CNOTES 2025 2026 NHL NEWS, BEST BETS, AND OPINION !
- Thread starter Cnotes53
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Saturday’s 6-pack
Teams with the most players in the World Baseball Classic:
17- Mets
16- Mariners
15- Phillies
14- Red Sox
14- Royals
14- Brewers
14- Pirates
Quote of the Day
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu
Saturday’s quiz
Who is the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in rushing yards?
Friday’s quiz
Joe Torre is the last player to ground into four double plays in one game; he did it in 1975, the only other guy to do it was in 1934.
Thursday’s quiz
Chicago Bears are the only NFL team to run the opening kickoff of a Super Bowl back for a TD.
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St John’s wins its ninth game in a row.
Loss snaps Huskies’ 18-game winning streak.
Red Storm was 22-31 on foul line, UConn 5-12
Game was 39-39 at halftime.
— RIP to the great QB Sonny Jurgensen, who passed away this week at age 91; he led the NFL in passing five times in an 18-year career, for the Eagles/Redskins. In his career, Jurgensen threw for 32,224 yards, playing in an era when teams didn’t throw that much. RIP, sir.
One of the first NFL games I remember was in 1966; I was six years old. Washington beat the Giants 72-41…..
Washington ran a punt back for a TD, scored two defensive TD’s
The two kickers were brothers; Pete/Charlie Gogolak.
Giants outgained Washington 389-341, but had six turnovers.
In a game with 113 points, both teams had 100+ penalty yards.
— There is only one QB in NFL history who is eligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame who has won a Super Bowl, and also won an MVP award…….Joe Theismann.
— LA Rams are bringing in Kliff Kingsbury in to be an assistant coach next year, which should help their offense, which is already really good.
— World Baseball Classic will have 36 players who were major league All-Stars last year.
— 38-year old 1B Paul Goldschmidt signed up to go back to the Bronx this season; last year, he hit .274 with a .731 OPS in New York.
— Way back in 1976, Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves for $12M; he sold the Braves in 2007, for $450M. Pretty good deal.
— OF Michael Siani has played in 160 games the last four years, for the Reds/Cardinals. He’s had an interesting off-season:
November 6th- Braves claimed him off waivers.
December 10th- Braves designated him for assignment
December 12th- Dodgers claimed him off waivers.
January 21st- Dodgers designated him for assignment
January 23rd- Bronx claimed him off waivers.
January 28th- Bronx designated him for assignment.
Spring training starts next week……
— Was disappointed to hear that Buck Martinez retired as a TV announcer this week; he was very good on TV, teamed with Dan Schulman on Blue Jays games.
— Famous birthdays, February 7th:
Burt Hooton, 76
Rolf Benirschke, 71
Carney Lansford, 69
James Spader, 66
Rick Neuheisel, 65
Chris Rock, 61
Billy Joe Tolliver, 60
Juwan Howard, 53
Steve Nash, 52
Ashton Kutcher, 48
Matthew Stafford, 38
Shedeur Sanders, 24
— Last week, Portland Pilots had so many players sick, coach Shantay Legans was playing on the scout team during practice; he tore his achilles. Not ideal.
This week has been better for Portland; they upset Gonzaga as 21-point underdogs, ending a 20-game losing streak against the Zags.
— AAC is doing their conference tournament a little different this year; only 10 of their 13 teams will be in the conference tournament.
— Referee DJ Carstensen has officiated 56 games this season; he played college ball at Utica College in the early 80’s, when the Pioneers made a run at becoming a Division I team. Their coach was Larry Costello, who had coached the Milwaukee Bucks when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a rookie.
Back then, I was student manager at Albany, at the time a really good D-3 program; we played Utica every year, but when they went D-I, we didn’t beat them. Carstensen was a good player.
— Chicago Bulls are 24-28 this year, on the bubble for the last playoff spot in the East; they’ve traded away seven players, and brought in seven new players in an almost complete overhaul of their roster.
— Belmont 68, Ill-Chicago 62
Belmont was 13-31 on the arc, Flames were 3-18
Second loss in row for UIC, after an 8-game win streak.
Belmont has won nine a row, leads MVC by two games.
— There is a woman skiing in the Olympics with a torn ACL; didn’t think that was possible, but it obviously is. She is wearing a knee brace, but still, jeez, she must be very, very tough.
Teams with the most players in the World Baseball Classic:
17- Mets
16- Mariners
15- Phillies
14- Red Sox
14- Royals
14- Brewers
14- Pirates
Quote of the Day
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu
Saturday’s quiz
Who is the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in rushing yards?
Friday’s quiz
Joe Torre is the last player to ground into four double plays in one game; he did it in 1975, the only other guy to do it was in 1934.
Thursday’s quiz
Chicago Bears are the only NFL team to run the opening kickoff of a Super Bowl back for a TD.
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Saturday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— St John’s 81, UConn 72St John’s wins its ninth game in a row.
Loss snaps Huskies’ 18-game winning streak.
Red Storm was 22-31 on foul line, UConn 5-12
Game was 39-39 at halftime.
— RIP to the great QB Sonny Jurgensen, who passed away this week at age 91; he led the NFL in passing five times in an 18-year career, for the Eagles/Redskins. In his career, Jurgensen threw for 32,224 yards, playing in an era when teams didn’t throw that much. RIP, sir.
One of the first NFL games I remember was in 1966; I was six years old. Washington beat the Giants 72-41…..
Washington ran a punt back for a TD, scored two defensive TD’s
The two kickers were brothers; Pete/Charlie Gogolak.
Giants outgained Washington 389-341, but had six turnovers.
In a game with 113 points, both teams had 100+ penalty yards.
— There is only one QB in NFL history who is eligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame who has won a Super Bowl, and also won an MVP award…….Joe Theismann.
— LA Rams are bringing in Kliff Kingsbury in to be an assistant coach next year, which should help their offense, which is already really good.
— World Baseball Classic will have 36 players who were major league All-Stars last year.
— 38-year old 1B Paul Goldschmidt signed up to go back to the Bronx this season; last year, he hit .274 with a .731 OPS in New York.
— Way back in 1976, Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves for $12M; he sold the Braves in 2007, for $450M. Pretty good deal.
— OF Michael Siani has played in 160 games the last four years, for the Reds/Cardinals. He’s had an interesting off-season:
November 6th- Braves claimed him off waivers.
December 10th- Braves designated him for assignment
December 12th- Dodgers claimed him off waivers.
January 21st- Dodgers designated him for assignment
January 23rd- Bronx claimed him off waivers.
January 28th- Bronx designated him for assignment.
Spring training starts next week……
— Was disappointed to hear that Buck Martinez retired as a TV announcer this week; he was very good on TV, teamed with Dan Schulman on Blue Jays games.
— Famous birthdays, February 7th:
Burt Hooton, 76
Rolf Benirschke, 71
Carney Lansford, 69
James Spader, 66
Rick Neuheisel, 65
Chris Rock, 61
Billy Joe Tolliver, 60
Juwan Howard, 53
Steve Nash, 52
Ashton Kutcher, 48
Matthew Stafford, 38
Shedeur Sanders, 24
— Last week, Portland Pilots had so many players sick, coach Shantay Legans was playing on the scout team during practice; he tore his achilles. Not ideal.
This week has been better for Portland; they upset Gonzaga as 21-point underdogs, ending a 20-game losing streak against the Zags.
— AAC is doing their conference tournament a little different this year; only 10 of their 13 teams will be in the conference tournament.
— Referee DJ Carstensen has officiated 56 games this season; he played college ball at Utica College in the early 80’s, when the Pioneers made a run at becoming a Division I team. Their coach was Larry Costello, who had coached the Milwaukee Bucks when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a rookie.
Back then, I was student manager at Albany, at the time a really good D-3 program; we played Utica every year, but when they went D-I, we didn’t beat them. Carstensen was a good player.
— Chicago Bulls are 24-28 this year, on the bubble for the last playoff spot in the East; they’ve traded away seven players, and brought in seven new players in an almost complete overhaul of their roster.
— Belmont 68, Ill-Chicago 62
Belmont was 13-31 on the arc, Flames were 3-18
Second loss in row for UIC, after an 8-game win streak.
Belmont has won nine a row, leads MVC by two games.
— There is a woman skiing in the Olympics with a torn ACL; didn’t think that was possible, but it obviously is. She is wearing a knee brace, but still, jeez, she must be very, very tough.
Sunday’s 6-pack
Tarik Skubal’s salary, the last six years:
2021— $574,000
2022— $714,000
2023— $744,000
2024— $2.65M
2025— $10.15M
2026— $32M
Quote of the Day
“Nothing is really fun unless it’s hard. Embrace the fact that it’s hard.”
