Armadillo Sports

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These are coaches who coached in the ESPN era, from 1980 on, except for one guy; we made an exception for him.

13) Jim Boeheim— Has been at Syracuse as a player or coach since the early 60’s; he’s won 1,065 games, won the NCAA Tournament in 2003; in seven years as an ACC member, Syracuse is 70-58 in conference games, 28-28 the last three years. Would’ve like to have seen Boeheim’s reaction when he heard that Syracuse was getting out of the Big East, to help the football program. It sure hasn’t helped the basketball program.

Here’s how spoiled Syracuse fans are; I was in the Carrier Dome one night, Syracuse was #2 in country- it was the night after the Super Bowl. Syracuse gets beat at home by Pittsburgh, and the fans boo them off the court; they were #2 in the country!!! Tough crowd.

12) Roy Williams— 15 years at Kansas, 17 years at North Carolina, two pretty good gigs. Coach Roy has made nine Final Fours, won three national titles. This past season would’ve been only the third time in 32 years he missed the NCAA tournament.

Problem with doing a list like this is weighing which is harder to do; keep a program rolling when you inherit it, or turning things around where there was nothing. Williams has coached at two of the nation’s elite programs, and done a great job both places.

11) Lute Olson— Replaced Jerry Tarkanian at Long Beach State, went 24-2, then bolted for Iowa, where he went 165-93, making the Final Four in 1980. From there he went to Arizona and built a national power, going 587-190, making four Final Fours, winning the ’97 national title.

He was Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott’s college coach; I read Andre Iguodala’s book last fall, and he didn’t have many good things to say about Olson, which is too bad, seeing how Olson helped make Iguodala into a player who has earned $170M in his NBA career.

10) Jim Calhoun— He was head coach at Northeastern for 14 years (248-137) before going to UConn, where he won 629 games, three NCAA titles, making it to four Final Fours. He is still coaching; he runs St Joseph’s, a D-III team in the Nutmeg State.

Big East was a hell of a league before it broke apart; Calhoun won the regular season title ten times in Storrs, put lot of guys in the NBA. His last three years at Northeastern, he went 75-19.

9) Rick Pitino— You know a guy’s career is very complicated when he’s coached Kentucky and Louisville, the Knicks and the Celtics. He also coached in the movie Blue Chips, beating Nick Nolte’s Western U Dolphins early in the movie.

Five D-I coaching stops, he’s won 770 games, and now Iona will be the sixth team this fall. He got Providence to the ’87 Final Four, went 219-50 at Kentucky, 416-143 at Louisville, winning two national titles, in 1996, 2012.

8) Tom Izzo— Since 1976, Michigan State has had two basketball coaches; Jud Heathcoate and Izzo. In 25 years in East Lansing, Izzo is 628-241, making eight Final Fours, winning the 2000 national title, which oddly enough, is the last time a Big 14 team won a national title.

Izzo has won 10 regular season titles in the Big 14; he doesn’t get the 5-star recruits like Duke or Kentucky, but he’s had great players and he’s developed guys into great players, like Draymond Green and Mateen Cleaves. Izzo is 11-2 in his last 13 first round games in the NCAA tourney.

7) Bobby Knight— Lot of people would have him higher on this list, but he was a miserable person, a bully to the media/refs, a guy who took a lot of the joy out of the game, and that’s coming from guys who worked for him. Once the shot clock came in in the mid-80’s, he couldn’t control the game as well, and his teams regressed some.

Still, Knight had a perfect team in 1976; he won three national titles, and countless coaches around America tried to imitate him, for better or worse. He went 102-50 in six years at West Point, before heading to Indiana, where he made five Final Fours.

I talk about Blue Chips a lot on this site; the basketball scenes were filmed at a high school in Indiana. Nick Nolte spent some time around Knight’s program to get a feel for how college coaches act. The scenes where Nolte’s character flip out in the locker room aren’t fiction, they were things that Knight actually did.

He won a lot of games, so people tolerated a lot of other stuff.

6) John Calipari— You get UMass to a Final Four, you’re in the top on this list. Calipari won the 2012 national title at Kentucky, damn near won the ’08 title at Memphis, blowing a lead late and losing the national title game to Kansas, in overtime. Calipari takes some of the best freshmen in the country, wins a lot of games, watches them bolt to the NBA, then gets more freshmen.

Calipari coached the New Jersey Nets for 2+ seasons, going 43-39 the second year, but after a 3-17 start in the fall of ’99, he was told to take a hike. The guy is a great college coach:
— 193-71 at UMass
— 252-69 at Memphis
— 330-77 at Kentucky

5) Denny Crum— He was a quiet guy so his great record has slipped thru the historical cracks a little; Denny Crum was a UCLA assistant who then coached Louisville for 30 years, making six Final Fours, winning two national titles. His record with the Cardinals: 675-295.

When Crum first coached Louisville, they were in the Missouri Valley Conference; they moved up to the Metro, and later to Conference USA. Not easy coaching in the same state as Kentucky; the teams didn’t play from 1959-83, but because Crum elevated Louisville’s status so much, he forced Kentucky to play them, and it became a great pre-conference rivalry game.

4) Jerry Tarkanian— In the four years before Tark got to UNLV, the Runnin’ Rebels were 60-46, and they weren’t the Runnin’ Rebels yet.

Jerry Tarkanian’s coaching record:
— Riverside City College 143-22
— Pasadena City College 67-4
— Long Beach State 116-17
— UNLV 509-105
— Fresno State 153-80

UNLV won the 1990 national title; their 11pm/midnight games on ESPN were must-see TV, even for those of us who live in the East. I’d go to work the next day and that would be the first thing we talked about. They were great fun to watch.

Funny thing is, much like Gonzaga today, UNLV raised the profile of its competitors, since they got on national TV a decent amount. New Mexico State, Cal-Santa Barbara had terrific teams because they could recruit excellent players to compete against the Rebels, a lot like St Mary’s and BYU do with the Zags now.

3) Dean Smith— He coached the Tar Heels for 36 years, starting when I was one year old, and retiring when I was 37. He made ten Final Fours, won two national titles. He was synonymous with Tar Heel basketball, using the Four Corners offense before there was a shot clock when he had a great point guard like Phil Ford.

Smith emphasized team play so much that he was once described as “…..the only person who can hold Michael Jordan under 20 ppg”

There was a 1979 game at Duke where UNC used the 4 corners despite trailing and the game was 7-0 Duke at halftime, which is probably part of the reason the shot clock became a thing six years later. That and ESPN’s rise to popularity; no one wanted to watch a team hold the ball for 11 straight minutes.

2) Mike Krzyzewski— Played for Bobby Knight at Army, went 73-59 coaching the Cadets, then got the Duke job two years after they made the Final Four, because the previous coach was mad that Duke wouldn’t pave the coaches’ parking lot. Seriously.

Coach K is 1,084-291 at Duke after going 38-47 his first three years; Now Duke/Kentucky fight over the best high school seniors every spring, with Duke using Krzyzewski’s stature with the US Olympic team as a huge recruiting advantage.

12 Final Fours, four national titles; I feel bad for the poor soul (Bobby Hurley??) who takes over for Krzyzewski. Going to be a lot like Gene Bartow taking over at UCLA for……..

1) John Wooden— This is a list of guys from 1980 on, but John Wooden is the best college basketball coach of all time, so he had to be recognized as such, even if booster Sam Gilbert padded the wallets of various Bruin stars over the years (Bill Walton said as much publicly).

When Wooden coached, you had to win your conference just to get into the NCAA’s; Wooden won seven consecutive national titles, ten in all. He didn’t win his first national title until his 15th year in Westwood, but once he won one, he didn’t stop for a while- he won his 10 titles in his last 12 years as a coach. 

TV highlight of the day: Hoosiers was on, a 2003 A’s playoff game was on (the A’s won in 12 innings), and there was hopeful news that there may actually be a baseball season this summer. We can only hope. 

These are coaches who coached in the ESPN era, from 1980 on, except for one guy on tomorrow’s list, made an exception for him.

26) Jim Harrick— Coached for 24 years at four schools, going 470-235;
— 167-97 at Pepperdine, won four WCC titles
— 191-63 at UCLA, won ’95 national title
— 45-22 at Rhode Island, made NCAA’s both years.
— 67-53 at Georgia, made NCAA’s twice

25) Lou Carnesecca— Went 526-200 with the Redmen; you say he should win at a college in New York City, but what has St John’s won since he left? Not a lot.

