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Saturday’s 6-pack
Some early point spreads for NFL games this fall:
— Week 2: Browns (-2.5) @ Jets
— Week 4: Cowboys @ Saints (-.5.5)
— Week 7: Patriots (-6) @ Jets
— Week 8: Packers @ Chiefs (-6)
— Week 14: Chiefs @ Patriots (-2.5)
— Week 15: Colts @ Saints (-3.5)
Quote of the Day
“They didn’t like the Gary Sanchez thing with the Home Run Derby, but you can’t fix stupid, you know?”
Logan Morrison, back in April 2018, talking about baseball fans in the Bronx. Morrison signed a minor league deal with the Bronx Bombers this week
Saturday’s quiz
Four of the top five picks in the 1989 NFL Draft are Hall of Famers (Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Deion Sanders); Tony Mandarich was the #2 pick that year, an offensive lineman from Michigan State. Which team drafted Mandarich?
Friday’s quiz
Al Pacino coached the Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday.
Thursday’s quiz
Miami Marlins have won two World Series; they’ve never won the NL East.
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Saturday’s List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….
13) Oakland Raiders sent their scouts home for the weekend; they’re not expected to be back before the draft next weekend. Supposedly, Raiders’ hierarchy (Gruden) doesn’t trust all his people, but doesn’t know exactly who he doesn’t trust. ��
Apparently this isn’t all that unusual; Gil Brandt told a story this week from 1987, where they told one scout about this LB they want to draft (they didn’t really want to). Two days later, a writer in Dallas posts this article about how the Cowboys are going to take the LB, which outed the scout as a leaker. He then became an ex-scout.
12) Other former front office guys have been saying on Twitter this week that the last 8-10 years, teams have been limiting access to a team’s draft board to only the top 3-4 football people.
11) Blue Jays are calling up top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr; he is expected to make his big league debut on Tuesday against the Giants.
10) College basketball is getting to the point where any returning player who scored double figures for a low-to-mid major is getting poached by bigger schools. Norfolk State’s leading scorer entered the transfer portal the week; it makes handicapping during the season that much harder. Will the new player fit in? How much does his departure hurt his former team?
Can’t be much fun for guys who coach in low/mid-majors.
9) Was reading something this week about how they’re using major league baseballs at the AAA level for the first time this year, and home runs have spiked early in the season. Homers in the International League are up 39%; in the Pacific Coast League, 32%.
Same thing hasn’t happened in AA or A ball, so it makes you wonder……
8) San Antonio Spurs’ Derrick White played three years of D-II ball at Colorado–Colorado Springs, transferred and played his senior year for the Colorado Buffaloes; he had zero D-I scholarship offers out of high school. None.
This year, he played 25.8 mpg for the Spurs, scored 9.9 ppg. He scored 36 points in the Spurs’ Game 3 win over Denver Thursday. Good for him.
7) Baseball transactions:
— Red Sox put IF Eduardo Núñez (back) on IL.
— Padres put OF Manuel Margot on the paternity list, called up Jose Pirela.
— Mets put Jacob deGrom (elbow) on the IL.
6) NCAA relaxed some transfer rules for freshmen: Incoming freshmen who enroll in summer school and receive financial aid can transfer and play immediately without a waiver if their coach leaves prior to the first day of fall classes.
This involves situations where a coach gets fired late in the spring or in summer, like couple years ago when Ohio State fired Thad Matta. It does not include football players who are early enrollees.
5) Not sure what the wisdom of the four outfielder shift is; seems like having four infielders would be a better idea. Lot of the guys you use the four OF shift with, if they hit it in the air to the outfield, it is going over the fence anyway.
4) Former UNLV coach Marvin Menzies signed on to be an assistant coach for Dan Majerle at Grand Canyon University in the WAC.
3) Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom will have an MRI on his elbow Monday, which is bad news for the Mets and worse news for my fantasy team.
I mentioned a few days ago how deGrom had trouble putting hitters away in his last two starts, and this is probably a big reason why.
2) Draft trivia; Kyler Murray’s father Kevin was the 11th player taken in the 1982 baseball draft, one spot after Bill Ripken (Cal’s brother).
1) Nick Saban will have hip replacement surgery on Monday; can’t imagine he’d be much fun to have as a patient in the hospital. Good luck to all the nurses……..
