Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack
Conference championship games this weekend..........
-- MAC-- Bowling Green (-11.5) vs Northern Illinois
-- C-USA-- Western Kentucky (-7) vs Southern Mississippi
-- AAC-- Houston (-6) vs Temple
-- Pac-12-- Stanford (-4.5) vs USC
-- SEC-- Alabama (-17.5) vs Florida
-- MW-- San Diego State (-3.5) vs Air Force
-- ACC-- Clemson (-5.5) vs North Carolina
-- Big 14-- Michigan State (-3.5) vs Iowa
**********
Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud......
13) First of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people in San Bernadino after yesterday's killings at a county office complex. It is just very sad; I'm not going to go on a rant here about guns or anything, but stuff like this needs to stop.
12) It is interesting how CNN brings in experts in to talk about these situations as cameras from helicopters show police activity. Former CIA people, police offficers, military experts- they all speculate on a fluid situation-- live TV is very interesting.
On to more pleasant subjects........
11) There is an interesting article in ESPN the Magazine on agent Jimmy Sexton, who is one of the major power brokers in college football- he represents fifty college coaches, and NFL players like Philip Rivers and Julio Jones.
Put it this way: last week, Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, USC-UCLA all played rivalry games. Sexton represents the head coach from all six of those schools.
10) David Price got $31M a year from the Red Sox; he's a damn good pitcher, but his 0-7, 5.27 career postseason record has to raise eyebrows. He is also 30 years old, so he will be 37 when his contract runs out. Lot of $$$ to commit to one player.
Price is 104-56, 3.09 in 213 career regular season starts; he was 18-5, 2.45 in 2015.
9) Miami Marlins are really going to hire Barry Bonds as a hitting coach? Does that mean he has to talk to the media? Don Mattingly as a manager, Bonds as hitting coach would put a lot of hitting expertise in Miami's dugout.
Mark McGwire is going to be the Padres' bench coach; interesting times we live in.
8) Mark Richt is the new football coach at Miami, his alma mater, where he backed up Jim Kelly in the early 80's. Richt is highly regarded as a person, averaged 9.6 wins a year at Georgia. I am very, very curious what Michael Irvin says about this hire.
7) Interesting development: Ivy League is considering having a postseason hoop tournament, starting in 2016-17. Guess they've finally seen the light that getting the whole league together for a weekend would be a money maker, plus it would give the league's basketball programs some national publicity. Right now, Ivy League is the only Division I league that doesn't have a postseason tournament.
6) 76ers suspended Jahlil Okafor for two games; they can't do anything right. This is why teams do exhaustive research on draft prospects and still, problems pop up and screw things up. I mean, the season is five weeks old and he's already had incidents involving the police three times. No bueno.
Meanwhile, Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis says the 76ers never worked him out before the draft. Seriously? The NBA should make these idiots sell the team, or hire a new GM, at the least. The guy running things now is an imbecile.
5) San Diego State-San Diego are playing basketball outdoors at Petco Park Sunday, just before the Chargers play Denver at Qualcomm. Interesting concept; Toreros have a new coach, Aztecs are offensively challenged. Big sports day in San Diego.
4) ESPN's Dan Dakich last night said that he's always thought Rick Pitino is the best coach in the country at player development. Interesting comment coming from a guy who both played and coached at Indiana.
3) Basketball scheduling note: Duke doesn't play a true road game until their ACC slate starts January 2 at Boston College. Until then, Blue Devils play nine home tilts, only one of which (vs Indiana, ACC-Big 14 challenge) is against a team in top 100.
They're also playing four neutral court games, all in New York City, all against top 50 opponents, all on national TV. Interesting how different teams schedule.
2) Central Florida signed Oregon OC Scott Frost as its new coach; UCF is a really big school, a sleeping giant athletically. Frost played at both Nebraska/Stanford, then played in NFL for six years with four different teams.
1) Michigan State 71, Louisville 67-- Funny how the new rule, really going back to an old rule, how coaches can't call timeouts while the clock is running, has created a few problems early on-- players haven't adjusted to calling timeouts yet.
Wisconsin 66, Syracuse 58, OT-- Jim Calhoun is worth listening to on TV; he talks lot slower than he did when he was coaching, he obviously knows a ton and gives out good basic basketball knowledge.
I have to look this up; teams that win these Thanksgiving tournaments at fun places tend to let down in their first game back on campus. Something I sense, have to find out for sure. There are peaks and valleys to every season.
Butler 78, Cincinnati 76-- You have to be damn good to score 78 on Cincy.
