Armadillo Sports

It is possible that I watch too much TV, but during the pandemic, not much else to do, except read books, listen to music. Here are 13 movies, mostly older movies, that you will enjoy if you come across them on one of the movie channels.

13) The Gambler— Remake of a 1974 James Caan movie, Mark Wahlberg plays a college professor who borrows money from both his mother and a loan shark; a compulsive gambler, paying all his debts comes down to one spin of the roulette wheel.

John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Brie Larson are a fine supporting cast.

12) Dave— The U.S. President goes into a coma while cheating on his wife; to avoid a scandal, the President’s henchmen hire a temp agency owner with an uncanny resemblance to the President to play the role of the President.

Kevin Kline is the star; Sigoruney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, Ben Kingsley and Charles Grodin are an excellent supporting cast.

11) Jackie Brown— A middle-aged stewardess smuggles money from Mexico to Los Angeles for an arms dealer; she gets caught with $10,000 and cocaine in her purse. She convinces her bail bondsman to take part in a con game to steal $500,000 from the arms dealer.

Pam Grier is the star; Robert Forster is the bondsman, Samuel L Jackson the arms dealer. Smaller roles for Robert DeNiro and Michael Keaton.

10) Less Than Zero— A college freshman returns to Los Angeles for the holidays at his ex-girlfriend’s request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit. Not always a pleasant movie, but it is well done.

Jami Gertz plays the young lady; she has recently represented the Atlanta Hawks a couple times at the NBA’s Draft Lottery— her husband in real life is Antony Ressler, who owns the Hawks.

9) Let It Ride— Richard Dreyfuss plays a degenerate gambler who is a habitual loser but has one very good day at the racetrack. Teri Garr plays his beleaguered wife, David Johansen plays one of his gambling friends, Jennifer Tilly plays a rich guy’s girlfriend who is at the track with him.

If you enjoy going to the track, guaranteed this movie will make you laugh.

8) Fabulous Baker Boys— The lives of two struggling piano players, who are brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer. Once the singer joins their act, they become a much more popular group, but then things get complicated by romance.

Jeff/Beau Bridges are brothers in this movie and in real life; Michelle Pfeiffer is the singer, and this is peak Michelle Pfeiffer. Good movie.

8a) Bonus List: Mt Rushmore of John Grisham movies:
— A Time To Kill
— Runaway Jury
— The Client
— The Rainmaker

6) Lucky You— A hotshot poker player tries to win a tournament in Las Vegas, but is fighting a losing battle with his personal problems; complicating things is Huck’s father, a champion poker player, arriving in Las Vegas- Huck despises the old man for having left his mother.

Robert Duvall is the father, Eric Bana is the hotshot, Drew Barrymore his girlfriend. Lot of real-life pro poker players are in this movie.

5) He Got Game— Denzel Washington is a father who pushes his son to become a great ballplayer, but during a domestic dispute, he inadvertently kills his wife, and goes to jail. The only way he can get a shorter sentence is to convince his son to play ball for the governor’s alma mater, but the son hates his old man.

Ray Allen is the ballplayer, Ned Beatty the warden, John Turturro one of the coaches who is recruiting the kid. Jim Brown plays a probation officer assigned to watch Denzel while he is trying to recruit his own son. Rick Fox is the kid’s guide on one of his recruiting visits.

4) White Palace— Still getting over the death of his wife, a young advertising executive meets an older waitress, a woman with a fixation on Marilyn Monroe. The couple gradually fall in love, though age and social differences make things problematic.

James Spader is the guy, Susan Sarandon the waitress, Jason Alexander is one of his friends. There is a great, short appearance by Steven Hill, who played the original DA on Law and Order.

3) Lost In Translation— Bill Murray is a movie star on the back nine of his career who heads to Tokyo to do a whiskey commercial for $2M. While there, he crosses paths with a young lady who is in Tokyo with her photographer husband, but the husband largely ignores her.

The actor and the young lady form an unlikely friendship; the ending kind of leaves us hanging.

2) Oceans 11, Oceans 13— A group of 11 thieves work together to rob Las Vegas casinos; Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Elliott Gould, Carl Reiner, Ellen Barkin, Andy Garcia, a tremendous cast in these two movies.

Al Pacino owns the casino they try to rob in Oceans Thirteen. 

1) The Replacements— During a pro football strike, the owners hire substitute players; Keanu Reaves is the QB, Gene Hackman the coach, Jack Warden the owner. A motley cast of characters make up the rest of the Washington Sentinels.

Apparently Sentinels is not one of the names under consideration to replace Redskins as the nickname of the Washington team in real life. 

13) Bronx 8, Braves 6 (10)- Game 4, 1996 WS
— Braves led series 2-1, led 6-0 after five innings, behind Denny Neagle.
— Atlanta bullpen gave up five runs in five innings.
— Kenny Rogers started for New York, gave up five runs in 2+ IP.
— Jim Leyritz tied the game with a 3-run homer in 8th inning.

12) Mets 7, Astros 6 (16)- Game 6 1986 NLCS
— Mets won last two games of series, in 12-16 innings.
— Astros led 3-0 in 1st, led 3-0 until 9th, when Mets tied game. Both teams scored in 14th, Mets scored three runs in 16th, Astros scored only twice.
— Bob Knepper had shutout into 9th inning, ran out of gas.
— Mets used three relievers, who threw 3-5-3 innings. The game has changed since then.

11) Cardinals 10, Dodgers 9- Game 1 2014 NLDS
— Dodgers led 6-1 after five, 6-2 after six, behind Kershaw.
— Cardinals scored 8 runs in top 0f 7th; Kershaw faced 7 hitters in 7th, giving up 5 hits.
— First three guys in St Louis lineup went 5-13, with six runs scored, 8 RBI.
— 11 relievers were used in the game; only three of them got 3+ outs.

10) Cubs 6, Giants 5- Game 4 2016 NLDS
— Cubs scored four runs in 9th to move onto the NLCS, after losing day before in 13 innings.
— Matt Moore allowed only two hits, struck out 10 in 8 IP; Giants used five relievers in fateful 9th inning.
— Contreras had a 2-run, pinch-hit single in 9th inning.
— Giants had only two baserunners over final 4.2 innings.

9) Astros 7, Braves 6 (18)- Game 4, 2005 NLDS
— Atlanta led 6-1 after 7 innings, 6-5 after 8 innings.
— Astros’ bullpen allowed only one run in 13.2 IP.
— Roger Clemens pitched the last three innings, allowing one hit.
— Chris Burke hit a walkoff homer in the 18th for Houston.

8) Royals 9, Astros 6- Game 3, 2015 ALDS
— Houston led 6-2 after seven innings behind McCullers.
— Carlos Correa was 4-4 with two homers, four RBI, also made an error in 8th inning.
— Astros bullpen got eight outs, gave up seven runs.
— Hosmer hit a 2-run homer in 9th inning for insurance runs.

7) Angels 7, Red Sox 6- Game 3, 2009 ALDS
— Halos trailed 5-2 after seven, scored 3 in 9th to sweep series, after first two hitters in 9th inning made outs
— Papelbon faced 8 batters; allowed four hits, two walks.
— Vladimir Guerrero’s 2-run single was the big hit in the 9th.
— Angels’ bullpen allowed only one run in four IP.

6) Mets 6, Red Sox 5 (10)- Game 6, 1986 WS
— Boston scored two runs in top of 10th; this is the Bill Buckner game.
— Roger Clemens allowed only one earned run in seven IP.
— Boggs/Barrett went 6-9 at top of Boston order, in a losing cause.
— Mets double-switched Darryl Strawberry out of this game in 9th inning; unusual.

