Michigan's Cade McNamara passes against Rutgers on Nov. 21, 2020, in Piscataway, N.J. (Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP)
Jim Harbaugh seems to have an affection for Reno-area quarterbacks. Harbaugh, then the San Francisco 49ers head coach, drafted Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2011 and got to the Super Bowl the following season. Harbaugh, now the University of Michigan head coach, is heading into fall camp this week with former Damonte Ranch High standout Cade McNamara as his No. 1 quarterback.
“He’s a fiery competitor,” Harbaugh said of the sophomore recently. “He’s got that gene.”
McNamara the son of former Galena High head baseball coach and Wolf Pack assistant baseball coach Gary McNamara, is arguably the greatest quarterback in Nevada high school history, throwing for a state-record 12,084 yards and 146 touchdowns.
McNamara, who has played in four games for Michigan (425 yards, five touchdowns), won’t be the first former Reno high school player to start at quarterback for a Power Five conference team. Reno High’s Jeff Dankworth played at UCLA in the mid-1970s. But he might end up being the first to have a long NFL career. Michigan quarterback coach Matt Weiss said this spring that McNamara could play 10 years in the NFL.
“He’s very smart, he makes great decisions, he processes things very fast and his accuracy and arm strength are more than enough to win,” said Weiss, a former Baltimore Ravens assistant coach.
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McNamara, who originally committed to Notre Dame, is the frontrunner (according to Harbaugh) to start in Michigan’s season opener against Western Michigan on Sept. 4. Most of his college stats came in a thrilling 48-42 triple-overtime win over Rutgers last November when he entered the game in the second quarter and passed for 260 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for a score.
The 21-year-old McNamara’s top competition for playing time at Michigan will come from freshman J.J. McCarthy and Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman. Michigan’s closest game to Northern Nevada this regular season will be at Nebraska on Oct. 9.
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How many games could the Nevada Wolf Pack football team actually lose this year?
Well, it is possible, in theory, that the Pack could lose at Cal, Kansas State, Boise State and San Diego State. Maybe. And Mountain West COVID-season champion San Jose State is coming to Mackay. But that’s about it.
Think the Pack is going to lose to Idaho State, New Mexico State, Hawaii, UNLV or Air Force at home? Keep in mind the Pack is likely going to average 50 points a game this year at home.
Do Colorado State or Fresno State on the road scare you? They don’t scare the Wolf Pack. Colorado State and Fresno State, don’t forget, were a mess by the end of last season. Before you start to get nervous about the road schedule, remember that Cal and Kansas State are struggling Power Five programs.
The Pack has won three games in a row against San Diego State. Boise State is always a challenge for the Silver and Blue but the Broncos were a shell of themselves last year and will be breaking in a new coach this year. The Pack likely would have beaten Boise State by double digits last year. We’ll put the over-under for Wolf Pack wins this season at 10 (out of a possible 14 games). Take the over.
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The 2021 season for former Reno Aces’ closer Jimmie Sherfy has likely come to an end because of an injury. The right-hander, one of the most popular players in Aces history, saved 59 games for the Aces from 2016-19. He was placed on the injured list this week by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 29-year-old Sherfy has appeared in 57 games in the big leagues with a 5-1 record, two saves and 3.28 earned run average with the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants and Dodgers. The Dodgers claimed Sherfy off waivers from the Giants in the middle of July but not before he secured a unique place in the history of the storied Dodgers-Giants rivalry.
Sherfy, who played at the University of Oregon, this season became the first pitcher since the two franchises moved to California in 1958 to appear in a game for both the Giants and Dodgers in the same season.
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Do the Giants have enough firepower to hold off the Dodgers and San Diego Padres this year and win the National League West? The Giants went out and got Kris Bryant from the Chicago Cubs but their roster still can’t compare to that of the Dodgers or Padres. But we’re not betting against the Giants anymore.
Baseball titles aren’t won by fancy rosters. They are won, the Giants are proving, by a gritty group of young players (Austin Slater, Steven Duggar, Mike Yastrzemski, Lamonte Wade, Darin Ruff) with something to prove and by tough, savvy veterans that nobody but the Giants wanted going into the season. Who thought the Giants would be three games up on the Dodgers and seven ahead of the Padres right now with less than two months to play?
Manager Gabe Kapler, another guy nobody wanted, is doing it with mirrors and is the runaway favorite to win the National League Manager of the Year award. Kapler has continued a fantastic run of Giants managers that began with Roger Craig in 1985 and continued with Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou and Bruce Bochy.
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The SEC, which recently added Oklahoma and Texas, has taken over college sports. The NCAA, apparently, has zero power. Players are no longer amateurs and conferences can do whatever they want to do. Welcome to college sports’ Armageddon.
The 16-team SEC and the eight-channel ESPN simply run college sports and everyone else is just around to fill out the schedule. The NFL, which dictates the location and conferences of franchises, has more structure and rules and is more wholesome and pure than the greedy world of college sports. It won’t be long before the SEC steals the Atlanta Falcons from the NFL.
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Baseball sure makes it tough on its fans. Long-suffering Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals fans were finally rewarded with World Series titles in 2015 (Royals), 2016 (Cubs) and 2019 (Nationals) but now, just six years later, all three teams are in a mind-numbing rebuild.
Years of rebuilding followed by one title followed by more rebuilding years. That’s the new world of Major League Baseball. For some reason it has become customary and acceptable for franchises to sell off all of their talent and declare that they are in a rebuild. The fans are supposed to just sit back and accept it and keep paying top dollar for tickets, concessions, parking and souvenirs while their team becomes a glorified Triple-A franchise.
Whatever happened to trying to win year after year after year? Those days are gone forever because the only franchises that can afford to try to win every year are the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees. The Cubs should also be a part of that select group but they know their gullible fans just want some warm sunshine and a cold beer for their $50 ticket.
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Did the Los Angeles Lakers guarantee another spot in the NBA Finals by going out this week and getting Carmelo Anthony, Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard and Trevor Ariza? Well, maybe if it was 2010. But since it is 2021, all the Lakers did was change the supporting cast around LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis. The other dozen or so guys on the active roster mean nothing.
If LeBron and A.D. stay healthy the Lakers will get to the Finals. If Westbrook also stays healthy the Lakers could win 70 games. By adding all those players this week LeBron was simply collecting understudies so he could take 20 or 30 games off this season.
