Armadillo Sports

— Diamondbacks have scored in the first inning in 9 of their 13 games (6-7).

— Over is 7-2-1 in Atlanta Braves’ games.

— Cubs are 5-1 in Chicago, 2-4 on the road.

— I have two guys on the Reds on my fantasy team:

Christian Encarnacion-Strand is hitting .154
Jeimer Candelario is hitting .152.

Freakin’ awesome.

— Colorado Rockies are 2-4 at home, 1-6 on road; over is 5-2 in their home games.

— LA Dodgers are 6-1 at home, 4-4 away from home. 

— Miami Marlins are 2-11, 0-7 at home, where the over is 5-2. 

— Over is 5-1-1 in the Milwaukee Brewers’ last seven games.

— Mets’ pitching staff is 22nd in WHIP, but #8 in earned run average. 

— Phillies’ last seven games stayed under the total. 

— Pittsburgh Pirates are 9-3, have best record in the National League. 

— Under is 6-2 in the Cardinals’ last eight games.

— San Diego Padres are 2-7 when they score less than six runs. 

— Over is 7-0 in Giants’ road games, under is 5-1 in their home tilts.

— Washington has scored in first inning in only one of its 12 games. 

— Famous birthdays for April 11th:
Peter Riegert, 77
Micheal Ray Richardson, 69
Jim Breech, 68
Bret Saberhagen, 60
Jason Varitek, 52
Mark Teixeira, 44

— Orioles’ opponents have a .205 on-base %age, tied with Boston for best in MLB.

— Tyler O’Neill is hitting .343 with six home runs, but has only 7 RBI.

— White Sox are 1-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Cleveland Guardians won six of their last seven games.

— Detroit is 6-1 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Astros haven’t had a losing year in a full season since 2014; they’re off to a 4-9 start this year, 0-5 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Kansas City Royals haven’t had a winning season since they won the World Series in 2015; they’re off to a 8-4 start this year, 7-2 at home. Royals got a quality start in nine of their 12 games so far. 

— 3B Anthony Rendon makes $38M a year, more than Mike Trout; Rendon is hitting .150 so far this season. Trout is off to a .318 start, with six homers, 8 RBI

— Minnesota Twins lost six of their last eight games; under is 4-1 in their home games.

— Aaron Judge is off to an 8-45 start, but he’s walked 14 times; his on-base %age is .367.

— Oakland A’s are 1-6 at home, 3-2 on the road; they’re 4-3 when they score 4+ runs, 0-5 when they don’t.

— Mariners lost six of their last eight games; under is 9-3 in their last 12 games.

— Tampa Bay 1B Yandy Diaz hit .296/.330 the last two years; he’s off to a .208 start this year, with a .561 OPS. His career OPS is .813. 

— Under is 6-2 in the Texas Rangers’ last eight games.

— Toronto scored in first inning in two of its three home games, only one of its 10 road tilts. 

— Two weeks in Las Vegas is always fun; hung out with friends, watched lot of games, even made a few bucks gambling, but after two weeks, it is good to be home.

Took me 13 hours Tuesday to get from my hotel room in Las Vegas to my living room in upstate New York; I’m not at my best being around a lot of people. Will be fun to chill here at home by myself the next couple of days.

— I’ll repeat myself: DuPar’s in the SunCoast casino has the best pancakes I’ve ever had.

— There are murmurs on the Interweb that a part of the reason that John Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas is that he wanted to hire his son Brad as an assistant coach, and the powers-that-be weren’t real receptive to that.

Brad Calipari was director of on-court player development at Vanderbilt this past season; the Commodores went 9-23, and head coach Jerry Stackhouse and his staff was fired. 

Will be interesting to see if Brad Calipari surfaces at Arkansas with his father.

— A’s 4, Rangers 3- Oakland C Shea Langeliers knocked in all four A’s runs with three homers, as the spunky A’s won their third consecutive game- they’re 3-1 on the road, 1-7 at home.

— White Sox 7, Guardians 5- Teams had been 0 for their last 41 with runners in scoring position against Cleveland, but they scored five runs in the first inning here, against Logan Allen, who I added to my fantasy team this week (then cut him when Chicago scored their 5th run in this game).

It is only April 10th and I’ve already cut two pitchers off my fantasy team, while they were still pitching in a game; I could never be a doctor, because I have no patience. (its a joke, kind of)

Cleveland tied the game, but Dominic Fletcher won it with a 2-run double in the top of the 8th inning for the Pale Hose.

— Tigers 5, Pirates 3- Pittsburgh was three outs from a 10-2 start, but Detroit scored four runs in the 9th inning, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

— Rays 6, Angels 4- José Caballero went 3-4, with two runs scored, two RBI, as Tampa Bay evened its record at 6-6. 

— Famous birthdays for April 10th:
Mel Blount, 76
Ken Griffey Sr., 74
Steve Tasker, 62
Scott Bentley, 50
Kenny Satterfield, 43
Robert Woods, 32
Jake Burger, 28

The late actor Chuck Connors was born on April 10, 1921; he was The Rifleman on TV, and also played in both pro basketball (53 games for Boston) and major league baseball (67 games from 1949-51, mostly for the Cubs)

The late actor Harry Morgan (Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H) was born on April 10, 1915

— Baseball injuries:
Houston P Framber Valdez (elbow)
Angels’ P Chase Silseth (elbow)
White Sox 3B Yoan Moncada (adductor)
Red Sox 2B Trevor Story (shoulder) is out for the year.

— In December 2019, Washington Nationals signed star P Stephen Strasburg to a 7-year, $245M contract that didn’t turn out so well. Having just won the World Series, Washington spent some cash on one of its stars, but Strasburg was 1-4, 6.89 in 31 innings after the contract was signed.

Strasburg retired this week; since he signed the contract, Washington is 221-335- they won 90+ games in three of his last four healthy seasons.

— Braves 6, Mets 5
Atlanta led 5-0 in 4th inning, hung on for dear life.
Ronald Acuna was 2-3, stole three bases, scored three runs.
Reynaldo López tossed six shutout IP, before the bullpen’s rough night.

— Royals 4, Astros 3 (10)
Royals are 7-4, Houston is 4-8.
Astros led 3-0 in 5th inning; throwing error by Bregman tied the game 3-3.
Salvador Perez had a walk-off single in the 10th inning,

— Dodgers 6, Twins 3
Tyler Glasnow had 14 strikeouts while throwing seven shutout innings; he threw only 88 pitches. Since 1988, that is the fewest number of pitches thrown by a hurler with 14+ strikeouts in a game.

