Cnotes 2020/2021 NHL Season Long Trends, News, Notes, Picks !

[StarDust Bum]

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS

PHI at BUF 07:30 PM
PHI -200
O 6.0

TOR at WIN 07:30 PM
WIN +120
O 6.0

ARI at COL 09:30 PM
ARI +240
U 5.5

LA at VEG 10:00 PM
LA +175
U 5.5

MIN at SJ 10:30 PM
SJ +140
U 6.0

CAL at VAN 10:30 PM
CAL -120
U 5.5


CNOTES NHL DOGS OR DOG & TOTAL OF THE DAY !
BASED ON 5 UNITS

MAR.30 2021.................3 - 7........30.00%.........-19.25
MAR.29 2021.................5 - 6........45.45%.........- 4.75
MAR.28 2021.................8 - 2........80.00%.........+ 38.50
MAR.27 2021.................6 - 7........46.15.............- 5.25
MAR.262021..................5 - 2........71.42..............+17.35
MAR.25 2021.................6 - 13.......31.57..............-38.25
MAR.24 2021.................2 - 4.........33.33%...........-9.00
MAR.23 2021.................2 -3..........40.00%...........+4.00
MAR.22 2021.................6 - 5.........54.54%..........+5.25
MAR.21 2021.................5 - 2.........71.42%..........+22.25
MAR.20,2021.................5 - 11.......31.25..............-41.00
MAR.19,2021.................2 - 6.........25.00%...........-21.00
MAR.18.2021.................8 - 4.........66.66%...........+24.50
MAR. 17,2021................2 - 10.......16.66%............-27.50
MAR. 16,2021................4 - 6.........40.00%............-8.00
MAR. 15,2021................5 - 7.........41.66%............- 5.50
MAR. 14.2021................6 - 4.........60.00%............+13.50
MAR. 13,2021...............10 - 5........66.66%............+24.25
MAR. 12,2021................3 - 4.........42.85%............- 7.00
MAR. 11,2021...............10 - 5........66.66%............+33.75
MAR. 10.2021................0 - 6.........00.00%............- 33.00
MAR. 09, 2021...............4 - 9.........30.76%............- 29.50
MAR. 08,2021................6 - 4.........60.00%...........+ 11.00
MAR. 07, 2021...............4 - 5.........44.44%..............- 1.75
MAR. 06, 2021...............5 - 10.......33.33%.............- 21.00
MAR. 05, 2021...............4 - 5.........44 .44%..............- 2.00
MAR. 04, 2021...............7 - 6.........53.84%..............+ 3.00
MAR. 03, 2021...............3 - 6.........33.33%.............- 18.00
MAR. 02, 2021...............6 - 4.........60.00%.............+13.25
MAR. 01, 2021...............4 - 5..........44.44%..............- 1.75

TOTALS.....................141 - 167.......45.77%............-77.65

[StarDust Bum]

