CNOTES 2021-2022 NHL TRENDS, NEWS, BEST BETS AND OPINIONS THRU THE PLAYOFFS !

[Udog]

TAMPA BAY is 9-0 ATS (9 Units) in home games after failing to cover 2 of their last 3 against the spread in the current season.




NHL
Dunkel

Monday, June 20






NHL

Monday, June 20

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Trend Report
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Colorado @ Tampa Bay
Colorado
Colorado is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Colorado is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Tampa Bay's last 5 games at home


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Avalanche are 57-19 in the past 76 games overall.
Avalanche are 23-9 in the past 32 road games.
Avalanche are 7-0 in the past seven road playoff games.
Avalanche are 41-18 in the past 59 on a day of rest.
Lightning are 8-3 in the past 11 Stanley Cup Final games.
Lightning are 40-15 in the past 55 home games.
OVER is 5-2 in the past seven road games for the Avalanche.
OVER is 9-4-1 in the past 14 vs. Eastern Conference teams for the Avs.
UNDER is 7-0 in the past seven on a day of rest for the Lightning.
UNDER is 5-0 in the past five home games for the Lightning.
Avalanche are 4-1 in the past five meetings.
Favorite is 16-5 in the past 21 meetings.
OVER is 5-1 in the past six meetings.
OVER is 4-0 in the past four meetings in Tampa.

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack
Spreads on NFL games this season:
Week 1— Green Bay (-1.5) @ Minnesota
Week 2— Arizona @ Las Vegas (-2)
Week 3— Buffalo (-4) @ Miami
Week 4— Seattle @ Detroit (-2)
Week 5— Cincinnati @ Baltimore (-2.5)
Week 6— Washington (-2.5) @ Chicago

Quote of the Day
“I’m not much of a golfer. I don’t have any friends. And all I like to do the day of a game is to go home and be alone and worry about ways not to lose.”
Bear Bryant

Tuesday’s quiz
In the movie Blue Chips, Nick Nolte plays the basketball coach at fictional Western University. Which basketball Hall of Famer plays Western’a athletic director in the movie?


Monday’s quiz
Baltimore Colts drafted John Elway in 1983, then traded him to Denver.

Sunday’s quiz
John Adams was the 2nd President of the United States.

*********************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….

I wavered on whether I wanted to do this or not, but here are my top 20 NBA players of all-time. This is obviously open to debate; make your own list, see what you come up with.

First team:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar— the best player ever
Michael Jordan
Lebron James— 2nd/3rd best players, or 3rd/2nd best players
Bill Russell— won 11 titles in 13 seasons as a player
Earvin Johnson— the best point guard ever.

Next five guys:
Wilt Chamberlain— Averaged 22.9 rebounds/game in his career
Tim Duncan— only 7 guys have won 4+ rings, 2+ MVP’s.
Kobe Bryant
Oscar Robertson
Steph Curry— the best shooter ever.

Third team:
Larry Bird
Karl Malone
Shaquille O’Neal
David Robinson
Dwyane Wade

Players 16-20:
Hakeem Olajuwon
Jerry West
Kevin Durant
John Stockton
Rick Barry— maybe the most underrated player ever

Again, these are all GREAT players. Also, sometime in the next few days, I’ll realize that I left someone off this list and I’m going to update it, but this is my list, for now. Again, make your own list; lot of great players to choose from.

— Seattle Mariners have already been shut out ten times this season, not good for a team that was supposed to contend for a playoff spot. Mariners are 29-39, the most disappointing team in the major leagues so far this year.

— Why do teams shift against the Mets’ Jeff McNeil? He is a slap hitter, and pretty skilled at locking his hips and poking the ball thru the vacant shortstop hole.

Shifts are way overdone in baseball, part of the reason it’ll be good to see them go next year.

— Brewers 2, Cardinals 0— St Louis is 13-2 against the Reds/Pirates, 25-29 against everyone else. Milwaukee leads NL Central by a game over the Redbirds.

— Four of the eight teams in the College World Series are from the SEC.

Over/unders in the last game of a series:
Arizona under 14-7
Atlanta over 10-9-2
Cubs over 12-8-1
Cincinnati 10-10-1
Colorado over 11-10
Dodgers under 10-9-2
Miami over 13-8
Milwaukee over 12-9
Mets over 11-8-2
Philadelphia over 11-10
Pittsburgh under 13-7-1
St Louis over 13-9
San Diego under 12-9
San Francisco 10-10-1
Washington under 11-8-2

Baltimore 10-10-1
Boston under 11-7-3
White Sox over 12-9
Cleveland under 12-9
Detroit under 11-9-1
Houston under 13-8
Kansas City over 13-8-1
Angels under 13-6-2
Minnesota under 11-10
New York under 12-9
Oakland under 10-9-2
Seattle under 11-10
Tampa Bay under 13-8
Texas 10-10-1
Toronto over 11-10

— Arizona rookie IF Buddy Kennedy hit a grand slam Sunday, for his first major league homer; he hit a 3-0 pitch over the fence. Turns out Kennedy had the take sign but didn’t know it- he thought the count was 2-0. These things get excused when you hit a home run.