5) Dodgers 6, Phillies 5- Game 3, 1977 NLCS
— Phillies took 5-3 lead with two runs in 8th, couldn’t hold lead.
— Rick Rhoden threw 4.1 scoreless innings in relief; neither starter finished 4th inning.
— Top three hitters in Philly order (McBride-Bowa-Schmidt) went 0-12.
— Dodgers scored 3 runs in 9th, after first two batters made out; Vic Davalillo started the rally with a pinch-hit bunt single.

4) Cardinals 5, Astros 4- Game 5, 2005 NLCS
— Pujols hit a 2-out, 3-run HR off Brad Lidge in 9th inning.
— Lance Berkman hit 3-run tater in 7th to give Astros a 4-2 lead.
— Andy Pettitte gave up two runs in 6.1 IP for Houston.
— Astros won series two days later, winning 5-1 behind Roy Oswalt.

3) Blue Jays 7, A’s 6 (11)- Game 4, 1992 ALCS
— A’s led 6-1 after seven innings; bullpen was dreadful.
— Roberto Alomar went 4-5, tied game with 2-run homer in 9th.
— Jack Morris was knocked out in 4th inning; their bullpen allowed one run.
— Pat Borders knocked in winning run with sac fly in 11th.

2) Blue Jays 15, Phillies 14- Game 4, 1993 WS
— Game was 7-6 in third inning; Blue Jays were down 14-9 in 8th, scored six runs to take a 3-1 series lead.
— Devon White went 3-5, had a two-run triple in 8th inning.
— Lenny Dykstra scored four runs, knocked in four in a losing cause.
— Toronto scored 41 runs in their four wins in this World Series.

1) Red Sox 8, Rays 7- Game 5, 2008 ALCS
— Tampa Bay led 7-0 in 7th inning, trying to win their first pennant.
— Scott Kazmir threw six shutout innings for the Rays.
— Tampa bullpen faced 18 hitters; eight of them scored.
— David Ortiz hit a 3-run homer, JD Drew a 2-run homer for Boston.
— Rays wound up winning this series in seven games.

TV highlight of the day: Golf on TV was fun; also a solid movie day:
Rounders, Good Will Hunting, Up In the Air, Love & Basketball

A guy named Peter Burns posted a thread on his Twitter feed; What’s your favorite random sports stat? I went thru the thread, and picked out my favorite ones…….

13) Wayne Gretzky has the most points in NHL history, by far; if you take away all his goals, he would still have the most points in NHL history.

12) Stan Musial had 3,630 hits in his great career:
— 1,815 hits at home.
— 1,815 hits on the road.

11) July 2, 1963, Giants beat the Braves 1-0 in 16 innings at Candlestick Park; both pitchers threw complete games.

Juan Marichal threw 227 pitches, Warren Spahn 201. Willie Mays ended things with a home run in the 16th, in front of 15,921 fans. Game took 4:10 to play.

10) Tony Gwynn had 541 career at-bats against 18 pitchers who made the Hall of Fame; he hit .331 in those at-bats.

9) Ohio State has won eight national titles in football, six of them outright, two others were shared.

Buckeyes have been the #1 preseason team seven times; in none of those seven years did they win a national championship.

8) From 2008-2018, Charles Howell III made $20,422,568 on the PGA Tour without winning a tournament or finishing in the top 20 on the money list.

7) On his 29th birthday, Phil Niekro had 17 career wins; he wound up with 318 wins, using the knuckleball to pitch until he was 48 years old.

6) April 23, 1999, Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in a game at Dodger Stadium……in the same inning, off the same pitcher (Chan Ho Park).

5) On July 3, 1966, Tony Cloninger hit two grand slams in a game, which is impressive, even mores because…….Tony Cloninger was a pitcher.

4) Between 1990-2000, Florida/Florida State played 13 football games against each other; they were both in the top 5 for all 13 meetings.

3) Nolan Ryan struck out seven father/son combinations.

2) In 1927, there were unassisted triple plays on consecutive days in the major leagues; there wasn’t another unassisted triple play in the big leagues until 1968.

1) Money earned via salary in 2020:
— Bobby Bonilla, $1.19M (he retired in 2001)
— Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes, $850,000

TV highlight of the day:  Moneyball was on, always a highlight. Bad News Bears was on too, a great movie. 

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

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

19 years ago, I started this blog, not knowing where it would lead. Lot of stuff has changed in the world since then, mostly good, but also some not so good. Thanks for reading every day (you DO read every day, right?), hope it makes you think some, and smile some.

Also, if it is Armadillo Day, that means it is my friend Gary’s birthday; he is a very good NFL handicapper (winning record on this site over the last nine years) and he is a funny guy. So we wish a happy 29th birthday (kind of) to the Big Dawg. 

13) Christmas Eve 2016, I’m sitting in the sports book in the Aria casino in Las Vegas, a great place to spend an NFL Sunday. I had been there for a few days already, had struck up some conversations with a pro bettor who was sitting to my left that day. The seat to the right of me was empty.

Early games are winding up; the 4:30ET games are about ten minutes away; this Asian lady, 40-ish, sits in the seat to my right. She has an overcoat on; it was cold out (30’s) that day.

This lady takes out a very thick wad of $100 bills and begins counting, right out in the open, so I count along— she has $7,700. I say, “You must be having a very good day”; she shows me two tickets on the two early games that were still going on, one for $1,500, one for $2,000. Both of those were going to be winners.

So this lady is sitting on $11,200 and has a looseleaf page ripped out of a notebook with her bets for the late games. Lot of bets, teasers and straight bets. I have my Rams wind shirt on that I wear every Sunday; she points at the Rams’ logo and says “They better not play like crap today” with a thick Asian accent.

I laugh and say, “You haven’t been paying attention; they play like crap every week”; this was the year Jeff Fisher had been fired, and John Fassel was the interim coach. Despite being a really bad team, the Rams were favored over an even worse 49ers team.

I ask who her favorite team is and she leaves with these parting words: “I no have favorite team. You have favorite team, you bet with heart. I bet to win.” And with that, she got up and left, and I never saw her again.

Rams led 21-7 in 4th quarter, blew the game 22-21, the last NFL game Colin Kaepernick won.

12) If you had your choice, which quarterback would you choose?

Quarterback A: 31 years old. Career record: 44-42-2 Playoff record: 1-2 
155 TD, 71 INT

Quarterback B: 32 years old. Career record: 28-30 Playoff record: 4-2 (0-1 Super Bowl)
72 TD’s, 30 INT

Quarterback C: 27 years old. Career record: 32-24 Playoff record:  0-1
97 TD, 35 INT

Quarterback D: 25 years old. Career record: 33-21 Playoff record: 2-2 (0-1 Super Bowl)
87 TD, 42 INT

Look thru those four resumes, and pick which guy you would want. I’ll let you know later on which guy is which

11) Lamar Jackson lost his first two playoff games with the Ravens; only two QB’s have gone on to win a Super Bowl after losing his first two playoff games- Peyton and Eli Manning.

10) Week 3 of the NFL this season is weird; no divisional games, not one.

9) Random stat of the Day: November 18, 2012; Texans beat Jacksonville 43-37 in OT; Houston QB Matt Schaub was 43-55 for 527 yards, five TD’s. Amdre Johnson caught 14 passes for 273 yards.

Saw a boxscore of this game the other day; Texans scored two TD’s in last 6:00 to tie the game. Both teams scored in OT. You wouldn’t think of Schaub as a guy to throw for 527 yards.

8) Was watching an old Seahawks game from couple years ago and their kicker got hurt, so when they kicked off, their Australian punter drop-kicked the ball, rather than kick it off a tee. Not something you see very often; he did a good job with it.

7) When Willie Mays became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1979, he got voted in the first year, but 23 people didn’t vote for him- he got 409 of 432 votes. How the bleep do you not vote for Willie Mays to get into the Hall of Fame?

6) The MLB Draft is an odd event; Rickey Henderson, Jeff Bagwell were both 4th round picks. Mike Trout was the 25th guy taken when he was drafted. Mike Piazza only got drafted because his dad was friends with Tommy Lasorda. Strange way to run a billion dollar industry.

