Month: October 2025

September’s Too……..is a good bar
1165 Central Avenue in Colonie, just west of Osborne Road

Golfers, bring your scorecards:
If you played nine holes, 9% off your bill
If you played 18 holes, 18% off your bill

Tuesday- Live music, open auditions with The Troupe
Wednesday- they have 12 TV’s to watch games
Thursday- Open Mic night, Vikings-Chargers on TV
Friday- Karaoke with Dan Leto, 8:00
Saturday- College football on TV, lot of music
Sunday- Watch NFL games, from 4:00-midnight

October 25th- 2-year anniversary Halloween bash with
Mike and the Monsters, 8:00

They have 12 TV’s and good food/drinks.
You can order food from them via Door Dash
Check it out, it’s a fun place

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Week 8 NFL info will be posted Wednesday

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
NFL spreads for this week:
— Vikings @ LA Chargers (-2.5)
— Jets @ Cincinnati (-6.5)
— Bears @ Baltimore (-6.5)
— Dolphins @ Atlanta (-7.5)
— Bills (-7.5) @ Carolina
— Giants @ Philadelphia (-7.5)

Quote of the Day
“The at-bats before me. If it’s not for those guys, that at-bat doesn’t happen. I’m just so happy for our team, out fans, our city, our country. I’m so happy right now.”
George Springer

Tuesday’s quiz
Last time the Blue Jays were in the World Series, who did they play?

Monday’s quiz
In the history of the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro Suzuki has the most hits. 

Sunday’s quiz
Joe Kapp was QB for the Vikings, the first time they played in a Super Bowl.

— Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3
George Springer hit a 3-run homer in the 7th inning.
Toronto’s bullpen got 16 outs, allowed only one hit.
Blue Jays are in the World Series for first time since 1993.
Game 1 of the World Series is Friday night

— Lions 24, Buccaneers 9
Jahmyr Gibbs had 20 touches for 218 yards, two TD’s.
Lions outgained Tampa Bay, 379-251.
Detroit has won five of its last six games.
Lions are 17-8 ATS last 25 games as a home favorite.

Bucs’ first seven drives: 20 plays, 54 yards, 5 punts, 2 turnovers.
Tampa Bay lost WR Evans (broken collarbone)
Bucs ran the ball only 12 times for 41 yards.
Previous four games, Tampa Bay had scored 30.5 points/game.

— Seahawks 27, Texans 19
Seattle’s first 3 drives: 18 plays, 133 yards, 14 points.
Seattle scored 17 points on 3 drives that started in Seattle territory.
Seahawks held last four foes to 66 rushing yards/game.
Texans had 10 penalties for 105 yards, Seattle 12 for 93

Houston’s first four drives: 18 plays, 19 yards, 4 punts.
Texans ran the ball only 17 times for 56 yards.
Houston was 2-15 on 3rd down, 1-4 on 4th down.
Texans were +3 in turnovers and still lost; unusual. 

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
Home teams 12-4 ATS divisional games
8-9 ATS non-divisional games

AFC North
Home teams 4-0 ATS divisional games
6-13 ATS non-divisional games

AFC South
4-2 ATS non-divisional favorite

AFC West
4-9 ATS non-divisional favorite

NFC East
Home teams 4-2 ATS divisional games
10-8 ATS non-divisional games

NFC North
5-2 ATS non-divisional home favorite

NFC South
12-11 ATS non-divisional games

NFC West
13-6 non-divisional games

— College football trends, conference games:

American
Favorites 17-8 ATS

ACC
Road teams 19-11 ATS

Big 18
Underdogs 21-15 ATS

Big X
Favorites 18-13 ATS

Conference USA
Home teams 9-6 ATS

Mid-American
Home teams 16-5 ATS

Mountain West
Home teams 8-9 ATS

SEC
Home teams 18-11 ATS

Sun Belt
Home teams 14-8 ATS

— Famous birthdays, October 21st:
Bill Curry, 83
Bill Russell, 77 (Dodgers’ SS)
Franklin Stubbs, 65

Zack Greinke, 42
Ricky Rubio, 35
Greg Robinson, 33

— 10 college football head coaches have been fired already this season; Florida, Colorado State are the most recent schools to tell their coach to take a hike.

— Florida State has lost its last nine ACC games, but coach Mike Norvell’s buyout is $54M, so he ain’t going anywhere until that number comes down a little.

— Texas A&M’s football team is 7-0 for the first time since 1994. 

— Arkansas has lost five games in a row, only one by more than six points.

— I’d like to thank the NFL for doing such a lousy job designing the coaches’ baseball caps this season; saves me $40. Ugly hats, hard to even see the logos.

— NFC is 25-12 SU against the AFC so far this season. 

— Blue Jays 6, Mariners 2
Addison Barger went 2-for-3 with a homer, three RBI
Trey Yesavage allowed two runs, got 17 outs.
Blue Jays led 4-0 in third inning, coasted home from there.
Winner-take-all Game 7 for the AL title is Monday night at 8:00.

— Broncos 33, Giants 32
Giants led 26-8 with 6:00 left in the game.
Denver is first 3 quarters: 42 plays, 112 yards, no points.
Denver in 4th quarter: 35 plays, 295 yards, 33 points.
Broncos kicked a 39-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.

Giants drove 65 yards, scored TD to take 32:30 lead with 0:37 left.
Giants missed two extra points, which proved costly.
Rookie QB Dart threw for 283 yards and three TD’s.
Denver survived committing 12 penalties for 127 yards. 

— Packers 27, Cardinals 23
Cardinals led 20-13 after the third quarter.
Packers had TD drives of 67-48 yards in the 4th quarter.
Packers are 4-14-1 ATS last 19 games as a road favorite.
Green Bay is 4-0-1 SU when it scores 27+ points.

Cardinals lost last five games by total of 13 points.
Under Gannon, Arizona is 19-10 ATS as an underdog.
Last four games, Cardinals converted 29-59 third down plays.
TE McBride caught 10 passes for 74 yards, two TD’s.

— Eagles 28, Vikings 22
DeVonta Smith caught nine passes for 183 yards and a TD.
Eagles are 5-2, but have been outgained in all seven games.
Eagles are 13-2-1 ATS in last 16 games with spread of 3 or fewer points
Last four games, Philly was held to 86-88-45-73-45 rushing yards.

Minnesota was in red zone six times: one TD, five FG’s.
Vikings were 7-15 on third down, Eagles 3-10.
Vikings in first half: 31 plays, 127 yards, six points.
Vikings in second half: 42 plays, 214 yards, 16 points.

— Famous birthdays, October 20:
Juan Marichal, 88
Isaac Curtis, 75
Dave Collins, 73
Dave Krieg, 67

Herman Moore, 56
Eddie Jones, 54
Calvin Broadus, 54 (Snoop Dogg)
Jose Soriano, 27

Today would’ve been the great actor Jerry Orbach’s 90th birthday. 

— Rams 35, Jaguars 7
Stafford threw 5 TD passes; Davante Adams caught 3 of them.
Rams first four drives: 27 plays, 199 yards, 21 points.
Jaguars’ first four drives: 23 plays, 58 yards, mo points.
Rams allowed 9-19-20-3-7 points in wins, 33-26 in losses.

Rams are 5-0 SU/ATS vs AFC teams this season.
Rams are 14-7 ATS in last 21 games as a favorite.
Jaguars committed 13 penalties for 119 yards.
Jaguars are +7 in turnovers in their wins, only plus-1 in losses.

— Panthers 13, Jets 6
Panthers are over .500 this late in year for first time since 2019.
QB Young left late in 3rd quarter with a sprained ankle.
Panthers were only 5-17 on third down, but 3-4 on fourth down.
Carolina won its last three games, by 3-3-7 points.

Jets lost first seven games, five of them by 7 or fewer points.
Last two weeks, Jets lost 13-11/13-6.
In those games, Jets were outgained 548-302.
Fields threw for 46 yards in first half; Taylor threw for 126 yards in 2nd half. 

