Month: August 2024

— Monday is Labor Day, a national holiday, but there are only 11 baseball games, which means that eight teams have Labor Day off, which is nonsensical.

— There were also 11 baseball games Thursday; Oakland A’s were only team of the 22 that played who scored a run in the first inning. I mention that because you can bet on whether or not teams score in the first inning.

— A’s 9, Rangers 2
Brett Rooker homered twice for the A’s, who have now had consecutive winning months for the first time since 2021.

Mark Kotsay has legitimately done an excellent job managing this young team; the guy in Kansas City will get Manager of the Year, but Kotsay deserves kudos for the job he is doing.

— Astros 3, Royals 2
Framber Valdez pitched 7 innings, didn’t allow a hit.
Paul DeJong tied the game 2-2 with a 9th inning home run.
Jose Altuve walked it off with a 9th inning double off the Crawford Boxes.

— Cubs 7, Nationals 6
Chicago scored seven runs in the second inning.
Cubs scored 80 runs in their last eight games.
Cubs are 8-2 in last ten games, are five games out of last playoff spot.

— Royals 1B Vinnie Pasquantino broke his thumb Thursday, is out 6-8 weeks, which means he is likely out for the year. Pasquantino has 19 homers, 97 RBI this year; big loss for the Royals.

— Braves 7, Phillies 2
Orlando Arcia homered twice for Atlanta.
Phillies lead the Braves by five games in NL East, with 27 games to play.

— Famous birthdays, August 31st:
Richard Gere, 75
Tom Candiotti, 68
Hideo Nomo, 56

Debbie Gibson, 54
Larry Fitzgerald, 41
Matt Adams, 36

Ronel Blanco, 31
Jalen Brunson, 28
Desmond Ridder, 25

— Indiana Pacers gave guard T.J. McConnell a 4-year contract extension worth $45M; he scored 10.2 ppg last year, first time in his nine NBA seasons that he averaged double figures.

— TCU 34, Stanford 27
TCU scored two TD’s in 1:22 span late in 4th quarter for the win.
Cardinal led 17-10 at halftime.
Horned Frogs outgained Stanford, 457-288.

— Michigan State 16, Florida Atlantic 10
First score of game was a safety for the Spartans.

MSU led 16-3 at the half, didn’t score in second half.
Teams combined to convert 5-28 third down plays.

— Wisconsin 28, Western Michigan 14
Badgers led 10-7 at halftime.
Broncos led 14-13 early in 4th quarter.
Wisconsin was 10-16 on 3rd down, Broncos 3-10

— Oklahoma 51, Temple 3
From 2015-19, Temple was 43-24.
Since 2020, Temple is 10-34.
Oklahoma is in the SEC now, which takes some getting used to.

— They have a 2:00 warning in college football now, probably because they make lot of $$$ for TV commercials during the 2:00 warning, but it does make a difference for coaches.

— Miami Dolphins gave coach Mike McDaniel a contract extension thru 2028; Dolphins are 20-16 in two years under McDaniel, 0-2 in playoffs- they haven’t won a playoff game since 2000, when Dave Wannstedt was their coach. 

Cardinals
Since 2010, Arizona is 102-123-1 in regular season, 1-3 in playoffs.
From 2019-22, Kliff Kingsbury was their coach; he’ll be back in Arizona in Week 4, as OC of the Washington Commanders.

Falcons
Atlanta’s starting QB’s since 2021:
2021- Matt Ryan
2022- Marcus Mariota
2023- Desmond Ritter- They went 7-10/7-10/7-10 last three years
2024- Kirk Cousins/Michael Penix

Panthers
Carolina is 19-48 SU/27-38-2 ATS in four years since they let Ron Rivera go.
This year will be first time since 2018 they had same #1 QB two years in row.
Last four years, Panthers are 0-9 ATS as a favorite of 3 or fewer points. 

Bears
Chicago’s single season leaders in passing yardage:
3,838- Erik Kramer, 1995
3,812- Jay Cutler, 2014
3,666- Jay Cutler, 2009
3,659- Jay Cutler, 2015
3,274- Jay Cutler, 2010

Chicago is the only NFL team that has never had a QB throw for 4,000+ yards in one season.

Cowboys
Dallas won Super Bowl after the 1995 season; since then, they’re 5-13 in playoff games.
Last three years, Cowboys were 12-5/12-5/12-5, but went 1-3 in playoffs.

Lions
Detroit won NFL titles in 1952, 1953, 1957, but none since.
In Super Bowl era, they’re 3-13 in playoff games.
In his 8-year career, QB Jared Goff in 5-4 in playoff games.

Packers
Last 7 years, favorites are 15-6 ATS in their NFC North home games.
Last five years, Green Bay is 6-1 ATS as a road dog vs NFC North rivals.

Rams
Lions took Matthew Stafford with 1st pick of 2009 Draft; Rams took OT Jason Smith with the 2nd pick, but he lasted only three years with the Rams, played another year with Jets.

Other QB’s picked in first round of ’09 Draft:
Mark Sanchez, 5th pick by Jets
Josh Freeman, 17th pick by Tampa Bay

Famous birthdays, August 23rd:
Barbara Eden, 93
Sonny Jurgensen, 90
Rik Smits, 58

Rex Grossman, 44
Mike Yastrzemski, 34
Seth Curry, 34

Tyler Glasnow, 31
Lane Thomas, 29
Bryce Miller, 26

Vikings
Kirk Cousins was Minnesota’s QB the last six years; in the 12 years before that, Vikings had used nine different #1 QB’s, everyone from Matt Cassel, Christian Ponder to Tavaris Jackson.

Since 2005, Minnesota is 3-5 in playoff games.

Giants
In two years under Daboll, Giants are 11-5-1 ATS at home.
In two years under Daboll, under is 12-5 in their home games.

Saints
New Orleans QB’s the last four years:
2020- Drew Brees
2021- Jameis Winston
2022- Andy Dalton
2023- Derek Carr- they went 37-30 in regular season, 1-1 in playoffs.

Eagles
Last three years, over is 19-6 in Philly home games.
Last year, Eagles went 11-6 despite a minus-10 turnover ratio; they fired both coordinators.

49ers
Last six times San Francisco made the playoffs, they went WWL
Last five years, 49ers are 4-1 ATS in their post-bye game.

Seahawks
Last three years, Seattle is 5-10-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Last three years, Seahawks are 16-10 ATS as an underdog.

Buccaneers
In Bruce Arians’ last two years, Tampa Bay was 29-10, 5-1 in playoffs.
First two years without Arians, they’re 18-19, 1-2 in playoffs.

Commanders
Washington hasn’t won a playoff game since 2005, when Joe Gibbs was coach.

Washington QB’s since 2017:
2017- Kirk Cousins
2018- Alex Smith
2019- Case Keenum
2020- Alex Smith
2021-22- Taylor Heinicke
2023- Sam Howell
2024- Jayden Daniels

NFL trends
AFC
Ravens
Baltimore won Super Bowl 12 years ago; since then, they’re 3-6 in playoff games.
Last nine years, Ravens are 29-13-2 ATS as an underdog.

Bills
Last four years, Buffalo is 48-18 in regular season, 4-5 in playoffs.
Last three years, under is 15-10 in Buffalo home games.

Bengals
Marvin Lewis was 131-129-3 as Bengals coach, but 0-7 in playoff games.
Zac Taylor is 42-46-1 as Bengals coach, but 5-2 in playoff games.

Browns
Cleveland has three straight road games, Weeks 4-6; in Weeks 13-16, they’ve got three road games in an 18-day span, with a home game against the Chiefs also in there.

Deshaun Watson makes a boatload of $$$, but he’s played in only 12 games (8-4) the last three years. He was 39-31 in four years as QB of the Texans.