5) Wednesday was the first time in their last 17 games that the NC Dinos didn’t score a run in the first four innings; they’ve had a potent lineup, but now their best hitter Roberto Ramos is hurt, so we’ll see how much that hurts them.

4) Doosan Bears are doing pretty well in the KBO this year; there is some urgency for them, since nine of their players are free agents this winter, so they figure to regress next season.

3) Saw a picture of the huge demonstrations in Los Angeles last weekend; lot of people. At one big intersection, there is a huge Pepsi ad on the side of a building, takes up most of the building. Wonder how much that costs?

2) Quarterback A: Kirk Cousins
Quarterback B: Colin Kaepernick
Quarterback A: Carson Wentz
Quarterback A: Jared Goff

1) Good news in Las Vegas; Top Golf is opening next Thursday the 18th, as everything on the Strip slowly begins to re-open. Hopefully people will wear masks and stay healthy. 

TV highlight of the day: Good college football day, they show lot of old SEC and ACC games. College football has changed a lot over the last 25 years.

I’m not ranking these, just listing them alphabetically; I enjoyed all these movies, most of which only show up on TV now and then.

13) 21— A fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for a lot of money playing blackjack, before one casino caught on.

Kevin Spacey teaches the team how to work together to win so much money; Laurence Fishburne is one of the guys trying to discourage card counters from working together.

12) Begin Again (2013)— A disgraced music-business executive (Mark Ruffalo) and a young singer-songwriter (Kara Knightley), new to Manhattan, join into a promising collaboration, using New York City as the background. James Corden is great in this as the young singer’s friend from back home.

11) The Bodyguard (1992)— A former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) takes on the job of bodyguard to an R&B singer (Whitney Houston), whose lifestyle is most unlike a President’s.

10) Bulworth (1998)— A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician (Warren Beatty) puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by talking in rhymes during his interviews/speeches. He then falls for a woman (Halle Berry) who is the hitman that was hired to kill him.

There is a lot that is funny in this movie, and a lot that, 22 years later, still reflects the issues our country is having now. Jack Warden, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino; excellent cast.

9) Good Will Hunting (1997)— A janitor at MIT has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Every time I watch this movie, I feel so bad that while Robin Williams made so many people laugh, he died way too early/tragically. He was so funny, such a good actor.

8) The Hangover (2009)— Three buddies wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas, with no memory of the previous night and with the bachelor missing. They make their way around the city in order to find their friend before his wedding.

They made two sequels; Hangover II isn’t good, it is basically the same script as the original, except it is set in Thailand, not Las Vegas. Hangover III is pretty funny.

7) Last Vegas (2013)— Four senior citizen friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal.

Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen; this is an excellent movie, but hasn’t been on in a while.

6) Let It Ride (1989)— A nosy cab driver (Richard Dreyfuss) gets a hot tip on a racehorse and wins big, but he can’t seem to stop gambling, and he has a very good day. Teri Garr plays his frustrated wife.

If you’ve ever hung around a racetrack, this movie, while a farce, will ring a lot of bells; it is very funny. Jennifer Tilly and David Johansen are very good in supporting roles.

5) Little Big League (1994)— The owner of the Minnesota Twins (Jason Robards) passes away and leaves the team to his 12-year old grandson. The grandson fires the overly critical manager (Dennis Farina) and names himself manager, which raises eyebrows.

4) Love Actually (2003)— The lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

Hugh Grant is the Prime Minister, Emma Thompson is his sister, Billy Bob Thornton is the US President. If you need a pick-me-up movie, this is mostly it.

3) Molly’s Game (2017)— The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target. Idris Elba is great as her lawyer. 

This movie actually picks up where the book left off, which is an interesting twist. Kevin Costner has a smallish role as Molly Bloom’s father.

2) This Where I Leave You (2014)— When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

When my dad passed away five years ago, I came home from the funeral, put the TV on and this was the first thing that was on, which was eerie- I had never seen it. Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Connie Britton, Corey Stoll, a very good cast.

1) Up In the Air (2009)— Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, travelling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest (Vera Farmiga), and a new hire (Anna Kendrick).

TV highlight of the day: Good night for basketball fans:
— Blue Chips, Hoosiers were both on
— ESPNU ran a bunch of old college games: NC State-UNC, Washington-UCLA were two that I watched. 

13) The Rookie— Real-life story of a Texas high school baseball coach who makes the major leagues after agreeing to try out if his high school team made the playoffs. Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) got into 21 games over two seasons with Tampa Bay, as a lefty specialist.

The scene where the AAA manager tells Jim Morris is going up to the major leagues is one of my all-time favorite movie scenes.

12) Rocky— Very famous movie about a small-time boxer getting a rare chance to fight a heavy-weight champion in a bout in which his main goal is to go the distance, for his own self-respect.

Lot of sequels to this movie; Rocky III is my favorite of all of them, but the last fight scene in Rocky II, when Rocky wins the title, is really well done.

11) Brian’s Song— This was an ABC Tuesday Night Movie of the Week, a made-for-TV movie that became a huge hit. The movie tells the story of the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.

I was 11 when I saw this for the first time; I’m pretty sure it was the first time I cried during a movie. When Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) gives a speech at the end of the movie, dedicating his award to Piccolo (James Caan), it is just a very, very touching scene.

10) Draft Day— GM of the Cleveland Browns has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with NFL dreams.

NFL stumbled onto a gold mine because of this movie; they delayed the draft a couple weeks in 2014 to promote this movie, but then Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available for the new date, so they moved the draft to another city- they soon realized that this was a great idea, and now they do it every year.

9) Invincible— Based on the true story of Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), a 30-year-old bartender from south Philadelphia who overcame long odds to play for the Philadelphia Eagles for three years in the 70’s.

They take some liberties during the movie with the actually football scenes, but as the credits roll at the end, they show the actual plays as they unfolded.

8) Bull Durham— I waver constantly between this movie and Major League, as to which I like better, but I like both of them. Hard to believe they were both made over 30 years ago.

Kevin Costner plays an older minor league catcher whose job it is to home the talents of a young, hot-shot pitcher (Tim Robbins), while both of them try to win the heart of a baseball groupie (Susan Sarandon).

7) Major League— The new owner of the Cleveland Indians purposely puts together a horrible team, so they’ll lose, attendance will tank and she can move the team to Miami (why???), but the team starts winning just to spite her.

Bob Uecker is the Indians’ radio announcer in this movie, which was mostly filmed in Milwaukee, where Uecker works for the Brewers in real life. Uecker is so great as Harry Doyle, I’m only half-joking when I say he should’ve gotten an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

6) One on One— This movie came out when I was a senior in high school; I walked to the theater after school one day, and liked the movie so much I started running home, until I realized it was more than a mile away, so I wised up and walked home, but I loved this movie.

Henry Steele (Robby Benson) is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he gets a scholarship to a D-I school in the big city, he soon realizes that he has few skills outside basketball, plus the coach hates how he plays.

Basketball scenes were filmed in Colorado State’s Moby Gymnasium, where the Rams still play their home games. GD Spradlin plays Coach Smith; he was also Tom Landry-type coach in North Dallas Forty.

5) Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino plays an aging pro football coach whose team struggles, which causes the new owner (Cameron Diaz) to make his life unpleasant.

Miami Sharks play four games in this movie; the opponents were all coached by NFL Hall of Famers; YA Tittle, Bob Sinclair, Dick Butkus, John Unitas. Barry Switzer, Oliver Stone are the TV announcers most of the time. Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor are also in the movie.

4) For Love of the Game— Kevin Costner is an aging star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who finds out he is going to get traded, just before his last start of the season. A series of flashbacks follow during the game, where of course, he pitches a perfect game and gets the girl at the end.