— Colts 38, Chargers 24
Colts led 23-3 at halftime, improved to 6-1.
Colts’ first seven drives: 49 plays, 368 yards, 38 points (5 TDs/FG).
Indy scored 29+ points in all six of its wins.
Colts are 15-6 ATS in last 21 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Herbert threw INTs on two of Chargers’ first four drives.
Bolts ran ball 16 times for only 54 yards.
Chargers’ first three drives of 2nd half: 27 plays, 222 yards, 21 points.
Last three games, Chargers allowed 27-27-38 points. 

— Chiefs 31, Raiders 0
Chiefs in first half: 48 plays, 270 yards, 21 points.
Raiders in first half: 14 plays, 39 yards, no points.
For game, KC ran 77 plays for 434 yards, Raiders 30 for 95 yards
Raiders have run for 106 or fewer yards in six of seven games.

Chiefs won/covered four of their last five games.
Last five games, Kansas City is +6 in turnovers.
Chiefs converted 31 of last 64 third down plays.
Last 4 games, Chiefs threw ball for 264/318/248/282 yards.

— Browns 31, Dolphins 6
Cleveland led 17-6 at halftime.
Tagovailoa threw a pick-6 on first drive of third quarter.
Dolphins in 2nd half: 33 plays, 109 yards, 3 turnovers.
Miami was 1-13 on 3rd down, had 11 penalties for 103 yards.

RB Judkins ran ball 25 times for 84 yards and three TD’s.
Browns’ first four drives: 29 plays, 193 yards, 17 points.
Cleveland is 7-2 ATS last nine games as a home favorite.
Home teams are 7-0 ATS in Cleveland games this year.

— Movie of the Day: American Underdog (2021)- The true story of NFL QB Kurt Warner, who went from playing Arena Football and working in a supermarket, to being the Super Bowl MVP, and later getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Zach Levi, Anna Paquin, Dennis Quaid, Bruce McGill are in the cast; this movie is better than Moneyball because…….well, the good guys win in the end. 

— Patriots 31, Titans 13
NE outgained Tennessee 387-255 in Vrabel’s return to Nashville.
New England outscored the Titans 17-0 in the second half.
Patriots won last four games, scoring 42-23-25-31 points.
Patriots are 8-3-1 ATS last 12 games as a road favorite.

Tennessee is 1-6 SU/ATS, losing by 8-14-21-26-10-18 points.
Titans in second half: 24 plays, 60 yards, two turnovers.
Tennessee only ran the ball 12 times for 39 yards.
Titans have five TD’s, 14 FG’s on their 67 drives.

— Bears 26, Saints 14
Bears won their last four games, scoring 31-25-25-26 points.
RB Swift ran ball 19 times for 124 yards and a TD.
Bears have forced 3+ turnovers in their last four games.
Chicago is 9-4-1 ATS last 14 games as a home favorite.

Saints ran the ball 17 times for only 44 yards.
Saints lost their three road games, 44-13/31-19/26-14. 
New Orleans has been outscored 140-72 in first half of games.
Saints are 4-11 ATS in last 15 games coming off a loss.

— Cowboys 44, Commanders 22
First four Dallas drives: 12 plays, 170 yards; 2 TD’s, FG, safety
Prescott threw for 264 yards and three TD’s.
Lamb caught five passes for 110 yards, including a 74-yard TD.
DaRon Bland scored on a 68-yard pick-6. 

Cowboys led 27-15 at halftime.
Washington’s foes’ over/under total: over 5-1 last six games.
QB Daniels hurt his hamstring, left late in third quarter.
Commanders are 2-8 SU/ATS in last ten visits to Dallas.

— 49ers 20, Falcons 10
49ers ran the ball 39 times for 174 yards.
McCaffrey ran ball for 129 yards, also had 72 receiving yards.
San Francisco led 10-3 at halftime.
49ers allowed 26-30 points in losses, 23 or less in wins.

Falcons’ only TD drive was 48 yards, on first drive of 3rd quarter.
Atlanta ran ball 20 times for only 62 yards.
Under is 5-1 in Falcons’ games this season.
Atlanta scored 22-34-24 points in its wins, 20-0 in losses.

— Vanderbilt 31, LSU 24
Commodores are 6-1 for the first time since 1950.
Vandy ran ball 45 times for 239 yards (5.3 yards/carry)
Commodores snapped a 10-game losing skid vs LSU.

— Georgia 43, Ole Miss 35
QB Stockton threw for 289 yards, four TD’s.
Georgia outscored the Rebels 17-0 in fourth quarter.
Dawgs ran 80 plays for 510 yards, had 34 first downs.

— Arizona State 26, Texas Tech 22
Sun Devils drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:34 left.
First loss of year for Tech, who played without starting QB Morton.
WR Tyson caught 10 passes for 105 yards and a TD for ASU.

— UCLA 20, Maryland 17
Bruins kicked a 23-yard FG with 0:02 left for the comeback win.
Maryland had tied the game on a TD with 0:40 left.
UCLA is 3-0 since they fired their coach after an 0-4 start.

— Missouri 23, Auburn 17 OT
Mizzou led 10-7 at halftime.
Auburn RB Cobb ran ball 19 times for 111 yards.
Auburn is 0-4 in SEC, scoring 17-10-10-17 points.

— Upsets of the Week:
UAB (+20.5) 31, Memphis 24
Coastal Carolina (+10.5) 45, Appalachian State 37
Louisville (+10.5) 24, Miami 21
Arizona State (+9.5) 26, Texas Tech 22

Florida International (+9.5) 25, Western Kentucky 6
Minnesota (+8.5) 24, Nebraska 6
Arkansas State (+8.5) 15, South Alabama 14
SMU (+5.5) 35, Clemson 24

— Indiana 38, Michigan State 13
Five highest-paid coaches in college football:

$13M/year- Kirby Smart, Georgia
$12.5M- Ryan Day, Ohio State
$11.6M- Curt Cignetti, Indiana
$11.5M- Lincoln Riley, USC
$11.3M- Dabo Swinney, Clemson

— UAB 31, Memphis 24
Blazers fired their coach this week, then pulled biggest upset of the day.
UAB had good balance; ran ball for 219 yards, threw it for 251.
Blazers covered 9-13 third down plays, 6-1 Memphis 5-11.

— Georgia Tech 27, Duke 18
Tech had a 95-yard fumble return for TD in first quarter.
Game was tied 10-10 after the third quarter.
Tech was outgained 441-376; they’re quietest 7-0 team in country.

— California 21, North Carolina 18
TE on North Carolina fumbled on 1-yard line with 3:48 left.
Tar Heels are 1-4 vs I-A teams; the win was over 1-6 Charlotte.
Cal barely won, despite being +3 in turnovers.

— Famous birthdays, October 19th:
John Lithgow, 80
Lynn Dickey, 76
Lionel Hollins, 72
David Palmer, 68

Brad Daugherty, 60
Keith Foulke, 53
Leonard Little, 51
Michael Young, 49

Rajai Davis, 45
JA Happ, 43
Anthony Santander, 31
Zack Gelof, 26

— Houston 31, Arizona 28
Houston kicked a 41-yard FG at the gun, improved to 6-1.
Cougars ran ball 45 times for 232 yards.
Arizona was first team to score TD Saturday; they were 50-1 to do that at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas.

— Marshall 40, Texas State 37 OT
Bobcats lost in overtime for the second week in a row.
Texas State QB Jackson threw for 44 yards, 2 TD’s in a losing cause.
Bobcats turned ball over three times, had 12 penalties for 80 yards.

— Tulane 24, Army 17
6-1 Green Wave scored two TD’s in last 1:54 for the comeback win.
Total yardage: Tulane 402, Army 358
Army ran ball 63 times for 233 yards.