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS

PHI at BUF 07:30 PM
PHI -200.............1 - 6
O 6.0...................WINNER

TOR at WIN 07:30 PM
WIN +120...............1 - 3......LOSER
O 6.0..................LOSER

ARI at COL 09:30 PM
ARI +240...........3 - 9.....LOSER
U 5.5..............LOSER

LA at VEG 10:00 PM
LA +175..........4 - 2....WINNER
U 5.5..................WINNER

MIN at SJ 10:30 PM
SJ +140..........2 - 4.........WINNER
U 6.0...................PUSH

CAL at VAN 10:30 PM
CAL -120..................PPD
U 5.5


CNOTES NHL DOGS OR DOG & TOTAL OF THE DAY !
BASED ON 5 UNITS

MAR.31 2021.................4 - 4........50.00%.........+3.75
MAR.30 2021.................3 - 7........30.00%.........-19.25
MAR.29 2021.................5 - 6........45.45%.........- 4.75
MAR.28 2021.................8 - 2........80.00%.........+ 38.50
MAR.27 2021.................6 - 7........46.15.............- 5.25
MAR.262021..................5 - 2........71.42..............+17.35
MAR.25 2021.................6 - 13.......31.57..............-38.25
MAR.24 2021.................2 - 4.........33.33%...........-9.00
MAR.23 2021.................2 -3..........40.00%...........+4.00
MAR.22 2021.................6 - 5.........54.54%..........+5.25
MAR.21 2021.................5 - 2.........71.42%..........+22.25
MAR.20,2021.................5 - 11.......31.25..............-41.00
MAR.19,2021.................2 - 6.........25.00%...........-21.00
MAR.18.2021.................8 - 4.........66.66%...........+24.50
MAR. 17,2021................2 - 10.......16.66%............-27.50
MAR. 16,2021................4 - 6.........40.00%............-8.00
MAR. 15,2021................5 - 7.........41.66%............- 5.50
MAR. 14.2021................6 - 4.........60.00%............+13.50
MAR. 13,2021...............10 - 5........66.66%............+24.25
MAR. 12,2021................3 - 4.........42.85%............- 7.00
MAR. 11,2021...............10 - 5........66.66%............+33.75
MAR. 10.2021................0 - 6.........00.00%............- 33.00
MAR. 09, 2021...............4 - 9.........30.76%............- 29.50
MAR. 08,2021................6 - 4.........60.00%...........+ 11.00
MAR. 07, 2021...............4 - 5.........44.44%..............- 1.75
MAR. 06, 2021...............5 - 10.......33.33%.............- 21.00
MAR. 05, 2021...............4 - 5.........44 .44%..............- 2.00
MAR. 04, 2021...............7 - 6.........53.84%..............+ 3.00
MAR. 03, 2021...............3 - 6.........33.33%.............- 18.00
MAR. 02, 2021...............6 - 4.........60.00%.............+13.25
MAR. 01, 2021...............4 - 5..........44.44%..............- 1.75

TOTALS.....................145 - 171.......45.88%............-73,90

[StarDust Bum]

Thursday’s 6-pack
Odds for the Texas Open this week:
11-1— Jordan Spieth
14-1— Tony Finau
15-1— Scott Scheffler
19-1— Abraham Ancer, Hideki Matsuyama
21-1— Corey Connors
30-1— Ryan Palmer

Americans who have died from COVID-19: 550,903
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.

Quote of the Day
“It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame. Let’s play two today!”
Ernie Banks

Thursday’s quiz
In the history of baseball, what Hall of Famer threw the only no-hitter on Opening Day?

Wednesday’s quiz
2015 was last time three #1-seeds made the Final Four; Wisconsin, Kentucky, Duke.

Tuesday’s quiz
Last time Kelvin Sampson made it to the Final Four, he was coaching Oklahoma.

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

Thursday’s Den: Random thoughts on Opening Day

Before we start, happy birthday to my grandmother; today was her birthday. Very nice lady. Not sure April 1 is a great day for a birthday.

13) Will be fun to see fans in the stands; hopefully by the end of this season, stands will be full again, but for now, hearing real people cheer will be enough. Cardboard cutouts are cool, but they don’t make any noise.

For the record, the best cardboard cutout last year was the one in Kansas City of Bernie Lomax, the main character from the Weekend at Bernie’s movies.

12) Houston Astros made the expanded playoffs LY, despite a 29-31 record; how will they bounce back this year? They won the 2017 World Series, lost the ’19 Series in seven games; this year they’ll be without Verlander (hurt), Springer (free agent to Toronto).

Last year, Jose Altuve hit .219 in the regular season, then hit 18-48 (.375) in playoffs, so we’ll see what this year brings.

11) Baseball has done a very smart thing, letting players watch video of their at-bats on iPads during the game. Players couldn’t do that last year- from what you hear on TV, it hampered some hitters, who are creatures of habit. Baseball wants more offense, right?

10) Los Angeles Dodgers are loaded; they won World Series LY for first time since 1988, and appear to be headed that way again this year, especially after adding pitching ace Trevor Bauer as a free agent.

Their TV guys have been fairly cocky this spring; on how many teams would David Price or Tony Gonsolin not be in the starting rotation?

9) Seattle and the Angels are two teams that will apparently use 6-man pitching rotations this season, somehow new to MLB. Teams in Japan do this; starters generally pitch once a week.

Teams are guarding against ramping up a pitcher’s innings too much from one year to the next; for instance, Seattle’s Marco Gonzales threw 69.1 IP LY; he threw 203 the year before. Doubtful they want him ramping back up to 203 until next season.

8) Steve Cohen is the new owner of the Mets; supposedly, Bobby Axelrod on Showtime’s Billions was modeled after Cohen, a wildly successful hedge fund trader. In other words, he is really, really rich.

Cohen’s Mets offered newly-acquired SS Francisco Lindor $320M for 10 years; Lindor’s people are asking for 12 years, $385M. We’ll see how that works out.