Mike Leach
Thursday’s quiz
Who was QB for the Seahawks, the first time they played in a Super Bowl?
Saturday’s quiz
Sam Cunningham is the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in rushing yards.
Friday’s quiz
Joe Torre is the last player to ground into four double plays in one game; he did it in 1975, the only other guy to do it was in 1934.
***************************************
North Carolina 71, Duke 68
Tar Heels hit a 3-pointer with 0:00.4 left, their first lead of game.
Duke led 18-5 right out of the gate.
UNC has won five in a row, is 19-4, 7-3 in ACC.
Clemson 77, California 55
Clemson shot 12-26 on arc, improved to 10-1 in ACC
Cal is shooting only 45.3% inside arc in ACC play (#18 of 18)
Why are these teams in the same league? Seriously?
Bracketology has ACC getting eight teams in NCAA Tournament
42.1% of shots taken in ACC games are 3’s (#4 in country)
— SEC
Oklahoma 92, Vanderbilt 91
Sooners snap a nine-game losing streak.
Oklahoma led by 21 with 4:59 left, hung on for dear life.
Vandy is 3-4 in last seven games, after a 16-0 start.
Tyler Tanner scored 37 points, had nine assists for Vandy.
Alabama 96, Auburn 92
Auburn led by 10 late in first half.
Alabama shot 12-23 on the arc, scored 1.29 ppp.
SEC teams are shooting 39% on arc vs Auburn this year.
Bracketology has SEC getting ten teams in NCAA Tournament
SEC games are the 3rd-fastest of any league in country.
— Big 18
Indiana 78, Wisconsin 77 OT
Wisconsin was up by 4 with 0:57 left in regulation.
Hoosiers shot 61% inside the arc.
Indiana won four of last five games, is 7-6 in conference.
Michigan State 85, Illinois 82 OT
MSU’s Jeremy Fears scored 26 points, had 15 assists.
Loss snaps Illinois’ 12-game winning streak.
Spartans won eight of their last ten games.
Bracketology has Big 18 getting 11 teams in NCAA Tournament
42.7% of shots taken in Big 18 games are 3’s (#3 in country)
— Big East
Creighton 69, Seton Hall 68
Seton Hall led by 9 with 1:35 left in the game.
Pirates are 2-6 in last eight games, after a 14-2 start.
Bluejays snap three-game skid, are 7-6 in conference.
Marquette 70, Butler 55
Golden Eagles shot 14-31 on the arc.
Butler has won four in row, eight of last 11 games.
Marquette won its last three home games.
Bracketology has Big East getting three teams in NCAA Tournament
Big East teams are shooting only 71.5% on foul line in league games (#26 in country)
— Mountain West
UNLV 80, Grand Canyon 78
Rebels hung on and snapped four-game skid.
Gibbs-Lawhorn played all 40:00, scored 29 points.
Grand Canyon is 8-4 in their first year in Mountain West.
Utah State 85, Wyoming 83
Utah State shot 69.7% inside arc, scored 1.26 ppp
Utah State has #14 eFG% in the country.
Aggies have won five in row, are 11-2 in Mountain West.
Bracketology has Mountain West getting two teams in NCAA Tournament
Only ten MW games all season were decided by 4 or less points, or in OT.
— WCC
Gonzaga 81, Oregon State 61
Zags shot 63% inside arc, scored 1.46 ppp
Graham Ike scored 35 points, had 7 rebounds.
Beavers shot 10-18 on arc, only 36% inside arc.
Santa Clara 96, Washington State 92
Game was 49-49 at halftime.
Broncos have won eight in row, 12 of last 13 games.
Santa Clara shot 63.6% inside arc, scored 1.35 ppp.
Bracketology has WCC getting three teams in NCAA Tournament
Home teams have won 65.8% of WCC games, #3 in country.
— Atlantic 14
George Mason 60, Saint Joseph’s 52
St Joe’s led by 6 with 13:18 left in the game.
Hawks had 20 offensive rebounds, had 44-35 edge on boards.
Patriots are 9-2 in A-14, tied for second with VCU.
Saint Louis 82, La Salle 58
Billikens have won 17 in a row, are 11-0 in conference.
Saint Louis shot 13-30 on arc, shot 60.9% inside arc.
Saint Louis has a 61.1 eFG%, #2 in country.
Bracketology has A-14 as a one-bid league in NCAA Tournament
Home teams have won only 50.6% of A-14 games, #29 in country.
— Famous birthdays, February 8th
Nick Nolte, 85
Mary Steenburgen, 73
Marques Johnson, 70
Mary McCormack, 57
Alonzo Mourning, 56
Jamie Martin, 56
Susan Misner, 55
Julio Jones, 37
Klay Thompson, 36
Jared Triolo, 28
— MAC-Sun Belt challenge
Miami OH 90, Marshall 74
Miami led 41-17 late in first half.
RedHawks improved to 24-0 this season.
Miami is shooting 63% inside arc this year (#2 in country)
Southern Mississippi 66, Kent State 65
Kent State led by 9 with 6:59 left in the game.
Golden Flashes were only 8-18 on the foul line.
USM’s Isaac Taveras scored 16 points in 17:00 off the bench.
Sun Belt teams won 10 go the 13 games in this challenge Saturday.
Both of these leagues are one-bid leagues; the conference tournaments will be fun.
— Big X
TCU 84, Kansas State 82
K-State led by 10 with 5:26 left in the game.
TCU was 22-26 on foul line, Wildcats 5-8
Just third win in last nine games for the Horned Frogs.
Iowa State 72, Baylor 69
Iowa State shot 63.6% inside arc, had 37-25 edge on boards.
Cyclones have won five in a row, are 21-2, 8-2 in conference.
Three of Baylor’s five starters played all 40:00.
Bracketology has Big X getting 7 teams into the NCAA Tournament
Out of 31 leagues, Big X games have 6th-fastest tempo.
— Horizon
Wright State 73, Fort Wayne 68
Wright State shot 63.3% inside arc, had 39-24 edge on boards.
Raiders are 11-2 in last 13 games, after a 5-7 start.
Wright State leads Horizon by a game over Oakland.
Green Bay 76, Detroit 63
Green Bay never trailed, led by 18 early in second half.
Detroit shot only 31.4% inside the arc.
Green Bay is 14-12 this year; they were 4-28 last year.
Bracketology has Horizon as a one-bid league in NCAA Tournament
Horizon games have #3 eFG% in country; good offense/bad defense??
— Southern
East Tennessee State 87, VMI 70
Buccaneers shot 67.7% inside the arc.
ETSU has won three in row, 10 of last 12 games.
ETSU leads Wofforrd by a game, atop SoCon standings.
Citadel 78, Chattanooga 71
Citadel shot 69% inside the arc.
Citadel is 5-3 SU/6-2 ATS in their last eight games.
Chattanooga lost five of its last six games.
Bracketology has SoCon as a one-bid league in NCAA Tournament
43.9% of shots in So-Con games are 3’s, highest %age in country.
Tarik Skubal’s salary, the last six years:
2021— $574,000
2022— $714,000
2023— $744,000
2024— $2.65M
2025— $10.15M
2026— $32M
Quote of the Day
“Nothing is really fun unless it’s hard. Embrace the fact that it’s hard.”
Mike Leach
Thursday’s quiz
Who was QB for the Seahawks, the first time they played in a Super Bowl?
Saturday’s quiz
Sam Cunningham is the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in rushing yards.
Friday’s quiz
Joe Torre is the last player to ground into four double plays in one game; he did it in 1975, the only other guy to do it was in 1934.
***************************************
Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a college basketball Saturday……
— ACCNorth Carolina 71, Duke 68
Tar Heels hit a 3-pointer with 0:00.4 left, their first lead of game.
Duke led 18-5 right out of the gate.
UNC has won five in a row, is 19-4, 7-3 in ACC.
Clemson 77, California 55
Clemson shot 12-26 on arc, improved to 10-1 in ACC
Cal is shooting only 45.3% inside arc in ACC play (#18 of 18)
Why are these teams in the same league? Seriously?
Bracketology has ACC getting eight teams in NCAA Tournament
42.1% of shots taken in ACC games are 3’s (#4 in country)
— SEC
Oklahoma 92, Vanderbilt 91
Sooners snap a nine-game losing streak.
Oklahoma led by 21 with 4:59 left, hung on for dear life.
Vandy is 3-4 in last seven games, after a 16-0 start.
Tyler Tanner scored 37 points, had nine assists for Vandy.
Alabama 96, Auburn 92
Auburn led by 10 late in first half.
Alabama shot 12-23 on the arc, scored 1.29 ppp.
SEC teams are shooting 39% on arc vs Auburn this year.
Bracketology has SEC getting ten teams in NCAA Tournament
SEC games are the 3rd-fastest of any league in country.
