2022 WNBA SEASON NEWS,NOTES, PICKS !

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Friday’s 6-pack
Week 1 spreads in the NFL:
— Kansas City (-3) @ Arizona
— Green Bay (-2) @ Minnesota
— Las Vegas @ LA Chargers (-3.5)
— NJ Giants @ Tennessee (-6.5)
— Tampa Bay (-2) @ Dallas
— Denver (-5) @ Seattle

Quote of the Day
“I feel it’s necessary (to talk), with what’s going on regarding me, and the things that have been said about me. To think that I can accomplish everything that I’ve accomplished in my career and not be a student of the game, and not have passion and not take this serious, is almost disrespectful, and it’s almost a joke.”
Kyler Murray

Friday’s quiz
Which NFL team has gone the longest, since the last time they were in the playoffs?

Thursday’s quiz
Last time the Dallas Cowboys won a playoff game, they beat Seattle 24-22 in 2018.

Wednesday’s quiz
Former Dodger shortstop Bill Russell replaced Tommy Lasorda as Dodgers’ manager.

*******************************

Friday’s Den: ACC football knowledge

Boston College
— 6 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 29 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 16 starts
— Last six years, they’re 38-35 SU
— Since 2014, they’re 18-8-1 ATS as a road underdog.
— Last five years, they’re 27-14-1 ATS in ACC games.
— lost last two bowls; their last bowl win was in 2016.

Clemson
— 9 starters back on offense, 6 on defense
— 75 starts back on offensive line; soph QB has 15 starts
— Lost both coordinators from LY; replaced from within.
— Last ten years, they’re 121-17 SU
— Since 2017, they’re 14-8-1 ATS as a road favorite.
— Since 2017, they’re 7-1 ATS as a road underdog.
— Last four years, they’re 4-2 SU in bowl/playoff games.

Duke
— 6 starters back on offense, 5 on defense
— 124 starts back on offensive line; 4th year in row they’ll have new QB
— New coach was defensive coordinator at Texas A&M
— Last three years, they’re 10-19 SU, with minus-27 turnover ratio.
— Last two years, Rams are 4-12 ATS as an underdog.
— Won last three bowls, but last one was in 2018
— Average total in last five bowls: 77.

Florida State
— 8 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 101 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 13 starts
— Last four years, they’re 19-27 SU
— Since 2016, they’re 11-17 ATS as a home favorite.
— Last two years, they’re 3-9 ATS coming off a loss.
— 2-3 SU in last five bowls, with last bowl win in 2017

Georgia Tech
— 5 starters back on offense, 3 on defense
— 37 starts back on offensive line; soph QB has 16 starts
— Since 2016, Tech is 5-12 ATS as a home underdog.
— Since 2019, they’re 5-7 ATS as a road underdog.
— Collins is 15-19 ATS as an underdog, 4-11-1 as home favorite.
— Last bowl was in 2018; last bowl win 2016.

Louisville
— 7 starters back on offense, 7 on defense
— 116 starts back on offensive line; senior QB has 38 starts
— since 2017, they’re 3-7-1 ATS as a home favorite.
— were +2 in turnovers LY (from 2018-20, were minus-25)
— Over last decade, they’re 29-42-1 ATS coming off a win.
— Lost three of last four bowls (average total on last three: 61)

Miami
— 7 starters back on offense, 7 on defense
— 137 starts back on offensive line; soph QB started 9 games
— Cristobal is 13-22-1 ATS as a home favorite.
— since 2016, Miami is 1-7 ATS on neutral fields.
— Since 2019, they’re 5-1 ATS as an underdog.
— Since 2012, they’re 7-3 ATS as a home underdog.
— 0-4 SU/ATS last four bowls, allowing 30 ppg.

North Carolina
— 5 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 104 starts back on offensive line; new QB
— Lost last nine times they scored less than 34 points.
— Last two years, they’re 8-4 ATS as home favorites, 1-5 as road favorites.
— lost four of last five bowls, giving up 33.2 ppg; they were favored in 3 of 5 games.
— average total in last three bowls: 65.0

NC State
— 7 starters back on offense, 10 on defense
— 95 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 20 starts
— 17-7 SU last two years
— Under Doeren, they’re 14-24 ATS as a favorite.
— Last six years, they’re 6-9 ATS as a road favorite.
— Last five years, they’re 3-8-1 ATS as a road dog.
— Last bowl win was in 2017- their bowl LY was cancelled.

Pittsburgh
— 8 starters back on offense, 7 on defense
— have 145 starts back on offensive line.
— junior QB started 26 games at USC; his OC in high school was Kurt Warner.
— Since 2019, they’re 8-1 ATS as a road favorite.
— Since 2015, they’re 27-11 ATS on the road.
— Since 2015, they’re 22-15 ATS as an underdog.
— 1-4 SU/ATS in last five bowl games.

Syracuse
— 9 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 120 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 13 starts
— 10-4 ATS in last 14 games as a favorite.
— since 2016, they’re 15-11 ATS as an underdog.
— were minus-6 in turnovers LY (+25 from 2018-20)
— won their last four bowls SU (were favored in only one of the four)

Virginia
— 4 starters back on offense, 6 on defense
— 22 starts back on offensive line; brought in OL from Harvard/Georgetown
— junior QB has started 20 games.
— covered 8 of last 11 games as a home favorite.
— Last four years, they’re 12-7 ATS as an underdog.
— Last two years, they’re 8-3 ATS coming off a win.
— 10-5 ATS in last 15 non-conference games.
— lost three of last four bowls; their last bowl win was 2018.

