10 Piece Nuggets

Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL Draft

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Draft Day one is in the books.  It’s Friday and rounds two and three are on tonight’s happy hour menu.  The restaurant business is tough.   We are a competitive bunch.  So we offer you a buy ten nuggets get ten free below.  Enjoy and TGIF.

  1.  Too bad it rained on Nashville’s party as the evening wore on.  The only thing that looked better than the setting was the size of the crowd.  Estimated at 150k by most, Commish Roger Goodell thanked the over 200k who attended.  Regardless, that’s one hell of a block party.  NashVegas was in full swing.
  2. The Kliff Klingsbury era is in full swing in Arizona as well.  Taking QB Kyler Murray is King Kliff’s statement.  He chased him and chased him as a high schooler when Kliff was coaching college.  He caught up to him as each advanced to the next level.
  3.  When Goodell read Murray’s name, King Kliff’s lost what little leverage he had in attempting to trade Josh Rosen, the Cardinal’s answer at QB just 12 short months ago.  We wonder if on one level Kliff really cares that much.  Call Rosen a sunk cost.  Arizona is moving forward and will hold a Josh Rosen fire sale today or tomorrow.  Rosen was a polarizing pick last year.  Knocks on him are plenty, with the most damaging being his indifference to his occupation.  A burning desire to compete and win at a leadership position is a must.
  4.  San Francisco said thank you very much, and picked Nick Bosa, pass rusher extraordinaire from THE Ohio St U.   More than a few NFL “insiders” gave him the highest draft grade this year.
  5. Those who did not have their highest grade on Bosa did on Quinnen Williams, the latest interior defensive line disruptive force to come out of Saban’s Alabama based NFL training grounds.  The J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets wisely pounced.  In baseball having a strong up the middle defense (C, 2B, SS, and CF) is a must. NY has Jamal Adams at safety and Williams now plugging the middle.  It is crowded up front on the Jets DL though.
  6.  Then the fun started.  Longtime NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock, turned Raiders GM, selected Clelin Ferrell, DE Clemson.  Ferrell very likely could have been had 5-10 picks lower.  Good player, high motor, high football IQ guys are wonderful but so are more draft picks.  Jon Gruden probably snarled.  He always does.
  7. Tampa Bay at 5 picked LSU LB Devin White.  In today’s NFL LB’s don’t  litter the first round landscape.  However, he was one of two LB’s taken in the top 10 this year.  And he was one of  two LB’s taken this year named Devin.  Devin Bush went at no. 10.  Pittsburgh, who never trades up, traded up to take the Michigan product.
  8. And then the fun really started.  The New York “Football” Giants took Daniel Jones, Duke QB.  Embattled Giants GM Dave Gettleman tied his future Big Apple based employment to this pick.  Around the NFL opinions on Jones vary greatly.  One scout labeled his ceiling as a “backup with pedestrian talent.” Is he Eli II, or is JAG (just a guy)?  Eli I is 38.  We’ll find out soon enough.
  9. At no. 8 Detroit broke the seal on a deep tight end class.  Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson joined a team who now is labeled as the New England of the west.  Detroit is in the east, but it matters not.  Labels are labels.  Head coach Matt Patricia even dons the ever-present pencil behind his ear like his teacher Bill Belicheck.   Is Patricia the next Belicheck?  Is Hockenson the next Gronk?  The answers likely are “hell no” and “hell no.”
  10. Ed Oliver, DL Houston, fell into Buffalo’s lap with the Ferrell and Jones picks coming before them.  Oliver could dominate at the next level.  He’s that good.  But, going to Buffalo from H Town is a bit of a change.  Oh, and Buffalo finished 30th in offense last year.
  11. Pittsburgh jumped, as mentioned earlier, into the 10 hole to grab their coveted LB.  They moved one ahead of Cincinnati who picked 11th.  Cincinnati is used to looking up at Pittsburgh. They’ve had to do so in the same division for decades now.  They took Jonah Williams, OT Alabama.  The Bengals have struck out with three recent high round OL picks.  Is Williams the game changer.  The answer is likely “no.”  But, he is a safe pick as a versatile lineman.
  12. Green Bay followed with the first of their two first round picks.  They worked New Orleans over last year when the Saints moved up a dozen spots and gave up this year’s first rounder that GB used later.  With the 12th pick they took Rashan Gary, DE, Michigan.  Rashan looks the part.  Rashan has the potential.  Potential means you haven’t done anything yet.  Three and 1/2 sacks last year at Michigan isn’t anything.  Rashan might need surgery for a torn labrum at some point as well.  Hmm.  Boom or bust are both in play here we think.
  13. With two QB’s sitting on the board, Miami took the highest player on their board, period.  It wasn’t the highest available. It was the highest coming into the draft. Christian Wilkens, DT, Clemson heads to Miami.
  14. The Atlanta Falcons took two offensive lineman in the first round.  The first of the two is Chris Lindstrom who played guard at Boston College.  The second was Kaleb McGary from Washington at pick 31 via trade.   Both have mean streaks and need them to keep Matt Ryan upright.  Atlanta seems soft to us.  Good moves we think.   GM Thomas Dimitroff needs to better coordinate high fives and hand shakes in the Atlanta war room though.  Owner Arthur Blank dressed in style but lacked style on the bromance moves.
  15. Washington picked a QB, Dwayne Haskins from THE at 15.  The Redskins already have Colt McCoy, Case Keenum, and Alex Smith.  They already had Kirk Cousins, RG III, Rex Grossman, Jason Campbell, Mark Brunell, and Brad Johnson.  Are you picking up what we are putting down?
  16. The NY Giants made Dexter Lawrence, DT, Clemson the third Dabo Sweeney coached defensive lineman taken in the top 17 picks.  Impressive Dabo.  Very impressive.  It’s no wonder Nick Saban was back in his office this week a mere 36 hours after hip surgery.  You have to keep up with the Dabo’s.
  17.  The Packers continued to add defense picking Darnell Savaage at safety with pick 21.  It was somewhat costly for a team that had a lot of draft capital to spend though.  They packaged the Saints pick from a year prior and two early fourth rounders to get him.  Like the Saints Marcus Davenport in reverse of a year ago, it’s not sometimes what you gain (either might turn out to be very good picks) it’s the potential of what you give to get.  Time will tell.
  18. Oakland took the first RB in the draft, Josh Jacobs, from the football factory known as Alabama.  His pedestrian stats in college aside, he runs hard.  Gruden just snarled smiled so it must be a good pick.  We are underwhelmed.
  19. The Redskins might have struck gold with top ten talent Montez Sweat, DE Mississippi St .  His injured past and somewhat troubled past raised his risk.  The reward might be well worth it.  The run on defensive line talent in this draft was impressive.  Getting to the QB and protecting the QB is what makes this league what it is these days.
  20. The NE Pats stood pat and used the final pick in the first round on N’Keal Harry, WR Arizona St.  Belicheck always trades down and around.  Last night he didn’t.  N’Keal rhymes with Shaquille which isn’t easy to do.  The pick seems quite underwhelming to us.  However, Belicheck drafts last every year for a reason.