— Alabama 37, Tennessee 20
Vols QB Aguilar threw a 99-yard pick-6 on last play of first half.
If Tennessee had kicked FG there, they would’ve trailed 16-10 at the half.
Vols outgained Alabama 409-373, but had 10 penalties for 67 yards.

— Texas 16, Kentucky 13 OT
Longhorns led 7-0 at halftime.
Kentucky kicked a 45-yard FG with 0:09 left to force OT.
In OT, Wildcats went for it on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line, but failed. 

— Mariners 6, Blue Jays 2
Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th
Cal Raleigh also homered in 8th to tie game, 2-2.
Mariners took their starting P out after only 56 PT
Seattle leads series, 3-2; Game 6 is in Toronto Sunday.

— Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Ohtani threw six shutout IP, also hit three home runs.
Milwaukee had five hits, was 0-8 with RISP.
Dodgers sweep Milwaukee 4-0; Brewers scored one run in every game.

— Bengals 33, Steelers 31
Bengals drove 52 yards, kicked 36-yard FG with 0:07 left for the win.
Flacco threw for 342 yards, three TD’s
WR Chase had 23 targets; he caught 16 passes for 161 yards.
Bengals were 7-14 on third down, Pittsburgh 7-10.

Bengals’ first two drives: 13 plays, 53 yards, two punts.
Bengals rest of game: 63 plays, 416 yards, 33 points.
Steelers led 10-0 early in second quarter.
Pittsburgh has allowed 369+ yards in five of six games.

— Louisville 24, Miami 21
Louisville had four INT’s, was +3 in turnovers.
Louisville led 14-10 at halftime.
Miami ran the ball 24 times for only 63 yards.
Cardinals were a 10.5-point underdog.

— Minnesota 24, Nebraska 6
Minnesota outscored Nebraska 17-0 in second half.
Gophers sacked Nebraska’s QB nine times.
Gophers outgained the Cornhuskers, 339-213.
Both teams are 5-2.

— Utah State 30, San Jose State 25
Utah State kicked 44-yard FG with 1:58 left for the win.
Aggies threw a 74-yard TD pass in 3rd quarter; they led 17-9.
San Jose State outgained the Agues, 534-461.
Spartans were 9-17 on third down, Utah State 5-15

— Famous birthdays, October 18th:
Mike Ditka, 86
George Hendrick, 76
Pam Dawber, 74
Alex Cora, 50

Yoenis Cespedes, 40
Zac Efron, 38
Osvaldo Bido, 30
Terance Mann, 29

— Most starting pitchers used, last two years:
31- White Sox, Marlins
27- Dodgers, Brewers
24- Angels, Mets, Giants
23- Braves, Red Sox

— Fewest starting pitchers used, last two years:
10- Mariners
12- Cardinals
14- Bronx, Nationals
16- Rockies, Royals, Phillies

— Dodgers-Brewers, Blue Jays-Mariners. This year’s Final Four

Only one player ever has played for all four of those teams: Henry Blanco, who played 16 years in the big leagues, for 11 different teams.

— Dolphins-Browns Sunday will have two lefty QB’s starting, first time that has happened in the NFL since 2006, an Atlanta-Tampa Bay game (Vick-Chris Simms)

By the way, this game could have winds as high as 60 MPH, with a 94% chance of rain. 

— Since 2016, there have been 16 college football teams that started a season 0-6 ATS; those teams went 5-10-1 ATS in their 7th game. Penn State fits that bill this week.

Since 2020, there have been eight teams that started a season 6-0 ATS; those teams went 2-6 ATS in their 7th game. Memphis, Texas Tech fit the bill this week. 

Things to think about, with college/minor league basketball around the corner…….

— This will sound weird, but Sacramento State is going to be fascinating to follow this year; the Hornets haven’t had a winning season in Big Sky games since 2015, they’re on their fifth head coach in six years, but they’re going to be fun to watch this season.

The new coach is Mike Bibby, who played 14 years in the NBA, scoring 14.7 ppg; one of his new players is 6-8 F Shaqir O’Neal, whose father is Shaquille O’Neal. 

Shaquille O’Neal is the new general manager for Sacramento State, which means we’re going to be seeing some Big Sky games on TV this season. Shaq is good at generating publicity.

Mikey Williams is a Hornet now; he was a big prospect a couple years ago, ran into some issues off the court, but he’s in Sacramento now, and is a key to Sacramento State’s season.

— Next year will be a dizzying year, with more teams changing leagues. There are a few teams changing leagues this year, but not that many.

Grand Canyon moves from the WAC to the Mountain West; Antelopes won 103 games the last four years, have been in four of last five NCAA Tournaments. Last year, Grand Canyon had the #29 eFG% in the country; they got 24% of their points on the foul line (#9 in country). Will they still get as many calls in their new, tougher league?

WAC was the #15 league last year; Mountain West was #6.

— Seattle is also bolting the WAC, which only has seven teams left; Redhawks are moving to the WCC, which won’t look the same at this time next year, with Gonzaga bolting to the Mountain West.

Seattle was 23-14 two years ago, but 14-18 last year; they were a terrible shooting team last year (#334 eFG%). Last four years, Redhawks were 44-28 in the WAC and they’ve got three starters back, but they need to make more shots. 

WAC was the #15 league last year; WCC was #7 league.

— UMass bolted from the Atlantic 15 to the MAC, a huge help to their basketball program; MAC was the #23 league LY, A-15 was the #8 league— the move was football-based, but it should make life simpler on the hardwood.

UMass is 47-47 in three years under Frank Martin, was 24-30 in A-15 games. Minutemen have not been in the NCAA’s since 2014- they’ve brought in 10 new players after last year’s 12-20 season, when they shot 28% on the arc, 2nd-worst in the country.

— Two teams bolted to Conference USA, for football reasons…….

Delaware was in the NCAA’s in 2022, going 22-13, but they went 23-31 in CAA games since then.

Blue Hens were 16-20 LY, 5-13 in CAA, but they won four games in the CAA tourney and lost in the final, 76-72 to NC-Wilmington, playing for the fifth night in a row.

Delaware was #324 in defensive efficiency LY; CAA was #20 league last year, C-USA was #9, so this is a step up for the Blue Hens.

— Missouri State bolts to C-USA from the Missouri Valley, the #10 league; Bears were 9-23/2-19 last year, a dismal team that turned the ball over 20.7% of the time (#346).

Missouri State has had some good teams recently, but they haven’t been to the NCAA’s since Steve Alford led them there, in 1999. They’ve had seven 20-win seasons since then, but haven’t made it back to March Madness.

— Famous birthdays, October 17
Michael McKean, 78
Mike Bratz, 70
Dan Pasqua, 64
Jay Humphries, 63
Danny Ferry, 59
John Mabry, 55
Myles Straw, 31

— SEC had 14 of its 16 teams in the NCAA’s last year, which seems excessive; Florida was the first SEC team to win a national title since Kentucky in 2012.

Texas/Oklahoma both went 6-12 in SEC games, tied for 13th; if you finish tied for 13th in your league, you shouldn’t make the NCAA’s.

— Kentucky’s NIL budget/payroll is $22M this season; consensus is that nationally, top 10 teams have an average payroll of $10M or so. High expectations for coach Mark Pope.

Wildcats were 24-12 LY, making their first Sweet 16 since 2019; teams shot 53.9% inside the arc vs Kentucky (#295). Hopefully they spent some of that $22M on big guys who can defend.

— Auburn was 32-6, 15-3 in SEC, made the Final Four for the second time in seven years under Bruce Pearl, but last month, Pearl abruptly quit, so his son Steven could take his place. Bruce Pearl is going into the TV studio this season.

Auburn will play six top 40 teams before Christmas, as they prepare for the rigors on of SEC play, which worked for them LY, when they played the #19 non-conference schedule.