Carnesecca got St John’s to the ’85 Final Four, when three Big East teams made it to Rupp Arena in Lexington, the last Final Four without a shot clock. He went 114-138 in three years coaching the ABA’s New York Nets, losing the ’72 ABA Finals to the Indiana Pacers.

24) Pete Carril— Won 11 Ivy League titles in 29 years at Princeton; he won the ’75 NIT, and was 514-261 at Princeton, where he ran an offense lot of teams around the country copied for years. Lot of movement, backdoor cuts; his ’89 Tigers lost one of the most memorable first round games in NCAA tourney history, losing 50-49 as a 22-point underdog to a very good Georgetown team.

After leaving Princeton, Carril was an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings for ten years, working for one of his former players, Kings’ GM Geoff Petrie.

23) John Beilein— Has never been an assistant coach; a lot like Jerry Tarkanian, his NBA experience was short and not so good, but Beilein has coached four D-I programs, and won at least 58.9% of his games at all four schools, making two Final Fours with Michigan.

It is one thing to win at Michigan or West Virginia, but 89-62 at Canisius, 100-53 at Richmond raise some eyebrows. Beilein may still get another chance to coach in college, we’ll see.

22) John Thompson— Went 596-239 in 27 years at Georgetown, making the Hoyas a national title as they became a Big East power. Thompson made 20 NCAA tourneys, got to three Final Fours, won the 1984 national title.

Thompson also screwed up the 1988 Olympic team, when he chose Bimbo Coles ahead of Steve Kerr, but college coaches shouldn’t coach in the Olympics. And if Hersey Hawkins hadn’t have gotten hurt at the Olympics, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. 

21) Jay Wright— Went 122-85 at Hofstra, then moved on to Villanova, made three Final Fours, won two national titles. Last seven years, Villanova is 215-38, winning national title in ’16, ‘18. 

20) Steve Fisher— Won national title as an interim coach at Michigan in 1989, then made Final Four two more times in next four seasons, before he moved on to San Diego State, which up to that point, had almost zero basketball tradition.

In 18 years leading the Aztecs, Fisher won 386 games, made eight NCAA tourneys, got a pretty nice arena built, and coached Kawhi Leonard. In total, he went 571-290 as a college head coach.

19) Eddie Sutton— Coached at five different D-I schools, won total of 806 games, with most of his success at Oklahoma State (368-151), Arkansas (260-75). Sutton made it to three Final Fours, two with the Cowboys- he also went 90-40 in four years at Kentucky.

18) Mark Few— Much like Jerry Tarkanian did at UNLV 30 years ago, Gonzaga is parlaying being the biggest fish in a small pond (WCC) into national prominence. Few has been the head coach of the Zags for 21 years now, going 599-124, making every year except this past year, when there wasn’t an NCAA Tournament (obviously, they would’ve made it)

Gonzaga made the Final Four in 2017; now they’re at the top of every transfer’s wish list- they finished in the AP top 10 five of the last six years. Check out a map; Spokane isn’t exactly near anything, except Idaho. Gonzaga has built something special at an out-of-the-way place.

17) Bill Self— You go 21-7 at Oral Roberts, you move on to Tulsa; you go 32-5 at Tulsa, you move on to Illinois; you go 25-7 at Illinois, you move on Kansas. Not too many people move on from Kansas, Roy Williams being an exception.

Self is 708-214 in his career, 501-109 in Lawrence; he’s made three Final Fours, won the 2008 national title. Kansas won 12 consecutive regular season titles in the Big X.

16) Billy Donovan— Donovan’s Gators are the last repeat NCAA champs, winning in both 2006, 2007; before the NBA came calling, Florida went 467-186 in 19 years under Donovan, making 14 NCAA tourneys, four Final Fours.

He started his head coaching career at Marshall, going 35-20 in two years there; Donovan played for Rick Pitino at Providence, leading the Friars to the 1987 Final Four.

15) Nolan Richardson— 509-207 is a pretty good record, even better when it is Tulsa, Arkansas that won all those games. Razorbacks won the ’95 national title. Richardson made it to 16 NCAA tournaments, three Final Fours. His teams won a lot and were fun to watch. 40 minutes of hell. 

Richardson went 119-37 at Tulsa, winning the NIT in his first year there; current St John’s coach Mike Anderson was his top assistant at Arkansas. He also won the 1980 junior college national title, going 37-0 with Western Texas Junior College.

14) Bob Huggins— 809 wins is a lot of wins; he went 398-128 at Cincinnati, is 291-161 at West Virginia, and still has it rolling there. He’s made 24 NCAA tournaments, making it to a couple Final Fours, in 1992, 2010. Huggins also went 97-46 at Akron, when he was a young coach. 

December 1997, I’m at a prep school tournament on a Sunday night in Siena’s gym here in Albany; I have a Cincinnati Bearcats hat on, am sitting by myself. At halftime of the first game, a guy comes up to me and says hello; it is coach Huggins, who was coaching the Bearcats at the time. We talked for 5-10 minutes; it was pretty cool. He is a good guy.

3-4 years ago, I’m at an AAU tournament in Las Vegas, and while I’m waiting to get let in, who else is sitting there waiting? Coach Huggins; I reminded him of our earlier meeting and thanked him. You wonder how many AAU games these veteran coaches have seen over the years. 

TV highlight of the day: Am watching a movie called The Departed; what a cast.
— Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin
— Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio

Very good movie. 

19 years ago, I started this blog, not knowing where it would lead. Lot of stuff has changed in the world since then, mostly good, but also some not so good. Thanks for reading every day (you DO read every day, right?), hope it makes you think some, and smile some.

Also, if it is Armadillo Day, that means it is my friend Gary’s birthday; he is a very good NFL handicapper (winning record on this site over the last nine years) and he is a funny guy. So we wish a happy 29th birthday (kind of) to the Big Dawg. 

13) Christmas Eve 2016, I’m sitting in the sports book in the Aria casino in Las Vegas, a great place to spend an NFL Sunday. I had been there for a few days already, had struck up some conversations with a pro bettor who was sitting to my left that day. The seat to the right of me was empty.

Early games are winding up; the 4:30ET games are about ten minutes away; this Asian lady, 40-ish, sits in the seat to my right. She has an overcoat on; it was cold out (30’s) that day.

This lady takes out a very thick wad of $100 bills and begins counting, right out in the open, so I count along— she has $7,700. I say, “You must be having a very good day”; she shows me two tickets on the two early games that were still going on, one for $1,500, one for $2,000. Both of those were going to be winners.

So this lady is sitting on $11,200 and has a looseleaf page ripped out of a notebook with her bets for the late games. Lot of bets, teasers and straight bets. I have my Rams wind shirt on that I wear every Sunday; she points at the Rams’ logo and says “They better not play like crap today” with a thick Asian accent.

I laugh and say, “You haven’t been paying attention; they play like crap every week”; this was the year Jeff Fisher had been fired, and John Fassel was the interim coach. Despite being a really bad team, the Rams were favored over an even worse 49ers team.

I ask who her favorite team is and she leaves with these parting words: “I no have favorite team. You have favorite team, you bet with heart. I bet to win.” And with that, she got up and left, and I never saw her again.

Rams led 21-7 in 4th quarter, blew the game 22-21, the last NFL game Colin Kaepernick won.

12) If you had your choice, which quarterback would you choose?

Quarterback A: 31 years old. Career record: 44-42-2 Playoff record: 1-2 
155 TD, 71 INT

Quarterback B: 32 years old. Career record: 28-30 Playoff record: 4-2 (0-1 Super Bowl)
72 TD’s, 30 INT

Quarterback C: 27 years old. Career record: 32-24 Playoff record:  0-1
97 TD, 35 INT

Quarterback D: 25 years old. Career record: 33-21 Playoff record: 2-2 (0-1 Super Bowl)
87 TD, 42 INT

Look thru those four resumes, and pick which guy you would want. I’ll let you know later on which guy is which

11) Lamar Jackson lost his first two playoff games with the Ravens; only two QB’s have gone on to win a Super Bowl after losing his first two playoff games- Peyton and Eli Manning.

10) Week 3 of the NFL this season is weird; no divisional games, not one.

9) Random stat of the Day: November 18, 2012; Texans beat Jacksonville 43-37 in OT; Houston QB Matt Schaub was 43-55 for 527 yards, five TD’s. Amdre Johnson caught 14 passes for 273 yards.

