Author: Armadillo Sports

13) “On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to leave his place of residence. That request came from his wife……..”

When I was a kid, The Odd Couple was one of my favorite TV shows; that is how the show started every week, with Tony Randall’s character Felix sadly leaving his home, and showing up at the door of his friend, sportswriter Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman), needing a place to live.

It was a great TV show, very funny. If you find The Odd Couple on TV somewhere, it is well worth your time.

Today is November 13; happy Felix Unger Day!!! 

12) West Virginia 74, Pitt 59:
— 902nd career win for Bob Huggins, tying Bob Knight for 5th on all-time list.
— How is Huggins not in the college basketball Hall of Fame?
— 24 NCAA tournaments, two Final Fours, four Elite 8’s, nine Sweet 16’s. All in all, 33-24 in NCAA Tournament games. He is a Hall of Famer, for sure.

11) Furman 80, Louisville 72 (OT):
— Furman (+9) made 12-28 on arc, Louisville 7-29.
— Paladins start four seniors; this is a great win for them.
— Louisville coach Mack is suspended for first few games, for off-court stuff.

10) Oakland (+16.5) 56, Oklahoma State 55
— Oakland lost by 27 to West Virginia Tuesday.
— Oakland played 8 guys, including five freshmen, one senior.
— Oklahoma State was only 6-12 on foul line.

9) North Carolina 94, Brown 87— Is this a red flag for the Tar Heels? Brown hadn’t played a Division I game in over 600 days; Brown was up six points with 12:04 left. Brown shot 55.6% inside arc, scored 1.23 points/possession. 

8) UCLA 86, Villanova 77, OT
— Villanova’s 7th man played only 7:00- they’re not deep.
— Villanova led by 10 with 9:24 left.
— Wildcats lost despite making 11-24 on the arc.

— UCLA outrebounded Villanova 46-32.
— Bruins shot 52.5% inside arc; Villanova, 38.6%.
— High-level game for November 12.

7) When Cal-Riverside upset Arizona State Thursday night, they also banked an $85,000 check from the Sun Devils, what they call “a guarantee game”. If you’re paying a team $85,000 to show up and play, they’re not supposed to beat you.

6) NC-Greensboro 70, Northern Kentucky 69 OT
— UNCG led by 10 points at halftime.
— UNCG trailed by 7 with 7:54 left.
— Northern Kentucky was 10-33 on arc, 13-32 inside arc.

5) Eastern Michigan 103, Illinois State 98, 2OT:
— Illinois State led by 16 late in first half.
— EMU was 32-43 on foul line, ISU 23-28.
— Illinois State turned ball over 22 times (-7).

4) Denver Broncos’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur tested positive for COVID, won’t be calling plays Sunday, when Denver hosts the Eagles. Former Alabama coach Mike Shula is expected to be the Broncos’ play caller.

3) Brent Strom quit as pitching coach of the Astros couple weeks ago, signed on with the Diamondbacks Friday; lot of people thought Strom was retiring. Back in the 60’s, Strom was the second person to have Tommy John Surgery on his elbow- he pitched five years in the majors, for three different teams.

2) Lefty hurler Andrew Heaney signed a one-year, $8.5M deal with the Dodgers. Heaney was 8-9, 5.83 in 23 starts this past year, but the Dodgers signed him up.

1) Cincinnati 45, South Florida 28— Bearcats are now 0-4 ATS in last four games; unsure if it matters to pollsters, but it can’t help much. Cincinnati led 31-7 early in second half- they outgained USF 506-346, but turned ball over three times. USF had four turnovers.

Boise State 23, Wyoming 13— Cowboys (+13.5) scored on a 74-yard TD pass with 0:04 left- they got the backdoor cover, giving Boise backers a horrific bad beat. 

It is 3am, I don’t feel like going to bed, so I’m going to rattle on about movies for a while.

These are my opinions, so they’re neither right/wrong, just what I think. Make your own lists, it was fun to clear out the cobwebs in my mind and think of some old stuff.

13) Movies I think I’ve seen the most (wish I had an official count)

— Moneyball- Hey, I’m an A’s fam
— Rounders- Great movie.
— A Star is Born- First hour is great, second hour very sad.
— Last Vegas- An epic cast.
— Blue Chips- My all-time favorite basketball movie.

Guys who played basketball in Blue Chips who later became coaches:
— Anfernee Hardaway
— Bobby Hurley
— Rex Walters
— Matt Painter

I am unusual (you call it odd, I say unusual) in that I see movies I like dozens of times, maybe more, but I’ve never seen Star Wars and I only saw the Godfather for first time couple years ago.

12) Other movies I’ve seen an awful lot
— Major League- Bob Uecker should’ve won an Oscar for his role.
— Molly’s Game- True story about a woman who ran underground poker games.
— Begin Again- If you like music, this is a good one to see.
— Dave- Kevin Kline becomes a stand-in for the US President.
— For Love of the Game- A 40-year pitcher makes his last game his best one.

As soon as these lists get posted, I’m going to think of 3-4 movies I forgot, and I’m going to be so annoyed at myself.

11) This all started when someone on Twitter posted a thing: “Name the five movies you’ve seen the most” which started my mind running and also a lot of other people. The thread is fun to go through; people like so many different things, it is what makes our country so interesting, we live in the same place but like totally different things.

10) When I was a teenager, I was a big fan of stand-up comics and my favorite was Steve Martin. I have one of his comedy albums (Let’s Get Small) but he also became a really good actor. My three favorite Steve Martin movies:
— Leap of Faith
— Shopgirl
— Roxanne

The scene in Roxanne where he makes up 20 jokes about his nose (actually 26, count them!!!) makes my list of favorite movie scenes ever.

9) The first time I saw Caddyshack was with friends from college; it was the first time I realized that some people watch the same movies over and over, and drink when certain key words are spoken. My friends were avid golfers; they freakin’ loved Caddyshack.