Virginia Tech
— 4 starters back on offense, 7 on defense
— 62 starts back on offensive line; soph QB started 23 games at Marshall
— Last four years, they’re 25-25 SU, which is why there is a new coach.
— Since 2016, Hokies are 5-13 ATS as a road favorite.
— Last two years, they’re 1-9 ATS coming off a win.
— lost last four bowls SU, giving up 39 ppg (lost 54-10 in bowl LY)

Wake Forest
— 7 starters back on offense, 6 on defense
— 104 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 33 starts
— 23-13 SU last three years (+27 turnover ratio)
— under Clawson, Deacons are 18-13 ATS as a road underdog.
— since 2015, they’re 4-7 ATS as a road favorite.
— played in a bowl the last six years, unusual for Wake.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Friday, July 29

WNBA

Friday, July 29

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Trend Report
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Las Vegas @ Indiana
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Indiana
Las Vegas is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing on the road against Indiana
Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Indiana's last 8 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Indiana's last 7 games when playing at home against Las Vegas

New York @ Chicago
New York
The total has gone OVER in 7 of New York's last 8 games when playing on the road against Chicago
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 5 games when playing Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Chicago's last 8 games when playing at home against New York


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[Cnotes53]

FRIDAY, JULY 29

LV at IND	07:00 PM	LV -14.0 O 173.5	+500 +500
NY at CHI	08:00 PM	NY +10.0 O 164.5	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack
Week 1 NFL spreads
— Buffalo (-1.5) @ LA Rams
— Saints (-5) @ Atlanta
— Browns (-1.5) @ Carolina
— 49ers (-6.5) @ Chicago
— Steelers @ Cincinnati (-6.5)
— Eagles (-4) @ Detroit

Quote of the Day
“After seeing the distraction it created, we removed the addendum from the contract. It was clearly perceived in ways that were never intended. Our confidence in Kyler Murray is as high as it’s ever been and nothing demonstrates our belief in his ability to lead this team more than the commitment reflected in this contract.”
Arizona Cardinals, in a statement Friday

Saturday’s quiz
What major league baseball team has the longest current playoff drought?

Friday’s quiz
Last time Jets made the playoffs was 2010; that is the longest current playoff drought of any NFL team.

Thursday’s quiz
Last time the Dallas Cowboys won a playoff game, they beat Seattle 24-22 in 2018.

**************************************

Saturday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….

— As a lifelong A’s fan, I’ll tell you this; the trade deadline can be uplifting, when your team goes out and gets players to fortify the roster, or depressing/deflating, when teams give up and sell off their good players because they’re too cheap to pay them.

Next four days will be interesting; the trade deadline is 6pm Tuesday. Once a team starts making moves, then other contenders will try to keep pace.

— Cincinnati Reds traded P Luis Castillo to Seattle Friday night, for four minor league prospects, including two of Seattle’s three best minor league prospects.

— Kansas City traded OF Andrew Benintendi to New York for three minor leaguers; Royals are in the Bronx this weekend, so Benintendi is playing against the guys he flew to New York with. He went 1-7 with a walk in his first two games for New York.

— Bronx 11, Kansas City 5— Royals led 5-3 in 8th inning, first time they’ve scored in their last four games, but their bullpen imploded, giving up eight runs. Kansas City is 3-8 in its last 11 games.

2017 Royals are still the last big league team to get shut out four games in a row.

— Reds sent OF Tyler Naquin to the Mets, giving them another lefty bat off the bench, which means that Dom Smith will get traded before Wednesday.

— Braves 5, Arizona 2— Atlanta is 19-10 in their last 29 games, but they’re 1-8 in last nine series finales, 18-2 in all the other games. Avoid the Braves on Sundays, I guess.

— A’s 7, White Sox 3:
Chicago is 21-27 at home; they were 53-28 at home last year.
Oakland is 13-8 in its last 21 games, but they’re probably going to trade 2-3 more guys before the deadline, which will put an end to this recent stretch of good play.

— Mike Trout played in only 36 games last year; he’s played in only 79 games this year, and has no timetable to return to action with an unusual back injury. Something about his rib cage not connecting to his spinal column the right way.

They say the best ability is availability; will the Angels trade Shohei Ohtani to try and make their team better? Problem is, Ohtani is their best pitcher and they really need pitching.

— San Diego Padres’ alternate uniforms are unusual; right sleeves are pink, left sleeves are mint green, the numbers are pink, names on back are yellow, batting helmets are mint green. They are very pastel-ish; they’re meant to replicate the colors of the Mexican flag. San Diego isn’t too far from the Mexican border.

Padres hammered Minnesota ace Joe Ryan Friday night, hitting five homers, scoring 10 runs in 4.2 IP. Not a good night for my fantasy squad.

— Brewers 4, Red Sox 1— Milwaukee is 10-3 against the American League this year.

— Do pitchers have any input pregame, as far as how the defense will be positioned behind them? If not, how often do they get steamed when the shifts don’t work?

— Word of the Day: shenanigans— Silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.

— Found a list I made with all-time NBA teams on it; people forget how great Wilt Chamberlain was, because he played 50+ years ago.

