NBA Christmas | Yamamoto | College Football Bowl | Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree | YouTube Rabbithole
Merry Christmas @YouTheReader,
First, we’ll jump into a quick NBA Christmas Day preview. Next, we got some Yoshinobu Yamamoto news and what it means for NY Baseball. Then a write-up on the Armed Forces Bowl. All the while, we got Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree on in the background so we’ll finish with that.
NBA Opening Day Christmas Day
The Milwaukee Bucks are on a 6 game-winning streak that will get put to the test today against the Knicks. Oddly enough, the Bucks will also play New York on Christmas Day. Milwaukee has a dynamic duo of PG Damian Lillard and PF Giannis Antetokounmpo. The pair has combined to average 57.1 points, 15.5 rebounds, and 12.4 assists. The Greek Freak has said all the right things about how they’ll need Lillard to be the guy, but at the end of the day, we all know this is still his team. The player with the hardest adjustment to Lillard’s onboarding has to be SF Khris Middleton, who has seen his field goal attempts fall 10.6 per game - the lowest of his 11 years in Milwaukee.
The Knicks 6th Man, SG Immanuel Quickley, has been on a roll during their 2-game winning streak. Quickley has scored 20 and 19 in back-to-back games while shooting 54% from beyond the arc. The Knicks have been playing on Christmas Day since 1947 when in the 2nd year of the NBA NY beat the Providence Steamrollers. ‘Ol Tommy Byrnes led all scorers that day with 20, of course back then they didn’t have a 3-point shot.
Bet: Bucks -3.5 and over whatever stats you can parlay Greek Freak & Lillard.
Breaking news: PG Steph Curry is still very good at basketball and can still shoot. Riley Curry’s dad is shooting 42% on the season while averaging 28 points per game. The Warriors have been middling this season as they’re hoping to sneak into the playoffs with PG Chris Paul still in one-piece in the season he turns 39. The Warriors will be without PF Draymond Green as he has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA for multiple in-game incidents. Week to Week Notes sides with Draymond Green here, the NBA needs more 90s enforcers like him, not less.
The other breaking news is that C Nikola Jokic is also still good at basketball. The ‘23 NBA Finals MVP is averaging a near triple-double with 26.5 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.3 assists. The Serbian Center probably actually celebrates Christmas Day on January 7th because the orthodox church goes by the Julian calendar rather than Gregorian. That blew my mind, but must be convenient for Santa. The Denver Nuggets as a team are very giving year round as they are 2nd in the NBA in assists with 29.6 per game.
Bet: Nuggets -5.5 and over the total amount of assists in the game by both teams (DEN 2nd in NBA, GS is 6th).
The NBA’s premier rivalry between Boston and LA has met 298 times in the regular season with Boston winning 165 of those meetings. These two have also met in the NBA Finals 12 times with the Celtics winning 9 of them, however, the Lakers have won the most recent one in ‘10. The Celtics are in 1st Place in the East as SF Jayson Tatum (27 ppg) and SG Jaylen Brown (23 ppg) continue to fill up Boston’s scoring column. The two biggest additions to Boston this season have been C Kristaps Porzingis (19.2 ppg) and Jrue Holiday who continues to play elite defense. Fellow veteran NBAer, C Al Horford, called Holiday, “Mr. Reliable” for good reason.
The Lakers recently unveiled their In-Season Tournament Champions Banner, as they won the inaugural tournament played at the beginning of the season. This sort of in-season championship falls more in line with European footy where English Premier League teams will play for the EPL title, Champions League, and FA Cup, but it’s foreign for Americans. At least with European footy teams, there are so many different leagues and divisions so those different championships sort of make sense. This NBA thing is pretty pointless because the same teams competing for the beginning of the season tournament will be competing for the NBA Championship. I guess the special NBA floors were kinda cool for the games but the Lakers got dragged for hoisting the banner. SF LeBron James will be playing in his 18th Christmas Day game, the most in NBA history. James’ teams have gone 10-7 as King James has averaged 27.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.
Bet: Lakers +2 and over on LeBron’s player combo of points+rebounds+assists
Philly’s C Joel Embiid is the league leader in points as he averages 35.1 per game. The Sixers, despite the whole James Harden saga they had to deal with to start the year, haven’t missed a beat thanks in large to Embiid and the continued development of PG Tyrese Maxey. The 4th year guard from Kentucky has taken over more ball-handling responsibilities. Maxey is now averaging career-highs in both points (26.1 ppg) and assists (6.7 apg).
Heat Culture has 3 guys averaging over 20 points per game. GP Tyler Herro leads the scoring with 23.6 ppg, followed by C Bam Adebayo with 22 ppg, and Jimmy Butler with 21.5 ppg. 7 guys on Miami’s roster average over double-digit points per game with PF Kevin Love and PG Kyle Lowry still chugging along with 9.5 ppg each as well. A solid matchup between two East playoff teams.
