Category: SPORTS

The entire 2023 NFL schedule gets released Thursday night; the league released its schedule of international games Wednesday.

— There will be three games in England:
October 1— Falcons-Jaguars, Wembley Stadium
October 8— Bills-Jaguars, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
October 15— Ravens-Titans, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

This will be first time a team plays two games in one season overseas.

There will be two games in Frankfurt, Germany:
November 5— Dolphins-Chiefs
November 12— Colts-Patriots

— League also leaked some other games:
Week 1 Sunday night— Dallas @ Giants
November 24— Dolphins @ Jets
October 29— Giants vs Jets
Christmas Day— Giants @ Eagles
December 31— Bengals-Chiefs

Questions/comments that I have about the schedule:
— Since 1992, Green Bay’s starting QB has either been Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers; this year, it is going to be Jordan Love. Sometimes you can tell the league’s expectations for a team when you look at their schedule, as far aa how many 4:25/primetime games they get.

Will be interesting to look at Green Bay’s schedule.

— How many primetime games will Aaron Rodgers’ Jets get? We already know they have the Black Friday game against Miami.

— Deshaun Watson’s Cleveland Browns visit Houston this year; is that a primetime game?

— With Kyler Murray slated to miss the start of the season (knee) you’d rather play Arizona in September, right? Plus, Cardinals have a first-time head coach and two first-time coordinators.

Colt McCoy figures to start at QB until Murray is ready to go.

— Houston Texans are on their fourth head coach in four years; how quickly will they start their rookie QB?

— Seeing how Lamar Jackson missed the Ravens’ last six games last year, and their last four the year before, it’ll be interesting to see where the NFL places their six divisional games.

— Last two years, LA Rams went 0-7 in November; they’re going to have a very young roster this season. Will they even be in contention when November rolls around? 

— Over the last 20 years, Super Bowl winners have done well against the spread in Week 1 the following season (11-6-3 ATS); the Super Bowl loser is 4-16 ATS in Week 1 the last 20 years.

Who will the Eagles open up against this year, with their two new coordinators? Both their coordinators from last year are now head coaches, in Arizona/Indianapolis.

— For first time in a long time, Detroit Lions have big expectations this season; how many games will they get in prime-time?

— It is possible that three of four teams in the AFC South will start rookie QBs this season; probably not in Week 1, but Trevor Lawrence, at some point, is going to be the AFC South’s most experienced starting QB— he’s played two years in the NFL.

— Carolina Panthers have a new coach, a new (rookie) QB; you’d rather play them early in the season, right?

— Frank Reich coaches the Panthers now; his old team, Indianapolis, visits Charlotte this year. Could very well be a game with two rookie QB’s facing each other.

Colts haven’t had the same starting QB two years in a row since Andrew Luck, in 2015-16. 

— This time tomorrow we’ll know the 2023 schedule; as Bud Grant used to say, “It isn’t who you play, it’s when you play them.”

Very true. 

13) Jack Nicholson as Colonel Jessup on the witness stand in A Few Good Men– “You WANT me on that wall; you NEED me on that wall!!!” Great acting. 

12) In Prince of Tides, when Nick Nolte’s character takes Barbra Streisand’s husband’s Stradivarius violin and dangles it over the edge of the balcony, until he apologizes to his wife for being rude. Then he tosses the million-dollar violin in the air but catches it, then walks out of the dinner party. 

11) In Any Given Sunday, when QB Willie Beamen visits the coach’s house for dinner and a “talk” and coach Tony D’Amato lectures him— “You’re the goddamn quarterback!!!” 

I think this scene is better than the “Game of Inches” speech that Pacino gives near the end of the movie, before the last game. 

10) Rocky II wasn’t a good movie, but the last fight scene, where Rocky Balboa wins the heavyweight title for the first time, is a great fight scene, probably the best scene in all the Rocky movies. 

9) In the movie Heat, there is a scene with Al Pacino (the cop) and Robert DeNiro (bank robber) where they actually talk in a diner about how someday, their situation will come to a head and either the arrest will be made, or harm will come to the cop. DeNiro and Pacino; a great scene. 

8) Susan Sarandon and James Spader were in a 1990 movie called White Palace; I only saw this movie for the first time in the last couple years. 

There is a scene where a lot of people were at Thanksgiving dinner and they’re talking about politics; the patriarch of the family is Steven Hill (the original DA on Law and Order). 

When a younger person says something Hill’s character sees as uninformed, he snaps at her, “Would it kill you to pick up a newspaper?” Good stuff. 

7) In the true story Invincible, when 30-year old bartender Vince Papale breaks the news to his best friend that he made the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster, despite never having played college football. 

6) In Friday Night Lights, when the coach (Billy Bob Thornton) delivers a halftime speech when his team is getting smoked. He talks about “being perfect” and how giving your all is the most important thing of all. 

Of all the sports movies I’ve seen, I think Thornton’s character in this movie is the best portrayal of a coach that I’ve seen. 

5) In the original Bad News Bears, when the coach is talking to his worst player, ordering him into the championship game- the kid is too nervous to go out and play. 

“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.”

4) In Roxanne, Steve Martin’s character has a very long nose, like Cyrano de Bergerac; guy in a bar insults his long nose, the whole bar shuts down, and Martin mocks the insult. 

“I suppose you could do better?” and Martin proceeds to give 20 jokes (actually 26) that were all funnier than the guy’s insult. 

3) In Rounders, the scene where Mike (Matt Damon) finds his law professor (Martin Landau) in a restaurant and the professor tells him how his parents disowned him because he chose to study the law instead of becoming a rabbi.

2) Oakland A’s 20-game winning streak in Moneyball; at least they showed Miguel Tejada’s walk-off homer in the 18th straight win- they gave him almost no credit in the book/movie for how good the A’s were that year— he was the best shortstop in the game that year. 

1) Bob Cousy shooting free throws in an empty gym with Nick Nolte in Blue Chips. Cousy was 65 at the time, made 10 in a row while wearing a shirt and tie- they filmed the scene in one take. He made the last foul shot left-handed.

Cardinals
2-5 ATS last seven home openers (1-5-1 SU)
three of last four home openers went over total
covered last four road openers (won last three SU)
four of last five road openers stayed under

Falcons
15-4 ATS last 19 home openers (lost last three SU)
over 5-2 last seven home openers
6-13 ATS in last 19 road openers.
1-4 ATS last five years in Week 1

Panthers
opened at home the last five years
1-3 SU last four home openers.
over 3-1 in last four home openers
5-7 ATS last 12 road openers.

Bears
4-2 ATS last six home openers (won 4 of last 5 SU)
2-6 SU/ATS last eight road openers
under 6-0-1 last seven home openers
Under 17-5 last 22 road openers
Started out 0-1 SU seven of last nine years

Cowboys
Started last three seasons 0-1 SU
5-1 SU/4-2 ATS last six home openers
three of last four home openers went over
Covered three of last four road openers

Lions
Underdogs covered their last five home openers
2-6 SU/4-2 ATS in home openers
Over 10-3 in last 13 home openers
5-16-1 SU/4-3 ATS in road openers
Over 7-1 in last eight road openers

Packers
10-0 SU/8-2 ATS last ten home openers
Under 4-2 last six home openers
Lost 23-7/38-3 in last two road openers
Under 3-1 last four road openers
Opened on the road the last four years

Rams
Covered seven of last eight home openers
Under 4-1 last five home openers
6-0 SU/4-2 ATS in road openers under McVay
Four of last six road openers went over total.