— Pirates 12, Cubs 1— Rookie Oneil Cruz, a 6-7 shortstop, knocked in four runs in his major league debut. Pirates have brought up several rookies the last few weeks.

— Royals 6, Angels 2— Halos lost 20 of their last 26 games, are fading fast.

— Lightning 6, Avalanche 2— Home team has won all three games in Stanley Cup finals; Colorado leads 2 game to 1.

---

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume tomorrow.

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack
— Royals 12, Angels 11 (11)— Halos lost despite Ohtani knocking in eight runs.
— Angels are now 2-12 in games where GW run scored from 7th inning on.
— Tampa Bay 5, New York 4— Isaac Parades hit homers his first three trips to the plate.
— Tampa Bay now has 15 guys on the injured list.
— Guardians 6, Twins 5 (11)— Teams are tied for first in AL Central.
— There were four extra inning games last night, lot of good action.

Quote of the Day
“One event doesn’t make 14 wins (in a row) happen. But it was nice to hear Snit get up there and tell everyone to relax a little. We were not playing great baseball as far as the complete package, so it was just a ‘take a deep breath’ type of meeting.”
Braves’ 1B Matt Olson

Wednesday’s quiz
Who has hit the most postseason home runs in major league history?
Hint: He retired in 2011

Tuesday’s quiz
In the movie Blue Chips, Nick Nolte plays the basketball coach at fictional Western University. Bob Cousy plays Western’a athletic director in the movie.

Monday’s quiz
Baltimore Colts drafted John Elway in 1983, then traded him to Denver.

*******************************

Wednesday’s Den: Turning points to think about…….

There are turning points in all walks of life; if this hadn’t have happened, then that wouldn’t have followed. The flowchart of life takes some interesting turns. Here are some memorable turning points that I remember:

13) In 1965, Richard Nixon was offered a $100,000 salary and an unlimited expense account to become commissioner of baseball. He turned it down: “Don’t tell Pat. She’d kill me for turning you down.” Pat was Mrs Nixon.

The history of our country would be vastly different had he accepted the job.

12) 1984 NBA Draft; Houston Rockets took Hakeem Olajuwon with the first pick; that turned out very well. Houston won a couple of NBA titles.

Portland then took Sam Bowie with the Forum pick; he played 10 years in the NBA, but started only 349 games, scoring 10.9 ppg.

History of the NBA would be a little different if Portland had chosen the guy the Bulls took with the Blogs pick that year— Michael Jordan.

11) In 2006, Nick Saban was coaching the Miami Dolphins; they went 9-7 in his first season, but were looking for a QB to upgrade from Gus Frerotte. There was a free agent QB who had played for the Chargers, going 30-28 as San Diego’s starter. QB was well-regarded, but he tore his labrum in his shoulder in 2005, and the Chargers had a young Philip Rivers, so they moved on to the younger QB.

Miami’s team physician recommended passing on the free agent QB, so they signed Daunte Culpepper instead. Culpepper played four games for the Dolphins.

Imagine how football would be different had the Dolphins signed Drew Brees:
a) Saints might’ve never won a Super Bowl.
b) Saban would probably still be coaching the Dolphins and never would’ve gone to Alabama, where he became, arguably, the best coach in college football history.

10) Robert Irsay bought the Los Angeles Rams on July 13, 1972; he then immediately traded the franchise to Carroll Rosenbloom, who was the owner of the Baltimore Colts. Rosenbloom made the deal in part because he saved $4.4M in taxes.

— 11 years later, Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis, right after he drafted John Elway and traded him to Denver.
— Irsay’s son Jim now owns the Colts; he is a much better owner than his dad was.
— In 1979, Rosenbloom died in a swimming accident; his wife Georgia inherited the team, and in 1995, moved the Rams to her hometown of St Louis.
— After Georgia Frontiere died (Rosenbloom was her 6th husband, Dominic Frontiere her 7th) Stan Kroenke bought her 70% of the team and moved the team back to Los Angeles.
— As of 2019, according to Forbes Magazine, the Rams were worth $3.8B, the Colts #2.65B. After last season, Rams might be worth more now.

9) Dell Curry played 16 years in the NBA, scoring 12,670 points; he played his college ball at Virginia Tech, not a traditional hoop power.