John C Reilly is great as the Tigers’ catcher, who is basically Billy Chapel’s personal catcher as they both near retirement; JK Simmons plays the Tigers’ manager; he is a Tigers’ fan in real life.

3) Blue Chips— A college basketball coach (Nick Nolte) is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive. This movie was filmed in a high school gym in Indiana, which seats about 8,000 people. Guys who made the movie wanted to pay people to sit in the stands during the basketball scenes; they were quickly told that people would gladly do it for free.

Bob Cousy plays Western U’s athletic director; he has a scene in the beginning of the movie where he shoots free throws while he talks to Coach Bell (Nolte). Done in one take, Cousy makes ten free throws in a row, while in a shirt and tie, at age 65.

2) Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan plays the manager of a Manhattan deli who is a huge basketball fan and is offered the coaching job at a small Nevada college. He brings some players with him, giving him a talented nucleus— one of them is a young lady playing in disguise.

In order to get the job permanently, he has to beat the number one team in the country; there are couple scenes in this movie that wouldn’t fly today, not politically correct, but the basic idea of a guy who runs a deli becoming a big time hoop coach made this an excellent movie.

Besides, two of the players coach Greene brought to Cadwallader U were played by Bernard King and Michael Warren, two pretty good ballplayers in real life.

1) Moneyball— I’ve been an A’s fan since 1965; what did you expect?

Movie is an offshoot of Michael Lewis’ fine book, which describes Billy Beane’s successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a small budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

I still remember when Miguel Tejada hit a walk-off homer for the A’s 18th consecutive win that year; I went out on the front lawn and did some weird kind of dance in celebration, as my dad stared at me in disbelief- I was deliriously happy. Every time they show Tejada’s homer in the movie, it brings me back to that moment, a pleasant memory.

TV highlight of the day: First round of the MLB Draft; too bad the geniuses can’t find a way to play baseball games. That would be a real highlight. 

26) North Dallas Forty— A semi-fictional account of life with the Dallas Cowboys in the early ‘70s; based on a book written by Pete Gent, who played WR for the Cowboys.

Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Bo Swenson, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman; quality cast.

25) Youngblood— A 17 year old farm boy is offered a hockey tryout; his brother drives him to Canada to try out. The kid is skilled, but doesn’t like to fight; he has fast legs, slow fists, but he makes the team, and because he is Rob Lowe, he dates the coach’s daughter.

Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves are two of his teammates; Youngblood’s dad is played by Eric Nesterenko, who in real life, played in the NHL/WHA for 23 years.

24) Breaking Away— An Indiana teenager who is obsessed with the Italian cycling team tries to win the heart of a college girl; he and his townie friends try to beat the college kids in a bicycle race, which is an uphill battle.

Paul Dooley is great as the kid’s father; Dennis Quad plays one of the kid’s friends, so does the guy who was Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears.

23) Caddyshack— An exclusive country club has problems with a brash new member (Rodney Dangerfield) and a mischievous bunch of gophers. 

Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Dangerfield, Ted Knight. Some of the guys I went to college with knew every line of the movie by heart, and watched it often. 

22) A League of Their Own— Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry. Tom Hanks is the manager. Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna are two of the players.

21) Love & Basketball— A young man, young lady grow up next door to each other in Los Angeles, and both become college basketball players.

The guy from the Allstate commercials (Serrano in Major League) is the young man’s dad who also played in the NBA. Alfre Woodard is the young lady’s mother.

20) The Replacements— During a pro football strike, the owners hire substitute players, one of whom is Keanu Reeves. Gene Hackman is the team’s coach, Jack Warden the owner; they even had Pat Summerall, John Madden announcing the team’s games.

19) Heaven Can Wait— Not really a football movie, but……
— Rams win the Super Bowl in this movie, at a time when I wasn’t really sure if they would ever win the Super Bowl in real life.
— Jack Warden is the trainer of the Rams; Jack Warden was freakin’ awesome.
— When this movie came out, I got a theater poster from someone and had it on my bedroom wall. It is still upstairs somewhere.

18) The Bad News Bears— An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California Little League.

Walter Matthau is brilliant as the sarcastic coach; his best pitcher is a girl (Tatum O’Neal), he recruits his best player the the kid runs his motorbike around the Little League complex.

Bears were sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds, I always remember that.

17) He Got Game— The father (Denzel Washington) of a highly sought-after high school basketball star (Ray Allen) has to convince his son to go to a certain college so he can get a shorter jail sentence; the governor went to Big State- the warden (Ned Beatty) explains that to the father, before he gets a work release to try and convince his son.

Jim Brown plays a probation officer keeping his eye on the father; John Turturro is the coach at Tech U, which is also trying to recruit the son. Underrated movie.

John Turturro also plays Joey Knish in Rounders; very good actor.

16) Hoosiers— A coach with a checkered past (Gene Hackman) coaches a small town high school basketball team to become a contender for the Indiana state championship; one of his assistant coaches (Dennis Hopper) is the town drunk, the father of one of the players.

The coach is about to get fired when the team’s star player, who had been sitting out, decides to play again; he wants the coach to stay, and because its the movies, the teams keeps winning, even though the coach always seems to want the star to be a decoy on key plays. Even the drunk guy knows that Jimmy should take all the big shots.

15) The Natural— An unknown slugger comes out of nowhere to become a big hitter for the New York Knights, making the Knights a contender.

This movie was filmed at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, where the Bills played before Rich Stadium was built.

14) Little Big League— Owner of the Minnesota Twins died unexpectedly, leaves the team to his 12-year old grandson, who winds up firing the manager and naming himself to the job. Believe me, this movie is a lot better than it sounds. The scenes in the first 25:00 with the grandfather and the kid are very well done.

TV highlight of the day:
Magnum PI episode with Frank Sinatra was on today.

13) Vada Pinson:
— Had 2,757 hits in 18 years, mostly for Cincinnati
— From 1959-67, he played in 154+ games every year.
— Led NL in hits twice, doubles twice, triples twice, runs scored once.
— Arguably the best player not in the Hall of Fame.

12) Octavio Dotel— July 1999, Dotel is a rookie for the Mets; he is pitching on a Saturday afternoon against the Cubs. I’m in my dad’s hospital room; he had cancer surgery four days earlier, and now, the nurse is struggling with one of the tubes in his right arm.

My dad lets out a yell, the nurse jumps and asks if she hurt him. He waves his left arm and says “Its not you. The Cubs have the bases loaded.”

Got up, went up and got a Coke out of a vending machine and stopped worrying about him.

— Played for 13 different teams, in a 15-year career.
— Was with Astros for five years; didn’t play more than two years for anyone else.
— Started 30 games his first two years, started only four more games in his career. He wound up with 109 saves.
— Made the playoffs five times, for five different teams.

11) Al Oliver
— One of the most underrated hitters ever: hit .303 in an 18-year career.
— Made All-Star Game seven times.
— Played 10 years for the Pirates, then bounced around to six other teams.
— Led NL in RBI’s in 1982, when he was 35.

10) Tommy John: He actually had two different careers:
— 1963-74 , before the surgery: 124-106
— 1975— Sat out entire season
— 1976-89, after the surgery: 164-125
— From 1977-82- Made playoffs five times in six years, his only playoff appearances.

9) Nolan Ryan
— Threw seven no-hitters, with last one coming at age 44. 
— Spent 27 years in majors; pitched in ’69 World Series at age 22, but never got back.
— Led AL in strikeouts four years in row from 1987-90, at ages 37-40.
— How the hell did someone this good lose 292 games (324-292)?

8) Jamie Quirk
— Played 18 years in majors, batted 250+ times in only one season.
— Played for eight teams, playing 11 years in Kansas City.
— Made playoffs four times, winning a ring with ’85 Royals.
— .645 career OPS; he must’ve been a good receiver.

