WNBA BEST BETS AND MORE !

[Cnotes53]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
Odds to win the Stanley Cup this season:
8-1— Maple Leafs
17-2— Avalanche
9-1— Oilers
10-1— Hurricanes, Devils
11-1— Golden Knights
13-1— Rangers

Quote of the Day
“We haven’t had a road win yet. We pride ourselves on the road on playing really good football, good defense, good scheme. We need it for morale, we need it for our ranking, we need it for everything.”

Joe Burrow
Thursday’s quiz
Cincinnati Bengals have played in three Super Bowls, with three different QB’s; who were they?

Wednesday’s quiz
Before Tuesday night, Ron Gardenhire was manager of the Minnesota Twins last time they won a playoff game, in 2004.

Tuesday’s quiz
Mark Sanchez was the Jets’ quarterback, last time they played in a playoff game.

**********************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….​

Four best-of-3 series, four sweeps. Not what the MLB office had in mind for this week.

— Rangers 7, Rays 1
Rookie Carter homered, Eovaldi got 20 outs, allowing one run.
Tough end to year for Tampa squad after their 99-63 season.
Attendance for two games: 19,704/20,198— disappointing.
Texas moves on to play the Orioles next.

— Texas manager Bruce Bochy hit 26 home runs in his playing career; he was mostly a backup catcher, but he has one great claim to fame as a player.
Bochy is the only player ever to hit a walk-off home run against Nolan Ryan.

— Twins 2, Blue Jays 0
Sonny Gray tossed five shutout IP for Minnesota.
Twins used five relievers to get the last 12 outs.
Minnesota moves on to play the Astros in the next round.

— Diamondbacks 5, Brewers 2
Zac Gallen gave up 2 runs in first inning, nothing for next five innings.
Alek Thomas homered for Arizona.
Diamondbacks move on to play their division rival Dodgers next.

— Phillies 7, Marlins 1
Bryson Stott hit a grand slam.
Aaron Nola allowed only four baserunners in 7 shutout IP.
Phillies move on to play their division rivals, the Braves.

— I know my Oakland A’s had a cruddy year; they went 50-112, mostly because their owner is a cheap bastard who doesn’t try to win, but keep this in mind; on the 12 teams that did make the playoffs this year, there are 23 players who at one time did play for the A’s.
Olson. Semien. Bassitt. Chapman. Murphy. Luzardo. Heim.
Good players.
Maybe Bill Gates will take an interest in baseball and buy the team.

— Wednesday was the first day of 50 consecutive days with at least one football game on TV; Conference USA. MAC are putting their games on Tuesdays/Wednesdays the next few weeks.

— Word of the Day: Acumen— the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions.

— They have a survivor football pool at the Circa Casino in Las Vegas; you pick one team a week, all they have to do is win, but you can only pick the same team once a season, and if your team loses, you’re eliminated.
9,267 entered the Circa contest; after four weeks, only 2,383 entrants are left. First prize for the last person standing is $9,267,000.

— NBA training camps have started; it must suck playing for the LA Clippers. You get paid millions to play basketball and for training camp, they send you to……..Hawai’i.
Must be awful.

— San Diego Padres’ 3B Manny Machado is having elbow surgery; it is unclear if he’ll be ready for the start of spring training next year. 31-year old Machado hit 30 homers this year; his OPS was the lowest it has been since 2017.

— Last three games, Buffalo Bills have started eight drives in enemy territory; their opponents haven’t started any in Buffalo territory.

— Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel grew up in the Denver area; when he was in high school, he was a Broncos’ ballboy, had to be odd when his Dolphins whacked Denver 70-20 a couple weeks ago.

— The timing of NFL byes can be good/bad luck; Seattle is playing really well, having an early bye like this one can’t be their favorite thing.
On the other hand, Browns/Chargers have banged-up quarterbacks- they have to feel lucky that their signal caller has a week off to try and get healthier.

 

[Cnotes53]

Friday’s 6-pack:
College football totals trends:

5-0 over teams
LSU
Boston College

5-0-1 over
Vanderbilt

4-0 over
North Texas

5-0 under
Ohio U
Utah
Arizona

Quote of the Day
“…….Butkus was a well-conditioned animal, and every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not a hospital.”
Hall of Fame DE Deacon Jones

Friday’s quiz
Mark Sanchez was the Jets’ quarterback, last time they played in a playoff game.

Thursday’s quiz
Cincinnati Bengals have played in three Super Bowls, with three different QB’s; Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, Joe Burrow.

Wednesday’s quiz
Before Tuesday night, Ron Gardenhire was manager of the Minnesota Twins last time they won a playoff game, in 2004.

*************************************

Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….​

— Bears 40, Commanders 20:
Chicago snaps a 14-game losing streak.
Bears in first half: 42 plays, 307 yards, 3 TD, 2 FG on five drives.
DJ Moore caught eight passes for 230 yards and 3 TD’s.
Chicago ran ball for 178 yards (5.6 yards/carry).
Last four weeks, Commanders gave up 33-37-34-37 points.
Down 30-20 with 5:10 left, Washington missed a 46-yard FG.
Washington is 5-11 ATS last 16 games as a home favorite.
Commanders are 8-12 ATS in last 20 games coming off a loss.

— Commanders have started 13 different QB’s since 2017, which is a lot. Seems like 2nd-year QB Sam Howell will grab a hold on that position for the foreseeable future.

— Here are the top 12 picks in the first round of the 1965 NFL Draft
1) Tucker Frederickson, RB, NYG
2) Ken Willard, RB, SF
3) Dick Butkus, LB, Chi
4) Gale Sayers, RB, Chi
5) Craig Morton, QB, Dal
6) Steve DeLong, DE, Chi
7) Donny Anderson, RB-P, GB
8) Jack Snow, WR, Minn
9) Clancy Williams, DB, Rams
10) Larry Elkins, WR, GB
11) Tom Nowatzke, RB, Det
12) Joe Namath, QB, StL
Gale Sayers the 4th pick? Were college games on TV back then?
Craig Morton over Joe Namath was an interesting decision.

— RIP to the great linebacker Dick Butkus, who passed away Thursday at age 80. Not only was Butkus a Hall of Fame linebacker, he had a decent acting career after his playing days were over. He has 62 acting credits on IMDB.com
Butkus played one of the opposing coaches for Al Pacino’s Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday;

— Jacksonville State 45, Middle Tennessee 30
1-5 Middle Tennessee led 23-7 at halftime.
5-1 Jacksonville State outscored them 38-7 in second half.
MTSU gained 563 yards, still lost by 15 points.
Gamecocks now have a +11 turnover ratio in six games.

