— Chicago Bears will be on this summer’s version of HBO’s Hard Knocks, which should be very interesting, seeing how they have a rookie QB and all. Bears are 16-35 the last three years, have not had a winning season since 2018.
— Last year, Notre Dame poached QB Sam Hartman from Wake Forest, after he started for the Deacons for four years; he probably made a lot of $$$ making the move, but a disturbing lack of loyalty. Wake Forest is in the ACC after all, but then after a 9-3 regular season, Hartman sat out Notre Dame’s bowl game, so he could prepare for the NFL Draft.
Oy.
Problem is, Hartman never got drafted; he will be in the Washington Commanders’ camp as an undrafted free agent. Too bad the Commanders aren’t on Hard Knocks.
— Miami Dolphins inked WR Jaylen Waddle to a 3-year deal worth $84.75M, with $76M of that money guaranteed. He is now the 4th highest-paid WR in the league.
Last year, Waddle caught 72 passes for 1,014 yards, and 4 TD’s; he’s had 1,000+ receiving yards in all three of his years in the NFL.
— Bought my first college football magazine of the year couple days ago; hard to process the shuffling that has gone on in college sports.
The Big 10 is now the Big 18
Stanford, Cal and SMU are in the ACC, which makes zero sense.
Oklahoma/Texas are in the SEC.
— Mets retired Darryl Strawberry’s #18 Saturday; Strawberry last played for the Mets in 1990- since then, 19 different players have worn #18 for Mets, but no one else will anymore.
— Sacramento Kings more than doubled coach Mike Brown’s salary; he re-upped with the Kings for $8.5M a year, a deal that runs thru 2027. Sacramento was 94-70 the last two seasons, ending a 16-year playoff drought.
— All four of these guys went to the same college, three of them played QB there:
Jimmy Garoppolo
Sean Payton
Tony Romo
Mike Shanahan
Pretty impressive list; I never would’ve guessed they all went to Eastern Illinois.
Famous birthdays, June 2nd:
Jerry Mathers, 76
Lawrence McCutcheon, 74
Joanna Gleason, 74
Dennis Haysbert, 70
Dana Carvey, 69
Al Wood, 66
Earl Boykins, 48
Nikki Cox, 36
Austin Davis, 35
— Panthers 2, Rangers 1
Florida wins series 4-2, is in Stanley Cup for third time ever, second year in a row. They also made the finals in 1996, their third year in existence.
— Orioles 9, Rays 5
Ryan Mountcastle hit two homers.
Tampa Bay lost nine of its last 12 games.
— A’s 11, Braves 9
Miguel Andujar was 4-5, with 3 runs scored, 4 RBI
Atlanta is 3-8 in its last 11 home games.
— Phillies 6, Cardinals 1
Phillies have won eight in a row at home.
P Ranger Suarez got hit in the hand with a line drive; x-rays came back negative.
— Brewers 4, White Sox 3 (10)
Chicago has lost ten games in a row.
Milwaukee is 5-0 when Robert Gasser pitches.
— Rangers 7, Marlins 0
Michael Lorenzen tossed 6.1 scoreless innings.
Texas has won four of its last five games.
— Some media people have been mumbling about Shohei Ohtani winning MVP this year; can’t see how a DH could ever win MVP- he doesn’t play the field, all he does is hit, plus the Dodgers have Mookie Betts hitting in front of him, Freddie Freeman behind him. Lot of talent there; why would one guy be more valuable than the other two?
— Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson has a deal in his contract where he has to participate in 80% of the Ravens’ offseason workouts to earn a $750,000 bonus, but when you sign a contract worth a total of $260M, $750,000 probably seems like pocket change.
Jackson has missed most of Baltimore’s workouts this spring.