Saw a boxscore of this game the other day; Texans scored two TD’s in last 6:00 to tie the game. Both teams scored in OT. You wouldn’t think of Schaub as a guy to throw for 527 yards.

8) Was watching an old Seahawks game from couple years ago and their kicker got hurt, so when they kicked off, their Australian punter drop-kicked the ball, rather than kick it off a tee. Not something you see very often; he did a good job with it.

7) When Willie Mays became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1979, he got voted in the first year, but 23 people didn’t vote for him- he got 409 of 432 votes. How the bleep do you not vote for Willie Mays to get into the Hall of Fame?

6) The MLB Draft is an odd event; Rickey Henderson, Jeff Bagwell were both 4th round picks. Mike Trout was the 25th guy taken when he was drafted. Mike Piazza only got drafted because his dad was friends with Tommy Lasorda. Strange way to run a billion dollar industry.

5) Wednesday was the first time in their last 17 games that the NC Dinos didn’t score a run in the first four innings; they’ve had a potent lineup, but now their best hitter Roberto Ramos is hurt, so we’ll see how much that hurts them.

4) Doosan Bears are doing pretty well in the KBO this year; there is some urgency for them, since nine of their players are free agents this winter, so they figure to regress next season.

3) Saw a picture of the huge demonstrations in Los Angeles last weekend; lot of people. At one big intersection, there is a huge Pepsi ad on the side of a building, takes up most of the building. Wonder how much that costs?

2) Quarterback A: Kirk Cousins
Quarterback B: Colin Kaepernick
Quarterback A: Carson Wentz
Quarterback A: Jared Goff

1) Good news in Las Vegas; Top Golf is opening next Thursday the 18th, as everything on the Strip slowly begins to re-open. Hopefully people will wear masks and stay healthy. 

TV highlight of the day: Good college football day, they show lot of old SEC and ACC games. College football has changed a lot over the last 25 years.

I’m not ranking these, just listing them alphabetically; I enjoyed all these movies, most of which only show up on TV now and then.

13) 21— A fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for a lot of money playing blackjack, before one casino caught on.

Kevin Spacey teaches the team how to work together to win so much money; Laurence Fishburne is one of the guys trying to discourage card counters from working together.

12) Begin Again (2013)— A disgraced music-business executive (Mark Ruffalo) and a young singer-songwriter (Kara Knightley), new to Manhattan, join into a promising collaboration, using New York City as the background. James Corden is great in this as the young singer’s friend from back home.

11) The Bodyguard (1992)— A former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) takes on the job of bodyguard to an R&B singer (Whitney Houston), whose lifestyle is most unlike a President’s.

10) Bulworth (1998)— A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician (Warren Beatty) puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by talking in rhymes during his interviews/speeches. He then falls for a woman (Halle Berry) who is the hitman that was hired to kill him.

There is a lot that is funny in this movie, and a lot that, 22 years later, still reflects the issues our country is having now. Jack Warden, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino; excellent cast.

9) Good Will Hunting (1997)— A janitor at MIT has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Every time I watch this movie, I feel so bad that while Robin Williams made so many people laugh, he died way too early/tragically. He was so funny, such a good actor.

8) The Hangover (2009)— Three buddies wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas, with no memory of the previous night and with the bachelor missing. They make their way around the city in order to find their friend before his wedding.

They made two sequels; Hangover II isn’t good, it is basically the same script as the original, except it is set in Thailand, not Las Vegas. Hangover III is pretty funny.

7) Last Vegas (2013)— Four senior citizen friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal.

Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen; this is an excellent movie, but hasn’t been on in a while.

6) Let It Ride (1989)— A nosy cab driver (Richard Dreyfuss) gets a hot tip on a racehorse and wins big, but he can’t seem to stop gambling, and he has a very good day. Teri Garr plays his frustrated wife.

If you’ve ever hung around a racetrack, this movie, while a farce, will ring a lot of bells; it is very funny. Jennifer Tilly and David Johansen are very good in supporting roles.

5) Little Big League (1994)— The owner of the Minnesota Twins (Jason Robards) passes away and leaves the team to his 12-year old grandson. The grandson fires the overly critical manager (Dennis Farina) and names himself manager, which raises eyebrows.

4) Love Actually (2003)— The lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

Hugh Grant is the Prime Minister, Emma Thompson is his sister, Billy Bob Thornton is the US President. If you need a pick-me-up movie, this is mostly it.

3) Molly’s Game (2017)— The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target. Idris Elba is great as her lawyer. 

This movie actually picks up where the book left off, which is an interesting twist. Kevin Costner has a smallish role as Molly Bloom’s father.

2) This Where I Leave You (2014)— When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

When my dad passed away five years ago, I came home from the funeral, put the TV on and this was the first thing that was on, which was eerie- I had never seen it. Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Connie Britton, Corey Stoll, a very good cast.

1) Up In the Air (2009)— Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, travelling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest (Vera Farmiga), and a new hire (Anna Kendrick).

TV highlight of the day: Good night for basketball fans:
— Blue Chips, Hoosiers were both on
— ESPNU ran a bunch of old college games: NC State-UNC, Washington-UCLA were two that I watched. 

13) The Rookie— Real-life story of a Texas high school baseball coach who makes the major leagues after agreeing to try out if his high school team made the playoffs. Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) got into 21 games over two seasons with Tampa Bay, as a lefty specialist.

The scene where the AAA manager tells Jim Morris is going up to the major leagues is one of my all-time favorite movie scenes.

12) Rocky— Very famous movie about a small-time boxer getting a rare chance to fight a heavy-weight champion in a bout in which his main goal is to go the distance, for his own self-respect.

Lot of sequels to this movie; Rocky III is my favorite of all of them, but the last fight scene in Rocky II, when Rocky wins the title, is really well done.

11) Brian’s Song— This was an ABC Tuesday Night Movie of the Week, a made-for-TV movie that became a huge hit. The movie tells the story of the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.

I was 11 when I saw this for the first time; I’m pretty sure it was the first time I cried during a movie. When Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) gives a speech at the end of the movie, dedicating his award to Piccolo (James Caan), it is just a very, very touching scene.

10) Draft Day— GM of the Cleveland Browns has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with NFL dreams.

NFL stumbled onto a gold mine because of this movie; they delayed the draft a couple weeks in 2014 to promote this movie, but then Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available for the new date, so they moved the draft to another city- they soon realized that this was a great idea, and now they do it every year.

9) Invincible— Based on the true story of Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), a 30-year-old bartender from south Philadelphia who overcame long odds to play for the Philadelphia Eagles for three years in the 70’s.

They take some liberties during the movie with the actually football scenes, but as the credits roll at the end, they show the actual plays as they unfolded.

8) Bull Durham— I waver constantly between this movie and Major League, as to which I like better, but I like both of them. Hard to believe they were both made over 30 years ago.

Kevin Costner plays an older minor league catcher whose job it is to home the talents of a young, hot-shot pitcher (Tim Robbins), while both of them try to win the heart of a baseball groupie (Susan Sarandon).

7) Major League— The new owner of the Cleveland Indians purposely puts together a horrible team, so they’ll lose, attendance will tank and she can move the team to Miami (why???), but the team starts winning just to spite her.

Bob Uecker is the Indians’ radio announcer in this movie, which was mostly filmed in Milwaukee, where Uecker works for the Brewers in real life. Uecker is so great as Harry Doyle, I’m only half-joking when I say he should’ve gotten an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

6) One on One— This movie came out when I was a senior in high school; I walked to the theater after school one day, and liked the movie so much I started running home, until I realized it was more than a mile away, so I wised up and walked home, but I loved this movie.

Henry Steele (Robby Benson) is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he gets a scholarship to a D-I school in the big city, he soon realizes that he has few skills outside basketball, plus the coach hates how he plays.

Basketball scenes were filmed in Colorado State’s Moby Gymnasium, where the Rams still play their home games. GD Spradlin plays Coach Smith; he was also Tom Landry-type coach in North Dallas Forty.

5) Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino plays an aging pro football coach whose team struggles, which causes the new owner (Cameron Diaz) to make his life unpleasant.

Miami Sharks play four games in this movie; the opponents were all coached by NFL Hall of Famers; YA Tittle, Bob Sinclair, Dick Butkus, John Unitas. Barry Switzer, Oliver Stone are the TV announcers most of the time. Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor are also in the movie.