— New Mexico State 34, Florida International 17
Game was tied 14-all at halftime.
Aggies had TD plays of 43-49 yards.
New Mexico State ran ball for 183 yards (5.9 yards/carry).
Aggies are 9-3 ATS in last 12 games as a home favorite.

— Liberty 21, Sam Houston State 16
Flames were a 21-point favorite; they led 21-10 at halftime.
Liberty ran for 191 yards, outgained Bearkats 448-327.
Liberty averaged 13.5 yards per pass attempt.
Sam Houston is 0-5, but last two losses were 38-45/16-21.

— Western Kentucky 35, Louisiana Tech 28
Hilltoppers led 35-7 at halftime.
WKU had four TD plays of 29+ yards.
WR Corley caught 8 passes for 207 yards and three TD’s.
Tech was 4-17 on 3rd down, 4-6 on 4th down.

— Word of the Day: Distraction- a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.

— Mets’ general manager Billy Eppler quit Thursday; Mets hired David Stearns last week to be the new head of the front office, but Eppler was expected to stick around in the #2 position.
There is no evidence that Eppler was good at his job anyway; he was the top guy for the Angels and Mets, two big-market teams with huge payrolls and he still didn’t accomplish much— he is the guy who paid Anthony Rendon more than Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani.
Mets had a $357M payroll this year but still lost more games than they won.

— There are TV commercials on during the day trying to get people to buy gold; Chuck Woolery is the spokesman on the commercials— he was the original host of Wheel of Fortune back when I was in high school in the mid-70’s.
He is 82 years old now, hasn’t had a game show gig since 2007, but he’s still out there doing commercials.

— Fontainebleau Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is expected to open December 13; the 67-story hotel has a six-acre pool complex and has 36 bars/restaurants. It cost $3.7B to build, which is a nice way of saying I can’t afford to stay there

— So far this season, Cincinnati Bengals have had only five plays that gained 20+ yards; their opponents have 17.

— In their last three games, Denver Broncos have given up 23 plays of 20+ yards.

— Minnesota Timberwolves beat Dallas Mavericks 111-99 in the first NBA preseason game of the year Thursday; the game was played in Abu Dhabi, the first of two games they’ll play there.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 21 points in 17:00 for Minnesota.

— This weekend’s Diamondback-Dodger playoff series will be the fifth time in the last seven years that the #1-#2 teams in NL West have faced each other in the playoffs.

 

[Cnotes53]

Saturday’s 6-pack:
Super Bowls won, by division:
13— NFC East
9— AFC West, AFC East
8— NFC West, AFC North
5— NFC North
3— NFC South
2— AFC South

Quote of the Day
“With a heavy heart, I want to let everyone know I had “Tommy John” surgery today and will miss next season. I am most saddened for the great Marlins fans, who were so supportive of me and the team this year. The drive to the playoffs was thrilling for all of us.”
Sandy Alcantara

Saturday’s quiz
When the Marlins acquired Jazz Chisholm from Arizona, who did they send to the Diamondbacks?

Friday’s quiz
Mark Sanchez was the Jets’ quarterback, last time they played in a playoff game.

Thursday’s quiz
Cincinnati Bengals have played in three Super Bowls, with three different QB’s; Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, Joe Burrow.

******************************************************

Saturday’s Den: Early thoughts on this year’s college basketball​

— Florida Atlantic made a miraculous run to the Final Four last year, then somehow kept both their head coach and all their players, as they move up from Conference USA to the AAC.
AAC lost three teams to the Big X, added six other teams.
Tulsa went 5-25 last year, then cleaned house; they have only one scholarship player returning.

— San Diego State beat FAU 72-71 in national semi-final, then lost to UConn in the national title game; they lost five 5th-year players from last year’s team, but re-tooled with some transfers and still figure to be prominent in the Mountain West race.
San Jose State had their first winning season since 2011.
Only new coach in Mountain West is Utah State’s Danny Sprinkle, who takes over from Ryan Odom, who bolted to Virginia Commonwealth.

— Atlantic 15 was #13 conference LY, tied for their worst ranking ever- they only got one team into the NCAA’s. VCU had won nine in a row heading into March Madness, but lost 63-51 to Saint Mary’s in their first round game.
VCU coach Rhoades jumped from VCU to Penn State, a strange decision (Penn State will have an almost all-new roster this year). Penn State is a football school; VCU is a basketball school, you’d think a basketball coach would much rather be there.

— Big 14 hasn’t won a national championship since 2000, when Michigan State won; they didn’t have a team in the Elite 8 the last two years, had only four Sweet 16 teams the last three years.
Purdue gets big man Zach Edey back; they figure to be very good again.

— Since 2015, five of the 15 ACC basketball teams have made it to a Final Four.

— CAA is now the Coastal Athletic Association, not the Colonial; last year they slipped from the #14 league to the #26 league- they had seven of their teams finish outside the top 300. There is a new CAA team this year; the Campbell Camels.

— Word of the Day: Continuity— the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time.

— BYU has bolted from the WCC to the Big 12, leaving the WCC with nine teams (for now).
Last year, Portland Pilots had players from eight different countries.

— Big X had seven teams in the NCAA’s last year; they add four new teams this year, the year before Texas/Oklahoma bolt to the SEC, then they’ll have 16 teams next year, when lot of the old Pac-12 teams join the league.
Josh Eilert is interim coach at West Virginia, replacing Hall of Famer Bob Huggins; he’ll try to win enough games to get the interim tag removed.

— Big West was the #15 league LY; after being the #30 league in 2020, they’ve been #15-19-15 the three years since then.
Cal-Northridge hired Andy Newman, the league’s only new coach this year.
Cal-Davis player Drew Carter used to be a quarterback at Colorado; he threw 12 passes for the Buffaloes in 2021. I’m told that Colorado has a new football coach now, and his son is the QB, so Carter is at Cal-Davis playing basketball now.

— Princeton got to the Sweet 16 last year, upsetting Arizona/Missouri; they were the 4th Ivy League team to make the Sweet 16, the first since Cornell in 2010.
When Magic Johnson/Larry Bird played in the Final Four in 1979, one of the other two teams in the Final Four that year was the Penn Quakers.