8) Good movies that wound up being pretty sad:
— Less than Zero- Three high school friends have very different experiences after they graduate from high school.
— A Star is Born- Movie has been made four different times, dating back to the 1930’s.
— Beaches- When I saw this movie in the theater with my future ex-wife, when it ended, you could hear dozens and dozens of people openly sobbing. The right sleeve of my short sleeve shirt was soaked from her crying and wiping her eyes with my shirt. Oy.

7) My favorite basketball movies:
— Blue Chips— The scene with Bob Cousy/Nick Nolte shooting foul shots in an empty gym is my all-time favorite movie scene.
— The Way Back— Relatively new movie has Ben Affleck playing a high school coach with a drinking problem. The basketball scenes are really well done.
— Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan quits his job running a deli in New York City to become a college basketball coach in Nevada.
— Hoosiers— Gene Hackman was a terrible coach, but Jimmy Chitwood played, so they always won. I mean, even the drunk assistant coach knew Jimmy should shoot just about all the time.
— He Got Game— Underrated movie about a hot-shot high school recruit and what people will do to get the kid to play for their college. Jim Brown, Denzel Washington, Ned Beatty, a really good cast, plus Ray Allen/Rick Fox have big rules.
— One on One— Robby Benson is a hotshot basketball recruit who falls out of favor with his new coach.

Guy who was only in one scene was John Turturro, who played Joey Knish in Rounders; he plays the coach at Big State, a college recruiting Ray Allen’s character (Jesus Shuttlesworth)

6) On my bucket list of life is to watch the movie Let It Ride with my cousin KL Wheat, who likes to wager on the ponies. Richard Dreyfuss plays a degenerate gambler who has one really great day at the racetrack. Very funny movie.

Jennifer Tilly is in this movie; she wound up being a big-time poker player; her boyfriend is/was Phil Laak, a pro poker player known as the Unabomber.

5) My favorite football movies:
— Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino delivers two great speeches
—The Replacements— Daniel Snyder should rename his NFL team the Sentinels.
— Brian’s Song— True story about two friends who played for the Bears.
— Necessary Roughness— Movie about the Texas State Armadillos; tremendous!!!
— Heaven Can Wait— Not really a football film, but the Rams win the Super Bowl in the movie, and it is possible I still have a movie poster from the theater here in my house.

4) I’ve spent way too much time trying to decide which movie I like better; Major League or Bull Durham? Both really good, but for different reasons. Ask me on Monday, I’ll give you an answer, but ask me three days later, and I’ve probably changed my mind.

3) If you like music……..
— Begin Again— A down on his luck music exec finds a young talent in a Manhattan bar.
— A Star Is Born— The new version with Lady Gaga is lot different than the 1976 one with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.
— The Bodyguard— Whitney Houston was a great talent; didn’t realize she was only 48 when she passed away.

2) Gambling related movies:
— Rounders— Matt Damon has to decide between law school and playing poker.
— Lucky You— Lot of real-life poker stars in this one, which is set in Las Vegas. Robert Duvall plays the Doyle Brunson-type character.
— Let It Ride— We’ve already talked about this one.
— Molly’s Game— This movie is actually a continuation of the book Molly Bloom wrote.

1) Favorite baseball movies:
— Moneyball— I’m an A’s fan, what did you expect?
— The Rookie— Dennis Quaid was in this and Any Given Sunday
— Major League/Bull Durham
— For Love of the Game
— Bad News Bears— Walter Matthau as a Little League coach was classic.
— Little Big League— The mom in this movie? In real life, her son was the Mets’ first round draft pick last summer.
— The Natural— When a guy on the Texas Rangers hits a home run, they play the song from the end of this movie, when Roy Hobbs sends everyone home happy.

Make your own list of movies, see what you come up with. 

There have been five no-hitters this season, which is a lot for May 10:

1) April 9: Joe Musgrove 3-0 @ Texas
— He threw 112 pitches, didn’t walk anyone, struck out 10.
— He got 15 whiffs on 53 swings
— Since then, he is 0-4, 5.63 in five starts.

2) April 14: Carlos Rodon 8-0 vs Cleveland
— He threw 114 pitches, didn’t walk anyone, struck out 7.
— He got 19 whiffs on 53 swings
— Since then, 3-0, 1.59 in three starts.

3) April 25: Madison Bumgarner 7-0 @ Atlanta
— This was a 7-inning game; he didn’t allow a hit, which makes it a “no-hitter”
— He threw 98 pitches, didn’t walk anyone, struck out 7.
— He got 10 whiffs on 53 swings
— Since then, he is 1-0, 1.64 in two starts.

To prove that I am fair-minded, I’m defending Bumgarner’s 7-inning no-hitter, even though his resurgence came 10 days after I cut him off my fantasy team. 🙁

4) May 5: John Means 6-0 @ Seattle. 

— He threw 113 pitches, didn’t walk anyone, struck out 12.
— He got 26 whiffs on 64 swings
— This was his most recent start.
— This was also his first career complete game. 

5) May 7: Wade Miley 3-0 @ Cleveland
— He threw 114 pitches, didn’t walk anyone, struck out 8.
— He got 9 whiffs on 49 swings
— This was his most recent start.

6) Four of the five no-hitters were thrown by lefties.

7) In two of the five no-hitters, Cleveland’s Zach Plesac was the losing pitcher. 

Elsewhere, away from the no-hitter related world……..
8) Cincinnati Reds are 15-16, even though they’re 8-2 in games where the winning run scored from the 7th inning on. 

9) Arizona Diamondbacks just had an 0-6 road trip, where they went 7-62 with runners in scoring position. Hitting in the clutch is important in baseball.

10) Since the DH came into the American League in 1973, the record for most home runs hit by a pitcher is 24, held by Carlos Zambrano, who was 132-91 as a big league pitcher, mostly for the Cubs. He had a .238 career batting average.

11) White Sox have won their last ten games at division rival Kansas City; maybe they should put fountains behind the outfield fence in their home stadium, the way they have them in Kansas City.