LATE UPDATE: Here’s how it worked out: Lindor signed a 10-year deal for $341M Wednesday night.

7) Umpire Ángel Hernández lost his lawsuit against MLB alleging racial discrimination; hired as a big league umpire in 1993, the Cuban-born Hernandez alleged he was discriminated against because he had not been assigned to the World Series since 2005 and had been passed over for crew chief.

From the judge who decided the case:
“The explicit reason MLB offers — that according to (Joe) Torre, Hernández ‘has not demonstrated the leadership ability and situation-management skills in critical high-pressure roles on a consistent basis’ — is presented in clear and specific terms.”

In other words, Hernandez should be glad he has a lucrative job that he doesn’t do very well.

6) Colorado Rockies traded star 3B Nolan Arenado to St Louis, and with SS Trevor Story headed for free agency, he could be the next to leave Denver, which can’t make fans in Denver happy.

Are the Rockies headed for a total rebuild? Colorado won 87-91 games in 2017/’18, but now they’re looking like a doormat.

5) Can Giancarlo Stanton/Aaron Judge stay healthy this season?
— Last two years, Stanton played a total of 41 regular season games.
— Last three years, Judge played 112-102-28 games.
— Stanton went 8-26 with six homers in seven playoff games LY; they need him for six months, not seven games.

4) Angels have lot of hitting, lot of star power; Trout, Pujols, Rendon, Ohtani, but pitching is important in baseball and the Angels don’t have much of that.

In 12 games as a major league pitcher, Ohtani has given up 26 runs in 53.1 IP; there is very little evidence that he’ll be a good major league pitcher.

3) Lot of hype around the Padres/White Sox; there is no doubt that 76-year Tony LaRussa’s return to the dugout will be fascinating to follow in Chicago.

LaRussa hasn’t managed since 2011; he’s won three World Series as a skipper, but the world is a different place than it was 10 years ago. He did a dugout interview during a spring training game a few days ago and it…….um…….didn’t go well.

Random LaRussa trivia; he pinch-hit for the A’s in their first-ever home game in Oakland, way back in 1968.

2) Baseball needs the universal DH, for a few reasons:
— They want more scoring; pitchers can’t hit
— They want more balls in play; DH’s put balls in play
— Pitchers get hurt hitting/running the bases. Not good.

1) I’ll be looking at how the new experimental rules work once the minor leagues get rolling in May; I like the anti-shifting rules, the pitch-clock thing isn’t necessary. The 3-batter minimum for relievers is a great rule.

I can’t stand the extra inning rules or 7-inning doubleheaders. Media guys like shorter extra innings, since it makes their job easier, but to me it cheapens the game.

As for the automated strike zone, no thank you!!! Just let umpires do their jobs, and hire better umpires than Angel Hernandez.

[Udog]

Friday’s 6-pack
Top six states in sports betting handle for this February:
$743M— New Jersey
$554M— Nevada
$510M— Pennsylvania
$326M— Michigan
$274M— Indiana
$266.5M— Colorado

Americans who have died from COVID-19: 550,903
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.

Quote of the Day
“The transfer portal is a huge part of the college game and will continue to be.”
UNLV coach Kevin Kruger

Friday’s quiz
Which active player has the most career home runs against the Oakland A’s?

Thursday’s quiz
In the history of baseball, Bob Feller threw the only no-hitter on Opening Day, in 1940.

Wednesday’s quiz
2015 was last time three #1-seeds made the Final Four; Wisconsin, Kentucky, Duke.

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

Friday’s Den: Wrapping up Opening Day
Lot of stuff happened Thursday; we’ll stick with baseball today, get to the rest tomorrow.

13) Colorado 8, Dodgers 5:
— Cody Bellinger hit a home run that deflected off the left fielder’s glove, but the runner on base thought the LF caught the ball, so he went back to first and Bellinger passed him, which means Bellinger was called out— the baserunner scored.
— Chris Owings had three hits, scored three times for the Rockies.

12) Pirates 5, Chicago 3:
— Both starting P’s threw 63 pitches in three IP on a 36-degree day.
— Kyle Hendricks walked a batter in three consecutive innings, first time he’s ever done that.
— Pirates were 3-20 with runners in scoring position, Cubs 0-5

11) Philadelphia 3, Braves 2 (10)
— Phillies’ new-look bullpen threw 3.1 scoreless innings.
— Jean Segura’s single to left field in 10th inning was the walk-off hit.
— Pablo Sandoval hit a pinch-hit HR for Atlanta’s only runs.

