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Monday’s six-pack
— Jason Day signed a deal with Nike, reportedly worth $10M a year, just for apparel and shoes. Nike is out of the equipment business. Day uses TaylorMade clubs.
— Richmond 77, George Washington 70— Spiders are 3-0 in Atlantic 14.
— Northwestern 74, Nebraska 66— Will Wildcats make NCAAs for first time?
— Purdue 64, Wisconsin 55— First conference loss of the year for the Badgers.
— Dabo Swinney is the 5th Alabama alum to become Clemson’s football coach.
— Next weekend’s NFL schedule: Saturday: Seahawks-Falcons and Texans-Patriots. Sunday will be Steelers-Chiefs and Packers-Cowboys.
Quote of the Day
“Coach Dykes clearly built up our program — both on the field and in the classroom — and he leaves Cal in a stronger position than when he arrived. For that alone, he deserves credit and our thanks. After our bowl win last season, we showed our commitment to him with a contract extension. But after looking at a number of factors after the end of this season, I felt that we needed a change of direction for the good of our student-athletes and our program.
“We’re not connecting this in any way to on-field performance. I’m very pleased with what Sonny has done with the culture of the football program and with the academic performance of our student-athletes.”
Cal athletic director Mike Williams, on the odd firing of football coach Sonny Dykes
Monday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend
13) Cal Bears fired football coach Sonny Dykes Sunday, a very odd time for this to happen, setting the Interweb on fire with rumors that Chip Kelly will be coming to Berkeley.
Dykes gets roughly $3.5M to take a hike and shouldn’t be out of work for too long, if he doesn’t want to be. He would be an interesting guy to listen to on TV, seeing how his one winning season in his four years at Cal led to Jared Goff being drafted by the Rams.
12) Odd/surprising Fact of the Day: When the undefeated Dolphins beat Pittsburgh in the 1972 AFC title game, they had to do it in Three Rivers Stadium. How does an undefeated team have to go on the road for a conference championship game?????
11) When the Raiders drafted kicker/punter Janikowski/Lechler in the 4th/5th rounds of the 2000 Draft, they twice passed on Tom Brady. Oakland didn’t have a 6th round pick, which is where New England drafted Brady, 30 picks after the Saints took Marc Bulger.
10) Stumbled across an odd movie the other night: “Black and White” which had Robert Downey Jr, Claudia Schiffer and Marla Maples (Donald Trump’s ex-wife) in it. Made in 1999, Mike Tyson is also in the movie, as is former NBA star Allan Houston, who had a fairly big role.
I watched a few minutes of the movie and kept thinking “that guy looks like Allan Houston” until I looked it up and indeed, it was him.
9) On the heels of the Nevada-New Mexico game late Saturday, there was another epic comeback Sunday afternoon: Stony Brook outscored Albany 21-0 over the final 5:55 to win, 72-70. Albany is my alma mater, so this is bad news, but better now than in March.
8) Now that Gregg Williams is the new DC in Cleveland, I wonder if he’ll bring his son Blake along to work for him. Blake Williams was with the Rams with his father but got let go when he was DC during his father’s 1-year suspension- apparently the other coaches couldn’t stand him.
Jeff Fisher’s son Brandon (a DB coach) is expected to follow Williams to Cleveland.
7) Division I basketball teams have a scholarship limit of 13; Nevada has a starter injured and also has four transfers sitting out this year, meaning they only have 8 scholarship players right now, though the transfers can at least practice.
6) OK, I was surprised to learn this weekend that dolphins are actually not fish, they are aquatic mammals. I’m thinking I was much smarter as a teenager than I am now.
5) One of my all-time favorite stories is about Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft going to the Soviet Union on business and meeting Vladimir Putin; at some point, Kraft takes his Super Bowl ring off and shows it to Putin, actually handing it to him.
Putin takes the ring, puts it in his pocket and stalks off, with his henchmen protecting him. Kraft never saw the ring again— ha!!!!
Apparently Kraft appealed to the Obama administration to try and get the ring back, to which they replied, “Let it go.” Somehow, I’m sure he’ll blame that on Roger Goodell, too.
4) Baseball trivia: Padres’ lefty Brad Hand pitched on consecutive days 29 times last year, most of any big league pitcher. To me, the number is more interesting than who did it.
3) Steelers 30, Dolphins 12— Coaching malpractice 101— This game was over long before it actually ended, but Roethlisberger stayed in till the finish and took a big shot with 4:23 left and Steelers up 30-12. He was in a walking boot after the game. Why is he passing with an 18-point lead and 4:23 left???? Brilliant!!!!
2) Packers 38, Giants 13— Coaching malpractice 102— Green Bay is up 14-6 late in third quarter and gets stuffed on consecutive running plays, giving them 4th-and-1 around their own 40. With Vince Lombardi turning over in his grave, they went for it and didn’t make it. Giants scored a TD a few plays later to cut the lead to 14-13. This was really an amateurish decision.
Packers played really well after the Giants’ TD and won going away, but you have to wonder when the most important person in a $1B business makes a decision like that one.
1— Monday is Bart Starr’s 83rd birthday. Winning QB in the first two Super Bowls, he ruined my 8th birthday by beating the Rams in a divisional playoff game. Happy birthday anyway.
