Saturday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders, runs scored:
107— Vladimir Guerrero, Tor
105— Freddie Freeman, Atl
104— Bo Bichette, Tor
100— Marcus Semien, Tor
97— Jose Altuve, Hst
96— Mitch Haniger, Sea
Quote of the Day
“I spent a lot of years playing with a lot of those guys. Coming through the right field fence here [the visitor’s entrance], I’d never even set foot on that side of the concourse, so I was lost. I had no clue where I was going. All these cameras were in my face, so I tried to play it off like I knew was I was doing. It’s still so new, sitting in another dugout, in a different uniform and actually facing the guys I played with for so long.”
Kris Bryant, on returning to Wrigley Field Friday
Saturday’s quiz
When the Cubs won the 2016 World Series, who did they beat?
Friday’s quiz
Dak Prescott played his college football at Mississippi State.
Thursday’s quiz
Former Colorado Rockies’ 1B Todd Helton was QB at Tennessee before Peyton Manning.
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Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….
13) NFL needs to get step back from its crackdown on taunting; none of us who watch games give a rat’s ass about players running their mouths. Tell the officials to tune the players out and only penalize players who hit each other illegally.
Week 14, 2017; Eagles @ Rams. Big game. Carson Wentz throws an incomplete pass on third down, Philly is going to try a field goal, but the ref flags the Rams’ DB for taunting, giving the Eagles a first down. Later in that same series, Wentz runs with the ball and tears his ACL. Had that taunting flag not been thrown, Wentz wouldn’t have torn his ACL, Nick Foles wouldn’t have been Super Bowl MVP.
Taunting penalties are way too subjective; sometimes stepping back from a bad decision is the best way to go and this is one of those times.
12) 40 or so years ago, Texas Longhorns had a basketball coach named Abe Lemons who was ahead of his time; his teams played fast (this was before the shot clock era), he was a character, would’ve been a big star on social media today.
One year his team was struggling; Lemons’ weekly TV show opened with the shot of a coffin on the set, with a spotlight on it. The camera focused in on the coffin, with organ music playing in the background.
The door of the coffin opens and there is coach Lemons in suit/tie; he sits up, looks at the camera, smiles and says…….
“We ain’t dead yet!!!”
Like I said, the man was ahead of his time.
12) Dallas Cowboys lost RT La’el Collins for five weeks; there are rumors that Collins didn’t flunk drug tests, he simply neglected to show up for them.
Dallas is expected to get Zack Martin back next week, but now their OL still won’t be 100% until at least Week 7.
11) Thursday night, Cowboys were 4th NFL team EVER to gain 450+ yards, have a +3 or better turnover ratio and yet still lose the game.
10) When Teddy Bridgewater takes the field Sunday, he’ll be the 10th QB to start for Denver since Peyton Manning retired five years ago.
9) Doug Kezirian is hosting Daily Wager on ESPN and he just called Mike McCarthy “an idiot” and roasted him for a couple minutes on national TV. Yikes.
8) Now that my fantasy baseball team has been forcibly removed from the playoffs, I’m scouting guys for next year (it is a dynasty/keeper league).
When I’m scouting a young player, prefer to watch the other team’s TV feed; they’re way more likely to give honest opinions about players on the other team. The home TV network guys always say positive things, even if the guy is playing poorly.
I mean, Keibert Ruiz is hitting freakin’ .107, but the Washington TV guys praise his defense, his eye at the plate if he takes a pitch out of the strike zone. He was a career .301 hitter in the minor leagues, so he figures to hit eventually, but it is OK to criticize a guy until he does.
7) Mets 10, Bronx 3— Bronx is 2-11 since their 13-game winning streak; they’re 2nd team in MLB history to go 2-11 or worse in the 13 games immediately following a single-season win streak of 13+ games (1991 Rangers).
6) Reds 4, Cardinals 2— Joey Votto hit his 30th homer, Reds scored two runs in 9th.
Dodgers 3, Padres 0— San Diego drops into a tie with the Reds for the second Wild Card slot.
