Announcement

**Udog** · 03-14-2021, 10:04 AM

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will be at peace.

**Udog** · 03-14-2021, 10:04 AM

Armadillo: Sunday's six-pack

— Georgetown 73, Creighton 48— #8-seed Hoyas win the Big East.
— Texas 91, Oklahoma State 86— Longhorns had lost last six Big X title games.
— Grand Canyon 74, New Mexico State 56— Bryce Drew’s Antelopes win WAC.
— Iona 60, Fairfield 51— Rick Pitino gets his Gaels into the NCAAs.
— North Texas 61, Western Kentucky 57 OT— Mean Green’s first title since 2010.
— Oregon State 70, Colorado 68— Beavers win Pac-12 tourney for first time.

Americans who have died from COVID-19: 533,868
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.

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Armadillo: Sunday's Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday

13) Last three days have been very excellent; sat around my house in hooded sweatshirts and sweats, watched ball for 14-16 hours a day, ate pizza, took a lot of notes. Life almost seemed normal again.

In most years, this is my favorite week of the year; last year it was a disaster, when everything shut down because of the pandemic. This week, college basketball was everywhere, the way it is supposed to be in March. Filled in the voids with spring training baseball. Good stuff.

Sunday night the brackets come out, something we all missed last year.

Meanwhile, there was other stuff going on besides college basketball:

12) Every summer, HBO does Hard Knocks, a behind-the-scenes look at NFL training camp, usually one team each summer. They do five one-hour shows during the summer; it is fun to learn some things that normally behind-the-scenes. It helps promote the league.

Baseball needs to do this!!! Give HBO access to a team every spring; Lord knows there is enough free time for managers/coaches/players to talk on camera. Let HBO spen six weeks with the Angels so America can learn about Trout, and Ohtani. Next year do the Padres.

Promote the game!!! Young people need to learn how great baseball is; there is so much stuff going on these days, so much competition for the entertainment dollar. Expose baseball to as many people as possible; that would seem like a good business move.

Speaking of which, why do they black out TV broadcasts of games on MLB Network? Let as many people watch games as want to do it— it is STUPID to black games out.

11) Major league baseball now controls the minor leagues; starting this season, they’re going to use the minors as a laboratory for new rules. Different levels will have different experiments:
— All four infielders will have to have both feet on the infield dirt.
— Teams will have to have two infielders on each side of th einfield.
— 0:15 pitch clock, which seems to be a bit much.
— Throws to first base vs baserunners will be limited.
— Robotic ball/strike umpires (I really dislike this one, maybe even hate it)

10) The motivation for all this is that MLB wants more baseballs put in play; less strikeouts and walks, more game action. If there are only two fielders on the right side of the infield, guys can go to the other way more— hard grounders that are pulled are more likely to be hits. Fewer batters will try to hit home runs all the time.

Batting average in the major leagues the last three years:
2018: .248
2019: .252
2020: .245— In 2000, it was .270. Shifts have badly hurt offense; offense makes the game more fun to watch.

9) Worlds colliding: a guy named Frank McCourt used to own the Dodgers- it didn’t go well. He had to sell the team, after he spent too much money in his personal life, and his toxic divorce proceedings pushed the Dodgers into bankruptcy. No bueno.

McCourt now owns a soccer team in France, a team previously owned by a guy who was the CEO of Adidas. When the guy passed away in 2009, his wife inherited the team— she is worth $5.9B, according to Forbes magazine, the richest Russian-born woman in the world. She later sold the soccer team to McCourt.

Anyway, it turns out that the Adidas guy was 2nd-cousins with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine on the Seinfeld TV show. Like I said, worlds colliding.

8) Chicago Cubs hired Jon Sciambi as their new TV play-by-play guy, a huge upgrade over the last guy, who moved to White Sox radio. Sciambi is awesome and will team with former big league pitcher Jim Deshaies. The reason I care about this a decent amount is that I have both Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant on my fantasy team, so I’m going to be watching the Cubs a lot this season.

7) Was watching the Milwaukee Brewers play in the middle of the night this week, the replay of an exhibition game, and got this sick feeling that I get every March when I watch the Brewers.

They’re analytically-driven, which means their front office guys all went to fancy colleges, and they do unusual things with the team, then use their college degrees to defend them when they don’t work. Translation: I will never have another Milwaukee pitcher on my fantasy team.

6) Random sports trivia; Arkansas hoop coach Eric Musselman is the son of the late coach Bill Musselman, who coached the Minnesota Gophers, also in the NBA and in the CBA, with the Albany Patroons, who played three miles from my house. Musselman’s Gophers won the 1972 Big Ten championship, back before there was a conference tournament.

When Bill Musselman was at Minnesota, one of the subs on his team was this guy who was pretty good in another sport, a 6-6 outfielder you may have heard of. Guy named Dave Winfield, a baseball Hall of Famer.