Round two starts in 10 hours.  It might take that long to digest the above.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL Draft

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In two days the NFL Draft extravaganza begins in Nashville, TN.  However, there was a problem  The original indoor/outdoor event plans needed a few cherry blossom trees cut down moved.  When this became public knowledge, the locals weren’t happy.  The league altered its plans to work around the problem, in essence passing the political football.   All is well again.  The league that prints George Washington’s can politically correctly have their annual draft.  And, the Washington Redskins can have their annual bad draft as well.  What about that nickname though?

The draft is but sixty hours away.  Here are ten draft nuggets to tide you over.

  1.  Speaking of the Tide, Alabama leads the NFL in total players drafted since 2010 with 73.  That’s not a surprise.  The SEC has had the most players drafted in each and every year since 2010 as well.  That’s not really a big surprise either.  LSU is second and Florida is third.  THE Ohio State University breaks the SEC run with a close fourth place.
  2. In 1975, the draft consisted of seventeen rounds. In 1977 it was dropped to twelve rounds.  And, in 1994 it was skinned to seven rounds.  This may surprise some politically correct millennials.   A seventh round pick was once considered pretty good.  It’s really not a wonder why so many free agents stick is it?  Less rounds means cheaper labor for the NFL.
  3. Until 2014’s draft each team had 15 minutes to make their first round selection.  If they traded the pick, the clock started anew.  Yawn.  It’s now 10 minutes per.
  4. Who has the most picks in this draft?  A team that desperately needs them, the New York “Football” Giants have 12 selections.  Tied with them is a team that does not desperately need them.  The Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots have 12 as well.
  5. How does Bill Belicheck do it?  Several of his extra picks are compensatory.  That means the league awarded them an extra pick in a certain round based on other teams grabbing their players in free agency under certain “non match of offer” guidelines.  He coaches them up, others take them.  He drafts newbies.  He coaches them up.  He wins it all.  Having Tom Brady is a big head start.  But others have franchise QB’s too.
  6. If you have the number one pick overall you can pick anyone you want. Anyone.  College scouting, combines, film study, pro workout days, individual interviews, Wonderlic tests, and countless other interviews should make the pick a sure-fire bet shouldn’t it?  The “modern”‘ NFL draft has been taking place yearly since 1960.  Of all of those first pick first rounders, only 15 (including Peyton Manning being a soon to be shoo in) have made it to the Hall of Fame.
  7.  In modern NFL history, there have only been two drafts without a Hall of Famer selected.  The years were 1984 and 1992.  Obviously recent drafts could fall into this category.  Time will tell us.  The 1984 draft gets a pass though.  In June of that year, the NFL held a special supplemental draft for players who had already signed with either the USFL or the CFL.   From that unique draft, Steve Young, Gary Zimmerman and Reggie White were wisely taken.  The 1992 draft has no excuse at all.  The top five picks that year were Steve Emtman, Quentin Coryatt, Sean Gilbert, Desmond Howard and Terrell Buckley.  Phew.
  8. The lowest drafted quarterback to win a Super Bowl is Bart Starr, who was taken at no. 200 way back in 1956. That’s but one spot lower than Tom Brady.  He went No. 199 in the 2000 draft. Finally, there’s Kurt Warner.  He wasn’t taken at all in 1994, and won a memorable Super Bowl six years later.
  9. Has one team ever had four first round picks in one draft?  Yes they have, and only once.  The New York “Not Football” Jets had four picks in round one of the 2000 draft.  Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, Chad Pennington and Anthony Becht were all hand-picked by the Big Apple team.  That was a pretty good one day harvest.
  10.  Way back in 1944, the Philadelphia Eagles picked Syracuse fullback Norm Michael in the way later rounds.  They were unable to contact him because he had enlisted in the Army right after college.  Fifty five years later an elderly Michael saw a list of Syracuse players selected by the NFL and learned that he had once been drafted.   We guess he thought it was better to enlist with the Army who could draft you than to be listed as drafted by the Eagles back then.

