Sports

Ten Piece Nuggets- Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We know you like ten nuggets.  We hope you like hash.  It’s how the ten nuggets are served today.  The sports world was a bit of everything over the last 48 hours. So we have a lot of leftovers.  We sling some below.

  1.  Dustin Johnson took full advantage of soft greens at Augusta and won The Masters in rare wire to wire form.  Finishing with a 4-under 68 in Round 4, Johnson set a 72-hole scoring record of 20 under, the lowest score to par in the history.  Twenty-one under would have been the lowest to par total in any majors in their collective histories.  In his interview afterward, he could barely speak.  It’s a must-watch.  It speaks volumes about why we love competition, hard work, and inner success.
  2. His two closest competitors by mid-third round and through the final one weren’t named DeChambeau, McIlroy, Koepka, Thomas, Rahm, Rose, Casey, Woods, nor Mickelson.  If you think that watered down the crown, think again.  The golfing world officially introduced us to Sungjae Im and Cameron Thomas.
  3. Im won The Honda Classic earlier this year, is all of 22 years old, and hits the ball down the middle EVERY time he tees it up.  His short game is flawless as well.  With ball-striking like that the world-rated 25th player is here to stay.
  4. Smith hails from Down Under.  He’s an interesting character.  He isn’t built like a Koepka.  He doesn’t talk like a Thomas.  He doesn’t dress like a Speith.  He somehow made pars from the woods, the parking lot, and the hot dog stand.  He’s a breath of fresh air.  Oh, and along the walk all over the hallowed grounds, he became the first player in the history of The Masters to shoot sub 70 in all four rounds.  The 49th highest-rated player is here to stay as well.
  5. There wasn’t a top 25 matchup in all of college football Saturday.  That didn’t stop the theater though.  The best/worst of all came late Saturday.  It certainly appeared to the naked eye that the Oregon St. Beavers had a first down, not once but twice, in a crucial spot at the end of their PAC 12 matchup with Washington.  Two bad spots later, the momentum swung.  If you want to dig deeper, there is a bigger mess behind the scenes in the PAC 12 season exposed by this article.
  6. On Friday COVID-19 times forced the cancellation of the California at Arizona State game and the Utah at UCLA game both scheduled for Saturday.  Later that afternoon the PAC 12 scheduled the two “healthy teams” Cal and UCLA to square off on Sunday. Yes, Sunday.  UCLA dominated the game 34-10.  Did anyone see it?  Anyone?  Still, it’s better to have played than not.  It was an aggressive move from a conference that was very reluctant to start the season at all.

  7. Michigan fans are trying to reconcile how a team that was ranked in the preseason is now 1-3 for the first time since 1967 after suffering its largest home loss in 85 years.  Wisconsin worked them 49-11. Head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is 10-9 in his last 19 games, couldn’t really pinpoint how it happened.  But he did concede that Michigan is lousy.  “Not in a good place as a football team,” he said.  Cerebral he is that Harbaugh guy.  It looks like another worn-out welcome for the quirky former QB.

  8. Penn St is arguably worse. They suffered their fourth loss in four games this one to a Nebraska team who entered the game winless and having scored only 30 points total in two games.  The Cornhuskers put 27 on Penn St. by halftime and 30 in all in their win with a first-time starter at QB.  Directionless is the Nittany Lion team this fall.  A recent recruiting article states that they only have one of the top ten recruits from Pennsylvania from 2018-9 on their squad.  Perhaps, void of talent is the Nittany Lion team this fall?
  9. South Carolina decided to put the worst behind them.  Will Muschamp was bought out as HC for the Gamecocks.  His once proud D surrendered 59 to Ole Miss in their latest loss and the administration and the money that runs SC said sayonara.   Muschamp was once named head coach in waiting behind Mack Brown at Texas.  He decided that he didn’t want to wait and bolted to Florida.  He was not ready for an HC job then.  He was run out of there and is still owed six million from that buyout.   South Carolina thought differently.  Now they think again.   Muschamp wins the Charlie Weis Award for having two universities paying him buyout money at the same time.
  10.  However, we turn to the NFL for the worst of all.  The NFC East’s four teams now stand collectively at 10-26-1.  That’s a 28% winning percentage.  Eight of their wins, and therefore, eight of their losses have come against each other.  That puts their out of division record at, wait for it, 2-18-1.  That’s a 10% winning percentage.  Perhaps we should say that’s a 90% losing percentage.  Historically bad doesn’t accurately describe the worst of the worst.

