CNOTES 2024-2025 NBA TRENDS, NEWS, BEST BETS AND OPINIONS THRU THE PLAYOFFS !

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR JANUARY !

01/06/2025..........................8 - 6 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 7.00
01/05/2025..........................4 - 3 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 3.50
01/04/2025..........................4 - 7 - 0.........................36.36%....................- 18.50
01/03/2025..........................8 - 5 - 0.........................61.53%....................+ 12.50
01/02/2025..........................7 - 2 - 1.........................77.77%....................+ 24.00
01/01/2025..........................6 - 4 - 0.........................60.00%....................+ 8.00

TOTALS............................37 - 27 - 1.........................57.81%....................+ 36.50

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

DECEMBER TOTALS:...............149 - 132 - 3......................53.02%..................+ 23.50

 

[CNOTES]

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Spreads for this week’s NFL playoff games:
— Chargers (-3) @ Houston
— Steelers @ Baltimore (-10)
— Broncos @ Buffalo (-8.5)
— Packers @ Philadelphia (-4)
— Commanders @ Tampa Bay (-3)
— Vikings (-1.5) @ LA Rams

Quote of the Day
“Now that our season is over, we felt it necessary to make this statement. Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll will continue in their respective roles with the organization. As disappointing as the results of the season have been, [co-owner] Steve [Tisch] and I remain confident in the process that Joe and Brian have implemented and their vision for our team. We look forward to the future and achieving the results we all desire.”
New Jersey Giants’ owner John Mara

Tuesday’s quiz
Also in Blue Chips, which current Division I basketball coach was Indiana’s point guard in the movie?
Hint: In real life, he didn’t play for Indiana

Monday’s quiz
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, whose team is in the top 25 right now, was an actor in the 1994 movie, Blue Chips.

Sunday’s quiz
Joe Kapp was quarterback for the Vikings,, the first time they played in a Super Bowl.

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

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

— Of the 14 teams that made the NFL playoffs, 12 of them start a quarterback who was drafted in the first round; Russell Wilson (3rd round), Jalen Hurts (2nd round) are the exceptions.

— The day after the NFL’s regular season ends is a bad day for coaches who had losing seasons; lot of them get fired.
Jacksonville fired head coach Doug Pederson after he went 22-29 in three years; they kept GM Trent Baalke. Pederson won a Super Bowl coaching the Eagles, but the Jaguars are starting over yet again.

— Seahawks fired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb after their 10-7 season.
Browns fired OC Ken Dorsey, offensive line coach Andy Dickerson after their 3-14 season. For some reason, head coach Kevin Stefanski keeps his job.
Indianapolis fired DC Gus Bradley, after three years with the Colts. Colts went 8-9 this year, losing 45-33 to the Giants in Week 17. Bradley has been a HC/DC in the NFL since 2009.

— Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo after one year, meaning that next year, New England will have its third head coach in three years.
Patriots were 4-13 this year, but rookie QB Drake Maye shows promise. This move was a little surprising and I’m guessing some people at NFL headquarters aren’t going to be very happy about it.

— Aaron Rodgers has now thrown 502 TD passes in his career, to 54 different receivers.

— Green Bay WR Christian Watson tore his ACL Sunday, is done for the year.

— Worst NFL teams against the spread this season:
Titans 2-15 ATS
Browns 4-13
Giants 5-12
49ers 5-12
Falcons 6-10-1
Seahawks 6-10-1
Jets 6-11

— Famous birthdays, January 7th:
Erin Gray, 75
David Caruso, 69
Ron Rivera, 63
Nicolas Cage, 61
Todd Day, 55
Frank Menechino, 53
Jon Lester, 41
Jhoulys Chacín, 37
Dean Kremer, 29
Lamar Jackson, 28

— First five picks in April’s NFL Draft:
1- Titans
2- Browns
3- Giants
4- Patriots
5- Jaguars

— Former NFL exec Andrew Brandt’s take on Kirk Cousins’s future:
He will be released in March by Atlanta, with a post-June 1 designation.
Whoever he plays for next year will pay him $27.5M.
He will make less than $10M guaranteed in 2026 (he made $62M this year).

