Armadillo Sports

— Final Four by seed, the last five tournaments:
2024- 1-1-4-11 (NC State was #11)
2023- 4-5-5-9 (Florida Atlantic was #9)
2022- 1-2-2-8 (North Carolina was #8)
2021- 1-1-2-11 (UCLA was #11)
2019- 1-2-3-5

Last five tournaments, only six #1-seeds made the Final Four

— Final Four by conference, the last five tournaments:
2024- ACC, Big East, Big 18, SEC
2023- ACC, Big East, C-USA, Mountain West
2022- ACC (2), Big East, Big X
2021- AAC, Big X, Pac-12, WCC
2019- ACC, Big 18, Big X, SEC

5- ACC
3- Big East, Big X
2- Big 18, SEC
1- AAC, C-USA, Mountain West, Pac-12, WCC

First round trends…….
— Last four years, #1-seeds are 9-7 ATS in first round games.

— Last three years, #2-seeds are 8-4 ATS

A #2-seed has been upset in first round in three of last four years.

— Last five years, #3-seeds are 13-7 ATS.

Last seven years, only 2 of 28 #3-seeds lost in first round.

— Last six years, underdogs are 16-8 ATS in 4-13 first round games.

— Last five years, underdogs are 11-9 ATS in 5-12 games.

— Last six years, the underdog is 6-0 SU/ATS in the 6-11 game in the Midwest region; this year, #6-seed Illinois will play the Texas-Xavier play-in winner.

— Last six years, underdogs are 14-10 SU/20-4 ATS in 8-9 games.

— Famous birthdays, March 18
Jeff Mullins, 83
Dwayne Murphy, 70
Vanessa Williams, 62
Pat Terrell, 57
Andre Rison, 57

Rob Johnson, 52
Brian Griese, 50
Adam Levine, 46
JT Realmuto, 34
Trey Mancini, 33

Conference trends:
— Last three years, ACC teams are 11-4 ATS in first round
Since 2018, ACC teams are 18-8 ATS in second round.

— No team from the A-15 has made the Sweet 16 since Dayton in 2014.

— Last three years, Big East teams are 9-5 ATS in first round
Last three years, Big East had a team in Final Four (Villanova-UConn-UConn)

— Since 2006, Big Sky teams are 0-17 SU/3-13-1 ATS in first round games.
Last Big Sky team to win an NCAA game: Montana 87, Nevada 79 in 2006.

— Last three years, Big 18 teams are 13-8-1 ATS in first round
Last four years, Big 18 teams are 9-12 ATS in second round.

Last four years, only one Big 18 team made the Final Four (Purdue LY)

Last Big 18 team to win a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.

— Since 2019, Big X teams are 21-11 ATS in first round
Since 2021, Big X teams are 6-16 ATS in second round

— Since 2015, Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2013, CAA teams are 0-11 SU/5-6 ATS in first round
Last five years, CAA teams are 0-5 ATS

— Since 2015, U-USA teams are 6-3 ATS in first round

— Last three years, Horizon teams are 5-0 ATS in play-in/first round games.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round.

— Since 2010, MAAC teams are 3-12 ATS in first round (3-2 in last five)

— Since 2017, MAC teams are 6-2 ATS in first round

— Last three years, MVC teams were 0-3 ATS in first round
From 2013-21, MVC teams were 11-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round

— Last three years, SEC teams are 9-12 ATS in first round
Since 2016, SEC teams are 11-18 ATS in second round

— Last six years, SoCon teams are 5-1 ATS in first round.

— Last five years, WAC teams are 2-3 SU?5-0 ATS in first roun

We’ll get into the games more as the week goes on, but here are some quick thoughts, facts after seeing the brackets/Field of 68.

— #8-seeds are a prominent group: UConn, Gonzaga, Louisville, Mississippi State.

How would you like to be a #1-seed and see the two-time champ Huskies in your bracket? 

Auburn-Louisville would be in Lexington, KY; Bruce Pearl must be thrilled with that, though that game being an afternoon tip-off probably helps Auburn a little bit.

Gonzaga has made nine straight Sweet 16’s; they’re going to have to upset Houston to make it ten in a row.

— Brackets came out out between 6-7 pm; Maryland coach Kevin Willard was on a CBS brackets show at 8:30- he said his team had already had a film session on Grand Canyon, their first round opponent in Seattle Friday.

These teams don’t waste any time studying their opponents.

— Iowa State point guard Keshon Gilbert is out for the NCAA Tournament; he missed four of the Cyclones’ last seven games, and Iowa State went 1-3 in those games.

— Clemson-McNeese State is a first round game; McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager at Clemson, later a grad assistant coach there.

Wade’s Wikipedia page says that he is the new coach at NC State, which might be wishful thinking by whoever posted that note.

— Teams that played on Sunday who have a tournament game this Thursday:
VCU, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, all in Denver, in high altitude. Tennessee plays in Kentucky.

Sunday/Thursday is a quick turnaround, especially if a lot of travel is involved.

— Arkansas-Kansas; John Calipari vs Bill Self, with the winner probably playing against Rick Pitino’s St John’s team. Lot of Hall of Famers in that bracket. 

St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000, which is also the last time they won the Big East tournament (before this week).

— With no Pac-12 this season or next, there was an extra at-large bid this season; two years from now, the Pac-12 will be back, and the tournament will have one fewer at-large team. 

— Famous birthdays, March 17th:
Cito Gaston, 81
Patrick Duffy, 75
Kurt Russell, 74
Gary Sinise, 70

Danny Ainge, 66
Arye Gross, 65
Sam Bowie, 64
Rob Lowe, 61

Kyle Korver, 44
Juan Lagares, 36
Cordarrelle Patterson, 34
Rhys Hoskins, 32

— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament; Texas was the lowest ranked of the 14- they play Xavier in a play-in game in Dayton.

— #1-seeds won 17 of the 31 conference tournaments this year.

Some trends on conferences in the NCAA’s:
— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round games.

New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, San Diego State are in this year’s tournament.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round games; Yale is a 7.5-point underdog against Texas A&M Thursday.

— CAA teams are 0-11 SU in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, 0-5 ATS in the last five. NC-Wilmington is a 15.5-point underdog against Texas Tech Thursday night.

— Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in their last ten first round games; the last five years, five different schools have represented the Big West.

Was surprised to see that Cal-San Diego is only a 3.5-point underdog vs Michigan in their first round game. This is the first year the Tritons were eligible for March Madness- they’re 30-4 and have won their last 15 games. They’re 3-2 vs teams ranked in the top 100.

— There must be a lot of $$$ involved with the advertising involved in these bracket pools; ESPN pushes their contest pretty hard.

— I’m off to do more studying; will be back tomorrow with some more knowledge. 

Lot of conference tournaments going on; here is what we know:

— SEC
Alabama 99, Kentucky 70
Crimson Tide outscored Kentucky 54-35 in second half.
Alabama had three subs score in double figures
Crimson Tide is shooting 59.9% inside the arc (#3)

Auburn 62, Ole Miss 57
Fewest points Auburn has scored since January 25 vs Tennessee
Game was tied with 6:26 left; then Auburn went on a 10-1 run.
Teams shot a combined 10-44 on the arc.

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Auburn-Tennessee…….Florida-Alabama

— Big X
Arizona 86, Texas Tech 80
Caleb Love scored 27 points for Arizona.
Wildcats shot 8-16 on the arc, scored 1.26 points/possession.
Texas Tech’s best player was sick, barfing during timeouts. 

Saturday’s final: Arizona-Houston

— ACC
Duke 74, North Carolina 71
Duke star Flagg didn’t play, is done for the weekend.
Duke led 45-24 at halftime.
Teams combined to shoot 8-39 on the arc.
Blue Devils are 26-1 since Thanksgiving.

Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Cardinals led 69-54 with 3:24 left, held on for dear life.
Lousiville’s wins last two nights were by 2-3 points.
Cardinals have won 11 games in a row.
Loss snaps Clemson’s nine-game winning streak.