You’re excused.  Put your plate in the sink.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year 3, Week 8

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sometimes Vegas giveth.  Sometimes Vegas taketh.

Last week Sin City took just a bit from Abby.

Her season-long w/l is now 19-17-1.  The most important bones are a fine 33-23 in her favor.  And, the beleaguered hunch bet is now 2-4 after it hit paydirt with a Florida cover.

Lots of games ran afoul of the pandemic this week.  The pickings are slim, but Abby dug up a few for you to gnaw on.

  1.  Miami at Va Tech -2 – This is the fourth line in the last two weeks that looks so wrong that she thinks it’s right.  One bone.
  2. Notre Dame at Boston College +14 1/2 – This is the ultimate “let down after a big win, go on the road, win but don’t cover” bet.  Abby tried this after Texas A&M beat Florida last month.  We found out that A&M wants to play hard all year.  It did not cash, but this one will.   One bone.
  3. Arkansas +17 1/2 at Florida and under 60 – Florida might still be scoring this morning on that Georgia D.  But, Abby smells a let down this week.  Arkansas +17 1/2 smells good, and under 60 smells even better.  One bone to win three bones.
  4. Army at Tulane over 47.   Both teams can score but in very different ways.  Can Tulane defend against the Army ground attack? No. Can the Army defend against the Tulane air game?  No.  Two bones.
  5. Baylor -1 at Texas Tech – We think that this is a good spot for team Aranda to put on its best defensive showing this year.  One bone.
  6. Wisconsin at Michigan + 4 and 1/2 – Jim Harbaugh said after the latest Michigan disappointment that he thought his team was really close.  Really close to what Abby inquires?  That said, this is a classic “overlooked, they are done, they will quit, no they won’t” spot.  One bone.

NBC just called Arizona for the next President of the United States.  It only took 11 days.  Abby is calling Arizona +14 1/2 over USC and Arizona St – 3 1/2 over California right after the polls close Saturday.  It’s a one bone to win three bones vote to get the hunch over the hump.

Woof!

 

A Tradition Like No Other

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you’re still feeling hungover from the election season and now all of the legal wrangling that comes after it, we understand.  If you’re done with Fox News (at least for now), we understand.  If you’re done with worrying about COVID-19, we understand.  If you’re over the Green New Deal, we understand.

That’s why this AM, we decided to go with something new that’s about green jackets, putting greens, and lots of greenbacks to the winner. You don’t have to like golf to enjoy the history and beauty of Augusta National just like you don’t need to like horse racing to enjoy The Kentucky Derby.  Below we deal you ten fun, interesting, and light facts about The Masters.