— Big 18
Indiana 78, Wisconsin 77 OT
Wisconsin was up by 4 with 0:57 left in regulation.
Hoosiers shot 61% inside the arc.
Indiana won four of last five games, is 7-6 in conference.
Michigan State 85, Illinois 82 OT
MSU’s Jeremy Fears scored 26 points, had 15 assists.
Loss snaps Illinois’ 12-game winning streak.
Spartans won eight of their last ten games.
Bracketology has Big 18 getting 11 teams in NCAA Tournament
42.7% of shots taken in Big 18 games are 3’s (#3 in country)
— Big East
Creighton 69, Seton Hall 68
Seton Hall led by 9 with 1:35 left in the game.
Pirates are 2-6 in last eight games, after a 14-2 start.
Bluejays snap three-game skid, are 7-6 in conference.
Marquette 70, Butler 55
Golden Eagles shot 14-31 on the arc.
Butler has won four in row, eight of last 11 games.
Marquette won its last three home games.
Bracketology has Big East getting three teams in NCAA Tournament
Big East teams are shooting only 71.5% on foul line in league games (#26 in country)
— Mountain West
UNLV 80, Grand Canyon 78
Rebels hung on and snapped four-game skid.
Gibbs-Lawhorn played all 40:00, scored 29 points.
Grand Canyon is 8-4 in their first year in Mountain West.
Utah State 85, Wyoming 83
Utah State shot 69.7% inside arc, scored 1.26 ppp
Utah State has #14 eFG% in the country.
Aggies have won five in row, are 11-2 in Mountain West.
Bracketology has Mountain West getting two teams in NCAA Tournament
Only ten MW games all season were decided by 4 or less points, or in OT.
— WCC
Gonzaga 81, Oregon State 61
Zags shot 63% inside arc, scored 1.46 ppp
Graham Ike scored 35 points, had 7 rebounds.
Beavers shot 10-18 on arc, only 36% inside arc.
Santa Clara 96, Washington State 92
Game was 49-49 at halftime.
Broncos have won eight in row, 12 of last 13 games.
Santa Clara shot 63.6% inside arc, scored 1.35 ppp.
Bracketology has WCC getting three teams in NCAA Tournament
Home teams have won 65.8% of WCC games, #3 in country.
— Atlantic 14
George Mason 60, Saint Joseph’s 52
St Joe’s led by 6 with 13:18 left in the game.
Hawks had 20 offensive rebounds, had 44-35 edge on boards.
Patriots are 9-2 in A-14, tied for second with VCU.
Saint Louis 82, La Salle 58
Billikens have won 17 in a row, are 11-0 in conference.
Saint Louis shot 13-30 on arc, shot 60.9% inside arc.
Saint Louis has a 61.1 eFG%, #2 in country.
Bracketology has A-14 as a one-bid league in NCAA Tournament
Home teams have won only 50.6% of A-14 games, #29 in country.
— Famous birthdays, February 8th
Nick Nolte, 85
Mary Steenburgen, 73
Marques Johnson, 70
Mary McCormack, 57
Alonzo Mourning, 56
Jamie Martin, 56
Susan Misner, 55
Julio Jones, 37
Klay Thompson, 36
Jared Triolo, 28
— MAC-Sun Belt challenge
Miami OH 90, Marshall 74
Miami led 41-17 late in first half.
RedHawks improved to 24-0 this season.
Miami is shooting 63% inside arc this year (#2 in country)
Southern Mississippi 66, Kent State 65
Kent State led by 9 with 6:59 left in the game.
Golden Flashes were only 8-18 on the foul line.
USM’s Isaac Taveras scored 16 points in 17:00 off the bench.
Sun Belt teams won 10 go the 13 games in this challenge Saturday.
Both of these leagues are one-bid leagues; the conference tournaments will be fun.
— Big X
TCU 84, Kansas State 82
K-State led by 10 with 5:26 left in the game.
TCU was 22-26 on foul line, Wildcats 5-8
Just third win in last nine games for the Horned Frogs.
Iowa State 72, Baylor 69
Iowa State shot 63.6% inside arc, had 37-25 edge on boards.
Cyclones have won five in a row, are 21-2, 8-2 in conference.
Three of Baylor’s five starters played all 40:00.
Bracketology has Big X getting 7 teams into the NCAA Tournament
Out of 31 leagues, Big X games have 6th-fastest tempo.
— Horizon
Wright State 73, Fort Wayne 68
Wright State shot 63.3% inside arc, had 39-24 edge on boards.
Raiders are 11-2 in last 13 games, after a 5-7 start.
Wright State leads Horizon by a game over Oakland.
Green Bay 76, Detroit 63
Green Bay never trailed, led by 18 early in second half.
Detroit shot only 31.4% inside the arc.
Green Bay is 14-12 this year; they were 4-28 last year.
Bracketology has Horizon as a one-bid league in NCAA Tournament
Horizon games have #3 eFG% in country; good offense/bad defense??
— Southern
East Tennessee State 87, VMI 70
Buccaneers shot 67.7% inside the arc.
ETSU has won three in row, 10 of last 12 games.
ETSU leads Wofforrd by a game, atop SoCon standings.
Citadel 78, Chattanooga 71
Citadel shot 69% inside the arc.
Citadel is 5-3 SU/6-2 ATS in their last eight games.
Chattanooga lost five of its last six games.
Bracketology has SoCon as a one-bid league in NCAA Tournament
43.9% of shots in So-Con games are 3’s, highest %age in country.
Monday’s 6-pack
Last six Super Bowl champs (QB):
2025— Seahawks (Darnold)
2024— Eagles (Hurts)
2023— Chiefs (Mahomes)
2022— Chiefs (Mahomes)
2021— Rams (Stafford)
2020— Buccaneers (Brady)
Quote of the Day
“The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Benito Ocasio
Monday’s quiz
JJ McCarthy was the Vikings’ QB this year; Sam Darnold was their QB last year. Who was Minnesota’s QB in 2023?
Sunday’s quiz
Matt Hasselbeck was QB for the Seahawks, the first time they played in a Super Bowl.
Saturday’s quiz
Sam Cunningham is the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in rushing yards.
*****************************************
Seattle wins their second Lombardi Trophy.
Kenneth Walker carried ball 27 times for 135 yards.
Jason Myers kicked five FG’s, outscored New England by himself.
Seahawks were +3 in turnovers, scored a defensive TD.
Patriots’ first nine drives: 38 plays, 79 yards, zero points.
Seattle’s first six drives: 42 plays, 183 yards, three FG’s.
Seahawks sacked Drake Maye six times, for 43 yards.
NE was first team since 1974 not to score in first 3 quarters of a Super Bowl
— Weird stat: last ten times New England was in the Super Bowl, they were outscored 27-3 in the first quarter of those games.
— Prop bet update: national anthem was done in 1:57, the under hits.
— I’m oblivious about certain things, and I had never watched the halftime show of any Super Bowl before. Before this week, I’d never heard of Bad Bunny, so I looked him up.
Real name: Benito Ocasio; he is 32 years old
For a while couple years ago, he was a pro wrestler.
He has helped make rap music more popular, world-wide.
During the halftime show, they had a couple on stage getting married, looked like it was part of the act, but apparently, that was an actual marriage ceremony that happened during halftime.
— Thursday night in Week 1 this coming September, Seahawks will be the home team.
— Jim Schwartz was defensive coordinator for the Browns this year; he interviewed for the head coach’s job in Cleveland when it opened, and when he didn’t get it, he bolted, even though he has two years left on his contract.
— Former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was quickly hired by the Atlanta Falcons, who were 5-3 with Kirk Cousins starting this year, 3-6 when he didn’t start, but rumor has it that the Falcons are going to cut him this spring. If he gets cut, he won’t be on the market very long.
— Famous birthdays, February 9th:
Joe Pesci, 83
Jim Nash, 81
Vince Papale, 80
Judith Light, 77
Danny White, 74
Mookie Wilson, 70
John Kruk, 65
Todd Lyght, 57
Vladimir Guerrero Sr, 51
Michael B Jordan, 39
Saquon Barkley, 29
Cobie Durant, 28
— Joe Pompliano posted the following info:
The average TV ad for the Super Bowl was $8M
5-10 ads sold for as much as $10M
For 40% of advertisers, this was their first Super Bowl ads.
NBC requires brands to match the $$$ they spend on Super Bowl on other events too
All in all, NBC was expected to rake in $800M in advertising revenue.
— USC 77, Penn State 75
Freshman G Arenas scored the game-winning hoop with 0:00.7 left.
Penn State shot 60% inside arc, led by 12 early in second half.
Trojans have won three in row, prove to 18-6, 7-6 in conference.
USC. Penn State. Why the bleep are these teams in the same league?!?!?!