— Rick Pitino is the new coach at St John’s; he overhauled the roster, with nine players hitting the road, as Pitino added 10 new players, including two guys from the Ivy League.
St John’s hasn’t made the NCAA’s since 2019; they’ve made it twice since 2011, it would be really surprising if Pitino doesn’t make them a perennial top 25 team.

— Tobin Anderson replaced Pitino at Iona; he led Fairleigh Dickinson to the NCAA’s LY, where they upset Purdue.
Iona has been in six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments, so there are big expectations in New Rochelle, but they have only one player back from last year- they added 12 new players.

 

[Cnotes53]

Sunday’s 6-pack:
According to Lindy’s magazine, the top freshman basketball players this year:
— Isaiah Collier, 6-4, USC
— DJ Wagner, 6-2, Kentucky
— Aaron Bradshaw, 7-0, Kentucky
— Caleb Foster, 6-4, Duke
— Dedan Thomas Jr, 6-1, UNLV
— Omaha Billew, 6-8, Iowa State

Quote of the Day
“He’s the calmest guy I’ve ever been around at the quarterback position. He was fearless.”
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, talking about his QB, Dillon Gabriel

Sunday’s quiz
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin was once the head coach of which NFL team?

Saturday’s quiz
When the Marlins acquired Jazz Chisholm from Arizona, they sent Zac Gallen to the Diamondbacks.

Friday’s quiz
Mark Sanchez was the Jets’ quarterback, last time they played in a playoff game.

************************************************

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday…….​

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends.

— Rangers 3, Orioles 2
Rookie OF Evan Carter reached base in nine of his first 10 postseason at-bats.
Both teams used six pitchers in this game.
Josh Jung homered for the Rangers.

— Astros 6, Twins 4
Verlander tossed six shutout IP, then the bullpen hung on.
Royce Lewis hit his third home run in three playoff games this week.
Altuve had no postseason RBI last year; he homered on his first AB in this game.

— Phillies 3, Braves 0
For some reason, Phillies used seven pitchers to throw a shutout.
Bryce Harper hit a home run.
Braves had only five hits, were 0-5 with RISP.

— Diamondbacks 11, Dodgers 2
Kershaw faced only eight hitters; six of them scored.
Dodger pitchers threw 100 pitches in the first three innings.
Tommy Pham had three hits before LA’s #9 hitter came to bat.

— Upsets of the Week:
Georgia Tech (+20) 23, Miami 20
Oklahoma State (+11), Kansas State 21
UConn (+9.5) 38, Rice 31
Louisville (+6.5) 33, Notre Dame 20
Iowa State (+6.5) 27, TCU 14
Wyoming (+6) 24, Fresno State 19
Oklahoma (+5) 34, Texas 30
Nebraska (+3.5) 20, Illinois 7

— Word of the Day: Loyalty— showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or group of people, or an institution.

— Georgia Tech 23, Miami 20
Tech threw a 44-yard TD pass with 0:02 left for a dramatic win.
Miami had ball with 0:26 left; they could’ve taken a knee and ended the game, but they ran a play and the guy fumbled in Georgia Tech territory. Why did they run a play?!?!?!?!?
This is coaching malpractice by Mario Cristobal, a horrific mistake.
I can’t get over this; Cristobal makes freakin’ $8M a year and he is INCOMPETENT in game management. How does he look his players in the eye?

— Oklahoma 34, Texas 30
Sooners drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:15 left.
In first 6:00 of game, Texas had successful fake punt, then blocked punt for TD.
Longhorns were minus-3 in turnovers.

— LSU 49, Missouri 39
LSU (-4) scored on pick-6 with 0:34 left; bad beat for Mizzou backers.
Total yardage in game: 533-527.
Mizzou QB Cook threw for 411 yards, but also threw two INT’s.

— Kansas 51, Central Florida 22
Kansas coach Leipold won six national titles at the D-3 level; then he went 37-33 at Buffalo (24-10 the last three years). Now he is 13-18 at Kansas, which doesn’t sound like much but in the seven years before he got to Lawrence, the Jayhawks were 15-88.
15 wins. 88 losses- they’re 5-1 this season. Leipold is a great coach.

— Texas-San Antonio 49, Temple 34
UTSA averaged 10.2 yards/pass attempt.
Temple QB EJ Warner was 42-65/472 passing, with 5 TD’s.
Owls converted 12-20 third down plays, but lost two fumbles.

— Iowa 20, Purdue 14
Iowa didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver. None.
Purdue was 9-19 on third down, Hawkeyes 3-13.
Iowa outrushed Purdue, 181-96.

— NC State 48, Marshall 41
Thundering Herd led 24-21 at halftime.
Both teams turned ball over three times.
Wolfpack outscored Marshall 13-7 in fourth quarter.
Sun Belt plays good football; we need more of their games on TV.

— UCLA 25, Washington State 17
Bruins outscored Wazzu 13-0 in fourth quarter.
UCLA outgained the Coogs 470-216.
Wazzu turned ball over four times, was 2-13 on third down.

— Colorado 27, Arizona State 24
ASU tied the game 24-all on a TD with 0:50 left.
Colorado kicked a 43-yard FG with 0:12 left.
Sun Devils outgained Colorado, 392-295.

— Louisville 33, Notre Dame 20
Game was 7-7 at halftime.
Notre Dame converted 3-13 third down plays.
Louisville outrushed Notre Dame 185-44.

— Ole Miss 27, Arkansas 20
Ole Miss outscored Arkansas 10-0 over final 8:00.
Rebels ran for 196 yards, threw for only 153.
Arkansas was minus-2 in turnovers, had 10 penalties for 70 yards.

— I still can’t get over this; Miami would’ve been 5-0 if they simply took a knee. Mario Cristobal makes freakin’ $8M a year and he is INCOMPETENT in game management. How does he look his players in the eye?
Hire a nerdy guy to stand next to you, and tell you what to do at the end of games, so you can keep your $8M a year job. Recruiting is one thing, coaching is quite another.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Sunday, October 8

WNBA

Sunday, October 8

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York @ Las Vegas
New York
New York is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 8 of New York's last 9 games
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Cnotes53]

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
NY at LV	03:00 PM	LV -4.5 U 171.0	+500 +500

 

[Cnotes53]

WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD:

Completed Picks​

Past Completed Picks

Date	W-L-T	%	Units	Record
10/08/2023	1-1-0	50.00%	-50	Detail

 

[Cnotes53]

WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEST BETS !