4) For Love of the Game— Kevin Costner is an aging star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who finds out he is going to get traded, just before his last start of the season. A series of flashbacks follow during the game, where of course, he pitches a perfect game and gets the girl at the end.

John C Reilly is great as the Tigers’ catcher, who is basically Billy Chapel’s personal catcher as they both near retirement; JK Simmons plays the Tigers’ manager; he is a Tigers’ fan in real life.

3) Blue Chips— A college basketball coach (Nick Nolte) is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive. This movie was filmed in a high school gym in Indiana, which seats about 8,000 people. Guys who made the movie wanted to pay people to sit in the stands during the basketball scenes; they were quickly told that people would gladly do it for free.

Bob Cousy plays Western U’s athletic director; he has a scene in the beginning of the movie where he shoots free throws while he talks to Coach Bell (Nolte). Done in one take, Cousy makes ten free throws in a row, while in a shirt and tie, at age 65.

2) Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan plays the manager of a Manhattan deli who is a huge basketball fan and is offered the coaching job at a small Nevada college. He brings some players with him, giving him a talented nucleus— one of them is a young lady playing in disguise.

In order to get the job permanently, he has to beat the number one team in the country; there are couple scenes in this movie that wouldn’t fly today, not politically correct, but the basic idea of a guy who runs a deli becoming a big time hoop coach made this an excellent movie.

Besides, two of the players coach Greene brought to Cadwallader U were played by Bernard King and Michael Warren, two pretty good ballplayers in real life.

1) Moneyball— I’ve been an A’s fan since 1965; what did you expect?

Movie is an offshoot of Michael Lewis’ fine book, which describes Billy Beane’s successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a small budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

I still remember when Miguel Tejada hit a walk-off homer for the A’s 18th consecutive win that year; I went out on the front lawn and did some weird kind of dance in celebration, as my dad stared at me in disbelief- I was deliriously happy. Every time they show Tejada’s homer in the movie, it brings me back to that moment, a pleasant memory.

TV highlight of the day: First round of the MLB Draft; too bad the geniuses can’t find a way to play baseball games. That would be a real highlight. 

26) North Dallas Forty— A semi-fictional account of life with the Dallas Cowboys in the early ‘70s; based on a book written by Pete Gent, who played WR for the Cowboys.

Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Bo Swenson, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman; quality cast.

25) Youngblood— A 17 year old farm boy is offered a hockey tryout; his brother drives him to Canada to try out. The kid is skilled, but doesn’t like to fight; he has fast legs, slow fists, but he makes the team, and because he is Rob Lowe, he dates the coach’s daughter.

Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves are two of his teammates; Youngblood’s dad is played by Eric Nesterenko, who in real life, played in the NHL/WHA for 23 years.

24) Breaking Away— An Indiana teenager who is obsessed with the Italian cycling team tries to win the heart of a college girl; he and his townie friends try to beat the college kids in a bicycle race, which is an uphill battle.

Paul Dooley is great as the kid’s father; Dennis Quad plays one of the kid’s friends, so does the guy who was Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears.

23) Caddyshack— An exclusive country club has problems with a brash new member (Rodney Dangerfield) and a mischievous bunch of gophers. 

Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Dangerfield, Ted Knight. Some of the guys I went to college with knew every line of the movie by heart, and watched it often. 

22) A League of Their Own— Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry. Tom Hanks is the manager. Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna are two of the players.

21) Love & Basketball— A young man, young lady grow up next door to each other in Los Angeles, and both become college basketball players.

The guy from the Allstate commercials (Serrano in Major League) is the young man’s dad who also played in the NBA. Alfre Woodard is the young lady’s mother.

20) The Replacements— During a pro football strike, the owners hire substitute players, one of whom is Keanu Reeves. Gene Hackman is the team’s coach, Jack Warden the owner; they even had Pat Summerall, John Madden announcing the team’s games.

19) Heaven Can Wait— Not really a football movie, but……
— Rams win the Super Bowl in this movie, at a time when I wasn’t really sure if they would ever win the Super Bowl in real life.
— Jack Warden is the trainer of the Rams; Jack Warden was freakin’ awesome.
— When this movie came out, I got a theater poster from someone and had it on my bedroom wall. It is still upstairs somewhere.

18) The Bad News Bears— An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California Little League.

Walter Matthau is brilliant as the sarcastic coach; his best pitcher is a girl (Tatum O’Neal), he recruits his best player the the kid runs his motorbike around the Little League complex.

Bears were sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds, I always remember that.

17) He Got Game— The father (Denzel Washington) of a highly sought-after high school basketball star (Ray Allen) has to convince his son to go to a certain college so he can get a shorter jail sentence; the governor went to Big State- the warden (Ned Beatty) explains that to the father, before he gets a work release to try and convince his son.

Jim Brown plays a probation officer keeping his eye on the father; John Turturro is the coach at Tech U, which is also trying to recruit the son. Underrated movie.

John Turturro also plays Joey Knish in Rounders; very good actor.

16) Hoosiers— A coach with a checkered past (Gene Hackman) coaches a small town high school basketball team to become a contender for the Indiana state championship; one of his assistant coaches (Dennis Hopper) is the town drunk, the father of one of the players.

The coach is about to get fired when the team’s star player, who had been sitting out, decides to play again; he wants the coach to stay, and because its the movies, the teams keeps winning, even though the coach always seems to want the star to be a decoy on key plays. Even the drunk guy knows that Jimmy should take all the big shots.

15) The Natural— An unknown slugger comes out of nowhere to become a big hitter for the New York Knights, making the Knights a contender.

This movie was filmed at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, where the Bills played before Rich Stadium was built.

14) Little Big League— Owner of the Minnesota Twins died unexpectedly, leaves the team to his 12-year old grandson, who winds up firing the manager and naming himself to the job. Believe me, this movie is a lot better than it sounds. The scenes in the first 25:00 with the grandfather and the kid are very well done.

TV highlight of the day:
Magnum PI episode with Frank Sinatra was on today.

Chris the Bartender’s favorite bands/musicians:
1. Elvis Presley:
The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis had it all.  The talent, the looks, and the charisma. Elvis started it all

2. The Beatles:
Like Elvis, The Beatles had it all.  Started the second revolution of Rock and Roll.

A quote I once heard “The world would have been a different world with no Beatles music”

3. Pink Floyd:
People say you learn things from your older brother.  Pink Floyd is definitely one.  Iconic albums.  There is a reason Dark Side of the Moon was on the charts for over 15 years.  I’ve been listening to them for over 30 years

4. Bruce Springsteen:
Springsteen can write lyrics that speak to the soul.

Best concert I ever saw was at Vernon Downs.  Springsteen played for over 4 hours

5. Michael Jackson:  
The King of Pop. Jackson was so talented. Thriller is one of my favorite albums to this day 

6. Elton John:
Elton John music could be the soundtrack of people’s lives  Tiny Dancer is one of my top 5 songs of all time 

7. The Eagles:
I remember “borrowing” my father’s cassette of their greatest hits I played the hell out of that tape. He never got the cassette back 

8. Dire Straits:
Another group I got from my brother. Mark Knopler is one of the greatest guitarist of all time  I must have bought their Brothers in Arms album 10 different times.  

9. Phil Collins:
Amazing talent both solo and with Genesis  spent most of the 90’s listening to him. In the air tonight is always cranked up when it’s on

10. Prince:
Another amazing talent that died too soon. Another amazing guitarist   Purple Rain top 10 album

11.  Bob Seger:
Great songwriter. Turn the Page is a powerful song. Night Moves is a perfect coming of age song 

12 Triumph:
Another one of my brother’s influences. Very thankful he turned me on to them

13. David Bowie :
Discovered Bowie on my own. Bowie was extremely progressive and talented. Another one who left us too soon

Now on to Gary’s favorites; Gary is Chris’ father-in-law. Chris’ list is very mainstream; Gary’s list is more eclectic and is all over the place.

1. The Clash
2. Bob Dylan
3. Thelonious Monk
4. Bela Fleck
5. Yo La Tengo ( great Mets reference )
6. John Coltrane
7. Howlin Wolf
8. Wilco
9. Johnny Cash
10. Lucinda Williams 
11. The Beatles 
12. The Rolling Stones
13. Otis Redding

13) Vada Pinson:
— Had 2,757 hits in 18 years, mostly for Cincinnati
— From 1959-67, he played in 154+ games every year.
— Led NL in hits twice, doubles twice, triples twice, runs scored once.
— Arguably the best player not in the Hall of Fame.

