Armadillo Sports
Friday’s 6-pack
AP preseason top 6 in college basketball:
T5) Baylor
T5) Kansas
4) Kentucky
3) Houston
2) Gonzaga
1) North Carolina
Quote of the Day
“She usually kicks me if I say something I shouldn’t. I’ll feel a little tap, but I didn’t feel one today, so I guess that’s good.”
AJ Nola, father of Aaron/Austin Nola, talking about watching a playoff game with his wife, with one of his sons on each team
Friday’s quiz
Where did Andy Dalton play his college football?
Thursday’s quiz
In the TV show The West Wing, President Bartlet was from New Hampshire.
Wednesday’s quiz
Bushwood was the name of the country club in the classic movie Caddyshack.
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Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….
— Carolina Panthers traded RB Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers; in return, they get:
2023 2nd round pick
2023 3rd round pick
2023 4th round pick
2024 5th round pick
I would advise against wagering on Carolina the rest of this season.
Cardinals 42, Saints 34
— Cardinals scored 22 points in 1:42 span of 2nd quarter, with two pick-6’s.
— Saints outgained Arizona, 494-326, but were minus-3 in turnovers.
— In his first game this season, WR Hopkins was targeted 14 times, caught 10 passes for 103 yards.
— All the other Cardinals were targeted 15 times, caught 10 balls for 101 yards.
— Saints lost five of last six games; their turnover ratio is minus-11.
— New Orleans has been outscored 103-68 in first half.
— Saints have been outscored 46-15 in last 2:00 of each half.
— Last four New Orleans games went over the total.
— Worst thing about the Amazon Prime NFL game is that it is tough to go back/forth between games on my TV, when one of the games is on Amazon— doesn’t switch back quick enough. Need two devices working, instead.
— Thursday was just 27th night ever with NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL all playing on same night. Someone on Twitter called it the Sports Equinox.
— Next year, NFL will have a game the Friday after Thanksgiving, a 3pm Friday game that will be shown on Amazon Prime. Good thing I’m already divorced; putting games on at 3:00 on a weekday afternoon would’ve caused a problem. (It’s a joke!!!, but there will be a Friday game)
— Dak Prescott is starting at QB for Dallas Sunday against the Lions. Cooper Rush goes back to one of the best jobs in America, getting paid $977,500 to be the backup QB, where no one ever hits you and no one ever boos you.
— Other night on TNT, Reggie Miller called Steph Curry “the greatest shooter ever” which pretty much ends that discussion, seeing how Miller is also in that discussion.
— Speaking of TNT, their Inside the NBA crew signed on for the next five years; it is a popular show, must make the network lot of $$$$.
— Philadelphia 76ers haven’t made the Eastern Conference Finals (NBA’s version of the Final 4) since 2001; that fact surprised me.
— Big rule improvement in the NBA: outlawing teams giving a foul to end a fast break. Those fouls took away lot of fast breaks, which are fun to watch— there were 1,700 take fouls in the NBA last year. The game will have a better flow now.
— I’ll say this again; an assist on a 3-point shot should count as 1.5 assists, passes that lead to made foul shots should also be credited, half an assist for every made free throw. Points are points, no matter how they’re scored.
— Houston 3, New York 2
Bregman hit a 3-run homer in third inning.
Astros won their first five playoff games, by total of seven runs.
Series heads to New York with Houston leading, 2-0.
— Yoenis Cespedes is still playing baseball; he is playing in the Dominican Winter League, and may be looking at making a comeback in the big leagues next spring.
— Don’t always judge strategy by results; a coach/manager can make the right move, and it might not work. Coaches play percentages; sometimes nothing they would try will work, other times, there are no bad options.
— Appalachian State 42, Georgia State 17
Georgia State led 14-0 after first quarter.
App State outscored them 35-3 in second half.
App State ran ball for 404 yards, outgained Georgia State 466-301.
— Virginia 16, Georgia Tech 9
Tech’s only TD came on a pick-6 (they missed the PAT)
Virginia led 13-9 at halftime.
Cavaliers outgained Tech, 410-201
Yellow Jackets were 6-21 on third down, Virginia 2-14.
— Troy 10, South Alabama 6
Troy scored only TD of game on first play of 2nd quarter.
Troy converted 1-12 on third down, South Alabama 4-13
Jaguars ran ball 21 times for 31 yards.
Total yardage: Troy 266, South Alabama 244
— There is a great writer named Joe Posnanski who has written a few books that are all good; he really is an excellent sportswriter. He also has an e-mail thing where you get knowledge from him every day, and it is free.
Mr Posnanski posted this great nugget this week: in 1952, a guy named Don Lenhardt batted three times with the bases loaded. He was a utility player who had an ordinary career, but in those three AB’s that year with the bases loaded……..
First time with bases loaded, he hit an inside-the-park home run.
Second time with bases loaded, he hit a walk-off grand slam.
The day after his walk-off grand slam, Lenhardt got traded from Boston to Detroit.
Less than a week later, in this third AB with bases loaded, he hit a home run against the Red Sox, the team that had just traded him.
For the season, Lenhardt hit .239 with 11 HR’s, but he was perfect with the bases loaded.