— Idea of the Day– ESPN or NFL Network needs to bring Jon Gruden back to TV, so he can do those interviews he used to do with college QB’s before the NFL Draft. Learned a lot watching those, and this year especially is a very interesting year for QB’s in the draft.
— NFL’s salary cap is going up 13.6% next season, up to $255.4M/team.
— New Orleans Saints are restructuring QB Derek Carr’s contract, giving them $23M or so in salary cap relief for 2024, but Carr’s 2025 salary cap hit is up to $50.13M, including a $10M bonus that guarantees in three weeks.
In other words, the Saints kicked their cap woes down the road a year.
Right now, Saints are still $40,071,454 over the 2024 salary cap; Buffalo Bills are $41,742,609 over the cap, so those teams still have some work to do, cap-wise.
— Rams signed WR Demarcus Robinson for one year, $5M; Robinson caught 26 passes for 371 yards this season, with four TD’s, all of which came from Week 13 on.
— Golden State Warriors signed coach Steve Kerr for two years, $35M, which coincides with what’s left on Steph Curry’s contract. Kerr has won four NBA titles coaching the Warriors.
— Minnesota Golden Gophers are 17-9, 9-7 in conference this year, but they’re an impressive 23-3 against the spread this season. This is Minnesota’s first winning season since Richard Pitino led the Gophers to a 22-14 record five years ago.
— Was surprised to read that Thursday night’s Law and Order was the last episode for the great actor Sam Waterston, whose character Jack McCoy was on the show for 405 episodes. Thanks for all your work, sir. You’ll be missed.
The three TV shows I watch the most: CSI, Law and Order, Magnum PI, So many famous actors have been on Law and Order before they hit it rich. Great show.
— Baseball Stuff: Colorado Rockies have 33 pitchers in their major league camp this spring.
— Word of the Day: Mensch- a person of integrity and honor.
— Famous people with birthdays on February 24:
Hall of Fame 1B Eddie Murray, 68
actor Edward James Olmos, 77
actor Billy Zane, 58
singer George Thorogood, 73
former NC State/NBA center Tom Burleson, 72
— Spring training baseball started Thursday; great to watch baseball on TV again, its like welcoming old friends back into your house, after a 4-5 month lull.
Now the games themselves don’t mean so much; it isn’t about winning, it is just the players getting back in shape, preparing for the regular season, but it is still fun to watch.
— Fairfield 85, Quinnipiac 81
Fairfield is 17-10, after starting the season 1-6.
Stags made 13-26 on the arc in this game.
Quinnipiac has lost three in a row, after a 10-0 run.
— Cornell 65, Yale 62
Cornell outscored Yale 13-4 over the final 3:23.
Yale was only 11-26 on the foul line.
Big Red now leads the Ivy League by a game over Yale/Princeton.
— Bowling Green 76, Toledo 68
Toledo’s loss puts Akron atop the MAC standings.
Marcus Hill scored 31 points for Bowling Green, which starts four seniors.
— Fort Wayne 85, Green Bay 59
Mastodons led 47-23 at halftime.
Fort Wayne shot 60.5% inside arc, had only 4 turnovers.
Green Bay’s loss puts Oakland atop the Horizon standings.
— Teams shooting the best %age on 3’s this season:
40.6%- Purdue (24-3)
40.5%- Kentucky (18-8)
40.4%- Baylor (19-7)
Teams shooting the worst %age on 3’s this season:
25.2%- IUPUI (6-22)
26%- Buffalo (4-22)
26.4%- Coppin State (2-21)