10) San Diego 8, Diamondbacks 7:
— Hosmer had three hits, three RBI for San Diego.
— Bumgarner gave up six runs in four IP for Arizona.
— Arizona was down 6-1, scored six runs in the 5th, but couldn’t hold the lead.

9) Cardinals 11, Cincinnati 6:
— St Louis is first team since the 2010 Braves to score 6+ runs in first inning on Opening Day.
— Castillo gave up 10 runs in 3.1 IP.
— Goldschmidt/Arenado went a combined 6-10, scored four runs.

8) Blue Jays 3, Bronx 2 (10)
— Toronto wore powder blue road jerseys, like teams wore in the 70’s/80’s.
— Top four batters in the New York lineup went 1-18 with eight K’s.
— Sanchez hit a 2-run homer for New York’s only runs.

7) Detroit 3, Indians 2:
— Miguel Cabrera hit his 488th career home run.
— It snowed during first three innings of this game.
— Cesar Hernández had the first hit in the major leagues this year.

6) Kansas City 14, Rangers 10:
— Game was 5-5 after the first inning; not much pitching.
— Two starting pitchers combined to get five outs, give up 11 runs.
— Merrfield, Isbel, Taylor all had three hits for the Royals.

5) Rays 1, Miami 0:
— Meadows hit an 8th-inning homer for the game’s only run.
— Glasnow, Alcantara both threw six shutout innings.
— Aguilar had two of Miami’s three hits.

4) Milwaukee 6, Twins 5 (10):
— Five of Milwaukee’s six runs were unearned.
— Brewers scored three runs in 9th to force extra innings.
— Josh Donaldson (hamstring) left this game very early on.

3) Angels 4, White Sox 3:
— Angels scored twice in bottom of 8th inning.
— Angels gave 2B Fletcher a 5-year, $26M extension Thursday.
— Only two starting pitchers all day got wins: Boyd/Greinke.

2) Astros 8, A’s 1:
— Brantley had single, double, homer for Houston.
— Greinke threw six shutout innings, allowing 3 baserunners.
— A’s bullpen gave up five runs in 3.2 IP.

[Udog]

59WASHINGTON -60 NEW JERSEY
WASHINGTON is 11-1 ATS (10.1 Units) against poor defensive teams - opponents average 29.5+ shots on goal in the current season.

61TORONTO -62 WINNIPEG
TORONTO is 8-0 ATS (8 Units) in road games vs. winning teams in the current season.

63CALGARY -64 EDMONTON
EDMONTON is 17-4 ATS (12.2 Units) against poor defensive teams - opponents average 29.5+ shots on goal in the current season.

65ST LOUIS -66 COLORADO
ST LOUIS are 13-17 ATS (-13.3 Units) against mistake free teams - opponents average <=4 power plays/game in the current season.

67SAN JOSE -68 LOS ANGELES
LOS ANGELES are 18-12 ATS (10.9 Units) in home games against excellent power play teams- scoring on >17.5% of their chances over the last 2 seasons.

69ARIZONA -70 ANAHEIM
ANAHEIM is 5-17 ATS (-12.2 Units) against poor defensive teams - opponents average 29.5+ shots on goal in the current season.

[Udog]

NHL

Friday, April 2

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Trend Report
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Washington @ New Jersey
Washington
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing New Jersey
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games on the road
New Jersey
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New Jersey's last 5 games at home
New Jersey is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games

Toronto @ Winnipeg
Toronto
Toronto is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Winnipeg
Toronto is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
Winnipeg
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Winnipeg's last 9 games when playing at home against Toronto
The total has gone OVER in 16 of Winnipeg's last 21 games when playing Toronto

Calgary @ Edmonton
Calgary
Calgary is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Edmonton
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Calgary's last 5 games on the road
Edmonton
Edmonton is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Edmonton is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Calgary

St. Louis @ Colorado
St. Louis
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of St. Louis's last 7 games
St. Louis is 16-7 SU in its last 23 games when playing Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games at home
Colorado is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games at home

Arizona @ Anaheim
Arizona
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Arizona's last 6 games
Arizona is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Anaheim
Anaheim
Anaheim is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing Arizona
Anaheim is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games

San Jose @ Los Angeles
San Jose
San Jose is 12-3 SU in its last 15 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
San Jose is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games on the road
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against San Jose
Los Angeles is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games at home


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[Udog]

NHL
Dunkel

Friday, April 2

[Udog]

Saturday’s 6-pack
Six of the better “17th game” NFL matchups this season:
— Packers @ Chiefs
— Cowboys @ Patriots
— Seahawks @ Steelers
— Buccaneers @ Colts
— Rams @ Ravens
— Saints @ Titans

Americans who have died from COVID-19: 553,980
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.