— Jason Day signed a deal with Nike, reportedly worth $10M a year, just for apparel and shoes. Nike is out of the equipment business. Day uses TaylorMade clubs.
— Richmond 77, George Washington 70— Spiders are 3-0 in Atlantic 14.
— Northwestern 74, Nebraska 66— Will Wildcats make NCAAs for first time?
— Purdue 64, Wisconsin 55— First conference loss of the year for the Badgers.
— Dabo Swinney is the 5th Alabama alum to become Clemson’s football coach.
— Next weekend’s NFL schedule: Saturday: Seahawks-Falcons and Texans-Patriots. Sunday will be Steelers-Chiefs and Packers-Cowboys.
Quote of the Day
“Coach Dykes clearly built up our program — both on the field and in the classroom — and he leaves Cal in a stronger position than when he arrived. For that alone, he deserves credit and our thanks. After our bowl win last season, we showed our commitment to him with a contract extension. But after looking at a number of factors after the end of this season, I felt that we needed a change of direction for the good of our student-athletes and our program.
“We’re not connecting this in any way to on-field performance. I’m very pleased with what Sonny has done with the culture of the football program and with the academic performance of our student-athletes.”
Cal athletic director Mike Williams, on the odd firing of football coach Sonny Dykes
Monday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend
13) Cal Bears fired football coach Sonny Dykes Sunday, a very odd time for this to happen, setting the Interweb on fire with rumors that Chip Kelly will be coming to Berkeley.
Dykes gets roughly $3.5M to take a hike and shouldn’t be out of work for too long, if he doesn’t want to be. He would be an interesting guy to listen to on TV, seeing how his one winning season in his four years at Cal led to Jared Goff being drafted by the Rams.
12) Odd/surprising Fact of the Day: When the undefeated Dolphins beat Pittsburgh in the 1972 AFC title game, they had to do it in Three Rivers Stadium. How does an undefeated team have to go on the road for a conference championship game?????
11) When the Raiders drafted kicker/punter Janikowski/Lechler in the 4th/5th rounds of the 2000 Draft, they twice passed on Tom Brady. Oakland didn’t have a 6th round pick, which is where New England drafted Brady, 30 picks after the Saints took Marc Bulger.
10) Stumbled across an odd movie the other night: “Black and White” which had Robert Downey Jr, Claudia Schiffer and Marla Maples (Donald Trump’s ex-wife) in it. Made in 1999, Mike Tyson is also in the movie, as is former NBA star Allan Houston, who had a fairly big role.
I watched a few minutes of the movie and kept thinking “that guy looks like Allan Houston” until I looked it up and indeed, it was him.
9) On the heels of the Nevada-New Mexico game late Saturday, there was another epic comeback Sunday afternoon: Stony Brook outscored Albany 21-0 over the final 5:55 to win, 72-70. Albany is my alma mater, so this is bad news, but better now than in March.
8) Now that Gregg Williams is the new DC in Cleveland, I wonder if he’ll bring his son Blake along to work for him. Blake Williams was with the Rams with his father but got let go when he was DC during his father’s 1-year suspension- apparently the other coaches couldn’t stand him.
Jeff Fisher’s son Brandon (a DB coach) is expected to follow Williams to Cleveland.
7) Division I basketball teams have a scholarship limit of 13; Nevada has a starter injured and also has four transfers sitting out this year, meaning they only have 8 scholarship players right now, though the transfers can at least practice.
6) OK, I was surprised to learn this weekend that dolphins are actually not fish, they are aquatic mammals. I’m thinking I was much smarter as a teenager than I am now.
5) One of my all-time favorite stories is about Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft going to the Soviet Union on business and meeting Vladimir Putin; at some point, Kraft takes his Super Bowl ring off and shows it to Putin, actually handing it to him.
Putin takes the ring, puts it in his pocket and stalks off, with his henchmen protecting him. Kraft never saw the ring again— ha!!!!
Apparently Kraft appealed to the Obama administration to try and get the ring back, to which they replied, “Let it go.” Somehow, I’m sure he’ll blame that on Roger Goodell, too.
4) Baseball trivia: Padres’ lefty Brad Hand pitched on consecutive days 29 times last year, most of any big league pitcher. To me, the number is more interesting than who did it.
3) Steelers 30, Dolphins 12— Coaching malpractice 101— This game was over long before it actually ended, but Roethlisberger stayed in till the finish and took a big shot with 4:23 left and Steelers up 30-12. He was in a walking boot after the game. Why is he passing with an 18-point lead and 4:23 left???? Brilliant!!!!
2) Packers 38, Giants 13— Coaching malpractice 102— Green Bay is up 14-6 late in third quarter and gets stuffed on consecutive running plays, giving them 4th-and-1 around their own 40. With Vince Lombardi turning over in his grave, they went for it and didn’t make it. Giants scored a TD a few plays later to cut the lead to 14-13. This was really an amateurish decision.
Packers played really well after the Giants’ TD and won going away, but you have to wonder when the most important person in a $1B business makes a decision like that one.
1— Monday is Bart Starr’s 83rd birthday. Winning QB in the first two Super Bowls, he ruined my 8th birthday by beating the Rams in a divisional playoff game. Happy birthday anyway.
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