Chamberlain had 55 points and 29 rebounds, in his 8th NBA game; he scored 100 points in a game. They busted his chops about not passing enough; the next year he led the leagues in assists. Seriously, he did (1967-68)

— Arizona Cardinals cut the studying clause out of Kyler Murray’s contract; they did what they wanted to do; they embarrassed Murray because they don’t think he does enough homework during the week at home. The clause was unenforceable anyway.

Now they have to hope the $46M a year they’re paying him will soothe any hurt feelings.

— Most consecutive games with at least one passing TD:
54— Drew Brees
52— Tom Brady
51— Peyton Manning
47— Johnny Unitas

— UCLA football coach Chip Kelly pointed out this week that UCLA/Rutgers are going to be in the same league, even though the two schools are located 2,765 miles apart.

This doesn’t sound like a financially sound plan, but that’s the way things are headed.

— Prop bets are interesting to look at; here are some over/under yardage prop bets:

— passing yardage:
Baker Mayfield 3,800.5 yards
Kyler Murray 3,939.5
Dak Prescott 4,249.5
Aaron Rodgers 3,950.5
Jameis Winston 3,750.5

— rushing yardage:
Antonio Gibson 824.5 yards
Derrick Henry 1,350.5
Josh Jacobs 749.5
Elijah Mitchell 900.5
Jonathan Taylor 1,350.5

— receiving yards:
Mark Andrews 950.5 yards
Ja’Marr Chase 1,199.5
Jerry Jeudy 905.5
Cooper Kupp 1,300.5
DK Metcalf 900.5

— Tua Tagovailoa prop bets:
INT’s— over/under 13
Passing yards: over/under 3,900.5
TD passes: over/under 24.5

— There are only four games in Week 1 of the NFL season where both teams have the same coach and QB that they had last year:
Bills-Rams
Eagles-Lions
Chiefs-Cardinals
Ravens-Jets

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Saturday, July 30

WNBA

Saturday, July 30

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Trend Report
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Seattle @ Washington
Seattle
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Seattle's last 6 games on the road
Seattle is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Washington
Washington
Washington is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games at home
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home

Dallas @ Atlanta
Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Dallas's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Dallas's last 6 games when playing Atlanta
Atlanta
Atlanta is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Dallas
Atlanta is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Dallas


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[Cnotes53]

SATURDAY, JULY 30

SEA at WAS	12:00 PM	SEA +3.0 U 155.5	+500 +500
DAL at ATL	07:30 PM	DAL +0.0 O 163.5	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Sunday’s 6-pack
— Mariners 5, Angels 4— Seattle scored twice in 9th inning.
— Brewers 9, Red Sox 4— Boston is 5-17 in its last 22 games.
— Angels 9, Rangers 7— Texas led 7-4 in 8th inning.
— Nationals 7, Cardinals 6— Washington scored three runs in 7th.
— Blue Jays 5, Tigers 3— Toronto scored four unearned runs in 6th.
— New York 8, Royals 2— Judge has 12 homers in his last 14 games.

Quote of the Day
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”
Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

Sunday’s quiz
Which Super Bowl-winning head coach was a replacement player for the Chicago Bears during the 1987 players’ strike?
(Hints: He was a quarterback, and he isn’t coaching right now)

Saturday’s quiz
Seattle Mariners have the longest current playoff drought; they last made the playoffs in 2001.

Friday’s quiz
Last time Jets made the playoffs was 2010; that is the longest current playoff drought of any NFL team

************************

Sunday’s Den: Conference USA football knowledge

Alabama-Birmingham
— 6 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 74 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 14 starts
— UAB coach Clark abruptly retired in June (has back issues)
— OC Bryant Vincent will be the interim head coach
— Since 2017, they’re 14-6-2 ATS as a home favorite.
— 13-8 ATS in last 21 games as an underdog.
— 2-2 in bowls last five years (3-1 ATS)

Charlotte
— 8 starters back on offense, 6 on defense
— 46 starts back on offensive line; senior QB has 35 starts
— Have one winning season out of nine as a I-A team
— Since 2019, they’re 4-2 ATS as a home dog, 4-8 as a road dog.
— Last year, they gave up 49 ppg in losing their last three games.
— lost their only bowl game 31-9 in 2019.

Florida Atlantic
— 8 starters back on offense, 6 on defense
— 125 starts back on offensive line; senior QB has 21 starts
— 10-11 SU in two years since Lane Kiffin left.
— In his career, Taggart is 37-25 ATS in road games.
— FAU is 4-1 SU in last five bowls (underdog in 3 of 5 games)
— Since 2015, FAU is 2-9 ATS as a home underdog.

Florida International
— 5 starters back on offense, 5 on defense
— 25 starts back on offensive line; senior QB had 11 starts at Duke
— Should have 3 sophs, one freshman starting on OL
— New coach MacIntyre is 36-29 ATS in road games.
— FIU is 3-13-1 ATS last 17 games as an underdog.
— Last three years, they’re 2-16-1 ATS in conference games.
— Lost three of last four bowls; last one was in 2019

Louisiana Tech
— 6 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 85 starts back on offensive line
— went 8-14 last two years, after going 10-3 in 2019
— New coach Cumbie was an OC at TCU, Texas Tech
— have new QB’s; two of them played for Cumbie at TCU, Texas Tech
— Since 2017, Tech is 8-13 ATS as a home favorite.
— Last two years, they’re 2-8 ATS as a favorite.
— won four of last five bowls; were underdog in 4 of the 5.