10/08/2023...........................1 - 1...........................50.00%......................- 0.50

TOTALS.................................1 - 1...........................50.00%......................- 0.50

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack:
Interesting spreads for next week’s college football:
— Texas A&M @ Tennessee, -3
— Missouri @ Kentucky, -2
— Florida @ South Carolina, -1
— Miami @ North Carolina, -4
— Oregon @ Washington, -2
— UCLA @ Oregon State, -4

Tweet of the Day
“I played against myself in fantasy fb today”
Jaguars’ RB Travis Etienne, who ran ball for 136 yards and 2 TD’s Sunday

Monday’s quiz
Jimmy Garoppolo, Sean Payton and Tomy Romo all played their college football at the same school; which one?

Sunday’s quiz
In 2007-08, Lane Kiffin went 5-15 as head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

Saturday’s quiz
When the Marlins acquired Jazz Chisholm from Arizona, they sent Zac Gallen to the Diamondbacks.

*******************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday……..

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends……..

Steelers 17, Ravens 10
— Pickett threw 44-yard TD pass with 1:17 left for game-winning score.
— Steelers are 6-1 SU/5-2 ATS in last seven series games.
— Pitt is 28-15-1 ATS in last 44 games when spread was 3 or fewer points.
— Steelers scored one touchdown on their last 19 drives.
— Ravens’ first 3 drives: 28 plays, 157 yards, 10 points.
— Ravens rest of game: 40 plays, 162 yards, no points.
— Baltimore is 6-11 ATS in last 17 games as a road favorite.
— Ravens are 8-13 ATS in last 21 games coming off a win.

Jaguars 25, Bills 20
— Jaguars led 11-0 8:00 into the game.
— Jacksonville converted 10-18 on third down.
— Etienne ran ball 26 times for 136 yards and two TD’s.
— Lawrence lost two fumbles in Buffalo territory.
— Buffalo’s first four series: 16 plays, 54 yards, four punts.
— Jaguars ran 82 plays, Buffalo only 54.
— Bills ran ball only 14 times, for 29 yards.
— Jaguars scored 21-23-25 points in wins, 9-17 in losses.

Falcons 21, Texans 19
— Falcons drove 51 yards, kicked game-winning 37-yard FG with 0:02 left.
— Atlanta won its three home games, 24-10/25-24/21-20.
— Atlanta averaged 9.2 yards/pass attempt.
— Falcons scored 24-25-21 points in their wins, 6-7 in their losses.
— Texans drove 75 yards, scored only TD to go ahead 19-18 with 1:49 left.
— Houston scored 37-30 points in wins, 9-20-19 in losses.
— Houston is 7-4-1 ATS last 12 games as a road underdog.
— Texans are 12-7-2 ATS last 21 games when spread was 3 or fewer points.

Lions 42, Panthers 24
— Carolina turned ball over on three of first five drives.
— Detroit had TD drives of 20-38-31-51 yards, short drives.
— Lions outscored last four opponents 82-23 in first half.
— Under Campbell, Detroit is 27-11-1 ATS overall, 6-2 as home favorites.
— Detroit led this game 28-10 at halftime.
— In Young’s starts. Carolina averaged 3.2/3.8/4.0/5.9 yards/pass attempt.— Carolina lost first five games (0-4-1 ATS), scoring 18.2 ppg.
— Panthers are 17-26-2 ATS in last 45 games coming off a loss.

Colts 23, Titans 16
— Minshew was 11-15/155 passing, in relief of injured QB Richardson.
— Indy in 2nd half: 3 drives- 30 plays, 217 yards, TD, two FG’s.
— Colts ran for 193 yards, outgained Titans, 429-348.
— Colts’ team total this year: over 4-0-1
— In their losses, Titans scored one TD on 26 drives.
— Titans are minus-3 in turnovers (2-5) so far this season.
— Colts converted 8-13 third down plays.
— Tennessee lost 10 of its last 12 games SU.

Dolphins 31, Giants 16
— Miami won/covered four of first five games, scoring 36.2 ppg.
— Dolphins were minus-3 in turnovers, still won by 15 points.
— Miami had touchdown plays of 76-69 yards.
— Under McDaniel, Miami is 6-2 ATS as a home favorite.
— Giants’ only TD was a 102-yard pick-6 in second quarter.
— Miami outgained the Giants, 524-268.
— Last three games, Giants have one TD, ten 3/outs on 30 drives.
— Giants have been outscored 94-19 in first half of their games.

Saints 34, Patriots 0
— Last two games, Patriots were outscored, 72-3.
— Last three games, Patriots have one offensive TD on 37 drives.
— New England is 0-3 at home, losing 25-20/24-17/34-0.
— Last four Patriot games stayed under the total.
— Saints’ first score was a 27-yard pick-6 by Mathieu.
— Under is 5-0 in Saints’ games this season.
— Patriots are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 home games.
— Since Brady left, NE is 26-28 SU in regular season, 0-1 in playoffs.

Bengals 34, Cardinals 20
— Bengals took lead for good on 11-yard pick-6 1:23 before halftime.
— Chase caught 15 passes for 192 yards, three TD’s.
— Cincinnati is 15-7-1 ATS in last 23 games coming off a loss
— Bengals are 9-4 ATS in last 13 games as a road favorite.
— Arizona trailed 24-20; last four drives, 17 plays, 87 yards, 2 turnovers.
— Arizona has been outscored 78-30 in 2nd half.
— Cardinals lost 15 of last 18 games SU (7-8 ATS in last 15).
— Last four Cardinal games went over the total.

Eagles 23, Rams 14
— Eagles outgained the Rams, 454-249.
— Philly converted 13-18 third down plays.
— TE Goedert caught 8 passes for 117 yards and a TD.
— 5-0 Eagles are 3-1-1 against the spread.
— Rams in first half: 26 plays, 168 yards, 14 points.
— Rams in second half: 29 plays, 95 yards, no points.
— Last four games, LA was outscored 55-19 in 2nd half.
— Rams scored 30-29 points in wins, 23-16-14 in their losses.

Jets 31, Broncos 21
— Jets scored only one offensive TD, but kicked five FG’s.
— Jets salted game away on sack/fumble TD with 0:29 left.
— Last three games, Gang Green converted only 11-48 third down plays.
— Jets’ OC Hackett gets revenge for Denver firing him as HC last year.
— Russell Wilson is 5-15 as Denver’s quarterback.
— Broncos are 1-4 SU/0-5 ATS so far this season.
— Denver gave up 164 points in their last four games.
— Broncos are 4-10-1 ATS last 15 games as a home favorite.

