Saturday’s six-pack
NFL trends for Week 15 games
— Baltimore is 1-5-1 in last seven games vs NFC teams.
— Panthers are 14-6 in last 20 games as a road dog.
— Texans are 8-1-1 vs spread in last ten divisional games.
— Vikings covered nine of last ten as a home favorite.
— New England covered nine of its last 12 games.
— Redskins are 13-4 vs spread in their last 17 games.
Saturday’s List of 13: Random thoughts on a damn cold day
13) NBA has a problem on their hands; teams are routinely sitting stars when they play back/back games, and fans who are paying serious money to watch these games aren’t happy. I’m not talking about players who are legitimately injured, I’m talking about guys being given nights off to “rest”. Rest from what?
Seems like most teams try to rest their stars on the road, so their fans don’t get screwed out of seeing the hometown heroes play, but what about when the Cavaliers or Warriors or Rockets go on the road?
People pay a LOT OF MONEY to see Lebron play or Steph Curry or James Harden play and if they don’t play, thats bad for future business. Bad for current business, too.
“I never thought this would happen in our sport.” Allen Iverson said that about players resting during Friday night’s Lakers-Philly broadcast.
12) Gregg Popovich is the man most responsible for implementing this practice, but the media won’t call him on it because he’s won a lot and he’s a grumpy human on a good day.
But I remember walking into the Mandalay Bay sportsbook just before Christmas 2012 and there was a kerfuffle because the Spurs were on TNT that night and Parker/Duncan/Ginobili weren’t playing.
Spurs won anyway that night and now that practice has spread all over the league. Guys who played 2-3 games a day in their teen/AAU years can’t play a game one night, get on a private plane and fly to another city to play again the next night, its too much for them.
I sound like the old guy telling kids to get off his lawn but I’m right; modern NBA players make a bleeping fortune and they sit out games when they’re not hurt and it sucks.
11) I didn’t even mention people like myself who pay $200 for the Full Court package on TV; I want to watch ball, if a star sits out, I’ll just put another game on, so it isn’t as big a deal as if you go buy game tickets, then travel to the arena for that one game.
But when the average salary in the NBA is set to jump to $9M (AVERAGE!!!!) pretty soon, you’d think guys would suck it up and actually play in all the games, so people who drove 300 miles and use their savings to let their kid see Lebron or Dwyane Wade play wouldn’t go home disappointed.
10) There is a big mess up in Minnesota; 10 Golden Gopher football players were suspended for their bowl game, after an investigation into an alleged sexual assault at an off-campus apartment in September was re-opened. That opened a huge can of worms.
As a result of the investigation being re-opened, the rest of the Gophers are boycotting football activities, which puts their Holiday Bowl game with Washington State in jeopardy.
There is the potential for a lot of collateral damage here; bowls generally benefit charities, so that would be bad, Washington State would be negatively impacted, the people who work at Qualcomm Park and at ESPN would lose work.
There is the chance Minnesota could drop out of the bowl and be replaced by another team, but plans have been made and it would be cumbersome for another team to re-gather and begin bowl prep. Curious to see how this one plays out.
9) Elsewhere in Minnesota, Adrian Peterson will play this week against the Colts, coming back a little earlier than expected from his knee surgery.
8) This from Mr Bill Deacon on the Interweb:
“…..At the age of 52, Bill Wyman, Sir Mick (Jagger)’s former bandmate, married an 18-year-old called Mandy Smith. A few years later, Wyman’s grown-up son from a previous marriage married Mandy’s mother.
Which meant that Wyman’s mother-in-law was also his daughter-in-law.”
7) Louisville suspended its offensive coordinator as a result of the Wake Forest scandal, where a disgruntled former coach leaked gameplay info to Demon Deacon opponents.
I’ll say this, whether I’m right or wrong who knows, but it is how I feel: if a friend of yours does this and contacts you with gameplay info, no one on this planet is turning his friend in. You may ask him if anything is wrong, you may take the info and toss it away, but who would rat out their friend? It is unrealistic to think that would happen. A “friend” would not do that.