Middle Tennessee State
— 5 starters back on offense, 6 on defense
— 31 starts back on offensive line
— brought in five junior college linemen this year
— senior QB has 5 starts; soph QB also has 5 starts
— since 2016, they’re 26-9-1 ATS coming off a loss.
— Coach Stockstill is 21-13 ATS as a road favorite.
— 2-3 in bowls since 2015 (average total: 68.2)

North Texas
— 8 starters back on offense, 5 on defense
— 106 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 12 starts
— Last two years, UNT is 5-2 ATS as a favorite.
— since 2017, they’re 9-14 ATS coming off a loss.
— under Littrell, they’re 19-29 ATS in C-USA games
— they’re 2-10 all-time in bowls (0-4 ATS last four)
— 0-5 SU/1-4 ATS last five bowls, allowing 44.6 ppg.

Rice
— 7 starters back on offense, 7 on defense
— 92 starts back on offensive line; 3 backups QB’s from LY return
— Last four years, Owls are 11-31 SU
— Last four years, they’re 1-7 ATS as favorites, 18-15 as an underdog
— last three years, they’re 7-12 ATS coming off a loss
— won 3 of last 4 bowls, but their last bowl was in 2014.

Texas- El Paso
— 7 starters back on offense, 8 on defense
— 94 starts back on offensive line; junior QB has 19 starts
— 7-6 LY, their second winning season in last 10 years
— Coach Dimel is 14-29 ATS as a favorite.
— Since 2004, Miners are 0-5 SU/1-4 ATS in bowls.
— Last year was their first bowl since 2014.

Texas-San Antonio
— 8 starters back on offense, 5 on defense
— have 121 starts back on offensive line; senior QB has 28 starts.
— went 12-2 SU last season
— Under Traylor, UTSA is 8-2 ATS as an underdog.
— Since 2018, they’re 9-3 ATS coming off a loss.
— Last two seasons, Roadrunners are +20 in turnovers
— 0-3 SU/2-1 ATS in bowls; were underdog in all three.

Western Kentucky
— 4 starters back on offense, 7 on defense
— 39 starts back on offensive line; junior QB had 25 starts at a D2 school
— Under Helton, they’re 11-5 ATS as an underdog.
— Helton is their 6th head coach in last ten years.
— 15-8-1 ATS in last 24 conference games
— 3-2 SU in bowls the last six years

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Sunday, July 31

WNBA

Sunday, July 31

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Trend Report
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Chicago @ Connecticut
Chicago
Chicago is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Connecticut
Chicago is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
Connecticut is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games

Phoenix @ New York
Phoenix
Phoenix is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against New York
Phoenix is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against New York
New York
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 6 games when playing at home against Phoenix
New York is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games when playing Phoenix

Seattle @ Washington
Seattle
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Seattle's last 7 games on the road
Seattle is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Washington
Washington
Washington is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home
Washington is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home

Las Vegas @ Indiana
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Indiana
Indiana
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games when playing at home against Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Indiana's last 14 games at home

Minnesota @ Los Angeles
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Minnesota is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Los Angeles
Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Los Angeles's last 11 games when playing at home against Minnesota
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Los Angeles's last 5 games at home


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[Cnotes53]

SUNDAY, JULY 31

CHI at CONN	01:00 PM	CHI +4.0 O 164.5	+500 +500
PHO at NY	02:00 PM	NY +1.0 O 166.5	+500 +500
LV at IND	03:00 PM	IND +17.5 O 173.0	+500 +500
SEA at WAS	03:00 PM	WAS -2.5 O 155.5	+500 +500
MIN at LA	07:00 PM	MIN -2.5 U 166.5	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in OPS:
1.087— Yordan Alvarez, Hst
1.054— Aaron Judge, NYY
1.011— Paul Goldschmidt, StL
.981— Rafael Devers, Bos
.967— Mike Trout, LAA
.964— Austin Riley, Atl

Quote of the Day
“……..hopefully I’m going to play here soon. Coming out of the workouts, it’s been great every day. It’s getting better. It’s very promising to start rotational stuff. I’ll do that for a couple days in the weight room and if that goes well, I’ll start swinging.”
Mike Trout

Monday’s quiz
Dick Vermeil won a Super Bowl coaching the Rams; he won a Rose Bowl coaching which team?

Sunday’s quiz
Sean Payton was a replacement player for the Chicago Bears during the 1987 players’ strike.

Saturday’s quiz
Seattle Mariners have the longest current playoff drought; they last made the playoffs in 2001.

***********************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..

13) Basketball great Bill Russell passed away this weekend, at age 88.

— He played 13 years in the NBA, won 11 championships; he had more championship rings than fingers to put them on.
— In his 13-year career, he missed the NBA Finals once.
— He also won two national titles playing in college, at San Francisco.
— He won an Olympic gold medal, in 1956 in Australia.
— Russell played in 10 Game 7’s in the NBA playoffs; he played 488 of a possible 495 minutes in those games, and grabbed 29.3 rebounds/game.

When I posted my top 15 basketball players of all time, I had Russell on my first team, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Magic Johnson. I still believe that.