— Firing a football coach during season doesn’t seem to help; it just creates chaos.

— Patriots rookie Joe Milton started his NFL debut 11-11 passing, coming close to the modern record. Gardner Minshew started out 13-13 in his first NFL game.
Milton went to Tennessee; he was surprisingly sharp; could he be trade bait?

— Milton’s debut reminded me about something I read a long, long time ago; can’t remember who they were talking about, but a young player did really well in his debut and the writer described it as…….
“a triumph of the uncluttered mind……”

— In baseball………
Kansas City Royals re-signed P Michael Lorenzen for one year, $7M; he was 7-6, 3.31 in 24 starts last year, for Rangers/Royals.

— Dodgers traded IF Gavin Lux to Cincinnati, for minor league outfielder Mike Sirota and a competitive balance draft pick.
Lux hit .251 last year with a .703 OPS; he figures to play third base for the Reds.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Tuesday, January 7

 

[Udog]

NBA

Tuesday, January 7

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

Phoenix vs Charlotte
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 5 games
Phoenix is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Charlotte
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Charlotte's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Charlotte's last 5 games when playing at home against Phoenix

Houston vs Washington
Houston is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing Washington
Houston is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing Washington
Washington is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games when playing Houston

LA Lakers vs Dallas
LA Lakers is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of LA Lakers's last 6 games when playing Dallas
Dallas is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing at home against LA Lakers
Dallas is 10-2 ATS in its last 12 games when playing LA Lakers

Minnesota vs New Orleans
The total has gone OVER in 15 of Minnesota's last 18 games when playing on the road against New Orleans
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Minnesota's last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of New Orleans's last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of New Orleans's last 7 games

Atlanta vs Utah
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Atlanta's last 9 games when playing Utah
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Atlanta's last 9 games when playing on the road against Utah
Utah is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Atlanta
Utah is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Atlanta

Boston vs Denver
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Boston's last 7 games on the road
Boston is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games on the road
Denver is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Denver is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games

Miami vs Golden State
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Miami's last 6 games
Miami is 14-5-1 ATS in its last 20 games when playing on the road against Golden State
Golden State is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games when playing at home against Miami
The total has gone UNDER in 16 of Golden State's last 23 games


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

 

[Udog]

 

[CNOTES]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
HOU at WAS	07:00 PM	WAS +13.0 U 224.0	+500 +500
PHO at CHA	07:00 PM	PHO -4.5 U 226.0	+500 +500
LAL at DAL	07:30 PM	LAL -7.0 U 218.5	+500 +500
MIN at NO	08:00 PM	MIN -4.5 O 222.0	+500 +500
ATL at UTA	09:00 PM	UTA +6.5 U 238.0	+500 +500
BOS at DEN	10:00 PM	DEN +5.5 U 236.5	+500 +500
MIA at GS	10:00 PM	MIA +9.5 O 216.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR JANUARY !

01/07/2025..........................3 - 7 - 0.........................30.00%....................- 23.50
01/06/2025..........................8 - 6 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 7.00
01/05/2025..........................4 - 3 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 3.50
01/04/2025..........................4 - 7 - 0.........................36.36%....................- 18.50
01/03/2025..........................8 - 5 - 0.........................61.53%....................+ 12.50
01/02/2025..........................7 - 2 - 1.........................77.77%....................+ 24.00
01/01/2025..........................6 - 4 - 0.........................60.00%....................+ 8.00

TOTALS............................40 - 34 - 1.........................54.04%....................+ 13.00

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

DECEMBER TOTALS:...............149 - 132 - 3......................53.02%..................+ 23.50

 

[CNOTES]

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Highest-paid NBA coaches
$17.5M— Steve Kerr, Warriors
$17M— Gregg Popovich, Spurs
$15M— Erik Spoelstra, Heat
$15M— Tyronn Lue, Clippers
$12M— Michael Malone, Nuggets
$11M— Doc Rivers, Bucks/Tom Thibodeau, Knicks

Quote of the Day
“The first guy who comes to my mind is Aaron Glenn. Arguably, one of the greatest defensive backs to ever play the game. I played against him, I was a teammate of his too. He’s a leader of men. He garners a ton of respect. He knows the game. He is highly competitive.”
Drew Brees, talking about filling the Saints’ open coaching job

Wednesday’s quiz
Which two NBA teams has Rick Pitino coached?