Chiefs 27, Vikings 20
— Chiefs’ first six drives: 56 plays, 306 yards, 27 points.
— Kansas City converted 9-15 third down plays.
— Chiefs won last four games, by 8-31-3-7 points.
— KC is 10-3 ATS in last 13 games vs NFC opponents.
— Game was tied 13-all at halftime.
— Vikings are 1-4 this year, with losses by 3-6-4-7 points.
— LY, Minnesota was 11-0 LY in games decided by 8 or less points.
— Since 2018, Vikings are 17-27-2 ATS coming off a win.

49ers 42, Cowboys 10
— 49ers are 10-1 ATS in last 11 games as a home fave.
— First three drives in 2nd half: 20 plays, 163 yards, 21 points.
— 49ers outscored opponents 71-21 in 2nd half.
— San Francisco scored 33.4 ppg in its 5-0 start (4-0-1 ATS).
— 49ers outgained the Cowboys, 421-197.
— Cowboys went 3/out on eight of their 12 drives.
— Dallas gave up 222-170 rushing yards in its two losses.
— NFC East teams are 6-8-1 ATS outside the division.

Rangers 11, Orioles 8
(Texas leads series, 2-0)
— Texas led 9-0 in third inning.
— Mitch Garver hit a grand slam for the Rangers.
— Corey Seager walked five times, scored twice.
— Rangers are 4-0 in playoffs, haven’t played a home game yet.

Twins 6, Astros 2
(series tied, 1-1)
— Pablo Lopez tossed seven shutout IP.
— Carlos Correa was 3-4 with three RBI
— Astros were 1-7 with RISP
— Houston is 40-43 at home this season.

 

[Udog]

Finals resume Wednesday.

 

[Cnotes53]

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
My six favorite Billy Joel songs:
— Piano Man
— And So It Goes
— She’s Got a Way
— This is the Time
— Only the Good Die Young
— The Stranger

Tweet of the Day
“What we did at the end was the wrong decision. I called it … it was the wrong thing to do.”
Miami Hurricanes’ OC Shannon Dawson, after they screwed up the end of Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech.

Tuesday’s quiz
Before they moved to Texas in 1972, where did the Texas Rangers call home?

Monday’s quiz
Jimmy Garoppolo, Sean Payton and Tony Romo all played their college football at the same school, Eastern Illinois.

Sunday’s quiz
In 2007-08, Lane Kiffin went 5-15 as head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

**********************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..​

— YouTube TV had a split-screen of the Packers-Raiders game and Arizona-Dodgers baseball game Monday night, and for that, I thank them.

— Raiders 17, Packers 13:
Love completed only 16-30 passes, threw 3 INTs.
Green Bay’s only TD came on a 37-yard drive in third quarter.
Last three weeks, Packers were outscored 54-6 in first half.
Green Bay has outscored opponents 38-0 on 1st drive of a half.
Raiders drove 75 yards, scoring game-winning TD on 1st play of 4th quarter.
Garoppolo is 42-19 as an NFL starting QB.
Las Vegas is 13-9-1 ATS last 23 games with spread of 3 or less.
Raiders scored 17-10-18-17-17 points in first five games.

— This was the first NFL game since 1987 where the two kickers are brothers; Daniel and Anders Carlson.

— Braves 5, Phillies 4
Phillies led 4-0 in sixth inning.
Riley’s 2-run homer in 8th inning was game-winner.
series is tied, 1-1.

— Arizona 4, Dodgers 2
Zac Gallen threw 5.1 IP, gave up two runs.
Lourdes Gurriel was 2-4, with two RBI
Diamondbacks lead series, 2-0.

— Arizona-USC played football until 2:30am Saturday night in Los Angeles, with the Trojans finally winning 43-41 in overtime.
Here’s the thing: Arizona coach Jedd Fisch, who is doing a very good job rebuilding the program in Tucson, he didn’t know the overtime rules.
In the second round of overtime, teams have to go for two points after a touchdown— Arizona had to waste a timeout because they weren’t aware of that part of the OT rules. No bueno.

— There are 14 unbeaten teams left in college football.

— Tough couple of weeks for LSU’s defense; in their last two games, LSU has given up 94 points and 1,233 yards. Tigers lost 55-49 at Ole Miss, won 49-39 at Missouri- they host Auburn this week.

— Term of the Day: Zamboni— a vehicle that is used to clean and smooth the surface of a sheet of ice, usually in an ice rink. Frank Zamboni invented the first one in 1949, in Paramount, CA.
NHL season starts tonight, lot of Zambonis are getting warmed up.

— Pretty cool moment at Pepperdine’s open basketball practice Friday night, when the school’s President took a half-court shot. If he made it, a student got free tuition for a year, and sure enough, the President swished his shot— the players on the basketball team mobbed him, and a lucky student gets free tuition for this school year.

— Rick Pitino is the new coach at St John’s; hard to believe that the Red Storm hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000. Pitino will have St John’s in the top 25 this season.

— Memphis Tigers have a 6-11 C named Jordan Brown who is in this fifth year of college basketball. He’s had an interesting journey:
2019— Nevada-Reno
2020— transferred, sat out
2021— Arizona
2022-23— Louisiana— scored 19.3 ppg LY for the Ragin’ Cajuns
This is his 4th school in six years, in four different conferences. Someday, he should write what would be a very interesting book.

— Speaking of AAC teams, Temple is in the AAC; their closest rival in that league is Charlotte, which according to Mapquest, is 540 miles away from Philadelphia.

— Apparently, Cam Newton turned down $5.5M to be a backup QB with the Jets; Newton is 34 now, hasn’t played an NFL game in two years.

— Denver Broncos traded DE Randy Gregory to the 49ers last week; Denver is paying Gregory $10M this year, the 49ers are paying him the veteran minimum. Gregory has three years left on his contract, but none of that $$$ is guaranteed, so if they’re not happy with him, they can just let him walk.

— Over the last 30 years, only three football teams from the Big 14 Conference have started a season 0-6 against the spread:
2009- Illinois
2015- Michigan State
2023- Illinois

— Saturday was a busy day in Baltimore; Orioles hosted a playoff game during the day, which was delayed by rain, then Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks had a concert that night in the nearby Ravens’ Stadium. Pretty good day of entertainment.
Singer Joan Jett performed the national anthem before the baseball game; she has always been a very big Orioles’ fan.