Duke-Louisville is Saturday’s ACC final

— Big East
St John’s 79, Marquette 63
6-9 Ejiofor scored 33 points, had nine rebounds.
Marquette led 24-9 early on, 37-35 at halftime.
Marquette is 5-7 in its last 12 games.
St John’s is in Big East final for first time in 25 years.

Creighton 71, UConn 62
Bluejays had only 4 turnovers, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Creighton was 13-18 on foul line, UConn 2-4
Creighton is shooting 60.6% inside arc (#1 in country)

St John’s-Creighton is the Big East final Saturday

— Big 18
All four games Friday were decided by 10+ points. 

Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
Badgers shot 19-32 on arc, 12-17 in first half.
UCLA split its last eight games.

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Wisconsin-Michigan State
Michigan-Maryland

— Mountain West
Boise State 72, New Mexico 69
#1-seed New Mexico led 34-28 at halftime.
Boise State shot 64% inside the arc.
Broncos won 11 of their last 13 games.

Saturday’s final is Boise State-Colorado State

— Big West
Cal-San Diego 69, Cal-Santa Barbara 51
Gauchos led 27-26 at halftime.
Cal-San Diego shot 62.5% inside the arc.
Tritons have won their last 14 games. 

Saturday’s final is Cal-San Diego/Cal-Irvine.

— Famous birthdays, March 15th:
Judd Hirsch, 90
Mike Kruczek, 72
Clay Matthews, 69
Stump Mitchell, 66

Harold Baines, 66
Terry Cummings, 64
Eva Longoria, 50
Kevin Youkilis, 46

Tavon Austin, 35
Nick Ahmed, 35
Taylor Heinicke, 32
Matt Gay, 31

— American
Memphis 83, Wichita State 80
Wichita led 20-10 early in the game.
PJ Haggerty scored 42 points, shot 16-23 inside arc.
Tigers have won six in row, 14 of last 15 games.

Bubble teams all over America are rooting for Memphis; if they lose in this tournament, whoever wins AAC tournament would be a bid stealer. 

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Memphis-Tulane…….North Texas-UAB

— MAC
Miami OH 72, Kent State 64
Kent State led by a hoop with 4:57 left to play.
Golden Flashes were only 11-21 on the foul line.
Miami is 19-4 in its last 23 games.

Saturday’s final is #1-seed Akron vs Miami.

— Atlantic 15
St Joe’s 73, Dayton 68 OT
Dayton led by 4 with 0:18 left in regulation.
St Joe’s was 20-28 on foul line, Flyers 7-11.
Hawks have won seven of their last eight games.

Saturday’s semi-finals: Saint Louis-VCU…….St Joe’s-George Mason

— Conference USA
Jacksonville State 70, Middle Tennessee 68
Middle Tennessee played a 2pm game, after playing a 2OT game Thursday nite
Blue Raiders shot 11-24 on arc, but were only 9-17 on foul line.
Jax State senior G Pierre played all 40:00, scored 19 points.

Saturday’s final: #1-seed Liberty vs Jacksonville State

— WAC
Grand Canyon 75, Cal Baptist 66
Grand Canyon led 25-16 at half; 2nd half had a faster pace.
Grand Canyon is trying to win WAC tourney for third year in a row.
Antelopes have won eight of their last nine games.

Saturday’s final: Utah Valley-Grand Canyon

— Metro Atlantic
Iona 81, Quinnipiac 73
Iona shot 59.2% inside arc, upsets top-seeded Quinnipiac
Iona has been in six of last eight NCAA tournaments.
Quinnipiac shot 9-29 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 29.8% on arc (#346)

Saturday’s final: Iona-Mount St Mary’s

— As I started writing this, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in his first at-bat of the 2025 Cactus League; Ohtani was a 50-50 guy last year, but this year he figures to get back on the mound too.

Ohtani is 38-19, 3.01 in 86 MLB starts, with a 1.08 WHIP; he is coming back from Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers have spent a boatload of $$$; they’re favored to win the World Series again this year. It has been 25 years since a team won the World Series two years in a row.

— Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765M contract with the Mets, who went 89-73 last year but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in six games. Mets have Lindor-Soto-Alonso leading off their lineup, but how good is their batting order after that? 

— New York’s American League team hasn’t won a World Series since 2009, despite having a huge payroll every year; last year was first time since ’09 they were in a World Series. They’ve made the playoffs seven of last eight years, but now they lost Soto, but added Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Max Fried.

— Tampa Bay Rays will play their home games this year in a minor league stadium in Tampa, because the Trop was wicked by a hurricane last year. Rays will play ton of home games early in the season, to avoid the humid summer weather in Florida. 

A’s will be playing home games in Sacramento’s minor league stadium the next three years; hopefully they’ll move to Las Vegas for the ’28 season, but since their owner is a cheap bastard, no one knows for sure.

Summer weather in Sacramento is said to be a lot warmer than Oakland, so A’s home games figure to be more high scoring than previous years.

— Still unclear what the Red Sox lineup is going to look like; they signed Alex Bregman, but also have Rafael Devers- they both play third base. Devers is banged-up right now; when he gets back  in the lineup, does Bregman move to 2B? Does Devers move to 1B?

Boston seems to have an excess of hitters; will they trade one for a pitcher (Dylan Cease)?

— Pittsburgh haven’t had a winning season since 2018, haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, but their pitching rotation is pretty good; too bad they won’t spend $$$ on some hitters- they could compete for a playoff spot in a less-than-stellar NL Central.

— Wish they’d put in the ball/strike replay challenge thing in for this season; it seems to be a very good idea, from what I’ve seen in spring training. MLB and the players’ union could get together and make this happen right?

— Famous birthdays, March 1st:
Elvin Bethea, 79
Brian Winters, 73
Ron Howard, 71
Catherine Bach, 71
George Eads, 58

Chris Webber, 52
Trevor Cahill, 37
Michael Conforto, 32

Tyreek Hill, 31
Ja’Maar Chase, 25

— Watching spring training games is fun (to a point); watch lot of Dodger games, listen to Rick Monday do analysis- he does radio during the season. He is 79 years old, has a great voice.

When I was a little kid, Rick Monday was an outfielder for the A’s; he was the first player taken in the 1965 amateur draft, which was the first-ever amateur draft.

He played 19 years in the majors and since has had an excellent broadcasting career.

— Read that All-Stars will be wearing their team’s uniform during the All-Star Game this year, which is a good thing, a throwback to the old days.

— Jose Altuve is going to play LF for the Astros this year; Christian Walker will play 1B, Isaac Paredes will replace Bregman at 3B, and it looks like Brendan Rodgers will play 2B.

Altuve’s defensive metrics at 2B weren’t good last year, so they’re moving him to the outfield. Left field in Houston’s stadium isn’t big; am curious where he’ll play in road games.

— Will Nolan Arenado remain a Cardinal, or get traded to a contender? He is on the books for $32M this year, $27M next year, $15M in 2027; he said he wanted to get traded to a contender, but apparently vetoed a trade to Houston.

Cardinals don’t appear to be a contender this season, so unloading a big contract makes some sense for St Louis.

— Mike Trout is moving to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier; Trout will be 34 in August, has played in only 266 games the last four years, 41% of the Angels’ games. Not ideal for a guy who is on the books for $37M a year through 2030.

— Terry Francona is the new manager in Cincinnati; Reds have made the playoffs only once since 2013, the short season in 2020, but Francona is a Hall of Fame-level manager, winning two World Series in Boston, winning an AL title in Cleveland.

Reds have had three winning seasons the last five years, but were 77-85 last year, going 15-28 in one-run games. Reverse that stat, and Cincinnati would’ve been a playoff team.

— Arizona Diamondbacks lost the World Series in 2023, then won five more games last year than they did in ’23, but narrowly missed the playoffs.

Arizona added P Corbin Burnes, 1B Josh Naylor, but lost Christian Walker; they’re trying hard to win, but being a division rival of the Dodgers can be discouraging. More than likely, they’ll be hunting for a Wild Card spot, like the one they got in 2023. 