— Blue Jays 5, Mariners 3
Chris Bassitt needed 115 pitches to get 20 outs, the most pitches thrown in a game this season.

Seattle is off to a disappointing 4-8 start.

— Baltimore Orioles are calling #1 prospect Jackson Holliday up from the minor leagues; the son of former big leaguer Matt Holliday, the 20-year old infielder hit .333 in ten AAA games this month.

— Favorites did unusually well in the NCAA Tournament:
Favorites went 39-28 ATS in all the games, best favorites have done since 2008.

In the seven games from the Elite 8 on, favorites were 6-1 ATS, best they’ve done since 1981. 

Tournament favorites of 8+ points went 20-5 ATS, the best they’ve ever d0ne.

Top-3 seeds went 21-10 ATS against #4 or lower seeds, their best record since 2009. 

— UConn 75, Purdue 60
UConn wins the national title for second year in a row.
Zach Edey scored 37 points, the other Boilermakers 23.
Last two years, Huskies are 12-0 SU/ATS in the NCAA Tournament.

— Purdue led 23-21 with 7:24 left in the first half, but trailed 36-30 at the half.

— UConn lost five of its top eight scorers from last year, and still won another national title. Really, a tremendous accomplishment.

— Saturday’s Final Four games were first time since 2018, and only 4th time since 2002 that both favorites covered in the national semi-finals.

— Last week’s Sweet 16 had five upsets in eight games, the most of any Sweet 16 since 2011.

— Big 14 still hasn’t won a national title in college basketball since Michigan State in 2000.

— I’m sitting in the Rampart Casino sportsbook yesterday for the first time; nice place. Friend of mine is talking to this older guy while we’re sitting there watching baseball. Eventually we get up to leave, I say good night to the older guy and he says to me, “You need a hair cut!!!”

Thanks, buddy. 

— Famous birthdays for April 9th:
Rob Scribner, 73
Dennis Quaid, 70
Kyle Macy, 67
Kirk McCaskill, 63
Bo Kimble, 58
Zac Stacy, 33
Luis Arraez, 27

— Padres 9, Cubs 8
Chicago led this game 8-0 in the sixth inning,
Fernando Tatis had the game-winner, a 2-run homer in 8th inning,

— Nationals 8, Giants 1
Blake Snell had a rough debut with SF: 3 IP, 3 runs; 33 balls. 39 strikes.
Lane Thomas was 3-5 with three RBI for Washington.

— Marlins’ OF Bryan De La Cruz is off to a 14-48 (.292) start this season, but he hasn’t walked at all in his 48 at-bats. No walks, 11 strikeouts, one home run, one RBI.

— Pirates 7, Tigers 4
Bryan Reynolds hit his 100th career home run.
Pittsburgh is off to a 9-2 start.
Mitch Keller allowed two runs in 6 IP, with 9 strikeouts.

— Mets 8, Braves 7
Atlanta led 4-0 after three innings.
DJ Stewart hit the game-winning home in the 8th inning.

— Astros 10, Rangers 5
Texas scored five runs in bottom of 1st inning, but no more after that.
Yordan Alvarez was 3-5, with three runs scored, three RBI. 

— Phillies 5, Cardinals 3 (10)
St Louis tied game with two runs in ninth inning.
Alec Bohm had the game-winning double in top of the 10th.

— Fifty years ago this week, Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record. 

— OK, so this came out of nowhere; John Calipari is bolting from Kentucky to Arkansas; if this had happened last Monday, would’ve assumed it was a (bad) April Fools Day joke.

Kentucky was 23-10 this year, 13-5 in a tough SEC, with the #317 continuity team in America, but in the three years since the pandemic, Kentucky is 1-3 in NCAA tournament games, which doesn’t fly with a very spoiled fanbase.

Calipari spent 15 years at Kentucky; he made the Elite 8 five of his first six years there, but lately, not so much. Overall, Kentucky was 32-11 overall in NCAA Tournament games under Calipari.

Calipari is a great coach; he got freakin’ UMass to the Final Four. Will he change his approach at Arkansas? Will he use the transfer portal more and recruit fewer freshmen? Will he bring his son Brad along with him? Brad Calipari was an assistant at Vanderbilt the last couple years.

Where Kentucky turns from here (Mick Cronin?) is a very interesting question. .

— One thing for sure; college sports if off its rocker; crazy stuff going on.

— Pirates 3, Orioles 2- Pittsburgh is 8-2 for first time since 2018; they’re already 5-0 in games where the winning run scored from the 7th inning on.

— Marlins 10, Cardinals 3- Miami gets its first win this year in its 10th game; Luis Arraez went 4-5 with three runs scored. Marlins scored six runs in the first inning.

— Cubs 8, Dodgers 1- Early part of this game was played in cruddy weather; there was nearly a 3-hour rain delay after the Cubs led 6-0.

— Rays 3, Rockies 2- Ryan Pepiot tossed six shutout innings, struck out 11 while allowing only three hits. 

— Famous birthdays for April 8th:
Ricky Bell, 69
Terry Porter, 61
Robin Wright, 58
Carlos Santana, 38 (first baseman, not the singer)
Jeff McNeil, 32
Zach Eflin, 30
CeeDee Lamb, 25

Today would’ve been Hall of Fame pitcher Catfish Hunter’s 78th birthday.

— Astros 3, Rangers 1- Houston pitcher Ronel Blanco is the first pitcher in the last 50 years (50 years!!!) to start a season by throwing 13 no-hit innings.

— A’s 7, Tigers 1- A’s are 3-0 when they score in the first inning, 0-7 when they do not.

— Giants 3, Padres 2- San Francisco scored a total of six runs in this 3-game series, somehow won two of the three games.

— Red Sox 12, Angels 2- Boston starts the season with a 7-3 road trip; their home opener is Tuesday against the Orioles.

— Royals 5, White Sox 3- Chicago is off to a 1-8 start, 0-5 in games where the winning run scored from the 7th inning on.

— Birmingham 20, Michigan 13
Stallions outgained Michigan 302-205, held Panthers to 47 rushing yards.
Birmingham backup QB Martinez threw for 88 yards, ran for 65 more. 

