Saturday’s 6-pack:
Teams getting the highest % of their points on 3-pointers:
51%— North Dakota State
46.2%— North Florida
45.2%— Tennessee Tech
44.6%— Furman
44.2%— DePaul
44.1%— Akron
Quote of the Day
“We wanted to make something of a statement coming into a new city and coming into a new ballpark. But more than that, to improve on what we have. Signing someone with Luis’ experience to be a leader was important to us.”
A’s general manager David Forst, after signing P Luis Severino
Saturday’s quiz
What city hosts the Holiday Bowl every year?
Friday’s quiz
A’s moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968.
Thursday’s quiz
Super Bowl III was the biggest upset in Super Bowl history, when the 18-point underdog Jets upset the Baltimore Colts, 16-7.
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— P Clay Holmes signed with the Mets for three years, $38M; he’s going to start for the Mets, after making 300 relief appearances over the last six seasons. He did start four games for the Pirates in 2018.
— Dodgers star 1B Freddie Freeman had surgery on his right ankle Thursday, is expected to be ready for the start of spring training. Freeman hit .282 last year with 89 RBI and an .854 OPS; he hit .250 in LA’s postseason games, when he was hampered by the ankle injury.
— The St. Petersburg City Council voted to approve bonds necessary to finance a new $1.3B stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, which could open in 2028.
The Rays have said it was impossible to play at the Trop next year and maybe not until 2026, because of the damage from a tropical storm in October.
— C Kyle Higashioka signed a 2-year deal with the Texas Rangers for $13.5M; the 34-year old catcher hit 17 homers in 263 plate appearances for San Diego last year.
— It turns out that referee Bill Vinovich worked four college basketball games in four nights in Palm Springs last week, then worked the Cardinals-Vikings game in Minnesota Sunday.
Thursday night, Vinovich worked the Cal-San Diego-Santa Barbara basketball game in the Thunderdome.
— Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka was fined $50,000 by the NBA for his actions during Tuesday’s loss to Sacramento.
He was fined for confronting and directing profane language toward a game official, failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected, and public criticism of the officiating.
“Missed calls, blatant missed calls right in front of you. You’re calling ticky-tack moving screens, little s— like that, but you don’t want to call the obvious ones right in front of you. That was it. Thought [Sengun] got fouled a few times on that drive and on the layup and they don’t want to call it. So I told him to get some f—ing glasses and open your eyes.”
Alrighty then.
— Famous birthdays, December 7th:
Ellen Burstyn, 92
Johnny Bench, 77
Larry Bird, 68
C Thomas Howell, 58
Eric Chavez, 47
Ryan Theriot, 45
Jake McQuaide, 37
Kyle Hendricks, 35
Yasiel Puig, 34
Pete Alonso, 30
— There were three college football conference title games Friday:
Jacksonville State 52, Western Kentucky 12
Gamecocks win C-USA in their second year as a I-A team.
Jax State won nine of last ten games, after an 0-3 start.
Gamecocks ran for 386 yards, outgained the Hilltoppers, 562-229.
Back in 1985, Rams won NFC West with QB Dieter Brock, who played most of his career in the CFL. Dieter Brock played his college ball at Jacksonville State.
— Boise State 21, UNLV 7
Last eight years, Broncos are 6-2 SU in MW title games.
UNLV ran for 217 yards; they had an 87-yard run, but didn’t score on that drive.
— Army 35, Tulane 14
Army wins the AAC in their first season in the league.
Cadets ran ball for 335 yards; they were 4-9 on 3rd down, 4-5 on 4th down.
Army scored 35 points while throwing two passes the whole game.
— Northwestern 70, Illinois 66 OT
Illinois loses its Big 18 opener, slips to 7-2, 1-2 against top 100 teams.
Wildcats’ last four games were all decided by 5 or fewer points.
— West Virginia 73, Georgetown 60
Hoyas led 30-28 at halftime.
Senior G Small scored 26 for West Virginia, which is 6-2, 3-2 vs top 100 teams.
— Niagara 69, Siena 68
Niagara outscored Saints 6-2 over the final 2:12
Purple Eagles were 17-20 on foul line, Siena 9-14.
— Oklahoma State wants football coach Mike Gundy to re-do his contract so that he makes less $$$, then use the money he gives back to help fund their NIL program.
There will be lawyers.
— In the movie Moneyball, when they make such a big thing about trading 1B Carlos Pena, Pena was hitting .218 when he got traded to Detroit. He wound up having a 14-year career with eight different teams, he hit 286 home runs with a career OPS of .808.
John Mabry hit .275 with 11 homers for the A’s that year, stepping in at 1B For Pena.
