Armadillo Sports
Monday’s 6-pack:
Last six Stanley Cup champs:
2023— Vegas Golden Knights
2022— Colorado Avalanche
2021— Tampa Bay Lightning
2020— Tampa Bay Lightning
2019— St Louis Blues
2018— Washington Capitals
Quote of the Day
“It’s a lot that myself, and we can learn from that experience being in the Finals, and this time, this go-around is a lot different. Obviously, we’ve been there before, we came up short. And a great opportunity to make it to the Finals again. You don’t always get a second chance, so really just looking at it as a second chance and trying to simplify things as much as we can.”
Celtics star Jayson Tatum
Monday’s quiz
Who was coach of the Boston Celtics, last time they won the NBA title?
Sunday’s quiz
2021 was last time an Eastern Conference team won the NBA title, when the Milwaukee Bucks beat Phoenix 4-2 in the Finals.
Saturday’s quiz
Darryl Strawberry played 17 years in the majors, for four teams; the two New York teams, and the Giants/Dodgers.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend…….
— Baseball front offices have been overrun by over-educated morons; the new thing is that a marginal starting pitcher is only allowed to face 18 batters, no matter how he is doing. There is evidence that pitchers struggle when they go thru lineups a third time, but for the love of Christ, use some freakin’ common sense.
Saturday afternoon, Arizona is beating the Mets 4-1 in bottom of the 5th; rookie pitcher Slade Cecconi is pitching. Mets have a man on 2nd, two out- Cecconi got the last two hitters out, but they take him, because he had gone thru the lineup twice.
How the hell is he supposed to develop into a dependable starting pitcher if he isn’t allowed to finish the 5th inning? He had only thrown 71 pitches. It makes no sense.
— Baltimore Orioles are 37-20, they’re probably going to make the playoffs; they’re 3 games out of first place in the AL East, but they’ve got an 8.5-game lead for a Wild Card slot, so they’re a solid bet to make the playoffs.
Problem is, their starting pitching is banged up; Means/Wells are out for the year, and they’ve got several position player prospects in the minors. It makes sense that between now and July 31 (the trade deadline), Orioles are going to trade for a couple starting pitchers.
— Detroit 8, Boston 4 (10)- Tigers have won five games this year that they trailed in by 3+ runs, more than any American League team.
— Arizona 5, Mets 4- Mets, on the other hand, have lost six games that they led after eight innings. Mets have the 3rd-worst record in the National League. Ketel Marte homered twice; the second one was a 2-run blast in the ninth inning.
— Texas 6, Miami 0- Marlins start out June by getting beat 7-0/6-0. Not ideal.
— Brewers 6, White Sox 3
Chicago has now lost 11 games in a row.
OF Tommy Pham had been a bright spot for Chicago, but he was 2-21 last week.
— Oilers 2, Stars 1
Edmonton is in Stanley Cup finals for first time since 2006.
Oilers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1990.
There is a player on Edmonton, Corey Perry, who is the first player in NHL history to play in the NHL’s Final Four for five different teams. He is 39 now, has been in NHL since 2005; he was on the Anaheim Ducks when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007.
Florida Panthers opened as -125 favorites to win the Stanley Cup final.
Famous birthdays, June 3rd:
Billy Cunningham, 81
Anderson Cooper, 57
Az-Zahir Hakim, 47
Al Horford, 38
Rafael Nadal, 38
Imogen Poots, 35
Harrison Bader, 30
Luis Gil, 26
Host of The Gong Show, Chuck Barris, was born on June 3, 1929. The Gong Show was one of the funniest game shows ever; it was American Idol without talented contestants.
— Week 10, UFL:
Birmingham 20, Michigan 19
These teams meet again in the playoffs next week.
St Louis 13, San Antonio 12
These teams also meet again in the playoffs next week.
Arlington 32, DC Defenders 31
Arlington drove 41 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:28 left.
Memphis 19, Houston 12
Houston lost despite outgaining the Roughnecks, 323-203.
Four games decided by total of 10 points in the last week of the regular season.
— Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel is now an assistant with the Cleveland Browns; I was so hoping Browns-Titans played each other this fall, but they don’t. Vrabel coached under Cleveland DC Jim Schwartz in Tennessee.
— Ever hear of Reese Poffenbarger? Didn’t think so.
Reese Poffenbarger played QB for the I-AA Albany Great Danes, which is where I went to college. Back then, Albany was D-3; they ran the wishbone and usually won. My work-study job in college was doing stats for football/basketball games, a really good work-study job.
These days, Albany is I-AA, and Poffenbarger has thrown for 6,613 yards and 60 TD’s the last two years— he is very good. Good enough to get poached by an ACC team.
Miami’s QB the last three years, Tyler Van Dyke bolted to Wisconsin, so Miami hit the transfer portal and paid Poffenbarger, but then they also hit the portal for Washington State QB Cam Ward, so now Poffenbarger gets paid to run the scout team, unless Ward gets hurt.
— New York 7, Giants 5
Juan Soto homered twice, including the game-winner in the 9th inning.
Blake Snell left in the 5th inning with a leg injury, is likely headed to the IL.
Snell, who signed a 2-year, $62M deal just before the season, is 0-3, 9.51 in six starts.
— All six division leaders have a 3+ game lead in their division; the three NL leaders have leads of 6.5, 6.5 and 7 games over the second place teams. Good thing the Wild Cards exist.
— Clemson was playing Coastal Carolina in the college baseball tournament, and they actually used the hidden ball trick in the second inning- it worked. Clemson won the game 12-5; college baseball is high-level stuff. How do you fall for the hidden ball trick?
— Early part of the week is going to be quiet; NBA Finals don’t start until Thursday, Stanley Cup Finals start Saturday.