Arizona, you’re on the clock.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Didn’t get enough protein on your three-day Easter weekend?  We have some early morning nuggets to help.  No dyed eggs though.  We’ve had enough already till next year.  Ten nuggets to add to your basket are below.

  1.  The San Jose Sharks scored a goal in a second overtime over the Vegas Golden Knights in the sixth game of their very entertaining, road to the Stanley Cup playoff match up.  Sharks win 2-1.  It forces a game seven.  There are few more energetic, frenetic, and passionate sporting events than an NHL game seven playoff final.  Perhaps it’ll go to overtime to put it further in overdrive.  We can’t name a player on either team, but it won’t stop us from watching.
  2.  Note to self.  Don’t fight with Alex Ovechkin.  The 33-year-old Alex and 19-year-old Andrei Svechnikov decided to drop the gloves last week.  You can see the quick work Alex made of Andrei here.  The Washington Capitals team captain, multi time all-star, and HOF first ballot lock showed the youngster a thing, not two.  Respect your elders must have been the message.  The Carolina Hurricane must have felt like a, well, hurricane hit him.  If you don’t like violent knockouts, don’t hit the link.  Game six is tonight. The Caps lead 3 games to 2, and 1 TKO to zero.
  3. The Tampa Bay Lightning, an NHL record-tying 62-win team, became the first Presidents’ Trophy winner to be swept in the first round. The Columbus Blue Jackets, the last wild-card qualifier to get in the Eastern Conference, flat-out shocked the Lightning.  Defense, defense, defense.  We guess it’s why we watch sports.  We never failed to be amazed.  Competition produces outcomes that make us shake our heads on a near daily basis.
  4. Charles Barkley tripled down last evening on his pronouncement that the Portland Trailblazers are headed to the NBA finals.  They lead the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 and can wrap up the first round matchup on Tuesday at home.  Damian Lillard might be on the verge of taking his game and his team to yet another level.
  5. Is there a better pregame or post game or sports studio show than the NBA on TNT in any sport?  Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Sir Charles know the game, like to jab at each other, enjoy what they are doing, and are downright hilarious.   Ernie Johnson is masterful at setting the stage and pressing go.  How can you not like Barkley?  What you see is what you get.   Ask a question and you get an answer.  Research is optional.
  6. We fully admit that the NBA regular season isn’t must see TV for this writer.  However, the brief view of these playoffs make us wonder if there is finally balance in the top four accross the  conferences.  For years, Lebron aside, the East hasn’t been all that.  It seems very legitimately four deep now.  Boston, Philly, Toronto, and Milwaukee are the top four.  Boston swept and is in.  The three others lead their respective series 3-1.  Two of those will go home in the next round.   It says here that they will be two good teams watching from home like we are now.
  7. Here is your PGA golf quick quiz.  Two parts.  Part one.  Who won the tournament last week, and on what course, and in what tournament?  If you said Tiger, Augusta National, and The Masters we aren’t impressed.  Part two.  Who won the tournament that ended yesterday, and on what course, and in what tournament?  If you said C T Pan, Harbour Town Golf Links, and the RBC Heritage we are impressed.  It’s a beauty of a course, but on Easter Sunday, and a week after the Masters, it had a tough, tough act to follow.
  8.  The sample size admittedly is small, but the surprising Seattle Mariners lead all of baseball in runs scored.  They’ve crossed home 160 times or 24 more than the second highest (Dodgers, 136) team.   That’s an average of 6.4 runs per game and about one more run a game than LA.  You can win a lot of games scoring like that.  They’ve given up 128 runs. That’s fourth worst in the league.  It’s an average of 5.1 runs allowed per game.  You can lose a lot of games getting scored on like that.
  9.  The Miami Marlins have scored an anemic 60 runs in 22 contests.  That’s a pitiful 2.3 runs a game.  You can lose A LOT of games scoring like that.  Does CEO Derek Jeter have a clue?  Apparently so.  His rather newly assembled front office is teeming with talent that knows how to spot, draft, and develop talent.  Four folks that are over personnel are ones that he poached from his former team, the Yankees.  Two are from the Bahstan Sox, and one is from the Golden State Warriors.  Coming from winning franchises all of them, they must now rebuild an organization that has to be close to rock bottom.  The Astros were there six years ago and the Braves were there three years ago.  Still, it’s a steep hill.
  10.  With about 12 percent of the MLB season gone, you knew that Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles (Dodgers) would be leading their divisions didn’t you?  Advanced analytics will tell you that at least four of these teams won’t get to the wire.  They may not, but this spring hope springs eternal for a quite a few surprised fans in a few cities that have started out well.  If they get to the quarter pole the chatter will grow an octave.

