Armadillo Sports

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

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

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

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

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

The fireworks display at midnight was also impressive.

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

College basketball promises to be fun this season.

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

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

Seriously, they are.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It wasn’t.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Happy Armadillo Day!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Much ado about nothing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is a listing of QB’s who transferred this season; it is NOT a ranking; players are listed alphabetically by their new school’s name.

— Dequan Finn, Baylor- A 3-year starter at Toledo, was MAC Player of the Year LY, throwing for 2,657 yards, 22 TD’s. Also ran for 563 yards, 7 TD’s.

— Maalik Murphy, Duke- A former 5-star recruit, Murphy started twice for Texas LY, but threw only 71 passes all season. Former starter Riley Leonard bolted to Notre Dame.

— DJ Uiagalelei, Florida State- Threw for 2,638 yards and 21 TD’s for Oregon State LY, after starting for two years at Clemson before that. FSU has only 10 starters back, but they added 14 transfers. Uiagalelei needs to be a more accurate passer.

— Cade McNamara, Iowa- Hawkeyes ranked 129th in scoring last year, 127th in passing yardage; fair to say they had the worst offense in the country, but they went 10-4, despite losing their last two games, 26-0/35-0. McNamara was QB for a 12-2 Michigan team in 2021; he had a torn ACL last year. Iowa brought in a new offensive coordinator to try to score some points.

— Tyler Shough, Louisville- Texas Tech transfer threw for 177 yards in Louisville’s spring game; Cardinals coach Brohm is an excellent offensive coach, but Louisville has only two starters back on the offensive line.

— Cam Ward, Miami- Started out at I-AA Incarnate Word, then bolted to Washington State; he threw for 6,963 yards, 48 TD’s in two years at Wazzu. Miami was 1-4 last year in games decided by 7 or fewer points last year. Ward was brought in to reverse that trend.

— Max Johnson, North Carolina- Started 22 games at LSU/Texas A&M; his dad is former NFL QB Brad Johnson, his uncle is Mark Richt, the former Miami coach. Tar Heels started last year 6-0, but then the defense imploded and they finished 8-5. 

Famous birthdays, June 1st:
Morgan Freeman, 87
Brian Cox, 78
Tony Bennett, 55
Teri Polo, 55
Paula Malcomson, 54
Alanis Morrissette, 50
Brandi Carlile, 43
Nick Young, 39
Andrew Abbott, 25

— Grayson McCall, NC State- 3-time Sun Belt Player of the Year at Coastal Carolina, where he threw for over 10,000 yards. Wolfpack has September games against Tennessee/Clemson, so McCall better mesh with his new teammates fairly quickly.

— Riley Leonard, Notre Dame- This is what Notre Dame does now, they just poach QB’s; last year it was Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman (they went 10-3), now it is Leonard, who led Duke to 9-4/8-5 records the last two years. Notre Dame added three transfer WR’s, figures to have a more wide-open offense this season,

— Will Howard, Ohio State- Was a 4-year starter at Kansas State (Wildcats were 31-19 during that time); he is more of a run/pass guy than a deep passer, will be interesting to see how he does under Buckeyes’ new OC, former Oregon/UCLA/Eagles coach Chip Kelly.

Ohio State lost to Michigan the last three years; there is heat on the head coach.

— Alex Bowman, Oklahoma State- Is going into his 7th college season (even I got out of college faster than that); he threw for 3,460 yards LY, with only 15 TD’s, 14 INT’s (RB Gordon ran for 21 TD’s). Cowboys’ entire offensive line returns, so their offense should be stellar.

— Dillon Gabriel, Oregon- Started for two years at UCF, two more years at Oklahoma, now plays for an Oregon team that scored 44.2 points/game LY, with Bo Nix at QB.

Ducks are in the Big 18 now (there are 18 freakin’ teams in this league); November visits to Michigan, Wisconsin will test Gabriel’s skill in cold weather.