Vikings
Covered seven of last eight home openers
under 8-1 last nine home openers
0-5-1 SU/0-6 ATS last six road openers
Under 4-2 last six road openers

Giants
2-9 SU/1-10 ATS last 11 home openers
Last nine home openers stayed under the total
1-5 SU last six road openers, but covered last three
Under 5-2 last seven road openers

Saints
2-6 SU/1-7 ATS last eight home openers
over 6-1 last seven home openers
2-4 SU/1-5 ATS last six road openers
started out 1-0 SU three of last four years

Eagles
5-2 SU/3-4 ATS last seven home openers
under 6-3 last nine home openers
1-4 ATS last five road openers
started season 1-0 six of last seven years

49ers
3-3 SU/1-5 ATS last six home openers
Under 7-2 last nine home openers
Four of last six road openers stayed under total
started season 0-1 four of last six years

Seahawks
18-2 SU/15-5 ATS last 20 home openers
Under 17-4-1 last 22 home openers
covered three of last four road openers
started last four seasons 1-0 SU

Buccaneers
4-5 SU/3-6 ATS last nine home openers
Over 5-3 last eight home openers
5-3 ATS last eight road openers
Over 5-2 last seven road openers

Commanders
3-8 SU/ATS last 11 home openers
three of last four home openers went over
0-4 SU/1-3 ATS last four road openers, giving up 34.5 ppg
Over 10-4 last 14 road openers

Ravens
Last seven years, they’re 6-1 ATS in Week 1
5-2 ATS last seven home openers
Last three years, scored 38-36-38 points in home openers
10-5 ATS last 15 road openers

Bills
10-5 SU in last 15 home openers, 7-4 ATS in last 11
Three of last four home openers stayed under total.
4-0 SU/3-1 ATS in last four road openers.
Under is 5-2 in last seven road openers.
7-3 ATS in last ten Week 1 games.

Bengals
2-5 ATS in last seven home openers
6-2 ATS last eight road openers, but lost last four SU
Three of last four road openers stayed under total.

Browns
6-18 ATS in home openers (0-4 last four years)
0-9 ATS as a favorite in home openers.
Last three years, scored 35-31-30 points in home opener.
Over is 7-2 in last nine home openers.
Covered four of last five road openers.
Under is 5-2 in last seven road openers.

Broncos
Last 34 years, Denver is 29-5 SU in home openers (9-5 ATS in last 14)
Last four home openers stayed under total.
1-5 SU/2-4 ATS in last six road openers.
Four of last five road openers stayed under total.

Texans
2-1-1 SU in last four home openers
Lost seven of last eight road openers SU, but…….
…..they covered five of last six road openers.
Under is 6-2 in their last eight road openers.

Colts
Covered three of last four home openers
Last three home openers stayed under the total
1-6-1 ATS in last eight road openers.
Last nine years, Colts are 2-6-1 ATS in Week 1.

Jaguars
Covered three of last five home openers.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven home openers.
Covered four of last six road openers
Last three road openers went over the total.
Jaguars are 2-6 ATS as a favorite in road openers.

Chiefs
7-0 SU/4-3 ATS in last seven home openers.
Over is 5-1-2 in last eight home openers.
5-1 SU/4-2 ATS in last six road openers.
Over is 5-1 in last six road openers.
Last seven years, Chiefs scored 33+ points in Week 1.

Raiders
Covered four of last six home openers (last two went to OT)
Over is 7-2 in last nine home openers
Covered five of last seven road openers.
Under is 4-2 in last six road openers.
Raiders started 1-0 in five of last seven years. 

Chargers
Started 1-0 the last four years.
Lost four of last six home openers.
Under is 3-0 in their home openers at SoFi.
8-2-1 ATS in last 11 road openers.
Lost SU in six of last nine road openers.
Last four road openers stayed under the total.

Dolphins
Covered four of last six home openers.
Four of last five home openers went over total
6-2 ATS in last eight road openers
Last 19 years, under is 17-2 in their road openers.
Last three years, they played New England in Week 1.

Patriots
Lost 17-16/37-26 in last two home openers.
Four of last five home openers stayed under total.
Favorites covered their last four road openers.
Under is 3-1 in their last four road openers.

Jets
Last four years, Jets started season 0-1.
0-5 SU/ATS in last five home openers.
Under is 5-1 in last six home openers.
7-3 ATS in last ten road openers.
Over is 4-1 in their last five road openers.

Steelers
Started season on the road the last eight years
5-1-1 SU/4-3 ATS last seven road openers/Week 1 games
Last six road openers stayed under the total.
1-4 SU/0-5 ATS in last five home openers.
Under is 5-2 in last seven home openers.

Titans
2-7 SU/ATS in last nine home openers (0-4 last four years).
Five of their last six home openers stayed under the total.
8-2 SU/7-3 ATS last ten road openers
Four of their last six road openers went over the total. 

Before we get into the basketball, I watching The Price is Right the other day— I love game shows, think daytime TV should be all game shows, the way it was when I was a kid. These contrived debate/argument shows on ESPN/FS1 are stupid. Our country needs to be less stupid. 

Anyway, the final Showcase is on, and a guy missed the price of his Showcase by $73, just an amazing guess. Showcase was over $42,000 and he missed by only $73; tremendous. 

One problem; his bid was $73 OVER the actual retail price; you can’t go over the price, or you lose— both contestants lost this one. Never saw that happen before.

Price Is Right, Hollywood Squares, Match Game, I grew up watching that stuff (Jeopardy a little bit, too). Stuff like that is a hell of a lot better than watching overpaid morons argue with each other.

On to the basketball………
— My records go back to 1985; this is the first Elite 8 since then with no #1-seeds still alive. 

Fun to watch, very difficult to predict.

— San Diego State 71, Alabama 64
MVP was 5-10 PG Trammell, who played the last two years in the WAC at Seattle.
Alabama led 48-39 with 11:40 left in the game.
Alabama star Miller shot 3-19 from the floor. 

— Miami 89, Houston 75
Miami made 11-25 on the arc, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Nijel Pack was 7-10 on the arc; Houston’s whole team was 9-31.
Miami tied for first in ACC; their uniforms don’t say Duke, so people overlook them. 

— Creighton 86, Princeton 75
Creighton shot 74.2% inside the arc, scored 1.23 points/possession.
Bluejays lost six games in a row in early December; they’re 6-1 in last seven games.
Princeton was just 4th-ever #15-seed to get to this point. 

— Texas 83, Xavier 71
Texas never trailed, led 42-25 at halftime; total butt-kicking.
Longhorns’ 6-9 big man Disu got hurt early on; check status for Sunday
Texas is 16-7 against top 50 teams this season.