— Coastal Carolina 94, UMass 91, 3OT’s
UMass led by 14 with 14:39 left in regulation.
Chanticleers shot 16-34 on the arc, only 8-16 on foul line.
K’Jei Parker scored 31 points in 34:00 for UMass; he didn’t start.
— Texas Tech 70, West Virginia 63
Red Raiders never trailed, shot 13-24 on the arc.
Tech only used two subs, who played 12-3 minutes.
West Virginia shot 66.7% inside arc, 2-22 outside arc.
Tech improves to 17-6, 7-3 in Big X
— South Florida basketball coach Bryan Hodgson used to be an assistant coach at Fredonia State in western New York. I was the student manager of our basketball team in college; we played at Fredonia once, it is a long freakin’ way from Albany, about an hour west of Buffalo.
Very cold there; the young lady who sang the national anthem was very good, that’s all I can remember from that night, 45 or so years ago. Other than thinking, why would anyone want to live here for four years? It was like ten miles past the middle of nowhere.
But coach Hodgson became an assistant to Nate Oats at Buffalo, and moved up the ladder from there. He was 45-28 in two years at Arkansas State and this year his USF Bulls are 16-8, 8-3 in the AAC, so Hodgson is apparently a very good coach.
— North Dakota State is moving up to I-A football and will play in the Mountain West, starting this fall; the move is going to cost the school $17M. Bison have been D-I in basketball for couple decades, but this is a big jump for them.
— NBC is going back to broadcasting baseball this year; Clayton Kershaw, Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo are going to be their studio analysts.
— Pitchers and catchers report on Tuesday; let’s play ball!!!!
Last six Super Bowl champs (QB):
2025— Seahawks (Darnold)
2024— Eagles (Hurts)
2023— Chiefs (Mahomes)
2022— Chiefs (Mahomes)
2021— Rams (Stafford)
2020— Buccaneers (Brady)
Quote of the Day
“The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Benito Ocasio
Monday’s quiz
JJ McCarthy was the Vikings’ QB this year; Sam Darnold was their QB last year. Who was Minnesota’s QB in 2023?
Sunday’s quiz
Matt Hasselbeck was QB for the Seahawks, the first time they played in a Super Bowl.
Saturday’s quiz
Sam Cunningham is the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in rushing yards.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up Super Bowl Sunday……
— Seahawks 29, Patriots 13Seattle wins their second Lombardi Trophy.
Kenneth Walker carried ball 27 times for 135 yards.
Jason Myers kicked five FG’s, outscored New England by himself.
Seahawks were +3 in turnovers, scored a defensive TD.
Patriots’ first nine drives: 38 plays, 79 yards, zero points.
Seattle’s first six drives: 42 plays, 183 yards, three FG’s.
Seahawks sacked Drake Maye six times, for 43 yards.
NE was first team since 1974 not to score in first 3 quarters of a Super Bowl
— Weird stat: last ten times New England was in the Super Bowl, they were outscored 27-3 in the first quarter of those games.
— Prop bet update: national anthem was done in 1:57, the under hits.
— I’m oblivious about certain things, and I had never watched the halftime show of any Super Bowl before. Before this week, I’d never heard of Bad Bunny, so I looked him up.
Real name: Benito Ocasio; he is 32 years old
For a while couple years ago, he was a pro wrestler.
He has helped make rap music more popular, world-wide.
During the halftime show, they had a couple on stage getting married, looked like it was part of the act, but apparently, that was an actual marriage ceremony that happened during halftime.
— Thursday night in Week 1 this coming September, Seahawks will be the home team.
— Jim Schwartz was defensive coordinator for the Browns this year; he interviewed for the head coach’s job in Cleveland when it opened, and when he didn’t get it, he bolted, even though he has two years left on his contract.
— Former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was quickly hired by the Atlanta Falcons, who were 5-3 with Kirk Cousins starting this year, 3-6 when he didn’t start, but rumor has it that the Falcons are going to cut him this spring. If he gets cut, he won’t be on the market very long.
— Famous birthdays, February 9th:
Joe Pesci, 83
Jim Nash, 81
Vince Papale, 80
Judith Light, 77
Danny White, 74
Mookie Wilson, 70
John Kruk, 65
Todd Lyght, 57
Vladimir Guerrero Sr, 51
Michael B Jordan, 39
Saquon Barkley, 29
Cobie Durant, 28
— Joe Pompliano posted the following info:
The average TV ad for the Super Bowl was $8M
5-10 ads sold for as much as $10M
For 40% of advertisers, this was their first Super Bowl ads.
NBC requires brands to match the $$$ they spend on Super Bowl on other events too
All in all, NBC was expected to rake in $800M in advertising revenue.
— USC 77, Penn State 75
Freshman G Arenas scored the game-winning hoop with 0:00.7 left.
Penn State shot 60% inside arc, led by 12 early in second half.
Trojans have won three in row, prove to 18-6, 7-6 in conference.
USC. Penn State. Why the bleep are these teams in the same league?!?!?!
— Coastal Carolina 94, UMass 91, 3OT’s
UMass led by 14 with 14:39 left in regulation.
Chanticleers shot 16-34 on the arc, only 8-16 on foul line.
K’Jei Parker scored 31 points in 34:00 for UMass; he didn’t start.
— Texas Tech 70, West Virginia 63
Red Raiders never trailed, shot 13-24 on the arc.
Tech only used two subs, who played 12-3 minutes.
West Virginia shot 66.7% inside arc, 2-22 outside arc.
Tech improves to 17-6, 7-3 in Big X
— South Florida basketball coach Bryan Hodgson used to be an assistant coach at Fredonia State in western New York. I was the student manager of our basketball team in college; we played at Fredonia once, it is a long freakin’ way from Albany, about an hour west of Buffalo.
Very cold there; the young lady who sang the national anthem was very good, that’s all I can remember from that night, 45 or so years ago. Other than thinking, why would anyone want to live here for four years? It was like ten miles past the middle of nowhere.
But coach Hodgson became an assistant to Nate Oats at Buffalo, and moved up the ladder from there. He was 45-28 in two years at Arkansas State and this year his USF Bulls are 16-8, 8-3 in the AAC, so Hodgson is apparently a very good coach.
— North Dakota State is moving up to I-A football and will play in the Mountain West, starting this fall; the move is going to cost the school $17M. Bison have been D-I in basketball for couple decades, but this is a big jump for them.
— NBC is going back to broadcasting baseball this year; Clayton Kershaw, Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo are going to be their studio analysts.
— Pitchers and catchers report on Tuesday; let’s play ball!!!!
Monday’s 6-pack
Teams who get the highest %age of their points on foul shots:
— Dayton (16-9)
— Tulane (15-10)
— Sacramento State (9-16)
— Nevada (17-8)
— Oregon State (14-14)
— Cal-Bakersfield (8-18)
Quote of the Day
“These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section. It is ridiculous … I have no answer. No words.”
Jerome Tang; this rant helped get him fired this weekend
Monday’s quiz
Who led the major leagues in hits last season?
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Boone is the singer/actor who was part owner of the ABA’s Oakland Oaks.
*****************************************************
Woke up Sunday morning to a text saying that the CBS website that hosts our league eliminated all the rosters; 30 players on 14 teams went bye-bye. For the next six or seven hours, I managed to get 378 of those 420 players back on the correct team, but there is still work to do.
Not the best way to start the day.
— NBA star Cade Cunningham will make $52M a year for the next four years; that $1M a week, if you’re scoring at home, and he’s only 24 years old.
Cade Cunningham is from Arlington, TX; couple weeks ago, he bought a minority ownership stake in the Texas Rangers. He threw out a first pitch before a Rangers home game last summer.
Cunningham is among the athlete investors in Sportsology Capital Partners, which recently completed the minority investment in the Rangers. Must be pretty cool to be 24 years old and be a part-owner of a major league team.
— Friend of mine’s son plays baseball for Mississippi State; was watching their game on TV Friday- they had a crowd of 12,824 for Opening Night in Starkville.
— This winter, players went 8-4 against the owners in arbitration cases; since abritration started in 1974, owners have a 362-278 advantage in arbitration.
— P Zac Gallen agreed to a one-year, $22M contract to stay with the Arizona Diamondbacks; $14M of that money is deferred; Gallen had a rough season last year, going 13-15, 4.83, but he was 6-3, 3.00 in 11 August/September starts.
— San Diego Padres signed OF/DH Nick Castellanos and P Griffin Canning. Castellanos might platoon at first base with Gavin Sheets; he hit .250 with a .694 OPS for the Phillies last year. Canning was 1-3, 3.77 in 16 starts for the Mets last year.
— Blue Jays/Astros traded outfielders; Toronto acquired Jesús Sánchez, dealt Joey Loperfido back to Houston.
