— Baltimore Ravens fired coach John Harbaugh after 18 years; Harbaugh was 190-124 as Ravens’ coach, 13-11 in playoff games- they won the Super Bowl in 2012.
Ravens made the playoffs six of the last eight years, would have gotten there again this year had their rookie kicker made a 44-yard field goal at the end of Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh.
Something to tuck away: Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers play at Baltimore next fall.
— There were 63 Venezuelan-born ballplayers in the major leagues last year; five of them are on my fantasy team. The chaos in Venezuela could screw up this spring’s World Baseball Classic; there is still enough time for all the major leaguers to get back here in time for spring training and the WBC.
— Philadelphia Phillies hired Don Mattingly as bench coach; his son Preston is the Phiilies’ general manager. Mattingly was bench coach with the Blue Jays the last three years.
— Texas Tech poached QB Brendan Sorsby from the Cincinnati Bearcats, are apparently paying him $5M next year.
— One wish for next football season; Pete Carroll in a TV booth somewhere, think he would provide good energy and a lot of knowledge.
— Famous birthdays, January 7th:
Erin Gray, 76
David Caruso, 70
Brian Baldinger, 65
Ron Rivera, 63
Nicolas Cage, 62
Todd Day, 56
Frank Menechino, 55
Francisco Rodriguez, 44
Jhoulys Chacin, 38
Dean Kremer, 30
Ozzie Albies, 29
Lamar Jackson, 29
— Detroit Lions fired offensive coordinator John Morton after only one season; Detroit went 9-8 this year, missed the playoffs for first time in three years.Lions scored 28.3 ppg; they scored 33.2 ppg last year, when Ben Johnson was the OC.
— Washington Commanders let both their coordinators go, a year after they played in the NFC title game. OC Kliff Kingsbury should’t be unemployed very long. Washington’s defense finished last in yards allowed, 27th in points given up, so firing the DC was expected.
QB Jayden Daniels played four full games; Washington was 5-12 this year, after going 12-5 LY.
— New Jersey Jets had only four takeaways all season, are the first NFL team EVER not to intercept a pass all season. Jets wound up minus-19 in turnovers.
— Dallas Cowboys fired DC Matt Eberflus; next season Dallas will have their fourth different DC in four years. Cowboys traded their best defensive player to Green Bay before the season, then went 7-9-1, 1-8 when they scored less than 30 points. Dallas allowed the most points in the league, were 30th in yards allowed.
— Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise (1988)- A retired drug dealer in Los Angeles tries to go straight but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.
Mel Gibson is the dealer, Michelle Pfeiffer runs the restaurant where he eats, Kurt Russell and JT Walsh are cops trying to bust drug dealers. Raul Julia is an old friend of the dealer.
Good movie; I found it the other day on YouTube.
— Nebraska’s basketball team is 15-0; they’re ranked in top 10 for the first time since 1966.
— Texas A&M 90, Auburn 88
Auburn hit 3-pointer at buzzer that was waved off after a replay review.
Auburn led by 16 points with 13:29 left in the game.
Texas A&M shot 61.3% inside the arc.
Aggies have won won five in row, 10 of last 11 games.
— Kansas 104, TCU 100, OT
TCU led by 9 with 1:14 left in the game.
Kansas was 30-40 on foul line, Horned Frogs 15-24.
Jayhawks avoided their first 0-2 start in league play since 1991.
— Wisconsin 80, UCLA 72
Badgers led 33-13 midway thru first half.
UCLA shot 1-17 on the arc, 15-23 on foul line.
Bruins are 1-4 on the road, with only win at Washington.
— Duke 84, Louisville 73
Louisville led by 12 late in the first half.
Duke outscored Cardinals 46-26 in second half.
Blue Devils shot 64.7% inside the arc.
— South Carolina 78, LSU 68
Gamecocks led this game 43-15 in the first half.
Carolina shot 12-21 from the arc.
6-4 junior Strong scored 30 points in 25:00