Tuesday’s quiz
Also in Blue Chips, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley was Indiana’s point guard in the movie.

Monday’s quiz
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, whose team is in the top 25 right now, was an actor in the 1994 movie, Blue Chips.

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

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….​

— Sacramento A’s signed 1B/DH Brent Rooker to a 5-year extension worth $60M; Rooker hit 39 homers LY, knocked in 112 runs, had a .927 OPS.
A’s didn’t suddenly decide to become aggressive with $$$; they’re getting around $70M in revenue sharing money— they have to spend it to appease the players’ union, but at least the product on the field in 2025 is going to be better than it has been in several years.

— Las Vegas Raiders fired coach Antonio Pierce Tuesday; he was 9-17 as coach of the Raiders, 4-13 this year, after being an interim coach last year.
This will fuel speculation that Raiders owner Mark Davis is going to hire Deion Sanders to coach the team, with Shadeur Sanders being the next quarterback. Good luck with that.
Whoever coaches the Raiders next year will be their 14th coach since 2002; by way of contrast, the Steelers have had three coaches since 1969.
Moral of the Story: Rich people who inherited their fortune aren’t necessarily very smart.

— Tennessee Titans fired GM Ran Carthon Tuesday; Titans went 9-25 in his two years on the job, going 3-14 this year- they drafted QB Will Levis in 2023- he’s been a bust, which is why Tennessee has the first pick in the 2025 draft.
Two years ago, the Titans fired their GM while the team was in first place; they’re getting a new stadium in Nashville, but what they need more is a new owner.

— Northern Illinois will join the Mountain West Conference as a football-only member in 2026, giving the Mountain West eight football teams. Grand Canyon/Cal-Davis are joining the league for sports other than football.

— This time last year, the NBA’s Detroit Pistons were 3-33; this year, they’re 18-18, the first time in six years they’ve been a .500 team after January 1st.

— New York Mets will retire David Wright’s #5 jersey on July 19th; Wright played his entire 14-year career with the Mets, hitting .296 with 242 home runs and an .867 OPS. He made seven All-Star teams.

— Los Angeles Rams have had 12 rookies start a game this year, most of any NFL team.

— I was watching the 1978 movie Heaven Can Wait the other night; Warren Beatty plays a QB who wins the Super Bowl for the Rams. The movie is part fantasy; Beatty’s character gets killed in an accident, but when he goes to heaven, the guy who runs heaven (James Mason) finds out that Beatty wasn’t supposed to die that day, so they let him take over another dead person’s body.
In the movie, they said the day Joe Pendleton was supposed to die is “March 20, 2025”
In real life, Warren Beatty is 87 years old; he’ll be 88 on March 30, 2025.
Love that movie; I have the poster from the theater in my house.

— Famous birthdays, January 8th:
Bruce Sutter, 72
Calvin Natt, 68
Mark Herrmann, 66
Willie Anderson, 58
Jason Giambi, 54
Billy Joe Hobert, 54
Jeff Francoeur, 41
Ken Waldichuk, 27
Wednesday would’ve been Elvis Presley’s 90th birthday.

— Florida 73, Tennessee 43
Tennessee was the last unbeaten team in the country.
This was the worst loss by a #1 team in country since 1968.
Vols shot 23.1% from the floor for the game.

— Iowa 97, Nebraska 87 OT
Bad beat if you had the Huskers +3.5; they led by 15 with 14:10 left in game.
Iowa shot 17-35 on the arc; Nebraska was only 12-22 on foul line.

— St John’s 82, Xavier 72
St John’s can’t shoot; last 4 Big East games, they’re 8-64 on the arc.
St John’s can defend; Xavier shot 36.7% from the floor.
St John’s can rebound; they beat Xavier 50-30 on the boards.