Broncos
Denver QB’s since 2017 (their last winning season was 2016):
2017- Trevor Siemian
2018- Case Keenum
2019- Joe Flacco
2020- Drew Lock
2021- Teddy Bridgewater
2022-23- Russell Wilson

Texans
Houston has been in playoffs seven times; they’re 5-2 in first round playoff games.
They’re 0-5 in second round playoff games.

Last two years, Texans are 9-4-1 ATS as a road underdog.

Colts
Colts have made the playoffs only twice in last nine years (1-2). 

Colts’ QB’s since 2018:
2018- Andrew Luck
2019- Jacoby Brissett
2020- Philip Rivers
2021- Carson Wentz
2022- Matt Ryan
2023- Gardner Minshew
2024- Anthony Richardson

Jaguars
Since 2014, over is 32-21-1 in Jaguars’ non-divisional road games.
Jaguars were 10-9/9-8 in Doug Pederson’s first two years; before he got to Jacksonville, they had 11 consecutive losing seasons. 

Chiefs
From 1994-2017, Chiefs were 1-10 in playoff games.
Last five years, Kansas City is 14-2 in playoff games.

Raiders
Raiders have had ten head coaches since 2005 (0-2 in playoff games)
By way of comparison, Steelers have had three head coaches since 1969.
Since 2016, Raiders are 5-12-1 ATS as a road favorite. 

Chargers
Last ten years, Chargers are 20-35-2 ATS as a home favorite.
Last ten years, Chargers are 19-37-8 ATS, in games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Dolphins
Miami has had four straight winning seasons, but went 0-2 in playoffs those years.
Under McDaniel, under is 12-5 in their home games, over is 12-5 on the road. 

Patriots
Tom Brady was 249-75 as New England’s quarterback.
In his career, Bill Belichick is 249-75 with Brady at QB, 82-103 without him.

Jets
Last time Jets made playoffs, their QB was Mark Sanchez, the coach was Rex Ryan.
Last ten years, Jets are 13-25-2 ATS as a favorite.

Steelers
OC Arthur Smith faces his old team (Falcons) in Week 1.
QB Russell Wilson faces his old team (Broncos) in Week 2.
Last ten years, Steelers are 38-21-3 ATS as an underdog.

Titans
Since 2017, Tennessee is 14-7-1 ATS as a home underdog.
Last three years, under is 17-8-1 in Titans’ home games. 

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?

— There are 32 teams in the NFL; on Rams-Chiefs-49ers-Packers, the head coach is really the offensive coordinator, so that leaves 28 OC’s in the league right now. Of those 28 OC’s, 16 of them are in their current job for the first season in 2024. 

That makes handicapping early season games a lot harder, with so much turnover in the coaching ranks. 17 of 32 defensive coordinators are also in their first year in this job.

Notes from NFL preseason games:
— Rams 13, Chargers 9
Game-winning TD was caught by rookie WR JJ Laap, who won a national title last year playing Division III football at Cortland State in central New York.

Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts was the TV analyst for this game; he was not complimentary when analyzing Rams’ backup Stetson Bennett, who has taken every snap every center for the Rams so far this summer.

— Cowboys 27, Raiders 12
Raiders have a QB dilemma, as in, neither guy has played very well this summer.
Kicker on Dallas made a 66-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

— Ravens 13, Falcons 12
Atlanta failed on a 2-point conversion in the last minute.
Not sure why, but rookie QB Michael Penix didn’t play for the Falcons.

— Texans 28, Giants 10
Daniel Jones threw a God-awful pick-6 for the first score of the game.
Giants turned ball over five times on 11 drives, were outgained 369-279.

— Lions 24, Chiefs 23
Detroit kicked a 43-yard FG as time expired for the win.
Carson Wentz is the Chiefs’ backup QB now, his 5th NFL team in nine years.

— Famous birthdays, August 18th:
Robert Redford, 88
Greg Pruitt, 73
Denis Leary, 67

Lafayette Lever, 64
Jim Les, 61
Edward Norton, 55

Christian Slater, 55
Bogdan Bogdanović, 32
Seiya Suzuki, 30

— Vikings 27, Browns 12
Part of the reason starters play less now in preseason games is that they get lot of work in during the week, when the teams practice against each other. I’ve read where coaches say they just get more reps in during those practices, which makes them more beneficial.

Browns QB Deshaun Watson is scheduled to play against Seattle next week.

— Bears 27, Bengals 3
Rookie QB Williams was 6-13 for 75 yards passing.
Backup QB Bagent was 7-8 for 87 yards passing, but the media only talks about Williams.

— Bills 9, Steelers 3
Russell Wilson played five series, during which the Steelers didn’t score.
Buffalo scored total of 15 points in splitting two games this month.

— Colts 21, Cardinals 13
Gus Bradley is the Colts’ defensive coordinator; right now his son Carter is the 4th string QB for the Las Vegas Raiders- he is fighting for a job on an NFL roster.

Colts backup QB Kedon Slovis was 8-11/79 passing; he played for three different colleges- the offensive coordinator for his high school team was Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner, whose son was a receiver on that team.

— Dolphins 13, Commanders 6
Tua Tagovailoa led Miami to a TD on the only series he played.
Rookie QB Jayden Daniels played two series for Washington- they drove 46-52 yards on the two drives, splitting pair of field goal tries.

— Titans 16, Seahawks 15
Rookie kicker who wasn’t expected to make Tennessee’s roster kicked three FG’s in the 4th quarter, including a 59-yarder. If he doesn’t wind up in Tennessee, he’ll be on somebody’s roster.

Former Commanders QB Sam Howell was 11-14 for 153 yards passing for Seattle. 

AFC
— Baltimore
Ravens visit Arrowhead in Week 1; they lost AFC title game at home to the Chiefs last year.

Last six years, over is 34-16 in Baltimore home games.

Since 2016, Ravens are 8-2 ATS as a home underdog. 

Harbaugh brothers face each other in Week 12, on a Monday night at SoFi.

Baltimore won/covered seven of last eight Week 1 games.

— Buffalo
Last ten years, Buffalo is 26-15-4 ATS as a road underdog.

Last eight years, Bills are 21-12-1 ATS vs NFC teams.

Bills visit old friend, WR Stefon Diggs, in Week 5 at Houston.

Last five years, over is 58-24 in Buffalo games, but under is 6-2 in their last eight road openers.

Bills’ games with Dolphins are early in season; they visit Miami on a Thursday nite in Week 2; Dolphins come to Buffalo in Week 9. 

— Cincinnati
Last two years, Cincinnati is 9-3-2 ATS as a home favorite.

Bengals are 8-1-2 ATS in their last 11 games vs NFC opponents,

Bengals’ games with Baltimore are fairly early (weeks 5/10); their games with Pittsburgh are later on (weeks 13/18)

Cincinnati is 2-6 ATS in its last eight home openers.

Bengals play a Thursday game in Week 10, have a bye in Week 12, so from November 8-30, they have only one game, Week 11 at the Chargers. 

But in Week 14, Bengals have a Monday night game in Dallas, a short week game at Tennessee, then a Thursday home game, another short week game, against the Browns. 

— Cleveland
Browns were 6-0 ATS as a home favorite LY; from 2020-22, they were 7-12-1

Last five years, Cleveland is 9-14-1 ATS as a road underdog.

Four of their first six games are against NFC East opponents.

Since 2010, Browns are 5-1 ATS as an underdog in their home opener.  

Browns visit Philadelphia in Week 6; Cleveland DC Schwartz was DC of the Eagles from 2016-20. 

— Denver
Sean Payton’s Broncos visit Payton’s old team in New Orleans in Week 7. 

Since 2017, Denver is 9-20-3 ATS as a home favorite.

Since 2017, under is 41-16 in Bronco road games. 

Week 4, Broncos visit the Jets; will Zach Wilson be playing QB against his old team? At what point does rookie QB Bo Nix get the nod?

Denver’s last five home openers stayed under the total.

— Houston
They don’t play an outdoor game until Week 6 at New England.

