Thursday’s 6-pack:
Six players who won the AP college hoop player of the year award more than once:
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA
— Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
— David Thompson, NC State
— Bill Walton, UCLA
— Ralph Sampson, Virginia
— Zach Edey, Purdue
Quote of the Day
“A little song, a little dance…….a little seltzer down your pants.”
Chuckles the Clown, from the Mary Tyler Moore Show
Thursday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, what number did Roy Hobbs wear for the New York Knights?
Wednesday’s quiz
2018 was last time an NBA team won back-to-back championships; Golden State won the title in both 2017 and 2018.
Tuesday’s quiz
Dodgers’ P Clayton Kershaw played center on his high school football team; Matthew Stafford was the quarterback on that team.
**************************************************
I am constantly confounded by the direction ESPN has taken; they’re covering the NBA Draft, they love promoting the NBA, but then they have a draft and don’t have a former coach or a former general manager on their panel. Why?!?!?!?!
Richard Jefferson played in the NBA for 17 years, he is very good on TV.
Jay Bilas is their college basketball expert; he is good on TV.
The host does a good job in her job, moving the broadcast around the arena.
But if you have to have a 4th person on set, it damn sure needs to be someone who has been in the room, scouting/drafting players on nights like this one, or someone who has coached in the NBA, so they can tell us what it is like to be behind the curtain on draft night.
We don’t need a 30-year old person who never played pro basketball talking more than either Jefferson or Bilas. I watch the broadcast to learn stuff, not to hear people talking about players’ handshakes, suit jackets or hair styles.
Bob Myers works for ESPN: he was the freakin’ GM of the great Warrior teams. Would be nice if they put him with the first team on TV.
— Three of the first six players drafted Thursday are from France, which is unusual.
— From 2025-31, Utah Jazz will have 18 first round draft picks,
Utah took USC guard Isaiah Collier with the 29th pick Thursday; it can be dicey to read body language, but he and his mom didn’t seem overly excited with being selected by the Jazz.
Jazz also took Cody Williams from Colorado; Buffs had two players taken in the first 18 picks, which helps explain why they were 26-11 this past season.
— Tristian da Silva was the other Colorado player drafted, by Orlando; the kid’s father was a pro boxer, so you can’t doubt his toughness, plus the young man speaks five languages, so he is smart and he can curse at officials in different languages and not get technical fouls.
— Kentucky has now had a player taken in the last 17 NBA Drafts; it is difficult to process that they ran John Calipari out of town, but they did, and Arkansas is glad they did.
— When you hear a basketball analyst use the team “motor” he is talking about a player’s effort, so if you hear a negative comment about a player’s motor, that is about as big an indictment as you can give to a player, that they don’t always try hard.
“Yeah, we’re going to pay this guy million$ to play, except he doesn’t always try that hard”
No bueno.
— Oklahoma City took a point guard from Serbia who has already partially torn his ACL, then re-injured the knee; they said on TV that the earliest we can expect to see him play is in next year’s summer league, 13 months from now.
— Someone was saying how the Washington Wizards are going into a total rebuild, as in, they fully expect the Wizards to miss the playoffs the next two seasons.
— By the way, if you like the NBA, you should head to Las Vegas in mid-July and watch the NBA Summer League at UNLV. It is affordable, lot of famous people around, they have really good air conditioning and you get to see all the rookies competing for invites to training camp. Plus, at the end of the day, you’re in Las Vegas, never a bad thing.
— Famous birthdays, June 27th:
Kevin Joyce, 73
Craig Hodges, 64
Chuck Person, 60
Tobey Maguire, 49
Jordan Hicks, 32
Jonah Heim, 29
Monte Morris, 29
Yordan Alvarez, 27
Will Levis, 25
— Dodgers 4, White Sox 0
Shohei Ohtani knocked in a run for the 10th game in a row, the first Dodger ever to do that; the last Dodger to get an RBI in nine straight games was Roy Campanella, in 1955.
— Toronto-Boston was suspended by rain in the second inning; the game will be finished as part of a doubleheader on August 26.
— Orioles 4, Guardians 2
Cedric Mullins had the tie-breaking homer in the 7th inning.
Baltimore snaps its 5-game losing skid.
Loss ends Cleveland’s 7-game winning streak.
— Mets 12, Bronx 2
Metropolitans are 15-4 in last 19 games, are back to .500 at 39-39.
Mets are only 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot.
Bronx has lost eight of its last ten games.
— Royals 5, Marlins 1
Struggling Kansas City improves to 3-7 in rubber game of a series.
Marlins led 1-0 in 8th inning, but Royals scored five times in the 8th.
— Mariners 5, Rays 2
Tampa Bay led 1-0 after five innings.