Sanchez hit .237 with 14 homers for the Marlins/Astros last year; his career OPS is .727.
Astros traded Loperfido to Toronto during the ’24 season; he hit .333 in 41 games for the Blue Jays last year.
— Famous birthdays, February 16th:
Tim Cullen, 84
Glenn Abbott, 75
Tracy Marrow, 68 (Ice-T)
Kelly Tripucka, 67
Craig Neal, 62
Jerome Bettis, 54
Tommy Milone, 39
— Prime Video has an interesting four-hour program on the history of the ABA; the basketball parts of it are tremendous, lot of excellent history. The ABA lasted nine years, changed the way a lot of us watched basketball.
— Kevin Loughery played 11 years in the NBA, for three different teams; he scored 15.3 in his career, pretty good player. Then he became a coach. He won two ABA titles with the Nets, with Julius Erving as their star, but things went south after the Nets traded Erving to the 76ers with the Nets having $$$ problems.
Loughery then coached the Atlanta Hawks for two years, including Dominique Wilkins’ rookie season. From there he coached the Chicago Bulls, where he coached Michael Jordan when he was a rookie.
Pretty interesting career; he coached Dr J, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan, and got fired in all three places. He was replaced in Chicago by Stan Albeck, who was fired after one year, replaced by Doug Collins. Phil Jackson didn’t become Chicago’s coach until Jordan’s sixth season in the NBA.
— Nevada Wolf Pack lost to San Diego State Saturday night; they are now 0-14 at Viejas Arena.
— BYU retired Jimmer Fredette’s number 32 over the weekend; he was Player of the Year during the 2010-11 college season, was the 10th pick in the first round of the 2011 Draft. Fredette grew up in Glens Falls, NY, an hour north of where I live. He was a hell of a scorer.
— Kansas State fired basketball coach Jerome Tang; Wildcats are 10-15 this year, 1-11 in the Big X, after going 18-32 in conference games the last three years. Tang led K-State to the Elite 8 in his first season coaching the Wildcats.
K-State will try to fire Tang for cause. Tang has a buyout of more than $18M, per the terms of his contract, but Taylor believes Tang’s recent public criticisms of the players and the response a press conference spurred in the national media violated the terms of his contract.
— Caden Pierce, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year, will transfer to Purdue and play for the Boilermakers next season. Pierce is sitting out this season to finish his degree at Princeton; he is a 6-7 forward whose brother is a receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.
Pierce was hobbled by an ankle injury last year, but still scored 11 ppg, grabbed seven rebounds a game. He scored 16.6 ppg, grabbed 9.2 rebounds/game two years ago.
— Bracketology gives us the top 16 seeds, as of Sunday:
#1 seeds- Michigan, UConn, Duke, Arizona
#2 seeds- Iowa State, Houston, Illinois, Purdue
#3 seeds- Florida, Nebraska, Kansas, Gonzaga
#4 seeds- Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Michigan State
Teams who get the highest %age of their points on foul shots:
— Dayton (16-9)
— Tulane (15-10)
— Sacramento State (9-16)
— Nevada (17-8)
— Oregon State (14-14)
— Cal-Bakersfield (8-18)
Quote of the Day
“These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section. It is ridiculous … I have no answer. No words.”
Jerome Tang; this rant helped get him fired this weekend
Monday’s quiz
Who led the major leagues in hits last season?
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Boone is the singer/actor who was part owner of the ABA’s Oakland Oaks.
*****************************************************
Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend…….
— This will be the 22nd year of the fantasy baseball league I’m in; it is a keeper league, you have mostly the same roster every year.Woke up Sunday morning to a text saying that the CBS website that hosts our league eliminated all the rosters; 30 players on 14 teams went bye-bye. For the next six or seven hours, I managed to get 378 of those 420 players back on the correct team, but there is still work to do.
Not the best way to start the day.
— NBA star Cade Cunningham will make $52M a year for the next four years; that $1M a week, if you’re scoring at home, and he’s only 24 years old.
Cade Cunningham is from Arlington, TX; couple weeks ago, he bought a minority ownership stake in the Texas Rangers. He threw out a first pitch before a Rangers home game last summer.
Cunningham is among the athlete investors in Sportsology Capital Partners, which recently completed the minority investment in the Rangers. Must be pretty cool to be 24 years old and be a part-owner of a major league team.
— Friend of mine’s son plays baseball for Mississippi State; was watching their game on TV Friday- they had a crowd of 12,824 for Opening Night in Starkville.
— This winter, players went 8-4 against the owners in arbitration cases; since abritration started in 1974, owners have a 362-278 advantage in arbitration.
— P Zac Gallen agreed to a one-year, $22M contract to stay with the Arizona Diamondbacks; $14M of that money is deferred; Gallen had a rough season last year, going 13-15, 4.83, but he was 6-3, 3.00 in 11 August/September starts.
— San Diego Padres signed OF/DH Nick Castellanos and P Griffin Canning. Castellanos might platoon at first base with Gavin Sheets; he hit .250 with a .694 OPS for the Phillies last year. Canning was 1-3, 3.77 in 16 starts for the Mets last year.
— Blue Jays/Astros traded outfielders; Toronto acquired Jesús Sánchez, dealt Joey Loperfido back to Houston.
Sanchez hit .237 with 14 homers for the Marlins/Astros last year; his career OPS is .727.
Astros traded Loperfido to Toronto during the ’24 season; he hit .333 in 41 games for the Blue Jays last year.
— Famous birthdays, February 16th:
Tim Cullen, 84
Glenn Abbott, 75
Tracy Marrow, 68 (Ice-T)
Kelly Tripucka, 67
Craig Neal, 62
Jerome Bettis, 54
Tommy Milone, 39
— Prime Video has an interesting four-hour program on the history of the ABA; the basketball parts of it are tremendous, lot of excellent history. The ABA lasted nine years, changed the way a lot of us watched basketball.
— Kevin Loughery played 11 years in the NBA, for three different teams; he scored 15.3 in his career, pretty good player. Then he became a coach. He won two ABA titles with the Nets, with Julius Erving as their star, but things went south after the Nets traded Erving to the 76ers with the Nets having $$$ problems.
Loughery then coached the Atlanta Hawks for two years, including Dominique Wilkins’ rookie season. From there he coached the Chicago Bulls, where he coached Michael Jordan when he was a rookie.
Pretty interesting career; he coached Dr J, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan, and got fired in all three places. He was replaced in Chicago by Stan Albeck, who was fired after one year, replaced by Doug Collins. Phil Jackson didn’t become Chicago’s coach until Jordan’s sixth season in the NBA.
— Nevada Wolf Pack lost to San Diego State Saturday night; they are now 0-14 at Viejas Arena.
— BYU retired Jimmer Fredette’s number 32 over the weekend; he was Player of the Year during the 2010-11 college season, was the 10th pick in the first round of the 2011 Draft. Fredette grew up in Glens Falls, NY, an hour north of where I live. He was a hell of a scorer.
— Kansas State fired basketball coach Jerome Tang; Wildcats are 10-15 this year, 1-11 in the Big X, after going 18-32 in conference games the last three years. Tang led K-State to the Elite 8 in his first season coaching the Wildcats.
K-State will try to fire Tang for cause. Tang has a buyout of more than $18M, per the terms of his contract, but Taylor believes Tang’s recent public criticisms of the players and the response a press conference spurred in the national media violated the terms of his contract.
— Caden Pierce, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year, will transfer to Purdue and play for the Boilermakers next season. Pierce is sitting out this season to finish his degree at Princeton; he is a 6-7 forward whose brother is a receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.
Pierce was hobbled by an ankle injury last year, but still scored 11 ppg, grabbed seven rebounds a game. He scored 16.6 ppg, grabbed 9.2 rebounds/game two years ago.
— Bracketology gives us the top 16 seeds, as of Sunday:
#1 seeds- Michigan, UConn, Duke, Arizona
#2 seeds- Iowa State, Houston, Illinois, Purdue
#3 seeds- Florida, Nebraska, Kansas, Gonzaga
#4 seeds- Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Michigan State
Tuesday’s 6-pack
How much $$$ Nevada sports books banked on last six Super Bowls:
2026— $9,892,055
2025— $22,134,104
2024— $11,182,973
2023— $4,361,646
2022— $11,063,412
2021— $12,574,125
Quote of the Day
“We haven’t won. I really want to win. Each year that goes by, I get a little more annoyed.”
Mets’ owner Steve Cohen
Tuesday’s quiz
Which major league team used to be owned by the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise?
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
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Just a great career. RIP, sir.
— Memo to ESPN: Your Monday night college basketball schedules suck; Syracuse isn’t good anymore, stop putting them in stand alone games.
