Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind……..

Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind……..

13) This week, Toronto rookie Bo Bichette became the first player since 1900 to hit a double in nine straight games, and he did it in his 11th career game. Not a bad start to his career.

12) Patriots 31, Lions 3— Total yardage in this game was 459-93, in a freakin’ preseason game. Neither starting QB played. I’m guessing the home fans weren’t too pleased with this showing.

This is where I remind you that Detroit fired coach Jim Caldwell after consecutive 9-7 seasons, so they could hire New England’s defensive coordinator, who then went 6-10 LY.

Last time the Lions won a playoff game was 1991. No bueno.

11) I still struggle with analyzing NFL exhibition games and figuring out how much they mean; the Ravens never lose them, the Falcons never win one. Outcomes of a lot of the games will be decided by guys who will be bartenders or driving UPS trucks in a few weeks.

Most coaches don’t game plan for exhibition games, but some do; Arizona Cardinals huddled in their game Thursday, but aren’t expected to huddle at all on September 8.

Avoiding injuries and determining who will win the final roster spots are really the most important part of these games.

10) Two years ago, Cleveland Browns went 4-0 in preseason, allowing a total of 29 points. There was a lot of optimism on Lake Erie. Then they went 0-16 in the regular season.

For most part, I would disregard scores of exhibition games; injuries to key people matter, like the Eagles losing their backup QB for six weeks Thursday.

9) Titans 27, Eagles 10— Eagles’ backup QB Nate Sudfeld broke his left (non-throwing) wrist Thursday night; the other two backup QB’s on Philly’s roster are suspects more than prospects, so they better keep oft-injured starter Carson Wentz healthy while Sudfeld’s wrist heals.

8) If any of you play fantasy soccer or are interested in starting to do it, here is an article I recommend, because my godson wrote it and he knows a lot about soccer:

https://www.fanduel.com/theduel/post...n-01dhpnjtft7a

7) Baseball stuff:
— Mets signed 2B Joe Panik, who was cut by the Giants the other day.
— Twins put DH Nelson Cruz (wrist) on IL.

6) Someone bet $10,000 on the Vikings at CG Technology Friday, at 20-1 odds, which is a lot of faith in a team whose $28M a year QB has never won a playoff game.

5) Bill Walton is going to broadcast a White Sox game with Jason Benetti when the Pale Hose go to Anaheim next Friday. They’ve done college basketball games together, but there is lot more dead time in a baseball broadcast. This should be interesting.

4) In case you wondering, Bryce Harper has hit his 204 career home runs off of 159 different pitchers.

3) BYU basketball star Yoeli Childs will miss the first nine games this coming season because of a paperwork screw-up when he declared for the NBA draft last May, then decided to return to BYU after testing the draft waters.

2) This Antonio Brown thing isn’t going well…….according to Mike Silver:

“……..Brown, according to witnesses, typically glances at the screens of several tablets and his smart phone during meetings, distracting himself by engaging in activities which include perusing his bank accounts and “liking” photos on Instagram.”

“the meeting thing isn’t that bad… but the feet, helmet and going dark is an issue.”

1) Chargers’ backup QB Easton Stick has a great name; how many guys you know who are named after an aluminum bat? Stick was 49-3 playing QB at North Dakota State, where he took over for Carson Wentz. He looked good playing ball in Arizona Thursday night.

Armadillo