Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . .
Don’t sleep on this Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team. Yes, it is difficult to invest emotionally in a team which gagged and strangled on its own expectations in last year’s Mountain West tournament at home and didn’t even qualify for the regionals after winning 41 games. The head coach then left hours after the self mutilation and, well, a month or so into this season the program was 4-10 overall and 0-4 in conference play. Well, a funny thing happened on the Wolf Pack’s journey back toward oblivion. The Wolf Pack has won its last six games and is now 24-20 overall and in third place in the Mountain West at 13-8. Barring another gagging the Pack will finish no worse than third in conference heading into the tournament at New Mexico later this month. Wouldn’t it be ironic if this year’s team with its no frills roster came out of nowhere to win the tournament and go to the regionals when last year’s super team bled to death after cutting itself shaving?
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New Pack baseball coach T.J. Bruce deserves serious Mountain West Coach of the Year consideration for getting his team into the top three in the league behind New Mexico and Fresno State. The Wolf Pack could have choked on its own vomit after starting the season so slowly and just chalked this season up to a painful transition experience. But Bruce’s boys scratch and claw every game without much offense or pitching (compared to last year). Nobody on the roster has more than three homers or 26 RBI and just two starting pitchers have an earned run average under 5.00. The Pack has been out-homered (17-6), out-scored (127-126), out-hit (.309-.304) and out-pitched (4.72-5.21) this year by the opposition in Mountain West games. They have been led this year by five players (T.J. Friedl, Miles Mastrobuoni, Cole Krzmarzick, Justin Hazard and Trevor Charpie) and a coaching staff that had little or nothing to do with last year’s 41 wins. It’s been a nice transition so far.
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Another team you shouldn’t sleep on is the Pack football team. Yes, the Pack has been nothing more than mediocre since the supposedly program-changing 2010 season. Over the last five years the Pack has gone 32-32 and has redefined the Spirit of ’76 by going 7-6 in four of those five years. Well, that is about to change. If the Pack goes 7-6 with this 2016 schedule, well, it will be time to transition to another coaching staff. The Wolf Pack plays just three teams this year (Notre Dame, New Mexico, San Diego State) that had a winning record last year. Five of those opponents lost nine or more games. If this Pack team goes 10-2 in the regular season, losing only at Notre Dame and at home to San Diego State, all it would be accomplishing is beating the teams it should beat.But, keep in mind, they haven’t done that since 2010.
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This is the season coach Brian Polian has been working toward since he was handed the Pack job in 2013. The roster is full of his recruits now. This is his type of schedule. And now that Nick Rolovich is back home in Hawaii, there isn’t even a connection to Chris Ault’s pistol offense anymore to make Polian wince. The keep choppin’ era is in full swing. It will result in no fewer than nine wins and a nice, fat contract extension for Polian. And next year they can go back to being 7-6.
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Colin Kaepernick is still a member of the San Francisco 49ers. The deadline to guarantee his contract as well as the NFL draft and all its trade possibilities has come and gone. Kaepernick, as you read this, will be the 49ers starting quarterback this year because, well, he makes too much money to stand on the sideline and model the latest in 49er headwear. It remains to be seen whether or not this is a good thing for Kaepernick. Kaepernick could play well next year and still get his brains beat in. The 49ers have no playmakers around him and he’ll likely be seen running around the field like a quarterback with his arms cut off each weekend. But this also might be the best scenario for Kaepernick in which to revive his career. With no playmakers, he’ll likely become more aggressive and let his physical talents take over. And Chip Kelly’s fast-paced offense just might be the perfect fit for quick-twitch Kap. Or he could be a Bronco or a Jet by next week.
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It would be nice if the Oakland Raiders call themselves the Nevada Raiders when they move to Las Vegas. But you know that isn’t going to happen. The Raiders would be more likely to call themselves the Topless Showgirl Raiders, the Sports Betting Raiders or the Burlesque Babes Raiders before they call themselves the Nevada Raiders. It’s likely that the Raiders don’t even know that Las Vegas is in Nevada, that Las Vegas is an area without any state ties, like an X-rated Washington D.C.
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When the Raiders move to Las Vegas it will be like Los Angeles, which is just a suburb of Las Vegas now, is getting back its second team. It is easier for Southern Californians to hop on a plane and fly to Las Vegas to see the former Los Angeles Raiders than it used to be to drive across southern California‘s freeways to a game at the Coliseum. And a lot safer before, during and after the game. L.A. fans would help fill a $1.4 billion stadium in Las Vegas. Raider tickets would be like free buffet coupons for all the casinos. The NFL is too smart to block the Raiders from going to Las Vegas.
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Jake Arrieta is the Stephen Curry of major league baseball. The Cubs pitcher has won his last 18 regular season decisions and 22 of his last 23. The only time he lost in that stretch is when Cole Hamels no-hit the Cubs. Arrieta has a 0.84 ERA this season and opponents are hitting .142 against him. Curry has been known to hit shots from the stands. It’s quite possible that Arrieta could get guys out throwing from the dugout. The Cubs, heading into Thursday, were 20-6 overall, 13-3 on the road and had outscored the opposition by 96 runs. The Cubs, like Curry’s Golden State Warriors, are re-defining what greatness can be. Yes, it’s early. But that’s what everyone said about the Warriors back in December.