Monday’s 6-pack:
— Pistons 120, Thunder 104: 6-40 Detroit is 3-4 in its last seven games.
— Pacers 116, Grizzlies 110: Mathurin had 24 points, 7 rebounds off bench.
— Hawks 126, Raptors 125: Atlanta scored game-winning hoop with 0:01 left.
— Magic 113, Suns 98: Orlando was +20 in 23:00 sub big man Wagner played.
— Bulls 104, Trailblazers 96: Chicago was +9 in turnovers (13-4)
— Cleveland State 66, Robert Morris 64: Vikings trailed by 10 in second half.
Quote of the Day
“You never know how many (Super Bowls) you’re going to get to or if you’re going to get to any. So it truly is special just to do it with these guys after what we’ve been through all season long. Guys coming together, it really is special. But I told them, ‘The job’s not done.’ Our job now is to prepare ourselves to play a good football team in the Super Bowl and try to get that ring.”
Patrick Mahomes
Monday’s quiz
Where did Patrick Mahomes play his college football?
Sunday’s quiz
In the baseball movie
For Love of the Game, JK Simmons plays the manager of the Detroit Tigers.
Saturday’s quiz
Michael Jordan was the #3 pick in 1984 NBA Draft; Hakeem Olajuwon was the first pick.
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Chiefs 17,
Ravens 10
Ravens lost a fumble on 1-yard line, threw an INT in end zone.
Chiefs have won their last five games, giving up 14 ppg.
Since 2019, Chiefs are 13-2 in playoff games, winning two Super Bowls.
Baltimore’s only TD was a 30-yard TD pass late in first quarter.
Chiefs had their first plus turnover game since Week 6.
Mahomes is 88-25 SU as an NFL starter, 14-3 in playoffs.
coach Reid is 25-16 in playoff games, 15-7 with KC.
Lamar Jackson is 60-23 as an NFL starter, only 2-4 in playoff games
— Mahomes is on track to wind up as the NFL’s all-time best QB.
Seriously, if we were starting a football league right now, with every player ever eligible in his prime, which QB would you take first? I’d either take Mahomes or John Elway.
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49ers 34,
Lions 31
Lions in 1st half: 44 plays, 280 yards, 24 points.
Detroit led 24-7 at halftime.
Leading 24-10 in 3rd quarter, Lions went for it on 4th down, instead of trying a 45-yard FG that would’ve made score 27-10- they didn’t make the first down, and the game swung.
49ers in 2nd half: 36 plays, 281 yards, 27 points.
QB Purdy threw for 267 yards, ran for 48 more.
McCaffrey had 13 touches for 132 yards and 2 TD’s.
49ers are 13-0 when they score 21+ points.
Detroit scored a TD with 0:56 left for the back-door cover.
— Early spread on the Super Bowl: San Francisco, -1
— Football coaching stuff:
Buffalo Bills named Joe Brady offensive coordinator, taking the interim tag away.
Philadelphia Eagles naned Kellen Moore offensive coordinator.
Atlanta Falcons named Zac Robinson offensive coordinator.
Sean McVay has been an NFL head coach for seven years; six of his former assistants have become head coaches (5 in NFL, Jedd Fisch in college), another seven have become NFL coordinators.
— Michigan Wolverines named Sherrone Moore their new football coach; he was the interim head coach for four games this season, while Jim Harbaugh was suspended.
— CBS pays Tony Romo $18M a year, which is staggering. Basically works out to $1M a week, maybe a little less. Thats a lot of cabbage, for sure. He’s a good analyst, not really sure anyone is $1M a week good, though.
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Baseball Note of the Day: Japanese baseball teams get a boatload of $$$ if a player comes to America before he has nine years of service time in Japan; the team receives a release fee: 20% of the first $25M of a major league contract, 17.5% of the next $25M and 15% of any amount over $50M.
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Word of the Day: Eschew- Deliberately avoiding something.
Lions eschewed three field goal tries Sunday, and went for it on 4th down all three times; they failed on two of the three tries.
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Baseball stuff:
Royals gave 2B/OF Adam Frazier a 2-year deal, with a guarantee of $4.5M.
Cubs gave P Hector Neris a one-year deal for $9M
Diamondbacks signed OF Joc Pederson for one year, $9.5M.
Rangers gave P David Robertson a one-year deal for $11.5M; they also signed OF Travis Jankowski to a minor league deal.
Detroit Tigers gave 22-year-old prospect Colt Keith a six-year, $28M extension that has the chance to be much more lucrative, if Keith turns out to be as good as the Tigers think he is. Keith is a 3B who hit .287 in 67 AAA games last summer, with 51 RBI.
— FAU 66, North Texas 63
Owls outscored North Texas 13-6 over final 5:23.
FAU is 7-1 SU/2-6 ATS in the AAC.
— Couple of teams snapped long losing streaks Sunday:
Wichita State (1-6 in AAC, +4.5) upset SMU 77-72.
Manhattan (2-7 in MAAC, +9.5) beat Niagara 84-78 in overtime.
— UAB 97, Memphis 88
Memphis lost its last three games, after a 15-2 start.
Both teams had 20+ turnovers.
Yaxel Lendeborg scored 29 points, had 16 rebounds, 4 assists.
— Ohio State lost five of its last six basketball games SU; they’re 1-8 ATS in their conference games this season.
— Gonzaga’s league, the WCC, is ranked 11th so far this year; the last five years, the WCC finished either #8 or #9 in rankings. You wonder if the league will get more than one bid in the NCAA’s this year, if either Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s stumbles down the stretch.
— Happy birthdays this week to two of the greats: Wayne Gretzky (63) and Bob Uecker (90)- they’re greats for very different reasons, but both Hall of Famers, no doubt.