Quote of the Day
“I’m really tired of seeing them complain about the lack of pay, because they’re doing themselves a disservice by just complaining. They’re not laying out steps that they can take to change that.”
Draymond Green, complaining about WNBA players complaining

Saturday’s quiz
Which current major leaguer has a dad who hit two grand slams in one inning in a major league game?

Friday’s quiz
Of active players, Mike Trout (38) has the most career home runs against the Oakland A’s.

Thursday’s quiz
In the history of baseball, Bob Feller threw the only no-hitter on Opening Day, in 1940.

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

Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind……..
Its been a busy few days, even beyond baseball starting:

13) North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams retired, with 903 career wins, 485 for the Tar Heels, 418 at Kansas. He won’t be easily replaced; where does North Carolina turn from here?

My guess is former Tar Heel player Wes Miller, who is coach at NC-Greensboro; last five years, he’s gone 125-43 with the Spartans of the Southern Conference.

Back to Roy Williams for a minute; he seems like a genuinely nice person in addition to being a great coach. I remember reading a article where he read a book about golf— I think Rick Reilly wrote the book, but Williams really liked it, so he bought 20 copies of it and gave them to his friends. There aren’t enough nice person in today’s world: Roy Williams will be missed.

12) Kansas Jayhawks gave Bill Self a lifetime contract this week, despite Kansas not having an AD right now. I guess the school’s chancellor stepped in and did the deal.

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated wrote this about what the contract says about Kansas: “We like to win, we don’t care how, we don’t care what NCAA sanctions may come, we don’t care about anything but continuing to win.”

Kansas is headed towards some type of probation because of recruiting violations, but Self’s new contract says that he cannot be fired for cause due to NCAA sanctions.

11) As I starting writing this piece, Oklahoma tabbed Porter Moser as its next basketball coach, replacing the retired Lon Kruger. Moser went 178-141 in 10 years at Loyola, going 99-36 the last four years, including a run to the Final Four in 2018.

One of the interesting things about college hoop is how teams take advantage of circumstances to become relevant. Creighton left the MVC in 2013, Wichita State in 2017; they had dominated the Valley before moving on to greener pa$ture$. Loyola’s 56-16 run in MVC games the last four years coincide with Wichita State moving elsewhere.

10) Then there is Texas Tech, which got kicked in the teeth this week when Chris Beard left the Red Raiders to become the new coach at rival Texas, his alma mater. Bears was a student assistant to Tom Penders with the Longhorns in the early 90’s.

Beard went 112-55 in five years at Tech, after a 30-5 season at Little Rock. Texas has won one NCAA Tournament game in the last decade (1-6). Beard will be expected to win more than that.

9) Chris Ogden quit his job as HEAD COACH at Texas-Arlington, to become one of Beard’s ASSISTANTS at Texas. Ogden was 44-47 in three years at UTA, after they canned Scott Cross, who went 72-33 in his last three years with the Mavericks. Cross is now the coach at Troy- he knocked Ogden’s Arlington team out of the Sun Belt tournament last month.

8) Washington Wizards’ Russell Westbrook a triple-double earlier this week, the first one ever where the guy scored 35+ points and had 20+ assists in the same game. He had 35 points, 21 assists, 14 rebounds; he must’ve had the ball a lot, that’s for sure.

Most importantly, Washington beat the Pacers 132-124.

7) Utah Jazz had a scary night this week, when their flight to Memphis struck a flock of birds during takeoff, damaging the left engine of the plane. There was a loud sound like an explosion, flames coming out of the engine and visible damage. Then the plane started to tilt and slowly lose altitude.

Players were actually texting their families, saying their goodbyes; luckily, the flight turned around and made an emergency landing back in Salt Lake City. The rest of the team got on a rescheduled flight to Memphis, but star Donovan Mitchell, who apparently hates flying in the first place, stayed home and skipped that game, which the Jazz won anyway.

6) ESPN signed 81-year old Dick Vitale to a new, 2-year contract to continue working for them; they need to tell him to stop pouring that cooler of water over his head that does in the GEICO commercial— a guy can catch pneumonia.