Mariano Rivera is the only Hall of Famer who was elected unanimously.

Here are 13 Hall of Famers who also should’ve been elected unanimously…….

13) Hank Aaron
755 home runs, 2,297 RBI, 6,856 total bases. He wasn’t unanimous?
Knocked in 100+ runs in eleven different seasons.
won World Series ring in 1957 with Milwaukee Braves.
OPS didn’t exist when he played, but his career OPS was .928.

12) Willie Mays
660 home runs, 1,909 RBI, won 12 Gold Gloves; who didn’t vote for him?
Had five seasons with a slugging %age over .600.
In 1954, he hit .345 with a 1.078 OPS, after he was in the military during the ’53 season.
Giants also won the World Series in 1954.

11) Ted Williams
.344 career batting average, .482 on-base %age, career OPS of 1.116.
In 1941, he hit .406, playing 143 games, with 147 walks.
He hit .316 in his last season, when he was 41 years old.
Missed three years due to military service; he was a fighter pilot.

10) Babe Ruth
714 home runs, 2,214 RBI, career OPS of 1.164
From 1920-31, he hit 40+ home runs in 10 of 12 seasons.
Hit 15 homers, had 33 RBI in 41 World Series games.
Oh yeah, he was 94-46, 2.28 in 147 starts as a pitcher.

9) Bob Gibson
251-174 with a 2.92 ERA in 482 career starts (255 complete games)
in 1968, he was 22-9, 1.12 in 34 starts, with 13 shutouts.
made All-Star team seven years in row, from 1964-70.
won two World Series MVP’s (1964/1967)

8) Rickey Henderson
scored 2,295 runs, stole 1,406 bases, both the most ever.
drew 2,190 walks, had a career on-base %age of .401
won two World Series rings, with A’s/Blue Jays.
scored 47 runs in 60 postseason games.
played for nine teams in his 25-year career. 

7) Mickey Mantle
536 home runs, 1,509 RBI, a career on-base %age of .421
won seven World Series rings.
scored 42 runs, had 40 RBI in 65 playoff games.
had eight seasons with an OPS over 1.000.

— Famous birthdays, February 11th:
Tina Louise, 91
James Silas, 76
Carey Lowell, 64
Jennifer Aniston, 56

Damian Lewis, 54
Jacque Vaughn, 50
Dansby Swanson, 31
Josh Jacobs, 27

6) Tom Seaver
was 311-205, 2.86 in 647 career starts (231 career games)
made 12 All-Star Games, won three Cy Young awards.
led the Mets to the 1969 World Series title.

5) Ichiro Suzuki
career batting average of .311, scored 1,420 runs.
made 10 All-Star games, won ten Gold Gloves
was Rookie of Year/MVP in the same year (2001)

4) Greg Maddux
was 355-227, 3.16 in 740 starts in his 23-year career.
helped Braves win the 1995 World Series
made 8 All-Star games, won 18 Gold Gloves

3) Stan Musial
.331 career batting average, career OPS of .976.
made seven batting titles, won three World Series titles.
had 3,630 hits, knocked in 1,951 runs in his career.

2) Frank Robinson
won an MVP in both leagues, for Reds/Orioles.
Hit 586 career home runs, had an OPS .926.
from 1960-62, had three years in row with an OPS of 1.000+.

1) Steve Carlton
won 329 career games in 709 starts (254 complete games)
won two World Series rings, won four Cy Young awards.
in 1972, he was 27-10, 1.97 in 41 starts for a Phillies team that went 59-97. 

Here is my list of the 13 best QBs of the Super Bowl era; I left Johnny Unitas out, because he was at the end of his career when I saw him play, couldn’t really evaluate him. Otto Graham was also really, really good, but he retired five years before I was born.

Make your own list; this was harder than I’d thought it would be, to get them ranked where I think they should be.

13) Kurt Warner
Started three Super Bowls for two different teams……

Before the Rams won the Super Bowl 25 years ago, in Warner’s first year as an NFL starter, they hadn’t made the playoffs in ten years.

Warner led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl in the 2008 season; before that year, Arizona also hadn’t made the playoffs in ten years.

Not only did he lead two franchises to a Super Bowl, he transformed two losing franchises into conference champions. Thats why he’s a Hall of Famer.

12) Terry Bradshaw
121-56 as an NFL starter, 14-5 in playoff games; was the underrated field general for a Steeler team that won four Super Bowls in a six-year span.

He played when teams ran ball more and threw less, but his TD pass to Franco Harris in a 1972 playoff game (the Immaculate Reception) is one of the most famous plays in NFL history.

Bradshaw won and he won a lot; he parlayed that winning into a TV career that is still going on.

Bradshaw played in college at Louisiana Tech; the QB at Tech before him was Phil Robertson, the father on the TV show Duck Dynasty.

11) Jim Kelly
110-67 as an NFL starter, won four consecutive AFC titles. Was 9-8 in playoff games, albeit 0-4 in Super Bowls. His teams were great fun to watch.

He also went 23-15 with the USFL’s Houston Gamblers.

He threw for 35,467 yards in the NFL, 237 TD’s. 

10) Matthew Stafford
The two greatest seasons by a receiver, in terms of yardage, in NFL history:
1,964 yards- Calvin Johnson, 2012 Lions
1,947 yards- Cooper Kupp, 2021 Rams

The common thread between those two seasons? Stafford was the QB both years.

From 2014-18, Lions were 36-28 with Stafford at QB under coach Jim Caldwell, but he got fired and they stupidly hired Matt Patricia as coach, because he worked with Belichick/Brady in New England. Matt Millen was the GM then; he wasn’t good at his job. 

Three years later, Detroit traded Stafford to the Rams; he is 5-2 in playoff games with LA, with a Super Bowl title, and he ain’t done yet.

9) Drew Brees
Played five years for the Chargers, 15 years for the Saints; he was 181-123 as a starter, 9-9 in the playoffs, winning a Super Bowl for New Orleans 15 years ago.

As a rookie, Brees backed up Doug Flutie as the Chargers’ QB.

In 2005, Brees tore up his shoulder, when he was hit by John Lynch, who is now GM of the 49ers; a free agent, Saints/Dolphins were interested in signing him. 

Miami’s doctors wouldn’t endorse signing Brees, because of his injured shoulder, so Miami signed Daunte Culpepper instead, and Brees signed with the Saints.

Dolphins went 6-10 that next year; their coach quit and went back to a college job, where he became arguably the greatest college coach ever.

Drew Brees’ shoulder is why Nick Saban became the coach at Alabama.

8) Dan Marino
He was 155-103 as a starter, 8-10 in playoff games.

Marino threw for 61,361 yards, 420 TD’s. Tremendous passer.

Somehow, he was the 27th pick of the 1983 draft, the sixth (6th!!!) QB taken that year. Three of those six QB’s are in the Hall of Fame.

The other QB’s picked in the first round that year:
John Elway
Todd Blackledge
Jim Kelly
Tony Eason
Ken O’Brien
Dan Marino…….every team in the AFC East picked a QB that year. 

—  Famous birthdays, February 6th
Mike Farrell, 86
Richie Zisk, 76
John Dutton, 74
Tom Tupa, 59

Kris Humphries, 40
Pavin Smith, 29
Kevon Looney, 29
Adley Rutschman, 27

7) Bart Starr
Won five NFL titles, including the first two Super Bowls.
Was 9-1 in playoff games, back when there weren’t as many playoff games. 

Green Bay was 105-35 with Vince Lombardi as coach; Starr was his field general.

His only playoff loss was 17-13 to the Eagles in the 1960 NFL title game.
I decided not to mention that he ruined my 8th birthday party, but he did, when Green Bay beat the Rams 28-7 in the playoffs. There is a chance I was a weird kid.

6) Peyton Manning
200-92 as an NFL starter, 14-13 in playoff games. He threw for 71,940 yards, 539 TD’s.

