Wednesday's six-pack
-- NFL preseason games generate roughly $700M in revenue for the owners, which is a strong reason why they want the season to start on time. If the owners start to lose money, then they're going to want the players to lose money too, then it begins to get ugly.
-- Rick Carlisle is 11th NBA coach to win a title who also won one as a player. Carlisle was a sub with the Celtics in the 80's.
-- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off turned 25 years old last week; still no idea why the one kid was wearing a Red Wings’ jersey when the movie was set in Chicago, but an excellent movie.
-- Brewers won Zach Greinke’s last seven starts; on flip side, Padres are 0-7 at home when Clayton Richard pitches.
-- Had no idea there are bottles of champagne that cost $90,000 each. Apparently, Mark Cuban bought one in Miami late Monday night, then left a $20,000 tip for the help.
-- Miss Montana/Miss North Dakota are both 100-1 longshots to win Miss USA pageant. For what its worth, Sarah Palin was once runnerup in the Miss Alaska pageant.
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Wednesday's List of 13: Random stuff as we start Year 11..........
13) Interesting subplot in College World Series. Kevin Stallings is hoop coach at Vanderbilt, and a very good coach; his son is the catcher on North Carolina’s baseball team. As fate would have it, UNC plays Vandy in the College World Series this weekend in Omaha. The elder Stallings says he is rooting for his son, but won’t wear Carolina colors at the game.
12) Damn, doesn’t it seem like Mark Cuban has owned the Mavericks longer than 11 years? Funny how Cuban has been dignified in victory; he’s paying for the team’s victory parade in Dallas. Classy all the way.
11) Consensus seems to be that the Heat need to surround Wade/James with younger, more athletic players who will progress as the season goes on. Just hope the naysayers don’t place all the blame at the coach’s feet, which often happens in the NBA. That wouldn’t be fair if Erik Spoelstra lost his job over this, but it wouldn't be the first time in the NBA.
10) Reds’ 2B Brandon Phillips spoke the truth Sunday night when he said that the Sunday night ESPN games from the west coast (5pm local starts) are brutal on hitters, saying how tough it is to see a pitched ball. Nolan Ryan got at least one of his no-hitters in a game like that with the Angels.
9) How would you like to shell out a small fortune for your kid to go to Dartmouth, and the commencement speaker when he/she graduates is Conan O’Brien; what, George Lopez wasn’t available that day?
8) Disgraced NYC politician Anthony Weiner, who sent pictures of his weiner to various girlfriends, is a graduate of Plattsburgh State, where many a scholar has studied. Doubtful his alma mater will be inviting Mr Weiner to speak at any of its graduation ceremonies.
7) Have to give Royals’ P Vin Mazzaro some credit; he got lit up for 14 earned runs in a May 16 relief appearance, then got sent to AAA, but he worked at it, got called back up and blanked the Angels for seven innings Sunday, so good comeback by him.
6) WAC may have struck gold when it invited sleeping giant Seattle to join its ranks in 2012-13. With no NBA team in Seattle anymore, the public will get behind Cameron Dollar’s team, and they could become a WAC power fairly quickly. Texas State, UT-San Antonio and Denver are also joining the WAC not this fall, but in fall of ’12.
5) TV advertising revenue on cable stations is up 10-12% from this time LY, partly because of the NFL’s uncertain status, and partly because Oprah’s show went off the air. If the NFL doesn't settle with its players soon, their advertising money is going to fly away to other places.
4) This just in; Justin Verlander is really good.
3) Steve Williams, who usually caddies for Eldrick Woods, is on the bag for Adam Scott at the US Open this week; interesting to see if anything comes from that arrangement, since Scott doesn't have a regular caddy as we speak. Woods was last seen or crutches (again); is he done for 2011?
2) Credit to Dallas Baptist College for getting one step from the College World Series in just its sixth year of D-I baseball. Lot of good ballplayers in Texas, but still, that’s impressive work. DBC was eliminated by Cal in the Super Regionals last weekend.
1) The other fascinating subplot of the College World Series this weekend is the story of the Cal Bears; their baseball program was supposed to be eliminated by the school at end of this school year for financial reasons, but alumni/fans stepped up, the program was saved, and now they're off to Omaha for an unlikely trip to a College World Series. Good for them.
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