— What is the Texas administration doing? How is Rodney Terry still an interim coach? Longhorns are 22-7 since Chris Beard got fired, and Terry replaced him; it is inconceivable they could hire another coach after this run, where they’ve won the Big X Tournament, and now are in the Elite 8.

— Over the last three years, Big 14 teams are:
17-7 in NCAA first round games
4-13 in NCAA second round games
1-3 in Sweet 16 games.

24 teams, four got to the Sweet 16, one got to the Elite 8. No bueno.

— Kansas State PG Markquis Nowell is in his 5th year of college basketball:
2019— Little Rock went 10-21
2020— Little Rock went 21-10, but there was no Sun Belt/NCAA tournament
2021— Little Rock went 11-15
2022— Kansas State went 14-17, lost their last six games, fired their coach.
2023— Kansas State is 26-9 and Nowell is a big star.

He had 20 points, 19 assists in an overtime win Thursday, the most assists ever in an NCAA Tournament game. People are comparing him to Kemba Walker.

Stories like this are why the tournament has been so unpredictable. K-State has two players who played on the team last year, but the new group has bonded and are having a great season.

— Conference USA needs better TV exposure; I watch some of their games on ESPN+, but they have several good teams, teams that play all different styles.

Last eight years, Conference USA teams are 6-2 SU in first round NCAA Tournament games, and they were an underdog in seven of those eight games.

— Which big $$$ school is going to go after Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May? In five years at FAU, with a pandemic in the middle of it, Owls are 100-59, 52-34 in conference games. This is a Florida Atlantic program that is only in its 30th year as a Division I program.

Teams with current coach openings:
California, Temple, South Florida, Penn State, Texas Tech and technically, Texas, but if I was a prospective coach, I wouldn’t go anywhere near Texas- that should be Rodney Terry’s job.

All the other current job openings are below FAU’s level. Valparaiso just fired their coach; May went to college at Indiana, which is close to Valpo, but he can do better than a low-level Missouri Valley job.

— When they started the Big East Conference in 1979, they invited Holy Cross to join; Crusaders had a pretty good team back then, but the Holy Cross administration turned them down, citing the college’s commitment to academic excellence.

Could you imagine that happening today? How much $$$ you think they squandered by joining the freakin’ Patriot League? Holy Cross won four Patriot League titles under Ralph Willard 15-20 years ago, but come on, these big-time hoop schools make some serious cash— rich alumni like it when the alma mater is in the top 25.

— Loved listening to Stan Van Gundy/Kevin Harlan on TV this week; Van Gundy is all ball— I learn a lot every time I hear him describe a game. Harlan is a great play/play guy who sets his analysts up the right way. Van Gundy offers opinions; you may not agree with him all the time, but he’s coached in college and the NBA— he knows his stuff.

— Micah Shrewsberry bolts Penn State to be the new coach at Notre Dame; Nittany Lions were 23-14 this year, but they started four seniors, were the most experienced team in the country. They’re going to regress next year, no matter who the new coach is- it was time for him to jump. 

Here are nine of my most memorable NCAA Tournament games, in no particular order, followed by my four all-time favorite tournament games:

Memorable games:
2017 Final Four— I’m in Las Vegas, watching the Final Four with a friend of mine who has a boatload of money on Oregon (+4) vs North Carolina. I’m not going to tell you how much $$$ he had on Oregon, but it was more than $10,000 (I saw the ticket).

I’m a nickel/dime bettor, total small-timer; this was a different world. I remember sitting there munching on Doritos watching the game, I seemed more nervous than he was. Oregon loses but covers, losing 77-76. My friend was very casual about the whole thing.

He also bet the underdog in the other game, but a lot less $$, South Carolina vs Gonzaga and he won that bet too. If I won that much money I’d be strutting around like Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine but serious gamblers are smart and take things in stride.

Funny thing about that night: it was the only time in the last 35 years that both favorites won at the Final Four, but neither one covered the spread.

2016— Yale 79, Baylor 75— It is fun seeing people you know coaching on TV; Yale coach James Jones went to college at Albany, couple of years behind me. He was a good ballplayer, but he is a great coach. Other than Pete Carril, he is the best coach in Ivy League history, and it was a lot of fun to see his team pull a big upset against a basketball blue blood.

2023— Marquette 78, Vermont 61— Same deal here; friend of mine is an assistant coach with Marquette- they had a great season this year. I’m hoping that some D-I program comes to its senses in the next few weeks and gives him a head coaching job. He’s earned it. 

1989— Georgetown 50, Princeton 49— This was back when ESPN had the tournament; Bob Ley was the studio host and Dick Vitale did the analysis. Georgetown was a power back then; they were a 22-point favorite in this game, but they were life-and-death against Princeton.

At halftime, Dickie V says that if Princeton wins, he’ll stand on his head on the ESPN set; it was classic TV, totally unscripted. It was hilarious, but Georgetown escaped by a point, and America took a great sign of relief that no one was standing on his head on live TV.

1998— Valparaiso 70, Ole Miss 69— Scott Drew is the Baylor coach; brother Bruce is the coach at Grand Canyon- their father Homer Drew coached Valparaiso for a long time.

His full-court out of bounds play (to Bryce Drew, I think) got Valpo a walk-off win in this game. To this day, that play is still used all over America. One of the best-ever endings to a tournament game.

2023— Furman 68, Virginia 67— Furman hadn’t made the NCAA’s since 1980, hadn’t won a tournament game since 1974; they made couple foul shots with 0:12 left to pull within 67-65, then the Virginia player tries a full-court pass to kill the clock, but it gets picked off, and Furman sticks a 3 from the right-wing with 0:02 left to pull a very unlikely upset.

The camera shot of CBS’ play-by-play guy Kevin Harlan calling all this, then holding his arms out after the game-winning shot, so neither of his analysts says anything to ruin the moment, was just great to see.

2019— Murray State 83, Marquette 64— Back when I was still picking games on this blog, I took the over in this game, Ja Morant against a Big East team. Game was 42-35 at halftime, a good pace, but then Marquette scored 9 freakin’ points in the first 10:00 of second half and when they fell behind, they refused to press Murray State, and lost meekly to a freakin’ OVC team and the game fell several points under. Had they pressed, Murray State would have hung 90-100 points on them.

I laugh about it now, but that night in my living room, I was NOT HAPPY; probably lucky I didn’t have a damn stroke. How could a Big East team quit against an OVC team? To this day, when I see that fraud Steve Wojciechowski in ESPN”s studio stealing money, it makes my blood boil. Anyway, that night is a big part of why I don’t pick games much anymore.

2016— National title game, Villanova-North Carolina, I’m sitting in the Westgate SuperBook having a Cherry Coke and some pizza. The guy next to me is a younger guy who says he has a lot of money on Villanova and the under. We strike up a conversation but he is very nervous as the game comes down the stretch. Things get quiet.