Texans were 10-7 LY (+12 in turnovers) making playoffs for first time since 2019.

Since 2018, Houston is 6-14-3 ATS against NFC opponents. 

Under is 7-2 in their last nine road openers.

Texans play in Kansas City in Week 16, then host the Ravens on Christmas Day, which is on a Wednesday this year. 

— Indianapolis
Last nine years, Colts are 7-15-1 ATS in home games vs AFC South opponents.

QB Gardner Minshew started Indy’s last 12 games LY; they were 6-6, but Colts let him walk. Now Joe Flacco backs up young QB Richardson.

Three of their first four games are at home; four of their next five games are on road.

Colts are 2-6-1 ATS in last nine road openers.

Their two games with Houston are before Halloween (weeks 1/8).

— Jacksonville
Jaguars visit Philadelphia in Week 9; Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl coaching the Eagles.  

Jaguars were 9-8/9-8 the last two years; they were 15-50 the four years before Pederson came to Jacksonville.

Last ten years, Jaguars are 24-32-2 ATS as a road underdog. 

Jacksonville is 5-2 ATS in last seven road openers, last four of which went over the total.

Jaguars are playing Bears/Patriots in England in Weeks 6-7; the games are in different stadiums.

— Famous birthdays, August 17:
Robert DeNiro, 81
Ed McCaffrey, 56
Christian Laettner, 55

Jorge Posada, 54
Antwaan Randle El, 45
Dustin Pedroia, 41

Rudy Gay, 38
Jesse Winker, 31
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 26

On the TV show CSI, Gil Grissom’s birthday was August 17, but William Petersen’s birthday is in February. 

— Kansas City
Over last 21 seasons, Super Bowl champs are 11-7-3 ATS in Week 1 the next year, although they’re 0-3 ATS the last three years.

Last five years, over is 33-8 in Kansas City’s road games.

Last ten years, Kansas City is 20-10-1 ATS in games where spread was 3 or fewer points. 

Last 7 years, Chiefs are 6-1 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.

Chiefs have cold weather games in Cleveland (Week 15), Pittsburgh (Week 17), Denver (Week 18).

— Las Vegas
Last two years, Raiders are 9-3 ATS as a home favorite, 0-5 as a road favorite.

Last nine years, Raiders are 7-16 ATS on artificial turf.

Weeks 11-14, Raiders have three games in four weeks east of the Mississippi, visiting Miami, Chiefs and Tampa Bay.

Two of their first seven games are on road at SoFi: Week 1 @ Chargers, Week 7 @ Rams.

Raiders are 7-2 ATS in last nine road openers. 

— LA Chargers
Jim Harbaugh was 49-22-1 in four years coaching the 49ers, 5-3 in playoffs, winning the NFC title in 2012, before losing Super Bowl to his brother’s team. 

Chargers host John Harbaugh and the Ravens in a Week 12 Monday night game.

Host the Raiders in Week 1; the rematch is in the season finale at Las Vegas.

Chargers are 8-3-1 ATS in last dozen road openers.

Chargers have an early (Week 5) bye, which isn’t ideal.

— Miami
Dolphins made playoffs the last two years (lost 34-31/26-7) but they haven’t won a playoff game since 2000.

Since 2017, Miami is 19-7-1 ATS as a home favorite.

Thanksgiving night in Green Bay should be fun, then they finish the season with a couple more cold weather games in Cleveland, New Jersey (Jets) in Weeks 17-18.

Dolphins are 6-2 ATS in last eight road openers.

Play three of first four games at home, with two of the home games at night.

— New England
Patriots won Super Bowl after 2018 season; since then, they’re 41-42 in regular season, 0-2 in playoffs, and they just told Bill Belichick to take a hike. Go figure.

Last two years, New England is 1-8 ATS as a home underdog.

Three of their first four games are on the road. 

Games with Buffalo are very late in season, Weeks 16/18.

Their over/under win total is 4.5 wins, tied with Carolina for lowest in league.

— NJ Jets
First seven weeks, they have four night games, and a morning game from England.

Since 2017, Jets are 4-15-1 ATS as a favorite.

Last four years, under is 24-11 in Jet home games. 

Jets are 1-5 SU/ATS in last six home openers.

TV people like Aaron Rodgers; Jets have six night games scheduled, which is a lot for a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2010.

— Pittsburgh
Last six years, Steelers are 57-40-2 in regular season games, 0-3 in playoffs.

Last ten years, Pittsburgh is 39-23-2 ATS in games with spread of 3 or fewer points. 

Weeks 12-16, they play 4 road games in 5 weeks; 3 of the 4 games are divisional games.

Russell Wilson visits his old team/coach in Denver in Week 2. Broncos are paying Wilson $37.8M of his $39M salary this season. 

Visit the Ravens in Week 16 on a Saturday, host Chiefs on Christmas four days later.

— Tennessee
Last two years, Tennessee went 6-11/7-10; they told coach Vrabel to take a hike (he was 41-24 the four years before that).

Last ten years, Titans are 28-39-4 ATS in games with spread of 3 or fewer points. 

Titans host Cincinnati in Week 15; Tennessee coach Callahan was the Bengals’ OC the last five years (head coach Zac Taylor is really the OC).

Titans are 3-9 ATS in last 12 home openers.

Play only one divisional game in first 11 weeks of the season; 5 of their last 7 games are against AFC South rivals.

— Arizona
Last nine years, Cardinals are 7-19-1 ATS in NFC West home games.

Last eight years, Arizona is 5-13 as a favorite of 3 or fewer points.

Arizona opens in Buffalo; Cardinals are 3-2 SU/5-0 ATS in last five road openers.

Cardinals have Week 7 Monday night home game, then Week 8 they’ve got a cross-country trip to play the Dolphins in Miami.

Arizona’s two games with Seattle are in Weeks 12/14.

— Atlanta
Kirk Cousins visits his old team, the Vikings, in Week 14 (December 8).

Last four years, Falcons are 4-16-1 ATS as a home favorite.

Last nine years, Atlanta is 27-42-1 ATS coming off a loss. 

Falcons are 5-12 ATS in their last 17 road openers, 5-2 ATS in last seven home openers.

Four of their first five games are at home (3 in row at home, weeks 3-5)

— Carolina
Rookie coach Caneles faces Tampa Bay, his old team, in Weeks 13/17.

Since 2016, Panthers are 1-8 ATS as a home favorite vs NFC South rivals.

Last three years, under is 16-8 in Carolina home games. 

Panthers lost four of last five home openers SU (1-3-1 ATS)

Carolina visits Denver in Week 8; Panthers’ DC Ejiro Evero was Denver’s DC two years ago.

— Chicago
Bears open their season at home vs Tennessee; since 2003, QB’s drafted first in a draft are 0-14-1 SU/1-14 ATS in their first start.

Since 2018, Chicago is 1-7 ATS as a home underdog vs NFC North rivals.

Since 2015, Bears are 0-8 ATS as a double digit underdog. 

Weeks 13-15, Chicago has three straight road games (Lions-49ers-Vikings)

Last 20 years, under is 15-5 in Bears’ road openers. Last seven years, under is 6-1 in Chicago’s home openers.  

— Dallas
Last three years, Cowboys are +32 in turnovers (+14/+10/+8).

Last three years, Dallas is 11-4 ATS as a road favorite.

Three of their first four road games (Giants-Steelers-49ers) are night games.

Over is 4-1 in their last five home openers.

Washington coach Dan Quinn was Dallas’ DC the last three years; Cowboy-Commander games are in Weeks 12/18.

— Detroit
Detroit doesn’t play a game outdoors until Week 9 at Green Bay.

Under Campbell, Lions are 14-6 ATS as a favorite, 9-4 at home.

Last five years, over is 28-12-1 in Detroit home games. 

Over is 7-2 in their last nine road openers.

