Month: June 2024

— Las Vegas hotels:
MGM, Vdara, Westgate, SouthPoint

— TV shows:
Law & Order
Magnum PI
CSI
Odd Couple

— Sports movies:
American Underdog
Moneyball
Blue Chips
Any Given Sunday

— Non-sports movies:
Rounders
A Star is Born
Leap of Faith
Begin Again

— Food:
Pizza, spaghetti/meatballs, scrambled eggs/sausage, chicken parm

— Current college basketball coaches:
John Calipari
Mark Few
Danny Hurley
Tom Izzo

— All-time college basketball coaches:
John Wooden
Dean Smith
Mike Krzyzewski
Jerry Tarkanian

— Actresses:
Gina Gershon, Diane Lane, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sela Ward

— Musicians:
Bob Seger, Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Van Morrison

— best NFL coaches:
Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Tom Landry

— In-person events:
2000 NFC title game: Rams 11, Buccaneers 6
2008 World Series game: Rays @ Phillies
Frank Sinatra concert in Albany, 1990
2008 Tennessee @ South Carolina football game

—Bucket List:
Spring training game, preferably in Arizona
LSU home football game, on a Saturday night
A’s home game in Oakland Coliseum
Rams’ home game in SoFi Stadium

— best quarterbacks, in Super Bowl era:
John Elway, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Patrick Mahomes

— best MLB starting pitchers (since 1960):
Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux

— Best-ever NBA players:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Lebron James 

— favorite television characters:
Oscar Madison, Odd Couple
Jonathan Higgins, Magnum PI
Ray Donovan
Henry Blake, M*A*S*H

— Major league managers:
Bruce Bochy, Dick Williams, Sparky Anderson, Terry Francona

— My favorite sodas:
Dr Brown’s cream soda
Cherry Coke
Orange Crush
Dr Pepper

— Batman villains:
Riddler, Joker, Catwoman (Julie Newmar), Penguin

— Famous birthdays, June 24th:
Michele Lee, 82Joe Penny, 68
Chris Barnes, 59 (Tanner in Bad News Bears)
Alaa Abdelnaby, 56
JJ Redick, 40

Taj Gibson, 39
Tremayne Anchrum, 26
Wilyer Abreu, 25
Christopher Morel, 25

— Al Pacino movies:
Any Given Sunday
Heat
Danny Collins
Sea of Love

— Baseball movies:
Moneyball
For Love of the Game
Bull Durham
Major League

— Denzel Washington movies:
He Got Game
Pelican Brief
Remember the Titans
Out of Time

— Gene Hackman movies:
Hoosiers
Runaway Jury
The Replacements
Class Action

— Basketball movies:
Blue Chips
One on One
Fast Break
The Way Back
(He Got Game gets an honorable mention here)

— Steve Martin movies:
Leap of Faith
Shopgirl
Roxanne
Grand Canyon

— Gambling-related movies:
Rounders
Let It Ride
The Gambler (Mark Wahlberg version)
Lucky You

— Gina Gershon movies:
Bound
PS I Love You
Showgirls
Pretty In Pink

— Bill Murray movies:
Lost In Translation
Caddyshack
Meatballs
St Vincent

— Marisa Tomei movies:
My Cousin Vinny
The Rewrite
The Big Short
Lincoln Lawyer

— Robert DeNiro movies:
Last Vegas
Heat
Jackie Brown
Midnight Run

— Kevin Costner movies:
For Love of the Game
The Bodyguard
Bull Durham
Draft Day

— Happy Armadillo Day!!!!

23 years ago this week, I started writing this blog. Despite the protests of some, I’m still doing it. Hopefully you enjoy reading it.

In those 23 years, I’ve taken two short breaks; in September 2001, took a week off after 9/11, because there wasn’t anything good to write about, then in 2019 I had retina surgery so I laid on my couch for a week, then started writing again.

(I’d like to thank my two surgeons, Dr Mallick and Dr Lemanski, for fixing my eye).

Hopefully over the next year we’ll all be nicer to each other, more tolerant of each other. I’ll still be here typing late into the night; hopefully you’ll still be reading.

— If you like the NFL and you have the Roku channel on your TV, there is a show on there that you will like, about the NFL Draft this past April.

NFL Films documentary crews are embedded in the draft rooms of five teams, plus on stage and behind the scenes of the actual draft in Detroit. Watched it last night; it was high quality stuff that we’ve come to expect from NFL Films.

— Detroit Lions signed UFL kicker Jake Bates to a 2-year deal. Bates has made three field goals of 60+ yards for the Michigan Panthers this spring; he was a kickoff specialist in college for Texas State (2020-21) and Arkansas (2022).

— Edmonton 8, Florida 1
Oilers led 3-1 in first period; their first goal was shorthanded.
Last time NHL finals ended in a sweep was 1998, when the Red Wings swept Washington.

Even with this game going over the total, if you bet the under in every game Florida goalie Sergei  Bobrovsky started this year, you’d be 47-26-3, good for a $1,789 profit to a $100 bettor.

Last time an NHL goalie finished +$2,000 to the under was Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames, way back in 2005.

— Cubs’ rookie lefty P Shota Imanaga has a 1.31 ERA in seven starts at Wrigley Field.