Curry’s two sons were pretty good high school players, but Virginia Tech didn’t recruit either one of them. Bad move.

Seth Curry started at Liberty, then transferred to Duke; he’s scored 11.3 ppg in his eight years in the NBA.

Steph Curry played college ball at Davidson; they made the Elite 8 in 2008, while Virginia Tech made the NCAA Tournament once in Seth Greenberg’s nine years as the Hokies’ coach.

Greenberg does a very good job as ESPN’s studio analyst, but had he recruited Steph Curry, he might still be coaching Virginia Tech.

Steph Curry, obviously, is an all-time great in the NBA, one of only seven players ever to win 4+ championships and 2+ MVP awards.

8) Speaking of Steph Curry, he was the 7th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Smart move. Golden State has won four championships in the Curry/Klay Thompson era. Warriors are 101-54 in playoff games, since they drafted Curry.

Minnesota Timberwolves had the 5th and 6th picks that season; they needed guards but took Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn instead of Curry. Bad move.

In 13 years since then, Minnesota has made the playoffs twice, going 3-8 in playoff games.

7) In the fall of 1979, Jack McKinney was coach of the Los Angeles Lakers; they had a rookie point guard named Earvin Johnson, and were off to a 10-4 start. On an off day, McKinney went out for a bike ride but had an accident and had a brain injury. He never coached the Lakers again, though he did coach the Pacers/Kings down the road.

Paul Westhead took over from McKinney; Lakers won the NBA title that year, but two years later, he had a falling out with Earvin Johnson and the Lakers fired him, after a 7-4 start.

The new coach was Pat Riley, who prior to McKinney’s bike accident, was the color analyst on Lakers’ radio broadcasts. Riley turned out to be one of the best coaches in NBA history (he won five NBA titles) and is still running the Miami Heat franchise, but the fact is, had McKinney’s bike accident never happened, Riley may have never gotten his chance to be a coach.

6) August 12, 1987, the Detroit Tigers acquired P Doyle Alexander from the Atlanta Braves, trading away a minor league pitcher. Guy named Smoltz.

Detroit went 98-64 in 1987, winning the AL East; they lost the ALCS to Minnesota, but this was only the second time Detroit had made the playoffs in 15 years. They didn’t make the playoffs again until 2006.

Meanwhile, John Smoltz went on to a Hall of Fame career, winning 213 games and saving 154 others; dealing Alexander in 1987, when Atlanta went 69-92, helped the Braves make the playoffs 14 times in 15 years, starting in 1991.

5) Dodgers bolted Brooklyn and moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season; they needed a second team to move to the west coast, to make travel feasible for the other six teams in the National League. Move has obviously turned out to be a great one for the Dodgers.

At the time Dodgers/Giants/Bronx were all in New York City; the Giants were doing the worst of the three on the field, and attendance at the Polo Grounds wasn’t good, so they agreed to move, figuring a move to the Bay Area would be more lucrative then splitting the financial pie with a more successful team in the Bronx.

Problem is, Candlestick Park wasn’t such a great ballpark; very windy, had to share it with the 49ers. Giants didn’t do their due diligence on Candlestick Point, and wound up, for 40 or so years, with a sub-standard stadium.

Their new stadium is way better and now the Giants have a good deal, but think about it; would you rather own the Giants or the Mets, who came into being in 1962, filling the void left by the two teams bolting to California?

4) When Brett Favre was Green Bay’s quarterback in 1994, his backup was Mark Brunell, who wound getting traded to Jacksonville the next year, the Jaguars’ first season.

Green Bay had another QB in camp in 1994, but they cut him. Guy wound up playing in the Arena League for three years, then in NFL Europe, before signing with the Rams in 1998. Now he is in the Hall of Fame— Kurt Warner.

Had Green Bay kept Warner instead of Brunell, they might mot have made a movie about him.

3) Baseball’s 1970 All-Star Game in Cincinnati went 12 innings; National League won 5-4 when Pete Rose bowled over catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run, even though Fosse didn’t have the ball yet.

Fosse suffered a separated shoulder and wasn’t the same player after that. Cleveland traded him to the A’s two years later. Fosse helped the A’s win two World Series and wound up being a TV analyst for Oakland for 35 years after he retired.

2) In 2017, Chicago Bears traded up (gave up a 3rd and 4th round pick) to the Forum spot in the NFL Draft, in order to take QB Mitchell Trubisky, who went 29-23 as Chicago’s starter in his four years there. Not a bad record, but the Bears lost both playoff games in the Trubisky era.

Problem is, Chicago could’ve kept those 3rd/4th round picks and taken Patrick Mahomes, who was the 10th pick that year. NFL would look a lot different had that happened.

