Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Favorites to win the 2025 Australian Rules Football Grand Final:
11-2— Brisbane
13-2— Hawthorne
15-2— Carlton, Greater Western Sydney
8-1— Collingwood
9-1— Fremantle, Geelong, Sydney
12-1— Western Bulldogs
Quote of the Day
“I thought a lot about it. I thought about it leading up to the game. I thought about it last night. I told the staff. But I ended up settling on, the right thing to do was play these guys because we owed it to the team…..the biggest thing is there was things that we wanted to do better than we did last week and we did. We cleaned a lot of things up offensively, I thought. Defensively, we talked about getting takeaways. We got takeaways. That will always serve you well going into next week.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell, on why he played his starters Monday night
Tuesday’s quiz
Who was the Minnesota Vikings’ QB, last time they won a playoff game?
Monday’s quiz
Daryle Lamonica was the first quarterback to pass for 400+ yards in a playoff game; he threw for 401 yards against the Jets in a 1968 playoff game.
Sunday’s quiz
In the movie A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper’s character is from Arizona.
*****************************************
Lions had eight drives; they scored five TD’s, kicked two field goals
Goff threw for 303 yards; Detroit was 9-14 on third down.
Detroit won 13 of its last 14 games (10-4 ATS).
Under Campbell, Detroit is 23-11 ATS as a favorite.
Under Campbell, Lions are 10-3 ATS as a road favorite.
49ers led 21-13 at halftime.
49ers outgained Lions, 475-439
Purdy threw for 377 yards, but threw two INTs.
Purdy hurt his elbow near end of game, will have an MRI on it.
49ers lost six of last seven games, are 1-7 ATS since their bye.
— Missouri 27, Iowa 24
Iowa led 24-14 with 2:00 left in third quarter.
Mizzou kicked two field goals in 4th quarter, 51-56 yards.
Tigers outgained Iowa, 376-297.
QB Cook threw for 287 yards, ran for 54 more.
— One of the best parts of being in Las Vegas is the conversations I have with total strangers, mostly in sports books, but also at the bar while playing video poker.
Was talking to a guy named Mark from Orange County; he was giving me tips on video poker strategy; turns out he is a Rams’ fan too.
Watching NFL games here the last two weekends, I met a variety of people; one guy played a 25-team parlay that he said would’ve paid $63,000 if it hit— he lost two of the 25 bets. Not good.
There is a saying I like “We have more in common than what separates us” and for me, that is never more true than when I’m here.
— If you run the Minnesota Vikings, do you sign QB Sam Darnold to a big contract and trade rookie JJ McCarthy, or do you let Darnold walk as a free agent and go forward with McCarthy/Daniel Jones as your quarterbacks?
Vikings are 14-2, are playing for the #1-seed in the NFC Sunday; if you saw the post-game celebration after the Green Bay game on social media, it is obvious that Darnold is beloved by his teammates. Going to be difficult to let him walk.
— Jets are going to interview Rex Ryan for their head coach opening, which is interesting; Ryan was 50-52 as Jets’ coach from 2009-14, then 15-16 as Buffalo’s coach in 2015-16. Jets haven’t made the playoffs since Ryan was coaching them, in 2010.
Will be fascinating to see what happens; hopefully owner Woody Johnson’s teenage sons won’t have any say in who the team hires.
— Washington Nationals signed 32-year old P Trevor Williams, for two years, $14M.
Williams was 6-1, 2.03 last year, in an injury-plagued, 13-start season. He is 50-55, 4.30 in 161 career starts in his nine-year career, mostly with the Pirates.
— 3B Alex Bregman is still a free agent; he’s a good player, but this stat is a little odd, since Bregman is a right-handed hitter:
2023: Bregman hit .282 vs righties, .215 vs lefties.
2024: Bregman hit .274 vs righties, .224 vs lefties.
2023: His home OPS was .764, road OPS .840
2024: His home OPS was .784, road OPS .755
For his career, his home OPS is .846, road OPS .850.
Houston is a good hitters’ ballpark; Bregman is a good stick, no matter where he is hitting. Curious to see where he winds up.
— Famous birthdays, December 31st:
Ben Kingsley, 81
Tim Matheson, 77
Val Kilmer, 65
Rick Aguilera, 63
Brent Barry, 53
Heath Shuler, 53
Esteban Loaiza, 53
Jason Campbell, 43
Ryan Yarbrough, 33
— Gonzaga 89, Pepperdine 82
Zags led 52-32 with 19:51 left, but Pepperdine cut the lead to 2 points.