Kid of North Carolina makes a tough shot to put UNC ahead and puts the game over the total; the guy next to me ain’t happy, but then Villanova hits a shot at the buzzer to win the national title and get the guy a split on his bets.

Never seen someone so happy to break even.

2010— I’m at the MGM Grand sportsbook for the first Saturday of the tournament; me and apparently every Kansas fan west of the Rockies. Jayhawks were a #1-seed, a big favorite over Northern Iowa. Ton of people wearing blue/red in the MGM Grand.

Game is early on, some kid makes a shot— the three young guys next to me start hugging each other. I ask one of them “Is that your brother? Why are you so happy?”

I had no idea you could bet on which team got to 15 points first; that obscure basket won the guys their bet and they were celebrating.

Anyway the game goes on and go figure, Northern Iowa hits a shot from the corner at the end and upsets Kansas, big upset. Lot of sad people were walking around, wearing blue/red.

My four all-time favorite NCAA Tournament games:
2006— When the brackets came out, I went on a local radio show here in Albany and gave my quick thoughts on what would happen. I had decided that Northwestern State would upset Iowa in a #3-14 game and I said so on the radio. Fairly bold prediction.

As luck would have it, Northwestern State does pull the upset, winning 64-63. Now that was a fun day.

1990— Loyola Marymount 111, New Mexico State 90— During the WCC tournament, LMU’s star Hank Gathers collapsed and died on the court during a game. It was horrible; they called off the tournament, and LMU got the automatic bid because they finished first.

When the brackets came out 8-9 days later, LMU had the very last time slot in the first round, the midnight Friday game on CBS. Their opponent was New Mexico State, a team that would run with the hyper-fast breaking Lions, coached by Paul Westhead.

Back then, I picked games in the Albany newspaper and I had done very well that year; I really wanted to risk my entire (fictional) bankroll on LMU in his game— there was no way they were losing this game. I didn’t risk my bankroll, just made the normal pick, but I tried to impress that upon the readers. LMU was going to win.

LMU’s Bo Kimble shot his first free throw lefty, in honor of his fallen friend, but Kimble also had four fouls at halftime, and the game was tied. I was queasy about my pick, but LMU exploded in the second half, won by 21, then won two more games in one of the most famous runs in NCAA history. That team was so much fun to watch.

1990— Jerry Tarkanian’s Rebels dispatched LMU in the West Region final, then they played Duke in the national title game, and they crushed Duke, 103-73. Then the weasel from the NCAA had to hand Tarkanian the national championship trophy, after they had harassed the guy for years (NCAA later wrote Tarkanian a $2.5M check to settle a dispute).

Sweet 16 of the West Region is being played in Las Vegas tonight, 33 years after that great night. The NCAA embraces Las Vegas now because more than anything, they love making money.

1974—NC State 80, UCLA 77, 2OT— When Michael Jordan was growing up, his favorite player was David Thompson, a great player for NC State. I was a big Wolfpack fan; friend of my parents lived in Raleigh, and he told me all about Thompson. I used to listen to their games on the radio on WBT in Charlotte.

UCLA beat the Wolfpack in December; this was when Bill Walton was a senior- they had won seven national titles in a row. Every kid in my school who liked basketball was a UCLA fan, except for me; the rematch in the Final Four.

UCLA led by 7 in overtime, but State rallied and won, then beat Marquette in the national title game and I was hooked for life on college basketball.

Dunking was illegal back then in college ball, which is a tribute to how great a player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was. Had Thompson been able to dunk, we would have some amazing highlights to watch on YouTube these days. 

— Last three years, only four of the 12 Final Four teams were #1-seeds. 

— Three of this year’s #1-seeds play Thursday-Saturday this week.

— Top-ranked teams who missed the Field of 68: Rutgers (#35), Oklahoma Sate (#38) and Oregon (#41). 

— Arizona State is in the First Four for third time in last five tournaments; they lost 60-56 to Syracuse in 2018, beat St John’s 74-65 the next year. 

Think about it; on February 25, Sun Devils beat rival Arizona 89-88 when they sank a 55-foot desperation jumper at the buzzer. Without that win, Arizona State is in the NT. 

— Speaking of the NIT, North Carolina declined to play in it after being the first preseason #1 team ever to miss the NCAA Tournament. 

Some trends on how some conferences have fared in first round games:
— Lot has been said this year about how the Big X is by far the best conference this year; over the last three years, Big X teams are 14-5 ATS in Round of 64 games.

— Mountain West got four teams in the NCAA’s this year; over the last three years, MW teams are 0-8 SU/ATS in Round of 64 games.

— Charleston is a 5-point underdog vs San Diego State Thursday; Cougars play pace #29, while Aztecs play pace #252, so a contrast of styles here.

Over last nine years, CAA teams are 0-9 SU, but 5-4 against the spread. 

— Florida Atlantic is 31-3, their best season ever; will they be able to keep coach Dusty May? You go 31-3 at a mid-major, a coach usually works his way up to a bigger $$$ job.

Last seven years, Conference USA teams are 5-2 SU in Round of 64 games.

— VCU beat Dayton 68-56 to win the A-15 tournament; Rams are 27-7, but they weren’t getting in the NCAA’s if they lost this game. This was first time since 2005 that the A-15 got one team in the tournament- they had 12 teams in the league back then.

— Big Sky teams haven’t won a tournament game since Montana (+7) upset Nevada 87-79 way back in 2006. Big Sky teams went 3-11-1 ATS in those losses. 

Montana State is this year’s Big Sky team; they’re 22-4 in their last 26 games, are experience team #47. Bobcats play #3-seed Kansas State in their first round game.

— Last three years, SEC teams are 7-4-2 ATS in first round games.

— Kent State-Indiana play in Albany Friday night; Kent coach Ron Senderoff is an Albany alum and he also worked at Indiana, from 2006-08.

Over last six years, MAC teams covered all six of their games in Round of 64. 

— Over last ten years, Horizon League teams are 0-10 SU, 3-7 ATS; Wright State did win a play-in game last year.

— I’ll have a lot more on the tournament as the week goes on. 

Thursday of Champ Week is my favorite sports day of the year; 14 hours of watching basketball from all over the country, mixed in with some spring training baseball and a movie or two at the end. It has been a fun day.

Big East tournament
— Marquette 72, St John’s 70 (OT)— In the last 20 years, no team has won the national title after losing their first conference tournament game. St John’s led this game by 14 late in first half, forced 19 Marquette turnovers, but Marquette survived, despite shooting 9-34 on the arc.

It is little odd that Marquette was #1 seed and had to play St John’s on its semi-home court in their first tournament game, but they’re the better team and they did what they had to do. 

— Georgetown fired Patrick Ewing as coach, after he led the Hoyas for six years; Ewing is the best player in Georgetown history, but the next coach will be a significant upgrade.

This was similar to when Clyde Drexler coached Houston for two years from 1998-2000; it just didn’t work, even though Drexler was a great player at Houston.

— Final Four of the Big East is UConn, plus teams from Cincinnati, Omaha and Milwaukee; how will kids ever pass Geography classes in school if they think those cities are in the East? 