Lions lost NFC title game 34-31 to San Francisco LY, blowing a 24-7 third quarter lead; they visit the 49ers on Monday night in Week 17.  

— Green Bay
Packers open season against the Eagles in Brazil; Green Bay hasn’t started a season at Lambeau since 2018, but they’ve also won their last 11 home openers (8-3 ATS)

Last three years, Green Bay is 2-9-1 ATS as a road favorite.

Last five years, Packers are 10-3-1 ATS as a home favorite vs NFC North opponents. 

Over is 8-3 in their last 11 road openers.

Play consecutive Thursday games in Weeks 13-14: they host Miami on Thanksgiving night, then visit Detroit the next Thursday.

Famous birthdays, August 16th:
Julie Newmar, 91
Lesley Ann Warren, 78
James Donaldson, 67

Angela Bassett, 66
Madonna Louise Ciccone, 66 (Madonna)
Timothy Hutton, 64

Steve Carell, 62
Yu Darvish, 38
Tyler Stephenson, 28

— LA Rams
Last three years, Rams are 7-2 ATS in NFC West road games.

Since 2018, over is 32-17 in Rams’ home games.

Rams lost in playoffs at Detroit LY; they open this year on Sunday night, also at Detroit, which will revive the Stafford-Goff trade drama.

Rams are in Chicago in Week 4; their next road game isn’t until Week 9, at Seattle.

Under Sean McVay, Rams are 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.

— Minnesota
In 2022, Vikings were 11-1 in games decided by 8 or fewer points (+2 in turnovers)

Last year, Vikings were 6-8 in games decided by 8 or fewer points (-12 in turnovers)

Weeks 10-12, Vikings have 3 straight road games (Jaguars-Titans-Bears)

Under is 9-1 in Minnesota’s last ten home openers.

Vikings are 0-6-1 SU/0-7 ATS in their last seven road openers.  

— NJ Giants
Last 12 years, Giants are 1-11 ATS in their home opener.

Giants were 6-11 last year, despite a +12 turnover ratio.

Last six years, Giants are 13-5 ATS in NFC East road games. 

Both their games with Dallas are on Thursdays, including a Thanksgiving game.

Eagles’ new RB Saquon Barkley plays against his old team in Weeks 7/18.

— New Orleans
Saints missed playoffs the last three years (9-8/7-10/9-8).

Last ten years, New Orleans is 26-12-2 ATS as a road underdog.

Visit Giants/Packers in December, two cold-weather games for a dome team.

Last nine years, Saints are 3-6 SU/1-8 ATS in home openers.

Dennis Allen/Derek Carr’s old team (Raiders) visit New Orleans in Week 17.

— Philadelphia
Open season against the Packers in Brazil; in Week 3, they go to Tampa, Week 4, they go to New Orleans, then they have an early bye in Week 5.

Eagles started last year 10-1, then lost six of their last seven games.

Last four years, Philly is 7-13-1 ATS as a road favorite. 

Last 15 years, Eagles are 4-10-1 ATS in their last 15 home openers. 

New OC Kellen Moore got run out of Dallas couple years ago; Eagles’ games with the Cowboys are in Weeks 10/17.

— San Francisco
Over last 21 years, teams that lost Super Bowl are 5-16 ATS in Week 1 the next year; 49ers host the Jets in Week 1.

Last two years, San Francisco was +14/+12 in turnovers.

Last ten years, underdogs are 20-9-1 ATS in 49ers’ NFC West home games. 

Under is 8-2 in their last ten home openers.

Weeks 12-13, they visit Packers/Bills, two cold weather games; the game in Buffalo is at night.

— Seattle
Last seven years, Seattle is 1-4 in playoff games, which is why they fired Pete Carroll.

Last ten years, underdogs are 21-7-1 ATS in their NFC West road games.

Seahawks won four of their last five road openers.

Week 17 Thursday night road game is long travel/short week, plus a cold weather game.

Their two games with the Cardinals are in Weeks 12/14.

— Tampa Bay
Last two years, Tampa Bay is 4-10-2 ATS coming off a loss.

Five of their eight road games this season are in domes.

Buccaneers made playoffs the last four years (6-3 in playoff games)

Last ten years, Bucs are 20-31-6 ATS in games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Last nine years, Tampa Bay is 11-15-1 ATS in NFC South home games. 

— Washington
Dan Quinn was 46-44 SU in 5+ years coaching Atlanta, winning NFC in 2016.

Last ten years, Washington is 10-19-1 ATS in NFC East home games.

Commanders play three of first four games on the road.

Washington is 3-9 ATS in its last 12 home openers.

Kliff Kingsbury is the new OC; Washington visits his old team (Arizona) in Week 4.

— Team USA 98, France 87
Steph Curry was 8-14 on the arc, scored 24 points.
Team USA was 18-36 on the arc, France 9-30.
98-87 in a 40:00 game is a lot of offense.
Fifth straight gold medal for the Americans, 17th overall.

These games didn’t have TV timeouts; I’m wondering if that hurt an older American roster at all, but they did what they had to do. Good for them.

— Serbia 93, Germany 83
3rd place game has to be intense; winner gets bronze medal, loser gets…..nothing.
Nikola Jokic had a triple double for Serbia.

— Buccaneers 17, Bengals 14
Cincinnati scored a TD on Joe Burrow’s only series of the game.
Tampa Bay outgained the Bengals, 390-288.

— Bears 33, Bills 6
Chicago led 6-3 at halftime.
Rookie QB Caleb Williams was 4-7 passing for 95 yards, leading two drives that led to field goals.

— Jets 20, Commanders 17
Rookie QB Jayden Daniels scored a TD on the only drive he played for Washington.
Adrian Martinez was 6-10/104 for the Jets.

— Seahawks 16, Chargers 3
With Justin Herbert (foot) out, LA’s three backup QB’s completed only 14 of 32 passes.
Seahawks converted 11 of 20 third down plays.

— Random trivia: I heard this week that a station in Seattle was the first radio station in America to play Beatles songs, back in the 60’s.

Famous birthdays, August 11th:
Craig Ehlo, 63
Ennis Whatley, 62
Viola Davis, 59

Joe Germaine, 49
Rob Kerkovich, 45
Melky Cabrera, 40

Pablo Sandoval, 38 
Patty Mills, 36
Curtis Samuel, 28

— This week San Diego Padres won three consecutive games when they trailed in the 9th inning of all three games; they’re the first team since the ’09 Marlins to do that.

Saturday, Padres trailed 7-5 in 8th inning, and once again they rallied to win 9-8 in 10 innings, their 16th win in last 18 games.

— Marlins’ P Edward Cabrera threw 7 shutout IP Friday night; it was the Marlins’ first quality start (6+ IP, 3 or less runs allowed) since June 27th.

— Last three times Kyle Hendricks started at Wrigley Field, the Cubs got shut out in all three games.

— Patrick Corbin has started 23 games for Washington this year; Nationals scored 2 or fewer runs in 13 of the 23 games.

— When Mookie Betts returns from his injury and gets back in the Dodger lineup, he’ll be in right field, not the infield anymore.

— White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol during a horrendous season where they’ve had losing streaks of 14 and 21 games. Grady Sizemore is Chicago’s interim manager. White Sox were 28-89 when the change was made.

— A’s 1, Blue Jays 0
Brent Rooker hit his 29th home run,.
Osvaldo Bido allowed only three baserunners in six shutout IP.
Oakland is 12-8 since the All-Star break.

— Astros 5, Red Sox 4
Yordan Alvarez hit two home runs, knocked in three runs.
Spencer Arrighetti struck out 13 Red Sox in 7 IP.

— Braves 11, Rockies 8
Atlanta snaps its sox-game losing streak.
Matt Olson homered twice, knocked in six runs. 

Thursday’s game
Ravens @ Chiefs
Last 8 years, Baltimore is 7-1 SU/ATS in Week 1
Since 2008, Ravens are 11-5 ATS in their road opener.

