[CNOTES]

Daily Sports Roundup

Monday, November 16

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Trail Blazers take on the Hawks, Duke meets Coastal Carolina, and the Browns get a visit from the division-rival Ravens.

Colliding on the gridiron . . .

The Ravens will be looking to get back into the AFC playoff picture on Monday night when they play on the road against the Browns in the primetime matchup. Baltimore (4-4 SU, 5-3 ATS) lost 17-7 in Cincinnati last weekend, with Ray Rice scoring the team's only touchdown with a two-yard rush in the fourth quarter. Joe Flacco went 18-of-32 for 195 yards passing with no TDs and two INTs in the loss.

Cleveland (1-7 SU, 3-5 ATS) was thumped 30-6 in Chicago in their last contest, with Derek Anderson throwing for 76 yards and getting picked off twice en route to losing his starter's job. Anderson did account for the team's lone score in that contest, rushing for a TD in the third quarter. Oddsmakers have the Ravens pegged as 10.5-point favorites for Monday night, with the total listed at 40 points.

Tipping off on the hardwood . . .

There are just three games on the NBA's schedule for Monday, with Charlotte at Orlando, Dallas at Milwaukee, and Portland at Atlanta. The Trail Blazers picked up an 80-74 road win over the Bobcats on Saturday night, with Brandon Roy scoring 25 points and LaMarcus Aldridge chipping in with 11 points and seven boards. The Hawks rolled over the Hornets at home on Saturday night, winning 121-98. Joe Johnson had 26 points and Josh Smith had 17 boards in that victory.

As well, Kentucky, Villanova, and Duke are all in action on the college hoops slate for Monday night; it's Miami (Ohio) vs. Kentucky, Pennsylvania vs. Villanova, and Coastal Carolina vs. Duke. The Blue Devils had no trouble picking up a victory in their season opener last time out, getting past N.C. Greensboro by a final score of 96-62. Kyle Singler had a game-high 20 points in that Duke win.

Taking a trip around the rink . . .

Finally, there are six games on tap in the NHL on Monday night, with the Islanders at Boston, New Jersey at Philadelphia, Edmonton at Columbus, Los Angeles at Florida, Tampa Bay at Phoenix, and Anaheim at Pittsburgh. The Ducks were blasted 7-4 by the Red Wings on Saturday night despite a four-point effort from Ryan Getzlaf. The Penguins pulled out a 6-5 OT win over the Bruins in their Saturday game; Evgeni Malkin had three points in his return to the lineup.

[CNOTES]

Bettor's best friend: Today's helpful tips

Monday, November 16

The mighty Quinn?

The last time Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn faced the Baltimore Ravens, he was benched at halftime. Quinn probably won't get an early hook again - coach Eric Mangini just switched back to him for this game - but in the first 2 1-2 games of the season, he directed the Browns to one TD, a gimme score in the closing minutes of a 34-20 loss to Minnesota. He was 6-of-8 for 34 yards and an interception in one half vs. Baltimore, which is giving 10.5 points on the road with a total of 38.5.

Net gain

Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said Mathieu Garon will be his goalie for Monday's game vs. Edmonton. Garon stopped 32 shots plus two shootout attempts in Saturday's win over Anaheim and is 3-1 with a 2.60 GAA, better numbers than Steve Mason (7-5-0-2, 3.67 GAA), who will sit for a second straight game. Columbus is -170 with a total of 5.5.

The blue Wall

John Wall, projected by many to be the top pick in the 2010 NBA draft, will make his college debut for Kentucky vs. Miami of Ohio on Monday. Wall was suspended by the NCAA for Kentucky's season-opening 75-59 win over Morehead State in which Eric Bledsoe scored 24 points in his collegiate debut. Coach John Calipari said they will play together in the backcourt. Kentucky is giving 19.5 points to Miami and did not cover 20.5 points vs. Morehead.

Hole in the middle

The matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks features Dirk Nowitzki vs. Brandon Jennings, each of whom has scored 29 points in a quarter this season. But the key may be the absence of Mavs center Erick Dampier, who became ill in Detroit on Sunday and will remain there. Dampier is averaging 7.6 points and a team-high 9.7 rebounds. Drew Gooden started for him Sunday and had 11 points and 11 boards. Dallas is giving 1.5 points with a total of 190.