— DC Defenders 23, Houston 18
Defenders outscored Houston 11-0 in fourth quarter.
Houston converted 3-13 on third down against Gregg Williams’ defense.
Jordan Ta’amu threw a 17-yard TD pass with 6:04 left for the winning score. 

— Purdue 63, NC State 50
Purdue never trailed, held NC State to 36.8% from the floor.
Purdue out-rebounded the Wolfpack, 41-28.
64 possessions; slow pace. Three Boilers played 38:00+.

— If I had a vote, I’d vote for Purdue coach Matt Painter as Coach of the Year in college basketball; his team lost in the first round as a #1-seed last year, only the second time that has ever happened, had to be a tough summer for him, but now they’re one win away from doing the same thing Virginia did, winning a national title the year after they got beat by a #16-seed.

— UConn 86, Alabama 72
Huskies outscored Alabama 42-32 in second half.
63-possession game, slowest-paced game Alabama played all season.
Last two years, UConn is 11-0 SU/ATS in NCAA Tourney games.

— Early line on Monday’s championship game:
UConn, -6.5 vs Purdue

— San Antonio 20, Memphis 19
Memphis led 16-0 after three quarters.
Brahmas scored two TD’s in the last 0:48 of game.
San Antonio QB Garbers threw for 287 yards, three TD’s.

— St Louis 27, Arlington 24
Battlehawks kicked a 22-yard FG at the gun for their first win.
St Louis led 14-11 at halftime.
Arlington was 6-11 on third down, St Louis 3-10.

— Famous birthdays for April 7th:
Janis Ian, 73
Tony Dorsett, 70
Jackie Chan, 70
Thurl Bailey, 63
Ronde/Tiki Barber, 49
Adrian Beltre, 45
Josh Hader, 30

— A’s 4, Detroit 0
Paul Blackburn is 2-0, 0.00 in 13 IP this season.
Rest of the A’s are 0-7, outscored 46-15.

— Dodgers 4, Cubs 1
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s last two starts:
10 IP, seven baserunners, no runs allowed, with 13 strikeouts.

— Cardinals 3, Marlins 1
Marlins are first MLB team since 2016 to start a season 0-9.
Steven Matz threw five shutout IP.

— Pirates 5, Orioles 4 (11)
Don’t look now, but Pittsburgh is off to a 7-2 start.
Joey Bart had a HR/double in his first two AB’s for the Pirates.

— Braves 9, Diamondbacks 8
Arizona led 6-0 after the top of the first.
Austin Riley had the game-winning single in the 8th inning,

— Rays 8, Rockies 6
Colorado led 6-1 after six innings.
Yandy Diaz had the game-winning single for Tampa Bay.

Sometimes here in Las Vegas, the unpleasant aspects of gambling pop up; while I was watching the Tampa Bay-Colorado game, there was a guy sitting in front of me who bet on the Rays, and for the 2:45 of this 3:03 game, he did nothing but bitch and moan about every aspect of his bet, which was Tampa Bay and over.

If you bet the over on f-bombs this guy used, it probably went over the total in the third inning; Colorado led this game 6-1 after six innings. Dressed like an undercover cop, with long hair, a ski cap and sunglasses, his response when the Rays rallied late to take the lead was “It’s about time” When the Rays won, he got to the cashier, got his money and quietly bolted.

— Baseball injuries:

Cleveland P Shane Bieber (elbow) is out for the year.
Atlanta P Spencer Strider (UCL) is going on the IL.

— One of the best parts of casinos here are the good conversations you have with total strangers; had a few this week with a guy who is an options trader, but also has done some acting work in movies. He showed me a picture Saturday of himself with the late James Caan in a movie they were both in— that had to be pretty cool.

— Was watching the A’s play Friday morning here; there were only two other people watching the game in the sportsbook, and one of those guys was on the phone with his brother somewhere in the eastern time zone. Apparently the brother is having some personal problems.

The guy was loud; he said, at least five times to his brother:”This is just between the two of us” forgetting that I was five feet behind him, and the people selling betting tickets 30 feet away could hear him, too.

The brothers are in business together; the eastern brother’s marriage is falling apart, and there are rumors his personal assistant could be a reason why. Hopefully everything will turn out OK, but I wouldn’t count on the Las Vegas brother to keep things quiet.

— Modern college basketball: 11 of the 20 players who started in the Final Four Saturday transferred to their current team. 

— Bronny James put his name in the transfer portal, but might also declare for the NBA Draft. Interesting situation.

Lebron James’ son had a cardiac arrest at a July workout, then sat out four months; he averaged 4.8 ppg in 25 games for USC, starting six times (USC went 1-5 in those games). 

Whats next?

USC coach Andy Enfield bolted to SMU; Eric Musselman, a former NBA head coach, is USC’s new head coach. Seems kind of doubtful that Bronny would transfer, if he stays in college.

If Bronny goes pro, he is likely to wind up wherever his dad is, and then they can play on the same team for a while, but Bronny isn’t an NBA player yet— he would likely wind up playing in the G-League for 2-3 years after he played some with his dad.

— It snowed a few times during the Oriole-Pirate game Friday; seems like every time it snowed, Pittsburgh was batting.

— Kid playing third base for the A’s Friday was dressed like he was playing for the Packers at Lambeau Field in January. 

— Earlier this week, it snowed in upstate New York; Friday morning, there was an earthquake in New Jersey that measured 4.8 on the Richter scale. Good thing I’m out here in the desert, away from all the fun.

Oh yeah, there’s an eclipse coming Monday afternoon, too. Glad I won’t be flying home during that.

— Every night I’ve been in the sportsbook here, a young guy comes in, runs over and says hi to one of the ticket sellers, then starts yelling “Lets go Buffalo!!!” even though no teams from Buffalo are playing. Then he yells some stuff about Josh Allen, then roots for whatever teams he bet on. It has happened every night.

— They don’t have Apple TV in the sportsbook; couldn’t watch Mets-Reds or Astros-Rangers Friday night. MLB is so greedy that they forget to market their sport the right way.

— Famous birthdays for April 6th
Billy Dee Williams, 86
John Ratzenberger, 77
Bert Blyleven, 73
Marilu Henner, 72
Sterling Sharpe, 59
Bret Boone, 55
Paul Rudd, 55
Oliver Miller, 54
Tim Hasselbeck, 46

— Dodgers lost 9-7 to the Cubs Friday; LA is 7-3- they’ve scored a total of 23 runs in the three games they lost. Once their pitching gets healthier, they’ll be very hard to beat.

