Thursday’s 6-pack:
Top 6 teams in the college baseball top 25:
1- Wake Forest
2- LSU
3- Arkansas
4- Oregon State
5- Cal State-Fullerton
6- TCU
Quote of the Day
“A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning.”
Chuck Noll
Thursday’s quiz
Who was the third President of the United States?
Wednesday’s quiz
When the United States won the gold medal in hockey at the 1980 Olympics, they beat Finland 4-2 in the gold medal game. (they beat Russia in the semi-finals).
Tuesday’s quiz
Scott Skiles holds the NBA record for most assists in a game, with 30.
****************************************
— Pet Peeve Department:
a) “He’s a winner” You hear this on TV and it makes my blood boil, because for every winner, there is a loser, and no way in hell is anyone automatically “a loser”
b) College basketball analysts tend to call games in the same leagues, and they become shills for that league.
The Big X analysts: “Teams in the Big X play harder than any league in the country”
The SEC analysts: “The SEC is deeper than it has ever been; best league in the country”
Not good. Just announce the game; stop being a shill.
— You can make this wager at Circa in Las Vegas:
UConn or Purdue to win the college hoop national title: +260
Any other team in the country to win the college hoop national title: -320
— Baseball futures bets for this season:
Ronald Acuna stolen bases: over/under 56.5
Oakland A’s wins: over/under 56.5
Hopefully for my sake, Acuna won’t get more steals than the A’s get wins, or it’ll be another long summer for me (A’s fan since 1965). Oakland has improved its starting pitching, they figure to be a little better, but they were 50-112 last year. No bueno.
— MLB Network re-played a show about Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley the other day; I was reminded that he threw a no-hitter for the Cleveland Indians in 1977, his third year in the major leagues. I listened to that game on the radio, with the great Joe Tait on the mike.
In that game……..from 1977
Eckersley allowed only one baserunner (he walked Tony Solaita)
Rick Manning was the Indians’ CF: he is still an analyst on Guardians games.
Duane Kuiper was the Indians’ 2B: he is still a play-by-play guy on Giants games.
Jerry Remy was the Angels’ 2B that day; he wound up in the same TV booth with Eckersley, doing Red Sox games for years.
Ray Fosse was the Indians’ catcher that day; he worked A’s games on TV for 30 years.
Bobby Bonds played for the Angels that day; Barry Bonds’ dad, and a hell of a ballplayer.
Stressful no-hitter; Cleveland scored a run in the first inning, the only run of the game. Time of the game: 2:02.
— Over the last 2.5 years, NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder is 126-85-7 (.597) against the spread.
— New Jersey Giants went 6-11 this past season, despite a +12 turnover ratio; they’re only NFL team in the last 20 years to have a +12 or better turnover ratio, and finish with a loosing record.
— For some reason this weekend, ESPN showed a buzzer beater in a D-3 game between Cortland-Plattsburgh, two schools in New York State where it gets very cold at this time of year. When I was in college, spent a few nights in those two gyms; we never got on ESPN.
— Baseball Stuff:
Salt Lake City, Nashville are frontrunners for baseball’s next round of expansion, which should happen in the next few years.
1B Eric Hosmer retired Tuesday; he played 13 years in the big leagues, hit 198 home runs with an OPS of .762. He won three Gold Gloves, was an All-Star in 2016.
SS Amed Rosario gets a one-year, $1.5M deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.
P Hyun Jin-Ryu went home to Korea to finish up his baseball career; he pitched in the big leagues for 10 years, went 78-48, 3.27 in 185 career MLB starts.
— Movie of the Day: Last Vegas (2013)- Four senior citizens who’ve been best friends since childhood head to Las Vegas, for the bachelor party of the one friend (Michael Douglas) who has never been married. He is marrying someone who is half his age, which complicates things.
Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen; obviously an epic cast of characters.
— Washington State is in the college basketball top 25 for the first time since 2008; Coogs have won seven in a row, 10 of last 11 games- they have the #2 eFG% defense in the country.