ACC tournament
— Virginia 68, North Carolina 59— Tar Heels are 20-13, 12-10 in ACC games; bracketologists on the Interweb are all saying that North Carolina will miss the NCAA’s, after being the preseason #1 team- they lost 72-69 in the national title game last season.

— Clemson 80, NC State 54— Tigers with an emphatic statement that they belong in the Field of 68. Beating Virginia Friday night would remove all doubt.

Big X tournament
It will be fascinating next week to see how Big X teams do in the NCAA Tournament, after they beat up on each other all winter.

— TCU 80, Kansas State 67— TCU is an older team; #65 in experience, #3 in continuity. When the brackets come out Sunday night, I’ll be looking to see what kind of a draw they get. With Mike Miles (22 points Thursday) back healthy, TCU is a dangerous team.

— Iowa State 78, Baylor 72— Cyclones are 3-0 vs Baylor this season, 7-9 against the rest of the league. Baylor made 14-29 on the arc and still lost this game.

Mountain West tournament
— San Jose State 81, Nevada 77 OT— Tim Miles deserves to get votes for National Coach of the Year; this was San Jose’s first win in a conference tournament since 2011— this is their best basketball season in 40 years. 

As for Nevada, they’ve lost three games in a row and sit squarely on the bubble; they won’t be sleeping well the next couple nights.

— Boise State 87, UNLV 76 OT— Boise led 48-26 late in first half, but UNLV tied game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer in regulation; quite a comeback, but Rebels got outscored 14-3 in overtime- they still haven’t made the semi-finals of this tournament since 2014, and it is played in their home arena. Last time UNLV won this tournament? 2008. 

— Utah State 91, New Mexico 76— Aggies are red-hot, winning their last six games, scoring 91-86-91 points in their last three games. They deserve to make the NCAA’s, but losses to SMU and Weber State may out their status in a gray area.

SEC tournament
— Arkansas 76, Auburn 73— Two teams with good records but both have been struggling lately;  Arkansas blew a 15-point second half lead, but freshman Nick Smith went 1-on-1 and hit the winning hoop in the last few seconds, giving the Razorbacks their 20th win of the season.

Auburn is 4-9 in its last 13 games, after a 16-3 start; they’re a prime candidate to get beat in the first round of the NCAA’s.

C-USA Tournament
— North Texas 74, Louisiana Tech 46— Mean Green plays slowest-tempo games of anyone in the country; they’ve also won 11 of their last 12 games. Their game with UAB this afternoon is one to watch; the winner will probably play Florida Atlantic in the C-USA final Saturday.

The team that wins the C-USA tournament will be a live underdog in its first round game in the NCAA’s next week.

Big 14 tournament
— Ohio State 73, Iowa 69— Not often does a 13-seed beat the 5-seed; Buckeyes suffered thru a 1-14 stretch of misery, but now have won four of their last five games, upsetting Iowa here. Lot of bubble teams are rooting for Ohio State to get beat, so they don’t pull off a small miracle, win this tournament and steal a bid from a bubble team.

Pac-12 tournament
— Arizona State 77, USC 72— Sun Devils are a bubble team that is 6-3 in its last nine games; they play rival Arizona for third time Friday night. Will be a fun game to watch.

— Cal fired coach Mark Fox after a 3-26 season; they lost their last 16 games. Not even sure how good a job this is now, if the Pac-12 dissolves with teams bolting to greener pa$ture$, does Cal go to the Mountain West?

— Stanford kept coach Jerod Haase for next year after a 14-19 season; they went 9-7 in their last 16 games.

Big West tournament
This league is ranked as high as it has been since 2016; the teams are evenly matched and I enjoy watching them play late at night on ESPN+.

Cal-Fullerton 62, Hawaii’i 60 OT— Defending champ Titans have won seven games in a row, the last two in overtime; their game with Cal-Irvine Friday is must-see TV in my house. The other semi-final is Riverside-Santa Barbara; the four best teams made it to the semi-finals. 

— There have already been several upsets in the mid/lower conference tournaments, which will put the teams who win those tournaments in the four play-in games in Dayton March 14-15.

SE Missouri State, Fairleigh Dickinson figure to be headed to Dayton; if Montana State wins the Big Sky, they’ll probably avoid a play-in game, but maybe not. If Northern Arizona wins the Big Sky, they’re definitely headed to Dayton. Kennesaw State might also be in a play-in game, in their first-ever NCAA Tournament.

Life figures to be a little easier in the first round this year, for the #1 and #2-seeds.

— When the NCAA Tournament brackets come out next week, how do you choose the four teams you think will make the Final Four? There are a lot of theories on this…….

Today, we’re going to examine whether success in the conference tournament leads to winning a national championship. This obviously only applies to the multi-bid, big $$$$ leagues; the mid-major teams have to win their conference tournament just to get in the tournament.

— Over the last 20 years, nine of the 20 national champs also won their conference tournament
— Only two of the last seven national champs also won their conference tournament.

— In the last 20 years, no team has won a national championship without winning its first game in their conference tournament.
— In the last 20 years, of the 80 teams who made the Final Four, teams went 70-10 in the first game in their conference tournament.

— In the last 20 years, the eventual national champ only went 12-8 in their second conference tournament game.
— In the last 20 years, teams that lost the national championship game went 12-7 in their second conference tournament
— In the last 20 years, teams that lost the national semi-finals went 26-5 in their second conference tournament game.

In the conference tournaments with Sunday finals, I’ve often thought that coaches aren’t all that heartbroken if their team loses on Saturday; playing on Sunday, then maybe having to play their first NCAA tourney game on Thursday is a quick turnaround.

Recent years (twice in last seven years) suggest that just because a team loses in its conference tournament doesn’t mean they won’t win a national title. Losing the first game of a tournament appears to be a pretty big red flag. 

— Anyone ever had lemon Oreo cookies? They were talking about them on the Duke-North Carolina game Saturday night, now I have to buy some to see if they’re any good, unless someone tells me they’re hideous. Early returns have been in favor of them.

— If you like college basketball, ESPN+ is a great thing to have; can watch ballgames and replays of games night and day, even obscure games.

— Furman 83, Western Carolina 80 OT— Last year, Furman lost the SoCon final 64-63 in OT, after leading by 12 early on, losing on a leaning 3-pointer at the buzzer; it was a very devastating loss for a Paladin squad that has not made the NCAA’s since 1980. 

Sunday, Furman led this game by 20 early in the second half; they blew the lead, their best player fouled out in overtime, but they pulled the game out, and advance to the SoCon final against Chattanooga Monday night the same Chattanooga team that beat them in last year’s final.

— Houston 67, Memphis 65— Cougars trailed 56-51 with 6:34 left; Jamal Shead hit an 18-footer as time expired to give Houston a dramatic road win.  

The Final Four is in Houston next month, in Jim Nantz’s last year doing the tournament on CBS. Nantz is a Houston alum; he played on the golf team. Are the Cougars a team of destiny?