It’s Monday.  You’ve been off for three or four days.  Get back to work.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Multiple Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s tasty Tuesday.  You’re hungry.  With the NBA playoffs, MLB off to a fine start, the Masters, and the NFL draft upcoming there is plenty to chew on.  Ten Nuggets await your consumption below.

  1. If you like Tiger or if not (and most do) you have to tip your golf visor his way.  Four back surgeries and two knee surgeries would derail anyone who is less than very determined to get to the top again.   One dozen or more affairs which drove one expensive divorce combined with those medical issues should derail anyone else.  Sunday, for 13 years, seemed so far away we’re sure.  It seems in America we love success stories.  We love to watch them fall hard.  And most of all we like a great comeback story.  Tiger provided all three and maybe there is more.
  2.  Some books have now posted odds on Tiger catching Jack’s 18 majors.  Tiger has 15.  Get your dollar out and win twenty back if you like his chances.  Many books took a bath in Tiger blood (where is Charley Sheen these days?) on Sunday.
  3. One dude, James Adducci, liked the action so much that he plunked down $85,000 on Tiger in the Masters.  He won over $1.2 million.  He claims that he’s never bet on ANY sports before.  His short story is linked here.  You ever heard of beginners luck?
  4. You might have already been night night on the east coast last evening when the west coast LA Clippers poured in 85 second half points on the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.  Trailing by 23 at halftime, and by as much as 31 in the third, the eighth seeded Doc Rivers led team won 135-131.  The 31 point comeback is the largest margin ever overcome in an NBA playoff game.  Doc was asked what he told his team at halftime. “That we were going to win.”  “I don’t know how.”  I guess “win one for the Gipper” was already taken.
  5. Rivers concluded his press conference by telling a story that happened on the streets of San Francisco (where is Karl Malden these days?) earlier that Monday. Reaching in his pocket to grab his phone he dropped $2,000 (don’t you carry that kind of walking around money?) out onto the street unknowingly.   A block further into his walk a man tapped him on the shoulder and said “I think this money is yours, you dropped it.”  If Doc plays the lotto this week and you can peek over that same shoulder to see the numbers, you should.
  6. Kevin Durant did his part in helping LA comeback recording a fat nine turnovers in the game.  All Star center DeMarcus Cousins very likely suffered a torn left quad early in quarter one for the Warriors as well.  It wasn’t a good night for the two soon to be free agents.  Given all of the turnovers, injury, and no defense played, it wasn’t a good night for Steve Kerr, Warriors coach, either.  If Steve plays the lotto this week, don’t peak over his shoulder.
  7.  The NFL draft is nine days away and counting.   The rumor mill of who, when, and where is heating up like the spring sun.  Expect one player to get attached to a false rumor about his off of the field behavior, or his terrible team interviews, or his drug use. Or, all three.  It happens every year.  When the inevitable happens he and his entourage (where is Jeremy Piven these days?) get to sit there and watch.  And watch.
  8. ESPN (the worldwide leader in hype) announced that Peyton Manning will be doing a multitude of historical, and slightly off beat features that shape the stories behind the stories that have made the NFL into the 100 year success story that it is.  One segment goes back to the breakfast table of the home where a box of Wheaties(where is Bruce Jenner these days?) is shaped into a prototype of what eventually became the Lombardi Trophy.  Peyton’s Places is the show’s name.  Sounds like it’ll be fun to watch.
  9.  In Little League you were taught to run every hit of every at bat out.  Let the umpire make the call.  Cincinnati Reds batter (Luis we think) Castillo stroked a clean single to right field.  Apparently he did not know it.  He was thrown out at first from RF.  The embarrassing video is right here.  We think it was Luis, but his jersey was #42.  He is listed on the official MLB roster as #58.  Maybe he put on the wrong uniform as well?
  10. One season ago The Boston Red Sox won it all.  Today they are 6.5 games behind the Tampa Rays.  The Tea Party(where is Lil Marco these days?) is forming in Boston.  At  six wins and eleven losses they are looking up at Tampa’s MLB best record of 12-4.  Tampa has already taken three of four from Houston among other early season trophies.  No need to panic yet Beantown.  But if the Rays pitching stays healthy, you might start soon.  Oh, and Tampa’s payroll is about 1/4th of the Sox’s.

Chow.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-The Masters

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Hello friends.  Ten very quick thoughts on The Masters which begins its annual walk among the azaleas today.