Shohei Ohtani hit his 2nd homer of the year; he is 12-42 (.286) so far this season.

— There was a kerfuffle involving the baseball Ohtani hit for his first Dodger home run; a fan got the ball, and then a Dodger employee bargained to get the ball back. The woman got a signed bat, two signed hats and an autographed baseball, I’m guessing around $400 worth of stuff, not a bad haul, but the woman complained, because she wanted to meet Ohtani.

I’m guessing when the Dodgers go back home, the meeting will be arranged, public relations being what they are.

— Dodgers have scored 5+ runs in their first ten games this year, which a graphic on TV said was their longest streak ever to start a season.

— Rockies 10, Rays 7
Colorado led 6-2 after eight innings.
Rays scored five runs in the top of the 9th
Ryan McMahon hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 9th.

— Mets 3, Reds 2
Edwin Diaz got his first save since September, 2022
Jeff McNeil was off to a 1-18 start before he homered in 7th inning.

— Brewers 6, Mariners 5
Seattle tied game with two runs in top of the 9th
Mariner reliever walked four guys in bottom of 9th, including a walk-off walk.

— Giants 3, Padres 2
Thairo Estrada had a walk-off double as Giants won their home opener. 

— Seton Hall 79, Indiana State 77
Pirates ended game on a 9-0 run to win the NIT
Game was 39-39 at halftime.
Seton Hall was +7 in turnovers (15-8)

— Going to be a tough few days for the Sycamores; ISU coach Josh Schertz is expected to leave Terre Haute this weekend, to take the vacant coaching job at Saint Louis.

— Voters in Kansas City rejected extending a sales tax this week, that would’ve paid for major renovations at Arrowhead Stadium along with a new downtown stadium for the Kansas City Royals. The sales tax is currently in place through 2031; Tuesday’s vote was asking the people of Jackson County to extend the tax through 2064.

Chiefs and Royals will now have to figure out what their next step is going to be; re-location is an option, especially for the Chiefs.

— Oakland A’s are going to play the 2025-27 seasons in Sacramento, before they move to a new stadium in Las Vegas in 2028. This is their last season in Oakland, where they started playing in 1968, after moving from, ironically, Kansas City.

— NBA’s Toronto Raptors have lost 15 games in a row, going 3-12 ATS in those games.

— Golden State Warriors are 26-12 ATS on the road, best road record in NBA this season.

— Detroit’s Malachi Flynn scored 50 points off the bench in Atlanta Wednesday, in the Pistons’ 121-113 loss to the Hawks. Flynn is just the third guy ever to score 50+ points coming off the bench, joining Nick Anderson (1993) and Jamal Crawford (2014). 

Coming into the game, Flynn was averaging 5.2 points/game.

— Guy sat next to me in the sportsbook and lit up a cigarette, blowing smoke in my direction. I’d forgotten that you can smoke in casinos here; smoking indoors in public isn’t allowed in New York State.

— Famous birthdays for April 5th
Michael Moriarity, 83
Oliver Luck, 64
Dale Hatcher, 61
Tony Banks, 51
Dane Looker, 48
Marc Bulger, 47
Stephen Jackson, 46

— USC hired Eric Musselman as its new basketball coach; Musselman went 111-59 coaching at Arkansas the last five years. Before that, he was 110-34 in four years coaching Nevada. He has also been a head coach in the NBA, for Golden State/Sacramento.

— Purdue big man Zach Edey has taken 424 foul shots this year, the most in one season by a college player since Pete Maravich, way back in 1970.

— UConn’s trip to the Final Four Wednesday night was delayed eight hours due to mechanical issues with the airplane; they finally landed in Arizona at 3:12am local time.

— If you like the NBA, you should be here in Las Vegas July 12-22, when they have the NBA’s Summer League at UNLV. It is fun to watch, it isn’t real expensive, lot of famous people in the arenas, and it is air conditioned— it’ll be over 100 degrees outside.

— On Opening Day of baseball season, there were 166 players on the Injured List, 5.5 players per team.

— Miami Marlins’ pitching prospect Eury Perez is going to have Tommy John surgery, is out for the season.

— Odd Fact of the Day: New York Mets have won two World Series, in 1969/1986.

In 1969, last out of the World Series was made by Baltimore 2B Davey Johnson.

In 1986, the Mets were managed by former Baltimore 2B Davey Johnson.

— Big trade in the NFL Wednesday; Buffalo Bills traded star WR Stefon Diggs to Houston, for three draft picks: 2nd/6th round picks later this month, then a 5th round pick in 2025.

Diggs put up 100+ yard receiving games in five of his first six games last year, then averaged only 51.2 yards/game the rest of the season. Buffalo takes a $31M dead cap hit this year, while the Texans are positioning themselves to be favored in the AFC South this fall.

— People here in Las Vegas have been looking at NFL totals bets every day, but how can you do that before the draft in three weeks? Rosters can/will change a lot between now and then. 

Teams like Vikings, Broncos don’t know who their QB will be this season; I’m told that QB is kind of an important position in football.

— Sun Coast hotel/casino here in Las Vegas has a 24-hour coffee shop, Du-Par’s, which has the best pancakes I’ve ever had, seriously, they’re excellent.

— Tigers-Mets got rained out the last two days in Queens, will try and play a doubleheader on Thursday, which means I’ll be waking up way earlier than I wanted to.

— In his last three games against New Orleans, Phoenix Suns’ star Devin Booker scored 52-52-58 points, making him only the second player ever to score 50+ points three games in a row against the same team.

Wilt Chamberlain is the other player, but he did it against nine different teams, not just one.

— Milwaukee Bucks were 30-13 when they fired coach Adrian Griffin earlier this season; they’re 15-15 since they hired Doc Rivers to replace him.

— Famous birthdays for April 4th:
Mike Epstein, 81
Craig T Nelson, 80
Christine Lahti, 74
Tommy Herr, 68
Jack Del Rio, 61
Scott Rolen, 49
Ben Gordon, 41
JP France, 29

— RIP to Joe Flaherty, the great comic actor who passed away at age 81; Flaherty was in Second City TV, where he played anchorman Floyd Robertson next to Eugene Levy’s Earl Camembert in the news skits on that excellent comedy show. RIP, sir. 

