-off 2-run double.
— Red Sox 9, Phillies 3- Aaron Nola gave up 8 runs in 3.2 IP.
— Jaguars signed QB Trevor Lawrence to a 5-year, $275M contract.

Quote of the Day
“I’m 95 (bleep)ing years old with one foot in the grave and I can barely move. I know I’m in overtime. So everything in your life becomes more meaningful. And one of the last things I want to be able to see is for the Celtics to hang up banner #18.”
Bob Cousy

Friday’s quiz
Teams from which NFL division have won the most Super Bowls?

Thursday’s quiz
Jerry West played his college basketball at West Virginia

Wednesday’s quiz
On the old TV show The West Wing, President Bartlet was from New Hampshire.

**********************************

Friday’s Den: Trends for all 30 major league teams……​

Trends for all 30 MLB teams…….

— Arizona was 28-21 LY vs lefty starting pitchers; they’re 11-14 this year, but they won their last five games vs lefties.
Diamondbacks are 2-9 in road series openers.

— Braves are 10-17 in their last 27 games.
Reynaldo Lopez is 2-1, 1.83 in his last seven starts.

— Cubs are 8-15 vs NL Central rivals, 25-21 vs everyone else.
Cubs’ last six games stayed under the total.

— Cincinnati won eight of its last ten games.
Reds are 24-22 vs righty starters, 9-13 vs lefties.

— Rockies are 3-9 in their last 12 games.
Colorado is 5-4 in home series openers.

— Over is 5-2 in Dodgers’ last seven road games.
In his last eight starts, Gavin Stone is 6-1, 2.17.

— Marlins are 3-20 against lefty starting pitchers, 20-25 vs righties.
Over is 16-7 in their last 23 home games.
Under is 9-2 in their last eleven road tilts.

— Brewers lost five of last seven road games, scoring 20 runs.
Milwaukee is 15-4 in its last 19 home games.

— Mets are 6-2 in their last eight games.
Mets are 14-9 in one-run games; last year, they were 25-28.

— Phillies won 23 of their last 26 home games.
Phillies are 18-3 in their last 21 series openers.

— Rookie P Skenes is 3-0, 2.43 in six starts, with 46 strikeouts in 33.1 IP.
Over is 13-4 in Pirates’ last 17 home games.

— St Louis is 9-3 in its last 12 home games.
Under is 13-4 in their last 17 games.

— Padres won five of their last six games.
San Diego is 11-13 vs lefty starters; last year, they were 28-13.

— Giants are 4-9 in their last 13 games.
San Francisco is 19-11 in day games, 15-24 in night games.

— Nationals won five of their last six games.
Washington won World Series in 2019; since then, they’re 249-364 (40.6%)

— Famous birthdays for June 14th:
Vince Evans, 69
Sam Perkins, 63
Eric Murdock, 56
Steffi Graf, 55
Bruce Bowen, 53
David Gamble, 43
Sammy Watkins, 31
Bobby Witt Jr, 24

— Orioles are 16-6 in series openers.
Baltimore is 14-5 vs lefty starters.

— Red Sox are 7-12 vs lefty starters; last two years, they were 47-31.
Boston is 1-10 in home series openers.

— White Sox are 3-18 in their last 21 games.
Chicago is 5-22 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Guardians are 19-5 in their last 24 home games.
Cleveland is 14-6 vs lefty starting pitchers; LY, they were 24-35.

— Tigers are 2-5 in their last seven games.
Over is 10-3 in their last 13 road games.

— Under is 14-4 in Astros’ last 18 games.
Last 2 years, Houston was 70-33 vs lefty starters; this year, they’re 7-14

— Royals are 5-11 in their last 16 games.
Kansas City is 25-14 at home, 15-16 on road.

— Angels are 1-5 in their last six road games.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine home games.

— Minnesota won four of its last five games.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 home games.

— New York won 13 of its last 15 games.
NY scored in first inning in 15 of its last 28 games.

— A’s lost 12 of their last 15 games.
Under is 9-2 in their last 11 games.

— Mariners are 10-1 in home series openers, 4-7 in road series openers.
Seattle is 20-6 in its last 26 home games, overall.

— Rays are 12-6 vs lefty starters, 21-30 vs righty starters.
Tampa Bay is 4-9 in home series openers.

— Texas is 2-10 in its last 12 series openers.
Under is 20-6 in Rangers’ last 26 home games.

— Toronto is 7-11 in one-run games, but 3-1 in extra inning tilts.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven road games.