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Tuesday’s 6-pack
Interesting pointspreads for Week 14 games:
— New England @ LA Rams (-6)
— Green Bay (-7.5) @ Detroit
— Tennessee (-7.5) @ Jacksonville
— Dallas (-3.5) @ Cincinnati
— Arizona (-2.5) @ NJ Giants
— Houston (-2.5) @ Chicago
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 283,326
PLEASE wear a mask when you go out.
Quote of the Day
“I’m proud of how you stepped up for your teammates, particularly in what was an impossible situation in difficult circumstances. Decades from now, I hope you’ll look back with pride on your experience — you’ll have quite a story to tell your grandchildren!”
Former Colts RB Tom Matte, in a letter to Denver WR Kendall Hinton; both guys had to be emergency QB’s for their teams, 55 years apart
Tuesday’s quiz
Which two NFL teams used to call St Louis home?
Monday’s quiz
Mike Holmgren was the Seahawks’ coach the first time they played in a Super Bowl.
Sunday’s quiz
Troy Aikman finished his college career at UCLA; he started it at Oklahoma.
*******************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……
12) Washington 23, Pittsburgh 17
— Washington won four of last six games, covered five of last seven.
— Washington outscored last five opponents 95-22in second half.
— Washington is 18-12-1 ATS in last 31 games as a road underdog.
— Washington/Giants are 5-7, tied atop NFC East.
— Steelers led this game 14-0 early, 14-3 at halftime.
— Pittsburgh is now 78-2-1 at Heinz Field, when they led by 14+ points.
— Roethlisberger threw for 305 yards; Steelers ran ball for only 21 yards.
— Under is 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
11) Mack Brown is the football coach at North Carolina, a very good coach, but apparently he isn’t the smartest person in his family. Brown’s daughter Katherine Ryan won $22,801 on Jeopardy! Friday night and returned this week to defend her title.
Jeopardy! trivia: Apparently they give you some areas of knowledge that might appear on the show you’re going to be on, so you can study up in advance. Didn’t know that.
10) New Jersey Jets fired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams Monday morning, after the Jets got burned on a 46-yard TD pass with 0:05 left in a 31-28 loss to the Raiders. Receiver who caught the game-winning pass was single-covered, which is very unusual in that situation.
9) Kendall Hinton is a practice squad WR for the Broncos, but he had to play QB last week, when the NFL ruled all of Denver’s QB’s ineligible because of COVID protocols. Things did not go well for Hinton or the Broncos, but Hinton got a nice note a few days ago.
Tom Matte was a good running back for the Baltimore Colts from 1961-75, but in 1965, he had to play three games at QB for the Colts, after Johnny Unitas and Gary Cuozzo were both injured. Matte wrote Kendall Hinton a 2-page letter last week, which is pretty cool.
Back in 1965, Matte wore a writstband with the team’s plays on it; he is thought to be the first player to do that. His coach with the Colts was Don Shula, whose son Mike is now QB coach in Denver.
8) Iowa State is playing in the Big X title game; the Cyclones haven’t won a league title in football since 1912. 19-freakin’-12!!! How does some big $$$ school not hire Matt Campbell?
7) An NFL oddity:
— 2014 Carolina Panthers went 7-8-1, but made the playoffs- they beat Arizona 26-16, then lost 31-17 to the Seahawks.
— The next season, the 2015 Panthers went 15-1 and won NFC title; before losing Super Bowl to Denver. Before this year’s Steelers, they were the last NFL team to start a season 11-0.
6) Random obscure knowledge: I’m watching a college football game late Saturday night, and it turns out one of the players raises alpacas in his hometown. Alpacas look like llamas, but they are smaller than llamas; it turns out that alpacas have a three-chambered stomach, to enhance digestion. Just thought you’d like to know.
5) Montana Grizzlies are usually one of the best basketball teams in the Big Sky, but their season got off to a rocky start when they went to Southern Utah for two games and lost both of them, both by a single point (64-63/75-74).
Several conferences have scheduled like that this season, to reduce travel; a team goes to half the schools for 2-game series, and the other half of the teams come to their gym for 2-game series.
4) When 24-point underdog Rice won 20-0 at Marshall Saturday, it was the 3rd-biggest upset this season, and also the first time since 1982 that Marshall was shut out at home.
3) San Jose State’s football team is 5-0 this season, first time Spartans are 5-0 since 1939.
2) Unusual career change: Cubs TV guy Len Kasper, who worked for the Cubs for 16 years, quit his post to become the new radio voice of the crosstown White Sox.
Seems like an odd move, but apparently Kasper preferred to be a radio voice. Very curious who the Cubs name to take his place; I watch lot of Cubs games in the summer.
1) RIP to Dick Allen, the slugger for Phillies/White Sox who hit 351 home runs and was AL MVP in 1972. He made seven All-Star Games, but passed away this week at age 78.
Dick Allen played for the A’s in 1977, his last year in the majors; a 1960 graduate of Wampum HS in Pennsylvania, Allen wore uniform #60 that year, with WAMPUM where his name was supposed to be. Allen was an excellent hitter and a bit of a character. RIP sir.