He won Super Bowls for the Colts/Broncos; he and Tom Brady are the only guys on this list who won a Super Bowl for multiple teams. 

He also threw for 11,201 yards, 89 TD’s in college at Tennessee; the QB at Tennessee before him was baseball Hall of Famer Todd Helton. As excellent as Manning was, the Vols won a national title the year after he left, with Tee Martin under center.

Manning was 32-32 in his first four years as a starter, but then he won 10+ games the next 12 years he played. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021, the first year he was eligible.

5) Roger Staubach
96-35 as an NFL starter, 11-6 in playoff games.
Played at the Naval Academy, served four years in the Navy after that; he didn’t play in the NFL until he was 27 years old, didn’t become a full-time starter until he was 31. Dallas was 45-14 in his starts his last four years in the NFL.

He won two Super Bowls for the Cowboys (1971/1977 seasons); he was so universally respected, thought that if he had wanted to become President, he would’ve been.

Today (Wednesday) is his 83rd birthday.

4) Joe Montana
Won four Super Bowls with the 49ers, one of them before they had the great WR Jerry Rice. 

Why is the NFL Draft awesome? Montana was a 3rd round draft pick, the 82nd player taken in the 1979 draft. Go figure.

Montana ruined a lot of my Sunday afternoons; he won back/back titles in 1988/89, but lost the NFC Championship Game 15-13 to the Giants in 1990, when they were trying to three-peat, like the Chiefs are trying to do Sunday.

3) Patrick Mahomes
When I do this list ten years from now, chances are Mahomes will be #1 on the list.

He is 17-3 in playoff games, winning three Super Bowls, and he is only 29. His career record is 106-26; before he got the Chiefs, from 1994-2016, the Chiefs were 1-8 in playoff games.

Why is the NFL Draft awesome? Mahomes was the 10th player taken in the 2017 draft; he didn’t play until the last game of his rookie season. He’s made up for it since. 

By the way, Bears had the #3 pick in 2017; they traded two extra draft picks to the 49ers to move up to the #2 spot, so they could draft QB Mitch Trubisky.

Whoops. 

2) Tom Brady
Brady has accomplished the most of any NFL QB ever, winning seven Super Bowls. He was 286-65 as an NFL starter, 35-13 in playoff games. 

He threw for 89,214 yards, 649 TD’s. Not bad for a 6th round draft pick. He’s become pretty good as a TV analyst, too.

That said, if we were choosing up sides on the playground and I had the first pick of any QB ever, I’d choose the last guy on this list. 

1) John Elway
Elway was 162-89-1 as an NFL starter, 14-7 in playoff games; he won the Super Bowl the last two years he played in the NFL. He was mobile, he was clutch, throwing for 51,475 yards, 300 TD’s in his career. He also played pro baseball for a year, in the NY-Penn League. 

Baltimore Colts drafted Elway with the first pick of the 1983 draft; they traded him to Denver, four years before the Colts moved to Indianapolis. Mike Pagel/Art Schlichter played QB for the Colts after that, a big part of why the Colts wound up moving.

Remember the Stanford Band play in 1982, when Stanford led 20-19 with 0:04 left, but Cal ran the kickoff back for TD, while the Stanford Band marched on the field before the game was over?

That was John Elway’s last college game; the loss prevented Stanford from going to a bowl that year. Elway never played in a bowl (they were a lot fewer back then) other than the Super Bowl. 

Before we get into the list of my favorite Super Bowls, I’d like to recommend a golf simulator/sports bar you should visit.

The Bunker recently opened another location in Latham, on Route 2 next to the Scarlet Knife restaurant. It is a very good place; they have golf simulators, good food, a ton of TVs to watch ballgames. The people are great; book your next party there, you’ll be glad you did.

Now, on to my 13 favorite Super Bowls……not the 13 BEST, my 13 FAVORITE Super Bowls

13) Super Bowl XV (1980 season)
Raiders 27, Eagles 10
One of two Super Bowl wins for Jim Plunkett.
Oakland was +4 in turnovers.
Kenny King caught an 80-yard TD pass to put Oakland up 14-0. 

Dick Vermeil coached the Eagles in this game; had Philadelphia won, he might not have come back to coaching in 1997, after a 15-year absence— he won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 1999. More on that later…….

12) Super Bowl XXXVII (2002)
Buccaneers 48, Oakland 21
Jon Gruden coached the Bucs in this game; he coached the Raiders from 1998-2001.
Not often a coach works a Super Bowl against the team he coached the year before.
Tampa Bay led 20-3 at halftime.
Buccaneers ran three INT’s back for touchdowns. 

11) Super Bowl LII (2017)
Eagles 41, Patriots 33
Eagles outscored New England 9-0 over the final 2:21.
Nick Foles threw for 373 yards, 3 TD’s; he even caught a TD pass.
Corey Clement caught four passes for 100 yards and a TD.
Tom Brady threw for 505 yards in a losing cause.

10) Super Bowl IV (1969)
Chiefs 23, Vikings 7
KC coach Hank Stram was miked for this game by NFL Films.
“Keep on matriculating the ball down the field, boys!!!”
Chiefs were a 12-point underdog in this game.
Minnesota turned ball over five times (minus-4)

9) Super Bowl XLII (2007)
Giants 17, Patriots 14
New England would’ve had a perfect 19-0 season if they won this game.
Patriots led 7-3 after three quarters.
Plaxico Burress caught a 13-yard TD pass with 0:35 left for the win.
Giants outgained New England, 338-274

8) Super Bowl LVII (2022)
Chiefs 38, Eagles 35
Chiefs kicked a 27-yard FG with 0:08 left for the win.
Philly led 24-14 at halftime.
Eagles were 11-18 on 3rd down, 2-2 in 4th down.
Eagles outgained Kansas City, 417-340

7) Super Bowl XXXV (2000)
Ravens 34, Giants 7
Got my dad a ticket to see this game, on the condition that he call me when he got back to the condo he was renting in Florida. He said he a good time, even though he was a Giants’ fan, and that made it worth every penny.

— Famous birthdays, January 27th:
John Lowenstein, 78
Mimi Rogers, 69
Cris Collinsworth, 66
Matt Stover, 57

Bruce Gradkowski, 42
Julio Teheran, 34
Bryan Reynolds, 30
Luis Ortiz, 26

6) Super Bowl LIV (2019)
Chiefs 31, 49ers 20
Any day the 49ers lose is a good day in my house.
49ers led 20-10 after the third quarter.
Damien Williams had 133 total yards, two TD’s.

5) Super Bowl LVIII (2023)
Chiefs 25, 49ers 22 OT
Four years later: same teams, same result.
Brock Purdy was SF’s QB; Jimmy Garoppolo was the QB in 2019.
49ers led 10-3 at halftime.
Chiefs forced OT on a field goal with 0:03 left.

4) Super Bowl XLIII (2008)
Steelers 27, Cardinals 23
Pittsburgh led 17-7 at the half, after a 100-yard pick-6.
Kurt Warner threw 64-yard TD pass with 2:35 left; Arizona led 23-20.
Steelers scored TD with 0:35 left for the win.
Cardinals outgained Pittsburgh, 407-292.

3) Super Bowl XIV (1979)
Steelers 31, Rams 19
Rams led 19-17 after three quarters.
It was only 54 degrees in Pasadena for this game.
Rams were +2 in turnovers, but were outgained, 393-301.
This was Steelers’ 4th Super Bowl title in six years.

2) Super Bowl LVI (2021)
Rams 23, Bengals 20
Bengals led 20-16 after three quarters.
Stafford threw TD pass to Kupp with 1:25 left for the win.
Rams won despite being minus-2 in turnovers.
Game was played at SoFi Stadium, the Rams’ home field.

1) Super Bowl XXXIV (1999)
Rams 23, Titans 16
Hall of Fame Kurt Warner threw 73-yard TD pass to Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce with 1:25 left.
Warner threw for 404 yards and two TD’s.
Rams led 16-0 late in third quarter; Titans tried game with 2:12 left.
Rams led 9-0 at the half, with three field goals, all less than 30 yards. 