Cal Raleigh’s 3-run homer was the big hit in the game.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Cardinals, Padres
AL: New York, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Orioles, Twins, Red Sox
Six players who won the AP college hoop player of the year award more than once:
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA
— Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
— David Thompson, NC State
— Bill Walton, UCLA
— Ralph Sampson, Virginia
— Zach Edey, Purdue
Quote of the Day
“A little song, a little dance…….a little seltzer down your pants.”
Chuckles the Clown, from the Mary Tyler Moore Show
Thursday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, what number did Roy Hobbs wear for the New York Knights?
Wednesday’s quiz
2018 was last time an NBA team won back-to-back championships; Golden State won the title in both 2017 and 2018.
Tuesday’s quiz
Dodgers’ P Clayton Kershaw played center on his high school football team; Matthew Stafford was the quarterback on that team.
**************************************************
Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..
— Word of the Day– Confounded- to be confused or perplexedI am constantly confounded by the direction ESPN has taken; they’re covering the NBA Draft, they love promoting the NBA, but then they have a draft and don’t have a former coach or a former general manager on their panel. Why?!?!?!?!
Richard Jefferson played in the NBA for 17 years, he is very good on TV.
Jay Bilas is their college basketball expert; he is good on TV.
The host does a good job in her job, moving the broadcast around the arena.
But if you have to have a 4th person on set, it damn sure needs to be someone who has been in the room, scouting/drafting players on nights like this one, or someone who has coached in the NBA, so they can tell us what it is like to be behind the curtain on draft night.
We don’t need a 30-year old person who never played pro basketball talking more than either Jefferson or Bilas. I watch the broadcast to learn stuff, not to hear people talking about players’ handshakes, suit jackets or hair styles.
Bob Myers works for ESPN: he was the freakin’ GM of the great Warrior teams. Would be nice if they put him with the first team on TV.
— Three of the first six players drafted Thursday are from France, which is unusual.
— From 2025-31, Utah Jazz will have 18 first round draft picks,
Utah took USC guard Isaiah Collier with the 29th pick Thursday; it can be dicey to read body language, but he and his mom didn’t seem overly excited with being selected by the Jazz.
Jazz also took Cody Williams from Colorado; Buffs had two players taken in the first 18 picks, which helps explain why they were 26-11 this past season.
— Tristian da Silva was the other Colorado player drafted, by Orlando; the kid’s father was a pro boxer, so you can’t doubt his toughness, plus the young man speaks five languages, so he is smart and he can curse at officials in different languages and not get technical fouls.
— Kentucky has now had a player taken in the last 17 NBA Drafts; it is difficult to process that they ran John Calipari out of town, but they did, and Arkansas is glad they did.
— When you hear a basketball analyst use the team “motor” he is talking about a player’s effort, so if you hear a negative comment about a player’s motor, that is about as big an indictment as you can give to a player, that they don’t always try hard.
“Yeah, we’re going to pay this guy million$ to play, except he doesn’t always try that hard”
No bueno.
— Oklahoma City took a point guard from Serbia who has already partially torn his ACL, then re-injured the knee; they said on TV that the earliest we can expect to see him play is in next year’s summer league, 13 months from now.
— Someone was saying how the Washington Wizards are going into a total rebuild, as in, they fully expect the Wizards to miss the playoffs the next two seasons.
— By the way, if you like the NBA, you should head to Las Vegas in mid-July and watch the NBA Summer League at UNLV. It is affordable, lot of famous people around, they have really good air conditioning and you get to see all the rookies competing for invites to training camp. Plus, at the end of the day, you’re in Las Vegas, never a bad thing.
— Famous birthdays, June 27th:
Kevin Joyce, 73
Craig Hodges, 64
Chuck Person, 60
Tobey Maguire, 49
Jordan Hicks, 32
Jonah Heim, 29
Monte Morris, 29
Yordan Alvarez, 27
Will Levis, 25
— Dodgers 4, White Sox 0
Shohei Ohtani knocked in a run for the 10th game in a row, the first Dodger ever to do that; the last Dodger to get an RBI in nine straight games was Roy Campanella, in 1955.
— Toronto-Boston was suspended by rain in the second inning; the game will be finished as part of a doubleheader on August 26.
— Orioles 4, Guardians 2
Cedric Mullins had the tie-breaking homer in the 7th inning.
Baltimore snaps its 5-game losing skid.
Loss ends Cleveland’s 7-game winning streak.
— Mets 12, Bronx 2
Metropolitans are 15-4 in last 19 games, are back to .500 at 39-39.
Mets are only 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot.
Bronx has lost eight of its last ten games.
— Royals 5, Marlins 1
Struggling Kansas City improves to 3-7 in rubber game of a series.
Marlins led 1-0 in 8th inning, but Royals scored five times in the 8th.
— Mariners 5, Rays 2
Tampa Bay led 1-0 after five innings.
Cal Raleigh’s 3-run homer was the big hit in the game.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Cardinals, Padres
AL: New York, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Orioles, Twins, Red Sox
