Wednesday’s 6-pack
— Penn 78, Villanova 75— Villanova’s 25-game Big Five win streak ends.
— Colorado 78, New Mexico 75— Buffs were down 17, improve to 8-1.
— New Mexico gets 6-10 Kansas transfer Carlton Bragg eligible Sunday
— Spurs 111, Suns 86— Popovich moves into 4th place on all-time win list.
— Orioles hired Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde as their new manager.
— Texas Rangers hired former P Brandon McCarthy to help out in aspects of pitching development in the major and minor leagues.
Quote of the Day
“Sometimes it makes it worse when it’s right there. If you get blown out it doesn’t seem to hurt as bad as when you have a chance.’’
Ben Roethlisberger
Wednesday’s quiz
The Clippers were in San Diego before they played in LA; what was the team’s name before they moved to San Diego?
(Hint: They had 2 or 3 really good/well-known players)
Tuesday’s quiz
Wayne Fontes was Lions’ coach in 1991, last time Detroit won a playoff game.
Monday’s quiz
Matt Prater (then with the Broncos) holds the record for the longest FG in NFL history (64 yards); he kicked it against the Tennessee Titans.
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Wednesday’s List of 13: Mid-week musings…….
13) Things you don’t see much; Dallas ran 93 plays Sunday, Philly only 48.
Cannot remember last time an NFL team ran 93 plays in a game. Cowboys had only done it once before EVER, running 94 plays in a 1978 win over Green Bay.
Does being on the field for 93 plays have a hangover effect this week, when the Eagles visit the Rams in Los Angeles?
12) Very few NFL games get butchered the way New England butchered their loss in Miami last week; Brady took a sack at the end of the first half when Patriots were out of timeouts and in the red zone, costing his team three points, a horrible mistake that was a lot like Russell Wilson’s INT at the end of the first half Monday night.
Then Miami scoring on a 69-yard desperation play to get the walk-off win; why is Gronkowski on the field for that play? Play started on the Miami 31; Tannehill ain’t throwing a Hail Mary pass 70+ yards. I’m guessing the Patriots’ flight home and defensive meetings Monday couldn’t have been very pleasant.
11) Minnesota Vikings fired OC John DeFilippo Tuesday, after the Vikings got whacked 21-7 by the Seahawks Monday night. Mike Zimmer has gone thru lot of QB’s/OC’s in his tenure as the Vikings’ coach.
10) Royals signed free agent OF Billy Hamilton, who runs really fast but as my dad often said, “He can’t steal first base.” When your on-base% is under .300, that not good.
9) More baseball dealings:
— Phillies gave Andrew McCutchen $16.7M a year for three years.
— Blue Jays released oft-injured SS Troy Tulowitzki, who is still owed $38M.
— White Sox acquired P Ivan Nova from Pittsburgh.
8) Steph Curry is going to host a PGA Tour event at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, CA, starting in the 2019-20 season. The tournament doesn’t have a sponsor yet; the golf course is going to get $3.6M in upgrades before then.
7) Memphis Grizzlies equipment assistant Brianè Miller was offered $100,000 for the sneakers LeBron James gave her over the weekend, but she says she has no interest in selling them.
6) ESPN released 11 Sunday night telecasts for 2019; what a surprise- five Red Sox games, four Bronx games, three Dodger games, zero Astros games. And they wonder why the sport isn’t as popular as it used to be? Houston is the 4th-biggest city in the country and they are one of the best teams— put their young stars on TV!!!!
This doesn’t even need to be stated, but A’s/Rays aren’t on the list. Both won 90+ games LY.
5) MLB Network is great this week, watching stuff from Winter Meetings every day, but then they put this guy Charlie Montoyo on Tuesday at 6pm, and I had no idea he was Toronto’s new manager. He worked for Kevin Cash in Tampa for four years, so thats a good thing these days, working with another successful manager.
4) So its 4am Monday night/Tuesday morning and I’m winding down getting ready for bed, then I hear trucks outside, and they start jackhammering the road across street from me, digging this big hole. Seven feet deep, 25-30 feet long. It is freakin’ 4am!!!!
So much for sleep……or water. Must’ve been a leak in the pipes.
Water came back on 11 hours later, the road looks like it is a war zone, kind of killed the day, though not having water to take a shower forced me to get some sleep. Feel bad for guys who are outside at 4am in 15-degree weather fixing plumbing.
3) City of Oakland is suing the Raiders, making it evident that this will be the Raiders’ last year playing home games in Oakland- they’re moving to Las Vegas in 2020.
2) Football coaches are nomads: Ole Miss hired former Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre as its new defensive coordinator, which will make their defense a lot better. Ole Miss will have two new coordinators next year; their OC Phil Longo is off to the same job at North Carolina.
Former Bowling Green coach Mike Jinks is the new running backs coach at USC; no offense to the fine folks at Bowling Green, but thats a promotion- RB coach at USC is a better job than HC at Bowling Green- what a storied history of RB’s the Trojans have had.
1) Former Tennessee football coach Butch Jones was hired this week by Maryland as an assistant to new head coach Mike Locksley; both guys were assistants at Alabama this season.
Colin Kaepernick should go be an assistant coach at Alabama; maybe he could get a job in the NFL then. Every other Saban assistant gets a new job fairly quickly.