— EJ Warner, Rice- Son of Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner, EJ threw for 3,076 yards last year for a 3-9 Temple squad; he is still an Owl, but a Rice Owl now. Warner led the AAC in passing yards the last two years; he figures to help Rice improve on last year’s minus-14 turnover ratio. 

Rice went bowling the last two years, which hasn’t happened a lot for them; they’ve got an experienced team, actually have some expectations this year.

— Will Rogers, Washington- Rogers started for four years at Mississippi State, where he played for the late Mike Leach, but things imploded in Starkville LY, after Leach’s untimely death. He ranks #2 in passing yards in the history of the SEC.

Huskies lost all 11 starters on offense after their head coach bolted to Alabama; they’ve got only one starter back on defense, but new coach Jedd Fisch rebuilt Arizona’s program fairly quickly

This is what college sports are becoming; the rich poaching from the not-so-rich. Not an ideal situation, but it is what it is……..

Baseball:
— I’d eliminate the American/National Leagues and go to geographic realignment, which would reduce travel costs and invigorate regional rivalries. Going to 32 teams (which will happen soon) will make scheduling a lot easier.

— Baseball managers/coaches shouldn’t wear uniforms, there is no need for it. Players wear uniforms, coaches wear pullovers or sweatshirts or whatever products their corporate sponsors are trying to sell.

— Baseball’s All-Star Game should be US against the World; that would make the game a lot more competitive, maybe too much so, but doing it once would at least spice things up a little bit.

— Baseball needs to market the game better. How?
a) Create an NFL Films-type group that produces a Hard Knocks show where we can see some of the inner workings of baseball. It would be great.

b) Imagine last cuts in spring training? Would be good television.

c) Trade negotiations at the deadline? It would be like watching Moneyball all over again.

Show Winter League games from Central America.

Get rid of all TV blackouts; you WANT people to watch baseball.

Football:
— NFL would have an 18-game regular season, only two preseason games; Super Bowl would be Sunday night of Presidents’ Day weekend. This will probably happen in the league’s next TV contract. 

— Add the old AAF’s onside kick rule, when instead of an onside kick, the kicking team gets the ball on their own 35-yard line, 4th-and-15. They get the first down the keep the ball; the onside kick rule they use now isn’t good. Too hard for a recovery by the kicking team.

These days, NFL teams almost never recover onside kicks; with this rule, it would add a little more excitement to the game. 

— I’d scrap Thursday night NFL games, except for Week 1 and Thanksgiving; I’d replace them with Monday night doubleheaders. Football wasn’t meant to be played on three days’ rest.

Famous birthdays for May 22nd:
Frank Converse, 86
Tommy John, 81
Walt Hriniak, 81
Dre Bly, 47
Eric Sogard, 38
Lauri Markkanen, 27
Isaiah Stewart, 23
Anthony Richardson, 22

NBA
— Long time ago, the early 70’s, the NBA held a 1-on-1 contest, and aired the games at halftime of regular season NBA telecasts. This was in the early 70’s; I think they had two tournaments, then some of the better players refused to play, and the idea died.

They need to bring back a 1-on-1 tournament; it would be wildly popular.

This should happen in the summer, with each player designating a charity he is playing for. They would make lot of money for various good causes.

64 players; games would be up to 20, have to win by 3 points.

Lot of wagering opportunities, bracket pools, it would be fun.

Each NBA team would have to be represented by one player; the other spots would be determined by fan voting on the Interweb.

— Would definitely move the NBA Draft Lottery back to a half hour before the actual draft; imagine the drama then? Lot of executives would have to think on their feet.

— Kids should be able to go straight from high school to the NBA, the way Lebron James, Kevin Garnett did; players going to college for one year is a farce. 

— NBA playoff series should be best-of-5; fewer games, more drama. More drama, more TV $$$, and that is what team owners care about. 

The fact that no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series tells us that the series are too long.

— Higher seed in playoffs chooses their opponent in playoffs; they do this in the G-League and it is a good idea. Would make for a good TV show when they choose their opponents.

— One weekend a year, the NBA uses red, white and blue basketballs to honor the old ABA; the four ABA teams that still exist (Nets, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets) would play against each other that weekend, alternating arenas every year. 