I love game shows; grew up watching them when I was a kid and think more of them should be on TV now, instead of the mindless talk shows with obnoxious people yelling at each other.

Thursday night, CBS is bringing back Hollywood Squares, a great game show that was always on at 11:30 in the morning when I was a kid, just before Jeopardy!

Here are my favorite game shows of all-time……….

First of all, The Gong Show wasn’t really a game show; it was American Idol long before that show was on TV, but it was great fun to watch.

People came on to sing/play music; very few of them were any good. Three celebrity judges were on the stage; any of them could hit the big gong and send the performer packing. The ones who survived thru their song got scores and at the end of the show, someone won a prize.

Chuck Barris was the host; he invented The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, and as a host, he was…….different, possibly stoned half the time.

Anyway, if The Gong Show classified as a game show, it would be #1 on this list, but it doesn’t.

13) Newlywed Game- Hosted by the sarcastic Bob Eubanks, who was very good. Married couples competed with each other to see how much they really know about each other.

All the wives would go off-stage and Eubanks would ask the husbands questions,, then the wives came back and were supposed to provide the same answer as their spouse. Then the husbands left and the same thing happened; whoever won usually got a stove or some other household appliance, “picked specially for you……”

There was a lot of unintentional comedy on this show.

12) Family Feud- Think this one is still on with Steve Harvey as host, but when Richard Dawson was the host back in the day, it was at its peak.

Two families compete by trying to outguess the other about survey results; someone would give a terrible answer, and they’d get dirty looks from their teammates.

11) Let’s Make a Deal- This show is still on with Wayne Brady as host; when I was a kid, Monte Hall was host. His daughter is the actress Joanna Gleason (Kevin Kline’s wife in Last Vegas)

Audience contestants picked at random, often dressed in ridiculous costumes, try to win cash or prizes by choosing curtain number #1, 2 or 3. When they picked the curtain, before they saw what was behind the curtain, the host would offer them $$$ or prizes to trade for what was a behind the curtain.

“You can take this $200, or take whatever is behind curtain #2, where Carol Merrill is standing”

Sometimes the contestant cleaned up; sometimes, they traded a car for a case of canned squid.

Seriously.

10) The Price Is Right- This show has been on TV for over 50 years; contestants compete for prizes and cash, including cars and vacations, in games that test their knowledge of consumer pricing. Bob Barker was the host for over 40 years; Drew Carey is the host now.

The showcase is at the end; contestants guess the price of their prizes; their guess can’t go over the actual price, or they lose. Your guess could miss by only $1, but if it was over, you lost.

9) Joker’s Wild- Jack Barry and later Bill Cullen hosted this show for 20 years; contestants answered questions on a wide variety of topics, with the prize money determined by a slot machine-style device.

When they hit the button the slot machine started; if the host said…..”Joker, joker….and a triple!!!” that was going to be a really big prize.

8) Jeopardy!- First Art Fleming, then Alex Trebek hosted the smartest of all game shows, with actual difficult questions and smart people competing for $$$. If a person won five days in a row, they went into the Tournament of Champions at the end of the year.

When I was a kid this show wasn’t my favorite; I didn’t know the right questions.

In the movie Airplane 2, the plane is in trouble and one of the passengers says out loud “We’re in real jeopardy now!!!!”

They show Art Fleming at the front of the plane with the Jeopardy! board and he says “Airplane Disasters for $100” and they say the name of the airplane. Very funny scene.

— Famous birthdays, January 10th:
JK Simmons, 69
Stan Javier, 61
Muggsy Bogues, 60

Joely Richardson, 60
David Costabile, 58
Chad Johnson, 47

Marcus Peters, 32
Kerris Dorsey, 27
Alek Manoah, 27

7) $100,000 Pyramid- Dick Clark was the original host; two contestants, each with a celebrity partner, must guess words from their partners’ clues; then the roles are reversed. Winners face the pyramid, where they to cash in the big prize.

This is an excellent game; Michael Strahan is the host now. People giving the clues would get flustered when their partner couldn’t get the right word. They’d try to use voice inflections as a hint.

6) Gambit- Two married couples played blackjack against each other; host Wink Martindale asked a series of toss-up questions, usually multiple-choice or true-false.

The first couple who buzzed-in and correctly answered the question won control of the top card from a deck of playing cards. An incorrect answer awarded control of the card to the other couple.

The first card of the game was revealed before the question was asked. Every other card was presented face-down and was turned up once the couple in control decided who should get it.

If a couple went over 21 and lost, Martindale would say something like: “Too much!!! and the game goes to the Ostranders!!!”

5) Match Game- When I was in high school, Match Game came on every afternoon, just after The Price Is Right. Match Game was a simpler game, a lot more laughter involved.

Six celebrities were on the panel, with Gene Rayburn as host; he would say a sentence with one word left out- the contestant would fill in the blank, and so would the celebrities. Then the other contestant got a different sentence; whoever got the most points won.

Regulars were Richard Dawson, Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly; the other three people usually didn’t give very good answers. I’m not sure I ever saw Joyce Bulifant match an answer.

Very good game.

4) Wheel of Fortune- The longest-running syndicated game show in America, with over 8,000 episodes taped. Wheel of Fortune is based on hangman; in each round, three players compete to be the first to guess the answer to a word puzzle- they spin the wheel to determine how much $$$ they’d get for each letter they could could uncover.

You didn’t want to spin the wheel and have it land on “bankrupt” Not good.

Pat Sajak hosted this show for over 40 years, taking over for Chuck Woolery; Vanna White is still the letter-turned on the show, with Ryan Seacrest the new host.

There was a time when Sajak left to host a talk-show; former Chargers kicker Rolf Benirschke was the host during that time.

3) Password- Two teams, each composed of a celebrity and contestant, attempt to convey mystery words to each other using only single-word clues, in order to win cash prizes.

There is a great episode of The Odd Couple, where Oscar/Felix are a team on Password, playing against Betty White— her husband was Allen Ludden, the host of Password.

Felix winds up screwing it up because…..well, he was Felix, but it was a very funny episode.

2) Concentration- Contestants matched prizes hidden behind squares on a 30-square game board, which would then reveal portions of a puzzle underneath for the contestants to solve.

If a contestant matched which prize was under two squares, they would get the prize and those parts of the puzzle would be exposed. Whoever solved the puzzle won the game.

This was an unusual gameshow; the contestants had to really think and remember stuff.

Hugh Downs was the host, before he moved on to the Today Show.

1) Hollywood Squares- Contestants played tic-tac-toe with a celebrity in each other nine squares; the celebrities would be asked questions, and the contestant had to agree/disagree with the answer given. If they were right, they get ether their letter; if not, the opponent got a letter.

Best part of the show were the snappy responses celebrities would give before they gave their real answers. Paul Lynde in the center square was especially good at this.

Peter Marshall was the host, maybe the best game show host ever; he just died last summer, at age 98.

Am looking forward to the new edition of Hollywood Squares tonight.

Also, in addition to Chuck Barris, the team of Mark Goodson/Bill Todman created a lot of these shows; would be remiss not to mention their names, to thank them for their work. 

— Since the NFL moved to a 16-game schedule in 1978, 168 teams started a season 1-4; of those 168 teams, only 11 of them (6.5%) made the playoffs.

There were six of those 1-4 (or worse) teams this year; the LA Rams won the NFC West after starting out 1-4, so make it 12 of 174 teams.

Impressive job by Sean McVay and the players to stay focused and post an excellent comeback season.

— After two weeks in Las Vegas, it is good to be home again; Southwest Airlines reinstated the Albany-Las Vegas non-stops, which makes travel so much easier.

Las Vegas is always fascinating; you can bet on ANYTHING: Australian football, soccer from a number of countries, car racing, golf, tennis, you name it. A half hour before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the poker room at the Westgate had three tables going strong.

The fireworks display at midnight was also impressive.