Russell did a lot of good work off the court too; it wasn’t easy to be in his position in the 50’s/60’s. I remember him working NBA games on TV after he retired; he had a great laugh.

RIP, sir.

12) Since 2016, Washington Redskins/Commanders have started 11 different QB’s, the most of any team in the NFL.

11) Today is August 1; Cleveland Browns have no idea who their quarterback will be in 41 days, when they open their season in Charlotte.

The decision of Deshaun Watson is expected to come down Monday, which should be a very interesting thing. If Watson gets a full year, do they trade for Jimmy Garoppolo?

10) Jacksonville Jaguars signed a kicker named Elliott Fry, who has already spent time with eight other NFL teams. He is 3-4 on field goals, 5-6 on PATs in his NFL career. He also went 14-14 kicking FG’s for the Orlando Apollos in the AAF couple years ago.

9) Things I learned this week; if you own a golf course and you bury a dead relative near the first hole, it technically becomes a cemetery. Cemeteries aren’t taxed. Golf courses are taxed.

You can also charge people to view the gravesite.

Now, only a complete scumbag would do something like this, but it happens…….

8) August 1st and Mariners-Astros don’t play any more this season? Seems unusual for division rivals not to play in the last two months of the season.

7) Seattle ace Robbie Ray against the Astros this season:

3 starts, 14 runs allowed in 10.2 IP. No bueno.

6) Pittsburgh Pirates have only 12 wins from their starting pitchers this season, the fewest by any team in their first 100 games since at least 1906.

5) Rangers 5, Angels 2— Halos’ rookie Reid Detmers struck out 12 guys in 7 IP, also had an immaculate inning— striking out the side on nine pitches in the 2nd inning.

Detmers is the first pitcher since Mike Fiers in 2015 to throw a no-hitter and an immaculate inning in the same season. Weird thing is, Fiers was traded in between his immaculate inning and his no-hitter. He did those things for different teams.

Another oddity; Detmers was sent down to AAA in between his accomplishments.

Last pitcher to throw a no-hitter and an immaculate inning for the same team in the same year was Sandy Koufax, in 1964.

4) Trey Mancini was credited with an inside-the-park home run last week, in a day game vs Tampa Bay. He hit a normal fly ball to right field, the RF missed the ball— it hit him in the face and bounced 30-40 feet away to his left.

Here’s the thing: the RF had his sunglasses on top of his hat, instead of wearing them. This was an error all the way, a bad decision by the official scorer.

3) Pretty good field for the Myrtle Beach Invitational in November:

Colorado-UMass
Murray State-Texas A&M
Boise State-Charlotte
Loyola (Chi)-Tulsa

2) An “unnamed NFL assistant coach” was critical of Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes last week; it takes lot of balls to anonymously criticize one of the game’s best quarterbacks, without attaching your name to it.

Let us go to the numbers:

— five years in the NFL, Mahomes is 50-13 in regular season, 8-3 in playoff games.
— he won consecutive AFC title games, splitting two Super Bowls.
— 151 TD passes, 37 INT’s; pretty good numbers. Damn good.

Lot of really good QB’s don’t have eight playoff wins; Mahomes is only 26 years old.

Like I said, takes a lot of onions to criticize the guy, but if you do, you damn sure need to attach your name to it.

1) If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Mets-Brewers-Dodgers. Wild Cards: Atlanta, San Diego, Philadelphia
AL: New York-Minnesota-Houston Wild Cards: Toronto, Seattle, Tampa Bay

 

[Udog]

No games today.... play resumes tomorrow.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack
Six games Deshaun Watson will miss during his suspension:
Week 1) @ Carolina
2) NJ Jets
3) Pittsburgh (Thursday game)
4) @ Atlanta
5) LA Chargers
6) New England

Quote of the Day
“My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far I’ve finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already.”
Dave Barry

Tuesday’s quiz
Which two NFL teams used to call St Louis home?

Monday’s quiz
Dick Vermeil won a Super Bowl coaching the Rams; he won a Rose Bowl coaching UCLA.

Sunday’s quiz
Sean Payton was a replacement player for the Chicago Bears during the 1987 players’ strike.

*****************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..

— Cleveland Browns’ QB Deshaun Watson got hit with a 6-game suspension Monday, so Jacoby Brissett will be the Browns’ QB when the season starts.

Cleveland plays division rival Baltimore in Week 7, Cincinnati in Week 8, the first two games Watson will be able to play.

Two sportsbooks posted Cleveland’s over/under win total at 9.5; another one posted 8.5.

— Baseball trading deadline is Tuesday at 6pm; there was activity Monday.

Milwaukee dealt closer Josh Hader to San Diego; in return they got closer Taylor Rogers, two minor league prospects and injury-plagued P Dinelson Lamet.

Brewers also got P Matt Bush from Texas, for two prospects.

Boston traded C Christian Vazquez to the Astros, for two minor leaguers.
Red Sox then traded P Jake Diekman to the White Sox, for C Reese McGuire.
Boston also acquired OF Tommy Pham from Cincinnati for a player to be named later.

Braves signed 3B Austin Riley to a 10-year, $212M deal; they also got P Jake Odorizzi from Houston (for P Will Smith) and acquired OF Robbie Grossman from Detroit.

There was a 3-way trade; don’t see lot of those:
Orioles got two minor leaguers
Astros got 1B Trey Mancini
Rays got OF Jose Siri

Orioles were 52-110 last year, are in contention this year, but traded Mancini anyway; that had to be a difficult decision.