RIP to Barbara Rush, who passed way at age 97; she is one of six actors to appear in both the TV series Batman and the original Magnum PI, where she played Magnum’s Aunt Phoebe. She played Nora Clavicle on Batman. RIP, ma’am.

— College basketball’s Final Four is this weekend; there are already 1,360 names in the college basketball transfer portal, because that is how the sport works now. With 362 Division I teams, that works out to an average of 3.76 players per team in the portal. 

— Forgot to mention this earlier in the week, but lefty pitcher Shota Imanaga threw six shutout innings in his MLB debut Monday, not giving up any hits until the 6th inning. Imanaga didn’t get much hype when he signed; that was reserved for Yomamoto with the Dodgers, but so far, so good, although the wind was blowing in Monday and Imanaga is a fly ball pitcher.

— Dodgers 5, Giants 4- Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run for the Dodgers.

— Back in 1948 a guy named Fred Gehrke got paid a dollar a helmet to paint the LA Rams logo on all the Rams’ helmets— they were the first team to have their logo on a helmet, and for that, he is the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as an innovator.

Fred Gehrke has a well-known great-grandson; Christian Yelich, outfielder for the Brewers.

— This week marks the 48th anniversary of a cruddy day in A’s history, when they traded Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to the Orioles, as they slowly dismantled what had been a great team, winning the World Series three years in a row (1972-74). By 1977, they were truly terrible, as free agency had started in the major leagues and the A’s couldn’t match up $$$-wise.

Now this year, the A’s are 1-6, and have been shut out three times already. It would be nice if a really, really rich person bought the team and they actually tried to win again.

— For second day in a row, a team lost its DH during a game, but this time, it came back to bite them, in an embarrassing way.

Arizona trailed 6-5 at home in the 11th inning- they had runners on 1st/3rd with two outs, but Bronx walked their next batter intentionally, because Arizona’s DH Ketel Marte went in to play shortstop after they pinch-ran for Geraldo Perdomo, which left the Snakes without a hitter when Perdomo’s spot in the order came around in the 11th inning.

Pitcher Scott McGough took a called third strike to end the game. Managing in the DH era is supposed to be easier, but two teams losing their DH in the first week of the season, both in close games, seems like managerial malpractice. 

I’m going to start posting daily baseball knowledge on the MLB page next Friday (April 12), but in the meantime, here are some trends to get you thru this week:

— Miami Marlins are 0-6; over is 5-1 in those games, their bullpen is 0-3. Marlins led two of the games 4-0/5-0 after the first inning.

— Cincinnati Reds are 3-2; all five games went over the total. Reds haven’t scored a run in the first inning yet.

— Detroit Tigers are 4-0; their bullpen got three of the four wins.

— New York Mets have been outscored 19-8 in their 0-4 start.

— Pittsburgh Pirates scored 39 runs in their 5-0 start, all road games.

— Bronx is off to a 5-1 start; their bullpen got four of the five wins.

— Famous birthdays for April 3rd:
Eric Braeden, 83
Gary Pettis, 66
Alec Baldwin, 66
Tim Conroy, 64
Eddie Murphy, 63
Pervis Ellison, 57
Rodney Hampton, 55
Jared Allen, 42
Kam Chancellor, 36

— Astros are off to a 1-6 start; game-winning run in four of the six losses came from the 7th inning on. Under is 5-1 in their last six games.

— Rockies are 1-5; they scored a total of seven runs in the five losses, nine runs in the one win.

Kris Bryant is off to an 0-16 start; the guy makes $28M a year, after playing in 122 out of a possible 324 games in 2022-23. Not good.

— Diamondbacks scored in the first inning in five of their six games.

— Cubs won their last three games, scoring 26 runs; their scored 3-2 runs in their two losses.

— Over is 4-0-1 in the Dodgers’ last five games.

— Giants lost their last three games; over is 6-0 in their games this season.

— Nationals lost three of their four games (over 4-0)

— Four of last five Seattle games stayed under the total.

— Word of the Day– Squander- waste an opportunity to succeed.

— Braves are 3-2; their starting pitchers are 1-0- four of their five games came down to their bullpen. Atlanta scored 30 runs in their three wins; 2-4 runs in their losses.

— Milwaukee Brewers are 4-0 (under 3-1).

— Philadelphia Phillies are 2-3; all five games went over the total. Phillies scored in the first inning in their last four games.

— San Diego Padres lost four of their last five games; over is 4-1-1 in their last six games.

— Los Angeles Angels won their last three games, after an 0-2 start.

— Boston Red Sox won their last three games, scoring 19 runs.

— Chicago White Sox lost four of first five games (under 3-1-1). 

— Something I’ve never seen before; Tuesday night, A’s-Red Sox are tied 4-4 in bottom of 10th, A’s have a guy on 3rd, one out. They score, they win.

Boston walks JJ Bleday intentionally; A’s have guys on 1st and 3rd.
Boston brings in a 5th infielder, but doesn’t load the bases with another walk. 

Next batter hits a ball right back to the pitcher but instead of getting an easy double play, he gets the runner trying to come home. The 5th infielder goes back to the outfield.

They strike out the next hitter, then win the game in the 11th inning. Had never seen a fifth OF used like that before. 

— Astros 10, Blue Jays 0
Ronel Blanco threw a no-hitter in his 8th major league start.
Kyle Tucker, Yainer Diaz both hit two home runs.
First win for Houston after an 0-4 start.

— Tigers 5, Mets 0 (10)
Olson threw 5.2 scoreless IP, Manaea 6 scoreless IP.
Kelly hit a 3-run homer in the 10th inning.
Mets have been outscored 19-8 in their 0-4 start.

— Reds 6, Phillies 3 (10)
Steer hit a grand slam in the 10th inning.
Reds’ bullpen threw 4.2 IP, didn’t allow an earned run.
Phillies lost three of first four games (over 4-0)

— Orioles 6, Royals 4
Westburg hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th.
Royals had tied game 4-4 in top of the 9th.
Baltimore is off to a 3-1 start.

— Famous birthdays for April 2nd:
Reggie Smith, 79
Linda Hunt, 79
Roy Gerela, 76
Christopher Meloni, 63
Adam Rodriguez, 49
Austin Riley, 27

— USC basketball coach Andy Enfield bolted to SMU; Trojans were 106-100 in Pac-12 play in their 11 years under Enfield, making five NCAA Tournaments. 