Last 7 years, Chiefs are 5-2 ATS in Week 1.
Last 3 years, Kansas City is 0-3 ATS in its home opener.

Chiefs won five of last six meetings.
Chiefs won 17-10 in Baltimore, in LY’s playoffs.
Ravens are 3-2 in Arrowhead, losing last two visits.

Friday’s game (@ San Paulo, Brazil)
Packers vs Eagles
Last 6 years, Packers are 2-4 ATS in Week 1.
Green Bay hasn’t opened at home since 2018.

Last 8 years, Eagles are 7-1 SU/5-3 ATS in Week 1.
Last 5 years, over is 3-1-1 in their season opener.

Teams split their last six series games.
Eagles won last meeting 40-33, two years ago.

Sunday’s games
Steelers @ Falcons
Steelers OC Smith was Atlanta’s head coach the last three years (21-30 W-L)
Pittsburgh won/covered its last four road openers.
Steelers’ last seven road opener stayed under the total.

Last 7 years, Falcons are 5-2 ATS in their home opener.
This is fifth year in a row Atlanta has opened season at home.

Pittsburgh won last four series games.
Falcons’ last series win was 41-38 in 2006, in OT.
Steelers are 8-2 SU in Atlanta. 

Cardinals @ Bills
Last 5 years, Arizona is 3-2 SU/5-0 ATS in Week 1.
Under is 5-1 in their last six road openers.

Last 5 years, Buffalo is 4-1 SU/3-2 ATS in its home opener.
Last 8 years, Bills are only 4-4 SU in their season opener.
Under is 4-1 in their last five season openers.

Bills won six of last eight meetings.
Cardinals lost four of five visits to Buffalo.
Cardinals’ only win here was in first visit, in 1971.

Titans @ Bears
Last 7 years, underdog is 7-0 ATS in Titans’ Week 1 games.
Last 11 years, Tennessee is 9-2 SU/8-3 ATS in its road opener.
Titans’ last five season openers stayed under the total.

Since 2003, QB’s taken with #1 pick in draft are 0-14-1 SU/1-14 ATS in their first start.
Last 10 years, Bears are 2-8 SU/4-6 ATS in Week 1 games.
Last 10 years, Chicago is 0-3 ATS as a Week 1 favorite.

Tennessee won three of last four meetings.
Titans won four of six visits to Chicago.

Patriots @ Bengals
Last 3 years, New England is 0-3 SU/ATS in Week 1.
Last 9 years, Patriots are 6-3 ATS in road openers.

Last 8 years, Bengals are 2-6 SU/ATS in home openers.
Since 2016, Cincinnati is 0-5 ATS as a favorite in a home opener.

New England won seven of last nine series games.
Patriots won four of last six visits to Cincinnati.

Texans @ Colts
Last 7 years, Texans are 5-2 ATS in road openers.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine road openers.

Last 10 years, Colts are 0-9-1 SU/1-8-1 ATS in Week 1.
Since 2011, Colts are 2-5 ATS as a favorite in home openers. 

Houston is 2-1-1 in last four meetings.
Texans won 32-21/23-19 in last two visits to Indy.

Jaguars @ Dolphins
Last 7 years, Jaguars are 3-4 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.
Jacksonville’s last four road openers went over the total.

Since 2013, Dolphins are 8-2 ATS in Week 1 games.
Miami is 8-4 ATS in its last 12 home openers.
Over is 12-3 in their last fifteen home openers.

Jacksonville won three of last four series games.
Jaguars won two of three visits to Miami.

Famous birthdays, August 10:
Rocky Colavito, 91
Don Buse, 74
Rosanna Arquette, 65

Billy Ray Smith, 63
John Starks, 59
Angie Harmon, 52

Spergon Wynn, 46
Dalvin Cook, 29
Ja Morant, 25

Panthers @ New Orleans
Last 5 years, Carolina is 1-4 SU/ATS in Week 1 games.
Since 2009, Panthers are 5-10 ATS in road openers.

Last 10 years, Saints are 4-6 SU/1-9 ATS in Week 1 games.
Last 9 years, New Orleans is 1-8 ATS in home openers.

Saints are 7-3 in last ten series games.
Panthers lost seven of last nine visits to New Orleans.

Vikings @ Giants
Last 7 years, Minnesota is 0-6-1 SU/0-7 ATS in road openers.
This is only 2nd time in last 8 years, Vikings are opening on road.
Under is 13-7 in their last 20 road openers.

Last 13 years, Giants started season 0-1 eleven times.
Since 2012, Giants are 2-10 SU/1-11 ATS in home openers.
Giants’ last ten home openers stayed under the total.

Minnesota won four of last five series games.
Giants won last meeting, 31-24, in ’22 playoffs.
This is Vikings’ first visit to New Jersey since 2019.

Raiders @ Chargers
Raiders won their season opener four of last five years.
Since 2007, Raiders are 12-4-1 ATS in road openers.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven road openers.

Chargers also won their season opener four of last five years.
Last 7 years, Chargers are 2-5 ATS in their home opener.

Home team won last six series games.
Raiders won last meeting 63-21 last year.
Raiders lost last three visits to SoFi, by 14-5-7 points.

Broncos @ Seahawks
Last 7 years, Denver is 1-6 SU/2-5 ATS in road openers.
Under is 4-2 in their last six road openers.

Since 2009, Seattle is 13-2 SU/10-5 ATS in home openers (3-5 ATS last 8).
Under is 10-3 in their last 13 home openers.

Seahawks won three of last four meetings.
Broncos lost last two visits to Seattle, 26-20/17-16.

Cowboys @ Browns
Last ten years, Dallas is 4-6 SU in Week 1 games.
Cowboys covered four of their last five road openers.

Cleveland won last 2 season openers (1-21-1 from 1999-2021)
Over is 4-1 in Browns’ last four home openers.

Dallas won four of five series games.
Browns won last meeting, 49-38 in 2020.
Cowboys won their last three visits to Cleveland. 

Commanders @ Buccaneers
Last 5 years, Washington allowed 30+ points in road openers (1-4 SU/2-3 ATS)
Over is 4-1 in those five road openers.

Last four years, Tampa Bay is 4-0 SU/3-1 ATS in Week 1 games.
Over is 3-1 in their last four home openers.

Washington won three of last four series games.
Commanders won last two visits to Tampa; their last loss here was in 2007.

Rams @ Lions
Under McVay, Rams are 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.
Over is 4-1 in their last five road openers.

Last 9 years, Detroit is 2-7 SU/4-5 ATS in home openers.
Over is 6-1 in their last seven home openers.
Last six years, Lions are 1-4-1 SU in Week 1 games.

Detroit beat LA 24-23 in LY’s playoffs.
Rams are 3-2 in last five series games.
Rams lost four of last five visits to Detroit.

Rams QB Stafford played for Detroit from 2009-20.
Lions QB Goff played for Rams from 2017-20.

Monday’s game
Jets @ 49ers
Last 8 years, Jets are 2-6 SU/3-4-1 ATS in Week 1 games.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight road openers.

Last 7 years, 49ers are 3-4 SU/2-5 ATS in Week 1 games.
Under is 8-2 in their last ten home openers.

49ers are 11-3 in series games.
Jets are 2-4 in road meetings, winning last one 23-17 in OT in last one, in 2016. 

Trends for all 30 MLB teams…….

— Arizona is 13-3 in last 16 games; they’re #2 NL Wild Card right now.
Over is 10-1 in Diamondbacks’ last 12 games.

— Atlanta lost its last five games, outscored 45-15.
Braves are 11-15 in one-run games.

— Cubs are 6-2 in their last eight games.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.

— Cincinnati’s last six games went over the total.
Reds are 9-20 in one-run games.

— Colorado is 4-9 in their last thirteen games.
Over is 12-6 in Rockies’ last 18 road games.

