Sunday’s 6-pack:
Sites of the next six Final Fours:
2026— Indianapolis
2027— Detroit
2028— Las Vegas
2029— Indianapolis
2030— Arlington, TX
2031— Atlanta
Quote of the Day
“It was a life-changing opportunity for me and my family. It was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Red Sox 2B Kristian Campbell, after signing an 8-year, $60M contract
Monday’s quiz
Florida won consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007; what two teams did they beat in those championship games?
Saturday’s quiz
Last time Detroit Pistons made the NBA playoffs, Milwaukee Bucks swept them in the first round.
Friday’s quiz
Draymond Green played his college basketball at Michigan State.
********************************************
Auburn led 46-38 at halftime.
Florida has now won 11 games in a row.
Walter Clayton scored 34 points, the first 30+ point game in a Final Four since Carmelo Anthony, 22 years ago.
Gators are in the national title game for the first time since 2011.
Average age of Auburn’s starting 5 is a year younger than the starting 5 for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
— Houston 70, Duke 67
Houston ended the game on an 11-1 run.
Cougars shot 10-22 on arc, out-rebounded Duke, 42-31.
LJ Cryer scored 26 points for Houston.
Florida-Houston play for the national title Monday night.
— I think there is opportunity in betting baseball totals, over/under for runs in a game, so I chart umpires. In couple weeks, when we gather some more numbers, I’ll be posting stuff about umpires several times a week.
Friday night in Anaheim, Clint Vondrak had the plate for Guardians-Angels; if this was 2026 and the challenge system existed, there would have been a lot of challenges. Just about every marginal pitch went the hitters’ way.
Last year, over was 19-11 when Vondrak worked the plate; so far this season; his two games behind the dish ended 10-6/8-6. This will be interesting to follow.
— I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how many times I’ve watched Moneyball, but I had it on the other night, and decided to look up Art Howe’s record as a manager.
He managed the A’s for seven years, went 296-189 the last three years, but lost 3-2 in playoff series all three years. Winning 91-102-103 games three years in a row is really good.
He obviously had the falling out with Billy Beane and bolted the A’s for the Mets, where he went 66-95/71-91 in two years, before they told him to take a hike.
In Moneyball, they made Howe look overweight, his character looked like Whitey Herzog, not Art Howe; he was a big league infielder for 11 years, hit .260. Pretty good athlete.
— Arizona Diamondbacks put 2B Ketel Marte on the IL (strained hamstring); sounded like the injury was fairly significant.
— Famous birthdays, April 6th:
John Ratzenberger, 78
Bert Blyleven, 74
Marilu Henner, 73
Sterling Sharpe, 60
Bret Boone, 56
Paul Rudd, 56
Tim Hasselbeck, 47
Spencer Dinwiddie, 32
— Mets 3, Blue Jays 2
Toronto led 2-0 in the 8th inning.
Jesse Winker tied the game with a 2-run triple.
Francisco Lindor’s sac fly was the 7th walk-off RBI of his career.
— Marlins 4, Braves 0
Cal Quantrill threw five shutout innings.
Matt Mervis homered twice for the Marlins.
Atlanta is off to a 1-8 start.
— Reds 11, Brewers 7
Cincinnati scored 14 runs Monday, 11 runs in this game.
In the four games in between, they scored a total of 2 runs, in four games.
TJ Friedl went 4-5, scored twice, had two RBI
— A’s 7, Rockies 4
Colorado led 3-1 after the fifth inning.
Jacob Wilson hit a 2-run double; earlier in the day, he hit into a triple play.
A’s are 4-2 on the road, 0-3 at home.
— In his 11 NBA seasons, Sacramento Kings’ G Zach LaVine has played in only four playoff games, the fewest of any player in the last 25 years amongst players who’ve averaged 20+ points/game.
— Word of the Day: kakistocracy- Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.
— Stock market went down a combined 3,910 points Thursday/Friday; maybe we shouldn’t have elected a convicted felon president of the country, since he doesn’t seem to care much if the country succeeds or fails, he just wants to play golf.
One question before I go; how come Russia doesn’t have any tariffs?
