— Five years ago today, the retina in my right eye detached, while I was in Las Vegas; everything has turned out well, but that was kind of a scary time. It took from October 12 until just after Christmas for my eye to become normal again.
Many thanks to Dr Mallick, the surgeon who fixed my retina, and to Dr Lemanski, who later fixed the resulting cataract issues that are a by-product of retina surgery.
I greatly appreciate their work, that’s for damn sure.
— Dodgers 2, Padres 0
Kike Hernandez, Teoscar Hernandez both homered.
Yamamoto tossed five scoreless innings to get the win.
San Diego didn’t score in the last 24 innings of this series.
Dodgers-Mets start Sunday night in Chavez Ravine.
— Northwestern 37, Maryland 10
Maryland was favored by 10.5 points.
Terps outgained Northwestern 355-283 but were minus-4 in turnovers.
Up 17-10, Wildcats scored a defensive TD that broke game open.
— Arizona State 27, Utah 19
ASU RB Skattebo ran ball 21 times for 156 yards, two TD’s.
Utah kicked four field goals, scored only one TD.
Sun Devils are 5-1 now; their next two games are on road.
Utes completed only 16-37 passes, with three INT’s.
— UNLV 50, Utah State 34
Rebels led this game 41-7 at halftime.
UNLV averaged 11.7 yards per pass attempt.
Rebels have won five straight road games for first time, ever.
— The other night in Las Vegas, at 2:30am out there, they imploded the Tropicana hotel, to make room for the A’s new baseball stadium. Quite a production, lot of fireworks and all before the two buildings came down.
Imagine staying across the street at the MGM? Must’ve been quite a view.
— Today’s Game 5 between Tigers-Guardians was moved up from 8:00 to 1:00, because it is supposed to rain in Cleveland Saturday night. Winner starts the ALCS in the Bronx Monday.
— Famous birthdays, October 12th:
Jack Marin, 80
Chris Wallace, 77
Susan Anton, 74
Sid Fernandez, 62
Chris Chandler, 59
Hugh Jackman, 56
Leon Lett, 56
Charlie Ward, 54
Ketel Marte, 31
Notes on Big East basketball teams:
— Butler
Last four years, Butler is 27-51 in conference games.
Bulldogs made the NCAA’s six times in seven years, the last seven years before they joined the Big East. They’ve been in NCAA’s four times in the 10 years they’ve been in Big East.
— UConn
UConn won last two national titles, first team since Florida Gators in 2006/2007.
Last four years, Huskies have been in top 12 in country on offensive rebounding.
— Creighton
Last four years, Bluejays are 94-44, 54-25 in Big East tilts, 8-4 in NCAA tourney.
Last two years, Creighton was in bottom five in country in forcing turnovers.
— DePaul
DePaul hasn’t been over .500 in Big East games since 2007.
Blue Demons haven’t been in NCAA’s since 2004.
Last year, DePaul was 3-29, 0-20; their last win was December 30th.
— Georgetown
Last three years, Hoyas are 22-73, 4-55 in conference games.
Last year, Ed Cooley’s first year there, Georgetown was #358 in field goal defense.
— Marquette
Three years under Shaka Smart: 75-30, 42-17 in Big East, 3-3 in NCAA’s.
Last two years, Marquette was #4, #13 in 2-point field goal %age.
Marquette was a 2-seed LY; they lost 67-58 to NC State in Sweet 16.
— Providence
Last three years, Friars are 69-32, 37-20 in Big East games, 2-2 in NCAA’s.
Last year, first year under Kim English, Providence was #18 in country in defense.
— St John’s
St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000.
Johnnies were 11-9 in Big East LY, just second time in last nine years they were over .500 in conference games.
— Seton Hall
Pirates were 25-12, 13-7 last year; they won the NIT.
Since 2006, Seton Hall is 1-6 in NCAA Tournament.
Two years under Holloway, they’re 42-28, 23-17 in Big East games.
— Villanova
In two years since Jay Wright retired, Villanova is 35-23, 20-20 in Big East tilts.
Villanova made the Final Four in Wright’s last season.
In two years under Neptune, Wildcats ranked #347, #333 in tempo.
— Xavier
Chris Mack left Xavier in 2018, having made NCAA’s five years in a row,
Since then, Xavier has made only one of five NCAA Tournaments.