— Good day to be an A’s fan…….
A’s relocation to Las Vegas cleared a major hurdle Thursday with the approval of three long-anticipated agreements that were needed before ballpark construction can begin.
A’s will play in Sacramento the next three years, hope to begin playing in a new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip in 2028.
Damn near choked on my lunch Thursday when I got a text saying the A’s signed P Luis Severino to a 3-year, $67M contract, the biggest contract the A’s have given out since 2004, when Eric Chavez got paid.
This past year, Severino was 11-7, 3.91 in 31 starts for the Mets, after previously pitching for eight years in the Bronx. His career record is 65-44, 3.81 in 156 starts.
— Lions 34, Packers 31
Lions drove 63 yards, kicked 35-yard FG at the gun.
Detroit won its last eleven games (8-3 ATS).
Goff threw for 283 yards, three TD’s.
Detroit was 7-15 on third down, 4-5 on 4th down.
Only 5 of Packers’ 44 plays were on 3rd down (1-5).
Green Bay’s first three drives: 10 plays, 46 yards, no points.
Green Bay rest of the game: 34 plays, 249 yards, 31 points.
Detroit led 17-7 at halftime.
Packers scored two TD’s in first 3:45 of third quarter.
GB is 17-7 ATS in last 24 games as a road underdog
— North Carolina has interviewed 72-year old Bill Belichick about their coaching job; while Belichick has won six Super Bowls, he’s never coached in college.
Tar Heels just fired 73-year old Mack Brown as coach, after going 23-16 the last three years.
Belichick’s son is defensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies.
— If you like the NFL, Hard Knocks on HBO Max is great to watch; this year’s show is focusing on the entire AFC North. Get to see some behind-the-scenes stuff, which is educational.
— Quarterbacks/receivers should get stat credit for interference penalties.
— UCLA fired offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy after the Bruins ranked 126th in scoring this year, 118th in yardage. Bieniemy gets paid $1.2M to go away.
Bieniemy worked for the Washington Commanders LY, after working with the Chiefs for ten years before that. Rumor was he didn’t get along well with Patrick Mahomes, but Kansas City won two Super Bowls while he was there.
UCLA replaces Bieniemy with Indiana OC/QB coach Tino Sunseri.
— Oklahoma State fired both coordinators after their 3-9 season, where they were 0-9 in Big X games. Problem is, OSU had gone to bowl games the previous 18 years, going 12-6 in the bowl games and suddenly, this year the assistants aren’t good enough?
Offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn has worked for the Cowboys since 2011; that had to be a tense/awkward conversation when he was told to take a hike.
— Famous birthdays, December 6th:
Larry Bowa, 79
Steven Wright, 69
Bill Hanzlik, 67
Lance Blankenship, 61
Sarah Rafferty, 52
Judd Apotow, 57
Kevin Cash, 47
Johnny Manziel, 32
Giannis Antetokounmpo, 30
— Penn State 81, Purdue 70
Nittany Lions led by 27 midway thru second half.
Purdue turned ball over 24 times in their conference opener.
— TCU 76, Xavier 72
Xavier led by 6 with 7:28 left in the game.
Horned Frogs put five guys in double figures, including two subs.
Xavier shot 63% inside the arc, only 9-28 outside arc.
— Detroit 79, Fort Wayne 78
Mastodons led Detroit by 8 with 8:51 left in game.
Titans shot 11-25 on the arc.
Detroit is 5-5 under new coach Montgomery; they were 1-31 last year.
— Oakland 66, Wright State 64
Wright State shot 16-31 on arc, but 6-20 inside arc, only 4-5 on foul line.
Oakland starts four seniors; they played non-conference schedule #8.
— Drake 66, Valparaiso 60
Drake is 8-0, with four starters who used to play D-2 ball.
Bulldogs are forcing turnovers 22.4% of time (#27)
Drake already has three top 100 wins.
— Long Beach State 73, Fullerton 56
Long Beach gets its first win in nine D-I games.
Favored Titans were 1-13 on arc, 9-18 on foul line.
— Cal-Irvine 82, Bakersfield 66
Irvine was 33-40 on foul line, Bakersfield 17-19.
Anteaters are 9-0, with only two top 150 wins.
Six of Irvine’s eight I-A wins are by 12+ points.