— Georgia 82, Kentucky 69
Dawgs were 29-38 on the foul line.
Georgia has #14 eFG% defense in country.
Kentucky lost three of last four games away from home.

— Marquette 74, Georgetown 66
Georgetown led 35-21 late in first half, 38-29 at halftime.
Chase Ross had 27 points, six steals for Marquette.
Marquette is 5-0 in Big East for 2nd time in their 20 years in the league.

— Texas Tech 72, BYU 67
BYU led by 5 with 8:20 left in the game.
Tech was 10-28 on the arc, Cougars 5-23 (12-21 on foul line)
Red Raiders are quietly 12-3, albeit only 2-3 vs top 100 teams.

 

[Udog]

NBA

Wednesday, January 8

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
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Oklahoma City vs Cleveland
Oklahoma City is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Oklahoma City is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games

Chicago vs Indiana
Chicago is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Chicago is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
Indiana is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Indiana is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games

Washington vs Philadelphia
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 8 games when playing Philadelphia
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Washington's last 17 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
Philadelphia is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Washington
Philadelphia is 15-2 SU in its last 17 games when playing at home against Washington

Detroit vs Brooklyn
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Detroit's last 10 games when playing Brooklyn
Detroit is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Brooklyn's last 10 games when playing Detroit
Brooklyn is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games when playing at home against Detroit

Toronto vs New York
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Toronto's last 5 games when playing on the road against New York
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Toronto's last 10 games when playing New York
New York is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Toronto
New York is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Toronto

Portland vs New Orleans
Portland is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing New Orleans
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Portland's last 7 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of New Orleans's last 6 games at home
New Orleans is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing Portland

LA Clippers vs Denver
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of LA Clippers's last 10 games on the road
LA Clippers is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Denver
Denver is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against LA Clippers
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Denver's last 5 games when playing LA Clippers

San Antonio vs Milwaukee
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Antonio's last 6 games
San Antonio is 10-2 ATS in its last 12 games when playing Milwaukee
Milwaukee is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against San Antonio
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Milwaukee's last 5 games at home


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

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, January 8

 

[CNOTES]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
CHI at IND	07:00 PM	CHI +6.0 O 242.5	+500 +500
WAS at PHI	07:00 PM	PHI -11.0 U 221.0	+500 +500
OKC at CLE	07:00 PM	CLE -2.5 U 230.5	+500 +500
TOR at NY	07:30 PM	NY -12.0 U 230.0	+500 +500
DET at BK	07:30 PM	DET -9.0 O 212.5	+500 +500
POR at NO	08:00 PM	NO -1.5 U 225.0	+500 +500
LAC at DEN	09:00 PM	LAC -2.0 U 225.5	+500 +500
SA at MIL	09:30 PM	SA +4.5 O 226.5	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR JANUARY !

01/08/2025..........................3 - 8 - 0.........................27.27%....................- 29.00
01/07/2025..........................3 - 7 - 0.........................30.00%....................- 23.50
01/06/2025..........................8 - 6 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 7.00
01/05/2025..........................4 - 3 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 3.50
01/04/2025..........................4 - 7 - 0.........................36.36%....................- 18.50
01/03/2025..........................8 - 5 - 0.........................61.53%....................+ 12.50
01/02/2025..........................7 - 2 - 1.........................77.77%....................+ 24.00
01/01/2025..........................6 - 4 - 0.........................60.00%....................+ 8.00

TOTALS............................43 - 42 - 1.........................50.58%.....................- 16.00

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

DECEMBER TOTALS:...............149 - 132 - 3......................53.02%..................+ 23.50

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
— Texas A&M 80, Oklahoma 78- Sooners lose despite shooting 14-24 on arc.
— Villanova 68, UConn 66- Down 67-66, UConn missed 2 FT’s with 0:03.1 left.
— NC State 66, Notre Dame 65- Wolfpack trailed 63-56 with 3:29 left.
— Furman 67, Citadel 63 OT- Paladins narrowly avoid a big upset.
— Seton Hall 85, DePaul 80 OT- DePaul led by 19 early in second half.
— Providence 84, Butler 65- Bulldogs have lost eight games in a row.