Top 6 teams in the college baseball top 25:
1- Wake Forest
2- LSU
3- Arkansas
4- Oregon State
5- Cal State-Fullerton
6- TCU
Quote of the Day
“A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning.”
Chuck Noll
Thursday’s quiz
Who was the third President of the United States?
Wednesday’s quiz
When the United States won the gold medal in hockey at the 1980 Olympics, they beat Finland 4-2 in the gold medal game. (they beat Russia in the semi-finals).
Tuesday’s quiz
Scott Skiles holds the NBA record for most assists in a game, with 30.
****************************************
Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….
— Today is/was my dad’s birthday, and also my Aunt Josephine’s. Two of the nicest people I’ve ever met, I was lucky to know them. Hopefully they’re up in heaven having a good laugh today.— Pet Peeve Department:
a) “He’s a winner” You hear this on TV and it makes my blood boil, because for every winner, there is a loser, and no way in hell is anyone automatically “a loser”
b) College basketball analysts tend to call games in the same leagues, and they become shills for that league.
The Big X analysts: “Teams in the Big X play harder than any league in the country”
The SEC analysts: “The SEC is deeper than it has ever been; best league in the country”
Not good. Just announce the game; stop being a shill.
— You can make this wager at Circa in Las Vegas:
UConn or Purdue to win the college hoop national title: +260
Any other team in the country to win the college hoop national title: -320
— Baseball futures bets for this season:
Ronald Acuna stolen bases: over/under 56.5
Oakland A’s wins: over/under 56.5
Hopefully for my sake, Acuna won’t get more steals than the A’s get wins, or it’ll be another long summer for me (A’s fan since 1965). Oakland has improved its starting pitching, they figure to be a little better, but they were 50-112 last year. No bueno.
— MLB Network re-played a show about Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley the other day; I was reminded that he threw a no-hitter for the Cleveland Indians in 1977, his third year in the major leagues. I listened to that game on the radio, with the great Joe Tait on the mike.
In that game……..from 1977
Eckersley allowed only one baserunner (he walked Tony Solaita)
Rick Manning was the Indians’ CF: he is still an analyst on Guardians games.
Duane Kuiper was the Indians’ 2B: he is still a play-by-play guy on Giants games.
Jerry Remy was the Angels’ 2B that day; he wound up in the same TV booth with Eckersley, doing Red Sox games for years.
Ray Fosse was the Indians’ catcher that day; he worked A’s games on TV for 30 years.
Bobby Bonds played for the Angels that day; Barry Bonds’ dad, and a hell of a ballplayer.
Stressful no-hitter; Cleveland scored a run in the first inning, the only run of the game. Time of the game: 2:02.
— Over the last 2.5 years, NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder is 126-85-7 (.597) against the spread.
— New Jersey Giants went 6-11 this past season, despite a +12 turnover ratio; they’re only NFL team in the last 20 years to have a +12 or better turnover ratio, and finish with a loosing record.
— For some reason this weekend, ESPN showed a buzzer beater in a D-3 game between Cortland-Plattsburgh, two schools in New York State where it gets very cold at this time of year. When I was in college, spent a few nights in those two gyms; we never got on ESPN.
— Baseball Stuff:
Salt Lake City, Nashville are frontrunners for baseball’s next round of expansion, which should happen in the next few years.
1B Eric Hosmer retired Tuesday; he played 13 years in the big leagues, hit 198 home runs with an OPS of .762. He won three Gold Gloves, was an All-Star in 2016.
SS Amed Rosario gets a one-year, $1.5M deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.
P Hyun Jin-Ryu went home to Korea to finish up his baseball career; he pitched in the big leagues for 10 years, went 78-48, 3.27 in 185 career MLB starts.
— Movie of the Day: Last Vegas (2013)- Four senior citizens who’ve been best friends since childhood head to Las Vegas, for the bachelor party of the one friend (Michael Douglas) who has never been married. He is marrying someone who is half his age, which complicates things.
Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen; obviously an epic cast of characters.
— Washington State is in the college basketball top 25 for the first time since 2008; Coogs have won seven in a row, 10 of last 11 games- they have the #2 eFG% defense in the country.