  1.  Jack Nicklaus, John Harris, and the deceased Arnold Palmer are/were the only professional golfers to ever be invited to be members.  Membership outside of Georgia residents is limited to two people per state.
  2.  The tradition of wearing green jackets began in 1937 when jackets were purchased from New York’s Brooks Uniform Co. The idea was that Masters patrons easily could see members who would have accurate information to assist them while on the grounds.
  3.  Avid golfer Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower is the only U.S. president to have been a club member. Ike’s Pond occupies 3 acres near hole No. 9 on the par-3 course.
  4. Each hole is named after a plant or shrub that adorns it. For example, No. 3 is called “Flowering Crab Apple.” An estimated 80,000 plants have been added since the course was built.
  5. Club founder and legendary patron of the sport of golf, Bobby Jones, initially intended for the Augusta National course to have a19th hole. His reasoning was that losing golfers would have an opportunity to win their money back through a last-ditch double-or-nothing round.  The idea was scrapped when it was realized that the view from the clubhouse of the 18th green would be lost.
  6. The tournament was not played during the years 1943, 1944, and 1945 because of World War II. To help with the war effort, turkey and cattle were raised on the Augusta National Grounds.  It was estimated that the cost to repair the damage to the grounds was nearly $20,000, an outrageous sum of money back then.
  7. Tiger Woods was the youngest player to win a Masters Tournament, at the tender age of 21 years, 3 months, and 14 days.  Fuzzy Zoeller was the only player to win there on his first try.  Jack Nicklaus has the most Masters Tournament wins, with six. Nicklaus became the oldest player to win a Masters Tournament, at 46 years, 2 months, and 23 days in 1986.
  8. There is no question that the map in the official logo for the tournament is meant to represent the continental United States. But its proportions are conspicuously wrong. So how exactly did the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, one that is so concerned with details and decorum, come to have such a wonky logo?

    Masters logo map

    .

    One theory speculates that printing technology in the 1930s, during the time that the Augusta National was constructed, was simply not precise enough to replicate the sharp angles and narrow off-hangings that an accurate map of the continental U.S. would entail.  As to why the original logo is still used to this day, the answer is something that is used to explain many facets of the Masters: tradition.

  9. One of the most beloved traditions of the tournament is the bequeathing of a famed Green Jacket to the new champion from the previous year’s winner. These Green Jackets are among the most iconic pieces of clothing in the sporting world. Yet, somehow, in 1994 a lucky and unsuspecting golf fan came across one in a Toronto thrift shop and paid a whopping $5 to take it home.  The Augusta National confirmed the authenticity of the piece and determined that the Green Jacket in question was from the 1950s. The lucky thrifter went on to sell the jacket at auction for nearly $140,000 in 2017.
  10. Although CBS has broadcast the Tournament since 1956, Augusta National still owns the broadcasting rights and negotiations are renewed every year. So theoretically, the tournament could switch to a different broadcaster at any time.

 

Enjoy the escape, you’ve earned it.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Hopefully, you haven’t lost your sense of taste or smell.  Covid-19 can do that and worse to a human as you know.  We’re taking ten nuggets out of the oven this AM for you.  The disease has interrupted our fun as sports fans all over again and is unfortunately interspersed in the conversation below.

