Observations: Touching many bases in the sports world

By HAL McCOY

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from the Man Cave, thinking on Armistice Day about my dad, who served in The Philippines in World War II. He brought home a Japanese sniper rifle and to the day he died he would not talk about it. Thanks to him and all who served and are serving in our military. We owe you all more than you’ll ever receive.

—The University of Dayton put up 63 points Saturday, and I don’t mean the basketball team. It was coach Rick Chamberlin’s football team, a 63-20 annihilation of Morehead State.

Tucker Yinger, running like a judge with a grudge, piled up 264 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. He is 27 yards short of becoming UD’s all-time career rushing leader. The Flyers play their last game Saturday in Jacksonville and as one observer said, “The way he ran against Morehead he will get it on his first carry against Jacksonville.”

While Yinger starred, you have to love what Chamberlin did on one play. With the Flyers on the 1-yard-line, he lined up senior offensive tackle Ben Gauthier in the backfield, all 270 pounds of him. And he banged across for a touchdown on the only carry of his career, a real blue plate special play.

There is another Ben Gauthier, a co-writer of a TV show called ‘Inside the Woods.” UD’s Gauthier is known for ‘Inside the Tackles.’ In addition, Gauthier is part of a popular campus band appropriately called ‘The Girth.’

—Speaking of UD football, fellow Pioneer Football League member Davidson rushed for 789 yards Saturday in a game against league champion San Diego, the most rushing yards ever in any college game at any level. And Davidson lost, 56-51. How? San Diego quarterback Anthony Lawrence passed for 327 yards  and seven touchdowns. It is believed there actually were three or four tackles made during the game.

—Offensively, University of Dayton basketball red shirt freshman Obi Toppin is a pain in the paint to the opposition. He roams the base-line, waiting for a lob pass and then enacts a flying flush. In the first two games he has six dunks. While he is a crowd-pleaser so far, the 6-foot-9, 220-pounder needs work in one facet. While scoring 19 points Saturday night against Coppin State, playing 29 minutes, he had one rebound. Just one more rebound than legendary former UD player Bucky Bockhorn had while sitting behind his microphone at court-side.

—In these days of analytics and sabremetrics and launch angles and spin rates, I love this from out of the mouth of none other than Yogi Berra: “In baseball you don’t know nothin’.”

—The most inane, but accurate, assessment of the Cincinnati Reds for 2019 from ESPN.com: “Joey Votto isn’t the only star on offense. Scooter Gennett nearly won the batting title and Eugenio Suarez might be the best unknown slugger in the game. But if the Reds don’t add more pitching, they have no chance in a competitive NL Central.”

Well, duh. And there is chatter that the San Diego Padres are trying to engineer a trade for Suarez. If the Reds do that, fans might ignite a Fountain Square bonfire to toss in season’s tickets and all acquired bobbleheads. Suarez, by the way, is playing for the U.S. All-Stars, currently playing Japan’s All-Stars in Japan. He hit a double Sunday during a 7-3 U.S. win. Fans can watch the game on MLB-TV, if you get up at 5 a.m. for the start of games.

—This doesn’t bode well for Ohio State and it is something the football playoff committee will notice. Minnesota, a bad team that lost to an even worse team, Illinois, by 55-31 two weeks ago, beat Purdue Saturday, 41-10. Nobody needs remidning what Purdue did to the Buckeyes.

Note to the committee: How about an Ohio State-Purdue do-over, mother may I?

—What in the name of defense is going on in the NFL? These were halftime scores Sunday: New Orleans 35, Cincinnati 7. Buffalo 31, New York Jets 0. Indianapolis 29, Jacksonville 13. Chicago 26, Detroit 7.

How much of all this scoring is due to the fact that defensive players can’t breathe on the quarterback nor lay a pinkie on a pass receiver?

—Two Ohio stunners: New Orleans 51, Cincinnati 14 and Cleveland 28, Atlanta 16. And at this hour Marvin Lewis is still coach of the Bengals and Hue Jackson is not coach of the Browns.

—Some preferences: Coke Zero over Diet Pepsi, Fritos over Cheetos, Italian sausage over meatballs, chili over any soup except Oakwood Club’s French onion, onion rings over French fries, sweet pickles over dill pickles, Cheerios over Wheaties or corn flakes, white rice over fried rice, filet mignon over any steak, ketchup over mustard (even on my hot dogs), Swiss cheese over cheddar or American.