Some early point spreads for NFL games this fall:
— Week 2: Browns (-2.5) @ Jets
— Week 4: Cowboys @ Saints (-.5.5)
— Week 7: Patriots (-6) @ Jets
— Week 8: Packers @ Chiefs (-6)
— Week 14: Chiefs @ Patriots (-2.5)
— Week 15: Colts @ Saints (-3.5)
Quote of the Day
“They didn’t like the Gary Sanchez thing with the Home Run Derby, but you can’t fix stupid, you know?”
Logan Morrison, back in April 2018, talking about baseball fans in the Bronx. Morrison signed a minor league deal with the Bronx Bombers this week
Saturday’s quiz
Four of the top five picks in the 1989 NFL Draft are Hall of Famers (Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Deion Sanders); Tony Mandarich was the #2 pick that year, an offensive lineman from Michigan State. Which team drafted Mandarich?
Friday’s quiz
Al Pacino coached the Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday.
Thursday’s quiz
Miami Marlins have won two World Series; they’ve never won the NL East.
*************************************
Saturday’s List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….
13) Oakland Raiders sent their scouts home for the weekend; they’re not expected to be back before the draft next weekend. Supposedly, Raiders’ hierarchy (Gruden) doesn’t trust all his people, but doesn’t know exactly who he doesn’t trust. ��
Apparently this isn’t all that unusual; Gil Brandt told a story this week from 1987, where they told one scout about this LB they want to draft (they didn’t really want to). Two days later, a writer in Dallas posts this article about how the Cowboys are going to take the LB, which outed the scout as a leaker. He then became an ex-scout.
12) Other former front office guys have been saying on Twitter this week that the last 8-10 years, teams have been limiting access to a team’s draft board to only the top 3-4 football people.
11) Blue Jays are calling up top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr; he is expected to make his big league debut on Tuesday against the Giants.
10) College basketball is getting to the point where any returning player who scored double figures for a low-to-mid major is getting poached by bigger schools. Norfolk State’s leading scorer entered the transfer portal the week; it makes handicapping during the season that much harder. Will the new player fit in? How much does his departure hurt his former team?
Can’t be much fun for guys who coach in low/mid-majors.
9) Was reading something this week about how they’re using major league baseballs at the AAA level for the first time this year, and home runs have spiked early in the season. Homers in the International League are up 39%; in the Pacific Coast League, 32%.
Same thing hasn’t happened in AA or A ball, so it makes you wonder……
8) San Antonio Spurs’ Derrick White played three years of D-II ball at Colorado–Colorado Springs, transferred and played his senior year for the Colorado Buffaloes; he had zero D-I scholarship offers out of high school. None.
This year, he played 25.8 mpg for the Spurs, scored 9.9 ppg. He scored 36 points in the Spurs’ Game 3 win over Denver Thursday. Good for him.
7) Baseball transactions:
— Red Sox put IF Eduardo Núñez (back) on IL.
— Padres put OF Manuel Margot on the paternity list, called up Jose Pirela.
— Mets put Jacob deGrom (elbow) on the IL.
6) NCAA relaxed some transfer rules for freshmen: Incoming freshmen who enroll in summer school and receive financial aid can transfer and play immediately without a waiver if their coach leaves prior to the first day of fall classes.
This involves situations where a coach gets fired late in the spring or in summer, like couple years ago when Ohio State fired Thad Matta. It does not include football players who are early enrollees.
5) Not sure what the wisdom of the four outfielder shift is; seems like having four infielders would be a better idea. Lot of the guys you use the four OF shift with, if they hit it in the air to the outfield, it is going over the fence anyway.
4) Former UNLV coach Marvin Menzies signed on to be an assistant coach for Dan Majerle at Grand Canyon University in the WAC.
3) Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom will have an MRI on his elbow Monday, which is bad news for the Mets and worse news for my fantasy team.
I mentioned a few days ago how deGrom had trouble putting hitters away in his last two starts, and this is probably a big reason why.
2) Draft trivia; Kyler Murray’s father Kevin was the 11th player taken in the 1982 baseball draft, one spot after Bill Ripken (Cal’s brother).
1) Nick Saban will have hip replacement surgery on Monday; can’t imagine he’d be much fun to have as a patient in the hospital. Good luck to all the nurses……..
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