Bet: Heat -1 & under Joel Embiid points because of Heat Culture.
SG Luka Doncic is once again putting up absurd stats as he is 2nd in the NBA in scoring at 32.7 ppg. Doncic is averaging the 2nd most 3-pointers made per game, trailing only Steph Curry. The Slovenian star is also averaging 9.1 assists and 8.4 rebounds. Doncic is no longer the only magician on the Mavs, he’s also got PG Kyrie Irving as a sidekick. Unfortunately, both players are dealing with injuries and are questionable for Christmas. That would be a real bummer if neither could go.
Haven’t talked Suns in a while, they have been hanging around .500 as SF Kevin Durant is having his best season from behind the arc at 47% from 3. Durant is averaging 31 ppg, a mark he hasn’t reached since ‘14 when he was with the OKC Thunder. Former SG Devin Booker has played point guard as he is averaging a career-high 8.2 assists to go with a career-high 27.9 ppg. The Suns haven’t yet truly played at full force as SG Bradley Beal has only played 6 games this season and currently sitting out at least 2 weeks due to an ankle injury. Devin Booker and Luka Doncic have beef going back to the Western Conference Semifinals in ‘22.
Bet: Suns -4.5 & Luka and Kyrie magically getting healthy because it’s Christmas Day.
MLB Scorching Furnace
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the two agreed upon a 12-year, $325 million deal. Yamamoto has never thrown a pitch in the MLB and is now the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history. Despite the best efforts of the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox, the 25-year-old starting pitcher will join Shohei Ohtani in LA. The Mets matched the Dodgers’ offer of $325 million, while the Yankees reportedly offered $300 million.
Mets’ Moves
The Mets have made several small market moves to their roster this winter. They went out and signed Joey Wendle. Thank goodness that I wasn’t publicly writing Week to Week Notes after the ‘21 season because I probably would’ve suggested the Yanks sign him. His past 2 years have been dreadful with the Miami Marlins, but he is only 2 years removed from being an AL All-Star with the Rays and he can SS, 3B, or 2B. Wendle doesn’t strike out much but has very little pop. The Mets almost made a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers where they got OF Tyrone Taylor and SP Adrian Houser for a minor league arm, Coleman Crow. The new GM of the Mets, David Stearns, was the Brewers GM from ‘15 to ‘22, so he knows Taylor and Houser well. Tyrone Taylor can play all 3 OF positions at a high level and is one year removed from a 17-homer season. The big issue with him at the plate is he hits for a low batting average and doesn’t walk at all (career .294 OBP) so he’ll likely be a defensive replacement type. SP Adrian Houser has had a solid 7 years in the MLB. His career ERA is 4.00 on the dot. Houser is not much of a strikeout pitcher and pitches to contact as a sinkerballer. None of these moves should excite Mets fans all that much but I must report on New York baseball fairly, evenly, and unbiased.
Yankees Pivots?
Now that we know that Hal and Brian Cashman were willing to spend over $30 million on Yamamoto, here are a few options they could allocate those resources. 2 southpaws that have been getting a lot of talk of late have been SP Jordan Montgomery and SP Blake Snell. I like Monty, he pitched great last year for the Cards and Rangers, but I’d be a bit worried about signing him long-term to come back to the Bronx. In his 6 years with the Yanks, Monty pitched to a 3.94 ERA and they will have to pay him for the 2.79 ERA he had with the Texas Rangers. Blake Snell had a great year in San Diego, I just feel like he might be the type of starting pitcher where his arm will fall off once he puts on Pinstripes. The Rays traded Snell in ‘20 and the Rays usually have a good idea of when to let guys go. There are also trade rumors with Brewers SP Corbin Burnes and White Sox SP Dylan Cease. I’d be cool with either guy, but they may as well wait until the summer to trade for one of those guys.
SP Brandon Woodruff from the Brewers would be sorta under the radar. Woodruff is a 2-time NL All-Star who finished in the top 5in the NL CY Young in ‘21. He’ll be 31 years old in spring training and his career ERA is 3.10. Woodruff has a similar makeup to what the Yanks thought they were getting within Frankie Montas as he relies on his 4-seam fastball and a sinker which both sit around the mid-90s mph. Last year Woodruff was going off an arm injury so he only made 11 starts but pitched to a 2.28 ERA while striking out 9.9 batters per 9 innings.
SP Lucas Giolito is another guy I’d be okay with the Yanks taking a 1-year chance on. The 29-year-old starter hasn’t consistently pitched well since ‘21, but is an innings eater, throwing no less than 160 innings in a season since ‘18 (taking out COVID season). The former 1st round pick relies on a fastball, changeup, and slider. Why they might be able to get him on a rebound deal is that he was awful down the stretch last season as he was traded to the Angels (6.89 ERA) before getting cut and pitching for the Guardians (7.04 ERA).