12) Was watching an old highlight clip of Willie Mays on the Giants game Sunday, forgot that they had artificial turf at Candlestick Park in the early 70’s, probably because the 49ers also played there. Not sure why they needed AstroTurf in good weather, but they had it. 

One year at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the infield was AstroTurf and the outfield was natural grass, which wasn’t that bad an idea, but it didn’t last long.

13) Umpire stats are returning to the baseball page this Wednesday; we note trends for each umpire when he is behind the plate, for all games except series openers, because we don’t know who the umpires are for each series until they play a game. 

13) Georgetown 50, Princeton 49— 1989 first round. It would be another 29 years before a #1-seed lost to a 16-seed, but Pete Carril’s Tigers came damn close in this game.

Dick Vitale was in the ESPN studio with Bob Ley that night; he says on the air if Princeton wins the game, he’ll stand on his head on the set, on the air. He damn near had to do it. Georgetown had Alonzo Mourning that year; they wound up losing in the regional final.

12) Villanova 77, North Carolina 74— 2016 national title game. I’m sitting in the Westgate SuperBook watching this game, guy sitting next to me has Villanova and the under. From the sound of his voice and his tension level, he had a lot of money on both.

Guard on North Carolina (Marcus Paige?) hits a tough shot to tie the game and put the game over the total; the guy next to me slumped in his chair, but when Kris Jenkins drained a long shot to win the national title, the guy cheered up, a lot. That night, splitting his bets was a very good thing.

11) Kansas 83, Oklahoma 79— 1988 national title game. Over the last 35 years, this was only time the underdog won all three games at the Final Four. Kansas was a #6-seed; it would be another 26 years before a lower seed (#7-seed UConn in 2014) would win a national title.

Billy Tubbs coached Oklahoma back then; I loved watching his teams, they played and with great confidence. This game was 50-50 at halftime, two conference rivals going at it, but the Jayhawks had Danny Manning, and he led them to a surprising national championship.

10) Vermont 60, Syracuse 57 OT— 2005 first round. Back then, group of us would gather at an Off Track Betting sports bar, hunker down for four days and watch games for 12 hours a day. Lot of fun, lot of bantering back/forth. Wish the casino in Schenectady was around back then.

This was the year Tom Brennan coached Vermont to a big upset in the first round; they were a 9-point underdog in this game. Brennan later became a talk radio star, after he retired from coaching- his Catamounts lost their next game by 11 to Michigan State.

9) Northern Iowa 69, Kansas 67 OT— 2010 2nd round. I was at the MGM Grand watching this game; lot of Kansas fans were around, very cocky that their team was headed to the Sweet 16- they were the #1-seed in that region. 

Problem is, no one told Northern Iowa; they hit a 3-pointer late in the game, pulled the big upset and made a lot of Jayhawk fans very sad.

That was the week I’m watching a game, kid scores a basket very early in the game and the three guys next to me start hugging each other and yelling. I ask them if that was their brother who scored that basket— they said no, they had Wake Forest in their “first to 15” bet.

I had no idea that MGM offered a bet where you picked which team got to 15 points first.

8) North Carolina 77, Oregon 76— 2017 national semifinal. Watched this game in Las Vegas with a friend of mine who had a very, very large bet on Oregon. He had both underdogs that day, and over the last 35 years, that day was the only time in national semifinals where both underdogs lost, but both covered, so he had a really good day.

South Carolina was a #7-seed that surprisingly made the Final Four that year; since then, Gamecocks are 32-36 in SEC games, and haven’t been back in NCAAs. Tough place to win.

7) North Carolina 71, Gonzaga 65— 2017 national final. This was two nights after the two dogs had covered the semi-final games. I’m at the SouthPoint sportsbook, and I sit next to three younger guys, all from San Diego. It was also opening night of baseball season.

For the next 3-4 hours, we shot the breeze about everything, mostly sports, but some other stuff too. They told me that Steve Fisher needed to retire at San Diego State (he did, right after that). First time I ever had a quesadilla (they’re good!!). Living proof that all Americans have more in common than what separates us.

6) Georgia Tech 93, Minnesota 91— 1990 regional final. I had the Gophers +3.5. Minnesota has the ball at the end, no chance to win, kid drains a 3 from the right corner at the buzzer, to send me home happy.

Long, long time ago, went to the NIT Final Four in New York City. This is 1984 or so, when I had just started working. All I remember about that night:
— Fresno State had really pretty cheerleaders who threw small boxes of raisins into the stands. Apparently, they grow a lot of raisins in Fresno.
— Someone scored a basket late in the game to cover the spread; these three guys in front of us starting yelling and hugging each other. Winning money makes you happy.
— Long busride back to Albany, then I went right to work— I was on the midnight-8am shift back then, looking at fingerprints. That was a long freakin’ night.

5) Murray State 83, Marquette 64— 2019 first round. Not a pleasant memory; I picked this game over the total, should have had Murray and the over. Marquette had no answer for Ja Morant and the Racers were going to hang 100 on a Big East team, the game was going to go way over the total, but the Marquette coach retreated his team into a zone defense and refused to try and win, to avoid embarrassment. No bueno.

Gamer stayed under the total; lets just say…….I wasn’t happy 🙁

4) UNLV 103, Duke 73— 1990 national title game. Wish I was in Las Vegas for this game, the night Jerry Tarkanian won his first national title. What a team that was; Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon. Lot of midnight games on ESPN for that crew.

Back then, Big Monday was a tripleheader: Big East at 7, Big 10 at 9, Big West at midnight, after SportsCenter. UNLV was in the Big West back then; they were like Gonzaga is now, a very big fish in a fairly small pond. Lot of fun to watch.

3) Northwestern State 64, Iowa 63— 2006 first round. This was a 3-14 game; Demons were a 7-point underdog. I had gone on a local radio show when the brackets came out and predicted an outright win for Northwestern State, so I was pretty excited when it happened.