Quote of the Day
“The hungry dog gets the bone. We got guys that think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids. They’re completely delusional about who they are. And the team that’s mind is on the the right stuff and hungry to get a win in conference play is the team that’s probably going to win.”
UCLA coach Mick Cronin, after Tuesday’s loss to Michigan

Thursday’s quiz
In the movie Forget Paris, what was Billy Crystal’s job?

Wednesday’s quiz
Rick Pitino has coached the Celtics and Knicks in the NBA.

Tuesday’s quiz
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley was Indiana’s point guard in the movie Blue Chips.

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

Thursday’s Den: We’re talking game shows today…….​

I love game shows; grew up watching them when I was a kid and think more of them should be on TV now, instead of the mindless talk shows with obnoxious people yelling at each other.

Thursday night, CBS is bringing back Hollywood Squares, a great game show that was always on at 11:30 in the morning when I was a kid, just before Jeopardy!

Here are my favorite game shows of all-time……….

First of all, The Gong Show wasn’t really a game show; it was American Idol long before that show was on TV, but it was great fun to watch.

People came on to sing/play music; very few of them were any good. Three celebrity judges were on the stage; any of them could hit the big gong and send the performer packing. The ones who survived thru their song got scores and at the end of the show, someone won a prize.

Chuck Barris was the host; he invented The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, and as a host, he was…….different, possibly stoned half the time.

Anyway, if The Gong Show classified as a game show, it would be #1 on this list, but it doesn’t.

13) Newlywed Game- Hosted by the sarcastic Bob Eubanks, who was very good. Married couples competed with each other to see how much they really know about each other.

All the wives would go off-stage and Eubanks would ask the husbands questions,, then the wives came back and were supposed to provide the same answer as their spouse. Then the husbands left and the same thing happened; whoever won usually got a stove or some other household appliance, “picked specially for you……”

There was a lot of unintentional comedy on this show.

12) Family Feud- Think this one is still on with Steve Harvey as host, but when Richard Dawson was the host back in the day, it was at its peak.
Two families compete by trying to outguess the other about survey results; someone would give a terrible answer, and they’d get dirty looks from their teammates.

11) Let’s Make a Deal- This show is still on with Wayne Brady as host; when I was a kid, Monte Hall was host. His daughter is the actress Joanna Gleason (Kevin Kline’s wife in Last Vegas)

Audience contestants picked at random, often dressed in ridiculous costumes, try to win cash or prizes by choosing curtain number #1, 2 or 3. When they picked the curtain, before they saw what was behind the curtain, the host would offer them $$$ or prizes to trade for what was a behind the curtain.

“You can take this $200, or take whatever is behind curtain #2, where Carol Merrill is standing”
Sometimes the contestant cleaned up; sometimes, they traded a car for a case of canned squid.

Seriously.

10) The Price Is Right- This show has been on TV for over 50 years; contestants compete for prizes and cash, including cars and vacations, in games that test their knowledge of consumer pricing. Bob Barker was the host for over 40 years; Drew Carey is the host now.

The showcase is at the end; contestants guess the price of their prizes; their guess can’t go over the actual price, or they lose. Your guess could miss by only $1, but if it was over, you lost.

9) Joker’s Wild- Jack Barry and later Bill Cullen hosted this show for 20 years; contestants answered questions on a wide variety of topics, with the prize money determined by a slot machine-style device.

When they hit the button the slot machine started; if the host said…..”Joker, joker….and a triple!!!” that was going to be a really big prize.

8) Jeopardy!- First Art Fleming, then Alex Trebek hosted the smartest of all game shows, with actual difficult questions and smart people competing for $$$. If a person won five days in a row, they went into the Tournament of Champions at the end of the year.

When I was a kid this show wasn’t my favorite; I didn’t know the right questions.