USC is bolting to the Big 14 next year, SMU (for some reason) will be in the ACC.

— Steve Lutz is the new basketball coach at Oklahoma State; he is 69-35 in three years as a head coach, two at A&M-Corpus Christi (47-23), one at Western Kentucky (22-12).

— QB Carson Wentz signed a deal to be Patrick Mahomes’ backup in Kansas City. Wentz is 47-46-1 in eight years as an NFL starter. 

— Peter Marshall, one of the best game show hosts ever, turned 98 years old over the weekend; there is a special about him on YouTube, including an old episode of Hollywood Squares, with Charley Weaver, Rose Marie, John Davidson.

— Word of the Day– Reunion- two or more people coming together again after being away from each other for a while.

— Rangers 9, Rays 3
Adolis Garcia hit his 100th career home run.
Josh Jung knocked in four runs, but later broke his wrist, is out indefinitely.

— Pirates 8, Nationals 4
Pirates are 5-0 for the first time since 1983.
Pittsburgh scored 43 runs in its first five games.
This game was 3-3 after the 7th inning.

— Angels 7, Marlins 4
Miami is 0-5, giving up 42 runs in those games.
Last two nites, Marlins led 5-0/4-0 after first inning, but lost both games.
Mike Trout hit two home runs for the Angels.

— Red Sox 9, A’s 0
In a 5-inning stretch from 8th inning Sunday thru 3rd inning of this game, the A’s made eight errors. 8 errors. 5 innings. No bueno. 

Tanner Houck tossed six shutout IP, striking out 10 guys. 

— There have been 55 baseball games so far this season; of the 110 starting pitchers, only four lasted 7+ innings:

Thursday- Pablo Lopez, Minnesota- 7 IP, 84 PT
Saturday- Logan Gilbert, Seattle- 7 IP, 91 PT
Sunday- Paul Blackburn, A’s- 7 IP, 88 PT
Brady Singer, Kansas City- 7 IP, 98 PT

Only 30 of the 55 starting pitchers finished the sixth inning.

— NC State 76, Duke 64
Duke led 27-18 with 1:39 left in first half.
Wolfpack is 9-0 since March 12.
NC State was 2-7 in its last nine regular season games.

— Purdue 72, Tennessee 66
Purdue is in Final Four for first time since 1980.
Tennessee’s entire team was 7-11 on foul line.
Zach Edey scored 40 points; he was 14-22 on foul line, by himself.

— Pointspreads for Final Four:
Purdue -9.5 vs NC State
UConn -11.5 vs Alabama

— San Antonio 27, DC Defenders 12
Defenders were 5-14 on 3rd down, Brahmas 1-8
San Antonio converted 3-4 fourth down plays.
Defenders’ only TD came on a 40-yard pass on a fake field goal.

— Memphis 18, Houston 12
Showboats’ QB Cookus threw for 204 yards and a TD.
Memphis was 9-15 on third down, Houston 3-8.
Time of possession: Memphis 39:32, Houston 20:28.

— Famous birthdays for April 1st:
Ali McGraw. 85
Willie Montanez, 75
Annette O’Toole, 72
Mark Jackson, 59
Daniel Murphy, 38
Brook and Robin Lopez, 36

— Torey Lovullo has been the Arizona Diamondbacks’ manager since 2017, winning the NL title last year; his father Sam was a producer on the old TV show, Hee Haw.

— Brewers 4, Mets 1- Mets’ GM David Stearns quit the Brewers to jump to New York, but the Mets start his tenure by getting swept at home by Milwaukee.

— Dodgers 5, Cardinals 4- Max Muncy’s 2-run homer in the 8th inning was a game-winner.

— Pirates 9, Marlins 7 (11)
Marlins scored five runs in the first inning.
Pittsburgh’s bullpen allowed two runs in 20.1 IP in the 4-game sweep.
Miami was the last MLB team to hit a home run. 

— Reds 6, Nationals 5
Will Benson tied game with a 2-out home run in the 9th inning.

Next batter, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, walked it off with another homer, his first hit in 13 at-bats this season.

— New York 4, Astros 3
Juan Soto’s 9th-inning single, his 3rd of the day, was the game-winner.
Houston is 0-4 for the first time since 2011.

— Tigers 3, White Sox 2
Andy Ibanez’ pinch-hit single in the 9th inning was the game-winning hit.
Both back-up catchers started this game, batted 9th; they both hit a home run.

— Cubs 9, Rangers 5
Chicago scored four runs in 9th, salvaged Game 4 of the series.
Cubs’ bullpen threw five shutout innings.

— A’s 4, Guardians 3
Abraham Toro’s bases-loaded walk gave the A’s their first win of the year.
Paul Blackburn tossed seven shutout innings. 

— UConn 77, Illinois 52
Game was 23-23 with 1:49 left in first half.
At that point, UConn went on a 30-0 run.
Huskies shot 65.1% inside the arc.
Last two years, UConn is 10-0 SU/ATS in NCAA Tournament.

— Alabama 89, Clemson 82
Alabama scored 1.25 ppp, grabbed 16 offensive rebounds.
Crimson Tide is in the Final Four for the first time.
Alabama shot 16-36 on the arc.
Clemson was 8-26 on the arc, 8-16 on foul line.

— Favorites were 2-0 ATS in Saturday’a basketball games; since 2013, underdogs are still 24-18 ATS in regional final games.

— Birmingham 27, Arlington 14
First UFL game of the season was 11-11 at halftime.
Stallions outgained Arlington, 409-262.
Birmingham converted 8-12 on third down.

— Michigan 18, St Louis 16
Bates kicked a 64-yard field goal with 0:08 left for the win.
St Louis led 3-0 at halftime.
Battlehawks were 5-15 on third down, Michigan 2-9.
Under was 2-0 on the first day of the season.

— In-game betting is popular here in Las Vegas; have listened to people talk about it all week. One guy the other night was chirping for about an hour, trying to hit middle on the Alabama-North Carolina total; he was convinced he was going to hit it, but he don’t.

In the sportsbook here at SunCoast, they have betting windows and they have kiosks and very comfortable chairs. The snack bar off to the side has good sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches.