Couple years later down in Orlando, I’m watching an AAU game down in Florida and the Northwestern State coach sits next to me. I told him the story, thanked him; he told me how one of his former players was going to graduate school at Iowa that year, had given him a great scouting report on the Hawkeyes. Luckily for me.

2) Loyola Marymount 111, New Mexico State 92— 1990 first round. LMU’s first game since the tragic death of Hank Gathers during the WCC tournament, 12 days earlier.

Game was tied at halftime; Bo Kimble, LMU’s best player, had four fouls at halftime but the Lions exploded in the second half and won going away. Kimble shot his first foul shot lefty to honor his fallen teammate. LMU won two more games before losing in the regional final.

1) NC State 80, UCLA 77, 2OT— 1974 national semi-final. I was in 9th grade back then, a big NC State fan (friend of our family lived in Raleigh), used to listen to their regular season games on WBT, a radio station out of Charlotte.

David Thompson/Tom Burleson/Monte Towe were the guys for NC State- they had lost to UCLA the previous December, were expected to lose here too, seeing how UCLA had won the previous seven national titles, but after getting down 7 in overtime, they rallied back and handed Bill Walton his only loss in an NCAA Tournament game.

Years later, I’m at an AAU tournament in Orlando, sitting by myself, when Monte Towe comes in the gym near where I was. Talked to him for 5-10 minutes, good guy. Hell of a passer for a guy who was 5-foot-6 at the most. 

13) I’ve become a fan of listening to podcasts on my phone; if there aren’t any good movies on TV late at night, after the games are over, then I’ll put music on or listen to a podcast.

I’m a little concerned that podcasts have replaced writing in a lot of places, because our society is lazy, and running your mouth is easier than typing out your thoughts, but still, I’ve enjoyed learning stuff from listening to people who are smarter than I am. 

Word of caution: There A LOT OF PODCASTS out there, so pick/choose things that interest you. My main interests are sports and movies; here are a few podcasts I listen to:

— The Moment, with Brian Koppelman (one of writers of Billions)
— Eye on College Basketball, a CBS production which is self-explanatory.
— The Mind of Miles, with former Nebraska hoop coach Tim Miles, who will have himself a nice career on TV if he chooses that option. He is upbeat and can really talk.
— Truth and Basketball, with George Karl and another guy- they get some good guests. Listened to an episode with Julius Erving the other night.
— 6 Ways to Sunday— Rams’ GM Les Snead and his wife, Kara Henderson talk about interesting aspects of being an NFL GM that we might not usually think about.

Sports, politics, movies, music; its all out there. Its like eavesdropping on conversations, so if you choose smart, interesting people, you’ll get smarter while you’re being entertained.

12) Book recommendation: If you love pro basketball and you remember the ABA, then you have to read Loose Balls, which is basically an oral history of the ABA. The author interviewed a ton of people, then cut/pasted their answers and created this book, long before cut/paste was an actual thing. 

Lot of great stories; some of it is obviously dated, seeing how the ABA ended 45 years ago, but the ABA is also highly underrated in basketball history. This book is worth reading.

11) Kid on Florida Atlantic’s baseball team hit two grand slams in one inning the other day, and they were his first two college at-bats. Not a bad way to start your career.

10) I’m in a 14-team fantasy baseball league; it is a dynasty league, so we have a 2-round draft every February, but otherwise keep our teams from year-to-year. This league has been going on since 2005; we’ve finished our draft already and now wait for spring training games to start this coming weekend. Every team gets four drop/adds per month.

I used to offer trades during the spring, but trading can be frustrating; only a couple guys will make deals that are fair exchanges. Few years ago, thought I had a trade wrapped up, but then the guy says, “One more thing……throw in deGrom and we’ve got a deal” Ummm, no bueno.

9) Colorado Rockies are taking grief over dealing Nolan Arenado, and the prospect of Trevor Story also getting traded sometime this year, before he hits free agency. Last time Colorado signed a major league free agent?

December 21, 2018, they signed Daniel Murphy. Are they trying to win?

8) More bad news for the Rockies Sunday; 35-year old 1B/OF Ian Desmond is opting out for the second year in a row, to spend more time with his family. Desmond must’ve taken good care of his money; he has passed on $13.5M by sitting out last year/this year. He is a free agent after this season; why would a hitter willingly leave Denver?

7) One of the pitfalls of wagering on college basketball is that lot of teams have very little depth, and a turned ankle or foul trouble to one guy can cripple a team.

— Notre Dame-Syracuse game Saturday, both teams played 7 guys (Syracuse played an 8th kid, but only for 3:00)
— South Alabama is on a roll, winning 8 in a row; they played six guys Saturday. Six!!!

Lot of work keeping up with who is healthy/who isn’t. It is way worse this year because of teams pausing for COVID and games getting re-scheduled. Hopefully next season will be more normal.

6) When you hear a basketball announcer on TV say “Eurostep” that’s his polite way of saying, “the guy just walked but the ref didn’t call it.”

5) Atlantic 14 tournament has been jockeyed around some:
— Tournament was moved up to March 3-6 in Richmond, all except the final.
— A-14 final will be March 14 in Dayton, which is close to Indiana, where the whole NCAA Tournament will be played. Trying to minimize any possible COVID issues.

4) St Bonaventure 69, Davidson 58:
— Bonnies are 11-3, 9-3 in conference.
— Get a map, and find Olean, NY; it is in middle of nowhere, on Southern Tier of NY.
— How does Bonnies’ coach Mark Schmidt not have a better job? He is a great coach.

Bonnies have 12 players, 2 freshmen, one sophomore, and NINE JUNIORS. They could be a really good team the next couple of years.

3) When I wrote tomorrow NBA’s page just before I started this page, was watching the Minnesota-Knicks game on TV. Knicks won a close game; just heard that after the game, the Timberwolves fired coach Ryan Saunders.

2) As if the last year hasn’t been weird enough, Saturday an NHL game was delayed for eight hours because the sun was out and the ice at the outdoor rink was melting. This was at the same time as the PGA event in Los Angeles being delayed because it was too windy out. Oy.