— If you have Sirius radio, channel 105 is the Billy Joel channel, for the rest of this month. All of his best songs, with lot of stories from his great career mixed in. Well worth listening to.

— New Jersey Giants have struggled in the first half of games this season:
Week 1- trailed 26-0 at half. Ran 36 plays for 89 yards- gave up a pick-6 and TD on a blocked field goal.
Week 2- trailed 20-0 at half. Ran 26 plays for 76 yards.
Week 3- trailed 17-6 at half. Ran 26 plays for 88 yards.
Week 4- trailed 14-3 at half. Ran 38 plays for 155 yards.
Week 5- trailed 17-10 at half. Ran 34 plays for 115 yards- only TD was scored by the defense.

— Please God, let this be true; Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob would be ‘very interested’ in buying the Oakland A’s, if the cheap bastard who owns the team now decides to sell. Lacob would at least try to win, that’s all I ask for.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
NFL leaders in receiving yards:
651— Tyreek Hill, Mia
572— Puka Nacua, Rams
571— Justin Jefferson, Minn
541— AJ Brown, Phil
531— DJ Moore, Chi
520— Stefon Diggs, Buff

Quote of the Day
“You know what, what’s wrong with being unhappy? I’m unhappy most of my life. Unhappy drives you. Unhappy pushes you. Unhappy makes people realize, ‘You know what? I’m not good enough. I’ve got to get better.'”
Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo

Wednesday’s quiz
Of the 32 starting QB’s in the NFL right now, which two have fathers who played major league baseball?

Tuesday’s quiz
Before they moved to Texas in 1972, the Texas Rangers were the Washington Senators.

Monday’s quiz
Jimmy Garoppolo, Sean Payton and Tony Romo all played their college football at the same school, Eastern Illinois.

************************************************

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….

— Prayers go out to the great TV analyst Barry Melrose, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Melrose has been on ESPN since 1996; he retired from the network this week- he’ll be missed.

Melrose played in the NHL for eight years; he was a defenseman. He coached for four years, leading the LA Kings to the Stanley Cup final in 1993, but he found his true calling analyzing hockey on ESPN. He is a great spokesman for the game.

Melrose lives in Glens Falls, NY, an hour north of where I live; he used to co-own a minor league hockey team with ESPN’s Steve Levy. I was at one of their games, this was maybe 15 years ago, and Melrose was standing by himself off to the side, having a beer, so I went up and talked with him for a few minutes.

Terrific guy, friendly, just like you see him on TV. Put it this way; when ESPN does a video tribute to someone, and Wayne Gretzky narrates, you know that Barry Melrose is a big-timer.

— Astros 9, Twins 1
Jose Abreu homered twice, drove in five runs.
Cristian Javier allowed one hit in five shutout IP.
Houston leads series, 2-1.

— Rangers 7, Orioles 1
Rangers led 6-0 in the second inning.
Texas is 5-0 in the playoffs this month.
Nathan Eovaldi tossed seven innings.

— I’ll sound like the old guy yelling “Get off my lawn!!!” with this one, but in his career, Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson started nine World Series games:

7-2 record, 1.89 ERA, 92 strikeouts in 81 IP. The guy pitched in nine World Series games, and went nine innings every time. Let’s see someone today do that.

By the way, the last complete game in any playoff game was in 2017.

— College football conference trends:
AAC underdogs are 8-3 ATS
ACC underdogs are 12-5 ATS
Big X home favorites are 7-3 ATS
Big 14 home underdogs are 2-6 ATS.

MAC home teams are 4-8 ATS
Mountain West home teams are 6-4 ATS
Pac-12 home teams are 12-4 ATS
SEC favorites are 14-6 ATS

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East teams are 7-5 ATS outside the division.
Underdogs are 5-0 ATS in AFC North divisional games.
AFC South teams are 8-5 ATS outside the division.
AFC West teams are 5-9-1 ATS outside the division.

NFC East non-divisional favorites are 6-4-1 ATS
NFC North home teams are 2-5 ATS outside the division.
NFC South teams are 4-8-1 ATS outside the division.
NFC West teams are 8-1-1 ATS outside the division.

— Word of the Day: fickle— changing frequently, especially one’s loyalties, interests, or affection.

Lot of fans are fickle; they’re with you win or tie but they’re not crazy about ties.

— Most yards from scrimmage in first five games of an NFL season:
2,568— 2023 Dolphins
2,527— 2000 Rams
2,476— 2011 Patriots
2,449— 2013 Broncos

— Most games this season where a starting a pitcher lasted 7+ innings:
34— Astros, Phillies
33— Rangers
31— Mariners
30— Blue Jays

— College basketball teams with most consecutive appearances in NCAA Tournament:
(active streaks)
33— Kansas
25— Michigan State
24— Gonzaga

— Coastal Carolina 27, Appalachian State 24
Chanticleers led 14-0 after first quarter.
Coastal kicked a 24-yard FG at the gun for the win.
Chanticleers outgained App State 569-416
Coastal averaged 13.3 yards/pass attempt.

— Middle Tennessee State 31, Louisiana Tech 23
MTSU was 10-16 on third down, La Tech 3-13.
Vattiato was 23-29/248 passing, with two TD’s
Willis caught four passes for 103 yards and a TD.

— Liberty 31, Jacksonville State 13
Game was 10-10 at halftime.
Liberty ran ball 55 times for 245 yards.
Jax State averaged only 5.9 yards/pass attempt.

— NFL stuff
Vikings’ WR Justin Jefferson (hamstring) is on IR
Dolphins’ RB De’Von Achane (knee) is out several weeks
Rams traded WR Van Jefferson to Atlanta for a 6th round pick in 2025.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, October 11

WNBA

Wednesday, October 11

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York @ Las Vegas
New York
The total has gone OVER in 9 of New York's last 10 games
New York is 15-2 SU in its last 17 games on the road
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Cnotes53]

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
NY at LV	09:00 PM	LV -5.0 O 171.0	+500 +500

 

[Cnotes53]

Completed Picks​

Past Completed Picks

Date	W-L-T	%	Units	Record
10/11/2023	2-0-0	100.00%	+1000	Detail
10/08/2023	1-1-0	50.00%	-50	Detail

 

[Cnotes53]

WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEST BETS !

