- Sep 10, 2018
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Thursday’s 6-pack:
NFL teams’ records in one-score games:
10-2— Denver
6-1— Chargers
7-2— Carolina, Chicago
7-3— New England, Philadelphia
6-2— Pittsburgh
5-2— Buffalo
Quote of the Day
“Stress comes from ignoring things which shouldn’t be ignored.”
Jeff Bezos
Thursday’s quiz
Who coached the Denver Broncos, the first time they played in a Super Bowl?
Wednesday’s quiz
In an episode of the old TV show Magnum PI, Cesar Romero played a jewel thief whose daughter was also a jewel thief; he also played the Joker on Batman.
Tuesday’s quiz
Brian Billick coached the Baltimore Ravens before John Harbaugh.
**********************************************************************
Thursday’s Den: Merry Christmas, everyone…….
Hope everyone has an excellent Christmas; thanks for reading……
Wednesday was one of the worst TV nights of the year, but the one game that was on TV was one of the better games all season:
— Hawaii 35, California 31
Hawaii’s backup QB threw a 22-yard TD pass with 0:10 left for the win
California led 21-0 with 5:00 left in the first half.
Cal QB Sagapolutele threw for 343 yards and a TD.
Hawaii WR Ashlock caught 14 passes for 123 yards, two TD’s.
— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):
AAC- 0-3/0-3
ACC- 3-1/2-2
Big X- 0-0
Big 18- 2-0/1-1
Conference USA- 3-2/3-2
MAC- 2-1/3-0
Mountain West- 1-3/1-3
SEC- 2-2/2-2
Sun Belt 2-4/3-3
— Louisville 27, Toledo 22
Louisville led 21-3 early in the second quarter.
Toledo scored 19 points in 8:18 span of 4th quarter for the backdoor cover.
Cardinals ran ball 36 times for 180 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Toledo was penalized 14 times for 100 yards.
— Western Kentucky 27, Southern Miss 16
Southern Miss led 13-6 at halftime.
Backup QB McIvor was 12-19/199 passing, sparked the comeback win.
WKU’s last two drives: 18 plays, 149 yards, 14 points.
Hilltoppers have won five of their last seven bowl games.
— Ohio U 17, UNLV 10
Bobcats won their 7th bowl game in a row.
Ohio U outgained the Rebels, 350-281
Bobcats ran the ball 43 times for 207 yards.
First time in 36 games that UNLV scored fewer than 20 points.
— Famous birthdays, December 25th:
Gary Sandy, 80
Larry Csonka, 79
Sissy Spacek, 76
CCH Pounder, 73
William Andrews, 70
Jillie Mack, 68
Erik Hiljus, 43
Eric Gordon, 37
Garrett Cooper, 35
Thursday would’ve been Kenny Stabler’s 80th birthday, Rickey Henderson’s 67th.
— Bill Vinovich was the referee for the Bills-Browns game in Cleveland Sunday, then Monday night, he was one of the refs at the Northern Iowa-Saint Mary’s basketball game in Moraga, all the way across the country. He puts on a lot of miles every winter.
— Here is a 10-day stretch for referee Brian Dorsey, who has already worked 36 college hoop games this winter.
Dec 13- West Virginia-Ohio State, in Cleveland
Dec 14- Oakland City @ Cleveland State
Dec 16- Toledo @ Michigan State
Dec 17- Arizona State @ UCLA
Dec 20- St John’s vs Kentucky, in Atlanta
Dec 21- Charleston @ Northern Kentucky
Dec 22- Illinois vs Missouri, in St Louis
Seven games in ten nights; lot of running.
— Chicago White Sox signed lefty P Sean Newcomb, for one years/$4.5M. Newcomb had a 1.75 ERA in 36 games (51 IP) for the A’s last year, but Chicago is expected to give him a chance to be a starter. He has started 65 games in his career.
— Pittsburgh Pirates signed 1B/DH Ryan O’Hearn for two years, $29M; O’Hearn hit 17 homers for Orioles/Padres last year, with an .805 OPS.
— Miami Marlins signed P Pete Fairbanks for one year, $13M; he had 27 saves for the Rays last year, has 75 saves the last three seasons.
— Movie of the Day: Cousins (1989)— Two couples go to a mutual friend’s wedding and and up switching partners. Ted Danson/William Peterson are the guys, before their CSI days; Sean Young, Isabella Rossellini are the women. Lloyd Bridges provides some comic relief.
Should have this movie on yesterday’s list of 20; at the end of the movie, one of the couples is on a boat, and sails off into the sunset. Years later, when Gil Grissom/Sara Sidle left CSI, almost the exact same scene takes place, a couple sailing off into the sunset.
College basketball has become minor league basketball; some examples:
— Baylor adds 2023 NBA draft pick James Nnaji, who was drafted by the Pistons in 2023, played the last two years overseas, played for the Knicks in the NBA Summer League this past year. 7-foot tall Nnaji is eligible immediately.
— Spanish wing Lucas Langarita has enrolled at Utah and is expected to be in uniform with the Utes pretty soon; he played really well at last summer’s FIBA U20 Eurobasket.
— 23-year old Russian big man Kirill Elatontsev has one semester of eligibility left, is expected to sign on with Oklahoma and finish this season with the Sooners. He has previously played on the Russian National team.
— In the NBA, LA Lakers are the first NBA team since the 1991 Miami Heat whose first nine losses of a season were all by 10+ points. Right now, Lakers are 19-9; the ’91 Heat wound up 24-58, in their third year of existence.
— Good news/bad news for the NFL’s Jets:
Good news: three of their first round draft picks made the Pro Bowl this year.
Bad news: none of those three guys play for the Jets anymore; two of them play for the Seahawks, one plays for Dallas.