7) Mike Morgan
— Morgan started a game against the Orioles three days after his high school graduation, at age 18. He lost 3-0 on a Sunday afternoon.
— Wound up lasting 22 years in the majors, for 12 different teams.
— In 1991-92, he went a combined 30-16 for Dodgers/Cubs, his best stretch.
— Made playoffs twice, with ’98 Cubs, ’01 Diamondbacks.

6) Matt Stairs
— Played 19 years in the majors for 12 different teams.
— Hit 265 home runs, had career OPS of .832.
— Played five years for the A’s, only team he played with for more than 3 years.
— Won a World Series ring with the 2008 Phillies. 

5) Jose Vizcaino
— Played 18 years in majors for eight different teams.
— 434 games at 2B, 226 at 3B, 947 at short, 355 as a pinch-hitter.
— Never made an All-Star Game, but earned $26M in his career.
— Made playoffs six times, three times with Houston. 

4) Gary Sheffield
— Played 22 years in big leagues, for eight teams.
— Hit 509 homers, had a career OPS of .905.
— Hit .312, had .998 OPS in four years with Dodgers.
— Made nine All-Star Games, played in playoffs six years.

3) Gaylord Perry
— Played for eight teams in his 22-year career.
— Went 314-265 in his career, with 303 complete games.
— Went 21-6 for the ’78 Padres, when he was 39 years old.
— Wrote a book in 1974; Me and the Spitter. He admitted he cheated.

2) Bartolo Colon
— Was the last active major leaguer who had played for the Montreal Expos.
— Once threw 38 consecutive strikes in a game at Anaheim.
— Played for 21 years with 11 different teams; he spent six years in Cleveland.
— Went 247-188 our his career, made four All-Star Games

1) Rickey Henderson
— All-time greatest base stealer, with 1,406 stolen bases.
— Played 25 years in majors for nine teams; he played 14 years in his hometown of Oakland, in four different stints.
— Led off 81 games with home runs, 27 more than anyone else.
— Had a career on-base %age of .401; in 1990, he had a .439 OB%. 

It dawned on me today that I have a lot of books in my house, and I’ve read just about all of them, but most of them I read a long time ago; these days, I’m re-reading bits and pieces of them, and that has worked pretty well.

Today I’m reading “Ace on the River” a book written by the great poker player Barry Greenstein in 2005. If you like to gamble in general, or specifically play poker, there is a lot of wisdom in this book, some of which I’m going to share with you today.

Here are some of the characteristics that Barry Greenstein says “….separate winning poker players from losing players”

— Have a good sense of humor— Winning players have learned to tolerate bad beats that happen. A gallows’ sense of humor may help them endure the bad times.

— The best players must be able to talk their way into good situations and should be gracious to losing players. There are times when they have to be able to speak up for their own best interest. Being able to talk is a plus, and so is knowing when to be quiet.

— Winning players have to formulate strategies and change them when they’re not working. Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one’s environment; an intelligent player knows how to use information to his maximum advantage.

— Most winning poker players are quiet during each hand and maintain the proverbial poker face. Even after losing a hand, they don’t show their disappointment.

— Winning poker players have memorized basic strategy; they remember what worked in the past, and what didn’t. They have a mental catalogue of every opponent’s playing style and idiosyncrasies.

— Winning players aren’t afraid to pull the trigger; they aren’t afraid to make the right play, even if it is risky. They also realize that there is a fine line between being bold and being reckless.

— Even if a good player’s results have been bad, he will continue to make decisions that he believes are the right ones.

— If a game is far more lucrative than usual, a good player will not quit, especially if he is winning. He looks at this as an opportunity to make enough money so he won’t have to work as long on occasions when the game isn’t as juicy.

— Many winning poker players are very scrappy; some were refugees from other countries. They know life isn’t always fair, and they’re used to fighting to survive. They expect obstacles and believe they can overcome them. In the Darwinian sense, winning players are survivors of the poker battle.

— Winning players don’t take anyone’s advice without thinking about it first. Plenty of bad advice is readily available; they don’t submit to peer pressure that will lead them down the bumpy path the majority has followed.

— Winning players are usually big tippers; they don’t place a high value on money because it comes so easily at times that it doesn’t hurt to give some of it away. They are respectful of people who work hard for their money.

— Winning players pay great attention to detail; they remember each pot, how many players were in it, who raised, who had the key cards, who hesitated at key moments.

— Psychologically tough— The best don’t give in, no matter how severe the psychological beating. Psychologically tough players have the mindset that they can win in any situation and can overcome anything. You cannot judge a player until you see how he handles adversity.

Again, the book is “Ace on the River”, written by Barry Greenstein. If you can find it online or in a bookstore, you’ll learn a lot from it. 

When I was a kid, we had to do book reports for school; read a book, then write a report on it, to prove we read it, I guess. This is my first book report since 8th grade.

My birthday is right around Christmas; when I was 12, my dad gave me a book, The Open Man, written by the Knicks’ Dave DeBusschere, a diary of the Knicks’ 1969-70 championship season, when they won their first NBA title.

This was the first real book I ever read; it grabbed my attention and I basically ignored the rest of the week until I finished the book. The nucleus of the Knicks was still mostly intact, so this was good stuff, and I devoured every word. A lot of my enthusiasm for basketball got its start from reading this book. 

Now it is 2020, our current life is at a standstill, so this weekend I re-read The Open Man; brought back lot of memories, but boy, a million things have changed since 1970. Maybe more than a million.

— The current Madison Square Garden opened in 1968; DeBusschere scored the first basket there, but he was playing for Detroit then. Knicks traded for him during the ’68-’69 season; he was the missing link, a solid defender, a glue guy who made the Knicks a championship contender, the hottest ticket in town.

— DeBusschere was player/coach of the Pistons when he was 24; he also pitched for the White Sox, when being a two-sport athlete was possible. He is pretty honest in this book; he makes fun of his wife’s cooking a lot, pokes fun at Bill Bradley (his roommate on the road), and explains how draining it is to be a starter in the NBA.

— Back then, players roomed two-to a-room on the road; now? Not so much.

— In 1963, the White Sox had to decide whether to protect DeBusschere in a waiver draft, or another pitcher named Denny McLain- they let McLain walk.

McLain won 31 games in 1967, 24 more in ’68 for the Detroit Tigers, and DeBusschere quit baseball, which helps explain why the White Sox have sucked for a long time. Of course, McLain later wound up in prison because of off-field issues, so there’s that.

— Keep in mind, the NBA then wasn’t like it is now; light years different
a) Back then, the minimum salary was $13,500; now, it is $898,310
b) Teams didn’t have their own airplanes, and they often played three nights in a row, in three different cities.
c) These days, Steph Curry makes $500,000 a game; lot of stars don’t play the second night of a back/back, even of they’re not hurt. There was no load management in 1970.

— This season, the Lakers have seven assistant coaches, two video coordinators; in 1970, the Knicks had a head coach (Red Holzman), a scout (Dick McGuire) who wasn’t with the team much- their trainer (Danny Whelan) did a lot of game management-type stuff. They practiced in a cold, cruddy old gym called Lost Battalion, which DeBusschere complains about constantly in the book. Teams have their own practice facilities now; they’re really nice.

— The book is a running diary of the season; the starters played a lot during preseason games; that doesn’t happen anymore.

— One preseason game in Bangor, Maine was sponsored by Celtics’ player Don Nelson, who put up the money to hold the game, and pocketed whatever profits there were. Nelson went on to be a very good head coach in the NBA, with the Bucks/Warriors.

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a rookie that season; he got the Bucks to the Eastern Conference finals in his first season, which was the second season in Bucks’ history. Interesting to read how DeBusschere describes him as the season goes on.

In a November 1st regular season game, Kareen played the whole 48:00; don’t think anything like that would happen these days, or else……..

— There was no 3-point line back then; getting shots close to the basket was the premium, so big guys had much bigger rebound totals than they do now. Missed 3-pointers give out longer rebounds, so these days big guys get fewer rebounds.