College sports
— ESPN has gone way downhill the last few years; one thing they can do to improve would be to bring back their college basketball marathon, where games aired for 28-30 straight hours.

Apparently this marathon didn’t bring in as much $$$ as their stupid early morning talk shows, but promoting college basketball would help recoup the $$$ lost there.

— Might be too late to correct this, but could college leagues go back to being remotely made up of teams from the same area?

Cal/Stanford/SMU in the ACC? Seriously?

UCLA/USC in the Big 10? It is nonsensical.

— College football teams wouldn’t play I-AA opponents; SEC teams do this a lot. Last year, Alabama played The Citadel, Ole Miss played Southern Illinois, South Carolina played Tenn-Chattanooga. Seriously? Go play a MAC team or a Sun Belt team, at least.

— College players/teams need to sign contracts, the way pro teams do, then players couldn’t just transfer every 10 minutes. Contracts could have no-trade clauses, but there needs to be some continuity from year-to-year.

General stuff
— Daytime TV needs more game shows/televised poker and way fewer talk shows, which are wastes of time. Watching people make decisions/play games is way more interesting than listening to overpaid nitwits in contrived arguments.

— I’d get rid of the Electoral College in our presidential election; whoever gets the most votes wins, just like in all the other elections.

— Would like to people to be happier; nowadays, there is so much anger in the world. There is a lot less tolerance of others than there used to be. You be you, and let others do what they do. Cheer the bleep up!!!!

1) American Underdog— The true/unlikely story of Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, who went from stocking shelves at an Iowa supermarket to winning a Super Bowl with the Rams.

Co-stars Dennis Quaid, Bruce McGill, Anna Paquin helped make this an excellent movie.

2) Moneyball— Beginning isn’t very good, the end sucks, but I’m an A’s fan and this movie is about how the 2003 A’s overcame a small payroll to win 20 games in a row and make their unlikely run to the playoffs.

Only really bad thing about this movie is they made skipper Art Howe look like a bad manager, and he was anything but— you don’t win 20 games in a row by accident. 

3) Blue Chips— Nick Nolte is a college basketball coach who used to win a lot; in order to start winning again, he has to decide whether to break the recruiting rules or not. 

Bob Cousy is the AD; Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway are two of the recruits. Lot of cameos from basketball people; Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Dick Vitale. 

4) Invincible— True story about Vince Papale, a 30-year old bartender who tries out for the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles and makes the squad as a special teams player. 

5) Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan manages a New York City deli until he applies for a job as a college basketball coach in Nevada. Bernard King, Michael Warren are two of his players; another one is a girl disguised as a guy. 

6) Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino is a pro football coach whose team is struggling; Cameron Diaz is the owner, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx are two of the QB’s. 

Miami Sharks play against four teams in the movie, all coached by NFL Hall of Famers.

The Sharks’ third QB was played by Pat O’Hara, who in real life was a backup QB at USC, played some in the Arena League, has been a consultant on 10 football-related movies and to this day, is an assistant coach with the Tennessee Titans.

— Famous birthdays, May 2nd:
Engelbert Humperdinck, 88
Jamaal Wilkes, 71
Keith Moreland, 70
Dwayne Johnson, 52
Pat McAfee, 37
Paul George, 34
Ian Anderson, 26

7) For Love of the Game— Kevin Costner is a star pitcher for the Tigers who is at the end of his career; he has flashbacks throughout his last game. 

Detroit’s manager in this movie is JK Simmons, who is a Tigers fan in real life; New York’s manager is the late Augie Garrido, one of the all-time great college baseball coaches. 

8) One on One— Robby Benson is a hotshot high school basketball player who gets recruited by a big-time college team, then finds himself in over his head.

9) Bull Durham— Costner is a minor league catcher who is brought in to mentor a hot-shot pitching prospect. Robert Wuhl is the pitching coach, Susan Sarandon mentors the prospect off the field. 