Of course, Chicago could’ve also taken Deshaun Watson that year; then they would have a much different kind of mess on their hands. Watson was the 12th pick in that draft.

1) Tom Brady was the 199th player picked in the 2000 Draft, a 6th-round pick. He became the starter in New England because Drew Bledsoe got hurt in a 2001 game.

Since then, Brady has won seven Super Bowls and is one of the best QB’s ever. Every team in the NFL passed on him multiple times, including the Patriots.

Brady’s record in New England: 249-75
Bill Belichick’s record as a head coach: 321-156
With Brady: 249-75
Without Brady: 72-81

[Udog]

TAMPA BAY is 10-0 ATS (10 Units) in home games after failing to cover 2 of their last 3 against the spread in the current season.




NHL
Dunkel

Wednesday, June 22






NHL

Wednesday, June 22

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Trend Report
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Colorado @ Tampa Bay
Colorado
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Colorado's last 5 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
Colorado is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Tampa Bay's last 5 games when playing at home against Colorado


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Avalanche are 57-20 in the past 77 games overall.
Avalanche are 23-10 in the past 33 road games.
Avalanche are 7-1 in the past eight road playoff games.
Avalanche are 41-19 in the past 60 on a day of rest.
Lightning are 9-3 in the past 12 Stanley Cup Final games.
Lightning are 41-15 in the past 56 home games.
OVER is 6-2 in the past eight road games for the Avalanche.
OVER is 10-4-1 in the past 15 vs. Eastern Conference teams for the Avs.
UNDER is 7-1 in the past eight on a day of rest for the Lightning.
UNDER is 5-1 in the past six home games for the Lightning.
Avalanche are 4-2 in the past six meetings.
Favorite is 17-5 in the past 22 meetings.
OVER is 6-1 in the past seven meetings.
OVER is 5-0 in the past five meetings in Tampa.

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Thursday’s 6-pack
— Braves 4, Giants 3— Atlanta scored 3 runs in bottom of 9th.
— Guardians 11, Twins 10— Cleveland scored 4 runs in top of 9th.
— Orioles 7, Nationals 0 (6)— Austin Hays hit for the cycle, in a 6-inning game.
— Astros 5, Mets 3— Yordan Alvarez hit a couple home runs.
— Padres 10, Arizona 4— San Diego led 6-0 in second inning.
— Colorado 3, Tampa Bay 2 OT— Avalanche leads Stanley Cup final, 3-1.

Quote of the Day
“Am I surprised? Yes, because of what he said previously. I think that’s why I’m surprised at a lot of these guys because they say one thing and then they do another, and I don’t understand that. And I don’t know if that’s for legal reasons or if they can’t — I have no idea — but it’s pretty duplicitous on their part to say one thing and then do another thing.”
Rory McIlroy, as pro golf begins to resemble pro wrestling

Thursday’s quiz
When Pete Rose first came up to the major leagues, what position did he play?

Wednesday’s quiz
Manny Ramirez hit 29 postseason home runs, the most in major league history.

Tuesday’s quiz
In the movie Blue Chips, Nick Nolte plays the basketball coach at fictional Western University. Bob Cousy plays Western’a athletic director in the movie.

**********************************************

Thursday’s Den: Our first look at the 2022 college football season

13) Before I post my first college football notes for the 2022 season, I added a piece to the daily baseball page: bullpen usage for the last three days, for every team.

With rosters now restricted to 13 pitchers, bullpens are going to be more taxed; we might see more position players pitching now. Teams can only use a position player as a pitcher if they trail by 6+ runs.

12) There are 42 bowl games this season, plus the national championship game, which is in Los Angeles, at SoFi Stadium.

11) College coaching can be lucrative; the offensive coordinator at Auburn makes $800,000 a year, the defensive coordinator $1M a year. The head coach makes $5.1M a year.

10) Clemson lost both its coordinators from last year; Brent Venables was the DC for the last ten years, Tony Elliott the OC for the last seven years. Big shoes to fill for a team that went 10-3 LY; at Clemson these days, 10-3 is a disappointment.

9) How will the Pac-12 do this season? Over the last eight years, only 2 of the 32 teams in the college football playoff have been from the Pac-12.

With Lincoln Riley jumping from Oklahoma to USC, big things are expected from the Trojans, but they were 4-8 last year, giving up 38 ppg during their season-ending 4-game losing skid.

8) Texas went 5-7 in Steve Sarkisian’s first year in Austin, giving up 36.1 ppg over their last seven games. Longhorns lost three games that they led by double digits in the third quarter. Bringing in former TCU coach Gary Patterson as an assistant should help things some.

