Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….

— Week 18 in the NFL has some unusual QB matchups; there are at least five games where both QB’s starting this week are backups:

Steelers (Rudolph) @ Ravens (Hundley)
Browns (Driskel) @ Bengals (Browning)
Chiefs (Gabbert) @ Chargers (Stick)
Rams (Wentz) @ 49ers (Darnold)
Broncos (Stidham) @ Raiders (O’Connell)

Jeff Driskel will be the fifth quarterback to start a game for Cleveland this season.

— Jets cut RB Dalvin Cook, who went unclaimed on waivers; he then signed with the Baltimore Ravens, who’ve had injury issues in their backfield recently.

Cook carried the ball only 67 times for 214 yards for the Jets this season, after the Jets gave him a one-year, $7M contract in August.

— Tough time of year for football coaches whose teams didn’t win this year:

LSU fired four defensive assistant coaches.

Oklahoma fired its defensive coordinator.

North Carolina fired its offensive coordinator.

— It was reported couple weeks ago that Kansas State QB Will Howard was bolting from K-State to USC, but turns out he is going to Ohio State instead.

— Oklahoma State QB Alan Bowman was given a 7th year of eligibility by the NCAA; Bowman played three years at Texas Tech, two at Michigan, before playing for the Cowboys this past season. Bowman passed for 402 yards in OSU’s bowl win over Texas A&M.

— Atlanta Braves signed recently-acquired P Chris Sale to a 2-year, $38M contract; Sale was 6-5, 4.30 in 20 starts for Boston LY, which followed three injury-plagued seasons.

— Mets signed OF Harrison Bader, giving him $10.5M for one year; Bader hit .232 last year, splitting time between Bronx and Cincinnati.

Movie of the Day: Solitary Man (2009)- A prolific car dealer watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

Tremendous cast: Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary-Louise Parker, Richard Schiff, Jenna Fischer, Bruce Altman.

The movie was written by the two guys who wrote the Showtime series Billions, which was an excellent show. This movie isn’t always pleasant, but it is interesting.

Baseball Fact of the Day: In 2023, free agent P Blake Snell was the first pitcher since 1913 to lead the major leagues in both ERA and walks allowed.

— Oregon 76, Washington 74
Huskies were only 12-22 on the foul line, at home.

— Memphis 78, Tulsa 75
Memphis led by 14 at the half, needed a 3-pointer with 0:02 left for the win.
Penny Hardaway’s team is 12-2 against schedule #28; they’re #44 in experience, #343 in continuity, so they figure to improve as they play together more.

— Oakland 100, Milwaukee 95
Lot of whistles: Oakland was 30-39 on foul line, Milwaukee 26-35
Jack Gohlke is a senior G for Oakland; so far this year, he’s taken 167 shots- 52-162 on 3-point shots, 3-5 on 2-point shots.

— Cal-San Diego 79, Cal-Santa Barbara 72
Gauchos were expected to win the Big West, but they’re off to an 0-3 start in BW play.
When you shoot 10-17 on the arc at home and still lose, that isn’t good.

— Minnesota 73, Michigan 71
Michigan has lost three in row, eight of last eleven games.
Wolverines outscored Minnesota 17-5 on the foul line, still lost.

— James Madison 68, Louisiana 61
14-0 Dukes survived 19 turnovers and 5-22 shooting on the arc.
JMU started the season with OT wins at Michigan State, Kent State, but overall, they’ve played schedule #314 this season.

— There was an unusual scene they showed during the Colorado-Arizona game on ESPN; during the day, movie star Adam Sandler was playing in a half-court pickup game with the Arizona student managers. Sandler is a pretty good ballplayer for a guy in his late 50’s. 

Author: Armadillo Sports

I've been involved in sports my whole life, now just write about them. I like to travel, mostly to Las Vegas- they have gambling there.