  1.  Notre Dame inserted itself squarely into the FBS playoff race conversation with its double-overtime thrilling win over Clemson in South Bend Saturday night.  There’s still work to do, but the two teams now appear on a collision course to meet again in the ACC Championship game.  Did you even know that Notre Dame joined the ACC for this season?  Covid times basically forced their hand as it’s regularly scheduled opponents were iffy on starting a season back then.
  2. Dabo Swinney, post-game, played the role of Dabo Swinney quite well.  “We’re 7-1,” coach Swinney said after the loss to Notre Dame. “Nobody was handing out a trophy tonight. Nobody was rolling a stage out there tonight. We got a ways to go. We have a lot of guys that have grown and learned a lot from this year. It’s obviously been challenging on everyone.”  His nasally whining, holier than thou, poor us, and we have work to do attitude is challenging on a lot of college football fans.
  3. The SEC has canceled three games this week due to cases sprouting up on teams and the inevitable tracing that knocks those immediately around the infected out for a bit too.  Gone are the games pitting Auburn v. Mississippi St., Texas A&M v. Tennessee, and Alabama v. LSU.  When and/or if they will be made up is up in the air.  The postponed games are piling up, and the SEC Championship Game is coming up, so some games may not get rescheduled at all.
  4. If you’re a competitor or a dyed in the wool fan, you’re disappointed in the cancellations.  If you’re a fan of Mississippi St., Tennessee, or LSU you might secretly be breathing a sigh of relief.  Miss St. started 1-0 with a big upset (at least we thought it was then) at LSU and faded very fast.  Tennessee started 2-0 and has slid to the point where they want Jeremy Pruitt to volunteer to no longer be the Volunteers coach.  LSU started poorly, leveled off briefly, then forgot to show up for its game two weeks ago v Auburn.
  5. A few other games for this weekend have also been postponed.  And, a few are teetering on the proverbial brink as well.  The season is wobbling.  Can it forge its way through?  The college game is tricky.  You can’t bubble them.  You think you can, but you can’t keep them from friends, bars, nor parties.
  6. The PAC 12 just started.  In hindsight, why did they wait?  They said it was for a lack of quick results in the then testing.  Now that we have quick response testing, we only find out faster what we already knew.  People will continue to spread this thing around until there is a vaccine in widespread distribution.  We have our fingers crossed Pfizer.
  7.  “Hello friends,” says Jim Nance.  Live from the Augusta National Golf Course tomorrow is The Masters on CBS.  It was postponed from its usual early April start.  They avoided the first wave of the disease and walked headlong into the second one with this date.  No fans (the club calls them patrons) will be allowed onto the Holy Grail of golf courses.  Former champion Sergio Garica won’t be allowed in either.  He announced that he tested positive for you know what earlier this week.
  8.  The laid back Wednesday traditional nine-hole par-three tourney is a no go today.  One of its trademarks is for the pros to attempt to skip a ball across the water on one of the par threes.  Jon Rahm, currently ranked no. 2 in the world decided to honor the tradition while practicing on the regular course yesterday.  How did he do?  If you haven’t seen it, you must.  It’s right here.
  9.  In the NFL the Pittsburgh Steelers reached the halfway point at a perfect 8-0.  Along the way they beat the Titans and the Ravens in back to back road games to get to that clean record.  No small feat.  But the AFC is loaded with good teams and the best record is far from secured this early.  KC is loaded and shows no signs of a Super Bowl hangover.  Baltimore has a strong D and a QB who can change a game by himself.  Tennessee has a tough run game and a solid D.  Buffalo is winning in different ways which is always a good sign.  And, don’t look now, but here comes Tua and the Miami Dolphins.
  10. New Orleans is the flavor of the week in the NFC.  They did to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay team on Sunday night what Tom Brady and the New England team used to do to the Jets twice a year.  The NFC has several good teams, but will they have a great one by regular season’s end?  Green Bay fits the mold of good, but not great.  Seattle can’t stop anyone.  Arizona is interesting but likely a year away.  Chicago thinks they’re good, but they aren’t.  The Rams are 5-3 but they’ve only beaten up on the woeful NFC East thus far.  Don’t look now, but the Vikings might have righted their ship (see what we did there?).

It’s hump day morning.  Soon it’ll be downhill from here.

 

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year 3, Week 7

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The SEC, ACC, and BIG 12 football schedules are half done, the BIG 10 is in week two, while the PAC-12 is just getting started.  This reminds us of the state by state vote count, but we digress.

Abby, however, remains very focused.  Week six was another winner for her.  That brings the season-long total to 17 wins, 13 losses, and one tie.   She’s brought home a sterling 29 bones while leaving 18 behind.  Her hunch bet tried to shoot the moon that she normally howls at with a three-team parlay that came up one team short.  Her hunch remains out to lunch at 1-4.

