Wednesday’s 6-pack
College basketball ref David Hall’s itinerary the last week:
Feb 19: Texas A&M Int’l @ New Mexico State
Feb 20: Nevada @ San Diego State
Feb 21: Saint Mary’s @ Pacific
Feb 23: Wyoming @ Colorado State
Feb 24: California @ Arizona State
Feb 25: Northern Colorado @ Montana
There are guys in the NBA who don’t play back/back nights, but college refs who are 20+ years older than them ref six games in seven nights in six different cities. Go figure.
Quote of the Day
“It’s hard to focus on your profession when you don’t even know how to focus on the everyday skills that are required for life.”
Mark Cuban, talking about 18-year olds potentially playing in the NBA
Wednesday’s quiz
Buzz Williams is the basketball coach at Virginia Tech; which Big East program did he leave to coach in Blacksburg?
Tuesday’s quiz
Max Scherzer broke into the major leagues with the Diamondbacks.
Monday’s quiz
Of the eight head coaches in the AAF, five have also been NFL head coaches.
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Wednesday’s List of 13: Mid-week musings……
13) Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers is a classy guy; with 0:09.4 left in the Clippers’ win over Dallas late Monday night, Rivers grabs the PA mike at Staples Center and asks the crowd to thank Dirk Nowitzki for his great career- that was Dirk’s last game against the Clippers at Staples. The crowd responded and gave him a warm ovation. Very cool moment.
12) NBA has a problem; Pelicans lost 111-110 at home to Philly Monday night, but their star did not play in the 4th quarter. New Orleans is only playing Anthony Davis so the league doesn’t fine them, but they’ve capped his minutes and he often doesn’t play in the 4th quarter.
Why would you pay to see a New Orleans home game if they’re not trying to win? If Davis sits the whole 4th quarter in a one-point game, it is obvious they’re not trying to win.
11) Nolan Arenado inked an 8-year, $260M extension with the Colorado Rockies, which is great news for Colorado fans and people who have Arenado on their fantasy team.
10) MLB Network should have a weekly window to show a game from the Japanese leagues; you don’t need announcers over there, just good graphics and an analyst in the MLB Network studio talking us through the game. Would be interesting to see how good the play is in Japan.
9) Headline in a newspaper last week: “Arizona psychic hit by a car, says he never saw it coming” Ummm, this is not America’s finest psychic.
8) Timberwolves’ star Karl-Anthony Towns dodged a bullet over the weekend after a semi truck rear-ended the car he and the Wolves’ assistant strength coach were riding in. Towns had played in 303 consecutive games before that- he returned to the lineup Tuesday and scored 34 points with 21 rebounds in Minnesota’s win over the Kings.
7) Great news for the LA Rams; LT Andrew Whitworth will return in 2019, for his 14th season in the NFL. Signing Whitworth as a free agent two years ago is a huge reason why the Rams have been so good under Sean McVay.
6) Two of my favorite players to watch in the NBA: Montrezl Harrell of the Clippers and Stephen Adams of the Thunder. Not the most skilled players, but they play so hard and give great effort- they help their teams win.
5) NHL’s Colorado Avalanche is 1-11 in OT/SO this season, 0-4 this month. Colorado’s only OT win this season was November 18, 4-3 over Anaheim.
4) Good idea by the NBA; the best players in the G-League will join top college prospects at the NBA Combine every spring. Lets face it, lot of the best guys in the G-League should probably still be playing in college anyway.
3) Alabama and Clemson each have 11 players at the NFL Scouting Combine this week; schools like Tennessee, Arizona and Purdue don’t have any.
2) Eight members of the Portland Trailblazers were trapped in an elevator Tuesday for a half hour at their team hotel in Boston. Everyone eventually got out unscathed.
1) Conference tournaments start Monday, when the Atlantic Sun tourney starts; on Tuesday, the Patriot, Big South and Horizon events kick off. Two fun weeks every year, heading into Selection Sunday, and then two more weeks of fun.