  1.  It’s the most anticipated week of the year for golf purists.  Second place isn’t close.
  2. Anyone and everyone that has been shouts to those who have not, “you HAVE to go!”
  3. If Tiger is threatening on Sunday, the ratings will break a record.
  4. The field is deep and talented.  Pundits usually speak to a handful of possible winners.  This field is likely twenty plus deep in that regard this year.
  5. McIlroy is firing on all cylinders coming in.  He has to be the favorite.  If he closes the deal, he will be a quite young grand slam champion.
  6. Yesterday’s par three tournament is unique to golf like so many other Master’s traditions.  It never disappoints.
  7. Spieth, Watson, Fowler, and Reed are all VERY interesting stories for VERY different reasons this week.  Oh, the drama is thick.
  8. Will Fred Couples hit the leaderboard today and stay there till early Saturday?  Will the azaleas be in full bloom?
  9. Will his college roommate at the U of Houston, Jim Nantz, say “hello friends”  when he launches the broadcast?  Does a bear walk in the woods?
  10. How many hours will you watch?  Even if you aren’t a golf fan, this almost transcends golf.  One of our staff writers anticipates watching about 16 hours minimally.

Enjoy “friends.”

Ten Piece Nuggets-April Madness

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The madness that was March Madness didn’t disappoint due to the calendar turning the page to April.  We have a few nuggets for you to chew on prior to tonight’s final.

  1.  Saturday, in The Final Four matchups, upset minded and upstart Texas Tech stymied a darn good Michigan State team.  Meanwhile, Virginia squeezed by upstart and upset minded Auburn.  The field of 64 narrowed to 2, and tonight it’s down to the one who gets the scissors to cut down the twine.
  2. Virginia is a slight 1 and 1/2 point favorite if you like a wager.  Or, you could place $100 to win $110 on Texas Tech on the money line while Virginia costs you $130 to win $100.  Hmm.  What to do?  What to do?
  3. One bettor has a YUGE (thanks Donald) “what to do?” themselves.  He or she put $1500 on Texas Tech to win it all back in November.  The fat odds then were 200-1.  The potential payday is 300k.   Here is the story.  And, here is the dilemma.  If you have come this far, do you let it ride?  It’s 300k or nothing.  Or, do you hedge the bet?  Maybe you bet 100k on Virgina on the money line tonight.  If you don’t have 100k in loose change stuck in the sofa cushions, you could always borrow it from friends and pay them back plus a bit of the haul.  That would insure a 100k payday at a minimum if Virginia wins, or a 200k payday if Texas Tech wins.  Common sense says that you have to hedge.  Of course, common sense says that $1500 on Texas Tech in November wasn’t using a lot of common sense either.
  4. Common sense also says that Virginia beat Auburn 63-62 in the last second fair and square.  Conspiracy theorists disagree and at least one Auburn fan disagrees.   His feelings poured out right after the game and right at the refs.  You can see the short clip here. But turn down, way down, the volume if you are at work.
  5. If you think that the refs collectively followed some mysterious guidance from the NCAA to get the “blue bloods” into the finals as some have mentioned, we have a question or three for you.  Was the whole game tilted that way, or just the no call double dribble against Virginia and the three-point attempt Auburn foul call?  Why did the NCAA “allow” Texas Tech into the grand finale?  Why not fix that game too?  And, lastly, do you believe that one of the three shots that Lee Harvey Oswald took really came from a sharp shooter behind the grassy knoll?
  6. Speaking of sharpshooters, how about that Guy?  Kyle Guy that is.  Kyle was fouled (per the maybe crooked, maybe biased refs) and very calmly sank three straight free throws, the last of which was taken after a timeout aimed at icing him.  He iced the game for Virginia instead.  Ten years from now you can ask, “Do you remember when that guy hit those three last second free throws to win that game over Auburn?”  Then you can ask what was that guy’s name?  Don’t be that guy.
  7. Is there any hypocrisy in Auburn yelling about cheating?  Watching Bruce Pearl bounce up and down the sidelines after the foul call in disbelief about the refs ruling was just a tad of karma.  Bruce has been accused a time or three of cheating, too, we seem to recall.  One of his Auburn assistants plead guilty in the NCAA/FBI investigation while another was just suspended on March 13th.  He will remain sidelined (not on the sidelines) while the probe into his alleged involvement in a bribery while at Penn U. is investigated.  His acts at Penn might put him in the pen too.  He needs a good defense attorney.
  8. Speaking of good defense, The Red Raiders of Texas Tech play some.  Don’t take our word for it, ask Michigan State.  Or, ask any other team that they have faced in this tournament.  The over/under line for tonight is 118.5.  It’s the lowest point total for a final in 20 years.  Who says defense doesn’t win championships?
  9. Dick Vitale picks Virginia to win it all in a close, low scoring defensive struggle.  Shocker.  Him taking the blue blood team, taking the chalk, and predicting low scoring isn’t exactly groundbreaking.  Dick was once, and for a long time, a breath of fresh air in the gym.  Now, his rhetoric is tired.
  10. We’ll take Texas Tech and over 118.5.  If you haven’t heard, we like to zig when others zag.

Enjoy the final.  You’ll be watching it.  So will Bruce Pearl.  Isn’t karma a beeotch?

Ten Piece Nuggets-Ramblings Across Multiple Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s always a good day to gather around the virtual campfire and roast some tasty nuggets.  In the crisp Spring air it’s even better.  After you digest your nuggets if you are good boys and girls we’ll fire up some S’mores.  But eat your dinner first.  It’s served one at a time below.