10) Draft Day— Costner does lot of sports movies; he is GM of the Cleveland Browns in this one, Denis Leary is the Browns’ coach. 

The year this movie came out, NFL pushed back the draft so the movie could be promoted more, but Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available for the later date, which is why they started moving the draft around the country. Sometimes great ideas happen by accident. 

11) Major League— Bob Uecker should’ve won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Indians’ radio announcer Harry Doyle.  

12) He Got Game— Underrated film about college basketball recruiting, with Ray Allen playing a recruit who can get his father out of state prison if he plays ball for the college that a political bigshot wants him to.

13) Rocky— The original was a true classic; a journeyman boxer gets a chance to fight for the heavyweight title, and makes the most of it. 40 years later, tourists who come to Philadelphia still pose for pictures near the Rocky statue.

14) Friday Night Lights— Billy Bob Thornton is a high school football coach in west Texas, where they take high school football very seriously.

These are 15 of my favorite non-sports movies. Make your own list.

Remember, these are my favorite movies, not the movies that are necessarily the best. Of the 50 movies USA Today listed as the best ever, I’ve seen three of them. Seriously.

15) Runaway Jury— I’m a big fan of the John Grisham books; this was my favorite of the ones that were turned into movies. Gene Hackman plays a jury consultant whose client is a gun manufacturer; John Cusack is on the jury to manipulate the verdict.

14) Moon Over Parador— Richard Dreyfuss is an actor who is hired to stand in for the dictator of a Latin American country who suddenly dies. Jonathan Winters is a weird CIA agent whose wife is Polly Holliday, who played Flo in the old TV series Alice.

13) Dave— Made five years after Moon Over Parador, this is basically the same movie, just set in Washington, DC.

Guy who looks just the President runs a temp service in Washington; when the real president has a stroke while screwing around with his mistress, the guy (Kevin Kline) is hired as the stand-in president. Sigourney Weaver is the First Lady.

12) A Few Good Men— The last scene, with Jack Nicholson on the witness stand, is tremendous. Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak, JT Walsh as supporting actors is pretty strong.

11) The Verdict— Paul Newman is a struggling lawyer who is handed a winning case, but winning it is easier said than done. His friend is played by Jack Warden, one of my all-time favorites.

10) The Gambler— Remake of a James Caan movie from the mid-70’s. College professor (Mark Wahlberg) seems to have an excellent life, but he has a huge gambling problem which drags him down. John Goodman plays one of the people he owes money to; he is very good in this.

9) The Bodyguard— Whitney Houston is a famous singer with a contract on her head; Kevin Costner is the ex-Secret Service hired to protect her.

8) Prince of Tides— A football coach from the south comes to New York City to talk to his sister’s psychiatrist about his sister’s suicide attempt, and their family history- then they in love. Nick Nolte is the coach, Barbra Streisand is the psychiatrist.

— Famous birthdays for April 19th:
Keith Erickson, 80
Mark van Eeghen, 72
Frank Viola, 64
Spike Owen, 63
Ashley Judd, 56
Jeff Wilkins, 52
Kate Hudson, 45
Troy Polamalu, 43
Joe Mauer, 41

7) Leap of Faith— Steve Martin plays a traveling preacher whose bus breaks down, stranding his crew in a drought-stricken Kansas town. Miracles ensue. Liam Neeson, Debra Winger, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meat Loaf all have supporting roles.

6) Lost In Translation— Bill Murray plays a washed-up actor who is in Tokyo getting paid $2M to do a whiskey commercial. He meets Scarlett Johansson in the hotel bar and they become friends.

5) Begin Again— Down-and-out music executive stumbles into a Manhattan bar and discovers a young singer who can resurrect his career, while starting the singer on her own career.

4) Good Will Hunting— Janitor at MIT can do complicated math problems better than the professors can, but he also has a criminal record, and has to get counseling for that. Robin Williams is great as the counselor.

3) Molly’s Game— Young woman runs high stakes poker games for celebrities/rich guys, but when members of the Russian mob enter the game, things get complicated. This is a true story, and as we’re learning nowadays, real life is often stranger than fiction.