Now I’m home and once I get caught up on laundry, shopping and organizing my mail, it is time to get back to work. At some point soon we’ll start posting write-ups on the five best college hoop games every day, plus other stats/notes from all over the country.

College basketball promises to be fun this season.

— Ole Miss 52, Duke 20
Duke’s QB bolted to greener pa$ture$, so this game sucked.
Ole Miss had a pick-6; Duke ran a kickoff back for a touchdown.
Ole Miss QB Dart threw for 404 yards and four TD’s.
Total yards: Ole Miss 589, Duke 280

The guy who was supposed to be Duke’s QB this year got poached by Notre Dame; Duke poached Tulane’s QB for next year- they’re paying him $4M a year for two years. 

Seriously, they are.

— Notre Dame 23, Georgia 10
Notre Dame scored 17 points in a 0:54 span of late 2nd/early3rd quarter.
Notre Dame plays Penn State in the national semi-finals Thursday in Miami.
Soph QB Stockton was 20-34/234 passing in his first college start.

— Lebron James’ younger son Bryce James committed to go to Arizona next year; Bryce isn’t a highly touted recruit- he scored 6.6 ppg in AAU play last summer, but he knows some players who are highly touted recruits, and in this day/age, that matters. 

— By the way, starting next season, college basketball teams can have 15 players on scholarship; right now, the limit is 13.

— In the last five years, 13 of the 18 ACC basketball teams have changed coaches.

— Las Vegas airport was really crowded Thursday and security was tighter than usual, after the shenanigans earlier this week. They had a dog trolling around the security line.

— Famous birthdays, January 3rd:
Victoria Principal, 75
Mel Gibson, 69
Jim Everett, 62

Danica McKellar, 50
Eli Manning, 43
Doug McDermott, 33

— Cal-Irvine 98, Cal Poly 89 OT
Anteaters were 28-31 on foul line, Cal Poly 8-11
Irvine led by 16 midway thru first half.
Cal Poly is much-improved this year, but they’re 1-42 in last 43 Big West games. 

— Illinois 109, Oregon 77
Impressive road win for the 10-3 Illini, who are only 4-3 vs top 100 teams.
Illinois has the #5 eFG% defense in country.

— Detroit Mercy 78, Robert Morris 76 OT
Colonials led by 14 late in first half.
Robert Morris lost despite grabbing 18 offensive rebounds.
Teams combined to shoot 7-35 on the arc.

— Western Kentucky 71, Liberty 70
Flames led 35-21 at halftime, at home.
Hilltoppers were 10-19 on foul line, Liberty 8-16. No bueno.

— Idaho State 72, Northern Arizona 67
Lumberjacks led by 19 with 13:32 left in the game.
Dylan Darling had 20 points, 7 assists for the Bengals.

— Cal-Santa Barbara has five foreign players on its basketball team; if you’ve ever been on the UCSB campus, you’d think recruiting wouldn’t be a problem. When I was there, maybe half the cars in the parking lot had surfboards on them.

UCSB coach Joe Pasternack is married to the sister of ESPN announcer Roxy Bernstein.

— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 6-1 SU/6-1 ATS
ACC 2-10 SU/1-11 ATS
Big 18 8-4 SU/10-2 ATS

Big X 3-4 SU/3-4 ATS
C-USA 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
MAC 4-2 SU/4-1-1 ATS

M West 1-4 SU/1-4 ATS
SEC 7-6 SU/6-7 ATS
Sun Belt 3-3 SU/2-3-1 ATS

Favorites: 19-19-1 ATS
Totals: over 21-18  

13) “There’s no such thing as a sure thing, thats why they call it gambling.”
Oscar Madison, The Odd Couple

12) “I’ve got a trig midterm tomorrow and I’m being chased by Guido, the killer pimp.”
Miles, Risky Business

11) “You’re a goddamn quarterback! You know what that means? It’s the top spot, kid. It’s the guy who takes the fall. It’s the guy everybody’s looking at first – the leader of a team – who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. ‘Cause you make them believe. That’s a quarterback.”
Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday

10) “He’s a great player, but I don’t think we can get him in academically.”
Jerry Tarkanian, Blue Chips

9) “You just got lesson number one: don’t think. It can only hurt the ballclub.”
Kevin Costner, Bull Durham

8) “…..you find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game – life or football – the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second……”
Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday

7) “Listen, Lupus, you didn’t come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya? Now get your ass out there and do the best you can.”
Walter Matthau in The Bad News Bears

Famous birthdays, January 2nd:
Calvin Hill, 78
Jim Essian, 74
Edgar Martinez, 62

David Cone, 62
Christy Turlington, 56
Dax Shepard, 50

Kate Bosworth, 42
Fernando Tatis Jr, 26
Kyle Stowers, 26

6) “God likes me!!! He really, really likes me!!! What a day!!! What a fabulous day!!!”
Richard Dreyfuss in Let It Ride

5) “Being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It’s not about winning. It’s about you and your relationship with yourself, your family and your friends. Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down because you told them the truth…….”
Billy Bob Thornton, Friday Night Lights

4) “……here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.”
Mike McDermott, Rounders

3) “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”
Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

2) “Who’s the U-boat commander?”
Auto repair guy, in Risky Business, when the Tom Cruise’s father’s Porsche winds up in Lake Michigan, and then in a repair shop to be cleaned up

1) “Do whats in your heart, son. You’ll be fine.”
Robin Williams, from Good Will Hunting

— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 6-1 SU/6-1 ATS
ACC 2-9 SU/1-10 ATS
Big 18 8-4 SU/10-2 ATS

Big X 3-4 SU/3-4 ATS
C-USA 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
MAC 4-2 SU/4-1-1 ATS

M West 1-4 SU/1-4 ATS
SEC 6-5 SU/5-6 ATS
Sun Belt 3-3 SU/2-3-1 ATS

Favorites: 18-19-1 ATS
Totals: over 21-17  

— Happy New Year to all you readers out there; hope that 2025 is an excellent year for you. 

— Louisville 35, Washington 34
Down 35-28, Washington scored a TD with 0:09 left, went for 2 but failed.
Louisville opened the scoring with a pick-6 2:45 into the game.
Cardinals led 35-21 after the third quarter.
Louisville ran ball for 207 yards (6.3 yards/carry)

— Michigan 19, Alabama 13
This is the 2nd-biggest bowl upset (Michigan +16.5) of all-time.
Alabama lost games this year when favored by 22, 14, 16.5 points. Not ideal.
Michigan led 16-0 after the first quarter.
Total yardage: Alabama 260, Michigan 190. Ugly game.

— Illinois 21, South Carolina 17
Illinois scored game-winning TD with 7:29 left to play.
Illini led 7-3 at halftime.
Gamecocks were stopped on 7-yard line with 3:00 left in game.
South Carolina was 9-16 on third down, Illinois 8-12.

— LSU 44, Baylor 31
LSU’s first four drives: 26 plays, 209 yard, 21 points.
Tigers led 34-17 at halftime.
LSU scored on a pick-6 and a 95-yard kickoff return.
Baylor QB Robertson threw for 445 yards and two TD’s.

— Penn State 31, Boise State 14
Nittany Lions ran for 216 yards (5.3 yards/carry).
Penn State’s first two drives: 13 plays, 128 yards, 14 points.
PSU had 10 penalties for 98 yards, Boise 13 for 90 yards.
Boise’s star RB Jeanty had 30 carries for 104 yards

— Arizona State gave football coach Kenny Dillingham a new contract Friday, with a big raise; ASU won the Big 12 this year after being picked to finish 16th last summer. He was making $4.05M this year, but earned bonuses of $2.5M. He’ll be making a lot more now.

— Famous birthdays, January 1st:
Frank Langella, 87
Stephanie Faracy, 73
Bob Brudzinski, 70
Bob Owchinko, 70
Ronnie Lester, 66

Fernando Tatis, Sr, 50
Glen Davis, 39
Dallas Keuchel, 37
Tyler Higbee, 32
LaMonte Wade, 31

— West Virginia 62, Kansas 61
WVU never trailed; two of their best three players didn’t play.
Senior G Small scored 13 points, had 11 rebounds, six assists.
WVU was 4-6 on foul line, Kansas 19-21.