1) Today would’ve been my dad’s 95th birthday; he passed away six years ago, and I miss him every day. He was a quiet, patient person; somehow the patience didn’t get passed down to his son. 🙂

Back in the day, I wasn’t allowed to watch The Three Stooges on TV: my mother apparently thought I would start drilling people in the head with a wrench if I did, but when she went out, I would put The Three Stooges on (WSBK in Boston) and my dad would come in the room, shake his head at me, but five minutes later, he’d be laughing harder than I was. Every time.

My dad grew up in New York City, was a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan; he loved golf, the Mets/Knicks/Giants, going to the racetrack at Saratoga and being around his family, and we loved being around him. Happy birthday dad; wish you were here. 

1997— #4 AFC Denver (+11.5) W31-24
1999— #4 AFC Tennessee (+7) L16-23
2000— #4 AFC Baltimore (-3) W34-7
2003— #3 NFC Carolina (+7) L29-32
2005— #6 AFC Pittsburgh (-4) W21-10
2006— #3 AFC Indianapolis (-6.5) W29-17
2007— #5 NFC NJ Giants (+12) W17-14
2008— #4 NFC Arizona (+7) L23-27
2010— #6 NFC Green Bay (-2.5) W31-25
2011— #4 NFC NJ Giants (+3) W21-17
2012— #4 AFC Baltimore (+4.5) W34-31

Since 1995, #3 or worse seeds in Super Bowl: 8-3 SU, 10-0-1 ATS

13) Steelers 31, Rams 19:
— Even though they lost, it was first time Rams made it to a Super Bowl.
— Rams led 19-17 after third quarter; they were 10.5-point underdogs.
— This was Pittsburgh’s fourth Super Bowl title in six years.

12) Giants 17, Patriots 14:
— The thought of a New England team going 17-0 was nauseating.
— Subway sandwich chain was recently sued by two people who claim the “tuna” in Subway’s tuna subs is something other than tuna.
— I used to eat lot of Subway subs, until they hired Bill Belichick to do commercials, then I switched to Jersey Mike’s. Much better subs.

11) Chiefs 23, Vikings 7:
— NFL Films’ highlight film of this game made KC coach Hank Stram a household name.
— “Keep matriculating the ball down the field, boys” NFL Films struck gold miking the coach.
— This was the last game before AFL/NFL merged; Chiefs were a 12-point dog.
 
10) Raiders 32, Vikings 14:
— Minnesota made the Rams’ life miserable in 70’s playoff games, so this was a good result.
— This was my senior year in HS; I played in a CYO basketball league where the games were played in a Jewish Community Center. Go figure.
— We had a game scheduled at same time as the Super Bowl; our refs didn’t show up until after the football game. I sat in a lounge and ate chips/drank soda watching the football game. Needless to say, I was fairly useless during the basketball game.

9) From 1984-96 seasons, the NFC won 13 consecutive Super Bowls.

8) In his nine Super Bowls, Tom Brady’s team has never scored a first quarter TD, or led after the first quarter (0-4-5). He’s won six of the nine games SU.

7) Strange Stat of the Day:
Last 14 Super Bowls, the team with the lesser win %age went 10-4 SU, 13-1 ATS

6) Only twice has the team that lost a Super Bowl won the big game the next season:
— Dallas lost Super Bowl V to the Colts, beat Miami the next year.
— New England lost Super Bowl LII to Philadelphia, won the Super Bowl the next year.

5) Saints 31, Colts 17:
— Saints were in the NFL 21 years before they played a playoff game.
— Someone made a commercial of Saints fans’ reactions at home parties when Tracy Porter ran back a pick-6 74 yards to clinch the game for New Orleans. It is a great commercial.

4) Chiefs 31, 49ers 20:
— Whenever the 49ers lose, I’m probably pretty happy.
— I’ve never heard anyone say they dislike Andy Reid, and I know someone who hates Ray Romano. Reid won his first world title in his 21st year as a head coach.
— 49ers led this game 20-10 after third quarter.

3) Eagles 41, Patriots 33:
— Nick Foles is 28-27 as a regular season starter, 4-2 in playoff games.
— He’s played for five teams in nine years, but will always be a Philly legend.
— Foles caught a TD pass on a trick play to give Philly a 22-12 halftime lead.

2) Steelers 27, Cardinals 23:
— Arizona lost, but getting Cardinals here put Kurt Warner in the Hall of Fame.
— Warner threw a 64-yard TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald with 2:37 left to put Arizona ahead.
— Big Ben won it with a 6-yard TD pass to Santonio Holmes with 0:35 left.

1) Rams 23, Titans 16:
— 73-yard TD pass from Warner to Bruce with 1:54 left put Rams ahead.
— Mike Jones tackles a Titans’ WR on 1-yard line as time ran out.
— Warner capped off a storybook season, throwing for 414 yards. 

Was all set to write a fascinating summary of Saturday’s college basketball action, then around 10pm, news broke of a blockbuster trade in the NFL, and it involved the Rams, so I opened up a cold bottle of Sierra Mist as my head spun around like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. 

I could write about this for the next two days, but you’d probably get bored reading it, so I’ll try and keep it to the essential points. I won’t succeed, but I’ll try.

— November 1, 2008 I was at a Tennessee-South Carolina game in Columbia; we tailgated in a field and watched college games all afternoon on big-screen TV tucked in luggage compartment of a Winnebago- it was a very excellent day, an hour of which was spent debating the merits of Matthew Stafford as a quarterback— he was in his last year at Georgia.

My friend didn’t (probably still doesn’t) like Stafford as a QB; I was in his corner, and now, 12 years later, he is the Rams’ QB, my team’s quarterback. Hope I was right back then.

— By the way, we had Church’s Fried Chicken that day, the absolute best fried chicken I’ve ever had. They have a couple Church’s stores in Las Vegas; it is worth a cab ride to get some.

