Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack
-- Jon Lester pitched 219.2 innings LY and never threw a pickoff throw to first base the entire season. No need to have a good move if no one ever sees it.
-- Atlanta Hawks lost in New Orleans, ending their 19-game winning streak.
-- Cavaliers have won 11 in a row; don't hear anything about them anymore.
-- Toronto Maple Leafs lost their last nine games, scoring a shockingly low seven goals during the losing streak.
-- There are 187 sports book locations in the state of Nevada.
-- Underdogs were 8-0 vs spread in NBA last night; under was 7-1.
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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Random stuff on a frigid night.....
13) We had a foot of snow here in upstate New York the last 36 hours and as I type this is six below zero outside. Awesome. I'm not a big fan of winter.
12) Was Monday the easiest day ever to be a radio talk show host? Sit there, take calls about how dumb the Seahawks were, agree with everything that is said, play some commercials, collect your money and go home. Almost as easy as handing the ball to your best running back when you have the ball on the 1-ya-- oh, forget it.
Maybe critique some of the Super Bowl commercials too, but I'm not a commercial watcher, though I like the Harry Chapin song they played during one commercial.
11) Tigers' DH Victor Martinez was intentionally walked 28 times last year, most ever for a switch hitter. I'm hoping they bat Cespedes behind Victor this year.
10) Someone named Scott Walker is running for President. Apparently he is the governor of Wisconsin-- his Wikipedia page says he went to Marquette but makes no mention of him graduating from there. When was the last time a US President wasn't a college graduate? He had a 2.59 GPA when he left school.
9) Halftime score from Saturday: Temple 28, Tulane 8. Green Wave isn't a bad team either, but long road trips and day games in different time zones lead to bad games. If you score eight points in a half, it is time to roll the balls out and lets the kids run up and down rather than lose scoring less than 50 points.
8) Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins' son is a contributor as a freshman at Michigan; he wears his dad's number 24, but I guess they decided the kid would be better off not playing for his father. He would help Stanford, too.
7) Mets signed Lucas Duda to a $4.2M contract for this year, avoiding arbitration. If you were unsure whether this is a great country, that should clinch it for you.
6) Doc Rivers was complaining a little Monday about his team's current 8-game road trip, which was caused by the Grammys being at Staples Center Sunday night. Kings and Lakers are on long road trips too, but Kings' trip is only four games, the Lakers' only five. People that oiwn Staples own part of the Lakers/Kings, but they don't own any part of the Clippers.
5) Clippers led Brooklyn 96-87 with 1:40 left last night, but lost 102-100; games like this could haunt LA when the playoffs roll around, if they wind up playing a Game 7 on the road somewhere.
4) Nets have good uniforms, but also the simplest: just black-and-white, no third color but they're really nice. Apparently starting in March they're going to be wearing throwback uniforms to honor the old ABA Nets, red, white and blue.
3) Every time I see Chris Paul play, I am reminded of this story:
Paul was tight with his grandfather, who was a big Wake Forest fan, so he was happy when his grandson committed to play for the Deacons, but the grandfather passed away late in Paul's senior season in high school, way too early at age 61.
In Chris Paul's last high school home game, he scored 61 points, then when he was taken out of the game, he collapsed in uncontrollable grief as he walked to the bench. To this day, it is one of the most emotional scenes I've ever seen, anywhere.
2) Jermaine Kearse made one of the greatest catches in NFL history at a huge time in a Super Bowl, but now he is just a footnote in history. Hell, David Tyree wrote a book after his catch in a Super Bowl. Losing team doesn't write many books.
1) Five kids went to the Cal-Davis game Saturday dressed as bananas; they sat in the front row, got on TV a lot and rooted like hell for the Aggies, who rallied late to beat Cal Poly in overtime. Not many NBA fans dress up as bananas; thats one of the big differences between college and pro ball. College fans are more enthuisiastic.
-- Jon Lester pitched 219.2 innings LY and never threw a pickoff throw to first base the entire season. No need to have a good move if no one ever sees it.
-- Atlanta Hawks lost in New Orleans, ending their 19-game winning streak.
-- Cavaliers have won 11 in a row; don't hear anything about them anymore.
-- Toronto Maple Leafs lost their last nine games, scoring a shockingly low seven goals during the losing streak.
-- There are 187 sports book locations in the state of Nevada.
-- Underdogs were 8-0 vs spread in NBA last night; under was 7-1.
**********
Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Random stuff on a frigid night.....
13) We had a foot of snow here in upstate New York the last 36 hours and as I type this is six below zero outside. Awesome. I'm not a big fan of winter.
12) Was Monday the easiest day ever to be a radio talk show host? Sit there, take calls about how dumb the Seahawks were, agree with everything that is said, play some commercials, collect your money and go home. Almost as easy as handing the ball to your best running back when you have the ball on the 1-ya-- oh, forget it.
Maybe critique some of the Super Bowl commercials too, but I'm not a commercial watcher, though I like the Harry Chapin song they played during one commercial.
11) Tigers' DH Victor Martinez was intentionally walked 28 times last year, most ever for a switch hitter. I'm hoping they bat Cespedes behind Victor this year.
10) Someone named Scott Walker is running for President. Apparently he is the governor of Wisconsin-- his Wikipedia page says he went to Marquette but makes no mention of him graduating from there. When was the last time a US President wasn't a college graduate? He had a 2.59 GPA when he left school.
9) Halftime score from Saturday: Temple 28, Tulane 8. Green Wave isn't a bad team either, but long road trips and day games in different time zones lead to bad games. If you score eight points in a half, it is time to roll the balls out and lets the kids run up and down rather than lose scoring less than 50 points.
8) Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins' son is a contributor as a freshman at Michigan; he wears his dad's number 24, but I guess they decided the kid would be better off not playing for his father. He would help Stanford, too.
7) Mets signed Lucas Duda to a $4.2M contract for this year, avoiding arbitration. If you were unsure whether this is a great country, that should clinch it for you.
6) Doc Rivers was complaining a little Monday about his team's current 8-game road trip, which was caused by the Grammys being at Staples Center Sunday night. Kings and Lakers are on long road trips too, but Kings' trip is only four games, the Lakers' only five. People that oiwn Staples own part of the Lakers/Kings, but they don't own any part of the Clippers.
5) Clippers led Brooklyn 96-87 with 1:40 left last night, but lost 102-100; games like this could haunt LA when the playoffs roll around, if they wind up playing a Game 7 on the road somewhere.
4) Nets have good uniforms, but also the simplest: just black-and-white, no third color but they're really nice. Apparently starting in March they're going to be wearing throwback uniforms to honor the old ABA Nets, red, white and blue.
3) Every time I see Chris Paul play, I am reminded of this story:
Paul was tight with his grandfather, who was a big Wake Forest fan, so he was happy when his grandson committed to play for the Deacons, but the grandfather passed away late in Paul's senior season in high school, way too early at age 61.
In Chris Paul's last high school home game, he scored 61 points, then when he was taken out of the game, he collapsed in uncontrollable grief as he walked to the bench. To this day, it is one of the most emotional scenes I've ever seen, anywhere.
2) Jermaine Kearse made one of the greatest catches in NFL history at a huge time in a Super Bowl, but now he is just a footnote in history. Hell, David Tyree wrote a book after his catch in a Super Bowl. Losing team doesn't write many books.
1) Five kids went to the Cal-Davis game Saturday dressed as bananas; they sat in the front row, got on TV a lot and rooted like hell for the Aggies, who rallied late to beat Cal Poly in overtime. Not many NBA fans dress up as bananas; thats one of the big differences between college and pro ball. College fans are more enthuisiastic.
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