5) Tip of the cap to Nick Markakis, who retired this week after a 15-year career where he hit .288 for the Orioles/Braves, with a career on-base % of .357. Pretty freakin’ good.

Markakis played in 147+ games in 12 of his 15 seasons; he wound up with 2,388 hits. He was on my fantasy team for several years, was a big help— one of the best “abilities” is dependability.

4) NCAA Tournament schedule is a little different this year:
— Play-in games will all be on Thursday.
— First round games are Friday/Saturday
— Second round games are Sunday/Monday
— Second weekend of the tournament will be Saturday-Tuesday.

3) Georgia Tech 80, Florida State 75
— This was only second time EVER (Georgia Tech-Virginia in 1990) that the ACC title game didn’t have a team from North Carolina in it.
— Georgia Tech wins ACC title for first time since 1993.

2) 12-15 years ago, when I used to go to Florida every summer to watch the AAU national tournament at Disney World, I’d venture to different high schools in the Kissimmee area to watch games. When I went back to work the next week, I’d tell people how I spent my vacation, and more than one person gave me an odd look. Go figure.

One day I’m at Poinciana HS watching games, sitting on a cafeteria table, behind one of the baskets and this young coach sits on the other end of the table. I struck up a conversation with him and picked his brain for a couple hours, learned a lot. Probably asked too many questions, but learned a lot.

Maybe 4-5 years ago, I’m at Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas watching games, and once again I’m sitting next to the same guy, and we had another good conversation. Now I’m a nobody, he had no reason to be nice to me, or answer my numerous questions, but he did.

Josh Pastner is a hell of a nice guy; was so happy to see him win this game and win the ACC title. He was a sub as a player on great Arizona teams under Lute Olson and now has been a head coach for 12 years, seven at Memphis, five at Georgia Tech. Congrats coach!!!

1) Since AFL-NFL merger, most starts for a QB-coach combo without making playoffs:
85— Jim Zorn/Jack Patera, (expansion Seahawks)
59— David Carr/Dom Capers (expansion Texans)
52— Ryan Tannehill/Joe Philbin (Dolphins)
48— Derek Carr/Jon Gruden (Raiders)

**Udog** · 03-14-2021, 10:05 AM

55ARIZONA -56 MINNESOTA
ARIZONA is 12-5 ATS (9 Units) when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 75%) in the first half of the season over the last 2 seasons.

57CAROLINA -58 DETROIT
DETROIT is 6-37 ATS (-34.7 Units) after allowing 4 goals or more 2 straight games in the last 3 seasons.

59NY ISLANDERS -60 NEW JERSEY
NY ISLANDERS are 9-0 ATS (9 Units) when playing against a bad team (Win Pct. 25% to 40%) in the current season.

61DALLAS -62 COLUMBUS
DALLAS are 99-59 ATS (34.1 Units) off a road loss against a division rival since 1996.

63TORONTO -64 OTTAWA
OTTAWA is 9-2 ATS (6.8 Units) in home games after playing 2 consecutive road games over the last 2 seasons.

63TORONTO -64 OTTAWA
DJ Smith is 9-2 ATS (6.8 Units) in home games after playing 2 consecutive road games (Coach of OTTAWA)

65LOS ANGELES -66 COLORADO
LOS ANGELES are 35-30 ATS (2 Units) revenging a same season loss vs opponent in the last 3 seasons.

**Udog** · 03-14-2021, 10:08 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Sunday, March 14

**Udog** · 03-14-2021, 10:09 AM

NHL
Long Sheet

Sunday, March 14

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ARIZONA (12-11-0-4, 28 pts.) at MINNESOTA (16-8-0-1, 33 pts.) - 3/14/2021, 2:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
ARIZONA is 17-32 ATS (+51.7 Units) after a division game over the last 2 seasons.
ARIZONA is 7-2 ATS (+9.1 Units) after allowing 4 goals or more this season.
ARIZONA is 16-11 ATS (+32.5 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a winning record in the first half of the season over the last 3 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 93-103 ATS (-50.6 Units) in home games after a win by 2 goals or more since 1996.
MINNESOTA is 12-19 ATS (-12.2 Units) in home games after scoring 4 goals or more in their previous game over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
MINNESOTA is 6-3 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus ARIZONA over the last 3 seasons
MINNESOTA is 6-3-0 straight up against ARIZONA over the last 3 seasons
5 of 9 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.1 Units)