— Stafford-for-Goff is the first player-for-player trade this century involving players who were both taken first overall in an NFL Draft, Stafford in 2009, Goff seven years later.

— Detroit’s new GM is Brad Holmes, who had been the Rams’ director of scouting. Because Holmes is a minority, the Rams got two 3rd-round picks when he was named Detroit’s GM— one of those now goes back to the Lions, as part of this deal.

— Six other teams were trying to acquire Stafford; the Rams didn’t have a first round pick this year, so they kicked in two 1st-round picks (2022, 2023), plus that 3rd-round pick.

— Remember this phrase: salary cap relief. Goff’s contract is way heavier than Stafford’s, and the Rams have several other (good) players they’d like to keep— this deal will let them do that.

— A summation of the QB’s records:
— Stafford is 74-93-1 as an NFL starter, 0-3 in playoff games.
— Goff is 44-30 as an NFL starter, 2-3 in playoff games, but he also won the Seattle playoff game a few weeks ago, in relief.

— Only 14 QB’s have started a Super Bowl in their first three years in the NFL; Goff was #13.

— Lions visit SoFi Stadium next fall; I’m guessing that’ll be a Monday night game.

— Last time the Rams had a first round pick was 2016, when they took Goff. Now, the next first round pick they have is 2024; they traded for Goff, Brandin Cooks, Jalen Ramsey and now Stafford. GM Les Snead likes to trade picks for known quantities— seeing how the Rams are 46-27 the last four years, I’d say Les Snead is doing a damn fine job, and so is coach McVay.

— Speaking of which, think about this: the quarterback has a radio in his helmet, and that voice is in his ear every play, until the play clock hits 0:15, For the last four years, the voice in Goff’s ear was McVay, who is known as a quarterback guru.

The last time McVay wasn’t in Goff’s ear, things didn’t go so well, but he was a rookie back then, and now he has a good body of work behind him. Former Chargers’ coach Anthony Lynn is Detroit’s new offensive coordinator.

— Goff doesn’t like cold weather, and Chicago/Green Bay (Lions’ NFC North rivals) have outdoor stadiums, where it gets cold late in the season. Really cold.

— Stafford’s 0-3 career playoff record raises eyebrows: here are the games:
2011— L45-28 @ New Orleans. Was 28-43/380 passing, with 3 TD’s, 2 INT’s.
2014— L24-20 @ Dallas. Was 28-42/323 passing, with one TD, one INT in his hometown.
2016— L26-6 @ Seattle. Was 18-32/205 passing. Game was 10-6 after three quarters.

— Hopefully next December, I’ll be worrying about his playoff record, because that’ll mean the Rams made the playoffs.

— An obscure and hopefully irrelevant detail: Goff’s father played major league baseball, and Jared Goff is a big SF Giants fan, which means he dislikes the Dodgers, which isn’t a really great thing for LA’s quarterback. Now he isn’t LA’s quarterback anymore.

When Matthew Stafford was a high school QB in Texas, the center he took snaps from was a kid named Clayton Kershaw, who is now a great pitcher for the Dodgers. So at least now the Rams’ quarterback will throw out the first pitch at a Dodger game. 

13 quarterbacks have started an NFL game for Bill Belichick:
13) Brian Hoyer (0-1)— Started 39 games in his 11-year career (16-23), playing for seven different teams. His only start for New England was a 26-10 loss at Kansas City in Week 4 this year. 

12) Eric Zeier (1-3)— Georgia alum started 12 games (4-8) in a 6-year NFL career, playing four games for the ’95 Browns, Belichick’s last year there. He later played for Baltimore. Tampa Bay. 

11) Drew Bledsoe (5-13)- Was the New England starter ahead of Brady when he got hurt in 2001; Bledsoe was was 101-98 as an NFL starter in his 14-year career, throwing for 45,946 yards, 257 TD’s. He finished his career with Buffalo, then Dallas. 

10) Bernie Kosar (11-18)— Went 56-58-1 as an NFL starter in his 12-year career, going 3-4 in playoff games. Cleveland released him after six starts in 1993; Dallas picked him up and he backed up Troy Aikman as the Cowboys won a Super Bowl. Cowboys’ other backup that year was future NFL coach Jason Garrett. 

9) Todd Philcox (2-3)— Syracuse alum played five years in the NFL, for three teams; he went 2-3 in five starts for Cleveland in 1992-93, throwing for 7 TD’s, running for one. 

8) Jacoby Brissett (1-1)— Is 12-20 as an NFL starter; went 1-1 for the 2016 Patriots, including a 16-0 loss in Buffalo, which is the last time New England didn’t score in the first half of a game. Brissett is still the backup QB for the Colts; this is his 5th year in the NFL. 

7) Mike Tomczak (4-4)— Played 15 years in NFL for four teams, going 4-4 as the starter for the ’92 Browns, his only year in Cleveland. The Ohio State alum was 42-31 as a starter in the NFL, and was 3-2 in playoff games (2-1 with Chicago, 1-1 with Pittsburgh).

6) Cam Newton (6-6)— Is 74-61-1 as an NFL starter; this is already his 10th year in the NFL. Is 3-4 in career playoff games, winning 2015 NFC title; he’s won more playoff games than Joe Namath, Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford, Kirk Cousins. Is 6-6 as New England’s starter this year.

5) Mark Rypien (2-1)— Went 47-31 as a starter in a 10-year career, winning the Super Bowl with the ’91 Redskins. Rypien went 2-1 in three starts for the ’94 Browns. His nephew Brett Rypien started a game at QB this year for the Broncos.

4) Jimmy Garoppolo (2-0)— Is 26-9 as an NFL starter, going 15-4 for the 49ers last year; he is in 7th NFL season. 2016 Patriots won both games he started for them. New England got a 2nd round draft pick for him when they traded him to San Francisco in October, 2017.