In the movie Airplane 2, the plane is in trouble and one of the passengers says out loud “We’re in real jeopardy now!!!!”
They show Art Fleming at the front of the plane with the Jeopardy! board and he says “Airplane Disasters for $100” and they say the name of the airplane. Very funny scene.

— Famous birthdays, January 10th:
JK Simmons, 69
Stan Javier, 61
Muggsy Bogues, 60
Joely Richardson, 60
David Costabile, 58
Chad Johnson, 47
Marcus Peters, 32
Kerris Dorsey, 27
Alek Manoah, 27

7) $100,000 Pyramid- Dick Clark was the original host; two contestants, each with a celebrity partner, must guess words from their partners’ clues; then the roles are reversed. Winners face the pyramid, where they to cash in the big prize.

This is an excellent game; Michael Strahan is the host now. People giving the clues would get flustered when their partner couldn’t get the right word. They’d try to use voice inflections as a hint.

6) Gambit- Two married couples played blackjack against each other; host Wink Martindale asked a series of toss-up questions, usually multiple-choice or true-false.

The first couple who buzzed-in and correctly answered the question won control of the top card from a deck of playing cards. An incorrect answer awarded control of the card to the other couple.

The first card of the game was revealed before the question was asked. Every other card was presented face-down and was turned up once the couple in control decided who should get it.

If a couple went over 21 and lost, Martindale would say something like: “Too much!!! and the game goes to the Ostranders!!!”

5) Match Game- When I was in high school, Match Game came on every afternoon, just after The Price Is Right. Match Game was a simpler game, a lot more laughter involved.

Six celebrities were on the panel, with Gene Rayburn as host; he would say a sentence with one word left out- the contestant would fill in the blank, and so would the celebrities. Then the other contestant got a different sentence; whoever got the most points won.

Regulars were Richard Dawson, Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly; the other three people usually didn’t give very good answers. I’m not sure I ever saw Joyce Bulifant match an answer.
Very good game.

4) Wheel of Fortune- The longest-running syndicated game show in America, with over 8,000 episodes taped. Wheel of Fortune is based on hangman; in each round, three players compete to be the first to guess the answer to a word puzzle- they spin the wheel to determine how much $$$ they’d get for each letter they could could uncover.

You didn’t want to spin the wheel and have it land on “bankrupt” Not good.

Pat Sajak hosted this show for over 40 years, taking over for Chuck Woolery; Vanna White is still the letter-turned on the show, with Ryan Seacrest the new host.

There was a time when Sajak left to host a talk-show; former Chargers kicker Rolf Benirschke was the host during that time.

3) Password- Two teams, each composed of a celebrity and contestant, attempt to convey mystery words to each other using only single-word clues, in order to win cash prizes.

There is a great episode of The Odd Couple, where Oscar/Felix are a team on Password, playing against Betty White— her husband was Allen Ludden, the host of Password.

Felix winds up screwing it up because…..well, he was Felix, but it was a very funny episode.

2) Concentration- Contestants matched prizes hidden behind squares on a 30-square game board, which would then reveal portions of a puzzle underneath for the contestants to solve.

If a contestant matched which prize was under two squares, they would get the prize and those parts of the puzzle would be exposed. Whoever solved the puzzle won the game.

This was an unusual gameshow; the contestants had to really think and remember stuff.
Hugh Downs was the host, before he moved on to the Today Show.

1) Hollywood Squares- Contestants played tic-tac-toe with a celebrity in each other nine squares; the celebrities would be asked questions, and the contestant had to agree/disagree with the answer given. If they were right, they get ether their letter; if not, the opponent got a letter.

Best part of the show were the snappy responses celebrities would give before they gave their real answers. Paul Lynde in the center square was especially good at this.

Peter Marshall was the host, maybe the best game show host ever; he just died last summer, at age 98.

Am looking forward to the new edition of Hollywood Squares tonight.

Also, in addition to Chuck Barris, the team of Mark Goodson/Bill Todman created a lot of these shows; would be remiss not to mention their names, to thank them for their work.