— Last five years, the ACC ranked #5-5-7-5-5 nationally, a downturn from 2014-19, when the ACC was a top 3 league every year. Only four ACC teams made the NCAA’s LY, but couple of new coaches figure to re-vitalize their programs.

Will Wade went 58-11 at McNeese State, made the NCAA’s five of six years before that at LSU, VCU. In the NIL era, Wade seems like a good man for the job.

Ryan Odom is the new coach at Virginia; his teams at VCU/Utah State were 78-30 the last three years. In 2018, he coached #16-seed UMBC to the first #16-seed over #1-seed upset in, when his Retrievers upset………Virginia.

— Four of the top 11 teams in the preseason top 25 are from the Big 18, a league that hasn’t won a national title since Michigan State in 2000.

— BYU signed AJ Dybantsa, the best recruit in the country; Cougars also bring back last year’s leading scorer, Richie Saunders- they’ve added four guards in the transfer portal.

Last year, BYU had the #7 eFG% in the country; 47.6% of their shots were 3’s- they made 36.8% of those. Cougars went 26-10, winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 2011.

— Last five years, Cal-Irvine went 68-23 in Big West games, but was 4-5 in their conference tournament- they surprisingly haven’t been to the NCAA’s since 2019.

Last year, Anteaters were 32-7; they lost the NIT final in overtime. This year, they get G Derin Saran back; he went to Stanford LY, but it didn’t work out well, so he is back in Irvine, where hopefully the Anteaters will fare better in the conference tournament. 

— Blue Jays 13, Mariners 4
Vladimir Guerrero was 4-for-4 with a home run.
Toronto hit five homers; they had 18 hits overall.
Road team has won all three series games; Seattle leads, 2-1
Game 4 is Thursday in Seattle.

— Jacksonville State 38, Delaware 25
Cam Cook ran ball for 117 yards, three TD’s.
Gamecocks led 20-6 at halftime.
Delaware threw ball for 422 yards, but was minus-2 in turnovers.

— Texas-El Paso 35, Sam Houston State 17
Skyler Locklear threw for 236 yards, 2 TDs; ran ball for 48 yards, 2 more TD’s
Miners led 14-10 at halftime.
UTEP ran ball 34 times for 175 yards (5.1 yards/carry)

— NHL’s New York Rangers are first NHL team ever to get shut out in their first three home games of a season.

— Famous birthdays, October 16th:
Mel Counts, 84
Timothy Robbins, 67
Kevin McReynolds, 66

Adrian Murrell, 55
Kordell Stewart, 53
Bryce Harper, 33

John Wolford, 30
Steve Avila, 26
Noelvi Marte, 24

— When Gonzaga visits San Francisco this year, the game will be at the Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors, for the third year in a row. Gonzaga draws fans, and bigger arena makes USF a lot more money than playing in their campus gym would.

— In the history of the baseball playoffs, there have been 25 teams who hit two 3-run homers in the same game (or a 3-run and grand slam); all 25 of those teams won.

— Russell Westbrook signed on with the Sacramento Kings; this will be his 18th year in the NBA, the Kings are his 7th NBA team:

2008-19- Oklahoma City
2019-20- Houston
2020-21- Washington
2021-23- Lakers
2023-24- Clippers
2024-25- Nuggets
2025-26- Kings

In his career, Westbrook has earned $348,234,946 in salary.

— Some NBA over/under win totals for the coming season:

Thunder 62.5
Cavaliers 56.5
Nuggets 53.5
Rockets 52.5

Celtics 40.5
Bulls 32.5
Wizards 21.5
Jazz 18.5

— Angels/Orioles seem to be competing to hire Albert Pujols as their next manager; Orioles went 60-59 this season under interim manager Tony Mansolino, after they fired Brandon Hyde.

Last year, Pujols won a championship with Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League; it was the first time he had managed. He is supposed to manage the Dominican Republic in next spring’s World Baseball Classic.

— Sacramento Kings signed Keegan Murray to a five-year, $140M rookie contract extension that will keep him in Sacramento through the 2030-31 season.

— Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game (111 PT)
Muncy/Hernandez homered for Los Angeles.
Dodgers’ bullpen got total of three outs in the first two games.
Dodgers lead series 2-0; Game 3 is in Los Angeles Thursday.

— Dodger P Blake Snell has very interesting career numbers:
March/April 7-12, 3.89 in 32 starts
May 6-12, 4.57 in 32 starts
June 11-12, 4.44 in 29 starts

July 13-6, 2.43 in 36 starts
August 23-10, 2.45 in 48 starts
September/October 21-10, 2.15 in 45 starts

Much, much better in second half of the season.

— In the 30 years before Indiana hired Curt Cignetti as its football coach, they averaged 4.1 wins per year. Cignetti is 16-2 at Indiana; he makes $9M a year.

Worth it.

— The world is going nuts, or maybe just daytime TV sucks; I walk into a bar for lunch Tuesday and there is a discussion on TV as whether the Baltimore Ravens should fire John Harbaugh. 

Huh????

Harbaugh is 186-120 coaching the Ravens, won a Super Bowl. They’re off to a bad start this year; fire the defensive coordinator and move on. Discussing firing Harbaugh is nonsensical.

— I’m a believer that QB’s/WR’s should get stat credit for yardage they gain on pass interference penalties. Would have to be a separate category, but it would be interesting to see the numbers at the end of a season.

— I’m watching Miami-Atlanta NBA exhibition game the other night; they show the Hawks’ owner Anthony Ressler sitting with his wife and it dawns on me that he is married to actress Jami Gertz, who has 102 acting credits on IMDB.com

She was in the movie Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy/Robert Downey Jr, a very good but very sad movie. She represented the Hawks at the NBA Draft Lottery twice. The Resslers have been married since 1989.

— Famous birthdays, October 15th:
Jim Palmer, 80
Joe Klecko, 72
Mark Wade, 60
Vanessa Marcil, 57
Fred Hoiberg, 53

Connor Barwin, 39
Blaine Gabbert, 36
Teoscar Hernandez, 33
Jack Flaherty, 30
Brandon Pfaadt, 27

— Liberty 30, New Mexico State 27
Liberty led 20-6 at halftime, held on for dear life.
New Mexico State missed a 47-yard FG on the last play.
Aggies outgained Liberty, 388-293, but had three turnovers.

— Florida International 25, Western Kentucky 6
Panthers kicked four field goals, led 19-6 at halftime.
FIU ran ball 39 times for 249 yards.
FIU had lost its previous five games vs Western Kentucky.

— Arkansas State 15, South Alabama 14
Red Wolves kicked a 38-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
1-6 South Alabama led 14-3 after three quarters.
Arkansas State outgained the Jaguars, 367-293

— Last five baseball players to play for five teams in one season:
2018- Oliver Drake- Indians, Angels, Brewers, Twins, Blue Jays
2024- Mike Baumann- Orioles, Angels, Marlins, Mariners, Giants
2025- Jose Urena- Angels, Dodgers, Twins, Mets, Blue Jays

— Steve Weinman, who spent 13 years in the Chicago Bulls’ front office, has been hired by Wake Forest to be the general manager for the Deacons’ men’s/women’s basketball teams.

He’ll work closely with the head coaches on “roster construction, recruiting strategy, transfer portal evaluation, resource allocation and planning”.

— Air Force Falcons are only college football team that has gone over the total in every game they’ve played (6-0) this season.

— RIP to Sandy Alomar Sr, who passed away at age 81; he played 15 years in the big leagues for six different teams, mostly the Angels. He has two sons who played in the major leagues, Sandy Alomar Jr and Roberto Alomar.

Sandy Alomar Jr had 1,168 career hits; he made the All-Star Game in 1970.
RIP, sir. 

Falcons 24, Bills 14
Bijan Robinson ran ball 19 times for 170 yards, with an 81-yard TD.
Atlanta led 21-7 at halftime.
Falcons in first half: 36 plays, 340 yards, 21 points.
Falcons in second half: 31 plays, 118 yards, 3 points.