3) Vinny Testaverde (16-15)— Played 21 years in the NFL for seven teams; he could write a hell of a book. Went 9-4 as starter for the ’94 Browns, winning a playoff game against, ironically, New England. Cleveland’s defensive coordinator that year? Nick Saban. Testaverde was later a backup for the 2006 Patriots, but threw only three passes in three relief stints. 

2) Matt Cassel (10-5)— Wound up 36-45 as an NFL starter in his 14-year career, but didn’t make the playoffs in his one year (2008) as New England’s starter. He started one playoff game for the Chiefs, a 30-7 loss to Baltimore in the 2010 postseason. 

1) Tom Brady (249-75)— You may have heard of him; he’s won six Super Bowls and currently lives in Tampa. He was also a 6th round draft choice, meaning New England passed on drafting him five times before they finally took him.

If you’re scoring at home, that is 249-75 with Brady, 60-70 with everyone else. 

Thirteen movies that I really like, but none of these made my favorite 13 lists, either sports or non-sports movies…….if you find them on TV somewhere, they’re worth your time. 

13) Autumn in New York— Richard Gere plays an aging playboy who falls for a much younger, but terminally ill woman (Winona Ryder). Excellent supporting cast: JK Simmons, Jill Hennessy, Vera Farmiga, Anthony LaPaglia. 

12) Ides of March— An idealistic staffer (Ryan Gosling) for a new presidential candidate (George Clooney) gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Supporting cast includes Marisa Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti.

11) Little Big League— A 12-year old kid inherits the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather (Jason Robards). Ashley Crow plays the kid’s mom; in real life, her son was a first round draft pick of the Mets last June.

10) Wall Street— A young and impatient stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider (Michael Douglas) who takes the young man under his wing.

Martin Sheen, Hal Holbrook, Daryl Hannah, James Spader are just part of a tremendous cast.

9) Shopgirl— A bored salesgirl (Claire Danes) has to choose between a wealthy but much older businessman (Steve Martin) and an aimless young man.

I’m a big Steve Martin fan; not only a great comedian, but a terrific actor.

8) Lucky You— A hotshot poker player does well playing in tournaments in Las Vegas, but is fighting a losing battle with his personal problems. Robert Duvall plays the guy’s poker legend father, Drew Barrymore plays his girlfriend, and lot of real-life poker pros are co-stars.

7) Lincoln Lawyer— A lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime. Supporting cast includes Marisa Tomei, William Macy, Josh Lucas, Bryan Cranston.

6) Heaven Can Wait— An NFL quarterback (Warren Beatty), accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire. Jack Warden, Julie Christie, James Mason, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon are part of an impressive cast.

This movie came out in 1978, when the Rams were in midst of making the playoffs every year, but then failing in the playoffs. Seeing the Rams win the Super Bowl, even in a movie, made an 18-year old me a lot happier— I had the theater poster from Heaven Can Wait hanging in my bedroom. Actually, it may still be up there, have to look.

5) Dave— The US President goes into a coma while having an affair; to avoid a huge scandal in the press, an affable temp agency owner with an uncanny resemblance to the president is put in his place. Kevin Kline, Kevin Dunn, Frank Langella, Sigourney Weaver, Ving Rhames, Charles Grodin and Ben Kingsley make up an impressive cast.

4) Random Hearts— A police sergeant (Harrison Ford) and US Representative (Kristin Scott Thomas) lose their spouses in a plane crash, and soon discover that their spouses were having an affair with each other. Supporting cast includes Paul Guilfoyle, Dennis Haysbert, Bonnie Hunt and Charles Dutton.

3) Prince of Tides— A high school football coach from the south talks to his suicidal sister’s psychiatrist in New York City about their family history and falls in love with her in the process. Nick Nolte/Barbra Streisand are the stars; Blythe Danner, George Carlin are supporting actors.

2) Let It Ride— A cab driver/compulsive gambler gets a hot tip on a racehorse and has a very big day at the track. If you’ve ever spent time at the racetrack, this movie will make you laugh. Cast includes Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Jennifer Tilly, David Johansen.

1) The Natural— Robert Redford plays a middle-aged ballplayer who comes out of nowhere to lead the New York Knights to the playoffs. Wilford Brimley, Robert Duvall are terrific in their supporting roles.

Larry Brown needs to write a book; he’s had a fascinating career, changing jobs a lot, which is a huge understatement. Coach Brown is 80 now; his mom lived to 106. Here is a brief outline of his coaching stops, most of which were very successful.

1972-74) Carolina Cougars, ABA— Went 104-64 in two years; some of his players were Joe Caldwell, Ed Manning (Danny’s father), Billy Cunningham.

1974-79) Denver Nuggets, ABA/NBA— Went 125-43 with Denver in the ABA, 126-91 in the NBA; he had David Thompson, Dan Issel, Paul Silas, Mack Calvin.

1979-81) UCLA Bruins— Went 42-17 in two seasons, lost the 1980 national title game 59-54 to Louisville. But the NCAA vacated these wins because they used two ineligible players during these two seasons.

1981-83) New Jersey Nets— Went 91-67 in two years, then left. He did this more than once.

1983-88) Kansas Jayhawks— Went 135-44 in five years, won the 1988 national title behind star Danny Manning (his dad Ed played for Brown’s Carolina Cougars).

Just as soon as he won the national title, Brown bolted back to pro ball……..

1988-92) San Antonio Spurs— Went 153-131 over 3.5 years, was canned during the 4th year. The next year, San Antonio replaced him with Jerry Tarkanian.

1992-93)  Los Angeles Clippers— At one point during his career, I suggested that he might change jobs during a TV timeout; we’d come back and he’d be coaching the other team. It didn’t seem impossible. 

He went 64-53 in 1.5 seasons; I mean, the guy won all the time, but never stayed anywhere.

1993-97) Indiana Pacers— Went 190-138 in four seasons, then 22-16 in playoff games, losing twice in Eastern Conference finals.

1997-2003) Philadelphia 76ers— Six years had to feel like an eternity, but he was coaching Allen Iverson. Sixers went 255-205 under Brown, 28-30 in playoff games, losing the 2001 Finals.