Not sure if everyone nows this, but Dick Vitale was a really good coach before he worked on TV; he was an assistant coach at Rutgers who recruited a lot of the players who formed the nucleus of their Final Four squad in 1976.

From there, he went 78-30 as head coach at Detroit, finishing ranked #12 in the country in his last season there. He went 34-60 in a brief stint coaching the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.

The man has amazing energy, even now; he’s helped raise over $100M to fight cancer. At times he is tough to listen to, but damn, he’s had a hell of a career.

5) DePaul hired Oregon assistant Tony Stubblefield as its new basketball coach; they haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2004. Since 2008, the Blue Demons are 43-206 in Big East conference games, which is, as we like to say, no bueno.

Stubblefield just turned 51; he’s never been a head coach, though he was an interim coach at New Mexico State in 2005, when Lou Henson got sick. He worked as an assistant under Mick Cronin at Cincinnati.

4) The clusterbleep of the year may be at East Tennessee State, where coach Jason Shay was told to take a hike this week- they say he “resigned” but guys don’t quit after their first year as a head coach, not a guy who waited until he was 47 to become a head coach.

East Tennessee’s players took a knee during the national anthem before a few games this year, which ticked off boosters/state politicians, who publicly said so. Shay backed the players; if you want to be a successful coach, you back your players, especially when they’re right.

Shay went 13-12 in his one year as a head coach; he had assisted Steve Forbes for the five years before that, when ETSU went 130-43, going 71-19 in SoCon games.

East Tennessee’s decision makers have some questions to answer:
— Who do they hire from here?
— Who would want this job, if you fired Shay for supporting his players?
— Do the ETSU decision makers want to win?
— If you get a reputation as a racist organization, how do you recruit basketball players?

3) NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers have some internal issues involving the Spanos family, which owns the team. Chargers have to start paying a $650M relocation fee to the NFL pretty soon; they can’t sell the team just yet— the NFL will penalize them even more money if they move the team too quickly after bolting up the freeway to LA— its called a “flip tax”.

In a November 2019 letter included with a court filing, Dean Spanos vowed to his three siblings that he would retain an investment bank at the end of the 2024 season in an effort to find a new owner- by 2024, the “flip tax” wouldn’t be relevant anymore.

But Spanos’ sister says the family’s finances are such that the team needs to be sold before that; the family has owned the Chargers since 1984. If you go broke while you own an NFL franchise, you’re a candidate for the Moron Hall of Fame.

There is a rumor that when the team is sold, they could move back to San Diego, which happens to be the 8th-biggest city in America.

2) In 1979, the Kansas City Royals drafted both John Elway and Dan Marino, which would be great, if the Royals were an NFL team. But they’re a baseball team; Elway played a year for Oneonta in the NY-Penn League, after New York drafted him in the 2nd round of the 1981 draft.

1) Amazing Fact of the Day: Tampa Bay won its season opener 1-0 at Miami Thursday; it is the first time since 1946 that a road team won 1-0 on Opening Day!!!!

Back then, Bob Feller blanked the White Sox on three hits at Comiskey Park; former major league manager Bob Lemon played CF for Cleveland that day.

Additional thing that happened Friday: this weekend’s Mets-Nationals series was cancelled, due to four Washington players testing positive for COVID.

[Udog]

1PITTSBURGH -2 BOSTON
PITTSBURGH is 19-7 ATS (11.4 Units) against excellent power play teams- scoring on >17.5% of their chances in the current season.

3DETROIT -4 TAMPA BAY
DETROIT is 6-41 ATS (-30.4 Units) in road games against mistake free teams - opponents average <=4 power plays/game over the last 2 seasons.

5CHICAGO -6 NASHVILLE
CHICAGO is 8-2 ATS (5.8 Units) in road games playing with triple revenge - 3 straight losses vs. opponent over the last 2 seasons.

7COLUMBUS -8 FLORIDA
COLUMBUS are 2-9 ATS (-9.1 Units) in road games against horrible power play killing teams-opp score on >19% of chances in the current season.

9OTTAWA -10 MONTREAL
MONTREAL is 1-11 ATS (-11.1 Units) after successfully covering the spread in 3 or more consecutive games in the last 3 seasons.

11PHILADELPHIA -12 NY ISLANDERS
PHILADELPHIA is 9-1 ATS (7.9 Units) off a blowout loss by 3 goals or more to a division rival over the last 2 seasons.