Bills drove 73 yards for a TD on their first drive.
Bills’ next six drives: 19 plays, 48 yards, no points.
Falcons outgained Buffalo, 443-291.
Buffalo scored 41-30-31-31 points in wins, 20-14 in losses.

Bears 25, Commanders 24
Bears drove 36 yards, kicked game-winning 38-yard FG at the gun.
Chicago was +3 in turnovers, outgained Washington. 381-329.
Bears won their last three games, scoring 31-25-25 points.
In their three wins, Chicago is +10 in turnovers.

Washington turned the ball over twice on their first nine plays.
Chicago led 13-7 at halftime.
Bears outgained Washington, 381-329.
4th quarter of this game was played in the rain. 

— Dodgers 2, Brewers 1
Treinen struck out Turang with bases loaded to end the game.
Blake Snell allowed one hit in eight shutout IP.
Freddie Freeman homered, doubled for LA.
Game 2 is Tuesday in Milwaukee. 

— Mariners 10, Blue Jays 3
Rodriguez/Polanco both hit 3-run homers.
Josh Naylor went 3-for-4 with two RBI
First two games in this series, Toronto is 1-for-42 from the 3rd inning on.
Game 3 is in Seattle Wednesday.

— Famous birthdays, October 14th:
Art Shamsky, 84
Al Oliver, 79
Charlie Joiner, 78
Ron Wolfley, 63

Keith Byars, 62
Lori Petty, 62
Joe Girardi, 61
Jim Jackson, 55

Frank Wycheck, 54
Merrill Kelly, 37
Jared Goff, 31
Emeka Egbuka, 23

— Penn State fired football coach James Franklin after the Nittany Lions lost three games in a row, the last two as 20-point favorites, but jeez……Franklin was 104-45 at Penn State and was in the College Football Playoff last year.

Franklin gets paid $49.5M to take a hike. Someone really, really wanted him fired.

— Mike Shildt is out as manager of the San Diego Padres; it is unclear whether he jumped or got pushed, though he said the decision was his. 

“While it has always been about serving others, it’s time I take care of myself and exit on my terms…….I gave every fiber of my being to help achieve Peter Seidler’s vision of bringing a World Series Championship to San Diego.

We fell short of the ultimate goal, but I am proud of what the players, staff and organization were able to accomplish the last two seasons.”

Shildt had six winning seasons in his six years as a manager; he was 435-340, making it to the playoffs his last five years.

— Tennessee Titans fired coach Brian Callahan Monday; he was 4-19 in 1+ years coaching the Titans. His father Bill was the Titans OL coach; he has also left the team.

Senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy will take over as interim coach. McCoy previously was the head coach of the San Diego Chargers from 2013 to 2016. He had a 27-37 record, making the playoffs in his first season.

— College football conference trends:
American
Favorites 14-5 ATS

ACC
Road teams 14-10 ATS

Big 18
Underdogs 17-11 ATS

Big X
Favorites 17-8 ATS

Conference USA
Home teams 8-3 ATS

Mid-American
Home teams 11-4 ATS

Mountain West
Home teams 6-7 ATS

SEC
Home teams 14-8 ATS

Sun Belt
Home teams 12-4 ATS

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
Home teams 1-4 ATS divisional games
7-7 ATS non-divisional games
AFC North
5-12 ATS non-divisional games

AFC South
9-8 ATS non-divisional games

AFC West
5-2 ATS non-divisional home games
3-8 ATS non-divisional road games

NFC East
8-8 ATS non-divisional games

NFC North
8-7 ATS non-divisional games

NFC South
Non-divisional road underdogs 5-3 ATS

NFC West
Home teams 0-4 ATS divisional games
10-6 ATS non-divisional games

 — Movie of the Day: The Rewrite (2014)- An Oscar-winning script writer in a slump leaves Hollywood to teach screenwriting at SUNY-Binghamton, where he falls for a single mom taking classes there.

Hugh Grant, Marisa Tomei, JK Simmons, Allison Janney, excellent cast.

This is a nice movie; the world needs more nice.

— Oregon-Rutgers play this week; because college/minor league sports are run now by over-educated morons, these teams are in the same league. 

These two schools are 2,909 miles apart; they’re not the only ones. Cal/Stanford in the ACC, Washington in the Big 18, it all makes zero sense.

— Last week in college/minor league, 8 of the top 25 teams lost.

— Rams played in Baltimore Sunday, are playing in London this week; they’re spending this week in Baltimore, and are practicing at the Orioles ballpark, Camden Yards.

— The last four QB’s taken #1 in the NFL Draft had their coaches fired during their rookie year:
2021- Jaguars, Trevor Lawrence/Urban Meyer
2023- Panthers, Bryce Young/Frank Reich
2024- Bears, Caleb Williams/Matt Eberflus
2025- Titans, Cam Ward/Brian Callahan

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all our Canadian friends………

Chiefs 30, Lions 17
Chiefs led 13-10 at halftime.
Chiefs in second half: 33 plays, 212 yards, 17 points.
Chiefs are 8-4 ATS last 12 games coming off a loss.
Chiefs are 14-8 ATS last 22 regular season games vs NFC teams.

Lions scored 40.3 points/game in their wins, 13-17 in losses.
Detroit in second half: 22 plays, 112 yards, 7 points.
Chiefs outgained Detroit, 355-297.
Kansas City didn’t have a penalty the whole game.

Buccaneers 30, 49ers 19
Mayfield passed for 256 yards, two TD’s.
Bucs’ first four drives: 14 plays, 44 yards, 7 points.
Bucs rest of game: 37 plays, 290 yards, 23 points.
Only 8 of Tampa Bay’s 50 plays were on 3rd down. 

Buccaneers led 20-16 at halftime.
49ers in second half: 29 plays, 97 yards, 3 points, 2 turnovers.
Last five games, SF ran ball for 77-73-83-74-67 yards.
49ers lost star LB Warner for the season (ankle). 

Panthers 30, Cowboys 27
Rico Dowdle had 34 touches for 239 yards and a TD.
Carolina is 3-0 at home, 0-3 on the road.
Carolina ran ball for 239/216 yards in last two games.
Panthers allowed 24+ points in five of six games.  

Carolina outgained the Cowboys, 410-292.
Dallas allowed 30+ points in four of last five points.
Last four weeks, Dallas allowed 433.6 yards/game.
Cowboys ran the ball 19 times for only 31 yards. 

Chargers 29, Dolphins 27
Chargers drove 44 yards, kicked game-winning FG with 0:05 left.
Dolphins had taken 27-26 lead on a TD with 0:46 left.
Miami led 13-9 at halftime.
Chargers in 2nd half: 39 plays, 230 yards, 20 points.

Miami has allowed 29 ppg in its 1-5 start. 
Tagovailoa threw for 205 yards, but three INTs.
Miami is 0-5 when it allows more than 21 points.
RB Achane ran ball for 128 yards, two TD’s. 

Rams 17, Ravens 3
Rams’ first two drive of 3rd quarter: 11 plays, 97 yards, 14 points.
Rams allowed 9-19-20-3 points in wins, 33-26 in losses.
Rams are 8-1 ATS in last nine games as a road favorite.
Star WR Nucua (ankle) only played six snaps in second half.

Ravens drove 53 yards, kicked FG on their first drive.
Rest of game: 64 plays, 179 yards, no points, 3 turnovers.
Ravens lost their last four games (minus-8 in turnovers)
AFC North teams are 5-12 ATS in non-divisional games.

Colts 31, Cardinals 27
Arizona led 24-17 after the third quarter.
Colts in 4th quarter: 19 plays, 149 yards, 14 points,
Colts are 4-0 at home, scoring 33-29-40-31 points.
Indy scored 29+ points in all five of its wins.