  1.  The NFL’s 100th season will open with the 199th meeting between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.  The league announced Monday that it would forgo the traditional opening-night matchup in which the Super Bowl winner hosts the first game of the season on the Thursday of Week 1.  On the surface it sounds like a good story.  Two of the original and traditional powerhouses clash on the not yet frozen tundra to celebrate the league’s now one hundred years of history.
  2. New England, defending Super Bowl Champs, will play in the Sunday night game.  So after the Thursday season opener, and after the dozen Sunday day games, NE is sandwiched in just prior to the next night’s Monday Night doubleheader.  One wonders if this is burying the lead story by the powers that be in the NFL? News cycles being what they are, the Patriots and their owner can only get so much air time and attention paid to them given the window they are placed in.  In other words, did the league not want the Patriots owner’s happy ending story to hover like a pesky cloud over the season’s opening game?
  3. NFL free agency open season signings reminds one of the early Black Friday sales game.  You just got to have this guy at this price and now.  It’s like a doorbuster flat screen TV sale at Best Buy.  Then reality sets in relative to your salary cap and your remaining needs, not wants.  If you are still on the sidelines you might not get scooped up till late summer.  It’s just like the day after Christmas.  Markdowns.
  4. UFC star Conor McGregor announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in a Twitter post in these early AM hours .  The announcement came just hours after McGregor, 30, told “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that he and the UFC were negotiating a potential return to the octagon as early as July.  It wasn’t that long ago that there was no mixed martial arts made for TV viewing.  It wasn’t that long ago that there was no Twitter either.  McGregor has retired before.  It’s part of fight game lore.  Then, you are lured out of retirement for one more championship bout.  It makes for a better fight story.  Sugar Ray Leonard is holding on line two.
  5. Did you ever watch “Undeniable with Joe Buck?”  It lasted 5 seasons and produced 50 episodes.  It’s a live audience AT&T Universe production.  Each episode showcases never-before-told stories about not only the athletes’ careers, but also their lives off the playing field.   It was, in our opinion, only as good as the interviewees and interviewer meshed.  Joe Buck can/could come across as a smug know it all at times.  After a pretty good five-year run, he has stepped aside.
  6. Enter “Undeniable with Dan Patrick” which is the same show of course with a different host.  We caught our first last evening with Jim Palmer, Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame pitcher, answering Patrick’s question tour of Jim’s career and life.  Jim Palmer still comes across as a smug know it all.  Few are better than Dan Patrick at interviewing in our not so humble opinion.  He has a way of putting the interviewees at ease and weaving through the questions so as to tell a story over time.  Palmer was anything but at ease.  No wonder he never got along with Earl Weaver.  Earl was raw and real. What you see is what you got.  Palmer isn’t.
  7. Palmer’s 268 wins over 19 years in MLB were due in large part to an outstanding career ERA of 2.68.  He only mentioned his 268 career wins five times by our count last evening.   Cy Young’s, World series wins, All Star appearances, and 558 career starts put his value in the marketplace at a one year highest salary of 275k in 1982.  It was good money back then if you could get it.
  8. But today’s MLB world is a bit different.  Of the 872 players on MLB rosters and injured lists as of Monday evening they averaged $4.36 million per annum.  Averaged is the key word.
  9. That average is down from $4.41 million at the start of last season and $4.45 million on Opening Day in 2017, according to AP studies.  Austerity has hit MLB.  Well, not really.  But it is interesting to note that when Mike Trout signs for 23k an inning, salaries in total are actually flat at best.  Yes, it’s 23k an inning as that is what 12 years at 430 million over 162 games each at 9 innings comes to.  Trout will make more after his first 12 innings than Palmer made in his best year.  It’s good money if you can get it.
  10.  The LA Lakers and LeBron were eliminated from playoff contention a few days back.  This isn’t news but ESPN continues to make it news.  Next thing you know they’ll be talking about Lonzo Ball losing 1.5 million as his father and another partner in Big Baller Shoes continue to act like they don’t know what they are doing.  Wait.  They just did.

Get the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.  Time for some more S’mores.

Ten Piece Nuggets-March Madness and MLB

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Fridays are great.  Springtime Fridays are greater.  Weather improves. Days are longer.  Flowers bloom.  And, multiple sports become more interesting.  Oh, and there is this thing called March Madness.  What is it about us knowing so little about so many teams and for a weekend or two we fixate on their stories.  Everybody and every team has a story.  The weekend is near.  And, the tasty morsels below will help fuel your run to the weekday finish line.

