Armadillo Sports
Sunday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in on-base %age (minimum 80 ABs):
.505— Taylor Ward, LAA
.439— Manny Machado, SD
.438— Mike Trout, LAA
.427— Eric Hosmer, SD
.426— Josh Bell, Wash
.414— Brandon Nimmo, NYM
Quote of the Day
“Obviously my name’s an attention-grabber and people like to do headlines with it, but I like to show people with my play that I can back it up. I have done that, I’m going to continue to do that as well, and give them a reason to remember my name.”
Oklahoma QB recruit General Booty, expected to be a backup this fall. That is his real name.
Sunday’s quiz
In 1967, the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams; the six new teams were all in the same division. Which one of those teams went 0-12 in the Stanley Cup finals the first three years?
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Riley won four titles in nine years coaching the Lakers; Mike Dunleavy replaced Riley as the Lakers’ coach.
Friday’s quiz
Phil Jackson won two NBA championship rings as a player for the Knicks, in 1970, 1973.
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Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday…….
— NFL Week 1 pointspreads:
Buffalo @ Rams (-1)
San Francisco (-6) @ Chicago
New England @ Miami (-3)
New Orleans (-3) @ Atlanta
Baltimore (-4) @ NJ Jets
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (-6)
Cleveland (-4.5) @ Carolina
Philadelphia (-3.5) @ Detroit
Indianapolis (-7.5) @ Houston
Jacksonville @ Washington (-4.5)
Kansas City (-3) @ Arizona
Green Bay (-1.5) @ Minnesota
LA Chargers (-4) @ Las Vegas
NJ Giants @ Tennessee (-6.5)
Tampa Bay (-2.5) @ Dallas
Denver (-3.5) @ Seattle
— Chicago Bears don’t have a road game in December; three home games and a bye.
— As if they don’t have enough problems, Houston Texans are only team that plays three games against teams that are coming off their bye week.
— Washington Commanders have an odd three-week stretch:
Week 13— @ Giants
Week 14— bye week
Week 15— vs Giants at home
Not often an NFL team plays consecutive games against the same team.
All 32 NFL teams play at least one game on a Thursday this season.
This coming season in college football:
— 66 teams have a new offensive coordinator
— 56 teams have a new defensive coordinator
Over half the I-A teams in the country have a new offensive coordinator.
— USC’s football team poached six transfers who play defense; Trojans allowed 31.8 ppg last season, which is why they changed coaches in the offseason, and why they added experienced players to try and fill some gaps.
— All told this weekend, there are seven Game 7’s in NBA/NHL playoffs.
— Toronto Maple Leafs are the first team in MLB/NBA/NHL history to lose a winner-take-all game in the opening round of the playoffs five years in a row.
In baseball………
— Phillies 8, Dodgers 3— Philly won first three games in this series, scoring 29 runs. Coming into the series, Phillies were 14-17, but they sure can score some runs.
Thursday/Friday, Phillies became the first team ever (home or visitor) to allow 7+ runs in back-to-back games at Dodger Stadium yet win both games.
— NL East standings:
Mets 23-12
Phillies 17-17
Braves 16-18
Marlins 15-18
Nationals 12-23
— Mets catcher James McCann has a wrist injury, is out for six weeks.
NL West standings:
Dodgers 20-11
Padres 21-13
Giants 20-13
Diamondbacks 18-16
Rockies 17-16
— Red Sox are 2-9 this season in games where game-winning run scored from 7th inning on.
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Braves 6, Padres 5— San Diego scored four runs in top of 8th to take 5-2 lead, then Atlanta scored four runs in bottom of 8th to win the game.
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A’s 4, Angels 3— Luis Barrera of the A’s is the second player in MLB history whose first career HR was a walkoff HR with his team trailing by more than one run and down to its last out.
The other was Hank Severeid for the St. Louis Browns on April 17, 1915. 1915!!!!
Couple nights ago around 4am, I stumbled across an old movie I had never seen:
The Gong Show Movie.
Back around 1980 or so, there was a daytime game show,
The Gong Show; it was American Idol on quaaludes— five or six contestants would perform, but very few of them had actual talent.
There were three celebrity judges; if one of them hit the gong before your act was over, you had to leave. If you made it to the end, you would get scored by the judges and there was a winner for each show. Can’t remember what they got, but it wasn’t much.
The host was Chuck Barris, who created the Dating Game and put the Newlywed Game on ABC also; he was a TV genius, but he was a little…….quirky. As host of The Gong Show, he was in a world of his own, dancing during acts, misreading cue cards. It was bizarre at times.
They had this guy, The Unknown Comic, who would come on stage couple times a week and tell jokes; he always had a paper bag over his head. Occasionally his jokes would have to be bleeped out; they were off-color.
Another guy was Gene Gene the Dancing Machine; he would come on stage and just start dancing until they were to a commercial, for no apparent reason.
The Gong Show TV show was awesome, it was great fun. 20-year old me loved it. The movie didn’t have as many censors; it also wasn’t as funny, but I did laugh several times. It was like catching up with an old friend, a friend who often made you shake your head in disbelief.