7) Brian Kelly jumped from Notre Dame to LSU; he is 284-97-2 as a head coach. LSU is 11-12 the last two seasons, after their 15-0 season when Joe Burrow led them to a national title. Burrow is in Cincinnati now; LSU had only 39 scholarship players when they lost 42-20 to Kansas State
in their bowl game last January.

LSU had a lot of roster turnover; even their kicker left early for the pros.

6) Kelly is one of 29 new head coaches in college football this season; there were 18 last year.

5) After a 1-4 start, Western Kentucky won seven of its last eight games, scoring 41+ points seven times. WKU led the country last year, with 85 plays of 20+ yards, but the QB is gone and the offensive coordinator also left. Hilltoppers have a new defensive coordinator for the third year in a row.

4) Oklahoma State QB Spencer Sanders is entering his fourth season as the Cowboys’ starter; OSU went 12-2 last year, with their losses by 24-21/21-16 scores. Cowboys gave up 509 passing yards in their 37-35 Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame.

3) Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker threw for 31 TD’s, only 3 INTs last year, but the Vols were only 7-6 in Josh Heupel’s first season as coach, giving up 31+ points in all six losses. Tennessee gave up 500+ yards in five games last year.

Opponents converted 42.1% of their third down plays last year; for Tennessee’s defense to make a leap and for the Vols to be better than 7-6 this year, that number has to go way down.

2) Nebraska went 1-8 in the Big 14 LY, but all eight losses were by single digit margins; they scored as many points (239) as they gave up in conference games.

Nebraska has had four consecutive losing seasons, yet Scott Frost is still the coach, despite his 15-29 record; he hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in former Texas QB Casey Thompson to work with his new OC, Mark Whipple.

Nebraska opens the season in Ireland, against Northwestern; they also play Oklahoma before conference play starts.

1) Former NFL lineman and TV analyst Tony Siragusa died on Wednesday, at age 55; he helped the Ravens win a Super Bowl in 2000, after playing seven years for the Colts. He played 12 years in the NFL, despite being undrafted out of college at Pittsburgh.

He was very good as a TV analyst, often working from field level; he even tried his hand at acting— he was on The Sopranos. RIP, sir.

[Udog]

No game today.... finals resume tomorrow.

Avs 3 - Lightning 1

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Friday’s 6-pack
Some Week 1 NFL spreads:
— Kansas City (-3) @ Arizona
— Chicago @ San Francisco (-6.5)
— Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (-6.5)
— New England @ Miami (-3)
— Tampa Bay (-2) @ Dallas
— Denver (-4) @ Seattle

Quote of the Day
“Love the people who treat you right; pray for the ones that do not. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of life, getting back up is living.”
Anonymous

Friday’s quiz
Which NBA team drafted Kobe Bryant?

Thursday’s quiz
When Pete Rose first came to the major leagues, he played second base. He wound up playing 2nd, 1st, 3rd and all three outfield positions.

Wednesday’s quiz
Manny Ramirez hit 29 postseason home runs, the most in major league history.

********************************

Friday’s Den: Random thoughts with the weekend here…….

13) NBA commissioner Adam Silver is my favorite commissioner; a tall, bald man with glasses- he must be VERY smart!!!

Glad to see him back on TV at the draft Thursday; he missed the last two games of the NBA Finals with COVID.

12) Commissioner Silver sounded like he is in favor of kids going straight from high school to the NBA, which I think is a good idea. Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant; none of them played college ball. In the long run, it would help college ball, because the kids who play college ball would stay there longer- the game might have more continuity.

11) ABC’s coverage of the draft is unwatchable; four people on the main panel, only one of them played in the NBA and he (Jalen Rose) speaks the least of the four. You need a host, two guys who played in the league, and an ex-coach. Thats it.

Having Stephen A Smith on the draft coverage is just plain stupid.

Turns out ESPN had far better coverage; Jay Bilas is their Mel Kiper-type person and they actually talk about basketball.

10) I am baffled why people wager on any draft; teams purposely lie/mislead people on who they are interested in taking, yet people still wager on who will get drafted where.

9) John Wall opted in on his $47M deal for next season, pretty good bank for a guy who played zero minutes in two of the last three seasons.

Wall played 40 of 72 games in 2020-21; he hasn’t played more than 41 games in any season since 2017. But by all means, pay the guy $47M.

8) In major league history, there has been only walk-off home run that was an inside-the-park grand slam; Roberto Clemente hit it for the Pirates in 1956, as a 20-year old rookie.

7) Minnesota Twins are 4-12 in games where the game-winning run scored from the 7th inning on; despite that, Twins are 39-32 and tied for first in the AL Central.