— Famous birthdays for March 31:
Shirley Jones, 90
Christopher Walken, 81
Gabe Kaplan, 79
Rhea Perlman, 76
Ed Marinaro, 74
Mick Luckhurst, 66
Ron Brown, 63
Steve Smith, 55

— Cardinals 6, Dodgers 5 (10)
Yamamoto allowed only two baserunners in his five IP, but LA’s bullpen blew a 2-0 lead in the 7th inning. Good bounce back start for Yamamoto.

This game had the first rain delay at Dodger Stadium since 2015. 

— Braves 12, Phillies 4
Atlanta starter Fried threw 43 pitches, didn’t finish first inning.
Braves scored 21 runs in winning their first two games.

— Pirates 9, Marlins 3
Pittsburgh scored 22 runs in its 3-0 start.

— Brewers 7, Mets 6
Hoskins went 3-4 with a home run and four RBI.

— Did I mention the sportsbook here is next to a movie theater, and they sell Orville Redenbacher popcorn there? Tremendous!!!

— Guardians 12, A’s 3
Cleveland scored 26 runs in its 3-0 start.

— Twins 5, Royals 1
Kansas City led 1-0 after seven innings.
Twins scored four runs in the top of the 9th.

— New York 5, Houston 3
Astros are 0-3 for the first time since 2011.
Houston led this game 3-1 after six innings.
Season is three days old; Astros’ bullpen is 0-3.

My suggestion for a new rule in baseball; think about it for a minute before you scoff:

Guy hits a home run, he crosses the plate, is handed his bat and gets to hit again.

I’d like to see a minor league try that rule out for a year or two. 

— NC State 67, Marquette 58
Wolfpack lost seven of its last nine regular season games.
Wolfpack is 8-0 in postseason games; they start four seniors.
Marquette shot only 4-31 on the arc.
This year is 50th anniversary of NC State beating Marquette in the national title game.

— Duke 54, Houston 51
Houston star Shead sprained his ankle, sat out the second half.
Houston lost by 3; they shot 2-8 on the arc, 9-17 on the foul line.
Duke has allowed 51 ppg in its three NCAA Tourney wins.

Since 2000, there have been eight regional finals between conference rivals; the underdogs went 5-3 SU/6-2 ATS in those eight games.

— Tennessee 82, Creighton 75
Creighton led 35-34 at halftime.
Tennessee is in Elite 8 for second time, first time since 2010.
Teams combined to shoot 22-47 on the arc.

— Purdue 80, Gonzaga 68
Boilers beat Gonzaga by 10 points in November, by 12 here.
Zach Edey scored 27 points, had 14 rebounds. 

In 2018, Virginia was the first #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
In 2019, Virginia won the national title.
Last year, Purdue was the second #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
Boilers are three wins away from duplicating Virginia’s feat.

— Was sitting next to a guy in the sportsbook during the Creighton-Tennessee game; big guy missed a layup and the guy says “Hell, I would’ve made that one.”

He was on at least his third Corona; I was skeptical.

— Sitting in a sportsbook for last four days, with ton of TVs around, it is obvious that ESPN cares very little about baseball; there was more talk about NFL prop bets for the fall than there was about the first couple days of baseball season.

— Anyway, why would you bet on NFL season win totals before the draft, especially since there might be some big trades happening in the next 3-4 weeks?

— Famous birthdays for March 30:
John Astin, 94
Jerry Lucas, 84
Eric Clapton, 79
Celine Dion, 56
Richard Sherman, 36
Chris Sale, 35
Alex Bregman, 30

— RIP to the great actor Louis Gossett, who passed away this week at age 87; he won both an Oscar and an Emmy. I remember him best as a priest in Blue Chips; he taught at the school where Penny Hardaway’s character played ball. All the famous coaches were recruiting him.

RIP, sir.

— Braves 9, Phillies 3
Phillies led 2-0 after six innings. 

— Brewers 3, Metgs 1
Freddy Peralta allowed one hit in six IP.

— Giants 8, Padres 3
Matt Chapman hit two homers, knocked in five runs.

— Dodgers 6, Cardinals 3
Teoscar Hernandez homered twice for the Dodgers.

— Mariners 1, Red Sox 0
George Kirby got 20 outs, didn’t allow a run.

— There was a great article in The Ringer this week, about TV announcer Ian Eagle, who will be calling his first Final Four next week.

Eagle is the son of a comedian and a singer; when he was 6, he was on stage at a club in the Catskills, doing imitations of celebrities.

Back in the late 70’s, there was a very popular Xerox commercial, about a monk who copied his precious documents, instead of copying them by hand. Brother Dominic was the monk; the actor who played him was Ian Eagle’s father.

This article made it clear that Ian Eagle is universally respected/liked, an unusual combination these days. It was encouraging to read it. 

— Alabama 89, North Carolina 87
Tar Heels led 54-46 at halftime.
Alabama outscored UNC 43-33 in second half.
North Carolina star Davis was 0-9 behind the arc.
Crimson Tide is in Elite 8 for first time since 2004.

— Clemson 77, Arizona 72
Clemson is in the Elite 8 for the first time since 1980.
Tigers are 9-1 ATS as an underdog this season.
Since 2009, Arizona is 3-5 SU in Sweet 16 games.
Under coach Lloyd, Arizona is 88-18, but only 4-3 in NCAA Tourney games.

2022- was #1-seed, lost to #5-seed Houston
2023- was #2-seed, lost to #15-seed Princeton
2024- was #2-seed, lost 77-72 to #6-seed Clemson

— Illinois 72, Iowa State 69
Illini never trailed; they led by 13 early in game, then hung on.
Illinois survived going 15-29 on the foul line.
Illinois is in Elite 8 for first time since 2005.
Underdogs were 3-1 SU Thursday; they were 1-15 SU in second round.

— UConn 82, San Diego State 52
UConn is 23-1 since Christmas.
Huskies had 21 offensive rebounds, Aztecs 17 defensive boards.
UConn won/covered its last nine NCAA Tournament games.
San Diego State shot 36.2% from the floor, 5-22 on arc.

— Famous birthdays for March 29:
Denny McLain, 80
Walt Frazier, 79
Earl Campbell, 69
Billy Beane, 62
Brain Jordan, 57
Matt Olson, 30

— Pirates 6, Marlins 5 (12)
Miami led 5-2 after six innings.
Jake Burger was 3-4, with 3 RBI.
Pittsburgh batters struck out 17 times.