Cardinals lost last four games by total of nine points.
Backup QB Brissett threw for 320 yards, two TD’s.
Under Gannon, Arizona is 11-6 ATS as a road underdog.
Under Gannon, Arizona is 9-3 ATS vs AFC teams.

— Famous birthdays, October 13th:
Paul Simon, 84
Rich Kotite, 83
Reggie Theus, 68

Doc Rivers, 64
Derek Harper, 64
Jerry Rice, 63

Trevor Hoffman, 58
Quincy Carter, 48
De’Von Achane, 24

Mariners 3, Blue Jays 1
Cal Raleigh homered for the Mariners.
Jorge Polanco knocked in Seattle’s other two runs.
Bryce Miller held Toronto to two hits in 6 IP.
Seattle leads series, 1-0; Game 2 is Monday. 

Broncos 13, Jets 11
Jets are 0-6, with four losses by 6 or fewer points.
Jets ran 57 plays in this game, for a TOTAL of 82 yards.
Justin Fields is 14-35 as an NFL starting QB.
Denver drove 65 yards, kicked game-winning FG with 5:06 left.

Jets kicked FG’s on first two drives, both started in Denver territory
Jets rest of game: 51 plays, 85 yards, 3 points,
Denver won its last three games, giving up 3-17-11 points.
Under is 5-1 in Broncos’ games. 

Steelers 23, Browns 9
Rodgers threw for 235 yards, two TD’s.
Last 9 years, Pittsburgh is 9-0 SU/7-2 ATS coming off a bye.
Pittsburgh is 15-4 ATS last 19 AFC North home games.
Steelers held Cleveland to 3.3 yards per play. 

Browns’ first three drives: 15 plays, 29 yards, three punts.
Cleveland didn’t score a TD; they trailed 9-3 at halftime.
Browns scored 16-17-13-10-17-9 points in their 1-5 start.
Browns are 0-5 SU/ATS last five visits to  Pittsburgh.

Patriots 25, Saints 19 
NE’s first four drives: 24 plays, 219 yards, 22 points,
Kayshon Boutte caught five passes for 93 yards, two TD’s.
Patriots scored 33-42-23-25 points in wins, 13-14 in losses.
Patriots are 7-3-1 ATS last 11 games as a road favorite.

Saints were 3-9 on third down, Patriots 6-13.
New England held Alvin Kamara to 31 yards on 10 carries.
Saints are 7-14 ATS last 21 games as a home underdog.
Rattler is 1-11 as an NFL starting QB.

Seahawks 20, Jaguars 12
WR Smith-Njigba caught 8 passes for 162 yards and a TD.
Seahawks won four of last five games, scoring 30.4 ppg.
Seattle is 3-0 on road (31-17 Pitt/23-20 Arizona/20-12 Jaguars)
Seahawks have won their last nine road games. 

Jaguars were 4-16 on 3rd down, had 10 penalties for 76 yards.
Seahawks are 22-6 in last 28 1:00 kickoffs on East Coast.
Seattle sacked Trevor Lawrence seven times for 44 yards.
Seattle held last five foes to 73 rushing yards/game.

Raiders 20, Titans 10
Raiders led 10-0 at half, snapped a four-game skid.
Titans in first half: 30 plays, 76 yards, four punts, no points.
Last 3+ years, Raiders are 11-4 ATS as a home favorite.
RB Jeanty carried ball 23 times for 75 yards and a TD. 

Not much offense: total yards, 226-225 Raiders.
Las Vegas won despite running ball 32 times for only 68 yards.
Titans had three turnovers, were only 3-13 on third down.
Tennessee is 1-5 SU/ATS, losing by 8-14-21-26-10 points.

Packers 27, Bengals 18
Packers ran ball 33 times for 153 yards, outgained Cincy 409-268.
Green Bay won their three home games, 27-13/27-18/27-18.
Green Bay led 10-0 at halftime.
Bengals in first half: 21 yards, 102 yards, no points.

Bengals lost last four games, by 38-25-13-9 points.
Flacco was 29-45/219 passing; he threw 2 TD’s, beat the spread.
Green Bay outgained the Bengals, 409-268.
Green Bay scored 27+ points in four of its five games.

— Brewers 3, Cubs 1
Milwaukee hit three solo homers to move on to the NLCS.
Brewers used five pitchers; Misiorowski got 12 outs, allowed three hits.
Dodgers-Brewers NLCS starts Monday night in Milwaukee.

— Northwestern 22, Penn State 21
Penn State is first team in last 30 years to lose consecutive games, when they were favored by 20+ points in both of them.

Penn State QB Allar hurt his leg, is out for the year.

Northwestern drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 4:51 left.

— Pittsburgh 34, Florida State 31
QB Heintschel threw for 321 yards, two TD’s.
Both teams averaged over 10 yards/pass attempt.
Florida State has lost its last eight ACC games.

— Alabama 27, Missouri 24
QB Simpson threw for 200 yards, three TD’s.
Alabama has won five in a row since an opening loss to Florida State.
Crimson Tide was 6-15 on third down, Missouri 1-10.

— Upsets of the Week:
Northwestern (+21) 22, Penn State 21
Marshall (+14.5) 48, Old Dominion 24
Bowling Green (+10.5) 28, Toledo 23
Pittsburgh (+10.5) 34, Florida State 31

Troy (+9.5) 48, Texas State 41 OT
Kennesaw State (+7.5) 35, Louisiana Tech 7
UCLA (+7.5) 38, Michigan State 13
Indiana (+7.5) 30, Oregon 20

— Navy 32, Temple 31
QB Horvath ran for 51-yard TD with 0:39 left, then Middies scored a 2-point conversion for the win to stay undefeated (6-0). 

Horvath ran for 155 yards, also threw for 141 more.

Temple outgained Navy 518-384; they led 17-7 at halftime.

— Nebraska 34, Maryland 31
Nebraska drove 81 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:08 left.
QB Raiola threw for 260 yards, four TD’s, but also had 3 INTs
Matt Rhule has the Cornhuskers are 5-1 this season.

— UNLV 51, Air Force 48
QB Colandrea ran for a 19-yard TD with 0:36 for the game-winning TD
Colandrea threw for 361 yards for the 6-0 Rebels, who are bowl-eligible.
Air Force ran ball 66 times for 428 yards, still somehow lost.

— Georgia 20, Auburn 10
Auburn led 10-0 in 2nd quarter, lost a fumble on Georgia’s one-yard line, and it was all downhill from there. 

Georgia beat Auburn for the ninth year in a row.
Dawgs won despite running ball 31 times for only 79 yards.
Auburn had 11 penalties for 103 yards

— UCLA 38, Michigan State 13
Bruins won last two games, scoring 42-38 points, after an 0-4 start.
Jalen Berger gained 113 yards on 15 touches, scored three TD’s.
UCLA outgained the Spartans 418-253.

— Famous birthdays, October 12th:
Jack Marin, 81
Susan Anton, 75
Sid Fernandez, 63
Chris Chandler, 60

Hugh Jackman, 57
Leon Lett, 57
Charlie Ward, 55
Ketel Marte, 32

— Ole Miss 24, Washington State 21
Rebels were favored by 32 points, hung on for the win.
Wazzu led 14-10 with 2:00 left in third quarter.
6-0 Ole Miss was 7-15 on third down, Coogs 2-10.

— Troy 48, Texas State 41 OT
QB Kilcrease threw for 415 yards, five TD’s.
Texas State led 31-17 at halftime.
Troy forced OT by scoring a TD with 1:13 left in regulation.
Bobcats lost despite running ball 53 times for 326 yards.

— Indiana 30, Oregon 20
QB Mendoza threw for 215 yards and a TD
Indiana outscored the Ducks 10-0 over the final 7:00.
Oregon’s 18-game how winning streak was snapped.

— BYU 33, Arizona 27 OT
BYU improves to 6-0 with the overtime win.
BYU was 8-16 on 3rd down, Arizona 4-17
BYU ran the ball 51 times for 258 yards.
Arizona led 17-14 at halftime.

