Armadillo Sports
Tuesday’s 6-pack
NFL spreads for this season:
Week 4— Chargers (-8.5) @ Houston
Week 5— Giants @ Green Bay (-7.5)
Week 6— Ravens (-4) @ NJ Giants
Week 7— Chiefs @ San Francisco (even)
Week 8— Steelers @ Philadelphia (-4)
Week 9— Minnesota (-1.5) @ Washington
Quote of the Day
“The Hammer (Hank Goldberg) always put his money where his mouth was, and that immediately earned him a high level of respect with me. As a longtime Las Vegas bookmaker, there were few opinions I valued more than Hank’s on the NFL.”
Art Manteris, a longtime Las Vegas bookmaker
Tuesday’s quiz
What team did Max Scherzer break into the major leagues with?
Monday’s quiz
In the movie The Hangover, the four friends drove to Las Vegas in a silver Mercedes
Sunday’s quiz
Jose Altuve is the only player to make the baseball All-Star game for both leagues, while playing for the same team. Astros switched leagues in 2013.
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Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— RIP to Hank Goldberg, who passed away Monday, on his 82nd birthday.
Mr Goldberg worked at ESPN as an NFL reporter and handicapping expert for two decades; he talked about betting on games on TV back when not many people talked about betting on games on live television.
He was smart, pleasant and he won more than he lost picking NFL games.
Goldberg was also a longtime fixture in Miami, serving as a local radio and TV host for more than 25 years and working as a Dolphins radio analyst. He began his career in the 1970s as an assistant to handicapper Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder.
RIP, sir.
— July 4, 1985 was one of the strangest baseball games ever played; Mets beat Atlanta 16-13 in 19 innings, in a game that was delayed by rain multiple times, and didn’t end until 4am or so.
I was still living at home back then; my dad and I both had to work the next morning, but at some point after midnight, I woke him up to watch the rest of the game. He loved the Mets, but he wasn’t overly thrilled that I woke him up. He watched the rest of the game, though.
Mets scored in the top of the 18th, and looked like the game would end there, but a relief pitcher named Rick Camp (lifetime .074 hitter) bit his one and only major league home run to tie the game again. The people who stayed for the postgame fireworks show were going nuts.
One of the TV voices for the Braves back in 1985 was John Sterling; his call of Camp’s home run was classic; he said it would be more likely that he (Sterling) would be elected President than Camp would hit a home run. But then Camp hit a home run. Classic.
If you don’t know, 37 years later, Sterling still does games on the radio for the Bronx Bombers.
Mets finally won the game in the 19th inning; current Mets’ TV analyst Ron Darling pitched the bottom of the 19th— Camp wound up batting again, but made an out.
They went ahead with the fireworks display at 4:15am or so; lot of people called the cops because it was so noisy.
All I remember about the next day at work is that I drank two or three Cherry Cokes for energy; I wasn’t America’s finest employee that day, and I crashed on my bed as soon as I got home from work, but it was worth it. Quite a ballgame.
— July 4, 2022, last game of the night: Braves 6, Cardinals 3, in a game delayed for a long time by rain. Does it rain in Atlanta every year on the 4th of July?
— Why doesn’t every major league team play on the 4th of July? I know it was a Monday this year, but Marlins-Nationals played an overlap series with a game on Monday. Heard a few people complain that their favorite team didn’t play Monday.
— Random prop bet I saw today:
Will the Cincinnati Bengals make the playoffs this year?
Yes -135, No +115
You’re probably actually betting on whether they keep Joe Burrow healthy all season; if he plays the whole year, Bengals will make the playoffs.
— Joey Chestnut ate 63 hot dogs (and buns) in 10 minutes Monday, to win the Nathan’s contest for the 15th time. For some reason, this gets televised on ESPN every year.
I have heard a few people who are grossed out by the hot dog eating; lot of other people enjoy it, but I like to eat hot dogs slowly and enjoy them. Stuffing them down my throat has no appeal.
His over/under for hot dogs eaten was 74.5, but all bets were refunded because someone got on stage to protest something and Chestnut got rid of the guy, but his eating was disrupted so they called off the over/under bets. Imagine wagering on an over/under in hot dog eating?
— Brewers 5, Cubs 2 (10):
Victor Caratini hit a walk-off homer for Milwaukee.
Seiya Suzuki hit an inside-the-park home run for Chicago.
— Astros 7, Royals 6— Kansas City led 5-0 in third inning.
— Cleveland Guardians have had a very busy week:
Tuesday, June 28— Guardians split a doubleheader with Minnesota.
Wednesday— Guardians beat Minnesota 7-6 in 10 innings.
Thursday— Guardians trailed 3-1 in 8th inning, beat Minnesota 5-3.
Friday— Guardians got rained out.
Saturday— Guardians got swept in a twinbill by New York.
Sunday— Guardians beat New York 2-0.
Monday— Guardians got swept in a twinbill by Detroit.
Three doubleheaders in a week; doesn’t happen much these days.
— Marlins 3, Nationals 2 (10)— Miami is 12-1 against Washington this season.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Mets, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Atlanta, San Diego, St Louis
AL: New York, Twins, Astros. Wild Cards: Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay
