— Random knowledge; Brock Purdy will be the 67th different QB to start a Super Bowl.
— Washington Commanders filled the NFL’s last head coaching opening and hired Dallas Cowboys’ DC Dan Quinn; Quinn went 46-44 in 5+ years coaching the Falcons, going 3-2 in playoff games. His 2016 Atlanta team lost Super Bowl LI 34-28, after leading 28-3 in the third quarter. He’s been the defensive coordinator in Dallas the last three seasons.
Five of the eight coaches who’ve been hired come from the defensive side of the ball.
— New England Patriots hired former Browns’ OC Alex Van Pelt as their new OC.
Las Vegas Raiders are hiring former Cardinals’ coach Kliff Kingsbury as their new OC.
Rams are promoting LB coach Chris Shula to defensive coordinator; he is the grandson of the Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, and also played football at Miami OH with Sean McVay.
— AFC teams won six of the last nine Super Bowls.
— 14 of the first 57 Super Bowls were 0-0 after the first quarter.
— NHL teams with best records in overtime/shootouts:
7-2- St Louis
6-2- Anaheim, Washington
5-1- Edmonton
— NHL teams with worst records in overtime/shootouts:
2-10- Los Angeles
6-12- NY Islanders
5-10- Columbus
4-9- Seattle
— Active leaders in career home runs:
402- Giancarlo Stanton
368- Mike Trout
356- Joey Votto
342- Evan Longoria
340- Paul Goldschmidt
— Word of the Day: Cohesive- describing a group of people that is united and working together effectively.
— Milwaukee Brewers are trading P Corbin Burnes to the Orioles for Baltimore’s #5/#6 prospects, one a pitcher, one a shortstop. Last year, Burnes was 10-8 with a 3.39 ERA; he won the 2021 Cy Young Award and is a free agent after the 2024 season.
— Cal Ripken Jr/Grant Hill are part of the new ownership group of the Baltimore Orioles.
— Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I couldn’t sleep and got an idea for something to do for this blog, so I got up, flipped on the TV and got to work at 6am. Put Morning Joe on; I hadn’t watched it in years, and for whatever reason, they start rattling on about the 70’s Atlanta Braves and they flash a picture on the screen of a baseball card of Biff Pocoroba.
Go figure.
If you don’t know, my first name is Biff and back in 1975, it was very cool for 15-year old me to watch a major leaguer named Biff- I followed his career pretty closely and have an autographed picture on the shelf here in my living room, plus the same baseball card they showed on TV.
By the way, Biff Pocoroba was a switch-hitting catcher who was an All-Star in 1978; he was a good knuckleball catcher for Phil Niekro back in the day.
— NCAA Tournament Stat: Last four NCAA Tournaments, teams from the WAC are 5-0 against the spread, including New Mexico State’s upset of UConn two years ago.
Last year, UConn won the national title; they were a #4-seed, the highest seed that made the Final 4. None of the top 12 seeds made the Final 4, which is unusual.
— Nebraska 80, Wisconsin 72 OT
Badgers led 43-27 at halftime.
CJ Wilcher scored 22 points in 27:00; he didn’t start.
Before tonight, AP Top 10 teams had won 1,458 consecutive games when leading by 16+ points at halftime; the last loss was January 5, 2002 (Kentucky @ Mississippi State).
— Grand Canyon 95, Seattle 88 OT
Antelopes won despite blowing a 14-point 2nd half lead.
Grand Canyon has won 17 of its last 18 games.
— NC-Wilmington 80, Charleston 74
Charleston led by 6 with 12:24 left.
Trazarien White scored 27 points, had 9 rebounds.
These teams are now tied for 3rd in the CAA, both are 6-3.
— Youngstown State 88, Wright State 77
All five Penguin starters scored in double figures.
Youngstown shot 55.6% inside arc, had 13 offensive boards.
Penguins have never been in D-I NCAA Tournament; they’re 17-6 this year.
— Cleveland State 77, Detroit 65
Detroit starts four seniors and they’re 0-23. Yikes.
Titans are 3-9 ATS in Horizon games.
From 1973-77, Detroit was 79-29; their coach was Dick Vitale.
— Sam Houston 79, Western Kentucky 77
Hilltoppers led by 8 with 7:58 left in game.
Sam Houston is 6-1 in C-USA; this is their 11th winning season in a row.
— Lakers 114, Celtics 105
Boston was favored by 15.5 points; this is first time in at least 30 years that the Celtics lost when favored by 15+ points.
— Knicks 109, Pacers 105
Knicks have won nine games in a row, and 15 of 17.
All-Star Jalen Brunson scored 40 points for New York.