— Drake 77, Bradley 51— Drake scored 1.26 points/possession, led by 20 at the half, and won Arch Madness for the first time since 2008. Bulldogs start three graduate students; they’ve got a lot of experience/continuity. Plus, they shoot the ball well.

— NC-Asheville 77, Campbell 73— 7th-seed Camels led by 14 with 7:35 left in game, but couldn’t get over the hump and #1-seed Asheville wins its 9th straight game, making NCAA’s for first time since 2016. Asheville has won 18 of its last 19 games.

— South Alabama 75, James Madison 66— 8th-seeded Jaguars were 8-13 on January 26th; since then, they’re 11-2, allowing 62.7 ppg in first three games of this tournament. South Alabama is a thin team (#339 in bench minutes) playing for third day in row tomorrow; they’re #347 team in continuity- they play #2-seed Louisiana tomorrow night in the Sun Belt final.

— Kennesaw State 67, Liberty 66— Three years ago, Owls were 1-28; now they’re in the NCAA’s for the first time ever. Hopefully they’ll avoid a play-in game and get to enjoy their status for an extra couple days. Kennesaw played the A-Sun tournament at home; two of their three wins were by a single point. 

— Texas Tech suspended basketball coach Mark Adams for what the school calls an “inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment.”

From ESPN.com: “Adams was encouraging a player to be more receptive to coaching and ‘referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters.’ Adams apologized to the team after he found out the player was upset about the use of the Bible verse.”

Adams is 66 years old; he is 43-25 in two seasons as Tech’s coach. Tech made the Sweet 16 last year; they’re 16-15, 5-13 this year. Rich boosters like the Sweet 16 a lot better than they like a 5-13 conference record.

— Longwood Lancers are 20-12 this season; they have a player Michael Christmas, who wears number 25, which makes sense, seeing how Christmas is on the 25th and all.

— Bradley Braves were the #1-seed in the Missouri Valley tournament; this was the first time Bradley was the #1-seed in Arch Madness since 1996.

— North Carolina F Leaky Black is in his fifth year of college basketball; Saturday night was his 153rd game for the Tar Heels, which is a school record.

— More and more mid-major/low major teams seem to recruiting foreign players; Saint Mary’s has thrived for years thanks to recruiting Australian players. Teams who don’t get on ESPN a lot have to be creative where they get talented players. 

— Baseball changed lot of rules this year; going to be interesting to see how that impacts play this season. No more shifts, a play clock to quicken pace of play, bigger bases, a limit to how many times a pitcher can throw to first base. I think they’ve made good rule changes.

— Watching the first spring training games Friday with the pitch clock, TV broadcasts will be changing; lot of fewer replays of action right after it happens, because there is a 0:30 clock until the next pitch is thrown. Lot less small talk between pitches.

— San Diego Padres spent lot of $$$ this year, trying hard to unseat the Dodgers in NL West, but then star 3B Manny Machado said he will opt out of his contract after this season, hoping to make more than the $30M/year he was scheduled to make thru 2028. 

Will that be a distraction for the Padres, or is is just business as usual?

— I’ve mentioned this here before, but my dad grew up in New York City, was.a big Brooklyn Dodger fan. When I was a kid, I learned quickly to never say the name “O’Malley”— Walter O’Malley was the Dodgers’ owner who moved the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. My dad didn’t like Walter O’Malley, not one bit.

San Diego Padres are now owned by Peter Seidler, who is Walter O’Malley’s grandson. Wish my dad was here to get his reaction to that; chances are he wouldn’t like the Padres very much.

— Highest current projected payrolls for this baseball season:

$300M— New York (NL)
$261M— New York (AL)
$241M— Phillies
$225M— Braves
$212M— Angels
$205M— Padres

— Lowest current projected payrolls for this baseball season:

$40,925,000— A’s
$45,025,000— Orioles
$59,262,500— Pirates
$64,451,211— Rays
$48,624,500— Reds
$75,010,000— Guardians

— Mets’ owner Steve Cohen has raised a lot of eyebrows by also spending a boatload of $$$ to make his team a winning team. Hell, wish he owned the A’s, but now they’re just as despicable as the other New York team. It is no fun rooting for a team that doesn’t try to win.

Cohen loosely inspired the character Bobby Axelrod on the Showtime series Billions.

— The A’s situation will be interesting; will they move to Las Vegas? Portland? Doesn’t sound like they’ll get a new stadium in Oakland. Would be nice if their cheapskate owner would try to win— what a novel idea.

If they move to Las Vegas and are still cheapskates, someone might wind up like Joe Pesci’s character in Casino.

— Tampa Bay Rays also have a stadium issue; will they stay in Florida or move to Montreal? Charlotte? Nashville?

— Once the two stadium issues are resolved, MLB will move ahead with expanding to 32 teams; the expansion fees will recoup $$$ owners lost during the shortened 2020 season. Having 32 big league teams will make scheduling a lot easier.

— Texas Rangers are paying SS Corey Seager/2B Marcus Semien a combined $57M a year, but they went 68-94 last year, so they hired future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy as their new skipper, added Jacob deGrom as a mound ace. We’ll see if that makes Texas a contender; they’ve had six straight losing seasons. 

— Angels have two of the game’s great stars, Trout/Ohtani, but they were 73-89 last year.

Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014- their last winning season was 2015, and all that with a payroll of $212M for this year. Pitching is kind of important; the Angels need more of it.

— Speaking of Ohtani, he can be a free agent next winter; going to be quite a bidding war for his services. Would the Angels consider trading him this summer?

— Aaron Judge hit 62 home runs last year; what does he do for an encore? Teammate Giancarlo Stanton hit 59 homers in 2017, but hasn’t ht more than 38 since then.

— Not sure what the Red Sox/Cubs are doing; big market teams that aren’t spending much $$$. Red Sox won World Series in 2018; they’ve made playoffs once since then. Boston finished last in AL East last year, 21 games out of first place.

Cubs missed the playoffs in three of last four seasons; their prospects for this year aren’t great. 

— Detroit Tigers moved their fences in this year, mostly in CF; will that help their hitters/hurt their pitchers?

— Cleveland Guardians won AL Central by 11 games last year; they were only team in the division to finish over .500. Will they be challenged more this year? White Sox let Jose Abreu go, Minnesota re-tooled some but not a lot. Cleveland made playoffs five of last seven years, but has not made it to the World Series since losing Game 7 to the Cubs in 2016.

— Seattle Mariners made playoffs last year for first time since 2001; at this time last year, I had three Seattle hitters on my fantasy team, but their ballpark isn’t conducive to scoring runs— got rid of two of the three, and the third guy got traded to Milwaukee. 

— My baseball TV experience will be better this season; couldn’t watch the World Series last year. The local FOX station was/is at war with DirecTV, so that station was off my TV, so no World Series. I’ve dumped DirecTV for YouTube TV. Looking forward to this season. 

Are there any characteristics that can identify teams that will win the college basketball national title? I’ve studied the last six national champs, and came up with some trends:

— Last five national champs were #1-seeds; Villanova was a #2-seed when they won in 2016, Duke was a #1-seed when they won in 2015.

