Announcement

**Udog** · 10-14-2016, 08:32 AM

Armadillo: Friday's six-pack

— Dodgers 4, Nationals 3– Kershaw got last two outs to close game out, two days after he threw 110 pitches in Game 4. Thats why you pay the guy $31M a year. Break for Cubs, who won’t see Kershaw until Game 3 now.

— Florida visits LSU November 19 in a makeup game; Bayou Bengals go to Gainesville in both 2017 and 2018.

— In his great career, WR Larry Fitzgerald has caught TD passes from 13 different Cardinal QB’s.

— Since August 2014, half the 30 major league teams have hired a new chief baseball executive. Lot of impatient owners out there.

— Thru five weeks in the NFL, no kickoffs have been run back for a TD; last time that happened was 1979.

— Open Court on NBA TV has some good discussions with both NBA coaches/GMs that were filmed in Las Vegas this summer. Good stuff.

— Big Sky conference has 12 hoop teams; 8 of the 12 teams have either 4 or 5 starters back from LY. Will that make it harder to win on the road?

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Armadillo: Friday's List of 13: Things I’m looking for this weekend

13) Cam Newton should be back at QB for the 1-4 Panthers, who visit the Superdome this week. Saints allowed 34+ points in three of their four games, had their bye last week, while Carolina is traveling on short week after the Monday night loss to Tampa Bay.

12) Tennessee Vols have had a brutal schedule: Florida-Georgia-A&M the last three weeks, now Alabama on the third Saturday in October. Vols have been gritty and resilient- beating Bama is a tall order, even in Neyland Stadium. One thing in Tennessee’s favor; Crimson Tide has only played one close game- if this one is close, the Volunteers are in familiar territory.

11) Who will have more fans in Miami Sunday, the Steelers or Dolphins? Pittsburgh fans are usually everywhere, but Steelers are just 12-21-1 as road favorites the last nine years. Miami scored total of 24 points in losing its last two games. Steelers are 4-0 if they allow 16 or less points.

10) Ole Miss QB Kelly got in a fight at his brother’s high school game during his bye week; I’m sure the Ole Miss coaches were thrilled to hear that. Rebels lost 53-52 in OT to Arkansas LY; this figures to be a high scoring, fun game to watch.

9) Colin Kaepernick starting for the 49ers means that thru six weeks, 8 of 32 (25%) NFL teams have started at least two QB’s this season. Will it helps the 49ers? Kaepernick is more mobile, throws a better deep ball— he is 29-20 as an NFL QB, Gabbert 9-31, but Gabbert was also on a terrible Jaguars team.

8) North Carolina beat Miami 59-21 LY; what is the over/under on the number of times Miami coaches brought that up this week? Problem is, Miami had their rivalry game with Florida State last week and it is tough to get really fired up two weeks in a row.

7) League championship series get underway in baseball, but first, I have a question.

Cubs pinch-hit for Addison Russell in Game 4 against the Giants. When was the last time a guy with 95+ RBI during the regular season got pinch-hit for in a big spot in a playoff game?

6) Northwestern covered its last six visits to Michigan State; now they’re visiting a Spartan squad that lost three games in row for first time in seven years.

5) Eagles-Redskins is an intriguing game. Wentz played well in Eagles’ loss LW, but they did lose, after entering their bye week 3-0. Redskins have won three games in row and pass the Eagles in the standings with a win here.

4) Total in the West Virginia-Texas Tech game is 83; kickoff is noon ET, which is 11am in Lubbock, more stupid scheduling for TV purposes.

3) Oakland is 4-1, with three wins by 3 or less points. Chiefs have been dismal on road so far, but Andy Reid is 11-4 vs spread coming off a bye. Big rivalry game in the Coliseum, with the Raiders fired up for their first playoff spot since 2002.

2) Texas-San Antonio won as a 17-point home underdog LW; now they’re a 3-point road favorite at Rice this week, a historic soft spot for the favorite. Rice is 0-5, allowing 40.2 pts/game, so they’re impossible to back, but this will be an interesting result.