2) Last Vegas— Four old friends get together in Las Vegas for the bachelor party of the one bachelor in group (Michael Douglas) who is marrying a woman 40 years younger than him. It is Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline.

1) Rounders— Law student decides he’d rather play high stakes poker than go to law school. The scenes with Matt Damon and his law professor (Martin Landau) are excellent. Same guys who wrote this wrote the great Showtime series Billions.

NFC East
— Cowboys- Dak Prescott (Mississippi State)
4th round pick in 2016
72-43 with Dallas, 2-4 in playoffs.
Dallas is set here for next five years.

— Giants- Daniel Jones (Duke)
1st round pick in 2019
23-37-1 with Giants, 1-1 in playoffs.
Has been hurt a lot, is hurt now
Backups- Tyrod Taylor, Tommy DeVito
They’ve got some big decisions to make in off-season.

— Eagles- Jalen Hurts (Alabama/Oklahoma)
2nd round pick in 2020
35-14 with Eagles, 2-2 in playoffs
Eagles are set for the foreseeable future.

— Commanders- Sam Howell (North Carolina)
5th round pick in 2022
5-8 with Washington.
Two years, two offensive coordinators; Howell is doing OK so far.

NFC North
— Bears- Justin Fields (Ohio State)
1st round pick in 2021
7-26 with the Bears
Chicago has two very high draft picks next April; will they take another QB?
Rookie backup Tyson Bagent is 2-2 as a starter this year.

— Lions- Jared Goff (California)
1st round pick by Rams in 2016
traded to Detroit with draft picks for Matthew Stafford
44-30 with Rams, 20-21-1 with Detroit (2-3 in playoffs with LA)
Lions are set here for next five years.

— Packers- Jordan Love (Utah State)
1st round pick in 2020
5-7 with Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers is tough act to follow, but he’s doing OK so far.

— Vikings- Kirk Cousins (Michigan State)
4th round pick by Washington, in 2012
26-31-1 with Washington, 51-39-1 with Vikings (1-3 in playoffs).
He’ll be 36 when next season starts, coming off a bad injury; his future is unclear.
Joshua Dobbs (2-11 as NFL starter) is Minnesota’s QB right now.
Vikings have a major decision to make in off-season.

NFC South
Falcons- Desmond Ridder (Cincinnati)
3rd round pick in 2022
7-6 with Falcons.
He’s been benched once this year, but is starting again; it is still early for him.

Panthers- Bryce Young (Alabama)
#1 overall pick in last April’s draft
1-9 with Carolina; head coach/QB coach already got fired.
They scored 27 points in the one game backup Dalton started.
Would it kill Carolina to sit Young and let him watch some?

Saints- Derek Carr (Fresno State)
2nd round pick by Raiders in 2014
63-80 with Raiders, 5-6 with New Orleans (0-1 in playoffs)
Carr will be 33 in March; are Saints sold on him?
Last time Saints drafted a QB in 1st round? Archie Manning, in 1971.

Buccaneers- Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma)
#1 overall pick by Cleveland in 2018
29-30 with Browns, 1-5 Carolina, 1-3 with Rams, 4-7 with Bucs
Has played for four teams the last three years; he is still only 28.
Would think he’ll still be Tampa Bay’s quarterback next year.

NFC West
Cardinals- Kyler Murray (Texas A&M/Oklahoma)
#1 overall pick in 2019
26-34-1 with Arizona (0-1 in playoffs)
Has a very big contract; can he stay healthy and be productive?

Rams- Matthew Stafford (Georgia)
#1 overall pick in 2009 by Detroit
Traded to Rams for Jared Goff
74-93-1 with Lions, 24-16 with Rams (4-3 in playoffs)
won Super Bowl two years ago
will be 36 in February; how much longer does he want to play?

49ers- Brock Purdy (Iowa State)
7th round pick in 2022 draft
15-4 with 49ers (2-1 in playoffs)
came out of nowhere last year to be the starter.
49ers are built to win now; will he get them over the hump?