5) When Big X snubbing Memphis in its expansion, should the Tigers try to join another league, like the ACC? They’re elite in basketball, halfway decent in football; they’d help some league, and the AAC seems like a conference on a serious decline right now.
4) Sports betting became legal in the state of Washington Thursday; former Sonics’ star Shawn Kemp made one of the first bets.
3) Trevor Bauer’s administrative leave was extended again; he is done for this season, and is likely to be eventually suspended for all of next season, too.
2) Marvin Miller got inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame this week; he made all the players a boatload of money, had a tremendous impact on the business of baseball, not sure he made the game better or worse, but the players sure as hell better appreciate all he did for them.
The guy who gave the speech honoring Miller Wednesday went on longer than he was supposed to; the crowd was restless, was giving him grief, a crowd made up mostly of Bronx Bomber fans. Ungrateful bastards; it was Miller’s work that played a huge part into the advent of free agency and buying players, which is the only reason Bronx regained prominence in the late 70’s- they’ve gone on to outspend teams in smaller markets for decades.
If anyone should’ve given Miller’s legacy a huge ovation, it is New York fans.
1) I’m not saying summer went by fast or anything, but NBA training camps open in less than three weeks.
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SEPTEMBER WNBA Best Bet Record:
Date w-l-t % units record
09/10/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/09/2021........0-2-0...........00.00%.........,-11.00
09/08/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/07/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/06/2021........1-1-0...........50.00%...........-0.50
09/05/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/04/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/02/2021........5-3-0...........62.50%.........+ 8.50
Totals:............17-15-0...........53.12%.........+ 2.50
BEST BETS:
09/10/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%.........-11.50
09/09/2021........0-2-0...........00.00%.........,-11.00
09/08/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/07/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/06/2021........1-1-0...........50.00%...........-0.50
09/05/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/04/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/02/2021........5 - 3 - 0........62.50%........+ 8.50
Totals:............17-15-0...........53.12%.........+ 2.50Leave a comment:
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
Game Time(ET) Pick Units
ATL at WAS 07:00 PM
ATL +5.5
O 156.5
+500 +500
IND at MIN 08:00 PM
IND +11.5
O 158.5
+500 +500Leave a comment:
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WNBA
Friday, September 10
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Trend Report
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Atlanta @ Washington
Atlanta
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Atlanta's last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta's last 5 games when playing on the road against Washington
Washington
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Atlanta
Washington is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing Atlanta
Indiana @ Minnesota
Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games when playing Minnesota
Indiana is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Minnesota is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Indiana
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Friday’s 6-pack
Tampa Bay 31, Dallas 29:
— Prescott was 42-58/403 passing, with three TD’s.
— Cowboys missed a PAT and a 31-yard FG.
— Amari Cooper caught 13 passes for 139 yards, two TD’s.
— Tampa Bay survived minus-3 turnover ratio, 11 penalties for 106 yards.
— Brady was 32-50/379 passing, with four TD’s.
— Bucs scored 24 points in five red zone drives; Dallas 12 points in four.
Quote of the Day
“The longest of journeys begins with a single step.”
Laozi
Friday’s quiz
Where did Dak Prescott play his college football?
Thursday’s quiz
Former Colorado Rockies’ 1B Todd Helton was QB at Tennessee before Peyton Manning.
Thursday’s quiz
In the gambling movie Lay the Favorite, Bruce Willis plays pro gambler Dinky.
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Friday’s Den: Questions with the NFL season starting
13) Buccaneers brought back all 22 starters from LY’s title team; will they be the NFL’s first repeat champs since 2004?
12) Ryan Fitzpatrick is Washington’s QB, the 9th NFL team he has started for. Fitzpatrick has been around so long, his first head coach was Mike Martz, back with the Rams in 2005.
11) For first time since 2005, Saints have a QB who isn’t Drew Brees; how will Sean Payton combine the talents of Jameis Winston/Taysom Hill? Hill was content to back up Brees, one of the all-time greats; Winston is not one of the all-time greats.
10) Urban Meyer as an NFL coach should be interesting; how will he handle losing? If he goes 9-7, they’ll throw him a parade in Jacksonville, but Meyer never went 9-7 in college. He will be playing a rookie QB, which makes things even more interesting.