6) Austin Wiley, a top-20 basketball prospect in the class of 2017, has enrolled at Auburn and will be immediately eligible; this means the kid gave up his senior year of high school to play college hoop right now. Decisions like this are tough; you’re giving up a piece of your normal childhood, but for what?
Chances are he is a lot younger than his new teammates; from a social standpoint, is it a positive? He has to leave home; hopefully this turns out to be a good decision for the player, and is not a reaction to two Auburn players being suspended earlier this week after they got busted by the cops with weed.
5) Good news: Rod Carew is expected to make a full recovery from his heart/kidney transplants that took place Thursday night into Friday- whole thing took 13 hours. Medicine is an amazing thing.
4) Former NBA player Darius Miles is 35 years old; he made $62M in his 11-year playing career, which ended seven years ago. Unfortunately, Miles has declared for bankruptcy; this week his sports memorabilia was auctioned off near St Louis. You make $62M in 11 years, you shouldn’t be broke seven years later. Guys need to learn how to handle their money.
A guy like Shaquille O’Neal has been brilliant with his money; he owns close to 100 fast-food places and some car washes, plus she still banks a fortune each year doing commercials. Junior Bridgman owns 70 or 80 Wendy’s, but most athletes squander their money and that is a tragedy.
3) North Carolina is 8-4 vs Kentucky when they’ve played, with both teams in the top ten.
2) We will never see anything like this, but would love to hear a President’s candid thoughts (any President) after he leaves office.
— Was it what he thought it would be like?
— Did the time fly by?
— Did he enjoy it at all?
— Did he miss being able to drive his own car?
— Would he do it all over again, if he could?
— What advice would he give to future Presidents?
1) Nothing brings out hostility in people like getting stuck in traffic jams at Christmastime, when everyone is in a hurry to do the same thing; where I live, traffic jams are uncommon, but there was one today around 1:45 in the afternoon and people were salty about it. Horns blaring, near-accidents, people cutting off other cars, great fun.
Guy in lane next to me in a red Mercedes banged his horn so hard it looked like he might’ve hurt his hand. Why? Because the car in front of him let someone cut in front of them from a parking lot. Hey buddy, you drive a Mercedes, you’re probably rich. Chill. Merry Christmas!!!
NFL trends for Week 15 games
— Baltimore is 1-5-1 in last seven games vs NFC teams.
— Panthers are 14-6 in last 20 games as a road dog.
— Texans are 8-1-1 vs spread in last ten divisional games.
— Vikings covered nine of last ten as a home favorite.
— New England covered nine of its last 12 games.
— Redskins are 13-4 vs spread in their last 17 games.
Saturday’s List of 13: Random thoughts on a damn cold day
13) NBA has a problem on their hands; teams are routinely sitting stars when they play back/back games, and fans who are paying serious money to watch these games aren’t happy. I’m not talking about players who are legitimately injured, I’m talking about guys being given nights off to “rest”. Rest from what?
Seems like most teams try to rest their stars on the road, so their fans don’t get screwed out of seeing the hometown heroes play, but what about when the Cavaliers or Warriors or Rockets go on the road?
People pay a LOT OF MONEY to see Lebron play or Steph Curry or James Harden play and if they don’t play, thats bad for future business. Bad for current business, too.
“I never thought this would happen in our sport.” Allen Iverson said that about players resting during Friday night’s Lakers-Philly broadcast.
12) Gregg Popovich is the man most responsible for implementing this practice, but the media won’t call him on it because he’s won a lot and he’s a grumpy human on a good day.
But I remember walking into the Mandalay Bay sportsbook just before Christmas 2012 and there was a kerfuffle because the Spurs were on TNT that night and Parker/Duncan/Ginobili weren’t playing.
Spurs won anyway that night and now that practice has spread all over the league. Guys who played 2-3 games a day in their teen/AAU years can’t play a game one night, get on a private plane and fly to another city to play again the next night, its too much for them.
I sound like the old guy telling kids to get off his lawn but I’m right; modern NBA players make a bleeping fortune and they sit out games when they’re not hurt and it sucks.
11) I didn’t even mention people like myself who pay $200 for the Full Court package on TV; I want to watch ball, if a star sits out, I’ll just put another game on, so it isn’t as big a deal as if you go buy game tickets, then travel to the arena for that one game.