Oakland purged two more players, trading P’s Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino to the Bronx, for four minor league prospects. Actually, JP Sears has a 2.05 ERA in 22 IP in the major leagues this season, starting twice in seven appearances.

— If you have a kid who is athletic, have him learn how to kick a football:
New England signed punter Jake Bailey to a 4-year, $13.5M deal.
Pittsburgh signed kicker Chris Boswell to a 4-year, $20M deal.

— It is 83 degrees as I type this; it’ll be colder in November when the Maui Classic is played, though it still might be 83 in Hawai’i. Here are the Maui Classic first round matchups:
Texas Tech-Creighton
Louisville-Arkansas
Ohio State-San Diego State
Cincinnati-Arizona

This is a good tournament.

— Hall of Fame ballplayer Stan Musial had 3,630 hits in his great career:
1,815 hits at home
1,815 hits on the road.

— When the Red Sox beat Milwaukee 7-2 Sunday, rookie P Josh Winckowski got the win; it was the only win for a Boston starting pitcher the whole month of July- they had been 0-15 in their previous 29 games.

Before Sunday, last time a Boston starter got the win was June 26 in Cleveland (Rich Hill).

— Pirates traded P’s Jose Quintana, Chris Stratton to St Louis, for two minor leaguers.

— Bronx acquired reliever Scott Effross from the Cubs; their bullpen needs help, even they win just about all their games.

— Monday was the 36th anniversary of my first-ever visit to Las Vegas; August 1, 1986.

Drove in from Los Angeles; there was a sign on the highway in the desert; “Turn your air conditioner off or your engine will overheat.”

It was 112 degrees when we got to our hotel, a Motel 6-type place across the street from Circus Circus. A dry heat, but 112 degrees is 112 degrees.

Walking into a casino for the first time at age 26, my head was spinning; went up to the window to bet on the Mets against the Montreal Expos— for some reason I remember Floyd Youmans was pitching for Montreal. Told the guy my bet, try to hand him my money and he smiles:

“Nice bet buddy, but the game started an hour ago”

I never set my watch back three hours when I flew to California. Whoops.

There was a store in Caeser’s Palace that had a hat of every major league and NFL team hanging on the wall; that is when/where my hat collection started.

We walked around a lot that day, despite the heat; Imperial Palace had a sportsbook where you could watch ballgames/horse races. I’m sitting there, 2.500 miles from home, watching races at Saratoga, which is 25 miles from my home. Brilliant.

Anyway, it was a lot to take in; we wound leaving at 4am, when it had cooled down to 99 degrees but I was hooked. What an awesome place.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Tuesday, August 2

WNBA

Tuesday, August 2

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
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Phoenix @ Connecticut
Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Phoenix's last 5 games on the road
Phoenix is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing Phoenix
Connecticut is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games

Las Vegas @ Washington
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Las Vegas is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Washington
Washington is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home
Washington is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games

Los Angeles @ New York
Los Angeles
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Los Angeles's last 5 games on the road
Los Angeles is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against New York
New York
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of New York's last 5 games when playing at home against Los Angeles

Dallas @ Chicago
Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Dallas's last 6 games
Dallas is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games at home
Chicago is 13-3 SU in its last 16 games


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[Cnotes53]

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2

LA at NY	07:00 PM	NY -4.0 U 162.0	+500 +500
PHO at CONN	07:00 PM	CONN -10.0 U 167.0	+500 +500
LV at WAS	07:00 PM	LV -3.5 U 165.0	+500 +500
DAL at CHI	09:00 PM	DAL +8.0 O 167.0	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack
— Dodgers 9, Giants 5— Mookie Betts knocked in three runs.
— Blue Jays 3, Rays 1— Gausman tossed eight shutout innings.
— Nationals 5, Mets 1— deGrom allowed a run in 5 IP in his first ’22 start.
— Padres 13-3, Rockies 5-2— Grisham hit a walk-off homer in Game 2.
— Rockies were the only team that didn’t make a trade at the deadline.
— RIP to the great announcer Vin Scully, who passed away this week at age 94.

Quote of the Day
“The Dodgers’ Vin Scully was one of the greatest voices in all of sports. He was a giant of a man, not only as a broadcaster, but as a humanitarian.”
Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten

Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie Leap of Faith, where Steve Martin plays a traveling preacher, what famous actor plays a small-town sheriff?

Tuesday’s quiz
Cardinals, Rams are the two NFL teams who used to call St Louis home.

Monday’s quiz
Dick Vermeil won a Super Bowl coaching the Rams; he won a Rose Bowl coaching UCLA.

*************************

Wednesday’s Den: notes on NFC teams

Arizona Cardinals
— Since 2015, they’re 11-24 ATS as a home favorite.
— Last three years, they’re 12-3-1 ATS as a road underdog.
— Since 2016, they’re 14-22 ATS in games with spread of 3 or less.
— started 7-0 last year; went 4-7 from that point on.
— played one playoff game the last six years (lost 34-11)

Atlanta Falcons
— last made the playoffs in 2017; 25-40 SU since then
— Last four years, they’re 6-13 ATS as a home favorite.
— Last two years, they’re 2-8 ATS coming off a win.
— Last two years, they’re 7-2 ATS vs AFC teams
— Last three years, under 15-8 in Falcon home games.