9) Rams are 43-21 in four seasons under Sean McVay, but they blew things up this winter and traded for QB Matthew Stafford, who played 12 years in Detroit but never won a playoff game (0-3). The trade helped the Rams’ salary cap issues; lot of pressure on the coach/QB to maintain the success that Jared Goff had on the field.
8) Four years ago, the Eagles won the Super Bowl, with backup QB Nick Foles the star after starter Carson Wentz got hurt in Week 14. Now, Foles is in Chicago, Wentz plays for the Colts and Jaylen Hurts is the QB, coached by rookie HC Nick Sirianni.
Eagles went 9-7, 9-7, 4-11-1 the last three years; not sure why Doug Peterson got the boot after one bad season, but now they’re starting over.
7) Dallas Cowboys have 36 new players and a QB who has had major injury problems over the last year- they went 0-4 in preseason, which doesn’t necessarily mean much. They’ll need Dak Prescott to be healthy and productive.
6) Minnesota Vikings have their sixth offensive coordinator in six years; their OL coach got fired for refusing the COVID vaccine. This will be Kirk Cousins’ 4th year as starting QB; the team was 25-22-1 the last three years. More is expected this year.
5) Last four years, New Jersey Giants are 18-46; Daniel Jones is 8-18 as starting QB. They’re 10-21-1 ATS at home the last four years; will Jones protect the ball well enough (22 INTs in 26 starts) to help the Giants move up in the standings?
4) What will the Houston Texans do with Deshaun Watson? He is on the 53-man roster but Tyrod Taylor will start, and Watson won’t be active. Watson’s legal issues still lurk; will another team have the onions to trade for him, and if so, what will Houston get back in return?
3) Can the Buffalo Bills take over dominance in the AFC East? Lot of expectations for the Bills after they went 13-3 LY and lost in AFC title game.
2) New England will have a rookie QB starting for first time since Drew Bledsoe in 1993; they went 5-11 that year, when Bill Parcells was the coach. Mac Jones won a lot at Alabama, he knows the playbook, always a good thing, so he should be an upgrade over Cam Newton.
1) Sam Darnold has mononucleosis last summer, then came back and played and the Jets were a bad team, so they fired the coach and traded Darnold to Carolina- they play Carolina Sunday.
I’m thinking the Jets made a mistake trading Darnold; mono is a tough illness to bounce right back from. Now the Jets have a rookie QB, and rookie QB’s generally struggle. They also have a rookie head coach.
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SEPTEMBER WNBA Best Bet Record:
Date w-l-t % units record
09/09/2021........0-2-0...........00.00%.........,-11.00
09/08/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/07/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/06/2021........1-1-0...........50.00%...........-0.50
09/05/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/04/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/02/2021........5-3-0...........62.50%.........+ 8.50
Totals:............16-12-0...........57.14%.........+ 14.00
BEST BETS:
09/09/2021........0-2-0...........00.00%.........,-11.00
09/08/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/07/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/06/2021........1-1-0...........50.00%...........-0.50
09/05/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/04/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/02/2021........5 - 3 - 0........62.50%........+ 8.50
Totals:............16-12-0...........57.14%.........+ 14.00
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
Game Time(ET) Pick Units
CONN at LA 10:30 PM
LA +10.0
O 143.0
+500 +500Leave a comment:
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WNBA
Thursday, September 9
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Trend Report
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Connecticut @ Los Angeles
Connecticut
Connecticut is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Connecticut's last 5 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 5 games when playing at home against Connecticut
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Los Angeles's last 9 games when playing Connecticut
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Thursday’s 6-pack
Six most valuable NFL franchises:
6) Washington, $4.25B
5) San Francisco 49ers, $4.27B
4) New Jersey Giants, $4.63B
3) Los Angeles Rams, $4.68B
2) New England Patriots, $5.35B
1) Dallas Cowboys, $6.92B
Quote of the Day
“Honestly, I think it’s bullshit. Nobody talked to me [about coming out]. It’s not like I just made my debut yesterday. I’ve been doing this for a while. It’s extremely frustrating.”
