Armadillo: Monday's six-pack
Some over/under win totals for college football this coming fall:
— Texas 7.5, under -$120
— UCLA 6, over -$135
— Nebraska 6, over -$125
— Michigan State 6.5, under -$130
— USC 9.5, over -$135
— LSU 9, over -$120
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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a fun weekend…….
13) Had an excellent time Sunday night at the Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame induction dinner in Troy; my friend Rob got inducted- he was a great player at U of Albany and also won a gold medal in the 1980 Empire State Games, when he was a teammate of Mavericks’ coach Rick Carlisle- their team played small ball and beat teams with more famous players.
Carlisle, former NBA coach Kevin O’Neill and former Marquette coach Mike Deane all spoke at the dinner. Albany Great Danes’ coach Will Brown was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. All in all, an excellent evening.
12) Odd Sunday in baseball; 30 of 32 starting pitchers got decisions in their games. None of the 16 games played saw the game-winning run score after the 6th inning. Very unusual day.
11) Over is 14-1 in last fifteen games played at Wrigley Field; wind was blowing straight in on Friday and the game still went over the total.
10) Friday night, the Dodgers’ Corey Seager swung at a 3-0 pitch while LA led 5-0, which for some reason ticked off Miami manager Don Mattingly. Soon after that, the Marlins drilled Brett Eibner with a pitch, so then the Dodgers threw a ball behind Giancarlo Stanton.
Stanton got hit in the face with a pitch a couple years ago in Milwaukee and still wears an extra face guard, so Mattingly endangered his best player’s health because an opponent swung at a 3-0 pitch in a 5-0 game. Brilliant!!!
9) Movie recommendation: Wizard of Lies on HBO, with Robert DeNiro playing Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi scheme huckster who bilked a lot of people out of billions of dollars. It isn’t a pleasant movie or at all uplifting, but it is really well done.
8) Indiana Tech, a college in Fort Wayne, is offering scholarships to video gamers who play League of Legends and Hearthstone. This is a world I know nothing about, but apparently it is a growing industry. Go figure.
Too bad they didn’t offer Pac-Man scholarships back in the day; could’ve saved some money.
7) Astros catcher Brian McCann (concussion) goes on 7-day DL. Dodgers sent Julio Urias down to AAA, called Josh Ravin up for some bullpen depth.
6) Brewers-Cubs game was rained out very early Saturday morning, but then it didn’t rain in the afternoon, so the game could/should have been played. It was the Cubs’ decision and the Milwaukee people didn’t see too happy about it; they also seemed a little mystified as to why.
Milwaukee called up pitcher Tyler Cravy from AAA Saturday; the game got rained out, then Ryan Braun got activated off the DL and Cravy was sent back to Colorado Springs. No bueno.
5) Jose Reyes got his 2,000th hit Saturday night; 1,398 of them have come with the Mets. He sat out Sunday’s game with a “tweaked rib cage”.
4) Looks like Kawhi Leonard will sit out tonight’s Game 4 of Spurs-Warriors series, meaning we won’t see him play until next fall, since Golden State will end this series tonite.
David Lee has a partially torn patella; been a rough couple weeks for the Spurs.
3) In the last 24 days, utility infielder Chase d’Arnaud has gone from the Braves to the Red Sox to the Padres, who need all the major leaguers they can get. He was a 1.000 hitter for Boston (1-1 with two runs scored in two games).
2) Celtics 111, Cavaliers 108— Cleveland led by 21 points against a Boston team playing without star Isaiah Thomas, but Celtics rallied and pulled a huge upset. Good for the Celtics, good for Brad Stevens, great for the NBA, which desperately needs some competitive playoff games.
1) What would happen if American Idol had one season where all the contestants were 50+ years old? I think it would be a big hit. Would be a gamble, but in my opinion, a winning one.
Some over/under win totals for college football this coming fall:
— Texas 7.5, under -$120
— UCLA 6, over -$135
— Nebraska 6, over -$125
— Michigan State 6.5, under -$130
— USC 9.5, over -$135
— LSU 9, over -$120
**********
Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a fun weekend…….
13) Had an excellent time Sunday night at the Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame induction dinner in Troy; my friend Rob got inducted- he was a great player at U of Albany and also won a gold medal in the 1980 Empire State Games, when he was a teammate of Mavericks’ coach Rick Carlisle- their team played small ball and beat teams with more famous players.
Carlisle, former NBA coach Kevin O’Neill and former Marquette coach Mike Deane all spoke at the dinner. Albany Great Danes’ coach Will Brown was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. All in all, an excellent evening.
12) Odd Sunday in baseball; 30 of 32 starting pitchers got decisions in their games. None of the 16 games played saw the game-winning run score after the 6th inning. Very unusual day.
11) Over is 14-1 in last fifteen games played at Wrigley Field; wind was blowing straight in on Friday and the game still went over the total.
10) Friday night, the Dodgers’ Corey Seager swung at a 3-0 pitch while LA led 5-0, which for some reason ticked off Miami manager Don Mattingly. Soon after that, the Marlins drilled Brett Eibner with a pitch, so then the Dodgers threw a ball behind Giancarlo Stanton.
Stanton got hit in the face with a pitch a couple years ago in Milwaukee and still wears an extra face guard, so Mattingly endangered his best player’s health because an opponent swung at a 3-0 pitch in a 5-0 game. Brilliant!!!
9) Movie recommendation: Wizard of Lies on HBO, with Robert DeNiro playing Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi scheme huckster who bilked a lot of people out of billions of dollars. It isn’t a pleasant movie or at all uplifting, but it is really well done.
8) Indiana Tech, a college in Fort Wayne, is offering scholarships to video gamers who play League of Legends and Hearthstone. This is a world I know nothing about, but apparently it is a growing industry. Go figure.
Too bad they didn’t offer Pac-Man scholarships back in the day; could’ve saved some money.
7) Astros catcher Brian McCann (concussion) goes on 7-day DL. Dodgers sent Julio Urias down to AAA, called Josh Ravin up for some bullpen depth.
6) Brewers-Cubs game was rained out very early Saturday morning, but then it didn’t rain in the afternoon, so the game could/should have been played. It was the Cubs’ decision and the Milwaukee people didn’t see too happy about it; they also seemed a little mystified as to why.
Milwaukee called up pitcher Tyler Cravy from AAA Saturday; the game got rained out, then Ryan Braun got activated off the DL and Cravy was sent back to Colorado Springs. No bueno.
5) Jose Reyes got his 2,000th hit Saturday night; 1,398 of them have come with the Mets. He sat out Sunday’s game with a “tweaked rib cage”.
4) Looks like Kawhi Leonard will sit out tonight’s Game 4 of Spurs-Warriors series, meaning we won’t see him play until next fall, since Golden State will end this series tonite.
David Lee has a partially torn patella; been a rough couple weeks for the Spurs.
3) In the last 24 days, utility infielder Chase d’Arnaud has gone from the Braves to the Red Sox to the Padres, who need all the major leaguers they can get. He was a 1.000 hitter for Boston (1-1 with two runs scored in two games).
2) Celtics 111, Cavaliers 108— Cleveland led by 21 points against a Boston team playing without star Isaiah Thomas, but Celtics rallied and pulled a huge upset. Good for the Celtics, good for Brad Stevens, great for the NBA, which desperately needs some competitive playoff games.
1) What would happen if American Idol had one season where all the contestants were 50+ years old? I think it would be a big hit. Would be a gamble, but in my opinion, a winning one.