Seeing red on the road

The NHL's only unbeaten road team is the New Jersey Devils, who are 9-0 away from home and have not allowed more than two goals since their road opener. New Jersey will be looking to avenge an early season home loss to Philadelphia and is +125 with a total of 5.5.

Big problem

Philadelphia 76ers forward Marreese Speights has a partial tear of his lft MCL and will miss six to eight weeks. Speights had been Philadelphia's most effective big man, averaging 13.0 points and playing in the fourth quarter in place of starter Elton Brand, who will get most of his minutes but does not allow the Sixers to run as well. Philadelphia is 4-6 vs. the over.

Notable quotable

"Coach told me to take a knee. We knew they were going to try to let us score, then try to get the ball back so they could run their two-minute offense. They told me to get as close as I could and take a knee."

-- Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, talking about his decision to go down at the 1-yard line, allowing his team to burn the clock and kick a field goal for a 24-22 win. The play did not impact the line or total.

[CNOTES]

Six-pack for Monday

-- Harvard beat William & Mary in triple OT on runner by star guard Lin at the buzzer; its worth looking up on YouTube.

-- Green Bay won 87-86 in OT at Kent State, good win for Horizon League that is developing a good rivalry with the MAC.

-- LMU lost 64-63 to Montana; Lions lost their first two games by a combined total of four points.

-- Isiah Thomas is off to rough start at FIU, losing 81-49 at Tulsa after they lost by 29 at Monmouth the game before that. FIU is now 0-3.

-- Texas-San Antonio 62, Iowa 50. Long season for the Hawkeyes.

-- Providence struggled to get by Mercer, 79-77; Baylor just got by Hartford, beating the Hawks 71-69.

[CNOTES]

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Sunday........

13) Bill Belichick is a Hall of Fame coach; he's won three Super Bowls as a head coach, two more as an assistant, but for a half hour Sunday night, he turned into a arrogant fool, going for it on 4th-and-2 on his own 28 with a 34-28 lead and 1:57 left. The gamble failed, Colts scored, and in the biggest game of the '09 season so far, Indy beat the Patriots 35-34.

Not only did he go for the first down, he couldn't challenge the spot of the ball on the failed play, because his offense squandered their last two timeouts before the 2:00 warning. You can't challenge a call without a timeout to use as collateral. Patriots didn't have one, so no challenge.

12) Put it this way; if Sam Wyche, Herm Edwards or Jim Zorn did what Belichick did Sunday night, they would have been mocked relentlessly. It will be interesting to see if there is any carry over in Patriots' play-- will New England players lose faith in their coach? Its a fair question.

11) Speaking of Coach Zorn, his fake punt for TD was a thing of beauty as punter Hunter Smith drilled a strike diagonally across the field for a tying TD in Washington's 24-17 upset win of the skidding Broncos. It was such a good pass, at first I thought one of the backup QBs threw it.

10) Since 2001, Redskins are only NFL team that hasn't used a first or second round draft pick on an offensive lineman.

9) Packers allowed 69 points in their previous two games, so of course they beat the Cowboys 17-7, as Dallas narrowly avoided being blanked for the first time since losing 12-0 in New England six years ago.

8) Shane Lechler averaged over 48 yards a punt on 11 punts in Raiders' 16-10 loss to Kansas City; Lechler now has 29 consecutive games with at least one punt of 50+ yards. He is very good at his job.

7) Steelers have now allowed a TD on offense or special teams in seven consecutive games, which really is a problem, especially when that TD is only one scored in a game, like Cincinnati's kick return was Sunday.

6) Tennessee is now 3-0 wuth Vince Young at QB; they also have a +7 turnover ratio in those three games, with Titans turning ball over once in Young's three starts, after having 16 turnovers in Collins' six starts.

5) New Orleans ran opening kickoff of second half back for TD, and that was deciding score, as Saints survived a Hail Mary into end zone on final play of game, escaping St Louis with a 28-23 win over the gritty Rams.