6) Pirates 8, Cubs 7 (10)— Cubs lost their replay challenge in the top of the first inning, after the seventh pitch of the game. Replay wasn’t conclusive enough for them to risk their challenge on that play.

5) Archie Manning’s grandson Arch Manning (Cooper Manning’s son) committed to play college football at Texas- he still has one year of high school ball left. He is the Home QB prospect in the 2023 class.

4) Angels sent P Reid Detmers down to AAA; with Tyler Gilbert also in AAA, that means the last two pitchers who threw no-hitters in the major leagues are now both in the minor leagues.

3) Mariners 2, A’s 1— Oakland led 1-0 in ninth inning; Seattle scored twice in ninth inning, both on wild pitches. A’s are 9-31 in their last 40 games; they’re 1-9 in game after their last 10 wins.

2) Sean McVay is the third alumnus of Miami OH to win a Super Bowl as a head coach, joining Weeb Ewbank, Jim Harbaugh on the list.

1) Right now, Deshaun Watson/Baker Mayfield are going to be paid a combined $65M by the Cleveland Browns this season; there is a pretty good chance that neither one will play for Cleveland this year.

Oy.

[Udog]

TAMPA BAY is 11-2 Over (8.8 Units) in road games on Friday nights in the last 3 seasons.




NHL
Dunkel

Friday, June 24






NHL

Friday, June 24

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Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tampa Bay @ Colorado
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Colorado
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Tampa Bay's last 9 games when playing Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games
Colorado is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Tampa Bay


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Lightning are 11-5 in the past 16 games overall.
Lightning are 1-4 in the past five road games.
Lightning are 13-5 in the past 18 playoff games as an underdog.
Lightning are 4-1 in the past five as a road underdog.
Avalanche are 59-13 in the past 72 home games.
Avalanche are 36-15 in the past 51 as a favorite.
Avalanche are 5-1 in the past six Stanley Cup Final games.
UNDER is 11-4 in the past 15 games for the Lightning.
UNDER is 5-1 in the past six road games for the Lightning.
UNDER is 7-3 in the past 10 as an underdog for the Lightning.
OVER is 4-1 in the past five games for the Avalanche.
OVER is 4-1 in the past five home games for the Avs.
Home team is 4-1 in the past five meetings.
Favorite is 20-8 in the past 28 meetings.

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in runs scored:
58— Aaron Judge, NYY
55— Tommy Edman, StL
54— Rafael Devers, Bos
53— Mookie Betts, LA
52— Paul Goldschmidt, StL
50— Kyle Schwarber, Phil

Quote of the Day
“Durant’s got four years (left) on his contract, he’s starting that four-year max deal. This isn’t the transfer portal. You don’t get to say where you want to go.”
Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN

Saturday’s quiz
Whose picture is on the $5 bill?

Friday’s quiz
Charlotte Hornets drafted Kobe Bryant, then traded him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac

Thursday’s quiz
When Pete Rose first came to the major leagues, he played second base. He wound up playing 2nd, 1st, 3rd and all three outfield positions.

************************************************** ******

Saturday’s Den: USFL playoff previews and other random stuff…….

13) When I was in 10th grade, had a biology teacher, Mr Broland. He had a crew cut and wore thin glasses; he looked just like Michael Douglas’ character in Falling Down. Very unusual for the 70’s. He had five outfits; one for each day of the week. Still remember that his Friday outfit was a gold tie with a gold button down sweater; he was a quirky guy.

This was 1974-75; we still had chalkboards back then. If someone in the class was talking, Mr Broland would throw one of the erasers at the person. Seriously, he would.

One day this kid Nick is chatting away with the girl next to him; we sat two to a cafeteria table in the classroom, not individual desks. Mr Broland glares at Nick, throws his eraser at him and……. he misses, drilling the girl next to him. Laughter ensues, the girl cried a little bit. That was the last of the eraser throwing.

My point is this; Why the BLEEP would we want teachers in schools to all carry a gun? In what way would this be a good idea? Would I want Mr Broland packing heat if someone invaded our classroom? He couldn’t even hit a kid with a freakin’ eraser!!!

Our politicians are largely corrupt morons. Seriously.

12) Jalen Duran had an interesting Thursday night; he was the 13th pick by Charlotte, but the Hornets traded him to the Knicks, who then traded him to Detroit. Lot of activity for an 18-year old kid. Getting traded twice within a half-hour doesn’t happen a lot.

In his one season of college ball at Memphis, Duren averaged 12 ppg, 1.3 assists/game, and 2.1 blocks/game and shot 60% from the floor.

11) I’ll be curious to see Duren play in the Las Vegas Summer League, which starts in a couple of weeks out in the desert. All the games are TV, but if you like the NBA, I highly recommend going out to Las Vegas and watching it in person.

