Sunday Trends and Indexes 8/24

[Udog]

MLB
Write-Up


Update


Sunday, August 24

Umpires
-- Wsh-Chi-- Home side is 8-2 in last ten Hernandez starts.
-- Atl-StL-- Over is 9-4-1 in last fourteen Miller games.
-- SD-SF-- Under is 7-1-1 in last nine Danley games.
-- LA-Phil-- Favorite won last five Layne games.
-- Pitt-Mil-- Under is 4-1-1 in last six Davidson games.
-- Hst-NY-- Last four Holbrook games stayed under total.
-- Cin-Colo-- No stats for rookie umpire Dalos.
-- Fla-Az-- Last five Nauert games stayed under the total.

-- Bos-Tor-- Last six Campos games all went over the total.
-- NY-Blt-- Five of last six Rapuano games went over the total.
-- TB-Chi-- Road team won last eight Demuth games.
-- Det-KC-- Underdog is 12-11 in last 23 McClelland games.
-- Cle-Tex-- Four of last five Meriwether games went over total.
-- Min-LA-- Home team is 13-2 in last fifteen Gorman games.
-- A's-Sea-- No stats for rookie umpire Colon.

[Udog]

NFL
Write-Up


Sunday, August 24


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

-- Bills still haven't played home game, beating Steelers last week in Toronto; Edwards hurt his leg in practice during week, unsure if he goes here. Losman is capable backup. Colts don't care a lot about preseason games; this is debut of their new stadium, next door from the RCA Dome. Still no Peyton Manning, so Sorgi is the man, for now. Game is on the NFL Network, which isn't on my cable system, even though I have 700 freakin' channels!!!!!

[Udog]

Sunday's six-pack:

Football is just around the corner; here is some knowledge to get you started with your 2008 handicapping.......

-- San Diego was 10-3 vs spread when favored last year; the other three teams in AFC West were a combined 2-13-1.

-- 49ers (0-0-1 as favorite) were only NFL team that wasn't favored to win at least twice last season.

-- Buccaneers were 6-0 vs spread in division games last year, 2-7-1 vs spread in non-division contests.

-- Over was 7-1 last year in road games for Jaguars, Chargers and Packers, as well as home games for the Vikings.

-- Ravens didn't cover any of their eight road games in 2007.

-- Chiefs were just 1-6-1 vs spread at Arrowhead last year.

[Udog]

Sunday's List of 13:
Random thoughts, other things I learned so far this weekend.

13) 3rd-place games in Olympic basketball are not consolation games, they're battles for a medal. Big difference between third and fourth place, especially for countries that don't win a lot of medals. Argentina beat Lithuania to claim third place.

12) Gregg Popovich can't be real happy; the words "Ginobili" and "surgery" were tossed around in same sentence tonight. Manu Ginobili did not suit up for the Lithuania game; his exact prognosis isn't yet known, but it doesn't look good.

11) Has ping pong always been an Olympic sport?

10) I learned that Carl Pavano pitches well on 500 days' rest. If Pavano pitches against Rocco Baldelli sometime next month, it should be shown live on webmd.com.

9) NFL preseason score that means nothing, but has to alarm any Redskin fan-- Carolina 47, Washington 3.

8) Weird that the NFL goes to great trouble to craft its national TV schedule, but the most interesting game in Week 1 is a 1:00 game: Jets at Dolphins, Favre at Pennington.

And now, some comments while I watch US-Spain Gold Medal game, which started at freakin' 2:30am here in the eastern US...

7) Halftime score: USA 69, Spain 61. Spanish team came out in man defense, played very hard, created lot of American fouls. Lebron and Kobe both had two fouls very quickly.

6) NBA commissioner David Stern has to know the FIBA game is more fun to watch than the NBA model; how could he not know this? 69-61 is a freakin' halftime score!!!! Fun to watch. Change the NBA's rules, please.........

5) They just showed clips from 1972 fiasco in Munich, when Russia beat us in the worst hose job in sports history. Doug Collins was on that team-- bad omen that they showed it.

4) Wish I had kept a plus/minus chart for this game; USA is a better team when Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade are on floor.

3) If I ran the Lakers, would have to show Pau Gasol clips of this game, then his Laker contract, and ask if just once in while, he could play that hard for the people who pay him.

2) 6:23 left in third, USA lead but to 75-71. Coach K, who is an educator as well as a coach, calls timeout and tries to educate. Just don't give the clipboard to Boeheim.........

1) Running comments for last 15:00 of surprisingly close game
-- Americans were 22.5 point favorites. Sneaky Spaniards were playing possum in pool play; they're playing hearts out here.
-- NBC insists on showing David Beckham several times. For the last time-- stop shoving soccer down our throats.......
-- Marc Gasol is very large. Also very slow. Interesting to see how he does playing 82 games in the NBA.
-- This would be more fun if Hubie Brown was commentating on the Olympics. Just to hear him say, "trapezoid........lane"
-- Wade just scored to put US up 10, then grinned at a camera that was courtside. Somehow, that shot will make its way to a commercial next winter.
-- Why does the international ball have funny stripes on it?
-- End of three quarters: USA leads, 91-82. 10:00 to gold. Larry Brown just put his little Spanish flag down and went and got himself a drink on the commercial break.

-- My nominee for next Olympic coach is Gregg Popovich, who went to US Air Force Academy as a student and has won four NBA titles. He would do an excellent job, plus he knows the international game, having lot of foreigners on the Spurs.
-- Craig Sager isn't wearing a suit jacket in China. This is good.
-- Tim Donaghy had the under in this game. Whoops.
-- 8:45 left, US by 7. Kobe is chucking 3's. Tex Winter just hit his TV with the remote control.
-- Spain goes on 5-0 run, cuts lead to two with 8:13 left. Now we find out if Krzyzewski can coach at this level. Time-out, USA; what do they do out of the timeout?

-- Pat Riley calls it "the cruel hand of fate." You can't let a team hang around, where a couple of lucky plays beats you. Utah's Deron Williams sticks a trey, US is back up 7.
-- Here is the five that took the floor after the timeout: James, Bryant, Williams, Howard, Wade. Playing time is the ultimate compliment at times like these.
-- 17-year old Ricky Rubio just dunked on Dwight Howard's head; is he eligible for my fantasy league? US by 7 at the 5:00 mark, but not looking real secure.
-- It bothers me that Dwight Howard makes millions playing in the NBA, but I shoot foul shots better than he does.
-- Gasol hits jumper with 3:30 left, US lead down to 104-99. In first half, we scored 69 freakin' points; this half, we have 35.

-- Bryant sticks a huge trey to get lead back to 8, gets fouled. NBA shows David Beckham again. He should only be shown after kicked balls.
-- Some guy named Jimenez was left alone and cut lead to four with 2:20 left. Wade answers with a trey and poses to crowd. 111-104 US, in one of the great basketball games ever played, and I'm serious about this. A supreme effort by the Spaniards.
-- Lebron James grabs a rebound with two hands and 1:31 left; he looked very serious about getting that rebound.
-- Now its a foul shooting contest: 0:48 left, US by 8. It is better that this team wins a gold medal while being tested- they had a chance to cough this game up, but came through at the end.
-- I'm not sure if Jason Kidd played in the second half. It was Michael Redd's 29th birthday; don't think he played either.
-- Have to give Spain credit; they went toe-to-toe with USA, and damn near pulled off a monumental upset.
-- Final score: USA 118, Spain 107. Congrats to both sides for a super game; too bad it ended at freakin' 4:23 am. Hope little ol' Larry Brown stayed up for the end.

Let the commercials/endorsements begin.........