— Famous birthdays for June 16th:
Rick Adelman, 78
Al Cowlings, 77
Frank Corral, 69

Laurie Metcalf, 69
Darrell Griffith, 66
Wally Joyner, 62

Kerry Wood, 47
Austin Blythe, 32
Justin Jefferson, 25 

— Orioles 6, Phillies 2
Anthony Santander homered twice, drove in four runs.

— Nationals 5, Marlins 0
Rookie P Herz struck out 13 batters, allowed one hit in 6 IP
Washington is 7-1 in its last eight games.

— Marlins are 3-22 vs lefty starters this year, 20-25 vs righties.

— Chicago White Sox are 2-21 in series openers this year, 0-12 on the road.

— Rockies 16, Pirates 4
Hunter Goodman homered twice, knocked in five runs.
Pirates had won their previous five games at Coors Field.

— Mariners 7, Rangers 5
Seattle has won six of its last seven games.

— AL Wild Card race:
Orioles, Royals, Twins, followed by…….
2.5 games behind- Boston
4- Detroit, Toronto
5- Texas

— NL Wild Card race:
Braves, Padres, Cardinals, followed by……
half-game behind- Reds, Nationals
1 game behind- Cubs, Diamondbacks, Giants
1.5- Pittsburgh

Much ado about nothing.

Danny Hurley turned down the Lakers Monday; apparently they offered him a $70M, six-year contract, but he is staying at UConn. His accountant might not be happy, but staying at a place where he is the king is probably a good thing.

Here is how college coaches have fared in the NBA:
— Rick Pitino was the first coach to lead three different schools — Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville — to the Final Four- he is 854-306 as a college coach.

He was 94-74 coaching the Knicks, but his tenure with the Celtics (98-144) wasn’t good.

— Larry Brown was 262-100 as a college coach, winning the 1988 national title with Kansas.

He was 1,098-904 as an NBA coach, winning the 2004 title with the Pistons. He is the only coach to win a title in college and in the NBA.

— Brad Stevens was 166-49 as a college coach; he got Butler to a Final Four, when they were in the freakin’ Horizon League.

He was 354-282 in the NBA, then stopped coaching and started running the Celtics’ franchise; they’re two wins away from the NBA title.

— Billy Donovan was 502-206 as a college coach, winning consecutive national titles at Florida.

He is 399-319 as an NBA head coach, with Thunder/Bulls.

— Quin Snyder went 128-96 in seven years at Missouri.
He is 418-321 as an NBA coach, mostly with the Utah Jazz.

— John Calipari is 855-262 as a college coach.
He was 72-112 in 2+ years coaching the Nets.

— Fred Hoiberg is 178-150 as a college coach.
In between his Iowa State/Nebraska gigs, he was 115-155 with Chicago.

— Mike Montgomery was 676-318 in college, getting Stanford to a Final Four.
He was 68-96 in two years coaching the Warriors.

— John Beilein was 571-325 as a college coach.
He went 14-40 in one unfortunate season with Cleveland.

— Tim Floyd was 465-280 as a college coach.
He replaced Phil Jackson with the Bulls; it didn’t go well (93-235)

— Jerry Tarkanian was one of the best college hoop coaches ever, but he lasted only 20 games with the San Antonio Spurs, going 9-11 before he walked away from it.

Winning is more fun than losing; besides, the NBA is a player-run thing; college basketball was always a coach-driven thing, 

— Famous birthdays for June 11th:
Adrienne Barbeau, 79
Gary Fencik, 70
Joe Montana, 68
Hugh Laurie, 65
Jose Reyes, 41
Brock Holt, 36

— If you’re scoring at home, so far this season, American League leads National League 138-128 in interleague games.

— Orioles 5, Rays 2
Baltimore is 15-0-6 in their last 21 series against divisional rivals.
Gunnar Henderson was 3-5 with three runs scored.

— Mariners 8, White Sox 4
Cal Raleigh hit a walk-off grand slam.
White Sox are 17-50, a terrible team, but if you bet them in the first five innings every game, the White Sox are 28-30-9, which is respectable- they’ve been awful in the late innings.

— Baseball injuries:
Seattle 1B Ty France has a hairline fracture in his right heel.

Royals OF Hunter Renfroe had a 12-pitch at bat Monday, fouling two balls off his left foot. Turns over he broke the big toe on his left foot, is headed to the IL.

— Pittsburgh Steelers signed coach Mike Tomlin to a 3-year contract extension that will keep him in the Steel City thru 2027.

Tomlin is 181-110 as Steelers’ coach, winning a Super Bowl in his 2nd year; he’s never had a losing season in 17 years, but the last seven years, Pittsburgh is 0-4 in playoff games.

— Former Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa, younger brother of Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa, signed with the  CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats practice squad.

Hamilton lost their opener 32-24 to Calgary last week; Tagovailoa wasn’t drafted by the NFL, despite being tied for Maryland’s single-season touchdown mark with current Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich.

— Back in 1991, Washington Redskins started the season 5-0, shutting out three of their first five opponents- they went on to win the Super Bowl. Since then, Washington doesn’t have a shutout; they’re the only NFL team without a shutout in the last 30 years.