Astros’ P Jake Odorizzi, who was pulled after throwing only 66 pitches Tuesday
Thursday’s quiz
In the gambling movie Lay the Favorite, what famous actor plays pro gambler Dinky?
Wednesday’s quiz
Charles Barkley played his college basketball at Auburn.
Tuesday’s quiz
Archie Manning played most of his NFL career with the Saints.
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Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..
13) Philadelphia Eagles signed a guy off of Denver’s practice squad; the guy was going to make $165,000 on the practice squad ($9,200/week). He’s going to make $36,666/week ($660,000 for the year) if he sticks in Philadelphia.
12) Big X is going to expand from 10 to 12 teams, with Texas/Oklahoma leaving, and BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston joining.
West Virginia-Cincinnati basketball games will be interesting, with Bob Huggins coaching against a program he led to the Final Four.
11) Of the 130 quarterbacks who started for I-A college teams last week, 49 of them (37.7%) transferred in from another school.
10) Last two seasons, records in games decided by 8 or fewer points:
Seahawks 18-5
Chargers 7-16. This is why the Chargers have a new coach now.
9) Colleges with most active players on NFL rosters:
53— Alabama
47— Ohio State
43— LSU
35— Georgia
34— Notre Dame
33— Clemson
8) This week, Nelson Cruz became the third player ever to hit 30+ homers after age 40; the other two guys are David Ortiz, Darrell Evans.
7) Seattle 8, Houston 5— Mariners scored four runs in 9th, are 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card slot.
6) Baltimore 9, Kansas City 8— Royals led 5-0 in bottom of 8th; Orioles scored nine times in bottom of 8th, then held on for dear life in the 9th. Baltimore is a bad baseball team, but they can score some runs.
5) San Francisco 7, Colorado 4— Giants scored four times in 9th, grabbed a 2-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West.
4) Cubs 4, Reds 1 (10)— Jason Heyward hit a walk-off homer for the Cubs, dropping Cincinnati out of tie with San Diego for the second Wild Card slot. Cubs are playing well right now.
3) Was pretty cool to see Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing in Cooperstown at the Hall of Fame inductions Wednesday.
2) We were debating Wednesday on future Hall of Famers and a New York City debate broke out: was Don Mattingly or Keith Hernandez the better first baseman?
I don’t think either one should/will make it into the Hall of Fame, but to me, Mattingly was clearly the better player and if you know me and my dislike of the Bronx Bombers, that emphasizes my opinion.
1) When your name is Biff and you love baseball and you’re 15 and a catcher named Biff shows up in the big leagues, he quickly becomes a hero. I have a signed post card of Biff Pocoroba on the shelf in my living room, right next to ones from Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers.
Johnny Bench narrated a tribute video for the baseball Hall of Famers who passed away in the last year. Lot of big names passed away, very sad. One of the Hall of Famers they showed was the great knuckleballer Phil Niekro— in two of his clips, the Braves’ catcher was #4, which got me pretty excited.
Biff Pocoroba was shown in a video at the Hall of Fame inductions; TWICE- tremendous!!!!Leave a comment:
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SEPTEMBER WNBA Best Bet Record:
Date w-l-t % units record
09/08/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/07/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/06/2021........1-1-0...........50.00%...........-0.50
09/05/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/04/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/02/2021........5-3-0...........62.50%.........+ 8.50
Totals:............16-10-0...........61.53%.........+ 25.00
BEST BETS:
09/08/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%..........+9.50
09/07/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/06/2021........1-1-0...........50.00%...........-0.50
09/05/2021........3-1-0...........75.00%.........+ 9.50
09/04/2021........1-3-0...........25.00%..........-11.50
09/02/2021........5 - 3 - 0........62.50%........+ 8.50
Totals:..............16-10-0...........61.53%.........+ 25.00Leave a comment:
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
Game Time(ET) Pick Units
PHO at ATL 07:00 PM
PHO -6.5
U 155.5
+500 +500
MIN at LV 09:00 PM
LV -4.0
O 167.0
+500 +500Leave a comment:
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WNBA
Wednesday, September 8
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Trend Report
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Phoenix @ Atlanta
Phoenix
Phoenix is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Phoenix is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Atlanta
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Atlanta's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Atlanta's last 5 games at home
Minnesota @ Las Vegas
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Minnesota is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Las Vegas's last 5 games when playing Minnesota
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Wednesday’s 6-pack
Head/head matchups; who will throw more TD passes this year?