Back in the day, ESPN had Big Mondays, which were good
7:30- Big East game
9:30- Big 10 game
midnight- Big West game
The smaller leagues out west would be good with a national TV game on Mondays.
— Big West conference tournament will be fun to watch; they are the 11th-ranked league right now, their highest rank in the last 30 years.
Here are the last few tourney champs:
2025- Cal-San Diego
2024- Long Beach State
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara
2022- Cal State-Fullerton
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara
2019- Cal-Irvine
2018- Cal State-Fullerton
2017- Cal-Davis
2016- Hawaii
Last nine tournaments, seven different champs. Competitive league.
— Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team has six student managers, guys who help out the team by doing lot of the little things that make life easier for coaches/players.
Back in the day, I was a student manager in college, but I was our team’s only manager, being a Division III team. Big-time coaches who were student managers:
Will Wade, NC State
Mark Daigneault, Thunder
Frank Vogel, head coach of four NBA teams
Buzz Williams, Maryland
— World Series of Poker will be in Las Vegas, from May 26-July 15; I went to this once, watched people play cards for about a half hour, then realized it isn’t that much fun to watch if you can’t see their hole cards, and watch the decisions they’re making.
Picture a big gym jammed with card tables; the only sound is chips clicking together, unless one of the players goes all-in on a hand, then they called a hand-held camera over to film the hand.
— Dodgers’ utility guy Tommy Edman (ankle) will start the season on the IL; he’s played for the Dodgers for two years, and they won the World Series both years.
— San Diego Padres signed GM AJ Preller to a multi-year contract extension; Padres made the playoffs four of the last six years. Preller has run the San Diego organization since late 2014; this year Craig Stammen will the Padres’ 6th full-time manager in 12 years, which seems like a lot for a team that has been winning.
— Famous birthdays, February 17th:
Dick Bosman, 82
Jamie Easterly, 73
Rene Russo, 72
Neil Lomax, 67
Lou Diamond Phillips, 64
Michael Jordan, 63
Jerry O’Connell, 52
Kelly Carlson, 50
Case Keenum, 38
Sony Michel, 31
— NBA All-Star Game was good to watch; the players actually tried. Not sure if the new format helped, or the fact that President Obama was sitting in the front row, but when players who are that good are competitive, it is fun to watch.
— Baseball needs to market itself better; MLB Network should host a 12-team fantasy league, with celebrities/former players the team managers, and the league could have a weekly show, featuring a different celebrity every week.
The show where they draft the team would be great TV.
How much $$$ Nevada sports books banked on last six Super Bowls:
2026— $9,892,055
2025— $22,134,104
2024— $11,182,973
2023— $4,361,646
2022— $11,063,412
2021— $12,574,125
Quote of the Day
“We haven’t won. I really want to win. Each year that goes by, I get a little more annoyed.”
Mets’ owner Steve Cohen
Tuesday’s quiz
Which major league team used to be owned by the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise?
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
*******************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— We lost one of our greatest actors Monday; Robert Duvall, who has 388 acting credits on IMDB, passed away at age 95. What an epic career he had, from the sportswriter in The Natural, to Frank Burns in M*A*S*H (the movie), the race car pit boss in Days of Thunder, a musician in Tender Mercies, and the father of a great poker player in Lucky You.Just a great career. RIP, sir.
— Memo to ESPN: Your Monday night college basketball schedules suck; Syracuse isn’t good anymore, stop putting them in stand alone games.
Back in the day, ESPN had Big Mondays, which were good
7:30- Big East game
9:30- Big 10 game
midnight- Big West game
The smaller leagues out west would be good with a national TV game on Mondays.
— Big West conference tournament will be fun to watch; they are the 11th-ranked league right now, their highest rank in the last 30 years.
Here are the last few tourney champs:
2025- Cal-San Diego
2024- Long Beach State
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara
2022- Cal State-Fullerton
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara
2019- Cal-Irvine
2018- Cal State-Fullerton
2017- Cal-Davis
2016- Hawaii
Last nine tournaments, seven different champs. Competitive league.
— Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team has six student managers, guys who help out the team by doing lot of the little things that make life easier for coaches/players.
Back in the day, I was a student manager in college, but I was our team’s only manager, being a Division III team. Big-time coaches who were student managers:
Will Wade, NC State
Mark Daigneault, Thunder
Frank Vogel, head coach of four NBA teams
Buzz Williams, Maryland
— World Series of Poker will be in Las Vegas, from May 26-July 15; I went to this once, watched people play cards for about a half hour, then realized it isn’t that much fun to watch if you can’t see their hole cards, and watch the decisions they’re making.
Picture a big gym jammed with card tables; the only sound is chips clicking together, unless one of the players goes all-in on a hand, then they called a hand-held camera over to film the hand.
— Dodgers’ utility guy Tommy Edman (ankle) will start the season on the IL; he’s played for the Dodgers for two years, and they won the World Series both years.
— San Diego Padres signed GM AJ Preller to a multi-year contract extension; Padres made the playoffs four of the last six years. Preller has run the San Diego organization since late 2014; this year Craig Stammen will the Padres’ 6th full-time manager in 12 years, which seems like a lot for a team that has been winning.
— Famous birthdays, February 17th:
Dick Bosman, 82
Jamie Easterly, 73
Rene Russo, 72
Neil Lomax, 67
Lou Diamond Phillips, 64
Michael Jordan, 63
Jerry O’Connell, 52
Kelly Carlson, 50
Case Keenum, 38
Sony Michel, 31
— NBA All-Star Game was good to watch; the players actually tried. Not sure if the new format helped, or the fact that President Obama was sitting in the front row, but when players who are that good are competitive, it is fun to watch.
— Baseball needs to market itself better; MLB Network should host a 12-team fantasy league, with celebrities/former players the team managers, and the league could have a weekly show, featuring a different celebrity every week.
The show where they draft the team would be great TV.
Wednesday’s 6-pack
Teams getting highest %age of their points on 2-point shots;
62%— Southern Illinois (12-15)
61.1%— Gonzaga (25-2)
60.7%— Texas State (17-11)
58.9%— Rider (3-22)
58.4%— Miami FL (21-5)
58.4%— Arizona (23-2)
Quote of the Day
“I did not come to Kansas State to be the head coach. Coach Tang and I are thicker than thieves. He is an amazing human being. He did amazing things at Kansas State.”
Kansas State interim coach Matthew Driscoll, who won his first game Tuesday
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, what uniform number did Robert Redford’s character wear for the New York Knights?
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
****************************************
Michigan shot 13-23 on the arc, scored 1.31 ppp
Wolverines led 48-28 late in the first half.
Michigan has won eleven games in a row.
— NC State 82, North Carolina 58
Tar Heels played without their top two scorers.
Wolfpack shot 9-20 on the arc, Carolina 5-33.
This was State’s biggest win over UNC since 1962.
— Michigan State 82, UCLA 59
UCLA has lost consecutive games by 20+ points for first time since 1945.
Spartans shot 14-27 on arc, led 43-23 at halftime.
Bruins are 1-5 SU outside of the Pacific time zone this season
— Villanova 92, Xavier 89 OT
Villanova was +10 (6-16) in turnovers.
Wildcats have won six in a row, are 12-3 in Big East.
Xavier lost 6 of last 8 games; their last two losses were in OT.
— Iowa 57, Nebraska 52
Nebraska is 2-4 in last six games, after a 20-0 start.
Cornhuskers only played seven guys the whole game.
Hawkeyes had 37-24 edge on the boards.
— Miami OH 86, UMass 77
Redhawks improve to 26-0, country’s only unbeaten team.
Miami was 24-33 on foul line, Minutemen 9-16
In its MAC games, Miami is shooting 63.9% inside the arc.
— Upsets of the Night:
Rhode Island (+11.5) 81, Saint Louis 76
San Jose State (+10.5) 87, Nevada 71
Northern Illinois (+8.5) 72, Buffalo 70
Grand Canyon (+7.5) 73, San Diego State 63
Georgia (+7.5) 86, Kentucky 78
Arizona State (+7.5) 72, Texas Tech 67
Kansas State (+4.5) 90, Baylor 74
This has been a rough week, with Robert Duvall dying and now this……
— Dwight (Bo) Lamar, who scored 3,493 points at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) before the 3-point shot was a thing, passed away this week at age 74. Lamar was a first team All-American in 1972 and 1973.
Only Pete Maravich (3,667) and Antone Davis (3,664) scored more points in Division I.
Lamar then played three years in the ABA, scoring 19.7 ppg and one year with the Lakers; too bad he played before ESPN existed. Would have been fun to watch him play. RIP.
— Doug Moe, who played at North Carolina and in the ABA, then later had a very good coaching career, passed away at age 87.
Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach; he was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988, three years after his best Nuggets team lost in the Western Conference finals to the Lakers. His Nuggets led the NBA in scoring over five straight years in the early ’80s, and he rarely ran a set play, instead stressing movement and a lot of passing.
Moe was from Brooklyn; he was irreverent, kind of a character in a good-natured way. When he was playing in the early 60’s, afraid of flying, Moe would read books to distract himself from the ongoing flight.
On one flight, with North Carolina’s team, there was a famous passenger on the flight (Richard Nixon) who went to the back of the plane to talk to the players. Nixon saw Moe reading the book and said to him “You must be the student in the group”
Moe didn’t know it was Richard Nixon talking to him; he looked up at hm and replied “What are you, a wise guy?”
Doug Moe was a really good coach and a unique personality. RIP, coach.
— Famous birthdays, February 18th:
Cybill Shepherd, 76
John Travolta, 72
Gary Reasons, 64
Chuck Long, 63
Molly Ringwald, 58
Le’Veon Bell, 34
Isaac Paredes, 27
Jordan Westburg, 27
— P Walker Buehler signed a free agent deal with San Diego; he pitched for the Phillies/Red Sox last year, after pitching eight years for the Dodgers. In his career, Buehler is 57-29, 3.52 in 146 career starts, 4-4, 3.04 in 18 playoff starts.
— Twins P Pablo López has a “significant tear” in the UCL in his pitching arm, and is expected to need Tommy John surgery. He was 5-4, 2.74 in 14 starts LY, is 59-53, 3.81 in 172 career starts.
— A reminder about the NBA Draft: Stephen Curry was the 7th player taken in the 2009 NBA Draft, being luminaries like Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn.
Shea Gilgeous-Alexander was the 11th pick in the 2018, taken behind Mo Bamba, Kevin Knox and Marvin Bagley.
Much like the NFL Draft, smarter NBA teams gain an advantage thru the draft.
— Hannah Storm has been on TV for 40+ years now; these days, she works on ESPN.
Back in the day, her father was Mike Storen, who once ran the Atlanta Hawks, two ABA teams and was also commissioner of the ABA for a while. He was the first general manager of the Indiana Pacers, who were originally an ABA team.
— Miami Dolphins are cutting their payroll; they’re now $13M under the salary cap after letting WR Tyreek Hill go, and releasing DE Bradley Chubb, WR Nick Westbrook-Ihkine and OL James Daniels.
Last week the Dolphins admitted that QB Tua Tagovailoa’s future in Miami is undecided, and Miami has publicly let it be known that Tagovailoa, who is due $54M in 2026, is available via trade. If they can’t trade him, his contract will greatly hamper their salary cap situation.
Teams getting highest %age of their points on 2-point shots;
62%— Southern Illinois (12-15)
61.1%— Gonzaga (25-2)
60.7%— Texas State (17-11)
58.9%— Rider (3-22)
58.4%— Miami FL (21-5)
58.4%— Arizona (23-2)
Quote of the Day
“I did not come to Kansas State to be the head coach. Coach Tang and I are thicker than thieves. He is an amazing human being. He did amazing things at Kansas State.”
Kansas State interim coach Matthew Driscoll, who won his first game Tuesday
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, what uniform number did Robert Redford’s character wear for the New York Knights?
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….
— Michigan 91, Purdue 80Michigan shot 13-23 on the arc, scored 1.31 ppp
Wolverines led 48-28 late in the first half.
Michigan has won eleven games in a row.
— NC State 82, North Carolina 58
Tar Heels played without their top two scorers.
Wolfpack shot 9-20 on the arc, Carolina 5-33.
This was State’s biggest win over UNC since 1962.
— Michigan State 82, UCLA 59
UCLA has lost consecutive games by 20+ points for first time since 1945.
Spartans shot 14-27 on arc, led 43-23 at halftime.
Bruins are 1-5 SU outside of the Pacific time zone this season
— Villanova 92, Xavier 89 OT
Villanova was +10 (6-16) in turnovers.
Wildcats have won six in a row, are 12-3 in Big East.
Xavier lost 6 of last 8 games; their last two losses were in OT.
— Iowa 57, Nebraska 52
Nebraska is 2-4 in last six games, after a 20-0 start.
Cornhuskers only played seven guys the whole game.
Hawkeyes had 37-24 edge on the boards.
— Miami OH 86, UMass 77
Redhawks improve to 26-0, country’s only unbeaten team.
Miami was 24-33 on foul line, Minutemen 9-16
In its MAC games, Miami is shooting 63.9% inside the arc.
— Upsets of the Night:
Rhode Island (+11.5) 81, Saint Louis 76
San Jose State (+10.5) 87, Nevada 71
Northern Illinois (+8.5) 72, Buffalo 70
Grand Canyon (+7.5) 73, San Diego State 63
Georgia (+7.5) 86, Kentucky 78
Arizona State (+7.5) 72, Texas Tech 67
Kansas State (+4.5) 90, Baylor 74
This has been a rough week, with Robert Duvall dying and now this……
— Dwight (Bo) Lamar, who scored 3,493 points at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) before the 3-point shot was a thing, passed away this week at age 74. Lamar was a first team All-American in 1972 and 1973.
Only Pete Maravich (3,667) and Antone Davis (3,664) scored more points in Division I.
Lamar then played three years in the ABA, scoring 19.7 ppg and one year with the Lakers; too bad he played before ESPN existed. Would have been fun to watch him play. RIP.
— Doug Moe, who played at North Carolina and in the ABA, then later had a very good coaching career, passed away at age 87.
Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach; he was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988, three years after his best Nuggets team lost in the Western Conference finals to the Lakers. His Nuggets led the NBA in scoring over five straight years in the early ’80s, and he rarely ran a set play, instead stressing movement and a lot of passing.
Moe was from Brooklyn; he was irreverent, kind of a character in a good-natured way. When he was playing in the early 60’s, afraid of flying, Moe would read books to distract himself from the ongoing flight.
On one flight, with North Carolina’s team, there was a famous passenger on the flight (Richard Nixon) who went to the back of the plane to talk to the players. Nixon saw Moe reading the book and said to him “You must be the student in the group”
Moe didn’t know it was Richard Nixon talking to him; he looked up at hm and replied “What are you, a wise guy?”
Doug Moe was a really good coach and a unique personality. RIP, coach.
— Famous birthdays, February 18th:
Cybill Shepherd, 76
John Travolta, 72
Gary Reasons, 64
Chuck Long, 63
Molly Ringwald, 58
Le’Veon Bell, 34
Isaac Paredes, 27
Jordan Westburg, 27
— P Walker Buehler signed a free agent deal with San Diego; he pitched for the Phillies/Red Sox last year, after pitching eight years for the Dodgers. In his career, Buehler is 57-29, 3.52 in 146 career starts, 4-4, 3.04 in 18 playoff starts.
— Twins P Pablo López has a “significant tear” in the UCL in his pitching arm, and is expected to need Tommy John surgery. He was 5-4, 2.74 in 14 starts LY, is 59-53, 3.81 in 172 career starts.
— A reminder about the NBA Draft: Stephen Curry was the 7th player taken in the 2009 NBA Draft, being luminaries like Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn.
Shea Gilgeous-Alexander was the 11th pick in the 2018, taken behind Mo Bamba, Kevin Knox and Marvin Bagley.
Much like the NFL Draft, smarter NBA teams gain an advantage thru the draft.
— Hannah Storm has been on TV for 40+ years now; these days, she works on ESPN.
Back in the day, her father was Mike Storen, who once ran the Atlanta Hawks, two ABA teams and was also commissioner of the ABA for a while. He was the first general manager of the Indiana Pacers, who were originally an ABA team.
— Miami Dolphins are cutting their payroll; they’re now $13M under the salary cap after letting WR Tyreek Hill go, and releasing DE Bradley Chubb, WR Nick Westbrook-Ihkine and OL James Daniels.
Last week the Dolphins admitted that QB Tua Tagovailoa’s future in Miami is undecided, and Miami has publicly let it be known that Tagovailoa, who is due $54M in 2026, is available via trade. If they can’t trade him, his contract will greatly hamper their salary cap situation.
Thursday’s 6-pack
Teams with best eFG% defense in the country:
43.0%— Saint Louis (24-2)
43.2%— Michigan (25-1)
44.8%— Kansas (20-6)
44.8%— Virginia (23-3)
44.9%— Arizona (24-2)
44.9%— Cal-Irvine (17-9)
Quote of the Day
“That locker room is still healing, and they needed a shot in the arm. We have been through a lot as a group; we’ve shed a lot of tears, and they needed something like this. It’s a great win for us. I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a group.”
Creighton coach Greg McDermott; the mom of one of Creighton’s players recently passed away
Tuesday’s quiz
Who is the all-time leading scorer (points/game) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise?