13NY RANGERS -14 BUFFALO
BUFFALO is 2-19 ATS (-16.4 Units) against excellent power play teams- scoring on >17.5% of their chances in the current season.

15DALLAS -16 CAROLINA
DALLAS are 4-18 ATS (-17.7 Units) against good offensive teams - >=29 shots on goal, convert >=17% pp in the current season.

17ST LOUIS -18 COLORADO
ST LOUIS are 13-17 ATS (-13.3 Units) against mistake free teams - opponents average <=4 power plays/game in the current season.

19MINNESOTA -20 VEGAS
VEGAS are 46-17 ATS (18 Units) in home games against good starting goalies - saving >= 91.5% of shots against since 1996.

[Udog]

NHL

Saturday, April 3

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Trend Report
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Pittsburgh @ Boston
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Pittsburgh's last 5 games when playing Boston
Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston's last 5 games when playing Pittsburgh
Boston is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games when playing at home against Pittsburgh

Detroit @ Tampa Bay
Detroit
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Detroit's last 8 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Detroit's last 7 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Detroit
Tampa Bay is 19-2 SU in its last 21 games when playing Detroit

Chicago @ Nashville
Chicago
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Chicago's last 5 games when playing Nashville
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Chicago's last 7 games
Nashville
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Nashville's last 5 games when playing Chicago
Nashville is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games

NY Rangers @ Buffalo
NY Rangers
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of NY Rangers's last 7 games when playing on the road against Buffalo
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of NY Rangers's last 6 games when playing Buffalo
Buffalo
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Buffalo's last 7 games when playing at home against NY Rangers
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Buffalo's last 6 games when playing NY Rangers

Dallas @ Carolina
Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Dallas's last 7 games when playing on the road against Carolina
Carolina
Carolina is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Dallas
Carolina is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games

Columbus @ Florida
Columbus
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Columbus's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Columbus's last 9 games
Florida
Florida is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Florida's last 6 games

Philadelphia @ NY Islanders
Philadelphia
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Philadelphia's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Philadelphia's last 13 games
NY Islanders
NY Islanders is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games at home
NY Islanders is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games at home

Ottawa @ Montreal
Ottawa
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Ottawa's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Ottawa's last 10 games when playing Montreal
Montreal
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Montreal's last 10 games when playing Ottawa
Montreal is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games when playing at home against Ottawa

St. Louis @ Colorado
St. Louis
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of St. Louis's last 7 games on the road
Colorado
Colorado is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games at home
Colorado is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games

Minnesota @ Vegas
Minnesota
Minnesota is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games when playing Vegas
Minnesota is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Vegas
Vegas
Vegas is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games at home
Vegas is 14-6 SU in its last 20 games

San Jose @ Los Angeles
San Jose
San Jose is 13-3 SU in its last 16 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
San Jose is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against San Jose
Los Angeles is 8-2 ATS in its last 10 games at home


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[Udog]

NHL
Dunkel

Saturday, April 3

[Udog]

Sunday’s 6-pack
Six more “17th game” NFL matchups this season:
— Eagles @ Jets
— Bears @ Raiders
— Vikings @ Chargers
— Giants @ Dolphins
— Lions @ Broncos
— Panthers @ Texans

Americans who have died from COVID-19: 554,522
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.

Quote of the Day
“Every day in shootaround before the game we shoot half-courters. I haven’t been making my half-courters, but I got it with confidence, put it up. It’s crazy. I can’t come to words right now.”
Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs, Saturday night’s hero

Sunday’s quiz
When was the last time two #1-seeds faced off for the national championship?

Saturday’s quiz
Fernando Tatis Sr hit two grand slams in one inning in a major league game in the late 90’s, against the Dodgers. Oddly, he hit both of them off the same pitcher.

Friday’s quiz
Of active players, Mike Trout (38) has the most career home runs against the Oakland A’s.

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

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a fun day…….

13) Gonzaga 93, UCLA 90 OT:
— Suggs banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win a tremendous game.
— Gonzaga shot 71.4% inside arc, scored 1.27 ppp- they were only 12-20 on foul line.
— This was UCLA’s 7th OT game this season; it was only Gonzaga’s second game this year decided by fewer than 10 points- the other one was December 2nd.

12) Baylor 78, Houston 59:
— Game was 45-20 at halftime.
— To win their region, Houston beat seeds #15-10-11-12.
— Baylor is 10-2 since their 21-day COVID shutdown.

