Saturday Trends and Indexes 8/16

[Udog]

NFL
Write-Up


Saturday, August 16

I'm not a big fan of investing in summer games, especially early in preseason. But people have asked for some insight so here goes, as little as it is............

-- Lot of energy for Jets tonight; Favre's debut will bring bigger crowd than Jets have ever had for preseason game. He won't be on field long, but other Jets should be energized.

-- Ravens lost 30-7 at Minnesota two summers ago; doubt many remember; they're going to show Michael Phelps' swimming race when it happens-- he is from Baltimore area. Vikings got crushed at home by Seattle last week, losing four fumbles.

-- Jacksonville beat Miami two of last three summers; they lost last year, 18-17 (-1.5). Pennington figures to make short-tossing debut for Fish here. Jags won 20-17 last week .

-- Falcons, Colts both lost by FG last week; this is third game for Colts, second for Atlanta team that needs to sell tickets at home with Vick not on team. Ryan had decent debut last week. Dungy doesn't try too hard to win these games.

-- Rams are going to try hard tonight, for a half. Their first-team offense hasn't scored summer TD since 2005. Chargers are much better than Rams; not sure if difference in intensity level matters.

-- Saints, Texans both won last week; by end of month, Saints are going to be fashionable choice to win NFC. New Orleans won its last four summer games. Texans covered three of four on road.

-- Whisenhunt is 0-5 in exhibition games; Arizona lost 24-10 last week at home to Saints. Kansas City might be worst team in NFL; but they won 24-20 last week, ending streak when they scored a mere 8.3 ppg over previous seven summer games.

-- Would think Packers have letdown, flying cross country on a short week, after Rodgers big home debut Monday night. 49ers have spirited three-way QB battle going on.

-- Cowboys lost big at San Diego last week, while Broncos lost close game at Houston; Denver lost 31-20 in Dallas last summer. Home side is 6-0-1 SU in Cowboys' last seven summer games.

-- Seattle won five of last six summer gamesw; they forced lot of miscues at Minnesota last week, in 34-17 win. Bears lost 24-20 in their opener; they have QB competition going on- their QBs may not be great, but they have NFL experience.

[Udog]

Six-pack for Saturday

-- Finger pointing has started in the Bronx as season starts to slip away; Melky Cabrera, Richie Sexson got dumped Friday.

-- Prince Fielder is no longer a vegetarian, if you can't tell.

-- Carl Pettersson shot 61 Friday at Greensboro and bogeyed two holes-- he could have broken 60 with two pars.

-- Alex Rodriguez has played in 162 regular season games vs the Angels, the equivalent of a full season; he's hit 61 HRs, knocked in 138 runs against the Halos.

-- Hear the Jets have a new QB playing tonight; guy named Favre; wonder if he's any good. Never heard of him before.

-- USA 119, Spain 82-- Nice tank job by the Spaniards. How about actually trying for the whole game?

[Udog]

Saturday's List of 13: Random thoughts on a summer day

13) Mad Dog Russo is 48 years old; this week, he left his job as a sports talk host that paid him $1M+, becauae "he needed a challenge." Takes lot of onions to walk from a job like that.

I'm 48 years old, have an ordinary desk job that is no big deal, and would give my eye teeth to have had Russo's job. Guess old saying holds: "one man's floor is another man's ceiling."

12) McLean Stevenson once left TV show MASH to pursue better acting opportunities; he wound up doing telethons for pay. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, people.

11) Sirius Radio is going after Russo, supposedly. Why? His knowledge of sports is lame, except for tennis. Where in the name of Marconi does Sirius get all this money?

10) Supposedly, the Mike and Mad Dog TV show made $15M to $17M evgery year in advertising revenue. After losing Don Imus in April of 2007, WFAN has now lost its other big money show. Has to be a big blow for the all-sports station.

9) Did I hear that the next Summer Olympics are in London? Where it rains all the time? That should be fun.........

8) Good hire by FOX, getting Brian Billick, the former Ravens' coach, as game analyst. He'll be terrific in front of a camera.

7) Former big league pitcher Jim Kaat, a terrific announcer, lost his wife to cancer recently; ESPN would be wise to add him for 2009, or even the new Baseball Network.

6) Mark Teixeira turned down $144M over eight years last year from Texas; experts think he could net a $200M contract when he hits the free agent trail this winter. Awful lot of money for a guy who didn't make the All-Star team.

5) John McCain's campaign raised $22M in June, and $27M in June; Barack Obama'a campaign raised $54.3M, just in June.

4) Weird how if the Dodgers make the playoffs, its because the Red Sox handed them Manny Ramirez for nothing. Grady Little must be somewhere, wishing they did that for him.

3) I'm having trouble finding info on the UFL, the new football league I mentioned the other day. Their website is primitive, so thats not a good sign. This time next year, they're supposed to be up and running, with six teams. We'll see.

2) Thursday night in Chicago, White Sox hit four consecutive homers, only sixth time that has happened. Carlos Quentin also got hit by a pitch for sixth consecutive game-- he is only player since 1920 to get plunked that often.

1) Must be a good day when someone offers you over million dollars a year and you say "No thanks." Sadly, I'll never know.

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