12) Octavio Dotel— July 1999, Dotel is a rookie for the Mets; he is pitching on a Saturday afternoon against the Cubs. I’m in my dad’s hospital room; he had cancer surgery four days earlier, and now, the nurse is struggling with one of the tubes in his right arm.

My dad lets out a yell, the nurse jumps and asks if she hurt him. He waves his left arm and says “Its not you. The Cubs have the bases loaded.”

Got up, went up and got a Coke out of a vending machine and stopped worrying about him.

— Played for 13 different teams, in a 15-year career.
— Was with Astros for five years; didn’t play more than two years for anyone else.
— Started 30 games his first two years, started only four more games in his career. He wound up with 109 saves.
— Made the playoffs five times, for five different teams.

11) Al Oliver
— One of the most underrated hitters ever: hit .303 in an 18-year career.
— Made All-Star Game seven times.
— Played 10 years for the Pirates, then bounced around to six other teams.
— Led NL in RBI’s in 1982, when he was 35.

10) Tommy John: He actually had two different careers:
— 1963-74 , before the surgery: 124-106
— 1975— Sat out entire season
— 1976-89, after the surgery: 164-125
— From 1977-82- Made playoffs five times in six years, his only playoff appearances.

9) Nolan Ryan
— Threw seven no-hitters, with last one coming at age 44. 
— Spent 27 years in majors; pitched in ’69 World Series at age 22, but never got back.
— Led AL in strikeouts four years in row from 1987-90, at ages 37-40.
— How the hell did someone this good lose 292 games (324-292)?

8) Jamie Quirk
— Played 18 years in majors, batted 250+ times in only one season.
— Played for eight teams, playing 11 years in Kansas City.
— Made playoffs four times, winning a ring with ’85 Royals.
— .645 career OPS; he must’ve been a good receiver.

7) Mike Morgan
— Morgan started a game against the Orioles three days after his high school graduation, at age 18. He lost 3-0 on a Sunday afternoon.
— Wound up lasting 22 years in the majors, for 12 different teams.
— In 1991-92, he went a combined 30-16 for Dodgers/Cubs, his best stretch.
— Made playoffs twice, with ’98 Cubs, ’01 Diamondbacks.

6) Matt Stairs
— Played 19 years in the majors for 12 different teams.
— Hit 265 home runs, had career OPS of .832.
— Played five years for the A’s, only team he played with for more than 3 years.
— Won a World Series ring with the 2008 Phillies. 

5) Jose Vizcaino
— Played 18 years in majors for eight different teams.
— 434 games at 2B, 226 at 3B, 947 at short, 355 as a pinch-hitter.
— Never made an All-Star Game, but earned $26M in his career.
— Made playoffs six times, three times with Houston. 

4) Gary Sheffield
— Played 22 years in big leagues, for eight teams.
— Hit 509 homers, had a career OPS of .905.
— Hit .312, had .998 OPS in four years with Dodgers.
— Made nine All-Star Games, played in playoffs six years.

3) Gaylord Perry
— Played for eight teams in his 22-year career.
— Went 314-265 in his career, with 303 complete games.
— Went 21-6 for the ’78 Padres, when he was 39 years old.
— Wrote a book in 1974; Me and the Spitter. He admitted he cheated.

2) Bartolo Colon
— Was the last active major leaguer who had played for the Montreal Expos.
— Once threw 38 consecutive strikes in a game at Anaheim.
— Played for 21 years with 11 different teams; he spent six years in Cleveland.
— Went 247-188 our his career, made four All-Star Games

1) Rickey Henderson
— All-time greatest base stealer, with 1,406 stolen bases.
— Played 25 years in majors for nine teams; he played 14 years in his hometown of Oakland, in four different stints.
— Led off 81 games with home runs, 27 more than anyone else.
— Had a career on-base %age of .401; in 1990, he had a .439 OB%. 

It dawned on me today that I have a lot of books in my house, and I’ve read just about all of them, but most of them I read a long time ago; these days, I’m re-reading bits and pieces of them, and that has worked pretty well.

Today I’m reading “Ace on the River” a book written by the great poker player Barry Greenstein in 2005. If you like to gamble in general, or specifically play poker, there is a lot of wisdom in this book, some of which I’m going to share with you today.

Here are some of the characteristics that Barry Greenstein says “….separate winning poker players from losing players”

— Have a good sense of humor— Winning players have learned to tolerate bad beats that happen. A gallows’ sense of humor may help them endure the bad times.

— The best players must be able to talk their way into good situations and should be gracious to losing players. There are times when they have to be able to speak up for their own best interest. Being able to talk is a plus, and so is knowing when to be quiet.

— Winning players have to formulate strategies and change them when they’re not working. Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one’s environment; an intelligent player knows how to use information to his maximum advantage.

— Most winning poker players are quiet during each hand and maintain the proverbial poker face. Even after losing a hand, they don’t show their disappointment.

— Winning poker players have memorized basic strategy; they remember what worked in the past, and what didn’t. They have a mental catalogue of every opponent’s playing style and idiosyncrasies.

— Winning players aren’t afraid to pull the trigger; they aren’t afraid to make the right play, even if it is risky. They also realize that there is a fine line between being bold and being reckless.

— Even if a good player’s results have been bad, he will continue to make decisions that he believes are the right ones.

— If a game is far more lucrative than usual, a good player will not quit, especially if he is winning. He looks at this as an opportunity to make enough money so he won’t have to work as long on occasions when the game isn’t as juicy.

— Many winning poker players are very scrappy; some were refugees from other countries. They know life isn’t always fair, and they’re used to fighting to survive. They expect obstacles and believe they can overcome them. In the Darwinian sense, winning players are survivors of the poker battle.

— Winning players don’t take anyone’s advice without thinking about it first. Plenty of bad advice is readily available; they don’t submit to peer pressure that will lead them down the bumpy path the majority has followed.

— Winning players are usually big tippers; they don’t place a high value on money because it comes so easily at times that it doesn’t hurt to give some of it away. They are respectful of people who work hard for their money.

— Winning players pay great attention to detail; they remember each pot, how many players were in it, who raised, who had the key cards, who hesitated at key moments.

— Psychologically tough— The best don’t give in, no matter how severe the psychological beating. Psychologically tough players have the mindset that they can win in any situation and can overcome anything. You cannot judge a player until you see how he handles adversity.

Again, the book is “Ace on the River”, written by Barry Greenstein. If you can find it online or in a bookstore, you’ll learn a lot from it. 

When I was a kid, we had to do book reports for school; read a book, then write a report on it, to prove we read it, I guess. This is my first book report since 8th grade.

My birthday is right around Christmas; when I was 12, my dad gave me a book, The Open Man, written by the Knicks’ Dave DeBusschere, a diary of the Knicks’ 1969-70 championship season, when they won their first NBA title.

This was the first real book I ever read; it grabbed my attention and I basically ignored the rest of the week until I finished the book. The nucleus of the Knicks was still mostly intact, so this was good stuff, and I devoured every word. A lot of my enthusiasm for basketball got its start from reading this book. 

Now it is 2020, our current life is at a standstill, so this weekend I re-read The Open Man; brought back lot of memories, but boy, a million things have changed since 1970. Maybe more than a million.

— The current Madison Square Garden opened in 1968; DeBusschere scored the first basket there, but he was playing for Detroit then. Knicks traded for him during the ’68-’69 season; he was the missing link, a solid defender, a glue guy who made the Knicks a championship contender, the hottest ticket in town.

— DeBusschere was player/coach of the Pistons when he was 24; he also pitched for the White Sox, when being a two-sport athlete was possible. He is pretty honest in this book; he makes fun of his wife’s cooking a lot, pokes fun at Bill Bradley (his roommate on the road), and explains how draining it is to be a starter in the NBA.

— Back then, players roomed two-to a-room on the road; now? Not so much.

— In 1963, the White Sox had to decide whether to protect DeBusschere in a waiver draft, or another pitcher named Denny McLain- they let McLain walk.

McLain won 31 games in 1967, 24 more in ’68 for the Detroit Tigers, and DeBusschere quit baseball, which helps explain why the White Sox have sucked for a long time. Of course, McLain later wound up in prison because of off-field issues, so there’s that.