For $30 or so, you can sit there all day and watch 4-5 high-quality games, in air-conditioning in an arena with excellent concessions and there are lot of famous people there.

I’ve gone 4-5 times, enjoyed it every time. Plus, even if you don’t enjoy it, you’re still in Las Vegas, which is never a bad thing.

10) Charlotte Hornets hired Steve Clifford as their new coach; Clifford is 292-345 in eight years as a head coach, 196-214 in a previous stop in Charlotte, 96-131 in Orlando. He made playoffs in four of those eight years, going 5-16 in playoff games.

Last season, Hornets went 43-39 but missed the playoffs for the sixth straight year, so they told the previous coach to take a hike.

9) San Diego 1, Philadelphia 0— Only run of game scored on a 6th inning single by Austin Nola; the pitcher was his brother, Aaron Nola.

8) Minnesota Twins’ last three games:
— Lost 11-10 at home to the Guardians Wednesday
— Beat Cleveland 1-0 at home Thursday.
— Lost 1-0 at home to Colorado Friday.

USFL playoff games:
Philadelphia vs New Jersey (-4.5, 47.5), in Canton, OH
Philadelphia Stars (6-4)
— Stars are 0-2 vs New Jersey, 6-2 vs everyone else.
— Won five of last seven games.
— Last seven weeks, they’re +10 in turnovers.
— Gave up 23+ points in nine of ten games (over 6-1 last seven).
— Have been outgained in eight of ten games (3-6-1 ATS).
— 1-3 ATS as an underdog.
— 5-1 if they score more than 17 points.

New Jersey Generals (9-1)
— Won last nine games (6-3 ATS), scoring 24.8 ppg in last eight.
— Last four games, Generals are +6 in turnovers (8-2)
— Outscored last four foes 70-34 in first half.
— 4-3 ATS as a favorite
— Six of their last seven games went over the total.

First meeting:
— Generals (+1) won 24-16 back in Week 3.
— New Jersey outrushed the Stars, 269-31.
— Philadelphia led 10-3 at halftime, was outgained 458-259.

Second meeting:
— Generals (-2.5) won 26-23 last week.
— New Jersey ran ball for 178 yards, outgained Stars 410-328.
— Philly ran ball only 17 times for 84 yards.

New Orleans vs Birmingham (-5.5, 44.5) @ Canton, OH
New Orleans Breakers (6-4)
— 5-0 when they score more than 17 points.
— Scored 9-17-3 points in last three games.
— Last three games stayed under the total
— Have nine takeaways in last three games (+2)
— 2-0 ATS this season as an underdog.

Birmingham Stallions (9-1)
— First game this season without home fans.
— Trailed at halftime in half of their ten games
— Outscored opponents 133-76 in second half.
— 0-4 vs spread the last three weeks (6-0 first six weeks)
— Scored 10-15-21 points last three games (26.9 ppg first seven)
— Stallions are favored for 10th time in 11 games (5-4 ATS as a favorite)

First meeting:
— Stallions (+3.5) won 22-13 in Week 3.
— Breakers outgained Birmingham, 316-313.
— Stallions were +2 in turnovers; they led 10-6 at the half.

Second meeting:
— Stallions (-3.5) won 10-9 two weeks ago.
— Breakers outgained Birmingham, 313-301
— Stallions led 7-3 at half; both team had three turnovers.

5) Xander Schauffele leads the PGA Tour event in Hartford by five strokes. Over the last 15 years, guys who led a PGA Tour event by 5+ strokes after the second round won that tournament 15 of 23 times.

4) White Sox are 0-3 in Johnny Cueto’s home starts, scoring 1-1-0 runs in those games.

3) Baseball injuries:
— Royals put C Salvador Perez (thumb) on the IL
— Rays put OF Manuel Margot (knee) on the IL
— White Sox put OF Adam Engel (hamstring) and Adam Mednick (knee) on the IL

2) Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach Guillermo Martínez was suspended five games after a confrontation with an umpire this week; he was suspended for making contact with umpire Doug Eddings during the exchange of lineup cards before Wednesday’s game in Chicago.

Apparently the Blue Jays had a beef with Eddings Tuesday night and it carried over.

1) I have the spreads for all the NFL games this season; somehow, the Cleveland Browns are favored in three of their first four games, even though no one, not even the Browns, know who their quarterback will be in those games.

[Udog]

No game today.... game 6 tomorrow.