— The ABA was going on at this time, so lot of prominent players didn’t cross paths with the Knicks that year. When his playing days were over, DeBusschere became commissioner of the ABA, before it folded and four of its teams joined the NBA.

— In 1970, if you got fouled while shooting, and the other team was over the limit, you got three free throws to make two, a terrible rule.

— Oscar Robertson played for the Cincinnati Royals that year, coached by Hall of Famer Bob Cousy; weird thing is, after the Bucks lost to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference final, they traded for Oscar, before the Knicks-Lakers series even started.

— DeBusschere wasn’t that glowing when talking about Baltimore Bullets’ star Earl Monroe, who was a great scorer; he criticized his passing/defense, which must’ve been awkward a couple years later, when the Knicks acquired Monroe. Earl the Pearl helped the Knicks win their 2nd (and last) title, in 1973.

— Bullets, by the way, became the Washington Bullets, and eventually Washington Wizards years later.

— There were no NBA teams in Portland, Cleveland, Dallas, Sacramento; there were almost no international players; DeBusschere complains that the Knicks went 4-9 on national TV that year, even when they won the title. Nowadays, every freakin’ game in available nation-wide.

— Playing for a winning team in New York back then had its advantages; celebrities like Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford sat behind the Knicks bench, much like Spike Lee sits across from he bench now.

DeBusschere tells the story of playing the Phoenix Suns in Utah, before the Jazz existed; after the game, he and Bill Bradley go to Redford’s home in the snowy hills, making the last couple miles of the trip on snowmobiles.

Cocktail parties with rich and famous people were the norm, and still are, especially when you’re winning.

— His persoanl matchups with stars like Elgin Baylor, Gus Johnson, Connie Hawkins were fun to read about. Teams played against each other more, so the players knew each other’s tendencies much better. Lot of physical play.

— Reading this book was fun, brought back lot of memories, and now that the NBA may be starting up in Orlando next month, motivated me to get my NBA notebook ready. Pretty soon there will be live basketball on TV again, and that is a good thing. 

Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens (moved to Baltimore in 1996)
— Otto Graham— 57-13-1 as Cleveland’s QB, won three NFL titles.
— Joe Flacco— Won a Super Bowl, also threw ball for 38,245 yards.
— Lamar Jackson— Won 19 of first 24 starts, but is 0-2 in playoff games.
— Brian Sipe— Threw for 23,713 yards, went 57-55 before jumping to USFL.

Buffalo Bills
— Jim Kelly— Four straight AFC titles, threw for 35,467 yards- helluva run.
— Joe Ferguson— Threw for 27,590 yards, handed off to OJ a lot. 1-3 in playoffs.
— Jack Kemp— 43-31-3 with the Bills; went 22-6 with the Chargers.
— Doug Flutie— 21-9 with Buffalo, 38-28 overall in NFL; also played in USFL, CFL.

Cincinnati Bengals
— Ken Anderson— 91-81 with Bengals is impressive; threw for 32,838 yards.
— Boomer Esiason— 62-61 in Cincinnati; threw for 27,149 yards, won an AFC title.
— Andy Dalton— 70-61-2 in regular season with Bengals, 0-4 in playoff games.
— Carson Palmer— Threw for 22,694 yards with Bengals; went 38-21-1 in Arizona.

Cleveland Browns
— Tim Couch— Went 8-6 for Browns in 2002, but didn’t play in playoff game.
— Baker Mayfield— 12-17 with Browns; too bad he doesn’t play as well as he talks.
— Derek Anderson— 16-18 in Cleveland from 2006-09; lasted 13 years in NFL.
— Brian Hoyer— 10-6 with Browns; 38 career starts in 11 years.

Denver Broncos
— John Elway— 14-7 in playoff games; I think he’s the best QB ever.
— Peyton Manning— Went 45-12 with Denver, won two AFC titles.
— Craig Morton— Went 41-23 with Broncos, got Denver to first Super Bowl
— Jake Plummer— 39-15 as Denver’s starter, retired at age 32.

Houston Texans
— Deshaun Watson— 24-13 in three years with the Texas.
— Matt Schaub— Went 46-42 in Houston, threw for 23,221 yards.
— David Carr— Got pummeled as QB of the expansion Texans (22-53).
— Brock Osweiler— 8-6 in one year with Texans, 15-15 overall in NFL.

Indianapolis Colts
— Johnny Unitas— 117-60-4 with Colts, won three NFL titles.
— Peyton Manning— 141-67 with Colts, threw for 54,828 yards.
— Andrew Luck— Went 53-33 with Indy before his early retirement.
— Earl Morrall— Won 24 of 28 Colt starts, including 16-7 loss in SB III.

Jacksonville Jaguars
— Mark Brunell— 63-54 in Jacksonville, 24 more wins than any other Jaguar QB.
— David Garrard— 39-37 for Jaguars, threw for 16,003 yards,
— Byron Leftwich— 24-20 with Jags, is now Brady’s OC in Tampa Bay.
— Blake Bortles— Started for five years in Jacksonville, was backup for Rams LY.

Kansas City Chiefs
— Len Dawson— 93-56-8 with Chiefs, started 2 of first 4 Super Bowls.
— Patrick Mahomes— 24-7 with Chiefs, won KC’s first Super Bowl in 50 years.
— Trent Green— 48-40 for Chiefs, threw ball for 21,459 yards.
— Alex Smith— Underrated career; 50-26 in KC, 94-66-1 overall.

Los Angeles Chargers
— Dan Fouts— Threw for 43,040 yards, playing in a more defense-friendly era.
— Philip Rivers— 128-107 in San Diego, only 5-6 in playoff games- he threw 411 TD passes.
— John Hadl— Wore #21, threw for 26,938 yards, also coached in the USFL.
— Stan Humphries— 47-29 for Chargers, led San Diego to their only Super Bowl.

Miami Dolphins
— Dan Marino— Threw for 61,361 yards, 420 TD’s, but never won a Super Bowl.
— Bob Greise— 92-56-3 with Miami, won two Super Bowls.
— Jay Fiedler— 36-23 in Miami from 2000-04, only 1-2 in playoff games.
— David Woodley— 27-12-1 with Dolphins, led them to a Super Bowl.

New England Patriots
— Tom Brady— Won six Super Bowls, threw 614 TD passes.
— Steve Grogan— Went 75-60 with Patriots, led them to Super Bowl in 1985.
— Drew Bledsoe— Threw for 29,657 yards, 166 TD’s; also played for Bills, Cowboys.
— Babe Parilli— 44-32-7 for Boston Patriots in early AFL days; they played at Fenway.

New Jersey Jets
— Joe Namath— Won Super Bowl III, was only 62-62-1 as Jets’ QB, hampered by a bad knee.
— Ken O’Brien— Threw for 24,386 yards, 124 TD’s.
— Mark Sanchez— 33-29 in regular season, went 4-2 in playoff games.
— Chad Pennington— 32-29 as a starter, also won a couple playoff games.

Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders
— Ken Stabler— 69-26-1 for Oakland in 70’s; won their first Super Bowl title.
— Daryle Lamonica— 62-16-6 for Raiders, was Oakland’s QB in Super Bowl II.
— Jim Plunkett— 38-19 for Oakland, winning two Super Bowls. 8-2 in playoff games.
— Rich Gannon— 45-29 for Raiders, 37-18 from 2000-02; was 4-3 in playoff games.

Pittsburgh Steelers
— Terry Bradshaw— Won four Super Bowls in six years; was 107-51-1 for Steelers.
— Ben Roethlisberger— Has thrown for 56,545 yards, won two Super Bowls.
— Neil O’Donnell— 39-22 for Pittsburgh in early 90’s; lost Super Bowl XXX to Dallas.
— Kordell Stewart— 48-31 for Steelers in late 90’s, only 2-2 in playoff games.