Seahawks- Geno Smith (West Virginia)
2nd round pick by Jets, in 2013.
12-18 with Jets, 0-1 with Giants, 16-17 with Seattle
0-1 in playoffs (lost 41-23 to 49ers LY)
Is 33 years old, has regressed some this year.

AFC East
Bills- Josh Allen (Wyoming)
1st round pick in 2018
62-34 with Buffalo, 4-4 in playoffs
Bills are set here for next 7-8 years.

Dolphins- Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama)
1st round pick in 2020
29-16 with Miami; he’s headed to playoffs for first time.
Dolphins seem set here for the next 10 years. 

Patriots- Mac Jones (Alabama)
1st round pick in 2021
18-25 with New England, 0-1 in playoffs
Is now more of a suspect that prospect; his future is unclear.
Patriots have lot of decisions to make this winter.

Jets- Aaron Rodgers (California)
1st round pick by Green Bay, in 2005
158-85-1 with Packers (11-10 in playoffs)
Won Super Bowl, 14 years ago.
Got hurt on his 4th play with Jets this season
Tore his Achilles; today is his 40th birthday.
He is expected to play before end of this season; we’ll see.
If not him, then who? (no one on current roster)

AFC North
Ravens- Lamar Jackson (Louisville)
1st round pick in 2018 draft
55-22 with Baltimore, 1-3 in playoffs.
Ravens are set here for next 8-10 years.

Bengals- Joe Burrow (Ohio State/LSU)
1st overall pick in 2020 draft
34-22-1 with Bengals (5-2 in playoffs)
Cincinnati is set here for the next ten years.

Browns- Deshaun Watson (Clemson)
1st round pick by Houston in 2017
28-25 with Texans, 8-4 with Browns (1-2 in playoffs)
Had off-field problems with Texans, was suspended
If he can stay healthy, Browns are set here for next 6-7 years.

Steelers- Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh)
1st round pick in 2022 draft
14-9 with Steelers, hasn’t made playoffs yet.
Steelers fired their OC last week- who will new guy be?

AFC South
Texans- CJ Stroud (Ohio State)
2nd overall pick in 2023 draft
6-5 in his rookie year, doing surprisingly well.
Texans are trying to make playoffs for first time since 2019.
Looks like Houston is set here for foreseeable future. 

Colts- Anthony Richardson (Florida)
#4 overall pick in 2023 draft
only started 13 games in college
2-2 as starter TY; got hurt, is OFY.
last seven years, Colts have started 7 different QB’s in Week 1.
Gardner Minshew is 4-3 as Colts’ starter this year.

Jaguars- Trevor Lawrence (Clemson)
1st overall pick in 2021 draft
21-26 with Jaguars, 1-1 in playoffs
Jaguars are set here for next 10-12 years

Titans- Will Levis (Kentucky)
2nd round pick in 2023 draft
2-3 as starter in his rookie season; 2-0 at home, 0-3 on road
as long as he hands off a lot to Derrick Henry, he’ll be OK.

AFC West
Broncos- Russell Wilson (NC State/Wisconsin)
3rd round pick by Seahawks, in 2012
113-60-1 with Seattle, 10-16 with Denver (9-7 in playoffs)
Won Super Bowl ten years ago.
Just turned 35; how much longer does he want to play?

Chiefs- Patrick Mahomes (Texas Tech)
10th overall pick in 2017 draft (9 teams passed on him!?!?!?!)
83-22 with the Chiefs, 11-3 in playoffs, an all-time great.
Chiefs are set here for next 7-8 years.
Would be nice if they got him better receivers.

Raiders- Aidan O’Connell (Purdue)
4th round pick in 2023 draft
2-3 as a rookie starter; head coach has already been fired.
As usual, Raiders have lot of questions to answer this winter.

Chargers- Justin Herbert (Oregon)
6th overall pick in 2020 draft
29-32 with Chargers, 0-1 in playoffs (blew 27-0 lead, lost 31-30)
Chargers are set here, for next ten years.