Carolina Panthers
— last made the playoffs in 2017; last playoff win was in 2015.
— 10-34 SU the last three years (minus-27 turnovers)
— Last three years, they’re 1-8 ATS in NFC South home games.
— Since 2012, they’re 8-18-1 ATS as a road favorite.
— Mayfield will be their 5th different starting QB the last five years.

Chicago Bears
— Last 11 years, Chicago is 0-2 in playoff games.
— Have one winning season the last nine years.
— Last two years, Bears are 3-9 ATS vs NFC North rivals.
— Since 2018, Chicago is 13-8-1 ATS in games with spread of 3 or less.
— Last three years, they’re 9-15-1 ATS coming off a loss.

Dallas Cowboys
— Last time they made playoffs in consecutive years: 2006/2007.
— since 2010, they’re 2-4 in playoff games
— covered last six games as a home underdog.
— since 2014, they’re 24-11-1 ATS on natural grass.
— were +14 in turnovers LY (minus-5 previous three years)

Detroit Lions
— 2016-17, Lions went 9-7/9-7, fired the coach- they’re 17-46-2 since then
— 0-9 SU in last nine playoff games; last playoff win was in 1991.
— Over is 17-6-1 in their last 24 home games.
— Were underdog in all 17 games last year (11-6 ATS).
— Last three years, are 4-7-1 ATS in NFC North road games.

Green Bay Packers
— Last three years, are 39-10 SU (+37 in turnovers), but 2-3 in playoffs
— since 2012, they’re 1-5 SU in second playoff game of a season
— Last three years, Packers are 16-7 ATS as a home favorite.
— Last three years, Packers are 8-2 ATS as a road underdog.
— 10-6-1 ATS last 17 games with spread of 3 or less.

Los Angeles Rams
— 55-26 SU under McVay (no winning seasons in previous 13 years)
— 15-8-1 ATS in last 24 games coming off a loss.
— Rams are 7-3-1 ATS last 11 games as a road underdog.
— They’re 23-17-1 ATS in last 41 road games.
— Last three years, under is 16-7 in their home games.

Minnesota Vikings:
— Last 17 years, Vikings are 3-6 in playoff games.
— Since 2012, Minnesota is 17-6 ATS as a home underdog.
— Since 2017, they’re 12-7 ATS as a road favorite.
— Last 10 years, Vikings are 18-11-1 in NFC North home games.
— Last 10 years, favorites are 19-11 ATS in their NFC North road tilts.

New Orleans Saints
— 47-18 SU last four years, with +23 turnover ratio.
— 14-6-1 ATS in last 21 games with spread of 3 or less.
— Since 2014, they’re 20-29-1 ATS as a home favorite
— Last four years, they’re 10-2 ATS in AFC South road games
— Allen was 8-28 coaching the Raiders from 2012-14.

New Jersey Giants
— Last 10 years, they’re 0-1 in playoff games.
— Last five years, Giants are 22-59 SU.
— Since 2017, they’re 23-13 ATS as a road underdog.
— Since 2013, they’re 15-26 ATS as a home underdog.
— Last two years, under is 13-2-1 in their home games.

Philadelphia Eagles
— Last four years, Eagles are 1-3 in playoff games.
— they’re 13-20 ATS last 33 games as a road favorite
— since 2012, they’re 9-14 ATS as a home underdog.
— 8-13 ATS last 21 games with spread of 3 or less.
— Last six years, they’re 14-22 ATS in NFC East games.

San Francisco 49ers
— 33-32 SU last four years, despite minus-36 turnover ratio.
— last five years, they’re 5-9-1 ATS in NFC West home games
— Last three years, they’re 11-4 ATS as an underdog.
— under Shanahan, they’re 8-16-1 ATS as a home favorite.
— under Shanahan, they’re 15-10-1 ATS as a road underdog.

Seattle Seahawks
— 7-10 LY, after making playoffs eight of previous nine years.
— Seahawks are 8-2 ATS last ten games as a home underdog.
— 11-5-1 ATS last 17 games vs AFC teams.
— Since 2012, they’re 33-18-3 ATS coming off a loss.
— In the NFL, Pete Carroll is 39-24-6 ATS as an underdog.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
— 24-9 SU in regular season with Brady at QB (+18 in turnovers).
— previous three years, they were 17-31, with minus-31 turnover ratio
— 3-7 ATS in last ten games on artificial turf
— From 2003-19, they were 0-2 in playoff games; last two years, 5-1.
— 8-2 ATS last ten games coming off a loss.