But when the average salary in the NBA is set to jump to $9M (AVERAGE!!!!) pretty soon, you’d think guys would suck it up and actually play in all the games, so people who drove 300 miles and use their savings to let their kid see Lebron or Dwyane Wade play wouldn’t go home disappointed.
10) There is a big mess up in Minnesota; 10 Golden Gopher football players were suspended for their bowl game, after an investigation into an alleged sexual assault at an off-campus apartment in September was re-opened. That opened a huge can of worms.
As a result of the investigation being re-opened, the rest of the Gophers are boycotting football activities, which puts their Holiday Bowl game with Washington State in jeopardy.
There is the potential for a lot of collateral damage here; bowls generally benefit charities, so that would be bad, Washington State would be negatively impacted, the people who work at Qualcomm Park and at ESPN would lose work.
There is the chance Minnesota could drop out of the bowl and be replaced by another team, but plans have been made and it would be cumbersome for another team to re-gather and begin bowl prep. Curious to see how this one plays out.
9) Elsewhere in Minnesota, Adrian Peterson will play this week against the Colts, coming back a little earlier than expected from his knee surgery.
8) This from Mr Bill Deacon on the Interweb:
“…..At the age of 52, Bill Wyman, Sir Mick (Jagger)’s former bandmate, married an 18-year-old called Mandy Smith. A few years later, Wyman’s grown-up son from a previous marriage married Mandy’s mother.
Which meant that Wyman’s mother-in-law was also his daughter-in-law.”
7) Louisville suspended its offensive coordinator as a result of the Wake Forest scandal, where a disgruntled former coach leaked gameplay info to Demon Deacon opponents.
I’ll say this, whether I’m right or wrong who knows, but it is how I feel: if a friend of yours does this and contacts you with gameplay info, no one on this planet is turning his friend in. You may ask him if anything is wrong, you may take the info and toss it away, but who would rat out their friend? It is unrealistic to think that would happen. A “friend” would not do that.
6) Austin Wiley, a top-20 basketball prospect in the class of 2017, has enrolled at Auburn and will be immediately eligible; this means the kid gave up his senior year of high school to play college hoop right now. Decisions like this are tough; you’re giving up a piece of your normal childhood, but for what?
Chances are he is a lot younger than his new teammates; from a social standpoint, is it a positive? He has to leave home; hopefully this turns out to be a good decision for the player, and is not a reaction to two Auburn players being suspended earlier this week after they got busted by the cops with weed.
5) Good news: Rod Carew is expected to make a full recovery from his heart/kidney transplants that took place Thursday night into Friday- whole thing took 13 hours. Medicine is an amazing thing.
4) Former NBA player Darius Miles is 35 years old; he made $62M in his 11-year playing career, which ended seven years ago. Unfortunately, Miles has declared for bankruptcy; this week his sports memorabilia was auctioned off near St Louis. You make $62M in 11 years, you shouldn’t be broke seven years later. Guys need to learn how to handle their money.
A guy like Shaquille O’Neal has been brilliant with his money; he owns close to 100 fast-food places and some car washes, plus she still banks a fortune each year doing commercials. Junior Bridgman owns 70 or 80 Wendy’s, but most athletes squander their money and that is a tragedy.
3) North Carolina is 8-4 vs Kentucky when they’ve played, with both teams in the top ten.
2) We will never see anything like this, but would love to hear a President’s candid thoughts (any President) after he leaves office.
— Was it what he thought it would be like?
— Did the time fly by?
— Did he enjoy it at all?
— Did he miss being able to drive his own car?
— Would he do it all over again, if he could?
— What advice would he give to future Presidents?
1) Nothing brings out hostility in people like getting stuck in traffic jams at Christmastime, when everyone is in a hurry to do the same thing; where I live, traffic jams are uncommon, but there was one today around 1:45 in the afternoon and people were salty about it. Horns blaring, near-accidents, people cutting off other cars, great fun.
Guy in lane next to me in a red Mercedes banged his horn so hard it looked like he might’ve hurt his hand. Why? Because the car in front of him let someone cut in front of them from a parking lot. Hey buddy, you drive a Mercedes, you’re probably rich. Chill. Merry Christmas!!!