— Keep in mind, the NBA then wasn’t like it is now; light years different
a) Back then, the minimum salary was $13,500; now, it is $898,310
b) Teams didn’t have their own airplanes, and they often played three nights in a row, in three different cities.
c) These days, Steph Curry makes $500,000 a game; lot of stars don’t play the second night of a back/back, even of they’re not hurt. There was no load management in 1970.

— This season, the Lakers have seven assistant coaches, two video coordinators; in 1970, the Knicks had a head coach (Red Holzman), a scout (Dick McGuire) who wasn’t with the team much- their trainer (Danny Whelan) did a lot of game management-type stuff. They practiced in a cold, cruddy old gym called Lost Battalion, which DeBusschere complains about constantly in the book. Teams have their own practice facilities now; they’re really nice.

— The book is a running diary of the season; the starters played a lot during preseason games; that doesn’t happen anymore.

— One preseason game in Bangor, Maine was sponsored by Celtics’ player Don Nelson, who put up the money to hold the game, and pocketed whatever profits there were. Nelson went on to be a very good head coach in the NBA, with the Bucks/Warriors.

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a rookie that season; he got the Bucks to the Eastern Conference finals in his first season, which was the second season in Bucks’ history. Interesting to read how DeBusschere describes him as the season goes on.

In a November 1st regular season game, Kareen played the whole 48:00; don’t think anything like that would happen these days, or else……..

— There was no 3-point line back then; getting shots close to the basket was the premium, so big guys had much bigger rebound totals than they do now. Missed 3-pointers give out longer rebounds, so these days big guys get fewer rebounds.

— The ABA was going on at this time, so lot of prominent players didn’t cross paths with the Knicks that year. When his playing days were over, DeBusschere became commissioner of the ABA, before it folded and four of its teams joined the NBA.

— In 1970, if you got fouled while shooting, and the other team was over the limit, you got three free throws to make two, a terrible rule.

— Oscar Robertson played for the Cincinnati Royals that year, coached by Hall of Famer Bob Cousy; weird thing is, after the Bucks lost to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference final, they traded for Oscar, before the Knicks-Lakers series even started.

— DeBusschere wasn’t that glowing when talking about Baltimore Bullets’ star Earl Monroe, who was a great scorer; he criticized his passing/defense, which must’ve been awkward a couple years later, when the Knicks acquired Monroe. Earl the Pearl helped the Knicks win their 2nd (and last) title, in 1973.

— Bullets, by the way, became the Washington Bullets, and eventually Washington Wizards years later.

— There were no NBA teams in Portland, Cleveland, Dallas, Sacramento; there were almost no international players; DeBusschere complains that the Knicks went 4-9 on national TV that year, even when they won the title. Nowadays, every freakin’ game in available nation-wide.

— Playing for a winning team in New York back then had its advantages; celebrities like Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford sat behind the Knicks bench, much like Spike Lee sits across from he bench now.

DeBusschere tells the story of playing the Phoenix Suns in Utah, before the Jazz existed; after the game, he and Bill Bradley go to Redford’s home in the snowy hills, making the last couple miles of the trip on snowmobiles.

Cocktail parties with rich and famous people were the norm, and still are, especially when you’re winning.

— His persoanl matchups with stars like Elgin Baylor, Gus Johnson, Connie Hawkins were fun to read about. Teams played against each other more, so the players knew each other’s tendencies much better. Lot of physical play.

— Reading this book was fun, brought back lot of memories, and now that the NBA may be starting up in Orlando next month, motivated me to get my NBA notebook ready. Pretty soon there will be live basketball on TV again, and that is a good thing. 

Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens (moved to Baltimore in 1996)
— Otto Graham— 57-13-1 as Cleveland’s QB, won three NFL titles.
— Joe Flacco— Won a Super Bowl, also threw ball for 38,245 yards.
— Lamar Jackson— Won 19 of first 24 starts, but is 0-2 in playoff games.
— Brian Sipe— Threw for 23,713 yards, went 57-55 before jumping to USFL.

Buffalo Bills
— Jim Kelly— Four straight AFC titles, threw for 35,467 yards- helluva run.
— Joe Ferguson— Threw for 27,590 yards, handed off to OJ a lot. 1-3 in playoffs.
— Jack Kemp— 43-31-3 with the Bills; went 22-6 with the Chargers.
— Doug Flutie— 21-9 with Buffalo, 38-28 overall in NFL; also played in USFL, CFL.

Cincinnati Bengals
— Ken Anderson— 91-81 with Bengals is impressive; threw for 32,838 yards.
— Boomer Esiason— 62-61 in Cincinnati; threw for 27,149 yards, won an AFC title.
— Andy Dalton— 70-61-2 in regular season with Bengals, 0-4 in playoff games.
— Carson Palmer— Threw for 22,694 yards with Bengals; went 38-21-1 in Arizona.

Cleveland Browns
— Tim Couch— Went 8-6 for Browns in 2002, but didn’t play in playoff game.
— Baker Mayfield— 12-17 with Browns; too bad he doesn’t play as well as he talks.
— Derek Anderson— 16-18 in Cleveland from 2006-09; lasted 13 years in NFL.
— Brian Hoyer— 10-6 with Browns; 38 career starts in 11 years.

Denver Broncos
— John Elway— 14-7 in playoff games; I think he’s the best QB ever.
— Peyton Manning— Went 45-12 with Denver, won two AFC titles.
— Craig Morton— Went 41-23 with Broncos, got Denver to first Super Bowl
— Jake Plummer— 39-15 as Denver’s starter, retired at age 32.

Houston Texans
— Deshaun Watson— 24-13 in three years with the Texas.
— Matt Schaub— Went 46-42 in Houston, threw for 23,221 yards.
— David Carr— Got pummeled as QB of the expansion Texans (22-53).
— Brock Osweiler— 8-6 in one year with Texans, 15-15 overall in NFL.

Indianapolis Colts
— Johnny Unitas— 117-60-4 with Colts, won three NFL titles.
— Peyton Manning— 141-67 with Colts, threw for 54,828 yards.
— Andrew Luck— Went 53-33 with Indy before his early retirement.
— Earl Morrall— Won 24 of 28 Colt starts, including 16-7 loss in SB III.

Jacksonville Jaguars
— Mark Brunell— 63-54 in Jacksonville, 24 more wins than any other Jaguar QB.
— David Garrard— 39-37 for Jaguars, threw for 16,003 yards,
— Byron Leftwich— 24-20 with Jags, is now Brady’s OC in Tampa Bay.
— Blake Bortles— Started for five years in Jacksonville, was backup for Rams LY.

Kansas City Chiefs
— Len Dawson— 93-56-8 with Chiefs, started 2 of first 4 Super Bowls.
— Patrick Mahomes— 24-7 with Chiefs, won KC’s first Super Bowl in 50 years.
— Trent Green— 48-40 for Chiefs, threw ball for 21,459 yards.
— Alex Smith— Underrated career; 50-26 in KC, 94-66-1 overall.

Los Angeles Chargers
— Dan Fouts— Threw for 43,040 yards, playing in a more defense-friendly era.
— Philip Rivers— 128-107 in San Diego, only 5-6 in playoff games- he threw 411 TD passes.
— John Hadl— Wore #21, threw for 26,938 yards, also coached in the USFL.
— Stan Humphries— 47-29 for Chargers, led San Diego to their only Super Bowl.

Miami Dolphins
— Dan Marino— Threw for 61,361 yards, 420 TD’s, but never won a Super Bowl.
— Bob Greise— 92-56-3 with Miami, won two Super Bowls.
— Jay Fiedler— 36-23 in Miami from 2000-04, only 1-2 in playoff games.
— David Woodley— 27-12-1 with Dolphins, led them to a Super Bowl.

New England Patriots
— Tom Brady— Won six Super Bowls, threw 614 TD passes.
— Steve Grogan— Went 75-60 with Patriots, led them to Super Bowl in 1985.
— Drew Bledsoe— Threw for 29,657 yards, 166 TD’s; also played for Bills, Cowboys.
— Babe Parilli— 44-32-7 for Boston Patriots in early AFL days; they played at Fenway.

New Jersey Jets
— Joe Namath— Won Super Bowl III, was only 62-62-1 as Jets’ QB, hampered by a bad knee.
— Ken O’Brien— Threw for 24,386 yards, 124 TD’s.
— Mark Sanchez— 33-29 in regular season, went 4-2 in playoff games.
— Chad Pennington— 32-29 as a starter, also won a couple playoff games.

Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders
— Ken Stabler— 69-26-1 for Oakland in 70’s; won their first Super Bowl title.
— Daryle Lamonica— 62-16-6 for Raiders, was Oakland’s QB in Super Bowl II.
— Jim Plunkett— 38-19 for Oakland, winning two Super Bowls. 8-2 in playoff games.
— Rich Gannon— 45-29 for Raiders, 37-18 from 2000-02; was 4-3 in playoff games.

Pittsburgh Steelers
— Terry Bradshaw— Won four Super Bowls in six years; was 107-51-1 for Steelers.
— Ben Roethlisberger— Has thrown for 56,545 yards, won two Super Bowls.
— Neil O’Donnell— 39-22 for Pittsburgh in early 90’s; lost Super Bowl XXX to Dallas.
— Kordell Stewart— 48-31 for Steelers in late 90’s, only 2-2 in playoff games.

Tennessee Titans
— Warren Moon— Threw for 33,685 yards for Oilers, was 27-13 from 1990-92.
— Steve McNair— 76-55 with Titans, got them within yard of OT in Super Bowl XXXIV
— George Blanda— Won first two AFL titles with Oilers, kicked in NFL until he was 48. 
— Dan Pastorini— Was Oilers’ QB in Bum Phillips era; was also their punter for five years. 

St Louis/Arizona Cardinals
— Jim Hart— Was  87-88-5 as starter, 40 more wins than any Cardinal QB.
— Neil Lomax— Threw for 22,711 yards, 136 TD’s.
— Charley Johnson— Went 36-28-5 as a starter, from 1961-69.
— Carson Palmer— Went 38-21-1 as Arizona’s starter, from 2013-17.

Atlanta Falcons
— Matt Ryan— 109-90 with Falcons, twice as many wins as any other QB.
— Steve Bartkowski— Threw for 23,470 yards, 154 TD’s.
— Michael Vick— Went 38-28-1 in Atlanta, a great dual threat.
— Chris Chandler— Led Falcons to their first Super Bowl, in 1998.

Carolina Panthers
— Cam Newton— Threw for 29,041 yards, led Carolina to a Super Bowl.
— Jake Delhomme— 53-37 with the Panthers, threw for 19,258 yards.
— Kerry Collins— 22-20 for expansion Panthers, in their first four years.
— Steve Beuerlein— 23-28 here; only four QB’s won more than 8 games for Carolina.

Chicago Bears
— Jim McMahon— Went 46-15 as QB of great Bear teams in the 80’s.
— Jim Harbaugh— Took over for McMahon, went 35-30, threw for 11,567 yards.
— Jay Cutler— Threw for 23,433 yards, most in Chicago history.
— Bill Wade— QB of ’63 NFL champs; went 27-20-2 with Bears.
I didn’t include Sid Luckman on this list, because he played so long ago (1939-50), but I probably should have; he at least deserves a mention. 

Dallas Cowboys
— Roger Staubach— Went 85-29 as Cowboys’ QB, from 1969-79.
— Troy Aikman— Won three Super Bowls, threw for 32,942 yards.
— Tony Romo— 78-49 in regular season, only 2-4 in playoff games.
— Don Meredith— 47-32-4 when Dallas first became good, in the 60’s.

Detroit Lions
— Bobby Layne— Won consecutive titles as Detroit’s QB in ’52, ’53.
— Greg Landry— 40-41-3 as Lions’ QB, for 1968-78
— Matthew Stafford— 41,025 passing yards, no playoff wins (0-2)
— Scott Mitchell— 27-30 as Lions’ QB, from 1994-98.

Green Bay Packers
— Bart Starr— 9-1 in playoff games, won five NFL titles.
— Brett Favre— 160-93 in Green Bay, threw for 61,655 yards.
— Aaron Rodgers— Packer fans aren’t spoiled, are they?
— Lynn Dickey— Threw for 21,369 yards on sub-par Green Bay teams.

Los Angeles Rams
— Kurt Warner— Hall of Famer won Super Bowl XXXIV.
— Norm Van Brocklin— Went 42-20-3, won ’51 NFL title for Rams.
— Roman Gabriel— 74-39-6 as LA’s QB in the 60’s.
— Jared Goff— 35-16 as the Rams’ QB the last three years.

Minnesota Vikings
— Fran Tarkenton— Went 91-73-6, won four NFC titles.
— Tommy Kramer— Thew for 24,775 yards, went 54-56 in Minnesota.
— Brad Johnson— Went 28-18 for Vikings, won Super Bowl in Tampa Bay.
— Daunte Culpepper—- 17 Viking QB’s have won 10+ games; they switch QB’s a lot.

New Jersey Giants
— Eli Manning— Won two Super Bowls, threw for 57,023 yards.
— Phil Simms— 95-64 with the Giants, threw for 33,462 yards.
— YA Tittle— Went 32-13-3 in early 60’s; was one of opposing coaches in Any Given Sunday.
— Charlie Conerly— 57-31-1 as QB of the Giants in the 50’s.

New Orleans Saints
— Drew Brees— 65,068 passing yards, 467 TD’s, a Super Bowl title
— Bobby Hebert— 49-26 while leading the Jim Mora-era Saints.
— Aaron Brooks— Threw for 19,156 yards, 120 TD’s in 82 starts (38-44).
— Archie Manning— Played for terrible Saints teams; I heard he has three sons. 

Philadelphia Eagles
— Donovan McNabb— 92-49-1 in Philly, threw for 32,873 yards, 216 TD’s.
— Randall Cunningham— 63-43-1 with the Eagles; once had a 91-yard punt.
— Ron Jaworski— Threw for 26,963 yards, led Eagles to their first Super Bowl.
— Nick Foles— Only 25-13 for Eagles, but he won then a Super Bowl.

San Francisco 49ers
— Joe Montana— 100-39 as a starter, won four Super Bowls.
— Steve Young— 91-33 in regular season with 49ers, won one Super Bowl.
— John Brodie— Threw for 31,548 yards in era when passing wasn’t a big thing.
— Jimmy Garoppolo— 19-5 in his first 24 games, won NFC title last year.

Seattle Seahawks
— Russell Wilson— 86-41-1 as a starter, won a Super Bowl, almost won two.
— Dave Kreig— 70-49-1 as a starter, threw for 26,132 yards.
— Matt Hasselbeck— 69-62 as a starter, got Seahawks to their first Super Bowl.
— Jim Zorn— Mobile lefty QB’d the expansion Seahawks, threw 107 TD’s.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
— Doug Williams— 33-33-1 with Bucs; they were 2-26 before he got there.
— Brad Johnson— 26-23 with Bucs, won them their only Super Bowl.
— Trent Dilfer— 38-38 in Tampa, then won a Super Bowl for Baltimore.
— Jameis Winston— 28-42 as a starter, threw for 19,737 yards- they let him walk.

Washington Redskins
— Joe Theismann— 77-47 as a starter, threw for 25,206 yards, won a Super Bowl
— Sonny Jurgensen— Threw for 22,585 yards, went 52-51-5 in Washington.
— Mark Rypien—- 45-27 playing for Joe Gibbs, also won a Super Bowl.
— Billy Kilmer— 50-23-1 in George Allen era, got Redskins to their first Super Bowl. 

1) Al Michaels:
— Has been doing baseball, football on TV since I was in Little League.
— Called 1980 Olympic hockey Miracle on Ice
— Called numerous Super Bowls, including the only Super Bowl the Rams won
— Called numerous World Series, including the ’72 Series, which the A’s won

2) Dick Enberg:
— Was part of the greatest college hoop broadcast team ever, with Al McGuire and Billy Packer.
— Did NFL games on NBC for years.
— Did baseball for years; his last job was with the Padres just a few years ago. 
— Hosted a good TV game show, Sports Challenge.

3) Curt Gowdy:
— When I was a little kid, Gowdy called everything; college basketball, baseball, AFL/NFL.
— He worked 13 World Series, 16 All-Star games.
— He worked nine Super Bowls, 14 Rose Bowls, 24 Final Fours.
— There is a state park in Wyoming named after him.

4) Vin Scully:
— By far, the best baseball announcer ever.
— He broadcast Dodger games for 66 years. 66 years!!!!
— Also did NFL and golf on network TV.
— Was very good playing himself in the baseball movie, For Love of the Game.