  1.  Miami Fla at North Carolina St +10 1/2–  They’re still counting in NC. When it’s all done Miami wins, NC St covers, and Trump sues.  Two bones.
  2.  Pitt at Florida St -2 – They’re still counting in Pittsburgh, PA.  They’re done in Florida.  Florida St is done as a football team too, but rises from the ashes this weekend.  Is the wrong team favored here?  Abby likes to zig when others zag.  One bone.
  3. Washington St at Oregon St. -2 –  It’ll take sixty minutes to declare Oregon St. a winner in this game.  In politics, it took sixty seconds after the polls closed for Washington and Oregon to go into the Biden win column.  Is the wrong team favored here as well?  One bone.
  4. Michigan St at Iowa -6 – They got tired in Michigan and quit at 10:30 pm counting ballots on Tuesday night.  Iowa will make Mich St. quit in the fourth quarter of this one.  Two bones.
  5.  Texas A&M at South Carolina + 10 1/2 and Tennessee -2 at Arkansas –  The Donald carried all of the SEC states except Georgia which is pending.  This is our SEC two-team parlay special.  If Abby loses this one (or two) she’ll demand a recount.  One bone to win three bones.
  6.  Florida v Georgia under 53 and 1/2 –  There is nothing pending about Georgia’s D.  It’s good.  It’ll slow down Florida’s O a bit.  There’s nothing pending about Georgia’s O.  It’s average at best.  Florida’s D is as well, but it will be good enough to get a stop or two.  Two bones.

Abby’s hunch bet nearly got put in the dog house again this week.  She likes UGA the dog so much (as a friend of course), but she likes the Florida Gators + 3 1/2 as a live dog this weekend.

Woof!

Ten Piece Nuggets-Football

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Tender and tasty mmm, mmm.

Fresh from the oven to your email inbox comes Ten delicious Nuggets.

  1. The BIG 10 returned to action on the NCAA football fields and made us all feel a tad more normal Saturday. Three of their top four teams made positive statements right from the word go.
  2.  Wisconsin kicked things off Friday night with a 45-7 mauling of the not so Fighting Illini.  Freshman QB Graham Mertz (not the great-grandson of Fred and Ethel Mertz) was bold and very good.  He completed 20 of 21 passes with five going for six.  Friday’s fun turned into Saturday’s misery though.  Mertz tested positive for you know what and by BIG10 protocol cannot return to the field for 21 days if a second test confirms the first. Ouch. Could it be a “Saban like” false positive?
  3. THE Ohio St. worked Nebraska 52-17.  Their talent and coaching puts them on a short, shortlist to challenge Alabama and Clemson come January.  Nebraska has a long way to go to join the best of the BIG 10.
  4. Jim Harbaugh shut up the hot seat talk for at least one week.  His Wolverines went into Minnesota and dispatched the Golden Gophers 49-24.  You can “Row the Boat” all you want PJ, but you need bigger and better paddles to compete with the BIG 10 big dogs on a consistent basis.
  5. Penn St. was the lone rust belt surprise falling to a better than most understand Indiana Hoosiers team in an overtime thriller 36-35.  And, while it has nothing to do with the BIG 10 you must watch the quadruple doink Rice field goal overtime thriller.  Did you already see it?  Watch it again.  Crazy.
  6. Does Notre Dame belong in the conversation with THE, Clemson, and Bama?  Pitt thinks so.  The Fighting Irish took the fight to the Panthers in Pitt and cruised to a 45-3 beatdown. We’ll find out soon enough as ND faces Clemson on 11/7.  Does the PAC 12 have any fight in the dog to get a dog in the fight?  We’ll find out soon enough as they FINALLY begin to play on 11/7 as well.
  7. And then there was only one who has won them all so far.  The NFL Pittsburgh team went to Nashville to face a well-coached and tough Tennessee Titan team yesterday.  They held on by a 27-24 score.   With Seattle’s overtime loss to the quietly good 5-2 Arizona Cardinals, Pitt stands as the lone undefeated NFL team after seven weeks of league play and six games for the Steelers.
  8.  You remember the talk about Tom Brady and Drew Brees losing a few MPH’s off of their fastballs? “Not so fast my friend,” Coach Corso would say.  Both play very well yesterday in big wins.  Brady’s team gets Antonio Brown next week while Brees’ team should get Michael Thomas back.  The Bucs and the Saints have distanced themselves from the other two teams in the NFC South.
  9. One of those two teams is the Atlanta Falcons.   They somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for the third time this season.  Matt Stafford and the Lions went 75 yards in the final 64 seconds, played pitch and catch on the game’s final play, and won by one.  Unbelievable.  Falcons owner Arthur Blank stood on the sidelines with a blank expression on his face once more.  He was looking around for someone to fire, but realized that he had fired everyone two weeks ago.
  10.  Point differential is a good indicator of a team’s real strength as a season progresses.  It is simply the total points scored minus points allowed.  It’s kind of a measure of when you win how big do you do so versus when you lose how close are you.  Who has the best differential through seven weeks in the NFL? Nope, it’s not the undefeated Steelers.  It’s the 5-2 TB Bucs with +80.  The Chiefs and Ravens are plus 75.  Pitt is plus 65.
  11. (Lagniappe) By this measure which division is best in all of the fruited plains? It’s by far the NFC West where all four teams are on the plus side.  Seattle (+38) leads the division followed by Arizona (+57).  The Rams and 49ers bring up the rear at still very strong plus 38 and plus 45 respectively.  Their combined differential is an excellent +178.  Their combined w/l record is a robust 18-8.  Conversely, the NFC East is a putrid minus 174 with a combined record of 7-20-1.  Can you spell P U?