4) No NFL game this season has been scoreless at halftime.

3) Raiders/Chiefs were combined 0-18 on 3rd down in first half, 3-31 for the entire game. Prisoners on Death Row should be made to watch video of JaMarcus Russell passing-- its that painful.

2) First drive update: On each team's first drive of the game, there were six TDs scored, four FGs made, four FGs missed, 11 punts, three INT for 1.93 ppp. On first drive of second half, there were three TDs, three FGs made, three FGs missed, 13 punts, five INTs, one fumble. for a ppp of 1.07.

1) NFL favorites are 12-27-1 against the spread the last three weeks.

[CNOTES]

Len's Top 5

Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 16, 2009 from Len Berman.

1. Quick Hits

Thanks to a strange gamble by Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the Indianapolis Colts staged an improbable comeback to beat New England 35-34 and run their record to 9-0.
While USC and Notre Dame hit the skids, Ohio State will hit the road for the Rose Bowl for the first time in 13 years.
They were celebrating in the Phillipines, as Manny Pacquiao stopped Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas in the 12th round. Pacquiao won the WBO welterweight crown, his 7th title in 7 different weight classes.
On the undercard Yuri Foreman won the WBA Super welterweight championship. He's studying to become a rabbi. A boxing rabbi. Is that kosher?
20-year old Michelle Wie wins her first LPGA tournament, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico.
Way to go Knicks. They passed over Brandon Jennings in the draft. He scored 55 points for Milwaukee Saturday night. Maybe the Knicks should just turn off the lights.

2. The Numbers Game

Wow. LeBron James says he wants to stop wearing # 23 and wants the number retired league-wide in honor of Michael Jordan. He will switch to #6 next season. Let the conspiracy theories begin. Is he going to play for Chicago? Does he hope to sell more jerseys? The only players retired league wide in sports are Jackie Robinson's # 42 in baseball. (When Mariano Rivera retires, nobody will wear it.) And Wayne Gretzky's #99 in hockey. But Michael Jordan? Why not Wilt Chamberlain? How about Babe Ruth? Retired numbers are getting like the Hall of Fame. Watered down.

3. Crime and Punishment

You've probably heard that the NFL fined Chad Ochocinco of Cincinnati $20-thousand. Ochocinco had a dollar bill in his hand and was thinking about offering it to the refs while they were reviewing a replay. The league cited the rulebook, in part the rule that prohibits abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures toward officials. They also have this thing about players carrying props. OK, I get it. But you have to admit what Ochocinco did was amusing. There's a reason the NFL stands for No Fun League.

4. Wardrobe

Tiger Woods won the Australian Masters golf tournament, so he got the coveted "Golden Jacket." His winning share was $252-thousand. Pocket change for him. Then again his appearance fee was $3-million. So not a bad haul down under, $3.25 million AND a sport coat. At least if you hit a homer off the Abe Stark sign at the old Ebbets field, you won the entire suit.

5. Fore or Two?

Here's the perfect gift for the golfing lady in your life. A bra that turns into a putting green. Leave it to the Japanese. The bra is adorned with a golf ball, tee, and miniature flag. You unroll it (stretches to 5 feet), lay it on the floor and putt away to your heart's content. You have two cups to aim at. It also comes with a cute little skirt that has the words "Be Quiet" written on the rear. Oh, when you sink your putt, you hear "nice shot" from a built in speaker, in Japanese. By the way the same company brings you the Solar Power Bra, and the Chopsticks Bra. Don't ask.
Bra doubles as golf putting mat ::: Pink Tentacle

Happy Birthday: Dr. K, former Met and Yankee pitcher Dwight Gooden. 45.
Bonus Birthday: Cosby Show actress Lisa Bonet. 42.

Today in Sports: Bill Russell sets an NBA record with 49 rebounds against the Philadelphia Warriors. His record was broken (Wilt, 55), but his 32 rebounds in one half that night is a mark that still stands. 1957.
Bonus Event: LSD is first created in a lab in Switzerland. It took 5 years to realize that LSD was hallucinogenic. What were they smoking? 1938.