— North Texas 78, UAB 75
UAB led 48-31 at halftime.
They also blew a 27-point lead in an OT loss to Arkansas State
North Texas is 10-3; they’re #4 in country at forcing turnovers.

— Virginia 70, NC State 67
Wolfpack led 43-29 early in second half.
Virginia shot 60.7% inside the arc.
NC State is 3-5 in its last eight games.

— Creighton 57, St John’s 56
St John’s led by 11 early in the game.
Red Storm was only 2-9 on the arc; they shot 39% inside arc.
St John’s lost despite being +10 in turnovers (19-9)
Senior G Ashworth had 18 points, also had 10 turnovers.

— Wake Forest 81, Syracuse 71
Wake Forest was 9-19 on arc, Syracuse 5-22.
Syracuse led by six with 13:51 left to play.
Deacons are 10-4; they’re #43 in country in continuity.

— Utah State 69, Nevada 64
Wolf Pack led 33-28 at halftime.
Anderson scored 16 points in 25:00; he didn’t start.
Utah State is 13-1, 3-0 in MW, vs schedule #76.
Nevada is 8-6, 0-3 in MW, vs schedule #68

— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 6-1 SU/6-1 ATS
ACC 2-9 SU/1-10 ATS
Big 18 7-3 SU/9-1 ATS

Big X 3-3 SU/2-4 ATS
C-USA 1-3 SU/1-3 ATS
MAC 4-2 SU/4-1-1 ATS

M West 1-4 SU/1-4 ATS
SEC 5-5 SU/5-5 ATS
Sun Belt 3-3 SU/2-3-1 ATS

Favorites: 17-18-1 ATS
Totals: over 19-17  

— For the first time in six years, I’m spending Christmas in Las Vegas; been here for a few days already, things are quiet before Christmas. Has been fun watching games in the SuperBook at the Westgate Casino.

One of the best parts of being here is having conversations with total strangers in sportsbooks; we have more in common than what separates us.

Was talking to a guy Sunday who worked in the equipment room for the Cal Bears while Aaron Rodgers/Marshawn Lynch were playing there; he said Lynch was an awesome guy, talked to everyone. The guy’s brother had just won a ring in a WPT poker tournament; that was pretty cool to see.

Anyway, Las Vegas is fun; I’m waiting for everything to ramp back up Thursday; their great breakfast buffet and the NFL theater were shut down this weekend, though Sid’s Cafe is open, and that is also really good. Casinos do lot of repairs/renovations this time of year, when there are fewer guests around.

— Packers 34, Saints 0
This was the first shutout in the NFL this season.
Packers’ first three drives: 33 plays, 226 yards, 21 points.
Green Bay led 21-0 at the half; they clinched a playoff spot.
Packers won nine of last 11 games (5-0 ATS last five).
Green Bay is 10-0 when they allow less than 24 points.

Saints were outgained 404-196.
New Orleans is 3-3 SU/ATS since their coaching change.
Saints are 0-9 when they give up 20+ points.
#2 QB Rattler is 0-5 as a starter this year.
Saints are 1-3 SU/0-4 ATS in outdoor games this year. 

— Myrtle Beach Bowl
Tex-San Antonio 44, Coastal Carolina 15
Coastal looked like Wily Coyote chasing the Roadrunners around.
UTSA ran ball for 257 yards (8.3 yards/carry)
Roadrunners won four of their last five games.
Chanticleers lost six of their last eight games, after a 4-1 start.
Favorites are 4-1 ATS in this bowl.

— Idaho Potato Bowl
Northern Illinois 28, Fresno State 20 OT
Fresno State led 13-3 at halftime.
Both teams played backup QB’s in this game.
Huskies are 6-0 if they score 24+ points, 2-5 if they don’t.
Fresno lost four of its last five games.
Loss snaps Fresno’s 5-bowl winning streak.

— Fresno State’s QB this year, Mikey Keene, didn’t play in the bowl game Monday because he has bolted to Michigan. Keene has thrown for 8,245 career yards and 65 TDs in a college career; he played for Central Florida and Fresno.

— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 2-1 SU/2-1 ATS
ACC 0-3 SU/0-3 ATS
Big 18 2-1 SU/2-1 ATS

Big X 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
C-USA 1-2 SU/1-2 ATS
MAC 2-1 SU/2-0-1 ATS

M West 1-1 SU/1-1 ATS
SEC 2-1 SU/2-1 ATS
Sun Belt 2-2 SU/1-2-1 ATS

Favorites: 9-3-1 ATS
Totals: over 7-6

— Jets’ owner Woody Johnson is 77 years old; he has two teenage sons, because there are really rich guys out there with much younger, attractive wives- go figure.

Jets were trying to make a trade with Denver for WR Jerry Jeudy, but Woody Johnson put the kibosh on the deal, apparently because Jeudy’s ranking in the Madden video game wasn’t high enough— that knowledge came from Johnson’s 18-year old son, who is a freshman in college. 

Denver traded Jeudy to the Browns instead; he’s caught 72 passes for 1,072 yards this year.

If you’re wondering why the Jets haven’t been in the playoffs since 2010, look no further than a team having to get its trades approved by an 18-year old who plays video games.

Oy.

— Famous birthdays, December 24:
John D’Acquisto, 73
Paul Pressey, 66
Matt Passmore, 51
Ryan Seacrest, 50
Kevin Millwood, 50
Davante Adams, 32
William Contreras, 27

Masaya Nakamura, the guy who invented Pac-Man, would’ve turned 99 years old today.

I missed a birthday yesterday; Georgia football coach Kirby Smart turned 49.

— P Walker Buehler signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox for $21.05M; Buehler has made only 28 starts the last three years, but he helped the Dodgers win the World Series last season.

He is 30 years old, has a career record of 37-22, 3.27 in 122 career starts.

— OF Joc Pederson signed 2-year deal with the Texas Rangers for $37M; Pederson has already played for five teams in his 11-year career- he hit .275 for Arizona last year, with 23 home runs and a .908 OPS.

— Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed OF Andrew McCutchen for one year, $5M; 11 of his 16 MLB seasons for Pittsburgh. He hit .232 last year, with a .739 OPS. His OPS hasn’t been over .800 since 2019.

— Tampa Bay Rays signed OF Eloy Jimenez to a minor league deal; it would be stunning if he didn’t make the big club this spring. Jimenez made $31M playing for the White Sox the last three years, but he only hit .238 with a .626 OPS last year, so he has to prove himself next year before he starts making the big bucks again.

— When they give NFL stats on TV, time of possession isn’t as important as plays run. If a team runs a no-huddle offense, their time of possession won’t be as good, but they’re putting more pressure on the opposing defense by not allowing them to huddle between plays.

— When they announce the 2025 inductees for the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame next month, I sure as hell hope Ichiro Suzuki is a unanimous pick- he deserves it.

There has been only one unanimous pick ever (Mariano Rivera) which is ludicrous; think about all the great ballplayers— Aaron, Mays, Ted Williams, Gibson, Mantle, Rickey Henderson- they also should’ve been unanimous choices, so we’ll see. 

— Change is in the air; after today, we won’t be posting daily baseball matchups anymore; I’ve been doing this for 23 years. Do the math; I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time posting stuff every day for the last 23 summers. Time to cut back a little. 

Rest of this blog should stay the same; home page will probably be better now— I’ll post lot of baseball stuff here. Will still post football info like we have been.

Thanks for reading; hope you still visit every day. I appreciate you guys.

— Eagles 34, Packers 29
Eagles turned ball over on their first two drives.
Green Bay managed only two FG’s on the ensuing drives.
Philly scored 24 points on their next four drives.
Saquon Barkley had 132 total yards, scored three TD’s.