  1.  It’s a rather small sample size of exactly one game.  But, if Murray St. plays as well as they did yesterday, the 12th seed could run deep in this tourney.  One of our astute readers is a basketball junkie.  He points out that when you have the second best player in America you always have a shot at winning.  Ja Morant did not disappoint.  He crossed over and then nailed a step back three one minute, and then a bit later he threw down a statement jam.  His triple double led the Racers to a 19 point shelling of fifth seeded Marquette.  But, we found his supporting cast more than up to the task as well.
  2. Florida St. beat a balanced Vermont team by seven.   Florida St. might be ten deep.  They can play big or small and fast or half court.  Yesterday they did both and advanced over a determined Vermont club that drained a strong 16 three pointers.
  3. Which brings us to a Saturday late afternoon showdown between Murray St and Florida St.  Madness indeed.  Today’s play will uncover another surprise or two, but for BBR’s money this upcoming tussle to get to the Sweet Sixteen should be sweet to watch onto itself.
  4. The opposite of this success was Alabama’s lethargic NIT loss at home to Norfolk State.  Former NBA player and two team NBA coach Avery Johnson couldn’t turn the Tide around on the hardwood.  When you have an office in the same athletic department as Nick Saban going to the knitting tournament doesn’t promote job security.   Losing at home to Norfolk St. is the final ball of yarn.   A buyout conversation is underway.
  5. Which brings us to Alabama’s basketball future.  Shouldn’t we expect them to try to shoot for the moon with their next hire?  The football program was, is,  and will continue to be a cash cow.  Why can’t a football powerhouse also be a basketball powerhouse?  LSU made a run at just that.  The problem is they paid for the coach who might have likely paid for the players too.
  6.  Which brings us to baseball.  The LA Angels made some noise. They hooked Mike Trout with 430 million George Washington’s for a dozen years to effectively ensure that he puts it on the line for his one and only team for the entirety of his career.  If you project his career totals, as analytic geeks do every day, his stat pile will put him onto a very short list of the best baseball players ever.  Ever.  Like Willie Mays ever.
  7. In this same noisy window of time the Seattle Mariners and the entire country of Japan said goodbye to a hitting machine named Ichiro Suzuki who spoke softly and carried a lethal wooden stick.  Ichiro was a 10-time All-Star in the majors. He had 3,089 hits over a 19-year career in the big leagues after having 1,278 while starring in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 is a professional record.  His hit stat pile puts him onto a very short list of best hitters ever.  Ever.  Like Pete Rose ever.
  8. ESPN, who we like to bash for a variety of reasons, put out a cool “untold stories” article on Ichiro.  You can read it here.  There are six parts to the quick read, and his exchange with the impatient Lou Pinella is the first one.  Ichiro was a rookie, and Pinella wanted more out of him.  Turns out, all Sweet Lou had to do was ask.
  9. Meanwhile the Houston Astros decided to get ahead of the Alex Bregman train before it left the station.  The confident 3rd baseman hinted that the Astros should be willing to pay a bit more for his services after just two and a half years in the bigs.  His performance last year both at the plate and in the field put him right into the MVP conversation for the American League.  The Astros own him for the 2019, 2020, and 2011 seasons for cheap.  Rather than slow play it, they put 100 million on the table for six years.  His agent decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth.  Bregman could possibly fetch more elsewhere for years 4-6 of the deal offered.  Or, he could get hurt and never live up to his end.  In the end the deal sounded good to both parties.
  10. Which brings us back to basketball for our last tasty nugget.  Today’s NCAA action will bring upsets.  In a one and done scenario the longer the dog stays in the game the more they feel free to bark.  Ducks don’t bark, but watch out for Oregon as a very spry 12th seed facing the Badgers of Wisconsin.  We’re going to watch carefully and if Charles Bark(ley) picks Wisconsin to win, we are putting at least three wooden nickels on Oregon.

Enjoy the weekend and the Madness.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets- Sports at Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

This AM we gladly serve you our ten piece nuggets from sunny Orlando.   Actually it’s only going to be a few nuggets shy of ten.   One, it’s Lent.  Two, the Keto diet, being all the rage, makes us want to slim down a bit.   Three, we have a plane to catch back to our world headquarters in foggy, soggy, and cloudy H Town.

If we didn’t know better we might investigate who switched Portland and Houston’s spot in the continental 48.

Time ticks.  Time for nuggets.