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CAROLINA (19-6-0-1, 39 pts.) at DETROIT (8-16-0-4, 20 pts.) - 3/14/2021, 5:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
CAROLINA is 19-7 ATS (+8.7 Units) in all games this season.
CAROLINA is 19-7 ATS (+8.7 Units) vs. division opponents this season.
CAROLINA is 18-7 ATS (+7.9 Units) after a division game this season.
DETROIT is 25-74 ATS (-96.2 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
DETROIT is 210-199 ATS (-179.7 Units) when playing with 2 days rest since 1996.
DETROIT is 334-328 ATS (-209.0 Units) vs. division opponents since 1996.
DETROIT is 18-59 ATS (+121.1 Units) after a division game over the last 3 seasons.
DETROIT is 7-44 ATS (+84.8 Units) after allowing 4 goals or more over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 3-6 (+0.1 Units) against the spread versus CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
CAROLINA is 6-3-0 straight up against DETROIT over the last 3 seasons
5 of 9 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+0.7 Units)

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NY ISLANDERS (18-6-0-4, 40 pts.) at NEW JERSEY (8-13-0-3, 19 pts.) - 3/14/2021, 5:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
NEW JERSEY is 19-16 ATS (+41.4 Units) after 3 or more consecutive losses over the last 3 seasons.
NY ISLANDERS are 118-90 ATS (+16.1 Units) in all games over the last 3 seasons.
NY ISLANDERS are 21-6 ATS (+14.2 Units) when playing on back-to-back days over the last 3 seasons.
NY ISLANDERS are 59-39 ATS (+15.0 Units) vs. division opponents over the last 3 seasons.
NY ISLANDERS are 25-11 ATS (+11.9 Units) after a 3 game unbeaten streak over the last 3 seasons.
NEW JERSEY is 2-11 ATS (+16.9 Units) in home games vs. division opponents this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
NY ISLANDERS is 9-2 (+5.7 Units) against the spread versus NEW JERSEY over the last 3 seasons
NY ISLANDERS is 9-2-0 straight up against NEW JERSEY over the last 3 seasons
8 of 11 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+4.5 Units)

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DALLAS (8-8-0-6, 22 pts.) at COLUMBUS (11-12-0-6, 28 pts.) - 3/14/2021, 5:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
DALLAS is 8-14 ATS (-9.3 Units) in all games this season.
DALLAS is 8-14 ATS (-9.3 Units) vs. division opponents this season.
DALLAS is 7-14 ATS (-10.4 Units) after a division game this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
COLUMBUS is 6-2 (+4.4 Units) against the spread versus DALLAS over the last 3 seasons
COLUMBUS is 6-2-0 straight up against DALLAS over the last 3 seasons
5 of 8 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+1.6 Units)

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TORONTO (19-8-0-2, 40 pts.) at OTTAWA (9-20-0-1, 19 pts.) - 3/14/2021, 7:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
TORONTO is 5-12 ATS (-13.9 Units) when playing on back-to-back days over the last 2 seasons.
TORONTO is 7-14 ATS (-14.1 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 2 seasons.
OTTAWA is 10-3 ATS (+14.3 Units) in home games after playing 3 consecutive road games over the last 3 seasons.
OTTAWA is 133-127 ATS (-21.2 Units) in a home game where the total is 6 or more since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
OTTAWA is 5-7 (+3.8 Units) against the spread versus TORONTO over the last 3 seasons
TORONTO is 7-5-0 straight up against OTTAWA over the last 3 seasons
7 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.6 Units)

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LOS ANGELES (11-9-0-6, 28 pts.) at COLORADO (15-8-0-2, 32 pts.) - 3/14/2021, 5:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
COLORADO is 3-7 ATS (-9.2 Units) in home games after 3 or more consecutive unders over the last 2 seasons.
COLORADO is 11-14 ATS (-17.8 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a losing record in the first half of the season over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
LOS ANGELES is 4-5 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus COLORADO over the last 3 seasons
COLORADO is 5-4-0 straight up against LOS ANGELES over the last 3 seasons
6 of 9 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+2.8 Units)

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**Udog** · 03-14-2021, 10:11 AM

NHL

Sunday, March 14

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Trend Report
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Arizona @ Minnesota
Arizona
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Arizona's last 6 games on the road
Arizona is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Arizona

Carolina @ Detroit
Carolina
Carolina is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Carolina is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Detroit
Detroit
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Detroit's last 7 games
Detroit is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home

NY Islanders @ New Jersey
NY Islanders
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of NY Islanders's last 5 games on the road
NY Islanders is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
New Jersey
New Jersey is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against NY Islanders
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New Jersey's last 5 games when playing at home against NY Islanders

Dallas @ Columbus
Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games
Columbus
Columbus is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Dallas
Columbus is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games when playing Dallas

Los Angeles @ Colorado
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Colorado
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 6 games when playing Colorado
Colorado
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Colorado's last 6 games when playing Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Colorado's last 6 games

Toronto @ Ottawa
Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Toronto's last 5 games on the road
Toronto is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing at home against Toronto
Ottawa is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home

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Announcement

Sunday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 3/14

Sunday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 3/14

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