RIP Rusty Staub

Rusty Staub passed away today; he was 73 years old.  He spent 23 years in MLB starting with the expansion Houston Colt 45s.  He spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Montreal Expos where his bright red hair earned him the nickname, “Le Grand Orange”.  He was selected as an All-Star 6 times and amassed 500 hits with 4 different teams in his career.

RIP Rusty Staub.

Surely you have read/heard about the issues between the NY Giants and Odell Beckham, Jr.  Personally, I have already tired of the breathless reports that the Giants want to trade him which are then followed quickly with equally breathless reports that the Giants have no intention of trading him followed by …  However, there is an aspect of this nonsense that raises a question in my mind:

• Today on CBSSports.com, there is report from Will Brinson which says that Beckham has told multiple Rams’ players that he “wants in” on a trade to the Rams.
• If “multiple Rams’ players” were to say publicly that they wanted Beckham to engineer a trade from the Giants to the Rams, the NFL would accuse those “multiple players” of tampering.
• So, why is it OK for Beckham to say essentially the same thing in reverse?

Jeff Capel took the job as the head basketball coach at Pitt.  He has a Herculean task ahead as he works to rebuild that program.  One problem is that Pittsburgh – and Western Pennsylvania in a larger sense – is much more “football country” than it is “basketball country”.  Notwithstanding that generalization, Pitt basketball fans are not easily pleased.  Consider:

Jamie Dixon built a solid program at Pitt; he was there for 13 seasons.  His teams made the NCAA Tournament 11 times in those 13 seasons but never made it to the Final Four.  There was plenty of pressure for Pitt to “move on” and when Dixon got the chance to go back to his alma mater (TCU), the folks in Pittsburgh virtually helped him pack up his belongings.

Jeff Capel was the lead assistant to Mike Krzyzewski for the last 5 years and he has had two head coaching gigs (VCU and Oklahoma) in the past.  His overall record as a head coach is 175-110 and one of his Oklahoma teams made the Elite 8.  I think that Pitt got themselves a good coach here; now, they need to have a bit of patience while he reconfigures the mess that the program has become.

You knew something like this was coming but now it is official.  Out in Las Vegas, they have prop bets available on the upcoming NFL Draft.  Here are some of the bets on the board.

Who will be the first QB taken:

• Josh Rosen  minus-120
• Sam Darnold  +175
• Josh Allen  +500
• Baker Mayfield +2000

Will Lamar Jackson be drafted in the first round?

• Yes  minus-250
• No  +190

Who will be the player drafted #1 overall?  [Note the contradiction here compared to the prop on which QB will be taken first.]

• Sam Darnold  Even money
• Saquon Barkley  +200
• Josh Rosen  +250
• Josh Allen  +800
• Bradley Chubb  +4500
• Minkah Fitzpatrick  +4500

Over/Under on the draft position for Baker Mayfield?

• Over 11.5  +110
• Under 11.5  minus-140

Which of these two players gets drafted first?

• Bradley Chubb  minus-160
• Minkah Fitzpatrick  +130

Finally, to end today on a light note, here is a comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Nearly every passenger vomited on a turbulent flight from Charlottesville, Va., to Washington, D.C.

“That’s what they get for making the Browns’ 2017 highlight video the in-flight movie.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………