— Dodgers are 5-13 in their last 18 road games.
Over is 7-3 in their last ten games.

— Miami is 4-7 in its last 11 games.
Marlins are 8-31 against lefty starting pitchers, 35-42 vs righties.

— Brewers swept 3-game series in Atlanta, scoring 30 runs.
Milwaukee is 15-17 against lefty starting pitchers, 50-32 vs righties.

— Mets are 7-3 in their last ten road games.
Mets are 21-12 in one-run games; last year, they were 25-28.

— Phillies are 1-7 in last eight series openers.
Over is 8-2 in their last ten games.  

— Pittsburgh lost six of its last seven games.
Over is 8-3 in their last eleven games.

— Cardinals are 1-8 in their last nine series openers.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.

— San Diego is 14-2 in its last 16 games; right now, they’re NL’s #1 Wild Card.
Over is 8-3 in their last eleven games.

— San Francisco won 10 of its last 13 games.
Giants are 42-36 vs righty pitchers, 17-22 vs lefties.

— Washington is 3-8 in its last eleven games.
Over is 10-3 in their last thirteen games.

— Famous birthdays, August 9th:
Bob Cousy, 96
David Steinberg, 82
Sam Elliott, 80

Doug Williams, 69
Chris Miller, 59
Vinny Del Negro, 58

Troy Percival, 55
Liz Vassey, 52
Kliff Kingsbury, 45

— Orioles are 4-7 in their last 11 road games.
Over is 18-3 in their last 21 games.

— Red Sox won five of their last seven games.
Boston is 47-31 vs righty starters, 14-21 vs lefties; last two years, they were 47-31 vs lefties.

— White Sox are 1-22 in last 23 games; they fired their manager Thursday.
Chicago is 6-36 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Guardians lost their last five games, outscored 35-21.
Cleveland is 25-10 vs lefty starting pitchers; LY, they were 24-35.

— Detroit is 2-7 in its last nine home games.
Over is 12-6 in their last 18 road games.

— Houston is 8-1 in its last nine home series openers.
Last two years, Houston was 70-33 vs lefty starters; this year, they’re 15-18.

— Royals are 2-6 in their last eight home games.
Over is 11-5 in their last sixteen games.

— Angels won four of their last five games.
They’re 2-8 in their last ten series openers.

— Over is 13-4 in Minnesota’s last 17 games.
Twins won five of their last six home games.

— New York is 4-7 in its last 11 home games.
Over is 14-3 in their last 17 games.

— A’s are 11-7 in their last 18 home games.
Under is 8-3 in their last eleven games.

— Mariners are 6-14 in their last 20 home games.
Over is 7-3 in their last ten road games.

— Tampa Bay is 6-1 in last seven home series openers  .
Under is 8-3 in their last eleven games.

— Texas is 3-9 in its last twelve games.
Over is 10-2 in their last 12 games.

— Toronto is 3-7 in its last ten road games.
Over is 32-7-1 in their last 40 games. 

— Here’s a suggestion for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; a 64-person, 1-on-1 basketball tournament. This would be wildly popular; imagine the bracket pools and all the betting that would surround that?

— Pointspreads for Thursday’s Olympic semi-final basketball games:

Team USA (-16.5) vs Serbia
Germany (-5) @ France

There are also two NFL games Thursday:

Panthers @ New England (-6)
Lions @ NJ Giants (-3.5)

— There has been cruddy weather in the Carolinas this week; NC State did something nice, letting the Coastal Carolina football team practice in their facility for three days, so the Chanticleers could avoid the storms on their campus.

Coastal Carolina coach Tim Beck spent three seasons as the Wolfpack’s offensive coordinator, which is why the favor was granted.

— I’m not a big fan of having Little League games on national TV; lot of pressure on kids in 6th or 7th grade.

— Next summer, there will be a major league baseball game (Reds-Braves) at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Bristol hosted an NFL game (Eagles-Redskins) in 1961 and two college games in 2016.

Baseball is trying to play games at unique venues, and Bristol fits that description.

— Corey Seager is now the only major leaguer ever to break up two no-hitters with two outs in the ninth inning; he homered off Framber Valdez Tuesday, and he singled off Matt Moore back in 2016.

— There have been only 58 switch-hitters to play in the major leagues this year, on pace to be the least amount of switch-hitters in one season in big league history.

— Famous birthdays, August 8th:
Dustin Hoffman, 87
Jose Cruz, 77
Brian Sipe, 75

Rashard Lewis, 45
Craig Breslow, 44
Danilo Gallinari, 36

Anthony Rizzo, 35
Yandy Diaz, 33
Jarrett Stidham, 28

— Garrett Crochet has been a revelation for the White Sox this year, 6-8, 3.19 in 23 starts; he is a huge part of Chicago’s future, but there is a problem for the rest of this season.

Crochet’s innings pitched the last four years:
2021- 54.1
2022- zero (he was hurt)
2023- 12.2
2024- 118.1

There is a thing now; when a pitcher makes huge jump in innings pitched from one year to the next, he takes on a much bigger injury risk, and the White Sox need Crochet healthy, so they’re going to limit his innings from here on in. Jumping from 12 to 118 IP is a very big leap.

Crochet’s innings pitched, in his last five starts:
4-2-4-3-4 innings; they seem to be limiting him to 75 pitches each start.

If he is on your fantasy team, he won’t help you much the rest of this summer.

— As I type this, there are only three hitters in the National League batting .300+:
.302 Shohei Ohtani
.302 Luis Arraez
.300 Jurickson Profar

There are nine American League batters hitting .300+.

— Phillies 9, Dodgers 4
Kyle Schwarber went 4-4, with three home runs, 7 RBI.
Dodgers’ lead in NL West is down to three games over Arizona.

— Arizona 7-5, Cleveland 3-3
Diamondbacks sweep a twinbill, are now 24-9 in their last 33 games.
Josh Bell homered twice in the nightcap for Arizona.

— Mets 5, Rockies 3
Francisco Lindor had the game-winning hit in the 9th inning.
Newly-acquired Paul Blackburn allowed one earned run in six IP.

— Orioles 7, Blue Jays 3
Anthony Santander homered twice for the Orioles.
Rookie 2B Jackson Holliday homered for the third straight game.

— Padres 9, Pirates 8 (10)
Jackson Merrill homered twice in a wildly entertaining game.
San Diego is 13-3 since the All-Star break. 

There are 18 teams in the Big 10 now, so we’re calling it the Big 18

— Maryland
Terps have had three straight winning years (7-6/8-5/8-5).
Maryland has 4 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Terps have 21 returning starts on OL.
Soph QB Morris started six games at NC State. 

Since 2018, Maryland is 12-9 ATS as a home favorite.
Since 2018, Maryland is 3-14 ATS as a road underdog.
Under Locksley, Terms are 11-4 ATS in non-league games.
Terps won last three bowl games, giving up 11.7 ppg.

— Washington
Washington went 25-3 last two years, now is in a rebuild.
New coach Fisch was at Arizona; new DC is Steve Belichick.
Huskies have 2 starters back on offense, 4 on defense.
Huskies have 36 returning starts on offensive line, none of them here.
Senior QB Rogers started 40 games at Mississippi State. 

Since 2020, Washington is 9-12-1 ATS as an home favorite.
Since 2018, Huskies are 18-33 ATS in conference games.
In his career, Fisch is 16-9 ATS as an underdog.
Washington is 3-1 SU in last four bowls; they lost national title game LY

— Indiana
Last 3 years, Hoosiers went 9-27; now they’ve got a new coach. 
Curt Cignetti was 52-10 in five years at James Madison.
Hoosiers have 10 starters back on offense, 11 on defense.
Hoosiers have 119 returning starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Rourke started 33 games at Ohio U.

Last three years, Indiana is 10-17 ATS in conference games.
In his career, Cignetti is 13-7 ATS as an underdog.
Since 2015, Hoosiers are 22-31 ATS coming off a loss.
Indiana lost its last six bowls; their last bowl win was in 1991.