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, Robert Redford’s character (Roy Hobbs) wore number 9 for the New York Knights.
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
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Arkansas led by 13 with 12:44 left in the game.
Alabama was 27-34 on foul line, Arkansas 16-19
Razorbacks had four guys foul out; they used two subs who almost never play.
Darius Acuff scored 49 points for Arkansas.
— Creighton 91, UConn 84
Creighton was 27-32 on foul line, UConn 11-18.
Just second win in last seven games for the Bluejays.
UConn split its last four games, after a 22-1 start.
— Texas A&M 80, Ole Miss 77
Ole Miss led by 13 with 11:47 left in the game.
Rebels have now lost eight games in a row.
Win snaps Aggies’ four-game losing skid.
— DePaul 69, Seton Hall 57
Big East underdogs were 3-1 SU/4-0 ATS Wednesday
Blue Demons had 35-22 edge on the boards.
Seton Hall has 45.9 eFG% in Big East games, worst in league.
— St John’s 76, Marquette 70
Marquette led by 6 with 11:53 left in the game.
6-7 senior Hopkins scored 23 points, had 10 rebounds.
Red Storm have now won 12 games in a row.
— Wake Forest 85, Clemson 77
Wake Forest led by 20 late in the first half.
Deacons shot 62.1% inside arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
Third straight loss for Clemson, after a 20-4 start.
— Arizona 75, BYU 68
6-6 senior Dell’Orso scored 22 points in 26:00 off bench.
Arizona snaps a two-game skid, which followed its 23-0 start.
Wildcats have the 5th-best eFG% defense in the country.
— Upsets of the Night:
Creighton (+16.5) 91, UConn 84
Utah (+10.5) 61, West Virginia 56
DePaul (+8.5) 69, Seton Hall 57
Butler (+6.5) 93, Georgetown 89
Mississippi State (+4.5) 91, Auburn 85
St Joe’s (+4.5) 71, St Bonaventure 65
— Famous birthdays, February 19th:
Paul Krause, 84
June Jones, 73
Jeff Daniels, 71
Rudy Macklin, 68
Mike Miller, 46
Dwight Freeney, 46
Josh Reddick, 39
JP Sears, 30
— Injuries are starting to take their toll:
Texas Tech lost their best player (JT Toppin) for the year with a torn ACL. Toppin scored 21.8 ppg this season for the 19-7 Red Raiders.
BYU lost Richie Saunders for the year with a torn ACL; he scored 18 ppg for the 19-7 Cougars, who are 3-6 in the last nine games.
Random trivia: Saunders’ grandfather is the guy who invented Tater Tots.
— San Diego Toreros fired basketball coach Steve Lavin after four years on the job. San Diego is 11-17 this year, 5-10 in the WCC. They’re 18-47 in WCC games under Lavin.
San Diego hasn’t been in the NCAA’s since 2008; Lavin is a good guy who was a very good TV analyst. Hope he goes back on TV next season.
— Iowa State only had 3 turnovers in their win over Houston Monday; in a slow-paced, 58 possession game, Cyclones took good care of the ball, and improved to 10-3 in the Big X
— Saint Mary’s 72, Seattle 70
Gaels narrowly avoid what would’ve been a damaging loss.
Teams combined to shoot 8-32 on the arc.
Saint Mary’s has won five in a row, is 13-2 in the WCC.
— Mississippi State 91, Auburn 85
MSU’s Josh Hubbard scored 46 points, 35 in first half.
Miss State led by 18 early in second half.
Auburn rallied to lead 80-73 with 3:56 left in the game.
Bulldogs shot 16-30 on arc, scored 1.35 ppp.
— Western Kentucky 88, Delaware 87 OT
Blue Hens led by 16 late in the first half.
Delaware lost despite shooting 64.3% inside the arc.
Hilltoppers won four of their last five games.
— Missouri 81, Vanderbilt 80
Mizzou led by 21 with 8:33 left, hung on for dear life.
Tigers were 25-32 on foul line, Vandy 14-18
Both teams are 8-5 in SEC games.
Teams with best eFG% defense in the country:
43.0%— Saint Louis (24-2)
43.2%— Michigan (25-1)
44.8%— Kansas (20-6)
44.8%— Virginia (23-3)
44.9%— Arizona (24-2)
44.9%— Cal-Irvine (17-9)
Quote of the Day
“That locker room is still healing, and they needed a shot in the arm. We have been through a lot as a group; we’ve shed a lot of tears, and they needed something like this. It’s a great win for us. I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a group.”
Creighton coach Greg McDermott; the mom of one of Creighton’s players recently passed away
Tuesday’s quiz
Who is the all-time leading scorer (points/game) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise?
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, Robert Redford’s character (Roy Hobbs) wore number 9 for the New York Knights.
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
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Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……
— Alabama 117, Arkansas 115, 2OTArkansas led by 13 with 12:44 left in the game.
Alabama was 27-34 on foul line, Arkansas 16-19
Razorbacks had four guys foul out; they used two subs who almost never play.
Darius Acuff scored 49 points for Arkansas.
— Creighton 91, UConn 84
Creighton was 27-32 on foul line, UConn 11-18.
Just second win in last seven games for the Bluejays.
UConn split its last four games, after a 22-1 start.
— Texas A&M 80, Ole Miss 77
Ole Miss led by 13 with 11:47 left in the game.
Rebels have now lost eight games in a row.
Win snaps Aggies’ four-game losing skid.
— DePaul 69, Seton Hall 57
Big East underdogs were 3-1 SU/4-0 ATS Wednesday
Blue Demons had 35-22 edge on the boards.
Seton Hall has 45.9 eFG% in Big East games, worst in league.
— St John’s 76, Marquette 70
Marquette led by 6 with 11:53 left in the game.
6-7 senior Hopkins scored 23 points, had 10 rebounds.
Red Storm have now won 12 games in a row.
— Wake Forest 85, Clemson 77
Wake Forest led by 20 late in the first half.
Deacons shot 62.1% inside arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
Third straight loss for Clemson, after a 20-4 start.
— Arizona 75, BYU 68
6-6 senior Dell’Orso scored 22 points in 26:00 off bench.
Arizona snaps a two-game skid, which followed its 23-0 start.
Wildcats have the 5th-best eFG% defense in the country.
— Upsets of the Night:
Creighton (+16.5) 91, UConn 84
Utah (+10.5) 61, West Virginia 56
DePaul (+8.5) 69, Seton Hall 57
Butler (+6.5) 93, Georgetown 89
Mississippi State (+4.5) 91, Auburn 85
St Joe’s (+4.5) 71, St Bonaventure 65
— Famous birthdays, February 19th:
Paul Krause, 84
June Jones, 73
Jeff Daniels, 71
Rudy Macklin, 68
Mike Miller, 46
Dwight Freeney, 46
Josh Reddick, 39
JP Sears, 30
— Injuries are starting to take their toll:
Texas Tech lost their best player (JT Toppin) for the year with a torn ACL. Toppin scored 21.8 ppg this season for the 19-7 Red Raiders.
BYU lost Richie Saunders for the year with a torn ACL; he scored 18 ppg for the 19-7 Cougars, who are 3-6 in the last nine games.
Random trivia: Saunders’ grandfather is the guy who invented Tater Tots.
— San Diego Toreros fired basketball coach Steve Lavin after four years on the job. San Diego is 11-17 this year, 5-10 in the WCC. They’re 18-47 in WCC games under Lavin.
San Diego hasn’t been in the NCAA’s since 2008; Lavin is a good guy who was a very good TV analyst. Hope he goes back on TV next season.
— Iowa State only had 3 turnovers in their win over Houston Monday; in a slow-paced, 58 possession game, Cyclones took good care of the ball, and improved to 10-3 in the Big X
— Saint Mary’s 72, Seattle 70
Gaels narrowly avoid what would’ve been a damaging loss.
Teams combined to shoot 8-32 on the arc.
Saint Mary’s has won five in a row, is 13-2 in the WCC.
— Mississippi State 91, Auburn 85
MSU’s Josh Hubbard scored 46 points, 35 in first half.
Miss State led by 18 early in second half.
Auburn rallied to lead 80-73 with 3:56 left in the game.
Bulldogs shot 16-30 on arc, scored 1.35 ppp.
— Western Kentucky 88, Delaware 87 OT
Blue Hens led by 16 late in the first half.
Delaware lost despite shooting 64.3% inside the arc.
Hilltoppers won four of their last five games.
— Missouri 81, Vanderbilt 80
Mizzou led by 21 with 8:33 left, hung on for dear life.
Tigers were 25-32 on foul line, Vandy 14-18
Both teams are 8-5 in SEC games.