Gonzaga shot 66.7% inside the arc, Pepperdine 59%
6-5 frosh Olvera scored 27 for the Waves; I’m guessing bigger schools are already trying to poach him for next season.
— Kansas State 70, Cincinnati 67
K-State was 16-20 on foul line, Bearcats 4-7 in their first Big X road game.
Cincinnati is 10-2 vs schedule #245; they’re 2-2 vs top 100 teams.
K-State snapped a four-game skid; they’re 1-4 vs top 100 opponents.
— San Francisco 97, Santa Clara 94 OT
Both teams shot over 65% inside the arc.
6-5 senior Thomas scored 34 points, had 8 rebounds.
6-10 O’Neil scored 20 points off the bench for Santa Clara.
— Iowa State 79, Colorado 69
Cyclones were +10 in turnovers, had 20 offensive rebounds.
Colorado led 55-50 with 12:01 left in game.
Iowa State was 17-22 on foul line, Buffaloes 6-8
— Arizona 90, TCU 81
Arizona shot 72.2% inside the arc.
Wildcats’ lead was only 49-48 with 15:07 left in game.
6-4 senior Love scored 33 points, had seven assists.
— RIP to President Jimmy Carter, who passed away this weekend at age 100.
Carter was the 39th President of the United States, from 1976-80; he is the only President who graduated from the US Naval Academy. He was a peanut farmer before he got into politics.
His writings after his Presidential term include political memoirs, commentary on global affairs, and books of poetry. He was a decent man who was heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity, helping build many houses for less fortunate families.
We could use more decent people in public service. RIP, sir.
— RIP to actress Linda Lavin, 87 who passed away this week; she is best-known for the TV comedy show Alice. Lavin became a role model for working moms as Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son working in a roadside diner outside Phoenix.
That was a good show, a funny show. She was an excellent actress. RIP, ma’am.
— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 6-1 SU/6-1 ATS
ACC 1-9 SU/1-9 ATS
Big 18 4-2 SU/5-1 ATS
Big X 3-2 SU/2-3 ATS
C-USA 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
MAC 4-2 SU/4-1-1 ATS
M West 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
SEC 4-3 SU/4-3 ATS
Sun Belt 3-3 SU/2-3-1 ATS
Favorites: 15-15-1 ATS
Totals: over 17-14
Favorites to win the 2025 Australian Rules Football Grand Final:
11-2— Brisbane
13-2— Hawthorne
15-2— Carlton, Greater Western Sydney
8-1— Collingwood
9-1— Fremantle, Geelong, Sydney
12-1— Western Bulldogs
Quote of the Day
“I thought a lot about it. I thought about it leading up to the game. I thought about it last night. I told the staff. But I ended up settling on, the right thing to do was play these guys because we owed it to the team…..the biggest thing is there was things that we wanted to do better than we did last week and we did. We cleaned a lot of things up offensively, I thought. Defensively, we talked about getting takeaways. We got takeaways. That will always serve you well going into next week.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell, on why he played his starters Monday night
Tuesday’s quiz
Who was the Minnesota Vikings’ QB, last time they won a playoff game?
Monday’s quiz
Daryle Lamonica was the first quarterback to pass for 400+ yards in a playoff game; he threw for 401 yards against the Jets in a 1968 playoff game.
Sunday’s quiz
In the movie A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper’s character is from Arizona.
*****************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
Lions 40, 49ers 34Lions had eight drives; they scored five TD’s, kicked two field goals
Goff threw for 303 yards; Detroit was 9-14 on third down.
Detroit won 13 of its last 14 games (10-4 ATS).
Under Campbell, Detroit is 23-11 ATS as a favorite.
Under Campbell, Lions are 10-3 ATS as a road favorite.
49ers led 21-13 at halftime.
49ers outgained Lions, 475-439
Purdy threw for 377 yards, but threw two INTs.
Purdy hurt his elbow near end of game, will have an MRI on it.
49ers lost six of last seven games, are 1-7 ATS since their bye.
— Missouri 27, Iowa 24
Iowa led 24-14 with 2:00 left in third quarter.
Mizzou kicked two field goals in 4th quarter, 51-56 yards.
Tigers outgained Iowa, 376-297.
QB Cook threw for 287 yards, ran for 54 more.
— One of the best parts of being in Las Vegas is the conversations I have with total strangers, mostly in sports books, but also at the bar while playing video poker.
Was talking to a guy named Mark from Orange County; he was giving me tips on video poker strategy; turns out he is a Rams’ fan too.
Watching NFL games here the last two weekends, I met a variety of people; one guy played a 25-team parlay that he said would’ve paid $63,000 if it hit— he lost two of the 25 bets. Not good.
There is a saying I like “We have more in common than what separates us” and for me, that is never more true than when I’m here.
— If you run the Minnesota Vikings, do you sign QB Sam Darnold to a big contract and trade rookie JJ McCarthy, or do you let Darnold walk as a free agent and go forward with McCarthy/Daniel Jones as your quarterbacks?
Vikings are 14-2, are playing for the #1-seed in the NFC Sunday; if you saw the post-game celebration after the Green Bay game on social media, it is obvious that Darnold is beloved by his teammates. Going to be difficult to let him walk.
— Jets are going to interview Rex Ryan for their head coach opening, which is interesting; Ryan was 50-52 as Jets’ coach from 2009-14, then 15-16 as Buffalo’s coach in 2015-16. Jets haven’t made the playoffs since Ryan was coaching them, in 2010.
Will be fascinating to see what happens; hopefully owner Woody Johnson’s teenage sons won’t have any say in who the team hires.
— Washington Nationals signed 32-year old P Trevor Williams, for two years, $14M.
Williams was 6-1, 2.03 last year, in an injury-plagued, 13-start season. He is 50-55, 4.30 in 161 career starts in his nine-year career, mostly with the Pirates.
— 3B Alex Bregman is still a free agent; he’s a good player, but this stat is a little odd, since Bregman is a right-handed hitter:
2023: Bregman hit .282 vs righties, .215 vs lefties.
2024: Bregman hit .274 vs righties, .224 vs lefties.
2023: His home OPS was .764, road OPS .840
2024: His home OPS was .784, road OPS .755
For his career, his home OPS is .846, road OPS .850.
Houston is a good hitters’ ballpark; Bregman is a good stick, no matter where he is hitting. Curious to see where he winds up.
— Famous birthdays, December 31st:
Ben Kingsley, 81
Tim Matheson, 77
Val Kilmer, 65
Rick Aguilera, 63
Brent Barry, 53
Heath Shuler, 53
Esteban Loaiza, 53
Jason Campbell, 43
Ryan Yarbrough, 33
— Gonzaga 89, Pepperdine 82
Zags led 52-32 with 19:51 left, but Pepperdine cut the lead to 2 points.
Gonzaga shot 66.7% inside the arc, Pepperdine 59%
6-5 frosh Olvera scored 27 for the Waves; I’m guessing bigger schools are already trying to poach him for next season.
— Kansas State 70, Cincinnati 67
K-State was 16-20 on foul line, Bearcats 4-7 in their first Big X road game.
Cincinnati is 10-2 vs schedule #245; they’re 2-2 vs top 100 teams.
K-State snapped a four-game skid; they’re 1-4 vs top 100 opponents.
— San Francisco 97, Santa Clara 94 OT
Both teams shot over 65% inside the arc.
6-5 senior Thomas scored 34 points, had 8 rebounds.
6-10 O’Neil scored 20 points off the bench for Santa Clara.
— Iowa State 79, Colorado 69
Cyclones were +10 in turnovers, had 20 offensive rebounds.
Colorado led 55-50 with 12:01 left in game.
Iowa State was 17-22 on foul line, Buffaloes 6-8
— Arizona 90, TCU 81
Arizona shot 72.2% inside the arc.
Wildcats’ lead was only 49-48 with 15:07 left in game.
6-4 senior Love scored 33 points, had seven assists.
— RIP to President Jimmy Carter, who passed away this weekend at age 100.
Carter was the 39th President of the United States, from 1976-80; he is the only President who graduated from the US Naval Academy. He was a peanut farmer before he got into politics.
His writings after his Presidential term include political memoirs, commentary on global affairs, and books of poetry. He was a decent man who was heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity, helping build many houses for less fortunate families.
We could use more decent people in public service. RIP, sir.
— RIP to actress Linda Lavin, 87 who passed away this week; she is best-known for the TV comedy show Alice. Lavin became a role model for working moms as Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son working in a roadside diner outside Phoenix.
That was a good show, a funny show. She was an excellent actress. RIP, ma’am.
— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 6-1 SU/6-1 ATS
ACC 1-9 SU/1-9 ATS
Big 18 4-2 SU/5-1 ATS
Big X 3-2 SU/2-3 ATS
C-USA 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
MAC 4-2 SU/4-1-1 ATS
M West 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
SEC 4-3 SU/4-3 ATS
Sun Belt 3-3 SU/2-3-1 ATS
Favorites: 15-15-1 ATS
Totals: over 17-14