— Movie of the Day: The Way, Way Back (2013)- A shy 14-year old goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, the kid finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.

Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Rob Corddry; good cast. The two guys who wrote the movie also have small roles in it.

— Illinois
Last three years under Bielema, Illinois was 5-7/8-5/5-7.
Illinois has 6 starters back on offense, 7 on defense.
Illini has 77 returning starts on OL.
Junior QB Altmyer has 10 career starts. 

Under Bielema, Illinois is 4-10 ATS as a home favorite.
Under Bielema, Illinois is 11-3 ATS in road games.
In his career, Bielema is 24-16-1 ATS as a road underdog.
Illinois is 3-2 SU in last five bowls; they were underdog in 4 of 5 games.

— UCLA
Last three years, UCLA was 25-13, but Chip Kelly bolted to be OC at Ohio State.
New coach Foster is 44, has no head coaching experience.
Eric Biemiemy is the new OC (14 years as an NFL assistant)
UCLA has 7 starters back on offense, 5 on defense.
Bruins have 101 returning starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Garbers started 6 games last year.

Last 10 years, UCLA is 16-29 ATS as a home favorite.
Last 10 years, UCLA is 24-35-1 ATS coming off a win.
Last four years, Bruins are 10-6 ATS as an underdog.
UCLA is 1-3 SU/ATS in its last four bowl games. 

— Minnesota
Gophers were 5-7 last year, their worst season since 2017.
Gophers have 8 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Minnesota has 70 returning starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Brosmer started 36 games at I-AA New Hampshire.

Since 2019, Minnesota is 9-4-1 ATS as a road favorite.
Last two years, Gophers were 7-12 ATS in conference games.
In his career, Fleck is 24-14-1 ATS as a road underdog.
Minnesota won its last seven bowl games.

— Famous birthdays, August 7th
Freddy Brown, 76
Wayne Knight, 69 (Happy birthday…….Newman)
Joe Cocozzo, 54

Charlize Theron, 49
Tommy Kahnle, 35
Mike Trout, 33

Kyler Murray, 27
Jalen Hurts, 26
Tommy DeVito, 26

— Northwestern
Northwestern went 8-5 with an interim coach LY, after 3-9/1-11 years.
Interim coach is now the full-time head coach.
Wildcats have 7 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Wildcats have 78 returning starts on offensive line.
Senior QB Wright has 14 career starts, at Vandy/Mississippi State. 

Since 2018, Northwestern is 4-12-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Last ten years, Northwestern is 24-13 ATS as a road underdog.
Last nine years, Wildcats are 49-31 ATS in conference games.
Northwestern won its last five bowl games, were underdog in three of them.

— Michigan State
Last two years, Spartans went 5-7/4-8, then fired the coach.
New coach Smith comes from Oregon State, his alma mater.
MSU has 5 starters back on offense, 10 on defense.
Spartans have 31 returning starts on the offensive line.
Soph QB Chiles was a sub at Oregon State LY, playing every third series.  

Last three years, MSU is 7-3 ATS as a home favorite.
Since 2018, Spartans are 5-10 ATS as a home underdog.
Last three years, Spartans are 8-2 ATS in non-league games.
Michigan State is 3-1 SU/4-0 ATS in its last four bowls.

— Purdue
Purdue was 4-8 last year, its 4th losing season in six years.
Boilermakers have 8 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Purdue has 165 returning starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Card has 16 career starts.

Since 2018, Purdue is 4-15 ATS as a home favorite.
Last ten years, Purdue is 25-10 ATS as a road underdog.
Since 2020, Boilers are 13-21 ATS in conference games.
Purdue lost four of last five bowl games, giving up 52.8 ppg.

— Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert has a plantar fascia injury in his right foot that put him in a walking boot; he expected to be ready for Week 1, but without a lot of practice time on the field.

I was wondering, so I looked it up: the plantar fascia is a band of tissue, called fascia, that connects your heel bone to the base of your toes. When an injury like Herbert’s happens, I’ve heard it described that it feels like you’re walking on a sheet of needles- very painful. 

Chargers’ backup QB’s: Easton Stick, Max Duggan, Casey Bauman; Duggan is the only one of those three who played I-A college ball.

— Kansas City Chiefs paid K Harrison Butker $25.6M over four years, with $17.75M of that $$$ guaranteed- he is now the highest-paid kicker in the NFL.

— HBO’s Hard Knocks switches from the Giants’ off-season to the Chicago Bears training camp tonight; not sure how much we’ll see of Caleb Williams. Rams were on Hard Knocks when Jared Goff was a rookie- he wasn’t on much, I’m pretty sure there is an agreement that rookies aren’t supposed to be on the show very much, but we’ll see.

— Exhibition games begin in earnest Thursday, with Panthers-Patriots and Lions-Giants, then three more games on Friday,

— Forget to mention that Monday would’ve been Roman Gabriel’s 84th birthday; when I was a little kid and became a Rams fan, Gabriel was their QB, under coach George Allen. 

From 1967-69, the Rams went 31-9-3; Gabriel was big and strong in an era when QB’s got hit a lot more than they do more. Tough guy, very good player.

— Team USA is a 27-point favorite over Brazil this afternoon, in the Elite 8 of the Olympic basketball competition. The other three games all have single-digit spreads.

— Famous birthdays, August 6th
Peter Bonerz, 85
Jerry Golsteyn, 70
Bob Horner, 67

David Robinson, 59
Vera Farmiga, 51
Charlie Whitehurst, 42

Wilmer Flores, 33
Kareem Hunt, 29
Hunter Greene, 26

Hall of Fame coach Marc Levy turned 99 over the weekend.

— Diamondbacks 7, Guardians 6 (10)
Eugenio Suarez had the game-winning hit for Arizona.
There were four lead changes in this game.
Diamondbacks are 22-9 in their last 31 games.

Arizona’s catcher, Gabriel Moreno, hurt his leg early on, appears headed to the IL.

— Royals’ SS Bobby Witt Jr is hitting .403 at home, with an OPS of 1.163.
He is hitting .284 on the road, with a .790 OPS.

— Francisco Lindor/Pete Alonso have played in every game for the Mets this year, all 112 of them; in the history of the Mets, only two players have played in 162 games:

Felix Millan, in 1975 and John Olerud, in 1999.

— Red Sox rookie Ceddanne Rafaela has played 64 games in the outfield this year, 62 at shortstop; he is the only player in the last 100 years to play 60+ games at both OF/SS in the same season. He’s hitting .250 with 15 stolen bases; he’s a good defender.

— A’s 5, White Sox 1
JP Sears allowed only three hits in 7 IP.
White Sox have lost 21 games in a row.

— Rangers 4, Astros 3 (10)
Josh Smith hit a dramatic, 2-out, walk-off homer in 10th inning.
From 7th inning on, Astros were 1-7 with 5 strikeouts with the bases loaded.

— Reds 10, Marlins 3
Elly De La Cruz hit two home runs, knocked in three runs,
Nick Martinez tossed scoreless IP on his 34th birthday. 

— Saturday night in Anaheim, on 2nd pitch of the game, Angels’ CF Kevin Pillar made one of the best catches I’ve ever seen, totally stretched out as he dove towards the left-field fence, barely catching the ball in webbing of his glove. Just an amazing catch, made better because it was so early in the game; Pillar was ready to play.

— Reliever Mike Baumann is with the Angels now; he must be very good at packing.

Just this season…….
He appeared in 17 games for the Orioles, was traded to Seattle May 22nd.

He pitched in 18 games for the Mariners, who purchased him from the Giants July 22. 

Baumann allowed two runs in 0.2 IP in his one games with the Giants.

Four days later, the Angels purchased him from San Francisco.

He’s pitched in four games for the Angels; he had a hold in their win Sunday.

