Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Some college football spreads this week:
— Nebraska @ Minnesota (-7)
— North Carolina (-2.5) vs South Carolina
— Florida @ Utah (-6.5)
— California (-6.5) @ North Texas
— Northern Illinois @ Boston College (-9)
— Louisville (-8) @ Georgia Tech
Quote of the Day
“I ain’t a fool. I can read the room. I know what it is. It’s a business, and if you ain’t performing, you ain’t going to be able to play. So, for me it’s just go out there, perform at a high level or you don’t play. That’s what it is.”
QB PJ Walker, who got cut the Bears Monday
Tuesday’s quiz
What QB has thrown for the most yards in Houston Texans’ history?
Hint: he played there from 2007-13.
Monday’s quiz
Larry Bird played his college basketball at Indiana State; originally he went to Indiana, but he transferred out of there, worked for a while, then went to play for the Sycamores.
Sunday’s quiz
Buck Showalter was Arizona’s manager when they walked Barry Bonds intentionally with the bases loaded in the 9th inning of a game Arizona led 8-6
The next hitter (Matt Williams) lined out to RF, Arizona won 8-7.
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— Astros 13, Red Sox 5
Red Sox led this game 4-3 after five innings.
Jose Altuve hit for the cycle for the first time in his great career; he is the first Astro to hit for the cycle since Brandon Barnes, in 2013.
Yordan Alvarez went 4-4 with 4 RBI, and two walks.
— This was Altuve’s 36th 4-hit game, he’s never had a 5-hit game.
Players with the most 4-hit games who never had a 5-hit game:
53— Lou Gehrig
36— Altuve
34— Mel Ott
33— Larry Walker
— Padres 4, Cardinals 1
Blake Snell went seven innings for the win; it is only the 2nd time all season that Snell got an out after the 6th inning.
He is having a fine season……..11-9, 2.60 in 27 starts, but he gets an average of only 16.5 outs per game, not a lot for an ace.
— Speaking of the Padres, the last nine years, they’ve come within 18 games of first place in the NL West one time, and that was in 2020, the shortened pandemic year.
San Diego’s payroll this year is $254,538,326 and they’re still only 62-70. How does ownership keep GM AJ Preller around? Why does he still have a job?
— Rangers 4, Mets 3— Nathaniel Lowe’s 2-run single in the ninth inning gave Texas their come from behind win, just their second win in their last 11 games.
Rangers had been 0-47 this season when they trailed after eight innings; now they’re 1-47.
— Braves 14, Rockies 4— Ronald Acuna went 4-5, with four runs scored, five RBI; couple fans ran into rightfield and hugged Acuna during the game, actually knocked him down. Not a great night for the security folks in Denver; it could’ve been a bad situation.
— Movie of the Day—
Moneyball (2011)— Movie documents the Oakland A’s effort to assemble a baseball team on a small budget by employing computer-generated analysis to get new players.
Brad Pitt plays A’s GM Billy Beane; Philip Seymour Hoffman is manager Art Howe, Jonah Hill plays Beane’s assistant, who in real life was Paul DePodesta, but since he didn’t cooperate with the movie people, his character was called Peter Brand in the movie.
I’ve been an A’s fan since 1965 so I enjoyed the movie; couple years before I saw the movie I met Michael Lewis, who wrote
Moneyball the book. Part of it frustrates me though; if they did something that gave them an advantage over other teams, why brag about it? Just keep doing it.
These days, everyone does it, and the A’s are a cruddy team that still has a cheapskate owner.
— NFL Trend of the Day— last three years, 49ers were 6-9 ATS in games where the spread was 3 or fewer points, whether they were favored or the underdog.
— When it was announced that the great game show host Bob Barker passed away over the weekend, Vanna White posted a picture of herself on Instagram, when she was a contestant on
The Price is Right, back in 1980.
This was only a couple years before Vanna White started turning letters on
Wheel of Fortune; apparently that appearance on
The Price is Right helped her land the TV gig.
— New Orleans Saints haven’t drafted a QB in the first round since they picked Archie Manning in 1971. NFL team with the 2nd-longest such streak is Dallas, which drafted Troy Aikman in 1989, and hasn’t drafted a QB in the first round since.
— Over the last 12 years, Jets have gone 70-129, with zero playoff appearances, which is why they acquired Aaron Rodgers this year.
Here are the different QB’s who’ve started for the Jets since their last playoff game:
Mark Sanchez 14-17 W-L record
Ryan Fitzpatrick 13-14
Sam Darnold 13-25
Geno Smith 12-18
Zach Wilson 8-14
Josh McCown 5-11
Mike White 2-5
Michael Vick 1-2
Bryce Petty 1-6
Joe Flacco 1-8
Greg McElroy 0-1
Trevor Siemian 0-1
Luke Falk 0-2
This is why the Jets now have a Hall of Fame QB.
— Pointspreads on the first four Super Bowls were all 11+ points; the NFL teams were assumed to be dominant over the AFL teams, but Super Bowls 3-4 were both won by AFC underdogs.
First Super Bowl was a single digit spread was Super Bowl 5, when the Colts, who moved to the AFC after the NFL-AFL merger, upset Dallas 16-13.
— Arizona Cardinals cut 36-year old QB Colt McCoy Monday, which means Arizona’s starting QB 12 days from now will either be rookie Clayton Tune or the recently acquired Joshua Dobbs.
Starter Kyler Murray is still on the PUP List; he signed a 5-year, $230M deal last year, but then he tore up his knee late last season. It is unclear when he’ll be back playing for the Redbirds.
— Chicago Bears cut backup QB PJ Walker; he signed a 2-year, $4.15M deal with the Bears in March, with $2M in guarantees, but now he is gone.
— Today is cutdown day in the NFL; teams have to cut their rosters from 90 to 53 players. Tough day for a lot of players and their families.