5) Keith Jackson:
— To me, he will always be the voice of college football.
— Was also the first play-by-play guy on Monday Night Football.
— Did baseball playoffs and also did basketball games with Dick Vitale.
— Also was ABC’s lead play-by-play guy on NBA games for two years.

6) Brent Musburger:
— Is still working at age 80, doing Raiders’ games on radio.
— Is most famous for doing NFL Today pre-game show with Irv Cross, Jimmy the Greek.
— Did lot of college basketball and college football.
— Has a talk show now on Las Vegas-based VSIN on Sirius Radio.

7) Jim Nantz:
— Golf, basketball, football; Nantz is good at everything.
— Played college golf at Houston, teammates with Fred Couples, Blaine McCallister.
— Once worked Utah Jazz games with Hot Rod Hundley.
— With his voice/demeanor, would be the greatest funeral home director ever: “Welcome, friends. Sorry for your loss.”

8) Jack Buck:
— Was more relaxed than his son Joe is; he was almost flippant at times- I mean that in a good way.
— Did baseball Cardinal games in St Louis for years.
— Did Monday Night Football on the radio with Hank Stram.
— I was lucky enough to meet him in Cooperstown the day he got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Good guy.

9) Marv Albert:
— A New York icon; he did Knick/Ranger games for years.
— One of the best NBA announcers ever.
— Did NFL games on NBC for years.
— His son Kenny Albert will be on this list before too much longer.

10) Pat Summerall:
— In my mind, the best NFL play-by-play guy ever.
— Also did golf and tennis on CBS, as well as NBA/ABA games.
— Was a kicker for the Giants for 10 years.
— Jerry Jones referred to Summerall as “royalty in the broadcast booth”

11) Sean McDonough:
— Has very quietly put together a tremendous career for a long time.
— Was watching a replay of the ’92 NLCS; McDonough was doing that game. 1992.
— College football, college hoop, baseball, Monday Night Football; he’s done it all.

12) Mike Emrick:
— Best-ever NHL announcer (along wth Dan Kelly)
— Has won six national Emmy awards (no other NHL voice has more than one)
— Worked NFL games with Matt Millen, Hank Stram in 1992, 1993.
— Was voted into US Hockey Hall of Fame, in 2011. 

13) Joe Tait:
— Never got any national love, but was great doing Cavaliers/Indians games on WWWE.
— He broadcast Cavalier games on the radio for 39 years.
— When I was a kid, listening to games on the radio was a big thing, especially before the spread of cable TV. Listening to Joe Tait on WWWE was a lot of fun for me; he did baseball with Herb Score, the pitcher whose career ended early because of an injury- they were a great team.

If you’re wondering why Bob Costs isn’t on this list, he disqualified himself when he dismissed the A’s 20-game winning streak in 2002. You can hear it in the movie, Moneyball. “a certain element of randomness……”

Ray Scott was at the end of his great career when I was really young, in the mid-60’s; he probably belongs on this list, but I didn’t hear him call very many games. 

When I was a little kid, I preferred comedies; now I only watch one-hour reruns— watch ballgames and movies the rest of the time. Here are 13 of my all-time favorite TV shows:

13) Without a Trace— Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) runs an FBI unit specializing in missing persons investigations, while his personal life falls apart around him. Sometimes they found the people, sometimes they didn’t, which is part of what made the show so good.

12) Suits— A brilliant young college dropout slips into a job interview with one of New York City’s best legal closers, and talks the guy into hiring him as a lawyer, even though the young man has never gone to law school— he took the bar exam for other people (and passed it) many times, on the sly.

This show ended in part because one of the actresses (Meghan Markle) married a prince from England.

11) Lost In Space— This show was on in the 60’s; a space colony family struggles to survive when a spy/accidental stowaway throws their ship hopelessly off course. Dr Smith (Jonathan Harris) was the annoying stowaway who provided comic relief; his interaction with the Robot (“Danger!!! Danger!!!) were one of the highlights of the show.

One of the prized pieces of my bobblehead collection is a Robot bobblehead.

10) Addams Family— The Addams Family is not your typical family: it takes delight in most of the things of which normal people would be terrified. Gomez Adams (John Astin) is an extremely wealthy man and is able to indulge his wife Morticia’s (Carolyn Jones) every desire, whether it’s cultivation of poisonous plants or a candlelit dinner in a graveyard.

Morticia would read the stock ticker, and if Gomez lost, he would say “Easy come, easy go”

Cousin Itt, Thing, Lurch were all excellent characters. 

1993, I have an emergency appendectomy; I’m in the hospital couple of days. Guy in the next hospital bed is watching Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and when they run the credits at the end of the show, I get kind of excited, because Felix Silla played one of the robots.

Felix Silla played Cousin Itt on the Addams Family; my neighbor wasn’t impressed when I gave him that bit of trivia. The nurse smiled, then checked to see if she gave me too much medication.

9) White Shadow— An NBA player retires and gets a job as a basketball coach in a inner-city high school; the uniforms that Carver High wears in this show are the same ones that the star (Ken Howard) of the show’s team wore in high school on Long Island.

Basketball scenes were very well done.

Bruce Paltrow was the show’s creator; Gwyneth Paltrow’s father. 

8) Green Acres— A New York City attorney (Eddie Albert) and his city-loving wife (Eva Gabor) attempt to live as farmers in the bizarre community of Hooterville. Hank Kimball was my favorite character, playing the bumbling county agent.

My lasting memory of this show is that seemingly every time I had it on, my father would walk in the room and say “Why the hell are you watching this?” Then five minutes later, he’d be laughing harder than I was.

7) Mister Ed— A wisecracking talking horse is the star, but he only talks to the guy who owns the barn he lives in, Wilbur Post (Alan Young). Mister Ed was a big baseball fan; he once took batting practice off of the Dodgers, with Sandy Koufax on the mound.

Good trivia; Dodgers’ CF Willie Davis was Mister Ed’s favorite ballplayer.

6) M*A*S*H— The staff of an Army hospital in the Korean War find that laughter is the best way to deal with their often-horrendous situation.

Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) is the star of the show; Alda was so recognizable as Hawkeye that it probably hurt his acting career after M*A*S*H went off the air— the series finale is one of the most-watched TV shows ever.

Alda played a therapist on Ray Donovan the last couple seasons.

 5) CSI— An elite team of police forensic evidence investigation experts work their cases in Las Vegas; in real life, I searched fingerprints for ten years for the state of New York, so I know a little bit about this line of work, but what attracted me to this show was a) Las Vegas and b) the loyalty the characters had to their co-workers and their jobs.

The eulogy Gil Grissom (William Peterson) gives after Warrick Brown is murdered is one of the great speeches (albeit a short one) in television history. 

4) Billions— Showtime series in its 5th season, a U.S. Attorney goes after a hedge fund king in a battle between two powerful New York figures. Making things sticky is that the attorney’s wife (Maggie Siff) works as a psychologist for the hedge fund guy.

Lot of interesting cameos thru the years; John Malkovich, Kevin Pollak, Eric Bogosian, pro wrestler Becky Lynch, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Durant, Mark Cuban. Great show.

3) Law and Order— 20 years, 456 episodes that follow a crime (usually a murder), usually adapted from current headlines, from two separate vantage points, the police investigation and the prosecution in court.

One of the few shows that survived the stars of the show moving on and being replaced by other characters. This show was a launching pad for many acting careers; there are 26 actors who have appeared in Billions who also appeared in at least one episode of Law and Order.

2) Odd Couple— Two divorced friends who are complete opposites share an apartment; one is really neat and stuffy photographer, the other a sloppy, easy-going sportswriter.

1) Magnum PI— The adventures of a Hawaii-based private investigator (Tom Selleck), as he solves cases with the help of his buddies, TC (Roger Mosley) a helicopter pilot, club manager Rick (Larry Manetti) and Higgins (John Hillerman) who runs the estate Magnum lives on.

The parade of beautiful women as guest stars on the show was an 80’s who’s who of  Hollywood: Sharon Stone, Jill St John, Mimi Rogers, Leslie Uggams, Erin Gray, Dana Delany, to name a few.

Frank Sinatra did an episode near the end of the series; Ernest Borgnine, Carol Burnett, Cesar Romero, Ten Danson, Dennis Weaver— a long list of famous guest stars.