NFL teams’ records in one-score games:
10-2— Denver
6-1— Chargers
7-2— Carolina, Chicago
7-3— New England, Philadelphia
6-2— Pittsburgh
5-2— Buffalo
Quote of the Day
“Stress comes from ignoring things which shouldn’t be ignored.”
Jeff Bezos
Thursday’s quiz
Who coached the Denver Broncos, the first time they played in a Super Bowl?
Wednesday’s quiz
In an episode of the old TV show Magnum PI, Cesar Romero played a jewel thief whose daughter was also a jewel thief; he also played the Joker on Batman.
Tuesday’s quiz
Brian Billick coached the Baltimore Ravens before John Harbaugh.
**********************************************************************
Thursday’s Den: Merry Christmas, everyone…….
Hope everyone has an excellent Christmas; thanks for reading……
Wednesday was one of the worst TV nights of the year, but the one game that was on TV was one of the better games all season:
— Hawaii 35, California 31
Hawaii’s backup QB threw a 22-yard TD pass with 0:10 left for the win
California led 21-0 with 5:00 left in the first half.
Cal QB Sagapolutele threw for 343 yards and a TD.
Hawaii WR Ashlock caught 14 passes for 123 yards, two TD’s.
— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):
AAC- 0-3/0-3
ACC- 3-1/2-2
Big X- 0-0
Big 18- 2-0/1-1
Conference USA- 3-2/3-2
MAC- 2-1/3-0
Mountain West- 1-3/1-3
SEC- 2-2/2-2
Sun Belt 2-4/3-3
— Louisville 27, Toledo 22
Louisville led 21-3 early in the second quarter.
Toledo scored 19 points in 8:18 span of 4th quarter for the backdoor cover.
Cardinals ran ball 36 times for 180 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Toledo was penalized 14 times for 100 yards.
— Western Kentucky 27, Southern Miss 16
Southern Miss led 13-6 at halftime.
Backup QB McIvor was 12-19/199 passing, sparked the comeback win.
WKU’s last two drives: 18 plays, 149 yards, 14 points.
Hilltoppers have won five of their last seven bowl games.
— Ohio U 17, UNLV 10
Bobcats won their 7th bowl game in a row.
Ohio U outgained the Rebels, 350-281
Bobcats ran the ball 43 times for 207 yards.
First time in 36 games that UNLV scored fewer than 20 points.
— Famous birthdays, December 25th:
Gary Sandy, 80
Larry Csonka, 79
Sissy Spacek, 76
CCH Pounder, 73
William Andrews, 70
Jillie Mack, 68
Erik Hiljus, 43
Eric Gordon, 37
Garrett Cooper, 35
Thursday would’ve been Kenny Stabler’s 80th birthday, Rickey Henderson’s 67th.
— Bill Vinovich was the referee for the Bills-Browns game in Cleveland Sunday, then Monday night, he was one of the refs at the Northern Iowa-Saint Mary’s basketball game in Moraga, all the way across the country. He puts on a lot of miles every winter.
— Here is a 10-day stretch for referee Brian Dorsey, who has already worked 36 college hoop games this winter.
Dec 13- West Virginia-Ohio State, in Cleveland
Dec 14- Oakland City @ Cleveland State
Dec 16- Toledo @ Michigan State
Dec 17- Arizona State @ UCLA
Dec 20- St John’s vs Kentucky, in Atlanta
Dec 21- Charleston @ Northern Kentucky
Dec 22- Illinois vs Missouri, in St Louis
Seven games in ten nights; lot of running.
— Chicago White Sox signed lefty P Sean Newcomb, for one years/$4.5M. Newcomb had a 1.75 ERA in 36 games (51 IP) for the A’s last year, but Chicago is expected to give him a chance to be a starter. He has started 65 games in his career.
— Pittsburgh Pirates signed 1B/DH Ryan O’Hearn for two years, $29M; O’Hearn hit 17 homers for Orioles/Padres last year, with an .805 OPS.
— Miami Marlins signed P Pete Fairbanks for one year, $13M; he had 27 saves for the Rays last year, has 75 saves the last three seasons.
— Movie of the Day: Cousins (1989)— Two couples go to a mutual friend’s wedding and and up switching partners. Ted Danson/William Peterson are the guys, before their CSI days; Sean Young, Isabella Rossellini are the women. Lloyd Bridges provides some comic relief.
Should have this movie on yesterday’s list of 20; at the end of the movie, one of the couples is on a boat, and sails off into the sunset. Years later, when Gil Grissom/Sara Sidle left CSI, almost the exact same scene takes place, a couple sailing off into the sunset.
College basketball has become minor league basketball; some examples:
— Baylor adds 2023 NBA draft pick James Nnaji, who was drafted by the Pistons in 2023, played the last two years overseas, played for the Knicks in the NBA Summer League this past year. 7-foot tall Nnaji is eligible immediately.
— Spanish wing Lucas Langarita has enrolled at Utah and is expected to be in uniform with the Utes pretty soon; he played really well at last summer’s FIBA U20 Eurobasket.
— 23-year old Russian big man Kirill Elatontsev has one semester of eligibility left, is expected to sign on with Oklahoma and finish this season with the Sooners. He has previously played on the Russian National team.
— In the NBA, LA Lakers are the first NBA team since the 1991 Miami Heat whose first nine losses of a season were all by 10+ points. Right now, Lakers are 19-9; the ’91 Heat wound up 24-58, in their third year of existence.
— Good news/bad news for the NFL’s Jets:
Good news: three of their first round draft picks made the Pro Bowl this year.
Bad news: none of those three guys play for the Jets anymore; two of them play for the Seahawks, one plays for Dallas.
