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Tuesday’s 6-pack
Attendance at spring football games around the country:
86,818: Nebraska
82,184: Georgia
74,732: Alabama
71,000: Penn State
65,098: Tennessee
60,934: Florida State
Quote of the Day
“It was one of those kind of deals that seems small at the time, but every now and then, you hit big on one of them.”
St Louis Cardinals’ GM Michael Girsch, on trading for 1B Jose Martinez
Tuesday’s quiz
What was the nickname of the NHL team that used to play in Quebec City?
Monday’s quiz
Oakland is the only current major league baseball team that shares its stadium with an NFL team.
Sunday’s quiz
Before last night, Dallas Braden was last Oakland A’s pitcher to throw a no-hitter, in 2010.
**************************
Tuesday’s List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……
13) I’m tired of mock drafts, people guessing about what the Browns/Giants are thinking, just want to get to Thursday night and watch the real draft.
The guys who get drafted have to be relieved once they find out where they’ll be playing. Getting interviewed by teams and the media for two consecutive months has to be tiresome.
12) According to Mark Dalton, Senior VP of Media Relations for the Arizona Cardinals, a review of 37 prominent mock drafts from 2017 reveals the average number of first round “hits” (right player to right team) was 4.2/32. Four out of 32. No bueno.
11) Sounds like Browns’ GM John Dorsey isn’t going to tell his coach who the Browns will draft until Wednesday night. Nothing like getting your working relationship off to a fast start.
Next to “dysfunctional” in the dictionary, there must be a picture of a Browns’ helmet.
10) Phillies’ LF Rhys Hoskins had 67 RBI in his first 70 major league games.
9) In 2008, there were 32,884 strikeouts in major league baseball; last year, there were 40,104 strikeouts. Thats a 22% increase in eight years.
Is defense less important now because there are fewer balls put in play?
8) It wasn’t less important in Denver Sunday; Cubs’ CF Albert Almora made two great catches in the first two innings against the Rockies. You need fast outfielders to play at Coors Field, which has a bigger outfield than most places; Almora laid full out running to left-center twice; two great plays.
7) Movie trivia: The 1998 poker movie Rounders is one my favorite movies. In the movie, Matt Damon’s character watches Johnny Chan play poker on TV at the World Series of Poker, and later tells a story of how he beat Chan in one hand playing in Atlantic City.
Turns out when the movie was originally written, Phil Hellmuth was supposed to be in the movie, but someone convinced the movie’s writers that having Chan in the movie instead of Hellmuth would be better casting, so the change was made.
6) This from the website of former NFL executive Phil Savage: Most teams have 100-150 names on their “draftable” board. Some teams allow scouts are allowed to put red stars or black dots next to a prospect’s name, the star to denote a favorite prospect- the dot would have a negative connotation about that player.
5) Teams do last-day, last-minute prep to make sure players to be picked are alive and well.
Savage tells a story of how one time in the Canadian Football League, a team drafted a player who literally died several hours before the draft. Seriously.
4) When baseball teams have giveaway promotions, they generally have the best giveaways on days when the worst teams are in town, so more people will attend those games.
Sounds like the people who run the Bronx Bombers don’t think too much of my Oakland A’s, seeing as how the A’s are in town for Bat Day on May 12.
3) You can actually wager on the NFL Draft: over/under on number of Alabama players in the first round Thursday is 3.5, with over -$130, under +$110.
2) I’ve said this several teams in this space over the years, so one more time won’t hurt: the NCAA should allow kids who leave early for the NBA but don’t get drafted to keep their college eligibility. What would it hurt? Would increase the talent level in the college game.
1) Could you imagine what it would be like if the NFL did their draft like the NHL, with the league’s executives all in one arena for one night?
Attendance at spring football games around the country:
86,818: Nebraska
82,184: Georgia
74,732: Alabama
71,000: Penn State
65,098: Tennessee
60,934: Florida State
Quote of the Day
“It was one of those kind of deals that seems small at the time, but every now and then, you hit big on one of them.”
St Louis Cardinals’ GM Michael Girsch, on trading for 1B Jose Martinez
Tuesday’s quiz
What was the nickname of the NHL team that used to play in Quebec City?
Monday’s quiz
Oakland is the only current major league baseball team that shares its stadium with an NFL team.
Sunday’s quiz
Before last night, Dallas Braden was last Oakland A’s pitcher to throw a no-hitter, in 2010.
**************************
Tuesday’s List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……
13) I’m tired of mock drafts, people guessing about what the Browns/Giants are thinking, just want to get to Thursday night and watch the real draft.
The guys who get drafted have to be relieved once they find out where they’ll be playing. Getting interviewed by teams and the media for two consecutive months has to be tiresome.
12) According to Mark Dalton, Senior VP of Media Relations for the Arizona Cardinals, a review of 37 prominent mock drafts from 2017 reveals the average number of first round “hits” (right player to right team) was 4.2/32. Four out of 32. No bueno.
11) Sounds like Browns’ GM John Dorsey isn’t going to tell his coach who the Browns will draft until Wednesday night. Nothing like getting your working relationship off to a fast start.
Next to “dysfunctional” in the dictionary, there must be a picture of a Browns’ helmet.
10) Phillies’ LF Rhys Hoskins had 67 RBI in his first 70 major league games.
9) In 2008, there were 32,884 strikeouts in major league baseball; last year, there were 40,104 strikeouts. Thats a 22% increase in eight years.
Is defense less important now because there are fewer balls put in play?
8) It wasn’t less important in Denver Sunday; Cubs’ CF Albert Almora made two great catches in the first two innings against the Rockies. You need fast outfielders to play at Coors Field, which has a bigger outfield than most places; Almora laid full out running to left-center twice; two great plays.
7) Movie trivia: The 1998 poker movie Rounders is one my favorite movies. In the movie, Matt Damon’s character watches Johnny Chan play poker on TV at the World Series of Poker, and later tells a story of how he beat Chan in one hand playing in Atlantic City.
Turns out when the movie was originally written, Phil Hellmuth was supposed to be in the movie, but someone convinced the movie’s writers that having Chan in the movie instead of Hellmuth would be better casting, so the change was made.
6) This from the website of former NFL executive Phil Savage: Most teams have 100-150 names on their “draftable” board. Some teams allow scouts are allowed to put red stars or black dots next to a prospect’s name, the star to denote a favorite prospect- the dot would have a negative connotation about that player.
5) Teams do last-day, last-minute prep to make sure players to be picked are alive and well.
Savage tells a story of how one time in the Canadian Football League, a team drafted a player who literally died several hours before the draft. Seriously.
4) When baseball teams have giveaway promotions, they generally have the best giveaways on days when the worst teams are in town, so more people will attend those games.
Sounds like the people who run the Bronx Bombers don’t think too much of my Oakland A’s, seeing as how the A’s are in town for Bat Day on May 12.
3) You can actually wager on the NFL Draft: over/under on number of Alabama players in the first round Thursday is 3.5, with over -$130, under +$110.
2) I’ve said this several teams in this space over the years, so one more time won’t hurt: the NCAA should allow kids who leave early for the NBA but don’t get drafted to keep their college eligibility. What would it hurt? Would increase the talent level in the college game.
1) Could you imagine what it would be like if the NFL did their draft like the NHL, with the league’s executives all in one arena for one night?
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