 

[Udog]

NBA

Thursday, January 9

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
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Toronto vs Cleveland
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Toronto's last 5 games when playing on the road against Cleveland
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Toronto's last 14 games on the road
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games

Golden State vs Detroit
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Golden State's last 5 games on the road
Golden State is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games when playing Detroit
Detroit is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Detroit is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home

Minnesota vs Orlando
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Minnesota's last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Minnesota's last 12 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Orlando's last 8 games
Orlando is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games at home

Houston vs Memphis
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 6 games when playing on the road against Memphis
Houston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Memphis is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games at home
Memphis is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games at home

Portland vs Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Portland's last 11 games when playing Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Portland's last 5 games when playing on the road against Dallas
Dallas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Portland
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Dallas's last 11 games when playing Portland

Miami vs Utah
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Miami's last 8 games when playing Utah
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Miami's last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Utah's last 8 games when playing Miami
Utah is 8-2 ATS in its last 10 games

Atlanta vs Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta's last 5 games when playing on the road against Phoenix
Atlanta is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Phoenix's last 8 games at home

Charlotte vs LA Lakers
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Charlotte's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Charlotte's last 6 games on the road
LA Lakers is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against Charlotte
LA Lakers is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Charlotte


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[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, January 9

 

[CNOTES]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
GS at DET	07:00 PM	GS +2.5 U 220.0	+500 +500
MIN at ORL	07:00 PM	ORL +6.0 O 199.5	+500 +500
TOR at CLE	07:00 PM	TOR +15.0 O 235.5	+500 +500
HOU at MEM	08:00 PM	HOU +1.0 O 234.0	+500 +500
POR at DAL	08:30 PM	POR +8.0 O 220.0	+500 +500
ATL at PHO	09:00 PM	ATL +6.0 O 238.5	+500 +500
MIA at UTA	09:00 PM	MIA -5.5 U 222.0	+500 +500
CHA at LAL	10:30 PM	LAL -9.0 O 221.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR JANUARY !

01/09/2025..........................4 - 4 - 0.........................50.00%....................- 2.00
01/08/2025..........................3 - 8 - 0.........................27.27%....................- 29.00
01/07/2025..........................3 - 7 - 0.........................30.00%....................- 23.50
01/06/2025..........................8 - 6 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 7.00
01/05/2025..........................4 - 3 - 0.........................57.14%....................+ 3.50
01/04/2025..........................4 - 7 - 0.........................36.36%....................- 18.50
01/03/2025..........................8 - 5 - 0.........................61.53%....................+ 12.50
01/02/2025..........................7 - 2 - 1.........................77.77%....................+ 24.00
01/01/2025..........................6 - 4 - 0.........................60.00%....................+ 8.00

TOTALS............................47 - 46 - 1.........................50.53%.....................- 18.00

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

DECEMBER TOTALS:...............149 - 132 - 3......................53.02%..................+ 23.50

 

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
Baseball payrolls, by division:
$1.063B— NL West
$945M— NL East
$886M— AL East
$852M— AL West
$626M— NL Central
$549M— AL Central

Quote of the Day
“That’s my hometown, and all my friends who are from there, pretty much, they’ve all lost their homes, their family homes, childhood homes, our whole high school’s gone. The town looks like it’s just been completely wiped out. It’s surreal and devastating, but fortunately, most, almost everyone escaped.”
Steve Kerr, whose childhood home was destroyed by the fires in Palisades, CA

Friday’s quiz
Who replaced Joe Paterno as Penn State’s football coach?
Hint: He is still coaching

Thursday’s quiz
In the movie Forget Paris, Billy Crystal was an NBA referee.

Wednesday’s quiz
Rick Pitino has coached the Celtics and Knicks in the NBA.

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

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

— Prayers go out to all the people in Los Angeles, with the fires destroying a lot of homes. They said it was the worst wild fires Los Angeles has ever seen.
Rams-Vikings playoff game Monday night was moved to Arizona.
LA Kings’ hockey game, Lakers’ NBA game were both postponed.
As many as 10,000 structures have been destroyed. Very sad.

— CBS decided to postpone the debut of Hollywood Squares for a week, saying it wouldn’t be appropriate to air a lighthearted program with a lot of jokes, while the Los Angeles area is in such an emergency situation.