Avs 3 - Lightning 2

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Sunday’s 6-pack
— Houston 3, New York 0— Three pitchers combined on a no-hitter.
— Rays 6, Pirates 5— Tampa Bay scored twice in bottom of 9th.
— Orioles 6, White Sox 2— Disappointing Pale Hose are 15-21 at home.
— Texas 3, Washington 2— Adolis Garcia with a walk-off homer.
— A’s 9, Royals 7— Tony Kemp scored three runs, knocked in two others.
— Mets 5, Marlins 3— Pete Alonso hit two home runs.

Quote of the Day
“Completely overwhelmed. I have so many thoughts I want to share but can’t find the words, so I’ll just say this: I’m thankful.”
Pitcher Mark Appel, called up to the majors for the first time, nine years after being the first pick in the 2013 draft.

Sunday’s quiz
When Michael Jordan played minor league baseball for the AA Birmingham Barons, what number did he wear?

Saturday’s quiz
Abraham Lincoln’s picture is on the $5 bill.

Friday’s quiz
Charlotte Hornets drafted Kobe Bryant, then traded him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac

*****************************************

Sunday’s Den: College football knowledge

13) Six quarterbacks who transferred to new schools:
— Caleb Williams, Oklahoma to USC
— Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma to South Carolina
— Dillon Gabriel, Central Florida to Oklahoma
— JT Daniels, Georgia to West Virginia
— Bo Nix, Auburn to Oregon
— Kedon Slovis, USC to Pittsburgh

12) Clemson went 10-3 LY, which is a bad year for them; QB DT Uiagalelei completed only 55.6% of his passes LY, with nine TD passes, 10 INT’s. If Clemson is going to continue to dominate the ACC, their passing game has to be better than that. Having a new offensive coordinator complicates things some.

11) Baylor went 12-2 last year; they went for it on 4th down 33 times, which seems like a lot for such a good team- it was the 6th-most of any team in country. Bears converted 19 of those 33 fourth down plays.

This season, Baylor opens with I-AA Albany, where I went to school. My work study job back then was doing stats for football/basketball games. We didn’t have any good road trips like Baylor— the Great Danes were Division III back then.

10) Houston Cougars’ defense allowed opponents to convert only 29.7% of third down plays last year, the best %age in the country.

9) Indiana went 2-10 last year; they fired five assistant coaches, added 12 transfers. Hoosiers ranked 107th in red zone offense, 116th in red zone defense. Obviously, their Home priority is being better in the red zone.

8) Stanford was an unusually-bad 3-9 last year, losing their last seven games while scoring only 14.3 ppg. Cardinal was 0-8 last year when they scored fewer than 31 points- they bring back 10 starters on offense this season.

7) Last year, Charlotte’s defense was 129th in pass defense; there are 131 I-A teams. In their last three games, 49ers gave up 42-49-56 points. Charlotte gave up 73 plays of 20+ yards.

6) Florida State went 5-7 last year; six of their 12 games were decided by exactly 3 points, with Seminoles splitting those six games.

5) Iowa State was a disappointing 7-6 last year, 2-5 in games decided by 7 or less points, and one of the wins was 16-10 over I-AA Northern Iowa.

4) Temple lost its last seven games last year, outscored by an average of 43-8; they hired a new coach, Stan Drayton, a long-time assistant who was a great running back in his playing days.

3) Boise State was a disappointing 7-5 last year; they ranked 110th in country running the ball. Broncos have 15 of 22 starters back this season, have a QB with 25 career starts— improvement is expected.

2) Bowling Green QB Matt McDonald is in his sixth year of college football; he was at Boston College for two years, then transferred to Bowling Green, where he has started 17 games.

1) Michigan has only three starters back on defense; they’re on their third defensive coordinator in three seasons. LY’s DC jumped to the Baltimore Ravens, going from Jim Harbaugh’s team to John Harbaugh’s team. Wolverines don’t have any road games in September.

[Udog]

COLORADO is 14-4 Over (9.6 Units) in road games after 3 straight games with 33 or more shots on goal over the last 2 seasons.




NHL
Dunkel

Sunday, June 26






NHL

Sunday, June 26

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Trend Report
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Colorado @ Tampa Bay
Colorado
Colorado is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Colorado's last 6 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Tampa Bay's last 7 games at home


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Avalanche are 8-1 in the past nine road games.
Lightning are 13-5 in the past 18 games overall.
Lightning are 41-16 in the past 57 home games.
Lightning are 10-4 in the past 14 Stanley Cup Final games.
OVER is 6-2 in the past eight road games for the Avalanche.
UNDER is 13-4 in the past 17 games overall for the Lightning.
UNDER is 6-1 in the past seven home games for the Lightning.
UNDER is 10-1 in the past 11 games on a day of rest for the Lightning.
Favorite is 18-7 in the past 25 meetings.
OVER is 5-1 in the past six meetings in Tampa.