Tennessee Titans
— Warren Moon— Threw for 33,685 yards for Oilers, was 27-13 from 1990-92.
— Steve McNair— 76-55 with Titans, got them within yard of OT in Super Bowl XXXIV
— George Blanda— Won first two AFL titles with Oilers, kicked in NFL until he was 48. 
— Dan Pastorini— Was Oilers’ QB in Bum Phillips era; was also their punter for five years. 

St Louis/Arizona Cardinals
— Jim Hart— Was  87-88-5 as starter, 40 more wins than any Cardinal QB.
— Neil Lomax— Threw for 22,711 yards, 136 TD’s.
— Charley Johnson— Went 36-28-5 as a starter, from 1961-69.
— Carson Palmer— Went 38-21-1 as Arizona’s starter, from 2013-17.

Atlanta Falcons
— Matt Ryan— 109-90 with Falcons, twice as many wins as any other QB.
— Steve Bartkowski— Threw for 23,470 yards, 154 TD’s.
— Michael Vick— Went 38-28-1 in Atlanta, a great dual threat.
— Chris Chandler— Led Falcons to their first Super Bowl, in 1998.

Carolina Panthers
— Cam Newton— Threw for 29,041 yards, led Carolina to a Super Bowl.
— Jake Delhomme— 53-37 with the Panthers, threw for 19,258 yards.
— Kerry Collins— 22-20 for expansion Panthers, in their first four years.
— Steve Beuerlein— 23-28 here; only four QB’s won more than 8 games for Carolina.

Chicago Bears
— Jim McMahon— Went 46-15 as QB of great Bear teams in the 80’s.
— Jim Harbaugh— Took over for McMahon, went 35-30, threw for 11,567 yards.
— Jay Cutler— Threw for 23,433 yards, most in Chicago history.
— Bill Wade— QB of ’63 NFL champs; went 27-20-2 with Bears.
I didn’t include Sid Luckman on this list, because he played so long ago (1939-50), but I probably should have; he at least deserves a mention. 

Dallas Cowboys
— Roger Staubach— Went 85-29 as Cowboys’ QB, from 1969-79.
— Troy Aikman— Won three Super Bowls, threw for 32,942 yards.
— Tony Romo— 78-49 in regular season, only 2-4 in playoff games.
— Don Meredith— 47-32-4 when Dallas first became good, in the 60’s.

Detroit Lions
— Bobby Layne— Won consecutive titles as Detroit’s QB in ’52, ’53.
— Greg Landry— 40-41-3 as Lions’ QB, for 1968-78
— Matthew Stafford— 41,025 passing yards, no playoff wins (0-2)
— Scott Mitchell— 27-30 as Lions’ QB, from 1994-98.

Green Bay Packers
— Bart Starr— 9-1 in playoff games, won five NFL titles.
— Brett Favre— 160-93 in Green Bay, threw for 61,655 yards.
— Aaron Rodgers— Packer fans aren’t spoiled, are they?
— Lynn Dickey— Threw for 21,369 yards on sub-par Green Bay teams.

Los Angeles Rams
— Kurt Warner— Hall of Famer won Super Bowl XXXIV.
— Norm Van Brocklin— Went 42-20-3, won ’51 NFL title for Rams.
— Roman Gabriel— 74-39-6 as LA’s QB in the 60’s.
— Jared Goff— 35-16 as the Rams’ QB the last three years.

Minnesota Vikings
— Fran Tarkenton— Went 91-73-6, won four NFC titles.
— Tommy Kramer— Thew for 24,775 yards, went 54-56 in Minnesota.
— Brad Johnson— Went 28-18 for Vikings, won Super Bowl in Tampa Bay.
— Daunte Culpepper—- 17 Viking QB’s have won 10+ games; they switch QB’s a lot.

New Jersey Giants
— Eli Manning— Won two Super Bowls, threw for 57,023 yards.
— Phil Simms— 95-64 with the Giants, threw for 33,462 yards.
— YA Tittle— Went 32-13-3 in early 60’s; was one of opposing coaches in Any Given Sunday.
— Charlie Conerly— 57-31-1 as QB of the Giants in the 50’s.

New Orleans Saints
— Drew Brees— 65,068 passing yards, 467 TD’s, a Super Bowl title
— Bobby Hebert— 49-26 while leading the Jim Mora-era Saints.
— Aaron Brooks— Threw for 19,156 yards, 120 TD’s in 82 starts (38-44).
— Archie Manning— Played for terrible Saints teams; I heard he has three sons. 

Philadelphia Eagles
— Donovan McNabb— 92-49-1 in Philly, threw for 32,873 yards, 216 TD’s.
— Randall Cunningham— 63-43-1 with the Eagles; once had a 91-yard punt.
— Ron Jaworski— Threw for 26,963 yards, led Eagles to their first Super Bowl.
— Nick Foles— Only 25-13 for Eagles, but he won then a Super Bowl.

San Francisco 49ers
— Joe Montana— 100-39 as a starter, won four Super Bowls.
— Steve Young— 91-33 in regular season with 49ers, won one Super Bowl.
— John Brodie— Threw for 31,548 yards in era when passing wasn’t a big thing.
— Jimmy Garoppolo— 19-5 in his first 24 games, won NFC title last year.

Seattle Seahawks
— Russell Wilson— 86-41-1 as a starter, won a Super Bowl, almost won two.
— Dave Kreig— 70-49-1 as a starter, threw for 26,132 yards.
— Matt Hasselbeck— 69-62 as a starter, got Seahawks to their first Super Bowl.
— Jim Zorn— Mobile lefty QB’d the expansion Seahawks, threw 107 TD’s.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
— Doug Williams— 33-33-1 with Bucs; they were 2-26 before he got there.
— Brad Johnson— 26-23 with Bucs, won them their only Super Bowl.
— Trent Dilfer— 38-38 in Tampa, then won a Super Bowl for Baltimore.
— Jameis Winston— 28-42 as a starter, threw for 19,737 yards- they let him walk.

Washington Redskins
— Joe Theismann— 77-47 as a starter, threw for 25,206 yards, won a Super Bowl
— Sonny Jurgensen— Threw for 22,585 yards, went 52-51-5 in Washington.
— Mark Rypien—- 45-27 playing for Joe Gibbs, also won a Super Bowl.
— Billy Kilmer— 50-23-1 in George Allen era, got Redskins to their first Super Bowl. 

1) Al Michaels:
— Has been doing baseball, football on TV since I was in Little League.
— Called 1980 Olympic hockey Miracle on Ice
— Called numerous Super Bowls, including the only Super Bowl the Rams won
— Called numerous World Series, including the ’72 Series, which the A’s won

2) Dick Enberg:
— Was part of the greatest college hoop broadcast team ever, with Al McGuire and Billy Packer.
— Did NFL games on NBC for years.
— Did baseball for years; his last job was with the Padres just a few years ago. 
— Hosted a good TV game show, Sports Challenge.

3) Curt Gowdy:
— When I was a little kid, Gowdy called everything; college basketball, baseball, AFL/NFL.
— He worked 13 World Series, 16 All-Star games.
— He worked nine Super Bowls, 14 Rose Bowls, 24 Final Fours.
— There is a state park in Wyoming named after him.

4) Vin Scully:
— By far, the best baseball announcer ever.
— He broadcast Dodger games for 66 years. 66 years!!!!
— Also did NFL and golf on network TV.
— Was very good playing himself in the baseball movie, For Love of the Game.

5) Keith Jackson:
— To me, he will always be the voice of college football.
— Was also the first play-by-play guy on Monday Night Football.
— Did baseball playoffs and also did basketball games with Dick Vitale.
— Also was ABC’s lead play-by-play guy on NBA games for two years.

6) Brent Musburger:
— Is still working at age 80, doing Raiders’ games on radio.
— Is most famous for doing NFL Today pre-game show with Irv Cross, Jimmy the Greek.
— Did lot of college basketball and college football.
— Has a talk show now on Las Vegas-based VSIN on Sirius Radio.