— RIP to the great actress Diane Keaton, who passed away at age 79.

She has 283 acting credits on IMDB; she won an Oscar and two Golden Globes.

She was the mom in Father of the Bride; she was in Annie Hall, Baby Boom, And So It Goes, The Godfather, lot of really good movies.

She will be missed. RIP, ma’am. 

— Mariners 3, Tigers 2 (15)
Longest winner-take-all playoff game in baseball history.
472 pitches thrown; Mariners used three of their starting pitchers.

Jorge Polanco had a walk-off single to end the game.
Kerry Carpenter was 4-for-5 with two walks for Detroit.
There were 37 strikeouts in this game.

Mariners-Blue Jays play in the ALCS; they came into existence the same year, 1976.

— Modern baseball: Seattle took George Kirby out after he got 15 outs on only 66 pitches. He was pitching on five days rest. Why take him out? He gave up three hits in 5+ IP.

— With Jaxson Dart doing well as a rookie QB, would any NFL team take a look at Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin as a head coach? Coaches who can develop quarterbacks are popular.

— North Carolina’s recent football records:
2024: 6-7
2023: 8-5
2022: 9-5
2021: 6-7
2020: 8-4
2019: 7-6…….so far this year, they’re 2-3

From what you read on the Interweb, hiring Bill Belichick hasn’t gone well, and may not last much longer. Strange situation.

— South Florida 63, North Texas 36
Game was tied 21-21 at halftime.
USF scored four TD’s in a span of 5:45 early in third quarter.
Bulls ran the ball 57 times for 306 yards.

— Colorado State 49, Fresno State 21
Underdog Rams led 35-14 at halftime.
Bulldogs outgained Colorado State 469-334, but had four turnovers.
CSU QB Brousseau threw for 144 yards and three TDs.

— Washington 38, Rutgers 19
Rutgers led 13-10 at halftime.
Huskies’ QB Williams threw for 402 yards, 2 TD’s (14.9 yards/attempt)
Williams also ran the ball 13 times for 136 yards and 2 more TD’s.

Famous birthdays, October 11th:
David Morse, 72
Norm Nixon, 70
John Fourcade, 65
Joan Cusack, 63
Chris Spielman, 60

Matt Bomer, 48
Mike Conley, 38
Gio Urshela, 34
TJ Watt, 31
Brian Allen, 30

— Since 2010, the average payroll for the Bronx Bombers has been $216,082,060 and that includes 2020 (the pandemic year) when they only played 60 games and their payroll that year was $110,852,878.

Over the last 16 years, their average payroll has been $216,082,060, which means that since 2010, they’ve shelled out a total of $3,457,312,965, during which time they’ve made one World Series, and they lost that one. 

3 billion dollars, no world titles. Not good.

— Buffalo Bills have played five games; on their first drive of each half, they’ve scored eight TD’s, kicked a field goal, lost a fumble. Tough team to stop.

— In their last four games, Philadelphia Eagles have run the ball for only 73.5 yards/game; they have been outgained in all six games this season.

— Big 18 hasn’t won a national championship in college basketball since Michigan State back in 2000.

— TV show suggestion on Netflix: Running Point- Kate Hudson stars as the owner of a pro basketball team, it is a bizarre version of Lakers’ owner Jeannie Buss’ career/life. Pretty good show.

— Before last week, there were 12,404 people alive in the Circa Casino Survivor Pool in Las Vegas. More than 7,700 of those people got knocked out last week; tough week for favorites. 

Giants 34, Eagles 17
Giants in first half: 28 plays, 193 yards, 20 points.
Eagles in 2nd half: 21 plays, 140 yards, no points, 2 turnovers.
Giants ran ball 39 times for 172 yards, were +2 in turnovers.
Giants were 11-16 on third down, Eagles 1-9

Rookie RB Skattebo ran ball 19 times for 98 yards, 3 TD’s.
Giants have won two of three games started by rookie QB Dart.
Barkley carried ball 12 times for 58 yards.
Eagles have been outgained in all six of their games.

— Dodgers 2, Phillies 1 (11)
Winning run scored on an error on a ball hit back to the pitcher.
Game was scoreless after six innings.
Both teams scored a run in the 7th.
Dodgers advance to the NLCS, starting Monday.

— Cubs 5, Brewers 0
Matthew Boyd got the first 14 outs, allowing two hits.
Ian Happ hit a 3-run homer in the first inning.
Game 5 is in Milwaukee Saturday.

— Southern Miss 38, Georgia Southern 35
Golden Eagles led 28-7 at halftime, hung on for dear life.
Southern Miss ran ball 48 times for 184 yards.
Georgia Southern had 3 turnovers, 12 penalties for 104 yards. 

— Tulane 26, East Carolina 19
Green Wave drove 75 yards, scored winning TD with 0:35 left
Tulane led 12-0 at halftime.
Tulane outgained ECU 458-340; they had 96 penalty yards.

— Jacksonville State 29, Sam Houston State 27
Gamecocks kicked a 52-yard FG at the gun for a road win.
Jax State outgained the Bearkats, 499-286.
Jax State ran the ball 63 times for 370 yards.

— Kennesaw State 35, Louisiana Tech 7
Dexter Williams threw for 284 yards, four TD’s.
Owls outscored Louisiana Tech 21-0 in second half.
Kennesaw converted 9-14 third down plays. 

Famous birthdays, October 10th:
Gene Tenace, 79
Ben Vereen, 79
Bradley Whitford, 66
Brett Favre, 56

Pat Burrell, 49
Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, 47
Troy Tulowitzski, 41
Andrew McCutchen, 39

Geno Smith, 35
Lourdes Gurriel Jr, 32
Vinnie Pasquantino, 28
Josh Giddey, 23

— Lebron James is going to miss the start of the NBA season; he is out 3-4 weeks because of sciatica on his right side.

— Only two NBA teams that have never had a Rookie of the Year: Nuggets, Heat. 

— Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray (foot) didn’t practice Wednesday/Thursday; if backup Jacoby Brissett starts Sunday against the Colts, he’ll be the 40th different quarterback to start a game this season.

— In 1970, NFL kickers made 59% of all their field goal attempts.

This year, NFL kickers are making 72% of their FG attempts from 50+ yards out.

— Houston Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016; this week, they cleaned house (kind of), firing:

assistant general manager
both hitting coaches
their catching coach
their trainer

Similar to what the Mets did last week; they kept their GM and their manager, which is kind of weird. If you’re that unhappy with the outcome, how do the managers/GMs keep their jobs?

— Most career postseason home runs:
Manny Ramirez 29
Jose Altuve 27
Kyle Schwarber 23
Bernie Williams 22

— In September, Washington Nationals rookie OF Daylen Like was the first player since Willie Mays in 1957 to hit 7+ triples and 6+ home runs in the same month.

— This season, there were 465 pitch clock violations, down from 602 last year, 1,048 in 2023.

The rule changes MLB put in have done a good job of shortening games.

— Top home run parks in the major leagues this season:
Los Angeles, Toronto, Baltimore, Philadelphia

Worst home run parks:
Pittsburgh, Texas, Arizona, Boston

— Couple nights ago, was watching YouTube late at night, and every MLB team has at least one podcast on there. Guys like me, sitting on their couch, spewing opinions about what went right or wrong this season. Some of them are good, some of them aren’t. 

First of all, I couldn’t talk for an hour straight like that- no way. They must have notes or a script to follow, but that’s not my thing. Two-person podcasts are better, by the way.

My question is this: If you’re a major league player, and you make a few million $$$ a year, do you ever listen to these podcasts? Do you dismiss these nerdy types as wannabe athletes and ignore them?

Two guys do a podcast about the Cincinnati Reds; you would never know that the Reds made the playoffs this year, for only the second time in 12 years. Lot of criticism.