RP Liam Hendriks in the years past has mentioned that he doesn’t like the Yanks much, but things may have changed when after beating Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the Yanks honored Hendriks with a $10k check toward cancer research. Hendriks was moved by the gesture and matched it with his own donation of $10k last summer. Hendriks would be a bullpen arm a bit different from the guys the Yanks currently have. For starters, he comes from the land down under, so he’d have a different accent. He also underwent Tommy John surgery last summer so he’ll be rehabbing and won’t likely be back until the 2nd half of the season. He’d be the kind of candidate where the Yanks could offer a 1-year deal with a team option for ‘25. Ideally, he can come back in time for the home stretch, pitch in the playoffs, and then you have on a team-friendly deal in ‘25. The Yankees bullpen at the moment is fairly young with Tommy Khanle (34 years old) as the eldest statesman, so adding Hendriks as another mentor with closing experience could help. The other pen option being floated is RP Jordan Hicks, who throws filth, but I don’t want to see the Yankees throw too much money at the bullpen when they have proven they can develop that roster group.
One last under-the-radar move the Yankees made this week was signing infielder Jeter Downs. Yes, Jeter Downs, born in the summer of 1998 is named after #2. Downs was a former 1st round pick in the ‘17 MLB Draft and was included in the Red Sox Mookie Betts trade along with Alex Verdugo. He’ll be a Triple-A depth infielder. The Yankees also made another minor move as they signed OF Luis Gonzalez (formerly of the White Sox & Giants, not the one of the Diamondbacks), but no need to go any further. Yanks felt like trolling us this week.
The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly known as the Fort Worth Bowl, has been around since ‘03. The game always features 1 team from the independent US Military Academies. This will be the first time that James Madison University has ever played Air Force. JMU this season went 11-1, losing to Appalachian State in OT of Week 12. Air Force, at 8-4, also started their season undefeated through 8 weeks before losing 4 in a row.
JMU’s QB Jordan McCloud has already entered the College Football transfer portal for next season but wants to play 1 last time for the Dukes. McCloud had a breakout season in ‘23, throwing for 32 TDs while rushing for 8 more. Unfortunately for JMU, McCloud isn’t the only player leaving the program, their head coach for ‘23, Curt Cignetti, has already left the program from Indiana. The new acting head coach, Damian Wroblewski, has been an assistant HC since ‘18, and hopefully, he continues to put pass rusher Jamree Kromah (10 sacks) in good situations. The JMU defense leads the nation in the least amount of rushing yards allowed with 61.5 per game.
That last line about JMU’s rush defense was a setup because Air Force ranks 2nd in the nation in rushing yards this season. Their 275.8 rushing yards per game will be put to the test. Air Force has plenty of options for guys who can run the ball as 5 players on the team this year rushed for over 400 yards on the season. On defense, the Air Force is led by FS Trey Taylor, who just won the Jim Thorpe Award which goes to the top defensive back in CFB. The senior safety has it in his blood as he is related to Ed Reed, a distant cousin whom he calls his uncle. The Jim Thorpe winner led the team in tackles this year with 71. He also had 4 pass deflections, 3 INTs, and a Pick-6. I’m going to take the Air Force snapping their 4 game skid in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Prediction: 21-20 Air Force (+1.5 Air Force & Over 40.5)
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee is an absolute Christmas Classic. This song came out in 1958, but it didn’t become a hit on the charts until 1960 when Brenda Lee had already made a few hits. This Christmas jingle hit #1 on the Billboard Charts earlier this month and is predicted to re-claim #1 after this weekend. (Source: @crucialcharts)
Miss Lee was only 12 years old when she recorded this song in a Nashville studio in 1958, which makes this hit even that much more special - a kid was singing it.
One of the best parts of Christmas is of course the music. It’s the only time of year when multiple generations of people can listen to a song and all think back to a certain time in their lives. Maybe it was a time when you got your first bike or you were lucky enough to get a puppy or you choked on a potato and your great uncle suggested you drink Coca-Cola. Regardless of what it is, everybody for sure can get a sentimental feeling when they hear Brenda Lee’s 12-year-old vocals.
Home Alone spurred this tune’s comeback. Brenda Lee told Billboard in ‘19, “Somebody called me and said, “Have you seen the movie Home Alone? You ought to, because they’ve got ‘Rockin’‘ really featured in it.” That’s when it really took off with the youngsters. I knew it was special, but you never know what’s going to be a hit – if you did, we’d all have hits every day. It has been a wonderful gift."
Credit to Hank “Sugarfoot” Garland for the guitar and Boots Randolph for the saxophone. Both are iconic performances with cool names.
Brenda Lee never got the chance to make a music video for this song as a kid, but if you check out the YouTube Rabbithole below, you’ll see she put something together for the tune’s 65th anniversary!
Oh yeah, the annotating the lyrics part. The first verse references mistletoe and caroling, which are old-fashioned Christmas traditions. This tune was during the 1950s “sock hop” era when people were dancing their socks off and starting new traditions in the new old-fashioned way.