Teams getting the highest % of their points on 3-pointers:
51%— North Dakota State
46.2%— North Florida
45.2%— Tennessee Tech
44.6%— Furman
44.2%— DePaul
44.1%— Akron
Quote of the Day
“We wanted to make something of a statement coming into a new city and coming into a new ballpark. But more than that, to improve on what we have. Signing someone with Luis’ experience to be a leader was important to us.”
A’s general manager David Forst, after signing P Luis Severino
Saturday’s quiz
What city hosts the Holiday Bowl every year?
Friday’s quiz
A’s moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968.
Thursday’s quiz
Super Bowl III was the biggest upset in Super Bowl history, when the 18-point underdog Jets upset the Baltimore Colts, 16-7.
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Saturday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here……..
— P Shane Bieber re-signed with the Cleveland Guardians, for one year, $10M, with a $4M buyout if they don’t keep him after 2025.— P Clay Holmes signed with the Mets for three years, $38M; he’s going to start for the Mets, after making 300 relief appearances over the last six seasons. He did start four games for the Pirates in 2018.
— Dodgers star 1B Freddie Freeman had surgery on his right ankle Thursday, is expected to be ready for the start of spring training. Freeman hit .282 last year with 89 RBI and an .854 OPS; he hit .250 in LA’s postseason games, when he was hampered by the ankle injury.
— The St. Petersburg City Council voted to approve bonds necessary to finance a new $1.3B stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, which could open in 2028.
The Rays have said it was impossible to play at the Trop next year and maybe not until 2026, because of the damage from a tropical storm in October.
— C Kyle Higashioka signed a 2-year deal with the Texas Rangers for $13.5M; the 34-year old catcher hit 17 homers in 263 plate appearances for San Diego last year.
— It turns out that referee Bill Vinovich worked four college basketball games in four nights in Palm Springs last week, then worked the Cardinals-Vikings game in Minnesota Sunday.
Thursday night, Vinovich worked the Cal-San Diego-Santa Barbara basketball game in the Thunderdome.
— Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka was fined $50,000 by the NBA for his actions during Tuesday’s loss to Sacramento.
He was fined for confronting and directing profane language toward a game official, failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected, and public criticism of the officiating.
“Missed calls, blatant missed calls right in front of you. You’re calling ticky-tack moving screens, little s— like that, but you don’t want to call the obvious ones right in front of you. That was it. Thought [Sengun] got fouled a few times on that drive and on the layup and they don’t want to call it. So I told him to get some f—ing glasses and open your eyes.”
Alrighty then.
— Famous birthdays, December 7th:
Ellen Burstyn, 92
Johnny Bench, 77
Larry Bird, 68
C Thomas Howell, 58
Eric Chavez, 47
Ryan Theriot, 45
Jake McQuaide, 37
Kyle Hendricks, 35
Yasiel Puig, 34
Pete Alonso, 30
— There were three college football conference title games Friday:
Jacksonville State 52, Western Kentucky 12
Gamecocks win C-USA in their second year as a I-A team.
Jax State won nine of last ten games, after an 0-3 start.
Gamecocks ran for 386 yards, outgained the Hilltoppers, 562-229.
Back in 1985, Rams won NFC West with QB Dieter Brock, who played most of his career in the CFL. Dieter Brock played his college ball at Jacksonville State.
— Boise State 21, UNLV 7
Last eight years, Broncos are 6-2 SU in MW title games.
UNLV ran for 217 yards; they had an 87-yard run, but didn’t score on that drive.
— Army 35, Tulane 14
Army wins the AAC in their first season in the league.
Cadets ran ball for 335 yards; they were 4-9 on 3rd down, 4-5 on 4th down.
Army scored 35 points while throwing two passes the whole game.
— Northwestern 70, Illinois 66 OT
Illinois loses its Big 18 opener, slips to 7-2, 1-2 against top 100 teams.
Wildcats’ last four games were all decided by 5 or fewer points.
— West Virginia 73, Georgetown 60
Hoyas led 30-28 at halftime.
Senior G Small scored 26 for West Virginia, which is 6-2, 3-2 vs top 100 teams.
— Niagara 69, Siena 68
Niagara outscored Saints 6-2 over the final 2:12
Purple Eagles were 17-20 on foul line, Siena 9-14.
— Oklahoma State wants football coach Mike Gundy to re-do his contract so that he makes less $$$, then use the money he gives back to help fund their NIL program.
There will be lawyers.
— In the movie Moneyball, when they make such a big thing about trading 1B Carlos Pena, Pena was hitting .218 when he got traded to Detroit. He wound up having a 14-year career with eight different teams, he hit 286 home runs with a career OPS of .808.
John Mabry hit .275 with 11 homers for the A’s that year, stepping in at 1B For Pena.