College basketball ref David Hall’s itinerary the last week:
Feb 19: Texas A&M Int’l @ New Mexico State
Feb 20: Nevada @ San Diego State
Feb 21: Saint Mary’s @ Pacific
Feb 23: Wyoming @ Colorado State
Feb 24: California @ Arizona State
Feb 25: Northern Colorado @ Montana
There are guys in the NBA who don’t play back/back nights, but college refs who are 20+ years older than them ref six games in seven nights in six different cities. Go figure.
Quote of the Day
“It’s hard to focus on your profession when you don’t even know how to focus on the everyday skills that are required for life.”
Mark Cuban, talking about 18-year olds potentially playing in the NBA
Wednesday’s quiz
Buzz Williams is the basketball coach at Virginia Tech; which Big East program did he leave to coach in Blacksburg?
Tuesday’s quiz
Max Scherzer broke into the major leagues with the Diamondbacks.
Monday’s quiz
Of the eight head coaches in the AAF, five have also been NFL head coaches.
************************
Wednesday’s List of 13: Mid-week musings……
13) Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers is a classy guy; with 0:09.4 left in the Clippers’ win over Dallas late Monday night, Rivers grabs the PA mike at Staples Center and asks the crowd to thank Dirk Nowitzki for his great career- that was Dirk’s last game against the Clippers at Staples. The crowd responded and gave him a warm ovation. Very cool moment.
12) NBA has a problem; Pelicans lost 111-110 at home to Philly Monday night, but their star did not play in the 4th quarter. New Orleans is only playing Anthony Davis so the league doesn’t fine them, but they’ve capped his minutes and he often doesn’t play in the 4th quarter.
Why would you pay to see a New Orleans home game if they’re not trying to win? If Davis sits the whole 4th quarter in a one-point game, it is obvious they’re not trying to win.
11) Nolan Arenado inked an 8-year, $260M extension with the Colorado Rockies, which is great news for Colorado fans and people who have Arenado on their fantasy team.
10) MLB Network should have a weekly window to show a game from the Japanese leagues; you don’t need announcers over there, just good graphics and an analyst in the MLB Network studio talking us through the game. Would be interesting to see how good the play is in Japan.
9) Headline in a newspaper last week: “Arizona psychic hit by a car, says he never saw it coming” Ummm, this is not America’s finest psychic.
8) Timberwolves’ star Karl-Anthony Towns dodged a bullet over the weekend after a semi truck rear-ended the car he and the Wolves’ assistant strength coach were riding in. Towns had played in 303 consecutive games before that- he returned to the lineup Tuesday and scored 34 points with 21 rebounds in Minnesota’s win over the Kings.
7) Great news for the LA Rams; LT Andrew Whitworth will return in 2019, for his 14th season in the NFL. Signing Whitworth as a free agent two years ago is a huge reason why the Rams have been so good under Sean McVay.
6) Two of my favorite players to watch in the NBA: Montrezl Harrell of the Clippers and Stephen Adams of the Thunder. Not the most skilled players, but they play so hard and give great effort- they help their teams win.
5) NHL’s Colorado Avalanche is 1-11 in OT/SO this season, 0-4 this month. Colorado’s only OT win this season was November 18, 4-3 over Anaheim.
4) Good idea by the NBA; the best players in the G-League will join top college prospects at the NBA Combine every spring. Lets face it, lot of the best guys in the G-League should probably still be playing in college anyway.
3) Alabama and Clemson each have 11 players at the NFL Scouting Combine this week; schools like Tennessee, Arizona and Purdue don’t have any.
2) Eight members of the Portland Trailblazers were trapped in an elevator Tuesday for a half hour at their team hotel in Boston. Everyone eventually got out unscathed.
1) Conference tournaments start Monday, when the Atlantic Sun tourney starts; on Tuesday, the Patriot, Big South and Horizon events kick off. Two fun weeks every year, heading into Selection Sunday, and then two more weeks of fun.