— Tigers 9, Mariners 3
Mariners led this game 3-0 in the fifth inning.
Javier Baez went 2-for-4, with 4 RBI
Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres also homered.
Game 5 is in Seattle on Friday

— Cubs 4, Brewers 3
Cubs scored four runs in the first inning and made them stand up.
Chicago bullpen got the last 15 outs, allowed only two hits.
Jake Bauers homered for Milwaukee.
Game 4 is at Wrigley Thursday.

— Blue Jays 5, New York 2
Blue Jays used 8 pitchers; no one got more than five outs.
Nathan Lukes was 2-5, with two RBI
Toronto wins series 3-1, moves on to the ALCS.

— Phillies 8, Dodgers 2
Ranger Suarez had 5 IP as the bulk reliever, allowed only one run.
Schwarber hit two home runs, had three RBI
Trea Turner was 3-for-5, with two RBI
Game 4 is Thursday in Los Angeles

— Wednesday was the last day this year with more than two baseball games.

— Mets went 83-79 this year, missed the playoffs, then fired the pitching coach, both their hitting coaches, their 3rd base coach, their catchers’ coach and the bench coach.

Somehow the “strategy coach” didn’t get fired; not really sure what he does, but if a team fires six of their coaches, how good could their strategy have been?

Turns out the strategy coach is a 35-year old ex-pitcher who went to Princeton, majoring in economics. He pitched in 119 games for Toronto, posting a 4.33 ERA in 120.2 IP.

David Stearns, who runs the Mets’ front office, went to Harvard, where he was a writer for the school’s newspaper.

Famous birthdays, October 9th:
Freddie Patek, 81
Shera Danese, 76
Brian Downing, 75
Robert Wuhl, 74

Scott Bakula, 71
John O’Hurley, 70
Mike Singletary, 67
Kenny Anderson, 55

Dexter McCleon, 52
Mark McLemore, 45
Derek Holland, 39
Starling Marte, 37

— Cleveland Browns traded 40-year old QB Joe Flacco to division rival Cincinnati Tuesday, and Flacco will start for the 2-3 Bengals this week in Green Bay.

Flacco has a career record of 116-95, 10-6 in playoff games.

The move leaves Cleveland with two rookie QB’s, Dillon Gabriel/Shedeur Sanders, as well as journeyman Bailey Zappe, who is 4-5 in nine NFL starts.

— Browns don’t have a bye week after playing in England Sunday, which is unusual, Team that didn’t have a bye week after playing overseas are:

11-6 SU/9-8 ATS.  Browns are +5.5 in Pittsburgh Sunday.

— Indianapolis Colts lost their kicker (knee) for the year last week; they signed Michael Badgley as their new kicker. Badgley kicked for the Colts in 2021.

— Virginia off to a 5-1 start this season; they beat Louisville 30-27 in OT last week, in a game where they got outgained, 383-239, but the Cavaliers scored two defensive TD’s, and held Louisville to 54 rushing yards on 27 tries.

— Best college football teams against the spread this year:
6-0 Memphis
5-0 Louisiana Tech
5-0 Texas Tech
5-0 Utah State
4-0-1 Ohio State

— This past week was the first time the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs all lost in the same since Week 9 of the 2017 season, when Josh Allen/Lamar Jackson were still in college.

— 5-0 college teams that haven’t been 5-0 in a while
1959- North Texas
1974- UNLV
2013- Texas Tech
2014- Georgia Tech
2016- Texas Q&M
2022- Ole Miss

This is the time of year where seasons overlap; college basketball starts November 3rd. Here is an early look at the Big East Conference:

— Butler (15-20, 6-14 LY)
haven’t made the NCAA’s since 2018.
shot 37% behind the arc last year (#31)
added senior G Jackson, first-team Horizon League all-star LY
6-7 senior Ajayi scored 17.2 ppg for Pepperdine two years ago, then bolted to Gonzaga, but only scored 7.4 ppg LY, so he is at his third school in three years.

— UConn (24-11, 14-6 LY)
made NCAA’s last 5 years, won 2/last 3 national titles.
last two years, played slow pace (#343/#330)
are deeper this year, expect to play faster.
brought in transfer point guards, from Georgia/Dayton.
62% of their scoring from LY is back, which is a lot.
odd stat; they lost their last four visits to Seton Hall.

— Creighton (25-11, 15-5 LY)
made last 5 NCAA’s, making Sweet 16 three times.
top four scorers from last year are gone.
added five transfers TY, including two from Iowa.
were 3rd-worst team in country at forcing turnovers LY.
have better depth this year (#295/bench minutes LY)

— DePaul (14-20, 4-16 LY)
haven’t made NCAA Tournament since 2004
have been .500 in conference games since 2007.
48.8% of scoring is back from LY, which is good.
only Big East team whose leading scorer is back.
added 5 transfers this year.
shot 34.4% on arc LY; transfer RJ Smith shot 38.6% on arc, at Colorado.

— Georgetown (18-16, 8-12 LY)
made 1 of last 8 NCAA Tourneys (2021)
last four years, they’re 12-67 in conference games.
added six transfers TY, including three big guys
junior PG was once Ivy League Rookie of Year at Harvard
need better shooting (shot 32.3% on arc LY)
were 10-3 out of conference LY, but they played easiest non-conference schedule in country.

— Marquette (23-11, 13-7 LY)
made NCAA Tournament last four years, going 3-4.
under Smart, they’re 61-27 in Big East games.
forced turnovers 21.7% of time LY (#18)
were #3 in country in turnover margin LY.
were #279 in rebounding margin LY.
lost top three scorers from LY, get PG Jones back (was hurt LY)

Famous birthdays, October 8th:
Chevy Chase, 82
Sigourney Weaver, 76
Enos Cabell, 76
Mike Morgan, 66

Tony Eason, 66
Emily Procter, 57
Matt Damon, 55
Monty Williams, 54

Olmedo Saenz, 55
Nick Allen, 27
Hunter Goodman, 26
Isaiah Collier, 21

— Providence (12-20, 6-14)
missed NCAA’s the last two years.
best player was hurt LY, then bolted to St John’s.
Friars lost 10 of their last 11 games LY.
were #346 LY in forcing turnovers.
added three transfers to bolster their backcourt.
shot 35.6% on arc LY (#76); 45.5% of their shots were 3’s (#50)

— Seton Hall (7-25, 2-18 LY)
LY, had #356 eFG% offense.
LY, had #335 eFG% defense.
forced turnovers 22.2% of time LY (#8)
their NIL budget is $1.5M, about 1/3 of most Big East teams.
haven’t made NCAA’s since 2022.
senior F Fisher played last 3 years at: Texas Tech, DePaul, Pacific

— St John’s (31-5, 18-2 LY)
made NCAA’s LY for first time since 2019
have 11 games this year at Madison Square Garden; high expectations.
were #317 in bench minutes LY.
Shot 30.1% on arc last year (#340)
added 6 transfers this year, 4 of them guards.
big guy Ejiofor scored 14.7 ppg LY, grabbed 8.1 rebounds/game.

— Villanova (21-15, 11-9 LY)
were 31-29 in Big East in 3 years under Neptune (0-0 in NCAA’s).
Kevin Willard is new coach; he’s made NCAA’s 7 of last 9 years.
Villanova’s subs played #358 minutes LY.
Willard added 11 transfers; they’re deeper, will play faster.
Last 4 years, Devin Askew has played for Cal, Texas, Kentucky, Long Beach State

— Xavier (22-12, 13-7 LY)
made NCAA’s twice in last seven years.
Richard Pitino is new coach (27-11 conference games last 2 years)
Pitino’s Lobos were in top 25 in tempo all four years he was there.
Pitino added 10 transfers TY; six of them scored double figures LY.
Those six transfers come from smaller programs:
Belmont, Boise State, Evansville, Montana, North Dakota, Valparaiso