— Rangers 4, Cubs 3 (10)
Pinch-hitter Jankowski tied game with 9th inning home run,
Jonah Heim’s walk-off single ended the game in the 10th.
Cubs’ P Steele left game with a hamstring injury.

— Bronx 5, Astros 4
Houston led 4-0 after two innings.
Juan Soto threw out game-tying run at the plate in 9th inning.
Astros had 13 hits, were only 3-9 with runners in scoring position.

— Diamondbacks 16, Rockies 1
Arizona scored 14 runs on 13 hits…….just in the 3rd inning.
Lourdes Gurriel was 3-5, with three runs scored, 5 RBI
Arizona was 12-15 with runners in scoring position.

— Tigers 1, White Sox 0
Only run of game scored on a 3rd inning sac fly.
Tarik Skubal allowed only 3 baserunners in six IP.
White Sox had three hits, never got a runner to second base.

— Reds 8, Nationals 2
Cincinnati led 7-0 in the third inning.
Reds’ DH Martini hit two homers, knocked in five runs.
Frankie Montas tossed six shutout IP in his Cincinnati debut.

— Padres 6, Giants 4
Trailing 3-2, Padres scored four runs in 7th inning.
Xander Bogaerts had the g0-ahead single.
Yu Darvish allowed one run in 5 IP.

— Dodgers 7, Cardinals 1
Dodgers led 5-0 after three innings.
Tyler Glasnow allowed 3 baserunners in 6 IP in his Dodger debut.
Freddie Freeman was 2-3 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI

— Orioles 11, Angels 3
Baltimore led 7-0 after four innings.
Corbin Burnes struck out 11 guys in 6 IP, in his Orioles debut.
Trout/Rengifo had the Angels’ only two hits.

— Blue Jays 8, Rays 2
Game was 1-1 after the fifth inning.
Springer, Biggio, Guerrero homered for Toronto.
Zach Eflin was tagged for six earned runs in 5.2 IP.

— Guardians 8, A’s 0
Shane Bieber struck out 11 batters in six shutout IP.
David Fry was 3-4, with two runs scored.
Attendance in Oakland’s last-ever home opener: 13,522

— Twins 4, Royals 1
Pablo Lopez allowed only four baserunners in 7 IP.
Royce Lewis homered, later left game with a leg injury.
Carlos Correa was 3-4, with two RBI.

— Red Sox 6, Mariners 4
Tyler O’Neill homered on Opening Day for 5th year in a row, an MLB record.
Rafael Devers was 2-4 with a homer and two RBI.
Mitch Haniger hit a home run for Seattle. 

— Happy Opening Day, everyone; they played couple of games in Korea last week, but today is the real Opening Day, except in NY/Philly, where those games have already been rained out.

I’ll be posting statistical knowledge on the baseball page every day starting next week sometime, after the teams have some games under their belt.

— They have a restaurant at my hotel, Du-Par’s, a 24-hour place that is very good, but tonight, they had this little robot/cart delivering the meals to the tables. I’m sitting there looking at my phone, and the cart pulls up next to me— its a little spooky.

—  Seton Hall 91, UNLV 68
Pirates never trailed; they shot 11-25 on the arc.
Seton Hall shot 64.9% inside the arc, scored 1.30 points/possession.
Pirates play Georgia in the NIT semi-finals next week.

— Utah 74, VCU 54
Utes jumped out to a 16-2 lead; Rams were 5-26 on the arc.
Only one guy on VCU scored more than 8 points.
Utah plays Indiana State in the NIT semi-finals, at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.

— Seattle 77, High Point 67
Seattle wins the CBI championship.
High Point led by 3 with 11:23 left in the game.
Redhawks finish season with the #12 eFG% defense in country.

— Norfolk State 75, Fort Wayne 67
Norfolk State wins the CIT championship.
Fort Wayne led 41-23 late in the first half.
Norfolk State put four guys in double figures; two of them were subs.

— If you’re in Las Vegas, check out the sportsbook at the MGM Grand; good place to bet on and watch games, with an excellent pizzeria around the corner to the left.

— Famous birthdays for March 28:
Rick Barry, 80
Len Elmore, 72
JK McKay, 71
Glenn Davis, 63
Jason Garrett, 58
Vince Vaughn, 54
Chris Long, 39
Stefani Germanotta, 38 (Lady Gaga)
Derek Carr, 33
Christian Walker, 33
Will Smith, 29 (Dodgers catcher)

— Purdue is 5-0 this season against the other teams in the Sweet 16.

— 7 of the teams in the Sweet 16 played in the Maui Classic, either this year or last year.

— College basketball coaching stuff:
Louisville hired Charleston coach Pat Kelsey (70-27 in three years there)

Florida Atlantic hired John Jakus as basketball coach; he was an assistant coach at Baylor, and has also worked at Gonzaga.

Long Beach State hired San Diego State assistant Sam Acker as its new head coach; had was with the Aztecs for five years, at Hawai’i/Boise State before that. 

Belmont hired Tennessee-Martin coach Ryan Ridder (40-25 the last two years) as its new coach.

Tennessee-Martin hired Jeremy Shulman, who was 346-107 in 14 years coaching at Eastern Florida State, a junior college.

Siena hired Syracuse assistant Gerry McNamara as its new coach.

— NFL’s Detroit Lions re-signed QB Nate Sudfeld, who played in six games over four seasons with the Eagles/Lions. He’s never started an NFL game, completing 25-37 passes, for 188 yards.

— Of all the active baseball players, Mike Trout/Jose Ramirez are the only two with five 20-20 seasons; 20+ home runs, 20+ stolen bases.

— Red Sox OF Tyler O’Neill has hit a home run on each of the last four Opening Days.

— Chicago White Sox have only one pitcher on their roster this year, who was also on the White Sox’ roster last year.

— Only five major league franchises have been sold in the last 12 seasons, Orioles being the fifth; it would be nice if some really rich person bought the A’s this year, so they can go to Las Vegas and compete for playoff spots.

— I was wearing my A’s cap in the sportsbook tonight; a guy comes up to me and asks how I think they’ll do in Las Vegas. He told that he had a friend who was Al Davis’ chauffeur back in the day, when Davis owned the Oakland Raiders. The guy has been to 33 Super Bowls, including 20 in a row at one point.

He is retiring from his job now and is moving from San Diego to Las Vegas; good guy. I’ve had some excellent conversations with total strangers in sportsbooks here; this was one of those.