— Angels have 14 players on their roster who were first round draft picks, by far the most in the big leagues. 

Next highest? Royals, Phillies, Rangers all have 10 first round picks on their teams.

— When Blake Snell threw his no-hitter in Cincinnati Friday night, it was the first time in his 202 career starts that he pitched in the ninth inning. First time EVER.

— Saturday in the Bronx, Aaron Judge homered in the first inning; next time he came up, there were two outs with the bases empty, but Toronto walked him anyway, then they walked him three more times Sunday,

They better find a quality hitter to bat behind Judge pretty soon, or else he’s going to be in Barry Bonds territory when it comes to being walked intentionally.

— Teams that have used the most starting pitchers this season:
17- Milwaukee
16- LA Dodgers
15- Miami

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards- Braves, Padres, Diamondbacks
AL: Orioles, Guardians,, Mariners. Wild Cards- New York, Twins, Royals

— Famous birthdays, August 5th
Loni Anderson, 79
Bruce Coslet, 78
Patrick Ewing, 62

Jonathan Silverman, 68
John Olerud, 56
Mark Mulder, 47

Carl Crawford, 43
CJ Spiller, 37
Nick Martinez, 34

— Jonathan Tamayo won the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas last month, banking the $10M grand prize; he entered the final table in 7th place out of nine players.

— Red Sox 7, Rangers 2
Wilyer Abreu homered twice the day after his grandmother died.
Boston relievers allowed only one of 14 batters they faced to reach base,

— Twins 13, White Sox 7
Minnesota led this game 8-0 in second inning.
White Sox have lost 20 games in a row, the longest losing skid by anyone since 1988.

— Rays 1, Astros 0
Five Tampa Bay pitchers allowed only six baserunners in the shutout win.
Houston was 2-4 this week; Altuve/Bregman combined to go 8-48, with no runs scored and one RBI.

— Diamondbacks 6, Pirates 5
Pirates led 4-0 after five innings with rookie sensation Skenes on the hill.
Joc Pederson hit a 3-run for Arizona in 7th inning.

— Royals 3, Tigers 2
MJ Melendez hit a pinch-hit, 3-run homer in ninth inning.
Detroit went 2-7 on its nine-game homestand.

— Padres 10, Rockies 2
David Peralta robbed a hitter of a home run in RF, then hit a homer the next inning,
Matt Waldron got 17 outs for San Diego, allowing only four baserunners. 

Part 1 of our Big 10 football preview……..
There are 18 teams in the Big 10, so from here on in, we’ll call it the Big 18

— Ohio State
Last ten years, Buckeyes are 115-15 SU; their last national title was in 2014.
Ohio State has 7 starters back on offense, 9 on defense.
Cougars have 103 returning starts on offensive line.
Senior QB Howard was poached from K-State; he has 33 career starts. 

Coach Day is 21-12 ATS as a home favorite.
Under Day, Ohio State 24-17-1 ATS in conference games.
Buckeyes are 2-5-2 ATS in last nine games as a road favorite.
Buckeyes are 2-4 SU/ATS in their last six bowl games.

— Oregon
Last three years, Oregon is 32-9 SU, 23-16-2 ATS.
Oregon has 8 starters back on offense, 9 on defense.
Ducks have 144 returning starts on the offensive line.
Ducks poached senior QB Gabriel (49 starts at UCF/Oklahoma). 

Under Lanning, Oregon is 16-5 ATS as a favorite.
Oregon’s last three games TY are against teams coming off a bye.
Since 2015, Ducks are 18-25 ATS in non-league games.
Oregon is 3-2 SU/2-3 ATS in its last five bowls.

— Penn State
Last two years, Penn State was 11-2/10-3 SU, 18-7-1 ATS.
Nittany Lions have 6 starters back on offense, 7 on defense.
Penn State has 45 returning starts on the offensive line.
Junior QB Allar started 13 games last year.

Under Franklin, Penn State is 51-34-3 ATS as a favorite.
Under Franklin, Penn State is 10-15 ATS as an underdog.
Last two years, Nittany Lions are +27 in turnovers in 26 games.
Penn State is 2-3 SU/ATS in its last five bowl games.

— Word of the Day– Quagmire- Soft, often wet land that shakes or yields under the foot. Also, a difficult or precarious position. 

— Michigan
Last three years, Michigan was 40-3 SU/26-14-3 ATS
Wolverines have 2 starters back on offense, 5 on defense, a new head coach.
New defensive coordinator Martindale has a significant NFL resume.
Michigan has 53 returning starts on offensive line (none at Michigan).
Senior QB Tuttle once started five games at Indiana.

Michigan was +19 in turnovers LY, in its 15-0 season. 
Since 2016, Wolverines are 5-10 ATS coming off a loss.
Last three years, Michigan was 19-8-3 ATS in conference games.
Michigan is 2-4 SU/ATS in last six bowls; they won national title LY. 

— Iowa
Last nine years, Iowa is 81-34 SU (42-30-2 ATS since 2018).
Hawkeyes have 10 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Hawkeyes have 154 returning starts on offensive line.
Senior QB McNamara has 21 career starts. 

Iowa’s new OC was head coach at Western Michigan (2017-22).
Hawkeyes scored 15 or fewer points in six of last seven games LY.
In his career, Ferentz is 31-22-1ATS as a road favorite.
Since 2015, Iowa is 44-30-2 ATS coming off a win.
Hawkeyes are 2-2 SU/3-1 ATS in their last four bowl games.

— USC
Last three years, Trojans went 3-9/11-3/8-5 SU (16-23 ATS).
USC has 5 starters back on offense, 9 on defense.
Trojans have 72 returning starts on the offensive line.
Junior QB Moss won only start 42-28 (bowl game); they also poached UNLV’s QB (11 starts). 

In his career, Riley is 25-18 ATS as home favorite, 8-17-1 as road favorite.
Since 2017, Trojans are 15-22 ATS as a home favorite (7-5 under Riley).
In his career, Riley is 5-2 ATS as an underdog.
USC is 2-3 SU/1-4 ATS in its last five bowl games.

— Famous birthdays, August 4th:
Cleon Jones, 82
John Riggins, 75
Billy Bob Thornton, 69

Michael Holton, 63
Roger Clemens,, 62
BJ Surhoff, 60

Abigail Spencer, 43
Meghan Markle, 43
Brady Singer, 28

— Nebraska
Nebraska hasn’t had a winning season since 2016.
Cornhuskers have 9 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Nebraska has 152 returning starts on OL, mostly from transfers.
Looks like freshman QB Raiola will be the starter.

Since 2017, Nebraska is 9-18 ATS as a home favorite.
In his college career, Rhule is 33-17 ATS as an underdog.
Last five years, Cornhuskers are 5-12-1 ATS coming off a win.
Nebraska is 2-3 in its last five bowls (last one was 2016).

— Rutgers
Last year was Rutgers’ first winning season (7-6) since 2014.
Scarlet Knights have 8 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Scarlet Knights have 123 returning starts on offensive line.
Soph QB Kaliakmanis started 12 games at Minnesota.

Since 2018, Rutgers is 10-2 ATS as a home favorite.
In his college career, Schiano is 33-21-1 ATS as a road underdog.
Since 2015, Scarlet Knights are 28-39 ATS coming off a loss.
Rutgers is 2-3 SU/3-2 ATS in its last five bowls.

— Wisconsin
Last two years, Wisconsin was 7-6/7-6, their worst years since 2008.
Badgers have 7 starters back on offense, 8 on defense.
Badgers have 102 returning starts on offensive line.
Senior QB Van Dyke started 25 games at Miami.

Since 2018, Badgers are 15-22 ATS as a home favorite.
In his career, Fickell is 15-8 ATS as an underdog.
Since 2018, Badgers are 23-29 ATS in conference games. 
Wisconsin is 3-2 SU/4-1 ATS in its last five bowl games.