10/11/2023...........................2 - 0.........................100.00%....................+ 10.00
10/08/2023...........................1 - 1..........................50.00%......................- 0.50

TOTALS.................................3 - 1..........................75.00%.....................+ 9.50

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Thursday’s 6-pack:
CFL standings:

East
Toronto 13-2
Montreal 9-7
Hamilton 8-8
Ottawa 4-12

West
Winnipeg 12-4
British Columbia 11-5
Saskatchewan 6-10
Calgary 4-11
Edmonton 4-12

Quote of the Day
“First lesson in business is: Don’t get emotional about stock, it clouds your judgment.”
Gordon Gekko, from Wall Street

Thursday’s quiz
Who led the NBA in scoring last season?

Wednesday’s quiz
NFL QB’s Patrick Mahomes/Jared Goff have fathers who played major league baseball.

Tuesday’s quiz
Before they moved to Texas in 1972, the Texas Rangers were the Washington Senators.

***************************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..​

— Astros 3, Twins 2
Brantley, Abreu homered for Houston.
Astros’ bullpen got ten outs, didn’t allow a run.
Astros move on, will play Texas in the ALCS.

— Phillies 10, Braves 2
Harper hit two homers, knocked in four runs.
Castellanos hit two solo homers.
Phillies lead series, 2-1.

— Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 0
Arizona hit four solo home runs in the third inning.
They’re first team EVER to hit four HR’s in one inning of a playoff game.
In series, LA starters allowed 13 runs in 8.2 IP.

— With the new rules this year, notably the pitch clock, the need for 3-man broadcast booths isn’t there anymore. There is a lot less time in between pitches; you don’t need two analysts jockeying for time to get their thoughts in.
Maybe one answer is to have two analysts and no play-by-play guy, maybe that would work, as long as one of the analysts had enough experience to read all the promos they show during a typical game.

— Texas-El Paso 27, Florida International 13
Miners ran out to a 21-0 lead in first quarter.
UTEP averaged 16.8 yards/pass attempt.
FIU ran 34 times for only 91 yards; they were 2-11 on third down.

— New Mexico State 27, Sam Houston State 13
Aggies led 27-0 at halftime.
New Mexico State threw TD passes of 78, 12 yards.
Sam Houston is in its first season of I-A football; they’re now 0-6.

— Bruins 3, Blackhawks 1— Chicago was only NHL team to get a back/back on the first two nights of the season- they split the two games.

— Word of the Day: grifter— a person who swindles people out of money.

— Last week, Indianapolis Colts gave RB Jonathan Taylor a 3-year, $42M contract, with $26,5M guaranteed; he is now the 3rd-highest paid RB in the NFL, after Christian McCaffrey/Alvin Kamara.

— In five games, Detroit Lions have had 27 plays of 20+ yards; 19 of those 27 plays came on 1st and 10— are they just being more aggressive than other teams on first down?

— In their last three games, New England Patriots have had 38 series; they’ve gotten inside their opponent’s 20-yard line on one of those 38 drives, and kicked a FG on that one. Last two games, New England went 3/out on 13 of 25 drives.

— In five games, Cincinnati Bengals have only six plays of 20+ yards; their opponents have 20.

— Last three games, Green Bay Packers were outscored 54-6 in the first half.

— Oklahoma WR Andrel Anthony hurt his knee, is out for the year; Anthony has 27 catches for 429 yards and a touchdown, after transferring to the Sooners, from Michigan.

— Former NFL QB Brock Osweiler is a college football game analyst on ESPN now; he’s pretty good. Osweiler works with Dave Flemming, one of the best play/play guys, so that helps, but he had the Arizona-USC game late Saturday night and he was interesting to listen to.
Lot of times, analysts get overly excited and rattle on endlessly during close games, but Osweiler was explaining stuff while giving his partner space to call the game.

 

[Udog]

Playoffs resume Sunday.

 

[Cnotes53]

Friday’s 6-pack:
All-time strikeout leaders:
5,714— Nolan Ryan
4,875— Randy Johnson
4,672— Roger Clemens
4,136— Steve Carlton
3,701— Bert Blyleven
3,640— Tom Seaver

Quote of the Day
“There’s a lot of great things happening here. We will own the things that need to get better. People need to make sure they’re seeing the other side of it as well. That’s what we have been trying to say for a long time. … we are venting a little bit of frustration with that to be completely honest. I like the job we are doing there. I think we are set up to play really well in the second half of the season.”
USC coach Lincoln Riley

Friday’s quiz
Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw was the center on his high school football team; which NFL quarterback was his teammate in high school?
Thursday’s quiz
Joel Embiid led the NBA in scoring last season, with 33.1 points/game.

Wednesday’s quiz
NFL QB’s Patrick Mahomes/Jared Goff have fathers who played major league baseball.

**********************************************

Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….​

— Four years ago this week, the retina in my right eye detached while I was in Las Vegas; not good. 10 days later, Dr Mallick fixed my eye here in Albany, and for that I thank him.
Four years and two more procedures later, my eye is just fine, thanks to Dr Lemanski, who did two cataract procedures on that eye.
Just wanted to thank those two great doctors for fixing my eye; it is appreciated.

— Chiefs 19, Broncos 8
Chiefs have now won their last 16 games against Denver.
Chiefs won last five games overall, by 8-31-3-7-11 points (4-1 ATS).
Chiefs have outscored opponents 101-28 in first half.
Butker’s 52-yard FG with 2:00 left covered the spread.
Broncos are 1-5 SU/0-6 ATS this season.
Chiefs outgained Denver, 389-197
In their only win this year, Denver trailed 28-7 late in third quarter.
Denver is 7-14-1 ATS in last 22 AFC West road games.

— Houston 41, West Virginia 39
Houston led 35-24 with 4:00 left in game.
West Virginia threw a 50-yard TD pass with 0:12 left to go up 39-35.
Houston connected on a 49-yard Hail Mary on the last play for the win.
WVU was 13-19 on third down, Houston was 3-9.

— SMU 31, East Carolina 10
SMU led 14-0 after the first quarter.
Mustangs broke game open with 34-yard pick-6 in 4th quarter.
ECU completed only 18-39 passes, averaged 4.9 yards/attempt.

— Phillies 3, Braves 1
Nick Castellanos is first player ever with multiple HR’s in consecutive playoff games.
Ranger Suarez allowed three baserunners in 5 IP.
Five Philly relievers got the last 12 outs.
Phillies-Diamondbacks is an unlikely NLCS.

