Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..
13) Chase Daniel is the Chargers’ backup QB; he’ll be 36 in October. This is his 13th year in the NFL, playing for his sixth team. Most fans probably have either not heard of him or forgot about him- he was a 3-year starter in college, at Missouri.
In 12 seasons in the NFL, Daniel has started five games, going 2-3; he’s thrown 8 TD’s, 7 INT’s. 12 seasons, six teams, 261 passes, 5 starts.
But quarterbacks get paid well; in his NFL career, Chase Daniel has earned $39,828,471. Pretty good bank for a guy who mostly runs the scout team in practice, and is an insurance policy in case the starting QB gets hurt.
12) So far in NFL preseason games this month, over is 14-3. Lot of points were scored this weekend.
11) Miami Marlins have scored 3 or fewer runs in each of their last 15 games, the longest-such streak since the 1979 Chicago Cubs. Marlins went 3-12 in those 15 games.
10) Atlanta Braves are 52-24 in night games, 18-22 in day games. Not really sure if there is a reason behind this stat, but most playoff games are played at night.
9) Quick look at NFL starting QB’s, by what college they went to:
3— Oklahoma (Hurts, Mayfield, Murray)
2— California (Rodgers, Goff)
2— Alabama (Mac Jones, Tagovailoa (Hurts started at Bana, but transferred out))
2— Clemson (Lawrence, Watson)
2— Oregon (Herbert, Mariota)
2— North Dakota State (Lance, Wentz)
How weird is it that North Dakota State is on this list?; Plus, Easton Stick also played for the Bison; he is a backup QB for the Chargers.
8) 3am Saturday night, I’m watching a replay of the Rams-Chargers game; Dan Fouts is the analyst, one of the best-ever QB’s. Made me smile every time he said “Super Bowl champion Rams.” Never get tired of hearing that.
Summer of 1986, I went to a free scrimmage in Anaheim Stadium, Rams-Chargers. Starters played 7-on-7, basically touch football. Watching Dan Fouts throw a football was incredible; right on target with every throw.
After that, the rookies played a full contact scrimmage; rookie QB Hugh Millen broke his ankle, not really sure why I remember that, but he wound up playing eight years in the NFL.
7) One of the cool things about the NFL is that players come from all over; Saturday night at SoFi Stadium, rookie WR Lance McCutcheon caught five passes for 87 yards and two TD’s for the Rams. He looked like a guy who is going to make the Opening Day roster.
McCutcheon is an undrafted free agent from Montana State, yet another reason why I never stress out about what GM Les Snead is doing— the man is great at his job.
Remember, Cooper Kupp played college ball at I-AA Eastern Washington.
6) Royals 4, Dodgers 0— KC pitcher Brady Singer tossed six shutout innings, continuing a trend where he pitches great whenever he is on my fantasy team’s bench. His agent should pay me to never, ever activate him.
Here’s the thing; Singer blanked the Dodgers, he blanked the Bronx Bombers, but he also lost twice to the A’s, who are a glorified minor league team.
Go figure.
5) Giants 8, Pirates 7— San Francisco blew a 5-0 lead, needed a two-run, walk-off home run from Thairo Estrada to pull out the win.
4) Rays 4, Orioles 1— Drew Rasmussen had a perfect game going in the 9th inning, but Jorge Mateo ruined the fun with a one-out double. Rasmussen got 25 outs on only 87 pitches, which is pretty damn impressive.
3) Kid from Wyoming playing in the Little League tournament didn’t use golf gloves, he used actual work gloves, like guys use when they’re digging a ditch. Kid hit a ball about 50 feet over the left field fence; he looked like a 12-year old Luke Voit.
2) There are only two NFL stadiums left that haven’t sold their stadium’s naming rights; Soldier Field in Chicago, Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Word seems to be that naming rights bring in about $10M a season.
Andrew Brandt used to be Vice President of the Packers; he once suggested to the team’s Board of Directors that a company would be interested in buying naming rights to Lambeau Field.
One of the board members told him, “Sir, if you made that deal, we would have to put you in witness protection.” I’m guessing Lambeau Field will always be called Lambeau Field.
1) RIP to Doug Kern, who passed away unexpectedly this week, at age 48.
I didn’t know Doug Kern, but I followed him on Twitter; he was great at provided statistical nuggets on baseball. Every night, he was religious about posting information, some of which found its way into this space. He was really, really good at his job.
We never met, but we were kindred spirits. RIP, sir.