(If you’re annoyed that I mentioned this, too bleepin’ bad. It would be nice if this country remained a democracy, I’d like to think you at least agree with that)
Sites of the next six Final Fours:
2026— Indianapolis
2027— Detroit
2028— Las Vegas
2029— Indianapolis
2030— Arlington, TX
2031— Atlanta
Quote of the Day
“It was a life-changing opportunity for me and my family. It was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Red Sox 2B Kristian Campbell, after signing an 8-year, $60M contract
Monday’s quiz
Florida won consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007; what two teams did they beat in those championship games?
Saturday’s quiz
Last time Detroit Pistons made the NBA playoffs, Milwaukee Bucks swept them in the first round.
Friday’s quiz
Draymond Green played his college basketball at Michigan State.
********************************************
Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a spring Saturday……..
— Florida 79, Auburn 73Auburn led 46-38 at halftime.
Florida has now won 11 games in a row.
Walter Clayton scored 34 points, the first 30+ point game in a Final Four since Carmelo Anthony, 22 years ago.
Gators are in the national title game for the first time since 2011.
Average age of Auburn’s starting 5 is a year younger than the starting 5 for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
— Houston 70, Duke 67
Houston ended the game on an 11-1 run.
Cougars shot 10-22 on arc, out-rebounded Duke, 42-31.
LJ Cryer scored 26 points for Houston.
Florida-Houston play for the national title Monday night.
— I think there is opportunity in betting baseball totals, over/under for runs in a game, so I chart umpires. In couple weeks, when we gather some more numbers, I’ll be posting stuff about umpires several times a week.
Friday night in Anaheim, Clint Vondrak had the plate for Guardians-Angels; if this was 2026 and the challenge system existed, there would have been a lot of challenges. Just about every marginal pitch went the hitters’ way.
Last year, over was 19-11 when Vondrak worked the plate; so far this season; his two games behind the dish ended 10-6/8-6. This will be interesting to follow.
— I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how many times I’ve watched Moneyball, but I had it on the other night, and decided to look up Art Howe’s record as a manager.
He managed the A’s for seven years, went 296-189 the last three years, but lost 3-2 in playoff series all three years. Winning 91-102-103 games three years in a row is really good.
He obviously had the falling out with Billy Beane and bolted the A’s for the Mets, where he went 66-95/71-91 in two years, before they told him to take a hike.
In Moneyball, they made Howe look overweight, his character looked like Whitey Herzog, not Art Howe; he was a big league infielder for 11 years, hit .260. Pretty good athlete.
— Arizona Diamondbacks put 2B Ketel Marte on the IL (strained hamstring); sounded like the injury was fairly significant.
— Famous birthdays, April 6th:
John Ratzenberger, 78
Bert Blyleven, 74
Marilu Henner, 73
Sterling Sharpe, 60
Bret Boone, 56
Paul Rudd, 56
Tim Hasselbeck, 47
Spencer Dinwiddie, 32
— Mets 3, Blue Jays 2
Toronto led 2-0 in the 8th inning.
Jesse Winker tied the game with a 2-run triple.
Francisco Lindor’s sac fly was the 7th walk-off RBI of his career.
— Marlins 4, Braves 0
Cal Quantrill threw five shutout innings.
Matt Mervis homered twice for the Marlins.
Atlanta is off to a 1-8 start.
— Reds 11, Brewers 7
Cincinnati scored 14 runs Monday, 11 runs in this game.
In the four games in between, they scored a total of 2 runs, in four games.
TJ Friedl went 4-5, scored twice, had two RBI
— A’s 7, Rockies 4
Colorado led 3-1 after the fifth inning.
Jacob Wilson hit a 2-run double; earlier in the day, he hit into a triple play.
A’s are 4-2 on the road, 0-3 at home.
— In his 11 NBA seasons, Sacramento Kings’ G Zach LaVine has played in only four playoff games, the fewest of any player in the last 25 years amongst players who’ve averaged 20+ points/game.
— Word of the Day: kakistocracy- Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.
— Stock market went down a combined 3,910 points Thursday/Friday; maybe we shouldn’t have elected a convicted felon president of the country, since he doesn’t seem to care much if the country succeeds or fails, he just wants to play golf.
One question before I go; how come Russia doesn’t have any tariffs?
(If you’re annoyed that I mentioned this, too bleepin’ bad. It would be nice if this country remained a democracy, I’d like to think you at least agree with that)