1) St Louis Cardinals drafted Joe Namath in the 1965 NFL Draft; Jets drafted him in the AFL Draft. How would the football world have changed if Namath had played for the Redbirds? Arizona had extra time to prep after playing on Thursday last week; they’re hoping get QB Palmer (concussion) back this week.

**Udog** · 10-14-2016, 08:36 AM

Moore, Lynx even WNBA Finals at 1-1

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Maya Moore had 21 points and 12 rebounds to help the Minnesota Lynx even the WNBA Finals at one game apiece with a 79-60 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Sylvia Fowles had 13 points and 15 boards and Minnesota held Los Angeles to 32.9 percent shooting to bounce back from a last-second loss in Game 1. Seimone Augustus scored 14 points and Minnesota dominated on the glass, 46-32, to pull away.

Nneka Ogwumike had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Sparks, who head back home for the next two games in the best-of-five series. Candace Parker was quiet with six points on 3-for-12 shooting.

The Lynx are trying to become the first back-to-back champions in the league since the Sparks repeated in 2002. A win in this series would also give Minnesota its fourth championship, which would tie the Lynx with the Houston Comets for most in league history.

Last year the Lynx lost Game 1 at Target Center to the Indiana Fever, but rebounded to win that series in five games. But they know they face an even more capable challenger this year with the star-studded Sparks.

Neither team led by more than five points during an air-tight Game 1 that Los Angeles won at the buzzer on a jumper from Alana Beard. The first 16 minutes of Game 2 were just as competitive, but Moore and the Lynx seized control in the final four minutes of the second quarter.

After going scoreless in the first half of Game 1, Moore got rolling during a 17-3 blitz to close the period. She hit two 3-pointers and a layup, then picked Parker's pocket and heaved a three-quarter length outlet to a streaking Lindsay Whalen for a three-point play and a 37-25 lead.

Moore had 12 points in the first half and the Lynx took much better care of the ball after coughing it up 11 times in the first half of Game 1.

The Sparks made things interesting with a 14-0 run in the third quarter that made the score 44-41, but Augustus and Moore took over in the fourth to turn back the charge.

Ogwumike, the league MVP, scored just two points in the final period and the Sparks were 3 for 20 on 3-pointers for the game.

RECORD RATING: The WNBA instituted a new playoff format this year that seeded teams based on record, not geography. It resulted in the two best teams during the regular season meeting in the finals despite both playing in the Western Conference. Game 1 drew an average audience of 597,000, the most-watched Game 1 ever on ABC, the network announced on Tuesday. It peaked with 693,000 viewers and was the most-watched Game 1 since 1998 broadcast across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

UP NEXT: Game 3 is Friday in Los Angeles.

**Udog** · 10-14-2016, 08:39 AM

WNBA
Dunkel

Friday, October 14

Minnesota @ Los Angeles

Game 651-652
October 14, 2016 @ 9:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Minnesota
118.201
Los Angeles
121.521
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Los Angeles
by 3 1/2
152
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Los Angeles
by 1 1/2
157
Dunkel Pick:
Los Angeles
(-1 1/2); Under

WNBA
Long Sheet

Friday, October 14

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MINNESOTA (32 - 7) at LOS ANGELES (30 - 10) - 10/14/2016, 9:00 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
MINNESOTA is 9-7 against the spread versus LOS ANGELES over the last 3 seasons
MINNESOTA is 11-5 straight up against LOS ANGELES over the last 3 seasons
11 of 16 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WNBA

Friday, October 14

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Trend Report
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9:00 PM
MINNESOTA vs. LOS ANGELES
Minnesota is 8-17 SU in its last 25 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
Minnesota is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
Los Angeles is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against Minnesota
Los Angeles is 17-8 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against Minnesota

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Announcement

Friday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 10/14

Friday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 10/14

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