Green Bay scored on five of first six drives; they led 19-17 at halftime.
Jordan Reed caught four passes for 138 yards. 
Teams combined to convert only 7-25 third down plays.
Very bad news for Green Bay; QB Love sprained his ankle late in game, could be out a while.

— Duke 26, Northwesters 20 OT
Game was 13-13 after regulation.
Duke beats the Wildcats for sixth time in a row.
Both teams missed a field goal shorter than 35 yards.
Game was played in Northwestern’s temporary stadium, in front of 11,062 fans.

— BYU 18, SMU 15
BYU kicked game-winning field goal with 1:58 left.
SMU kicked five field goals, didn’t score a touchdown.
Teams combined to convert only 5-29 third down plays.
Both teams turned ball over three times.

— BYU’s defensive coordinator had a heart attack 10 days ago, was in the booth doing his job last night. Not sure how smart that is, but the freakin’ guy was working ten days after he had a damn heart attack.

— NFL hasn’t played games on Labor Day weekend since 2001, something that figures to change in the near future.

— You can bet over/unders on games, and also on individual teams; highest team team total this week is Detroit (28.5) in the Sunday night game.

— Famous birthdays, September 7th:
Gloria Gaynor, 81
Joe Rudi, 78
Bert Jones, 73

Corbin Bernsen, 70
Jason Isringhausen, 52
Kevin Love, 36

Sandy Alcantara, 29
Donovan Mitchell, 28
Heliot Ramos, 25

— NFL paid the soccer team in Brazil $500,000 to use their stadium this week.

— Revenue from the Brazil game gets split among all 32 NFL teams.

— I had no idea, but Twitter is banned in Brazil.

— A’s 7, Tigers 6 (13)
Seth Brown tied game with an 11th inning HR, won it with a 13th inning single.
Oakland was 50-112 last year; they’re 62-80 this year.

— Astros 8, Diamondbacks 0
Yordan Alvarez hit two 3-run home runs.
Framber Valdez tossed seven shutout IP.

— Mets 6, Reds 4 (10)
Mark Vientos hit a walk-off homer for the Mets.
New York has now won eight games in a row.

— Royals 5, Twins 0
Cole Ragans tossed six shutout IP.
Royals passed Minnesota in the AL Wild Card standings. 

13) On May 17, 1979, Phillies beat the Cubs 23-22 in 10 innings, in one of the strangest games ever: Phillies were 24-10 at the time; Chicago was 16-16. Cubs had 26 hits in the game, Phils had 24.

12) The game was 7-6 Phillies, after the first inning. Somewhere in this great country of ours, someone bet the under in this game. Oy.

11) Phillies starting pitcher Randy Lerch homered in the top of the first inning, never finished the bottom of the first. Both starting pitchers got only one out before being removed.

10) Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt hit 3rd/4th in Phillies’ order; they combined to score seven runs and knock in eight. Light-hitting Larry Bowa was 5 for 8 in the game.

9) Bob Boone was 3-4 with five RBI’s; his son Aaron is now the manager in the Bronx. Boone and Schmidt were both walked intentionally twice.

8) Reliever Tug McGraw faced 10 batters; seven of them scored. McGraw is the father of the singer Tim McGraw.

— Famous birthdays, August 22nd:
Carl Yastrzemski, 85
Paul Molitor, 68
Wes Chandler, 68

Ty Burrell, 57
James Corden, 46
Adam Thielen, 34

Randall Cobb, 34
Maxx Crosby, 27
LaMelo Ball, 23

7) 22 of the first 53 Cubs who came to bat scored, but Rawly Eastwick slammed the door shut in the last two innings, retiring all six Cubs he faced.

6) Donnie Moore faced 14 batters and seven of them scored, but he did hit a triple, one of his two career three-baggers.

5) Phillies led this game 21-9 in the 5th inning but Cubs tied the game off of Ron Reed in the 8th inning; Reed pitched 19 years in the major leagues and also played 119 games for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons from 1965-67.

4) Dave Kingman hit three homers for the Cubs; Bill Buckner knocked in seven runs, seven years before his infamous error in the ’86 World Series.

3) Phillies went home the next day and got swept in a 3-game series by the Expos. Chicago lost its next four games after this one.

2) 1979 turned out to be the only year in a six-year stretch where the Phillies missed the playoffs; they finished 84-78, the Cubs 80-82.

Phillies fired manager Danny Ozark late in 1979, hired Dallas Green and won the ’80 World Series. 

1) Naysayers like to criticize baseball now but attendance that day was 14,952; other than in 2020, when was last time the Cubs drew less than 15,000 for a home game?

— What are the best/worst days to have a birthday?
Best days:
July 4th
People shoot off fireworks for you
You never have to work on your birthday.
It is summer, nice weather.

January 1st
You never have to work on your birthday.
There is football on TV all day, every year.
People have parties the night before, for your birthday.

Worst days:
February 29
You only have a birthday once every four years.

October 31
Other people come to your house and want free candy.

December 26
People are worn out from the day before, are tired of giving gifts.

January 2
You probably have to work, and have a headache from watching football all day.
It is freakin’ cold out, at least around here it is.

I probably missed one or two; let me know…….

— Max Scherzer is pitching for Texas this season, but he’s getting paid by three different teams:
Mets are paying him $30,833,334
Nationals are paying him $15,000,000
Rangers are paying him $12,500,000.

— July 1st was Bobby Bonilla Day, when the Mets send yet another check for $1.19M to the retired outfielder, who will keep getting those checks for another 11 years.

$1,193,248.20 is the exact amount; in 2000, instead of paying Bonilla $5.9M to go away, the Mets agreed to make these annual payments from 2011-35. The Wilpon family owned the Mets at the time; they were involved with noted fraudster Bernie Madoff, so somehow they thought making these payments was a good idea.

It wasn’t.

— Texas Rangers’ rookie OF Wyatt Langford is first big leaguer to hit for the cycle this seaso.

— Jayson Tatum is going to make $62.8M playing for the Celtics next season; this year, the entire payroll for the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks was $58.3M.

Ducks went 27-50-5 this season, Celtics won the NBA title, but still…….

— Best shooting backcourt of all-time:
Steph Curry/Klay Thompson combined to make 3,538 3-point shots while they were on the court together with Golden State, making 43.1% of their attempts.

Next highest total by any two teammates is 1,840, by Portland’s Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, who made 39.3% of their 3-pointers while playing together.

— Lot of Mountain West football games will be televised on TNT and HBO this fall; looks like the first one between two I-A teams will be a September 7 game with Georgia Southern going to Reno to play the Nevada Wolf Pack.

— When Aaron Civale starts for Milwaukee Friday night, he’ll be the 16h starting pitcher the Brewers have used this season, most in major leagues.

— Famous birthdays, July 5th:
Huey Lewis, 74
Rich Gossage, 73
Johnny Rodgers, 73

James Lofton, 68
Edie Falco, 61
Beno Udrih, 42

Ish Smith, 36
Austin Hays, 31
Shohei Ohtani, 30

— A’s 5, Angels 0
Oakland sweeps the Halos, shutting them out the last two days.
JP Sears needed 95 pitches to throw 5 shutout IP.

— Nationals 1, Mets 0
Jesse Winker pinch-hit a home run in 8th inning,
Jake Irvin allowed one hit in 8 IP.

— Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 3
Christian Walker hit two home runs for second night in a row.
Walker has hit 19 home runs in 42 career games at Dodger Stadium.

— Mariners 7, Orioles 3
Game was tied 2-2 in 7th inning.
Julio Rodriguez homered for first time since June 15th,

— Cubs 10, Phillies 2
Ian Happ hit a 3-run homer in 5th inning.
Happ also hit a 3-run homer in 6th inning; one lefty, one righty.

— Padres 3, Rangers 1
Jurickson Profar is hitting .317 with 56 RBI; he’s an All-Star.
San Diego is 11-3 in its last 14 games.

— Red Sox 6, Marlins 5 (12)
Marlins didn’t get a hit until the 7th inning,
Miami’s Jake Burger was 0-5, with five strikeouts.