It’s work time.

Abby Takes Down Vegas-Year Three, Week Five

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Abby felt a bit hungover Sunday.  After a four week run, her picks last week tasted as fine as warm Mad Dog 20/20 wine.

The week brought reality back into the season-long results.  Wins are 11 v losses at nine.  One tie.  The most important bones wagered are 17 up v 13 down.  The hunch is 1-2 after a rare bye week last week.

A little hair of the dog to cure what ails you is below.

  1. Notre Dame at Pittsburgh +9 1/2 – Notre Dame enters week 5 undefeated and with high hopes.  Notre Dame is good, not great.  Pitt is not great but good enough.  It’s a simple home dog who gets up for the big game. ND wins, but it’s close.  Two bones.
  2. South Carolina @ LSU -6 –  This line opened at 6 and went quickly to 7 and 1/2.  It’s back to 6 as LSU will start a true freshman in place of the injured Myles Brennan.  LSU also self-imposed penalties for football recruiting violations this week.  At least a hurricane didn’t hit town this week.  Zig bet.  Three bones.
  3. Baylor +9 at Texas and under 61 – Parlays aren’t for everyone.  Dave Aranda’s D isn’t for everyone.  But, it’ll slow the high scoring Longhorns just enough to cover the points and the under.  One bone to win three bones.
  4. Oklahoma -6 and 1/2 at TCU-  This is a good spot for TCU.  But we think the next great NFL coach (ahem) builds on the quadruple OT win in the Red River Shootout somehow with a late cover.  One bone.
  5. Kentucky at Missouri +5 and 1/2 and Florida St. at Louisville – 4 and 1/2– What’s up with two parlays in one week?  It’s go time to gather some bones.  Kentucky travels back to back weeks and comes off of a big win at Tennessee.  Is Florida St capable of two big efforts in a row?  Nah.  One bone to win three bones.

The Big Ten opens for business finally in 2020.  Betting week one is dangerous.  Spotting 20 in week one is even more dangerous.  Badger happy hours for Friday games start about right now and are most dangerous.  On a hunch take Illinois plus 20 at Wisconsin.

Party on!

Woof!

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday’s rant about Hunter Biden and all that is wrong with that story left you hungry.  We understand.  Politics is getting harder on the stomach by the day.

We have your nuggets.  They’re a day late and were nearly a few nuggets short.  Deadlines are troublesome when your staff shows up late.

As usual, they’re randomly presented, but cooked just right.