— Mahomes (-4.5) vs Josh Allen
— Brady vs Rodgers (pick ‘em)
— Herbert vs Prescott (-1.5)
— Wilson (-5) vs Lamar Jackson
— Stafford vs Tannehill (even)
— Mayfield vs Roethlisberger (-1.5)
This wager is available at SouthPoint in Las Vegas, one of best sportsbooks in Vegas.
Quote of the Day
“You don’t get the vaccine for yourself. You get it for the people around you.”
Charles Barkley
Wednesday’s quiz
Where did Charles Barkley play his college basketball?
Tuesday’s quiz
Archie Manning played most of his NFL career with the Saints.
Monday’s quiz
Greg Maddux made his MLB debut as a pinch-runner in the 17th inning of a game.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..
13) Dodgers-Giants was ESPN’s Sunday night game, maybe the two best teams in baseball. For some unknown reason, both teams had day games on Labor Day, both on the road.
How stupid is this? MLB only had two night games Monday, in Houston/Anaheim; they couldn’t put Dodgers/Giants in Monday night games, then showcase them on TV?
You want to showcase your best teams. Weird thing is both teams won on Monday anyway.
12) It has been 20 years since an AFC team got to the Super Bowl with preseason odds higher than 10-1; this year’s AFC teams that are 10-1 or lower:
5-2— Kansas City
5-1— Buffalo
6-1— Baltimore
8-1— Cleveland
10-1— New England
11) Angels 4, Padres 0:
— Blake Snell took another no-hitter into 7th inning, but only hit he gave up scored two runs as four Angel hurlers blanked the struggling Padres.
— In his last three starts, Snell has allowed 4 hits, 3 runs in 21.1 IP, but San Diego lost two of the three games.
— San Diego is 7-16 in its last 23 games.
10) MLB needs to mike the umpires, so they can explain replay reviews to fans in the stands; Lord knows the NFL has done it for decades. It is good business. At least mike the crew chief, so he can clear up any confusion about unusual plays.
9) Going into Tuesday’s play, Dodgers/Rays led the two leagues in runs scored- both teams were hitting .241 for the season, the lowest batting average for league leaders in runs since the 1968 Detroit Tigers.
They lowered the mound after pitching-dominated 1968; hopefully there will be several changes to next year’s rules, to increase offense in the game.
8) Atlanta Braves signed P Charlie Morton to a one-year, $20M deal for next year; he will be 38 next year. Braves have a team option to sign for Morton for 2023.
7) Dallas Cowboys have 36 new players on their roster this year; that’s a lot.
6) Astros 5, Mariners 4:
— Alex Bregman tied the game with a 9th-inning homer.
— Carlos Correa walked it off with a 10th-inning double.
5) Toronto 5, New York 1:
— Gerrit Cole left his start Tuesday with a hamstring issue; Bronx is 2-8 in last ten games.
— Blue Jays are only two games out of the playoff picture.
4) NBA’s Detroit Pistons totally overhauled their roster; their longest-tenured player is Killian Hayes, who has played only 26 games for Detroit.
3) Kentucky Wildcats got a commitment from five-star recruit Shaedon Sharpe, the #1 recruit in country; it is first time in 10 years John Calipari signed the #1 recruit in America.
2) I can’t stand the Nick Saban AFLAC commercials that take over college football games during timeouts. Saban is always bland/standoffish when doing interviews on regular TV, but pay him to do an insurance commercial, and he is Mr Happy. Yeah, sure.
1) If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Giants. Wild Card: SD/Cin @ Los Angeles
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros. Wild Card: Boston @ New York
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