  1.  We took in some Bay Hill Arnold Palmer Invitational golf on Saturday.   It’s a beautiful, well maintained, difficult track.   Arnold had/has quite a thing going here.
  2. Last year’s winner Rory McIlroy roared to within one stroke of the lead by nightfall Saturday.  His 31 back nine in last year’s final round made him yesterday’s strong favorite to repeat.  Plus the competitor’s resumes paled by comparison.
  3. But, starting in the final group Sunday, Rory forgot to roar.  Francisco Molinari started the day five back and won by a clear two strokes with a sizzling 64.   A closer look at McIlroy when he starts the final round in the last group is eye opening.   He’s only converted one of those golden chances at victory.  And, he’s been there sixteen times.  Rory needs a dose of Alex Baldwin’s character in Glengarry, Glen Ross.  A.B.C.  Always Be Closing.
  4.  The Will Wade LSU basketball mess is, well, a mess.  His refusal to meet with his bosses to discuss the taped and leaked conversation with yet another basketball “handler” was the impetus to the dreaded indefinite suspension purgatory.   It says here that he has coached his last game at LSU. Too bad too as he turned the worst, two years ago in the SEC, team into a first place finish.
  5.  He was the best coach for the money that LSU could buy.  Unfortunately some of his players sound like they were the best Wade could buy as well.   College basketball is a dirty business.  Now LSU is warming the water to wash their hands of it.
  6. So Antonio Brown, a Pittsburgh Steeler, and nearly a Buffalo Bill, is now an Oakland Raider which soon will be the Vegas Raiders.   He cost the Raiders a third and fifth round pick and a lot of dough too.
  7. Didn’t Oakland trade Amari Cooper for a first round pick midseason?   So, net net they have an older drama queen wide receiver that is quite expensive and a one minus a three and a five.   Sounds like Jon Gruden is spinning his wheels to us.
  8. Expensive wide receivers don’t win championships.  Value does.   Like it or not, and we like it, Pittsburgh puts team ahead of individual talent.  We read an analysis of the trade that spoke to the Steelers being the big loser in this.   We think quite the opposite.
  9. We aren’t big NBA fans.  But.  But, in the span of about nine days the Houston Rockets have beaten the Warriors, the Raptors, and the 76ers.  And, two of those three were road games.   That’s pretty impressive.
  10.  Meanwhile, every time we look at ESPN we get this incessant Lakers and LeBron  gibberish.  At least they can let the Antonio Brown story go now.  Disney owns ESPN.  It’s always a show about a character with them.
  11.  Ok, ok.  It was ten nuggets after all.  We don’t like dieting anymore than you do. And please excuse the no feature picture.   Our editor is busy taking pictures with Mickey Mouse.  It’s always a show about a character with him.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Multiple Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Update-February still makes us shiver.

As the shortest month of the year rolls along we dug deep to find a savory serving of ten nuggets for our insatiable readers.  We need to grab a bit from here and some from there to do so.  The oven is on.

  1.  In men’s NCAA basketball the new AP Top 25 is out.  Duke regained the no. 1 spot for the third time this year.  Somehow, Tennessee dropped for 1 to 5.  Sure, Kentucky worked them over in Lexington Saturday.  But, a drop of four spots with only two year long losses in what is supposed to be one of the top two conferences seems a bit strong.  It doesn’t matter too much just yet.
  2. Kentucky, somehow rose one from 5 to 4.  The same voters that punished Tennessee rewarded Kentucky for losing at home earlier in the week to LSU and then beating Tenn.  It must pay to have the Kentucky blue unis come voting time.  It doesn’t matter too much just yet.
  3. This just in.  The PGA is now allowing shorts for the pros in practice rounds.  After an offseason of rule changes for the stodgy sport that includes leaving the flag in on putts, can beer kegs next to the Powerade coolers on the tee boxes be far off?  One can hope.  This just in.  John Daly liked boomboomsroom.com.
  4. How many mock drafts do you think you could review between now and the NFL draft in April.  How many ways can the “draft experts” recast a list in hopes to get one to read one?  Like the stock market pundits someone should write a column or three after the draft to mock the absurdity and inaccuracy of these mocks.
  5. Speaking of mocks, mocking, and bad franchises; have the Cleveland Browns turned a corner?  Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, and a talented defense won seven games last year after the team won one game in the last two years prior combined.  And they have a lot of decent, promising, young talent acquired in  2018 draft.
  6. And, here is the kicker.  The once and forever woeful Browns have their own pick in all seven rounds in 2019.  Plus, they have an additional 3rd, 5th, and 7th thanks to some savvy moves on draft day 2018 made by their “suddenly to be taken seriously” front office.  Can the heretofore bad ownership stay out of the way?
  7. This writer sat fifteen rows from the ice in Nashville at a Predators v. St. Louis Blues game Sunday a week ago.  The Blues prevailed sixteen seconds into overtime 5-4.  Why is this now news?  It’s not.  It’s just the setup to say that hockey is SOOOO much better in person than on the TV.  Two dimensions, even in HD, cannot do justice to what large grown men do at full speed on a relatively small piece of ice with wooden sticks and a small frozen rubber puck.  If you haven’t recently, get to an NHL game soon.  If they don’t look faster than ever to you it will be a surprise.
  8. Pitchers and catchers reported to MLB camps over a week ago.  With Tampa Bay now pitching backwards in some games (starting the closer and finishing with longer innings guys) and other teams increasingly going to “Johnny Whole Staff” for pitching games by committee, innovative thinking is accelerating in baseball.  Can it be very long before a team decides to not have pitchers and catchers throw and squat in early February in hopes that they will still be able to throw and squat in early October?
  9. In yesteryear four man starting rotations were the norm.  Now nearly every team has a five man starting rotation, giving an extra day of rest to all.  The analytics side to the game has really changed the thinking on many fronts for what we think is the good of yet another sport viewed by too many as too stodgy.
  10. Which reminds us of the whispers emanating from MLB’s front office.  “Should we limit the severity of the defensive shifts that teams are making against hitters?”  Here is a simple answer-NO.  Should teams, and hitting instructors from early ages, rethink their approach as to how hitters work their plate appearance?  Here is a simple answer-YES.  Can you imagine the NFL dictating that defenses must not overload one side of the field?  Well, with this commissioner, maybe you could.  The ever-changing strategy is the actual beauty of these games.

March is but ten days away.  Who’s counting?