Conference championship games this weekend..........
-- MAC-- Bowling Green (-11.5) vs Northern Illinois
-- C-USA-- Western Kentucky (-7) vs Southern Mississippi
-- AAC-- Houston (-6) vs Temple
-- Pac-12-- Stanford (-4.5) vs USC
-- SEC-- Alabama (-17.5) vs Florida
-- MW-- San Diego State (-3.5) vs Air Force
-- ACC-- Clemson (-5.5) vs North Carolina
-- Big 14-- Michigan State (-3.5) vs Iowa
**********
Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud......
13) First of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people in San Bernadino after yesterday's killings at a county office complex. It is just very sad; I'm not going to go on a rant here about guns or anything, but stuff like this needs to stop.
12) It is interesting how CNN brings in experts in to talk about these situations as cameras from helicopters show police activity. Former CIA people, police offficers, military experts- they all speculate on a fluid situation-- live TV is very interesting.
On to more pleasant subjects........
11) There is an interesting article in ESPN the Magazine on agent Jimmy Sexton, who is one of the major power brokers in college football- he represents fifty college coaches, and NFL players like Philip Rivers and Julio Jones.
Put it this way: last week, Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, USC-UCLA all played rivalry games. Sexton represents the head coach from all six of those schools.
10) David Price got $31M a year from the Red Sox; he's a damn good pitcher, but his 0-7, 5.27 career postseason record has to raise eyebrows. He is also 30 years old, so he will be 37 when his contract runs out. Lot of $$$ to commit to one player.
Price is 104-56, 3.09 in 213 career regular season starts; he was 18-5, 2.45 in 2015.
9) Miami Marlins are really going to hire Barry Bonds as a hitting coach? Does that mean he has to talk to the media? Don Mattingly as a manager, Bonds as hitting coach would put a lot of hitting expertise in Miami's dugout.
Mark McGwire is going to be the Padres' bench coach; interesting times we live in.
8) Mark Richt is the new football coach at Miami, his alma mater, where he backed up Jim Kelly in the early 80's. Richt is highly regarded as a person, averaged 9.6 wins a year at Georgia. I am very, very curious what Michael Irvin says about this hire.
7) Interesting development: Ivy League is considering having a postseason hoop tournament, starting in 2016-17. Guess they've finally seen the light that getting the whole league together for a weekend would be a money maker, plus it would give the league's basketball programs some national publicity. Right now, Ivy League is the only Division I league that doesn't have a postseason tournament.
6) 76ers suspended Jahlil Okafor for two games; they can't do anything right. This is why teams do exhaustive research on draft prospects and still, problems pop up and screw things up. I mean, the season is five weeks old and he's already had incidents involving the police three times. No bueno.
Meanwhile, Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis says the 76ers never worked him out before the draft. Seriously? The NBA should make these idiots sell the team, or hire a new GM, at the least. The guy running things now is an imbecile.
5) San Diego State-San Diego are playing basketball outdoors at Petco Park Sunday, just before the Chargers play Denver at Qualcomm. Interesting concept; Toreros have a new coach, Aztecs are offensively challenged. Big sports day in San Diego.
4) ESPN's Dan Dakich last night said that he's always thought Rick Pitino is the best coach in the country at player development. Interesting comment coming from a guy who both played and coached at Indiana.
3) Basketball scheduling note: Duke doesn't play a true road game until their ACC slate starts January 2 at Boston College. Until then, Blue Devils play nine home tilts, only one of which (vs Indiana, ACC-Big 14 challenge) is against a team in top 100.
They're also playing four neutral court games, all in New York City, all against top 50 opponents, all on national TV. Interesting how different teams schedule.
2) Central Florida signed Oregon OC Scott Frost as its new coach; UCF is a really big school, a sleeping giant athletically. Frost played at both Nebraska/Stanford, then played in NFL for six years with four different teams.
1) Michigan State 71, Louisville 67-- Funny how the new rule, really going back to an old rule, how coaches can't call timeouts while the clock is running, has created a few problems early on-- players haven't adjusted to calling timeouts yet.
Wisconsin 66, Syracuse 58, OT-- Jim Calhoun is worth listening to on TV; he talks lot slower than he did when he was coaching, he obviously knows a ton and gives out good basic basketball knowledge.
I have to look this up; teams that win these Thanksgiving tournaments at fun places tend to let down in their first game back on campus. Something I sense, have to find out for sure. There are peaks and valleys to every season.
Butler 78, Cincinnati 76-- You have to be damn good to score 78 on Cincy.
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