Spring '95. Tiger, still largely unknown outside golf circles, is in a study hall with many Stanford athletes. They exchange Spring Break destinations. Tiger: "Going to the Masters" Greg Comella (Stanford RB): "That's the toughest tix in sports! How?" Tiger: "I'm playing."

@beatingthebook @MagicRatSF @Clevta I decided to look up teams that had a losing record the previous season and improved their win percentage by 0.500 or more and those teams are just 3-12-1 ATS since the 1990 season.

“What’s the charge for getting thrown out of a moving vehicle — Jaywalking?”

Found this last night while converting our basement into a “speakeasy” for a party last night. Like rings on a tree stump, you can probably guess my age and when I lived in New York (and maybe which neighborhood) based on this artifact we unearthed. Happy New Year!

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Well I absolutely didn't anticipate my short post on Alex Silverstein's spin-off launch from P72 to go viral. To the 1,000+ followers I've picked up overnight and those fascinated by the process leading to my assessment of Alex, here's a link to my Odd Lots appearance last year.

During a career that has allowed me to evaluate hundreds of PMs, I have never encountered a more talented PM - in terms of repeatable skills - than Alex Silverstein. In terms of how far his skill readings were above the mean, he is one of one.

Every sports bettor, and indeed anyone with a pro-consumer, anti-innovation-stifling mindset, should be grateful to former Chair Pham and her work overseeing the CFTC. 🫡

I persisted and you know the ending -- a perfect mix of family, food and circumstance, results in cashing a 150-1 ticket, the longest of my life.(*) (*) My wife informs me that at the time of our first date, I was merely a consensus 50-1 to eventually get her to the altar.

That seemed exactly the playbook Curt Cignetti might follow this year at IU, so I reached out to Gill Alexander and a friend from my sports writing days, a true college football guru, for their thoughts. Here's the text exchange -- you can feel the cold water thrown on me. 😀

15+ years ago, a brash, unafraid, and ridiculously confident Harbaugh instantly turned Stanford around, ran up scores on any opponent and, in an effort to gain national attention, touted first Toby Gerhart ('09 runner up) and Andrew Luck ('10 and '11 runner up) for the Heisman.

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Fast forward to this past August and I'm reading preview magazines and thinking, there isn't near enough hype for Mendoza and Indiana, with most questioning the repeatability of the Hoosier's 11-2 result from '24. I, however, saw Jim Harbaugh and a similar turnaround at Stanford

So now daddy and daughter are hooked on Cal's QB on and off the field. I continued to watch the games, made excuses to get to Berkeley to swing by the burrito shop and the season ended with Mendoza's "98 yards with my boys" Big Game defeat of Stanford.

I've lived in San Francisco for 20+ years, and this was by far the best burrito I'd ever had. As I recall, Mendoza lent the shop his mom's Cuban-based carne asada recipe which included chimichurri and other "secret" sauces. An amazing burrito - and that's by Bay Area standards.

If Fernando Mendoza had any NIL deals last year, it came from a short social-media post touting his signature burrito at La Burrita, a hole in the wall college haunt on Durant Ave, far more famous food-wise for its next-door neighbor, Top Dog

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Still, I persisted in engaging her. As I had all season, I kept noting how good "your QB" is notably that "he's far better than the talent around him." Then she unexpectedly engaged me. "We love him. You have to try the Mendoza burrito."

It started well. The "cal-gorithm" got traction and GameDay came to town, igniting the campus and my daughter's enthusiasm. All was well until Cal blew a 35-10 lead to lose 39-38. "This is why I don't watch sports with you," came the last, post-midnight text of the day.

Last fall, my daughter was a freshman at Cal and although she played sports her whole life, she never had any interest in watching games on TV. Still, I tried to get her excited for on-campus D-1 football. I even pledged, despite our family's deep Stanford roots, to follow Cal.

My good friend Gill (@beatingthebook) mentioned this on his show last week; I told him if it hit I'd tell the story here. I don't write columns anymore but if I did, I'd cite the catalysts for this play, and title it, Football, Family and Food (not necessarily in that order.) 😉

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Notre Dame (2025) vs McNeil Labs(*) (1982) will be studied in future MBA Crisis Management courses. (*) Owner of Tylenol during cyanide scare.

Has there ever been a higher leverage, regular season possession, let alone one in week 14, than the Bears with a 4th and 1, at the GB 14, at that moment holding the NFC’s #1 seed? Has to be a candidate for the most damaging INT ever. (Seeding chances courtesy @mrcaseb.)

Smdh that’s like asking why Nick Saban didn’t stop after one successful national championship season