— Penn 78, Villanova 75— Villanova’s 25-game Big Five win streak ends.
— Colorado 78, New Mexico 75— Buffs were down 17, improve to 8-1.
— New Mexico gets 6-10 Kansas transfer Carlton Bragg eligible Sunday
— Spurs 111, Suns 86— Popovich moves into 4th place on all-time win list.
— Orioles hired Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde as their new manager.
— Texas Rangers hired former P Brandon McCarthy to help out in aspects of pitching development in the major and minor leagues.
Quote of the Day
“Sometimes it makes it worse when it’s right there. If you get blown out it doesn’t seem to hurt as bad as when you have a chance.’’
Ben Roethlisberger
Wednesday’s quiz
The Clippers were in San Diego before they played in LA; what was the team’s name before they moved to San Diego?
(Hint: They had 2 or 3 really good/well-known players)
Tuesday’s quiz
Wayne Fontes was Lions’ coach in 1991, last time Detroit won a playoff game.
Monday’s quiz
Matt Prater (then with the Broncos) holds the record for the longest FG in NFL history (64 yards); he kicked it against the Tennessee Titans.
************************
Wednesday’s List of 13: Mid-week musings…….
13) Things you don’t see much; Dallas ran 93 plays Sunday, Philly only 48.
Cannot remember last time an NFL team ran 93 plays in a game. Cowboys had only done it once before EVER, running 94 plays in a 1978 win over Green Bay.
Does being on the field for 93 plays have a hangover effect this week, when the Eagles visit the Rams in Los Angeles?
12) Very few NFL games get butchered the way New England butchered their loss in Miami last week; Brady took a sack at the end of the first half when Patriots were out of timeouts and in the red zone, costing his team three points, a horrible mistake that was a lot like Russell Wilson’s INT at the end of the first half Monday night.
Then Miami scoring on a 69-yard desperation play to get the walk-off win; why is Gronkowski on the field for that play? Play started on the Miami 31; Tannehill ain’t throwing a Hail Mary pass 70+ yards. I’m guessing the Patriots’ flight home and defensive meetings Monday couldn’t have been very pleasant.
11) Minnesota Vikings fired OC John DeFilippo Tuesday, after the Vikings got whacked 21-7 by the Seahawks Monday night. Mike Zimmer has gone thru lot of QB’s/OC’s in his tenure as the Vikings’ coach.
10) Royals signed free agent OF Billy Hamilton, who runs really fast but as my dad often said, “He can’t steal first base.” When your on-base% is under .300, that not good.
9) More baseball dealings:
— Phillies gave Andrew McCutchen $16.7M a year for three years.
— Blue Jays released oft-injured SS Troy Tulowitzki, who is still owed $38M.
— White Sox acquired P Ivan Nova from Pittsburgh.
8) Steph Curry is going to host a PGA Tour event at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, CA, starting in the 2019-20 season. The tournament doesn’t have a sponsor yet; the golf course is going to get $3.6M in upgrades before then.
7) Memphis Grizzlies equipment assistant Brianè Miller was offered $100,000 for the sneakers LeBron James gave her over the weekend, but she says she has no interest in selling them.
6) ESPN released 11 Sunday night telecasts for 2019; what a surprise- five Red Sox games, four Bronx games, three Dodger games, zero Astros games. And they wonder why the sport isn’t as popular as it used to be? Houston is the 4th-biggest city in the country and they are one of the best teams— put their young stars on TV!!!!
This doesn’t even need to be stated, but A’s/Rays aren’t on the list. Both won 90+ games LY.
5) MLB Network is great this week, watching stuff from Winter Meetings every day, but then they put this guy Charlie Montoyo on Tuesday at 6pm, and I had no idea he was Toronto’s new manager. He worked for Kevin Cash in Tampa for four years, so thats a good thing these days, working with another successful manager.
4) So its 4am Monday night/Tuesday morning and I’m winding down getting ready for bed, then I hear trucks outside, and they start jackhammering the road across street from me, digging this big hole. Seven feet deep, 25-30 feet long. It is freakin’ 4am!!!!
So much for sleep……or water. Must’ve been a leak in the pipes.
Water came back on 11 hours later, the road looks like it is a war zone, kind of killed the day, though not having water to take a shower forced me to get some sleep. Feel bad for guys who are outside at 4am in 15-degree weather fixing plumbing.
3) City of Oakland is suing the Raiders, making it evident that this will be the Raiders’ last year playing home games in Oakland- they’re moving to Las Vegas in 2020.
2) Football coaches are nomads: Ole Miss hired former Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre as its new defensive coordinator, which will make their defense a lot better. Ole Miss will have two new coordinators next year; their OC Phil Longo is off to the same job at North Carolina.
Former Bowling Green coach Mike Jinks is the new running backs coach at USC; no offense to the fine folks at Bowling Green, but thats a promotion- RB coach at USC is a better job than HC at Bowling Green- what a storied history of RB’s the Trojans have had.
1) Former Tennessee football coach Butch Jones was hired this week by Maryland as an assistant to new head coach Mike Locksley; both guys were assistants at Alabama this season.
Colin Kaepernick should go be an assistant coach at Alabama; maybe he could get a job in the NFL then. Every other Saban assistant gets a new job fairly quickly.
