Friday’s 6-pack:
VCU has had 24 straight winning years, under seven different coaches:
— Mack McCarthy 65-55, 35-32 in CAA games (0-0 NCAAs)
— Jeff Capel 79-41, 50-22 in CAA (0-1 NCAAs)
— Anthony Grant 76-25, 45-9 CAA (1-2 NCAAs)
— Shaka Smart 163-56; 38-16 CAA/36-14 A-10 (6-5 NCAAs)
— Will Wade 51-20, 28-8 A-10 (1-2 NCAAs)
— Mike Rhoades 129-61, 72-32 A-10 (0-3 NCAAs)
— Ryan Odom 45-19, 22-9 A-10 (0-0 NCAAs)
Quote of the Day
“Unfortunately in recent years, we have seen ESPN scale back their baseball coverage and investment in a way that is not consistent with the sport’s appeal or performance on their platform.
Given that MLB provides strong viewership, valuable demographics, and the exclusive right to cover unique events like the Home Run Derby, ESPN’s demand to reduce rights fees is simply unacceptable. As a result, we have mutually agreed to terminate our agreement.”
Major League Baseball, in a statement; ESPN/MLB are done after this season
Friday’s quiz
In Kevin Costner’s baseball movie
For Love of the Game, what veteran actor plays the catcher for the Detroit Tigers?
Thursday’s quiz
New York Knicks have won only two NBA titles, in 1970, 1973; Red Holzman was the Knicks’ coach in those years.
Wednesday’s quiz
Iowa State’s teams are known as the Cyclones.
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— Since I watch too much TV, I have two TV recommendations today:
1) Red Storm Rising- A
Hard Knocks-type show about Rick Pitino/St John’s basketball, which airs on Vice TV. I found it on YouTube, since I don’t think I get Vice TV. Saw the first couple episodes; very well done. If you like college basketball, it is worth your time.
2) Underrated- Apple TV has a 90-minute show about Steph Curry, which focuses more on his college days at Davidson than his NBA career, but it shows both.
Curry is one of the best 10-15 players ever; he is the best shooter ever. It is interesting that he seems to be a fairly normal person. Wish they had shown the time he made 90+ 3-pointers in a row after a practice, but this was a really good show that I enjoyed watching.
Trivia; In his first college game ever, Curry had 13 turnovers, against Eastern Michigan; team had 30 turnovers overall, in an 81-77 win. There were skeptics that Curry would ever be a good Division I guard; those skeptics shut up a long time ago.
— Curry’s father Dell played 16 years in the NBA; he made 40.2% of his 3’s in his career. Dell Curry went to Virginia Tech; so did Curry’s mother.
Steph Curry wanted to play college ball at Virginia Tech, which had gone 19-29 in conference games the previous three seasons, but Curry was a pretty skinny kid, so the coach passed on giving him a scholarship.
That coach was Seth Greenberg, now one of ESPN’s college basketball studio guys.
— 9-time Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin has retired from the Cowboys/NFL after a great career. He will be get inducted into the Hall of Fame five years from now, that’s how good he was.
— Last year, Brett Baty wore number 22 for the Mets; this winter, Mets signed OF Juan Soto for $51M a year. Soto also wears number 22; Baty gave up number 22 to Soto and Thursday, Soto gifted Baty with a black Chevy SUV, which apparently cost $92,000, pocket change for Soto.
— LaSalle basketball coach Fran Dunphy is going to retire at the end of the season; the 76-year old Dunphy has made the NCAA Tournament 17 times in his career- he has a 623-376 record at Penn, Temple, La Salle— one of the three best coaches in Ivy League history.
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Famous birthdays, February 21st:
Tyne Daly, 79
William Petersen, 72
Kelsey Grammar, 70
Alan Trammell, 67
Steve Francis, 48
Jennifer Love Hewitt, 46
Andre Barrett, 43
Bo Naylor, 25
— Texas/USC cancelled their spring football games this year, like Nebraska/Florida State did. Texas/USC made up BS reasons for cancelling the games; Nebraska coach Matt Rhule was honest, citing teams watching the Cornhuskers’ spring game, then enticing players to enter the transfer portal and bolt Lincoln.
Florida State coach Mike Norvell: ”I would assume that you’re going to see less and less spring games just because of that part of it.”
— San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is out for the year, with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. The condition is typically treated with blood-thinning medication, which usually prevents a player from playing a contact sport like basketball.
Spurs are optimistic that Wembanyama will make a full recovery for the start of next season.
— Bronx Bombers gave manager Bret Boone a 2-year contract extension, through the 2027 season; Boone is 603-429 in the regular season, making the playoffs six of seven years. He is 22-23 in playoff games, getting to the World Series last year, for the first time.
In his seven years as manager, New York has paid out a total of $1,744,951,625 in salaries to their players, an average of $249,278,934/year.
— Kansas City Royals signed P Ross Stripling to a minor league deal; Stripling has pitched in the majors for nine years, for four different teams- he is 40-54, 4.17 in 248 games (129 starts).
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Term of the Day: robber baron- a person who becomes rich through ruthless and often unscrupulous business practices.