7) Jim Nantz:
— Golf, basketball, football; Nantz is good at everything.
— Played college golf at Houston, teammates with Fred Couples, Blaine McCallister.
— Once worked Utah Jazz games with Hot Rod Hundley.
— With his voice/demeanor, would be the greatest funeral home director ever: “Welcome, friends. Sorry for your loss.”

8) Jack Buck:
— Was more relaxed than his son Joe is; he was almost flippant at times- I mean that in a good way.
— Did baseball Cardinal games in St Louis for years.
— Did Monday Night Football on the radio with Hank Stram.
— I was lucky enough to meet him in Cooperstown the day he got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Good guy.

9) Marv Albert:
— A New York icon; he did Knick/Ranger games for years.
— One of the best NBA announcers ever.
— Did NFL games on NBC for years.
— His son Kenny Albert will be on this list before too much longer.

10) Pat Summerall:
— In my mind, the best NFL play-by-play guy ever.
— Also did golf and tennis on CBS, as well as NBA/ABA games.
— Was a kicker for the Giants for 10 years.
— Jerry Jones referred to Summerall as “royalty in the broadcast booth”

11) Sean McDonough:
— Has very quietly put together a tremendous career for a long time.
— Was watching a replay of the ’92 NLCS; McDonough was doing that game. 1992.
— College football, college hoop, baseball, Monday Night Football; he’s done it all.

12) Mike Emrick:
— Best-ever NHL announcer (along wth Dan Kelly)
— Has won six national Emmy awards (no other NHL voice has more than one)
— Worked NFL games with Matt Millen, Hank Stram in 1992, 1993.
— Was voted into US Hockey Hall of Fame, in 2011. 

13) Joe Tait:
— Never got any national love, but was great doing Cavaliers/Indians games on WWWE.
— He broadcast Cavalier games on the radio for 39 years.
— When I was a kid, listening to games on the radio was a big thing, especially before the spread of cable TV. Listening to Joe Tait on WWWE was a lot of fun for me; he did baseball with Herb Score, the pitcher whose career ended early because of an injury- they were a great team.

If you’re wondering why Bob Costs isn’t on this list, he disqualified himself when he dismissed the A’s 20-game winning streak in 2002. You can hear it in the movie, Moneyball. “a certain element of randomness……”

Ray Scott was at the end of his great career when I was really young, in the mid-60’s; he probably belongs on this list, but I didn’t hear him call very many games. 

When I was a little kid, I preferred comedies; now I only watch one-hour reruns— watch ballgames and movies the rest of the time. Here are 13 of my all-time favorite TV shows:

13) Without a Trace— Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) runs an FBI unit specializing in missing persons investigations, while his personal life falls apart around him. Sometimes they found the people, sometimes they didn’t, which is part of what made the show so good.

12) Suits— A brilliant young college dropout slips into a job interview with one of New York City’s best legal closers, and talks the guy into hiring him as a lawyer, even though the young man has never gone to law school— he took the bar exam for other people (and passed it) many times, on the sly.

This show ended in part because one of the actresses (Meghan Markle) married a prince from England.

11) Lost In Space— This show was on in the 60’s; a space colony family struggles to survive when a spy/accidental stowaway throws their ship hopelessly off course. Dr Smith (Jonathan Harris) was the annoying stowaway who provided comic relief; his interaction with the Robot (“Danger!!! Danger!!!) were one of the highlights of the show.

One of the prized pieces of my bobblehead collection is a Robot bobblehead.

10) Addams Family— The Addams Family is not your typical family: it takes delight in most of the things of which normal people would be terrified. Gomez Adams (John Astin) is an extremely wealthy man and is able to indulge his wife Morticia’s (Carolyn Jones) every desire, whether it’s cultivation of poisonous plants or a candlelit dinner in a graveyard.

Morticia would read the stock ticker, and if Gomez lost, he would say “Easy come, easy go”

Cousin Itt, Thing, Lurch were all excellent characters. 

1993, I have an emergency appendectomy; I’m in the hospital couple of days. Guy in the next hospital bed is watching Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and when they run the credits at the end of the show, I get kind of excited, because Felix Silla played one of the robots.

Felix Silla played Cousin Itt on the Addams Family; my neighbor wasn’t impressed when I gave him that bit of trivia. The nurse smiled, then checked to see if she gave me too much medication.

9) White Shadow— An NBA player retires and gets a job as a basketball coach in a inner-city high school; the uniforms that Carver High wears in this show are the same ones that the star (Ken Howard) of the show’s team wore in high school on Long Island.

Basketball scenes were very well done.

Bruce Paltrow was the show’s creator; Gwyneth Paltrow’s father. 

8) Green Acres— A New York City attorney (Eddie Albert) and his city-loving wife (Eva Gabor) attempt to live as farmers in the bizarre community of Hooterville. Hank Kimball was my favorite character, playing the bumbling county agent.

My lasting memory of this show is that seemingly every time I had it on, my father would walk in the room and say “Why the hell are you watching this?” Then five minutes later, he’d be laughing harder than I was.

7) Mister Ed— A wisecracking talking horse is the star, but he only talks to the guy who owns the barn he lives in, Wilbur Post (Alan Young). Mister Ed was a big baseball fan; he once took batting practice off of the Dodgers, with Sandy Koufax on the mound.

Good trivia; Dodgers’ CF Willie Davis was Mister Ed’s favorite ballplayer.

6) M*A*S*H— The staff of an Army hospital in the Korean War find that laughter is the best way to deal with their often-horrendous situation.

Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) is the star of the show; Alda was so recognizable as Hawkeye that it probably hurt his acting career after M*A*S*H went off the air— the series finale is one of the most-watched TV shows ever.

Alda played a therapist on Ray Donovan the last couple seasons.

 5) CSI— An elite team of police forensic evidence investigation experts work their cases in Las Vegas; in real life, I searched fingerprints for ten years for the state of New York, so I know a little bit about this line of work, but what attracted me to this show was a) Las Vegas and b) the loyalty the characters had to their co-workers and their jobs.

The eulogy Gil Grissom (William Peterson) gives after Warrick Brown is murdered is one of the great speeches (albeit a short one) in television history. 

4) Billions— Showtime series in its 5th season, a U.S. Attorney goes after a hedge fund king in a battle between two powerful New York figures. Making things sticky is that the attorney’s wife (Maggie Siff) works as a psychologist for the hedge fund guy.

Lot of interesting cameos thru the years; John Malkovich, Kevin Pollak, Eric Bogosian, pro wrestler Becky Lynch, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Durant, Mark Cuban. Great show.

3) Law and Order— 20 years, 456 episodes that follow a crime (usually a murder), usually adapted from current headlines, from two separate vantage points, the police investigation and the prosecution in court.

One of the few shows that survived the stars of the show moving on and being replaced by other characters. This show was a launching pad for many acting careers; there are 26 actors who have appeared in Billions who also appeared in at least one episode of Law and Order.

2) Odd Couple— Two divorced friends who are complete opposites share an apartment; one is really neat and stuffy photographer, the other a sloppy, easy-going sportswriter.

1) Magnum PI— The adventures of a Hawaii-based private investigator (Tom Selleck), as he solves cases with the help of his buddies, TC (Roger Mosley) a helicopter pilot, club manager Rick (Larry Manetti) and Higgins (John Hillerman) who runs the estate Magnum lives on.

The parade of beautiful women as guest stars on the show was an 80’s who’s who of  Hollywood: Sharon Stone, Jill St John, Mimi Rogers, Leslie Uggams, Erin Gray, Dana Delany, to name a few.

Frank Sinatra did an episode near the end of the series; Ernest Borgnine, Carol Burnett, Cesar Romero, Ten Danson, Dennis Weaver— a long list of famous guest stars.