In 2014, 7-seed UConn beat 8-seed Kentucky in the national title game; since that year, six of the seven national champs have been #1-seeds.

The teams that lost the last seven national title games: four #1-seeds, two #3-seeds and a #8-seed (North Carolina last year)

Power conference teams have ruled the tournament, which doesn’t bode well for Houston in this year’s event.

— Tempo/pace of play— Nothing here; last six national champs have been all over the board as far as tempo goes.

— Offensive efficiency— This one is huge; last six national champs were all in the top 10 in this category. As I type this, that would narrow the potential national champs to:

Baylor
Gonzaga
Houston
Marquette
Iowa
Missouri
Xavier
Miami
Arizona
Purdue

— Defensive efficiency— Last six national champs were all in the top 25 in this category; there are five SEC teams in top 25 defensive efficiency.

— eFG%— This is same as regular FG%, except 3-pointers count as 1.5 baskets made. Five of the last six national champs were in the top 30 in this category.

— eFG% defense— Little bit of a mixed bag; Baylor was #121 two years ago, North Carolina was #71 in 2017. Doesn’t seem to be as important as the offensive end.

— 2-point FG%— Four of last six national champs were in top 50 in 2-point FG%.

— Point distribution— There seems to be no correlation, none, to how national champs got their points. This especially applies to foul shots; of the last six champs, Kansas last year (#184) ranked in the top 200 of getting their points on the foul line. 

To beat quality teams, you cannot depend on getting the best of the whistles. Fewer fouls are called in March; guys have to play through contact to have success.

— Non-conference strength of schedule— Baylor ’21/Virginia ’19 had terrible non-conference schedules; the other four champs ranked in the top 90, but Kansas LY (#49) had the only top 50 non-conference schedules.

— Overall strength of schedule— This indicates a trend: five of the last six national champs had an overall strength of schedule in the top 25, pointing us towards the power conferences to pick our national champ. Baylor is 2021 (#54) is the lone exception from the last six years.

— Depth— This one is surprising; of the last six national champs, only North Carolina in 2017 (#69) had bench minutes in the top 200. TV timeouts are longer in the NCAA’s; depth doesn’t mean as much.

— Experience— Of the last six national champs, only Baylor in 2021 was in the top 100 in this category; talent is more important than experience, and there is no metric that measures talent.

— Continuity— This category helps some; four of the last six national champs had a continuity in the top 80, with Baylor (#31), Kansas (#45) winning the last two years. In this day and age when kids transfer a lot, talented teams that bond over a period of 2-3 years have an advantage. 

In Thursday’s play……..
— Maryland 68, Purdue 54— Purdue had only two players score more than 6 points; they’ve now lost three of their last four games, after a 22-1 start. Boilermakers scored 54-58 points in their last two games. 

— Gonzaga 108, LMU 65— Zags avenged an earlier loss to LMU; they led 68-28 at halftime.

— Middle Tennessee 74, Florida Atlantic 70— Owls are 3-2 in their last five games, after a 21-1 start; they’ve given up 80 ppg in their last three games.

— Iowa 92, Ohio State 75— Buckeyes are in free fall; they’ve lost seven in row, 12 of last 13 games- they’re shooting 46.1% inside arc in Big 14 games. 

— Memphis 64, UCF 63— Tigers led 43-35 at halftime; they hung on to win, scoring 20 points in second half. Memphis turned ball over 24 times; they’ve won eight of their last nine games.

— NC-Wilmington 72, Drexel 71, 2OT— Drexel led by 15 early, by 4 with 1:16 left in the first OT. Dragons were just 13-21 on foul line in a one-point loss. UNCW won six of its last seven games; the last two seasons, Seahawks are 48-16, 28-8 in CAA play.

— Southern Indiana 82, Little Rock 81— Trojans lost 11 of their last 14 games; five of their last six losses are by 4 or less points.

— South Alabama 85, Southern Miss 54— Golden Eagles had won nine games in a row, but South Alabama shot 74% inside the arc in this game. USM leads Marshall/Louisiana by one game each in Sun Belt standings. 

— RIP Tim McCarver, who passed away at age 81. McCarver caught in the major leagues for 21 years, appearing in four different decades. He then became one of the game’s best TV analysts, working 24 World Series.

McCarver was especially good as a TV analyst for the Mets in the late 80’s; he was great when he worked every day on.a local broadcast, as opposed to only once a week on network TV. I learned a lot listening to him every night.

RIP, sir. 

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

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

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

9) In his ten Super Bowls, Tom Brady’s team scored one first quarter TD; this was the first Super Bowl where Brady’s team led after the first quarter (1-4-5). He won seven of the ten games SU.

8) Patriots 13, Rams 3
— Game was 3-3 in 4th quarter; the Rams being in this game made it great for me.
— This was Sean McVay’s second year as Rams’ coach; before that, Rams had 13 consecutive losing seasons. Winning is more fun than losing. 

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

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

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

4) Eagles 41, Patriots 33:
— Nick Foles is 29-29 as a regular season starter, 4-2 in playoff games.
— He’s played for six teams in 11 years, but will always be a Philly legend.
— Foles caught a TD pass on a trick play to give Philly a 22-12 halftime lead.

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

2) Rams 23, Bengals 20:
— Stafford-to-Kupp with 1:25 left was the game-winning score.
— Bengals led 20-13 midway thru third quarter.
— Sean McVay is the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl.
— Second year in row the host team won Super Bowl; before that, it had never happened. 

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

You can bet on almost anything during a Super Bowl; here are some more prop bets that have been posted for Sunday’s game:

— Will there be a successful 2-point conversion?
Yes +230
No -270

— Will first turnover of game be……..
Interception -170
Fumble +150

— Will at least one quarter be scoreless?
Yes +400
No -500

— Total number of players throwing a forward pass:
over 2.5, +130
under 2.5, -150

— Will the team, that scores first to win the game”
Yes -165
No +145

— Over/under passing yards for Patrick Mahomes: 288.5

— Over/under passing yards for Jalen Hurts: 238.5

— Over/under longest completion for Patrick Mahomes: 38.5 yards

— Over/under longest completion for Jalen Hurts: 37.5 yards

— Over/under receiving yards for Travis Kelce? 77.5

— Total net yards for the Chiefs: over/under 372.5

— Total net yards for the Eagles: over/under 367.5

— Total punts for both teams:
over 7.5- even
under 7.5- under -120

— Total net yards for both teams: over/under 731.5

— More pass completions:
Mahomes (-6.5) vs Hurts

— More passing yards:
Mahomes (-50.5) vs Hurts

— More receiving yards:
Travis Kelce (-2.5) vs AJ Brown

— Jersey number of player who scores first touchdown:
Over 11.5, +130
Under 11.5, -150

— Who will have more points Sunday?
Eagles (-3.5) vs Tyrese Maxey on the 76ers

— Who will have more points Sunday?
Jayson Tatum on the Celtics (-6.5) vs Chiefs

— Who will have more points Sunday?
Eagles (-2.5) vs Purdue’s Zach Edey

— For the first time since 1978, a reigning batting champion was traded in the offseason; Minnesota traded IF Luis Arraez to the Marlins, for P Pablo Lopez and two prospects.