Interesting pointspreads for Week 14 games:
— New England @ LA Rams (-6)
— Green Bay (-7.5) @ Detroit
— Tennessee (-7.5) @ Jacksonville
— Dallas (-3.5) @ Cincinnati
— Arizona (-2.5) @ NJ Giants
— Houston (-2.5) @ Chicago
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 283,326
PLEASE wear a mask when you go out.
Quote of the Day
“I’m proud of how you stepped up for your teammates, particularly in what was an impossible situation in difficult circumstances. Decades from now, I hope you’ll look back with pride on your experience — you’ll have quite a story to tell your grandchildren!”
Former Colts RB Tom Matte, in a letter to Denver WR Kendall Hinton; both guys had to be emergency QB’s for their teams, 55 years apart
Tuesday’s quiz
Which two NFL teams used to call St Louis home?
Monday’s quiz
Mike Holmgren was the Seahawks’ coach the first time they played in a Super Bowl.
Sunday’s quiz
Troy Aikman finished his college career at UCLA; he started it at Oklahoma.
*******************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……
12) Washington 23, Pittsburgh 17
— Washington won four of last six games, covered five of last seven.
— Washington outscored last five opponents 95-22in second half.
— Washington is 18-12-1 ATS in last 31 games as a road underdog.
— Washington/Giants are 5-7, tied atop NFC East.
— Steelers led this game 14-0 early, 14-3 at halftime.
— Pittsburgh is now 78-2-1 at Heinz Field, when they led by 14+ points.
— Roethlisberger threw for 305 yards; Steelers ran ball for only 21 yards.
— Under is 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
11) Mack Brown is the football coach at North Carolina, a very good coach, but apparently he isn’t the smartest person in his family. Brown’s daughter Katherine Ryan won $22,801 on Jeopardy! Friday night and returned this week to defend her title.
Jeopardy! trivia: Apparently they give you some areas of knowledge that might appear on the show you’re going to be on, so you can study up in advance. Didn’t know that.
10) New Jersey Jets fired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams Monday morning, after the Jets got burned on a 46-yard TD pass with 0:05 left in a 31-28 loss to the Raiders. Receiver who caught the game-winning pass was single-covered, which is very unusual in that situation.
9) Kendall Hinton is a practice squad WR for the Broncos, but he had to play QB last week, when the NFL ruled all of Denver’s QB’s ineligible because of COVID protocols. Things did not go well for Hinton or the Broncos, but Hinton got a nice note a few days ago.
Tom Matte was a good running back for the Baltimore Colts from 1961-75, but in 1965, he had to play three games at QB for the Colts, after Johnny Unitas and Gary Cuozzo were both injured. Matte wrote Kendall Hinton a 2-page letter last week, which is pretty cool.
Back in 1965, Matte wore a writstband with the team’s plays on it; he is thought to be the first player to do that. His coach with the Colts was Don Shula, whose son Mike is now QB coach in Denver.
8) Iowa State is playing in the Big X title game; the Cyclones haven’t won a league title in football since 1912. 19-freakin’-12!!! How does some big $$$ school not hire Matt Campbell?
7) An NFL oddity:
— 2014 Carolina Panthers went 7-8-1, but made the playoffs- they beat Arizona 26-16, then lost 31-17 to the Seahawks.
— The next season, the 2015 Panthers went 15-1 and won NFC title; before losing Super Bowl to Denver. Before this year’s Steelers, they were the last NFL team to start a season 11-0.
6) Random obscure knowledge: I’m watching a college football game late Saturday night, and it turns out one of the players raises alpacas in his hometown. Alpacas look like llamas, but they are smaller than llamas; it turns out that alpacas have a three-chambered stomach, to enhance digestion. Just thought you’d like to know.
5) Montana Grizzlies are usually one of the best basketball teams in the Big Sky, but their season got off to a rocky start when they went to Southern Utah for two games and lost both of them, both by a single point (64-63/75-74).
Several conferences have scheduled like that this season, to reduce travel; a team goes to half the schools for 2-game series, and the other half of the teams come to their gym for 2-game series.
4) When 24-point underdog Rice won 20-0 at Marshall Saturday, it was the 3rd-biggest upset this season, and also the first time since 1982 that Marshall was shut out at home.
3) San Jose State’s football team is 5-0 this season, first time Spartans are 5-0 since 1939.
2) Unusual career change: Cubs TV guy Len Kasper, who worked for the Cubs for 16 years, quit his post to become the new radio voice of the crosstown White Sox.
Seems like an odd move, but apparently Kasper preferred to be a radio voice. Very curious who the Cubs name to take his place; I watch lot of Cubs games in the summer.
1) RIP to Dick Allen, the slugger for Phillies/White Sox who hit 351 home runs and was AL MVP in 1972. He made seven All-Star Games, but passed away this week at age 78.
Dick Allen played for the A’s in 1977, his last year in the majors; a 1960 graduate of Wampum HS in Pennsylvania, Allen wore uniform #60 that year, with WAMPUM where his name was supposed to be. Allen was an excellent hitter and a bit of a character. RIP sir.
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