  1.  Did you see what Tennessee Head Coach Mike Vrabel did late in the game v the Houston Texans Sunday?  He purposely sent a 12th man onto the field while on defense to draw a penalty.  It was 2nd and 1 and the clock had reached 3:30 left in the fourth quarter.  The high probability that the Texans, leading 30-29, would get a first down on that or the 3rd down play meant the clock or his timeouts could be drawn down significantly.  He conceded the first down, saved a timeout or two, and saved 45 or more seconds.  Scroll to the bottom of this article to see it unfold.
  2. The Texans went on to score but left the Titans enough time and timeouts to tie the game in regulation with a very late touchdown.  In overtime the Titans won the coin toss, drove the length of the field, and won the game.  It’s a Bill Belichick type of move from a Bill Belichick disciple.  Expect the ever-active NFL rules committee to take action this offseason somehow to prevent this in the future.  It’s called the NFL.  It’s called the No Fun League, where creative thinking is discouraged at times.
  3. The Dak-less Dallas Cowboys looked below average with backup Andy Dalton leading them last MNF evening.  It might be a long road ahead for a team that was picked to win the NFC East by most.  They fell to 2-4.  The East is bad.  Correction, the East is very bad.  The Cowboys remain on top of the division at 2-4.  That’s no typo.  The Washington Football Team, the Philadelphia Phootball Eagles, and the New York Football Giants each have one win to show in six tries.
  4.  Who’s undefeated after six weeks?  Seattle, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh are.  Front runners in the NFL rarely fade.  It’ll be interesting in late December if these three are still on a shortlist vying for home-field advantage throughout.  It says here that they will be.  Baltimore and Kansas City might have a bit to say about that in the AFC, and Green Bay might as well in the NFC.  Sorry Chicago fans, they won’t but will contend for a nice seed at this pace.  The Bear D is good.  The Bear O is bad.  Did somebody just ask, “what about Tom Brady and Tampa?”  Nah.
  5. The Big 10 rolls out the pigskin this weekend.  Welcome back.  They’ve been missed.  More football is better than less.  And, Clemson and Alabama need someone to keep them company at the top.  It’s lonely up there.  It’s very lonely up there.  Sure, Notre Dame is undefeated.  Does anyone really think that they are on the aforementioned two teams’ level?  THE Ohio St might well be.  When the PAC 12 resumes, which we presume will be before 2024, maybe even Oregon can join a conversation.
  6. When Oklahoma St and Texas A&M are ranked 6th and 7th respectively you can tell football isn’t playing with a full deck nor to a full house.  2020.
  7. The World Series starts tonight.  Will you be watching?  The matchup is very interesting.  Tampa is a small, small media market,  LA is the second largest.  Tampa Bay’s payroll is 28th out of 32 teams.  Los Angeles pays 2nd best trailing only the NY Yankees.  The Rays are +175, the Dodgers are -215.
  8. The Rays have four current or former All-Stars with five total appearances.  The Dodgers have 12 players combining to make 26 appearances.
  9. The Dodgers acquired Mookie Betts in the offseason and the list of better nonpitching players in the game is very short.  The Rays acquired Randy Arozarena.  He was an obscure rookie outfielder in the Cardinals organization.  In 2019 he spent 1/2 a year in AA and half a year in AAA.  Arozerena was the MVP of the ALCS.  He’s been a house on fire in the playoffs to date.
  10. Do you miss the NBA already?  LeBron got his damn respect winning the Finals just a week ago yesterday with the LA Lakers.  The season resumes on January 18th of 2021.  It’s only 12 weeks away.  You can make it.

Whew.  Deadlines.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year Three, Week Two

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Abby is feeling fine after a tough kennel cough a week ago.  Her picks picked her up a bit as well.  It was a very good week.  For year three she’s now 10-5-1 in wins and losses with one tie.  The most important bones won are 15 v only seven lost.  Boom.  The hunch bet is out to lunch thus far at 1-2.  Times’ a wasting and Abby is 24 minutes from this deadline.  Briefly, we pick.

