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Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack
— Atlantic Sun tourney started Champ Week last night: both top seeds won easily. Only upset was a slight one, #5-seed Kennesaw State won at SC-Upstate.
— Virginia 53, North Carolina 43— Tar Heels are an ordinary 5-4 on ACC road.
— Baylor’s Jake Lindsey (#3) is the son of Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey.
— Texas released PG Tevin Mack, who had been suspended; curious to see where he surfaces. Longhorns are 3-10 since Mack was suspended.
— Mississippi State gave football coach Dan Mullen a 4-year extension thru 2021. Guy makes $4.5M a year; I was stunned by that.
— 16 Miami Dolphins are in NYC this week, taking part in Miami owner Stephen Ross’ Business Combine that should help players manage and increase their wealth better.
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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but…….
13) Can be difficult to evaluate pitchers in spring training; take Sunday, when Daniel Gossett looked good pitching against the Angels. Gossett is a prospect, but……
Normally when you face the Angels, you’ll face Calhoun-Trout-Pujols-Maybin in the first two innings. Sunday, Halos’ #3 hitter was Cliff Pennington, not exactly their “A” lineup, so you have to take Gossett’s performance with a grain of salt.
12) I’m a big fan of the Showtime program Billions; turns out that two of the three co-writers on the show also worked together writing Rounders and Oceans 13, two excellent movies.
11) With closer Jeurys Familia due to be suspended (domestic violence) at the start of the season, Addison Reed will be the Mets closer on April 3 and for several weeks after.
10) Toronto Raptors lose G Kyle Lowry (wrist) for the rest of the regular season; they hope to have him back for the playoffs.
9) These stats are from Justin Ray of Golf Channel: Average age of PGA Tour winners this season is 28.7 years old.
From 2000-13, average age of winners on Tour was 33.4 years old. In 2014-15, it was 30.4.
8) Reese Maguire is a minor league catcher in the Blue Jays’ system; think catching is in his genes? His dad caught, his grandfather was a catcher for Duke in the College World Series.
In 1952.
7) Random food fact: I’ve never had Italian ice or a snow cone. Or coffee.
6) NFL Combine is this week, so we’ll see lot of 40-yard dashes and agility drills and no one will remind us that Tom Brady had an awful Combine workout and is one of the best QB’s of all time.
Game film means more than workouts, though I’m guessing the interviews teams do with prospects are REALLY helpful. Like the time Geno Smith fiddled with his cellphone during his interviews. Never should’ve been drafted high after that.
5) San Diego Padres have used 84 players the last two years. Thats a lot.
Seattle Mariners made 37 roster moves between the end of last season and the start of spring training; GM Jerry DiPoto has totally cleaned house, building a new team around his nucleus of Robinson Cano/Felix Hernandez/Hector Cruz
4) Saturday in Las Vegas, an astute gambler played $7 on a 10-team college hoop parlay and it hit, making him $5,040 (720-1 odds). He played four totals and six sides.
3) Texas Rangers are 28-10 against the Astros the last two years, with 13 one-run wins. If the Astros can just go 10-9 against Texas this year, thats a 5-game swing in the AL West race.
2) Only three big leaguers played 162 games last year: Alcides Escobar, Jonathan Schoop and George Springer.
1— Steelers signed WR Antonio Brown to a $17M a year deal, making him the highest-paid WR in the NFL. Maybe next year he can actually listen to his coach’s post-game speeches instead of playing them on Facebook Live.
Brown’s father is Eddie Brown, known here in Albany as Touchdown Eddie Brown, a great player in the Arena League. Eddie Brown once scored nine TD’s in a Firebirds game; he was great fun to watch. Hard to believe it has been 18 years since they won the Arena Bowl.
— Atlantic Sun tourney started Champ Week last night: both top seeds won easily. Only upset was a slight one, #5-seed Kennesaw State won at SC-Upstate.
— Virginia 53, North Carolina 43— Tar Heels are an ordinary 5-4 on ACC road.
— Baylor’s Jake Lindsey (#3) is the son of Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey.
— Texas released PG Tevin Mack, who had been suspended; curious to see where he surfaces. Longhorns are 3-10 since Mack was suspended.
— Mississippi State gave football coach Dan Mullen a 4-year extension thru 2021. Guy makes $4.5M a year; I was stunned by that.
— 16 Miami Dolphins are in NYC this week, taking part in Miami owner Stephen Ross’ Business Combine that should help players manage and increase their wealth better.
**********
Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but…….
13) Can be difficult to evaluate pitchers in spring training; take Sunday, when Daniel Gossett looked good pitching against the Angels. Gossett is a prospect, but……
Normally when you face the Angels, you’ll face Calhoun-Trout-Pujols-Maybin in the first two innings. Sunday, Halos’ #3 hitter was Cliff Pennington, not exactly their “A” lineup, so you have to take Gossett’s performance with a grain of salt.
12) I’m a big fan of the Showtime program Billions; turns out that two of the three co-writers on the show also worked together writing Rounders and Oceans 13, two excellent movies.
11) With closer Jeurys Familia due to be suspended (domestic violence) at the start of the season, Addison Reed will be the Mets closer on April 3 and for several weeks after.
10) Toronto Raptors lose G Kyle Lowry (wrist) for the rest of the regular season; they hope to have him back for the playoffs.
9) These stats are from Justin Ray of Golf Channel: Average age of PGA Tour winners this season is 28.7 years old.
From 2000-13, average age of winners on Tour was 33.4 years old. In 2014-15, it was 30.4.
8) Reese Maguire is a minor league catcher in the Blue Jays’ system; think catching is in his genes? His dad caught, his grandfather was a catcher for Duke in the College World Series.
In 1952.
7) Random food fact: I’ve never had Italian ice or a snow cone. Or coffee.
6) NFL Combine is this week, so we’ll see lot of 40-yard dashes and agility drills and no one will remind us that Tom Brady had an awful Combine workout and is one of the best QB’s of all time.
Game film means more than workouts, though I’m guessing the interviews teams do with prospects are REALLY helpful. Like the time Geno Smith fiddled with his cellphone during his interviews. Never should’ve been drafted high after that.
5) San Diego Padres have used 84 players the last two years. Thats a lot.
Seattle Mariners made 37 roster moves between the end of last season and the start of spring training; GM Jerry DiPoto has totally cleaned house, building a new team around his nucleus of Robinson Cano/Felix Hernandez/Hector Cruz
4) Saturday in Las Vegas, an astute gambler played $7 on a 10-team college hoop parlay and it hit, making him $5,040 (720-1 odds). He played four totals and six sides.
3) Texas Rangers are 28-10 against the Astros the last two years, with 13 one-run wins. If the Astros can just go 10-9 against Texas this year, thats a 5-game swing in the AL West race.
2) Only three big leaguers played 162 games last year: Alcides Escobar, Jonathan Schoop and George Springer.
1— Steelers signed WR Antonio Brown to a $17M a year deal, making him the highest-paid WR in the NFL. Maybe next year he can actually listen to his coach’s post-game speeches instead of playing them on Facebook Live.
Brown’s father is Eddie Brown, known here in Albany as Touchdown Eddie Brown, a great player in the Arena League. Eddie Brown once scored nine TD’s in a Firebirds game; he was great fun to watch. Hard to believe it has been 18 years since they won the Arena Bowl.
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