Arraez hit .316 last year, scored 88 runs; he is expected to play second base for Miami. Lopez was 10-10, 3.75 in 32 starts last season.

Marlins plan to move Jazz Chisholm to CF, Juan Segura to 3B, Joey Wendle to SS; Arraez mostly played 1B last year, so spring training is going to include a lot of ground balls and work on defense. I have Miami’s star P Sandy Alcantara on my fantasy team; this makes me queasy.

By the way, Rod Carew was the last batting champion traded the following winter.

— If you like college basketball, ESPN+ is a must; they have games from all over the country, and you can watch replays of games. Have your remote handy though; some of the guys who broadcast these games aren’t exactly Jim Nantz or Mike Breen quality-wise. The mute button can be useful for some of these guys, but they’re all fun to watch.

I like watching games from the Big West or Conference USA, leagues that the main cable channels ignore.

— How come a lot of NBA players don’t play games on back/back nights, but there are college basketball refs who work 4-5 games a week? 

College basketball season runs roughly from November 10-March 15, when pairings for the NCAA Tournament come out. That would be 126 days; I’m looking at referee stats from a few years ago, and there were 16 officials who worked 90+ games that season. 

90 games in 126 games means that roughly, you work a game three out of four days for four months, and most referees are older than the average NBA player. 

— Florida Gators released QB Jaden Rashada from his Letter of Intent; this ends a recruitment that reportedly went south because of a botched $13M NIL deal offered by the Gator Collective, a third-party group that furnishes NIL deals for Florida.

— Michigan fired co-offensive coordinator and QB coach Matt Weiss, who was put on leave recently amid an investigation by university police into a report of computer access crimes. 

Industrial espionage in college football? Who knew?

— I’m wondering how much Danny DeVito gets paid for those Jersey Mike’s commercials, which seem to be on TV every half hour or so.

— We getting into late January, the conference races are heating up in college basketball. Here are some trends that deal with how teams do in conference tournaments:

— Gonzaga has won the WCC tournament nine of the last ten years; the one time they lost, it was to Saint Mary’s.

— Clemson is 15-4, 7-1 in ACC this season; since 2003, they’re 8-19 in ACC tournament games, with 2008 the only time during that time that they’ve won more than one game in an ACC tournament.

— Richmond won the Atlantic 10 tournament LY; before that, from 2012-21, Spiders were a combined 5-9 in A-10 tourney games. League seems to be wide open this season. 

— In the Sun Belt, Texas State was 37-13 in conference games the last three years, but only 1-2 in Sun Belt tourney games; they won a game in the ’20 tournament before COVID ended things, then they lost in the first round the last two years. Bobcats are 10-10, 3-4 this season; curious to see how they’ll do in a league that is very wide-open this year.

— Houston Cougars are 10-2 in last four AAC tournaments, winning the title the last two years with five of those six wins by 13+ points.

— Villanova is down this year with Jay Wright gone; they’re 10-10, 4-5, not looking like an NCAA Tournament team, but the Wildcats are 17-2 in last seven Big East tournaments, winning it five times.

Last five years, Xavier is 2-5 in the Big East tournament; four of the five losses came in overtime. Sean Miller has the Musketeers at 15-4 in his first season back in Cincinnati; maybe this is their year to turn that stat around. 

— Surprising stat: Last time Indiana finished over .500 in the Big 14 was seven years ago, when they went 15-3 in conference play. Since 2004, Hoosiers are only 9-18 in the conference tournament. 

I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Hopefully, 2023 will be an excellent year for all of us. Let’s try to be nicer to each other this year. Seriously. 

TCU 51, Michigan 45
— TCU led 21-6 at halftime; Michigan scored 39 points in 2nd half, and still lost.
— TCU was 8-16 on third down, Wolverines were 3-13.
— Both teams turned the ball over three times.
— Horned Frogs scored 34+ points in 11 of 14 games this season.  

— Michigan lost its last six bowls (they were favored in 4 of the 6)

Georgia 42, Ohio State 41
— Ohio State led 38-24 after the third quarter.
— Dawgs drove 72 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:54 left.
— Both teams averaged over 10 yards/pass attempt.
— Georgia gained 533 yards, converted only 2-10 on third down.
— Buckeyes were 11-0, then gave up 45-42 points in losing last two games.

— This game ended just after midnight; damn near had a heart attack when some of my neighbors shot off fireworks as midnight struck.

Iowa 21, Kentucky 0
— Iowa scored two defensive TD’s; their offense scored once.
— Neither team scored in the second half.
— Iowa was 0-11 on third down, Wildcats were 2-18 (3-5 on 4th)
— Hawkeyes won five of last six games, after a 3-4 start. 
— This game had lowest total of any game in last 25 years, still stayed under.

Alabama 45, Kansas State 20
— Alabama QB Young was 15-21/321 passing, with 5 TD’s.
— Crimson Tide ran 55 plays for 496 yards (9.0 yards/play)
— Alabama won its last four games, scoring 30-34-49-45 points.
— Alabama has 75 players who were 4 or 5-star recruits; K-State has 3.
— Crimson Tide won five of its last seven bowls. 

— Xavier 83, UConn 73— Huskies lost their first game this year; they were 4-9 on the foul line, Xavier was 23-28. UConn led by 7, early in second half.

— Arizona 69, Arizona State 60— Arizona was 24-28 on foul line, Sun Devils were 7-10.

Rough day with the referees for the two Hurley brothers.

— Marquette 68, Villanova 66— Villanova was 12-33 on the arc, 12-24 inside arc. Harder to win consistently shooting so many 3’s. Marquette is shooting 60.3% inside the arc (#4).

— New Mexico 76, Wyoming 75— Wyoming led by 11 early on, but Lobos get good road win and improve to 14-0. New Mexico/Purdue are the only two unbeaten teams in the country.

— Watched The Natural on TV the other night; no idea how many times I’ve seen that movie, has to be more than 50-60 times, but until the other night I had no idea that Randy Newman did the music in that movie. You learn something every day.

— 3B Evan Longoria signed a one-year, $4M deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. 37-year old Longoria hasn’t played 100+ games in a season since 2019; he hit .244 with 14 HR’s for the Giants last year.

— Say you owned the Baltimore Ravens; you’re really, really rich, the Ravens are usually a good team, but you have this pivotal decision to make in a couple months.

Lamar Jackson’s contract is up; do you shell out huge money for a QB with a 46-19 career record (1-3 in playoffs)? Jackson missed five games last year, including weeks 15-18; he also missed the last four games this season— he’s missed nine of the Ravens’ last 32 games.

Interesting decision; earlier this season I said I’d pay Jackson the big bucks, but now I’m queasy about that. The best ability is availability, you know what I mean?

— David Blough is starting at QB for Arizona Sunday; he’ll be the 64th different QB to start an NFL game this season, the most of any season since the 1987 strike season.

— Early line on the college football national title game: Georgia (-13.5) vs TCU