— Last week we shredded Miami coach Mario Cristobal for not having his team take a knee in the last minute, with his team safely ahead and Georgia Tech out of timeouts. Miami fumbled and Tech won the game, which was coaching malpractice, but we found another example of this, maybe a worse one.
September 11, 1999, UNLV is at Baylor; same situation, Baylor is safely ahead, they have the ball on UNLV’s 10-yard line or so, Rebels are out of timeouts, but Baylor runs a play, trying to score another TD, but the kid fumbles and a UNLV defensive back runs the ball back for a TD that won the game, and extended Baylor’s losing streak to seven games.
The reason I bring this up is that Baylor’s coach that night was Kevin Steele, who is now the defensive coordinator at Alabama. This was Steele’s first home game coaching Baylor, and it wound up being a disaster— he went 9-36 with the Bears, 1-31 in Big 12 games.

— Only one college basketball team has been in the Elite 8 the last two NCAA Tournaments; the Miami Hurricanes.

— Word of the Day: Alliance— An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose.

— Kansas Jayhawks are 3-point favorites at Oklahoma State Saturday; it is only the second time in the last 11 seasons that Kansas is a road favorite. Earlier this year, Jayhawks were favored at Nevada; they won 31-24, but didn’t cover the 28-point spread.

— With the Orioles getting swept by Texas, AL East teams went 0-7 in the playoffs this year.

— Dallas Mavericks played couple of exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, then played a game in Spain on the way home— they have only one exhibition game in this country, next week against Detroit.
Not sure how all that travel gets you ready for the regular season, but Mark Cuban is way smarter than I am, so we’ll see how it goes. Dallas opens the season October 25, against the San Antonio Spurs.

— Was surprised to see that Saint Mary’s is the coaches’ choice to win the WCC basketball title this winter, with perennial champ Gonzaga the #2 pick. Don’t think that clipping won’t wind up on a bulletin board in Spokane.

— There is a pro basketball team from Israel, Maccabi Ra’Anana, that is playing three games against NBA teams in the coming week; they lost 135-103 to the Brooklyn Nets Thursday night.
Imagine what the security must be like at those games, given the events of the past week? We just hope things go smoothly and that everyone gets home safely.

— NBA All-Star Game is in Indiana this year; they should honor the old ABA and play the game with a red, white and blue basketball, the one they used in the ABA, where the Pacers played.
NBA absorbed four ABA teams into the league in 1976; Pacers, Nets, Spurs, Nuggets. The ABA was an outstanding league, lot of fun to watch. Would be great if the NBA acknowledged that.

 

[Cnotes53]

Saturday’s 6-pack:
$$ wagered on sports in August, 2023:
$1.12B— New York
$725.8M— New Jersey
$431M— Nevada
$393M— Pennsylvania
$379.5M— Ohio
$319M— Virginia

Quote of the Day
“Yeah, listen. That’s a boneheaded mistake by me. They were calling one (a time-out) as well. I’m off a down. That was stupid.”
Broncos’ coach Sean Payton

Saturday’s quiz
Where did Deion Sanders play his college football?

Friday’s quiz
Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw was the center on his high school football team; Matthew Stafford was the quarterback on that team.

Thursday’s quiz
Joel Embiid led the NBA in scoring last season, with 33.1 points/game.

*******************************************

Saturday’s Den: Wrapping up a fall Friday…….​

— Tulane 31, Memphis 21
Memphis led 21-10 with 5:00 left in third quarter.
Tulane is 17-3 SU in its last 20 games.
Memphis ran ball 19 times for only 45 yards.
Under Fritz, Green Wave is 36-23-1 ATS in conference games.
Tulane’s nickname is Green Wave; why do they have light blue uniforms?

— QB’s Daniel Jones (Giants), Deshaun Watson (Browns) have already been declared out of their games this weekend. Jones has a neck injury, Watson has a bruised shoulder.
Tyrod Taylor will start at QB for the Giants, PJ Walker for Cleveland.

— Patriots are 0-10 ATS in their last ten games as an underdog, when Mac Jones was QB.

— Dallas Cowboys have had 26 second-half drives in their five games; they’ve scored only three touchdowns on those 26 drives. Cowboys have six first half TD’s on 20 drives.

— In the NHL, Vegas Golden Knights are 21-2-5 in their last 28 games against San Jose Sharks, 11-0-3 in their last fourteen visits to San Jose.

— Word of the Day: prodigy— a person, usually a young one, gifted with exceptional qualities or abilities.

— Baseball playoffs so far:
first round— no game 3’s
second round— no game 5’s

The big TV ratings come in those winner-take-all games; hasn’t been one of those yet. With two Texas teams and Arizona in this year’s Final Four, not sure the powers-that-be are going to like the TV ratings for this year’s playoffs.
It’ll still be real good baseball, that’s for sure, but lot of the marquis names have already been eliminated.

— Three starting pitchers are already out for 2024, after having arm surgery:
Sandy Alcantara, Marlins
Brandon Woodruff, Brewers
Kyle Wright, Braves

— I watched a few innings of the Arizona Fall League on MLB.tv Friday afternoon; there was a guy playing I’m interested in adding for my fantasy team, wanted to see him throw a couple innings.
Weird TV coverage: only one camera, with a high angle behind home plate. The announcer was actually pretty good. Found out what I needed to know, plus it is always fun to watch baseball.

— There is a pitcher in Japan, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is apparently going to be a free agent in the major leagues this winter: he’s won three straight Triple Crowns in Japan. He had a 1.21 ERA this past year, a 0.74 WHIP and won 16 games. He’s about to become really rich.

— Odds to win the World Series:
Astros +190
Phillies +200
Rangers +275
Diamondbacks +450

— Most touchdown plays of 30+ yards this season:
7— Dolphins
5— Vikings
4— Lions
3— Eagles, Colts, Steelers

— December 2 in Las Vegas, there is a good basketball doubleheader at the MGM Garden Arena: USC-Fresno State, Washington-Colorado State.

— Doing prep work for the coming college hoop season, turns out that Davidson has one thing that really works against them in the Transfer Portal era; Davidson doesn’t have a graduate school, so they can’t take graduate transfers. Therefore, they’re always going to be younger than most of their opponents.
Davidson recruits lot of foreign players; they have one very big thing in their favor, Davidson is where Steph Curry played his college ball.