Washington Commanders
— last 16 years, they’re 0-3 in playoff games.
— Last five years, they’re 31-50 SU
— Last three years, Commanders are 8-15-1 ATS at home.
— 8-4-1 ATS last 13 games with spread of 3 or less.
— Wentz will be their 5th starting QB the last six years.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, August 3

WNBA

Wednesday, August 3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana @ Atlanta
Indiana
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Indiana's last 11 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Indiana's last 7 games
Atlanta
Atlanta is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games when playing at home against Indiana
Atlanta is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing Indiana

Los Angeles @ New York
Los Angeles
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 6 games when playing on the road against New York
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 6 games on the road
New York
The total has gone OVER in 5 of New York's last 6 games when playing at home against Los Angeles
New York is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home

Minnesota @ Seattle
Minnesota
Minnesota is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Minnesota's last 8 games when playing on the road against Seattle
Seattle
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Minnesota
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home


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[Cnotes53]

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3

LA at NY	07:00 PM	LA +6.0 U 165.5	+500 +500
IND at ATL	07:00 PM	ATL -8.5 U 161.0	+500 +500
MIN at SEA	10:00 PM	SEA -6.5 U 160.5	+500 +500

 

[Cnotes53]

08/03/2022	0-0-0	0.00%	+0	Detail
08/02/2022	5-3-0	62.50%	+850	Detail
07/31/2022	6-4-0	60.00%	+800	Detail
07/30/2022	2-2-0	50.00%	-100	Detail
07/29/2022	3-1-0	75.00%	+950	Detail
07/28/2022	6-2-0	75.00%	+1900	Detail
07/26/2022	0-2-0	0.00%	-1100	Detail
07/23/2022	2-1-1	62.50%	+450	Detail
07/22/2022	3-3-0	50.00%	-150	Detail
07/19/2022	0-6-0	0.00%	-3300	Detail

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Thursday’s 6-pack
Odds to win the Wyndham PGA Tour event this weekend:
15-1— Webb Simpson
16-1— Shane Lowry, Will Zalatoris
18-1— Sungjae Im
19-1— Billy Horschel
24-1— Corey Conners
29-1— Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley, Kevin Kisner,

Quote of the Day
“Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”
Bill Bradley

Thursday’s quiz
When Michael Jordan played minor league baseball for the Birmingham Barons in the AA Southern League, which current major league manager was the Barons’ skipper?

Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie Leap of Faith, where Steve Martin plays a traveling preacher, Liam Neeson plays a small-town sheriff.

Tuesday’s quiz
Cardinals, Rams are the two NFL teams who used to call St Louis home.

*******************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..

13) NFL preseason starts tonight; Raiders-Jaguars in Canton, OH at the Hall of Fame.

If you care about such things, under is 7-2 in last nine Hall of Fame games.

Also, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels grew up in Canton; he played his high school games on this field.

12) Miami Dolphins got stripped of a 1st-round and 3rd-round draft pick, because they were tampering with Tom Brady, as far back as 2019. Pretty severe penalty.

NFL determined that the Dolphins tampered by making contact with Brady on two separate occasions while he was under contract with another team, once each (Patriots/Bucs). Miami also tampered with Sean Payton, before he resigned in New Orleans.

11) NFL appealed Deshaun Watson’s 6-game suspension; apparently they want the suspension to be for a full season.

For what it is worth, Browns are favored in four of their first six games, even with Watson out.

10) Tuesday afternoon, while the clock was ticking towards baseball’s trade deadline, ESPN was talking about the Dolphins’ situation, ESPN2 was talking about the NBA. ESPN doesn’t care much for baseball these days, that is for sure.

9) Kentucky-Gonzaga are going to play home/home series the next two years, which is good for college basketball; only question is if the game at Gonzaga will be in the on-campus gym, or in the arena in Spokane.

8) I’m either a moron or a jinx, not sure which:

In our fantasy baseball league, we have 29-man rosters; you play 13 guys each week, nine hitters, four pitchers. No relief pitchers in our leagues; saves isn’t a category.

Here are Brady Singer’s stats, broken down by when he’s been in/out of my lineup;
Singer in my lineup: 5 starts- 0-4, 6.00 ERA, 1.43 WHIP
Singer out of my lineup: 9 starts- 4-0, 2.82 ERA, 1.10 WHIP

Singer pitches better against better teams; it makes no sense. He threw seven shutout innings in the Bronx, and lost twice to the A’s. Go figure.

7) San Diego Padres’ new lineup:
2— Soto
3— Machado
4— Josh Bell
6— Drury

Drury hit a grand slam in the first inning Wednesday. It is unclear where Fernando Tatis will bay when he comes off the IL, but San Diego has formidable lineup.

6) Last week, San Diego was 25-1 to win the World Series; now they’re 10-1.

5) All-Star Game was 16 days ago; since then, five All-Stars were traded.

4) Reliever Jesse Chavez has been traded 10 times in his 15-year career, an all-time record. His family must be very good at packing.

3) In case you were wondering, Detroit’s Mickey Lolich/Bill Freehan were the pitcher/catcher in 324 games, the most any one battery worked together in the big leagues. Lolich won 217 games in his career, threw 195 complete games.

2) They showed a replay of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run on TV; it came against the Dodgers, and Vin Scully was announcing, as he was for so many big baseball moments.

Dodgers’ left fielder that night was Bill Buckner, 12 years before he became famous during Game 6 of the World Series. Buckner wound up with 2,715 hits in his 22-year career, a .289 hitter. He was a really good player who should well known for that reason.

1) Washington Nationals have a 1B Joey Meneses who made his big league debut this week, at age 30. Before making it to The Show, Meneses played in 894 minor league games, batting over 3,500 times. He homered in his first MLB game; can you imagine how freakin’ awesome that must have been for him?

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Thursday, August 4

WNBA

Thursday, August 4

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix @ Connecticut
Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Phoenix's last 10 games when playing Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Phoenix
Connecticut is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games

Las Vegas @ Dallas
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Las Vegas's last 8 games
Dallas
Dallas is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games when playing at home against Las Vegas


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