  1.  Houston +5 v. BYU  – Houston is legit for who they are.  BYU will realize that 12 hours from now.  A straight up win by the underdog would not surprise this dog.  One bone.
  2. Auburn -3 v South Carolina  – This line is so sweet it almost worries her.  Two bones.
  3. Kentucky at Tennessee -5 1/2–  We’ve ridden Tenn the last half of last year and every week so far this year.  Ain’t no stoppin’ us now.  Two bones.
  4. Ole Miss -1 1/2 v. Arkansas-  Arkansas has a legit coach which has turned a bunch of scallywags into a decent team.  But they lose a close one this week.  One bone.
  5. Georgia at Alabama -4 1/2–  Georgia has a D.  Bama has an O.  Bama has a head coach with Covid-19.   Close till quarter four, then hear Bama roar.  Two bones.

On a hunch we are going to take a subscriber’s advice and take a time out this week on the hunch bet.

Eight bones.  Four SEC chalks.

Wear your mask.  It might help.  It might not.

Woof.

Lil Joe and Lil Jose

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

On Sunday the first second baseman that the Houston Astros organization ever had passed away.  Lil Joe Morgan, as he was known, broke in with the then Colt 45’s, now Astros in 1963.

With old school spikes on Morgan may have been all of five feet seven inches tall.  But he played big.  Traded to Cincinnati in 1971, and as part of the Big Red Machine, Morgan made eight consecutive All-Star Game appearances (1972–79) to go along with his 1966 and 1970 appearances with Houston. Morgan, along with teammates Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, and Tony Pérez led the Reds to consecutive championships in the 1975 and 1976 World Series.

Morgan was also the National League MVP in 1975 and 1976.  He was the first second baseman in the history of the National League to win the MVP back to back.  He also won four gold gloves in consecutive seasons from 1973-1977.  His demeanor on the field was as unflappable as his left elbow was flappable while batting.

Is he the best second baseman to ever play for the Astros?  Well, Craig Biggio never played a major league game in anything other than an Astros uniform in his 20-year career, so his accumulated Houston stats are better.  But, Morgan’s overall accomplishments in the game, especially on the biggest stages (playoffs and World Series) are much better.

Then along came another five-foot seven-inch second baseman.  Jose Altuve broke into the big show in 2011 and is in the middle of a career, making his case.  He’s been with the Astros a quick ten years and sports a gold glove and a league MVP to his credit while also winning a World Series.  The six-time all-star has won the league batting title three times and sports a fine .311 career average.  He has amassed over 1600 hits and did so by getting to the first 1000 of them faster than any other player in the history of the game.  Three thousand is very doable.

But Lil Jose has one big problem.  He cheated the game.  Even if you believe he only cheated in one year (2017), it’s of course one year too many.   If you’ve read this far you already know all about the circumstances surrounding that.

And, suddenly, Jose has another problem.  Is it another big problem?  We’ll find out.  From nowhere, Altuve cannot throw the baseball from second to first base.  Yips?  Maybe.  He’s committed three throwing errors in the last two ALCS games v the Rays.  The hitch in the throwing motion is there for all of the baseball world to see.

When the elite physical ability is consumed by a mental block the long-term results can be disastrous.  Don’t believe that?  Ask Chuck Knobloch or Steve Sax, both fine second basemen in their day.  A light switch burned out and their accuracy went (and stayed) kaput.  Rick Ankiel could throw 95 miles per hour fastballs pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals a decade ago when 95mph was elite.  Well, he could until he couldn’t.  Suddenly the backstop was more effective than his catcher at slowing down his errant attempts.

Some folks are laughing at Altuve’s struggles this AM.  He’s the poster child for Astros haters.  Karma, they say, is a witch or something like that.

Still, bad acting on big stages is cringeworthy.

The Rays will likely dispose of the Astros tonight to complete the four-game sweep.   They were the better team coming into the series and have shown out.

The series will soon enough be forgotten.  But, the question for Altuve is “has he forgotten how to throw a baseball?”