11) Opening line for Monday’s championship game: Gonzaga, minus 5

10) In three days of major league baseball:
— Giants’ Johnny Cueto is only pitcher to throw 100+ pitches (105) in a game.
— Seattle’s Marco Gonzales, Chicago’s Lance Lynn both threw 99 pitches in their starts.

9) Tampa Bay pitcher Rich Hill is the only pitcher EVER to lose a perfect game in the 9th inning, when one of his fielders made an error. Later in that same game he became the only pitcher EVER to lose a no-hitter on a walk-off hit in extra innings.

Hill has thrown to 35 different catchers in his big league career; one of them was Kevin Cash, who is now his manager with the Rays.

8) Arizona Diamondback manager Tory Lovullo hit only 15 homers in his 8-year big league career (303 games); three of them were against Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Jack Morris, all great pitchers.

7) WHIP is a stat that calculates how many baserunners a pitcher allows, but for whatever reason, hit batters aren’t counted- they should be.

6) MLB Network did a very smart thing and hired Buck Showalter to work games; he called a game with Matt Vasgersian Friday night, and pointed out that on Opening Day, there were 256 players on major league rosters who weren’t born in this country, that is 8.5 per team.

5) Showalter offered an interesting player comp: Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena and the old Houston outfielder Jimmy Wynn, known back then as the Toy Cannon. Wynn hit 291 homers, stole 225 bases in his 15-year big league career, playing in three All-Star Games.

4) Major League Baseball moved this July’s All-Star Game out of Atlanta for political reasons, heading off a probable showdown with the Players’ Association had they not done that. No word on where the game will be played now.

3) Third day of baseball season, and two of the three outfielders on my fantasy team left their game with injuries/illness. Awesome.

2) Since start of last season, Chicago White Sox are 15-0 against lefty starting pitchers.

1) Dodgers’ president Andrew Friedman was on TV the other night, and admitted that no one is really sure how the 2021 season is going to play out, as far as pitcher usage goes. Last year was obviously a short season, so pitchers will throw a lot more this year than they did last year, but how much more? No one knows.

[Udog]

25DETROIT -26 TAMPA BAY
DETROIT is 6-41 ATS (-30.4 Units) in road games against mistake free teams - opponents average <=4 power plays/game over the last 2 seasons.

27WASHINGTON -28 NEW JERSEY
WASHINGTON is 12-1 ATS (11.1 Units) against poor defensive teams - opponents average 29.5+ shots on goal in the current season.

29COLUMBUS -30 FLORIDA
COLUMBUS are 2-9 ATS (-9.1 Units) in road games against horrible power play killing teams-opp score on >19% of chances in the current season.

31DALLAS -32 CAROLINA
DALLAS are 4-18 ATS (-17.7 Units) against good offensive teams - >=29 shots on goal, convert >=17% pp in the current season.

35TORONTO -36 CALGARY
TORONTO is 7-0 ATS (7 Units) in road games after 2 or more consecutive unders in the current season.

37ARIZONA -38 ANAHEIM
ANAHEIM is 5-18 ATS (-13.2 Units) against poor defensive teams - opponents average 29.5+ shots on goal in the current season.

[Udog]

NHL

Sunday, April 4

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Trend Report
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Detroit @ Tampa Bay
Detroit
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Detroit's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Detroit's last 8 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Detroit
Tampa Bay is 20-2 SU in its last 22 games when playing Detroit

Washington @ New Jersey
Washington
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing New Jersey
Washington is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against New Jersey
New Jersey
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New Jersey's last 5 games at home
New Jersey is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games

Columbus @ Florida
Columbus
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Columbus's last 7 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Columbus's last 6 games when playing on the road against Florida
Florida
Florida is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Florida is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home

Dallas @ Carolina
Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Dallas's last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games when playing on the road against Carolina
Carolina
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Carolina's last 5 games when playing at home against Dallas
Carolina is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Dallas

Arizona @ Anaheim
Arizona
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Arizona's last 7 games
Arizona is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Anaheim
Anaheim
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Anaheim's last 5 games when playing Arizona
Anaheim is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Arizona

Toronto @ Calgary
Toronto
Toronto is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Toronto's last 6 games
Calgary
Calgary is 7-1 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Calgary's last 7 games when playing Toronto


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[Udog]

NHL
Dunkel

Sunday, April 4