— Notre Dame 27, Penn State 24
Notre Dame kicked a 41-yard FG with 0:09 left for the win.
Penn State led 10-0 in the first quarter.
Notre Dame was 11-17 on third down, Penn State 3-11
Notre Dame advances to the national title game January 20.

— Random trivia:
Only one NHL player was a teammate of both Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin; that would be Mike Knuble, a winger who played for 16 years in the NHL, for five different teams.

— Pittsburgh Steelers enter the NFL playoffs on a four-game losing streak. Other teams who have entered the playoffs on a 4+ game skid:
1986 Jets, W35-15 vs Chiefs, L23-20 vs Browns
1999 Lions, L27-13 vs Washington

— Speaking of the Steelers; they became great in the early 70’s, when Terry Bradshaw became their QB; he was the first pick in the 1970 draft, out of Louisiana Tech.
The fifth player taken in the 1970 draft also became famous, but for a different reason. Buffalo drafted Al Cowlings, a defensive end from USC who played nine years in the NFL, for five different teams; he became famous in 1994, after driving OJ Simpson all over Los Angeles during a police chase, after Simpson’s wife was murdered.

— This season, the NFL had the fewest pass plays of 40+ yards in any year since 1991.

— Two days after they fired coach Antonio Pierce, the Las Vegas Raiders also fired general manager Tom Telesco, after only one year on the job. It is becoming apparent that Raiders owner Mark Davis runs a dysfunctional franchise.

— Famous birthdays, January 10th:
Richard Dotson, 66
Janet Jones, 64
Steve Jordan, 64
Glenn Robinson, 52
Jake Delhomme, 50
Sarah Shahi, 45
DeShaun Foster, 45
Ryon Healy, 33

— Baseball stuff:
San Francisco Giants signed P Justin Verlander for one year, $15M. Verlander will be 42 next month; the future Hall of Famer was 5-6, ,5.48 in 17 starts for Houston last year.

Chicago White Sox signed P Martin Perez for one year, $5M; last year, Perez 5-6 with a 4.53 ERA in 26 starts, for the Pirates/Padres.

Washington Nationals signed IF Amed Rosario for one year, $2M. Last year, Rosario hit .280, with a .686 OPS while playing for three different teams.

— Santa Clara 82, Oregon State 81 OT
Broncos put in a rebound with 0:02 left for the win.
Santa Clara survived going 13-27 on foul line.
Michael Rataj scored 16 points, had 17 rebounds for the Beavers.

— Oregon 73, Ohio State 71
Buckeyes led by 8 with 6:17 left in the game.
Oregon is off to 14-2 start, vs schedule #16.

— Pacific 95, Washington State 94 OT
Tigers break an 0-9 skid; they were a 17-point underdog.
Lamar Washington scored 40 points, with 6 assists, 5 steals.

— NC-Greensboro 78, Chattanooga 75
Moccasins tied game on a 3 with 0:03 left.
Greensboro’s Ronald Polite drained a 3 at the buzzer for the walk-off win.
Spartans are 3-0 in SoCon; they were 11-23 on the arc.

— Texas State 74, Troy 73
Texas State hit the winning foul shot with 0:01.1 left.
Pope had 27 points, 10 rebounds (8 offensive boards)
Trojans led by 11 early on, 41-32 at halftime.

— I was reminded of this story the other day…….
First time I went to a public school was in 9th grade; everything was a lot different. I had never ridden a school bus, we didn’t wear uniforms, we changed classes, just a lot different.

The first day, I’m sitting in a shop class, metal shop. No idea why I was signed up for it— I am inept with tools, I’m lucky I never lost a finger.

The teacher was Mr Brunn, a stern guy with a beard; he is taking attendance, and a kid sitting a few seats to my right keeps talking. Mr Brunn wasn’t happy.

“Son, you need to stop talking, You have diarrrhea of the mouth!!!”

Most of the kids laughed; my eyes bugged out of my head, never heard a teacher talk like that, never heard anyone talk like that.

51 years ago…….damn I’m old…….lolol