2003-05) Detroit Pistons— Won the NBA title the first year, lost in Finals the second, then just like that, he was gone.

2005-06) New York Knicks— Went 23-59 in one very forgettable season. 

2008-11) Charlotte Bobcats— Went back to his Carolina basketball roots, went 88-104, made the playoffs the 2nd year, left 28 games (9-19) into the third year.

2012-16) SMU Mustangs— Went 85-39 at SMU, got them to the NCAA’s and to an NIT Final Four, but just like UCLA, he also ran afoul of the NCAA, and left unexpectedly.

— Brown was a good point guard; he was the MVP of the first-ever ABA All-Star Game
— Brown won a national title in the NBA and in college ball, the only guy to do that.
— Brown played for Dean Smith in college at North Carolina, was a very good point guard; his story is unique in basketball- he and his family must be great at packing. 

(listed alphabetically)
— Danny Ainge— Played 14 years in the NBA, after a great career at BYU. He also hit .220 in 211 games over three years for the Toronto Blue Jays.

— Jim Brown— One of the best running backs in NFL history, he led the NFL in rushing in 8 of his 9 seasons. Brown also played basketball, ran track, and was a great lacrosse player while in college at Syracuse.

— Wilt Chamberlain— Scored 31,419 points in his NBA career; once scored 100 points in a game- he averaged over 30 ppg for his career. He preferred track in high school, high jumping, long jumping, running the quarter-mile and half-mile events while also throwing the shot put.

When he was in the NBA, Wilt got annoyed that he was criticized for shooting too much so the next season (1967-68) he led the league in assists. 

— Bob Hayes— Played wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys for 11 years; he also won two gold medals in track at the 1964 Olympics. Hayes caught 371 passes for 20 yards/catch in his NFL career, scoring 73 touchdowns.

— Bo Jackson— Was a great running back at Auburn, and played 38 games for the Raiders, averaging 5.4 yards/carry. He played eight years in the major leagues, hitting 141 homers- he played the last two years with an artificial hip.

— Michael Jordan— Not much to add here; won a national title at North Carolina, six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, and out of nowhere, he hit .202 for the AA Birmingham Barons in 1994, as an outfielder, during his sabbatical from the NBA.

Hitting .202 doesn’t sound like much, but I was an official scorer for two years at the AA level; there are guys who were career baseball players who didn’t hit .200 at that level. Jordan also stole 30 bases that season.

— Kenny Lofton— Played 17 years in the big leagues, with a .372 on-base %age and 622 stolen bases— hell of a ballplayer, a 6-time All Star. Lofton also played college basketball at Arizona; he is one of only two people EVER to play in the Final Four and World Series.

— Nate Robinson— Played 11 years in the NBA, he won the Slam Dunk title three times even though he is only 5-9; he scored 11 ppg for his professional career. Robinson originally went to U of Washington on a football scholarship; he played football for the Huskies as a freshman, but gave football up after that season.

— Bill Russell— Played 13 seasons in the NBA, won 11 titles, lost in the finals another year. San Francisco won consecutive NCAA titles with Russell as their center in 1955-56. Russell also was a high jumper at USF; at one time, he was ranked as the 7th-best high jumper in the world, but had to choose between track and basketball as far as the Olympics went- he chose basketball.

— Deion Sanders— Played 14 years in the NFL for five teams; he picked off 53 passes in his pro career, running back nine of them for touchdowns. He also played baseball, playing nine years in the major leagues, hitting .263 for four teams, with 186 stolen bases.

— Tim Stoddard— First person ever to play in a Final Four and a World Series; he was a starting forward on NC State’s championship team in 1974. He also pitched in the major leagues for 13 years, winning a World Series ring with the ’83 Orioles. He also got a hit in his only at-bat in a World Series game.

— Charlie Ward— He won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, leading Florida State to their first-ever national title on the gridiron. Ward also played 11 years in the NBA for three teams, mostly the Knicks, scoring 6.3 ppg for his career.

— Dave Winfield— Played both baseball/basketball for the Minnesota Gophers; his college basketball coach was Bill Musselman, who later coached in the NBA. Winfield was also drafted by the NFL’s Vikings, but he never played college football.

Winfield was a great baseball player; he played 22 years in the majors, hit .283 with 465 career homers and an on-base %age of .353. 

No seeding involved, tried to create interesting first round games

Pool A:
Lebron James vs Michael Jordan
Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird

Pool B:
Steph Curry vs Reggie Miller
Kobe Bryant vs Oscar Robertson

Pool C:
Pete Maravich vs Gary Payton
George Gervin vs Dwyane Wade

Pool D:
Julius Erving vs Kawhi Leonard
David Thompson vs Paul Pierce

Pool E:
Earl Monroe vs Walt Frazier
Russell Westbrook vs Kevin Durant

Pool F:
Kevin Garnett vs Karl-Anthony Towns
Charles Barkley vs Carmelo Anthony

Pool G:
Kareem Adbul-Jabbar vs Shaquille O’Neal
Bob Lanier vs Dirk Nowitzki

Pool H:
Bernard King vs Scottie Pippen
Billy Cunningham vs LaMarcus Aldridge

Pool I:
Dominique Wilkins vs Luka Doncic
Steve Nash vs Allen Iverson

Pool J:
Rick Barry vs Paul George
Jerry West vs Kyle Lowry

Pool K:
Connie Hawkins vs Dan Issel
Damian Lillard vs Clyde Drexler

Pool L:
Wilt Chamberlain vs Tim Duncan
Hakeem Olajuwon vs David Robinson

Pool M:
Nate Archibald vs Isiah Thomas
John Havlicek vs Alex English

Pool N:
Bill Russell vs Moses Malone
Artis Gilmore vs Patrick Ewing

Pool O:
Elvin Hayes vs Karl Malone
Giannis Antetokounmpo vs James Harden

Pool P:
George McGinnis vs James Worthy
Anthony Davis vs Joel Embiid 

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