Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……

Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……

13) Long time ago when I was in college, had a summer job for New York State; I worked in an office, had to dress like an adult— think I was 18. Six of us were hired for the summer.

One of the other guys played college hockey; at the end of the summer, we all had to write a letter of resignation that they put in the file- for some reason this guy didn’t do that, so in the last hour of the last day we’re there, someone tells him he has to write the letter- the rest of us had all handed in typed letters of resignation.

He takes a notebook, rips out a piece of paper, and with a magic marker writes “I QUIT!!!!” on it and signs the bottom and hands it in to the boss and walks out, so to this day, somewhere in the archives, there is this letter.

Not sure what reminded me of that today, but it was funny as hell when it happened.

12) Former NBA star Stephon Marbury said Monday that he’s been named head coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters, a Chinese Basketball Association team. Marbury is 42 now; he retired as a player last year.

11) Mets had a news conference Monday afternoon where manager Mickey Callaway didn’t apologize for cursing out a Newsday reporter Sunday; couple hours later, they had another news conference, where Callaway apologized for not apologizing the first time. Not sure if he actually apologized for cursing out the writer, but he did apologize for something. What a mess.

10) Right now, the Lakers’ over/under win total for next year is 53.5; how do you bet on this either way, without knowing who the hell is going to be playing for them? As the roster stands right now, they’re not a 54-win team.

9) Fantasy baseball tip: I’m in a Monday-Sunday head-head league; we get four pickups a month and I was down to my last pick-up this month, needing to find a shortstop for the next two weeks (Story/Seager are both on IL).

Was deciding between Brock Holt/Chris Taylor Friday night, but in a rare fit of wisdom, decided to wait until Sunday night to make the call. Good thing; Holt hurt his hamstring Saturday, which made it unnecessary to make the decision. Hope Taylor has a hot couple of weeks.

8) With Marlins’ C Jorge Alfaro on the IL, 35-year old Wilkin Castillo was brought up from AAA and he had a big hit in Saturday’s 5-3 win in Philly.

Castillo hadn’t been in the major leagues since batting three times in four games for the ’09 Reds. Imagine what he must’ve felt like, being back in The Show for the first time in a decade?

7) Baseball stuff:
— Minnesota signed P Cody Allen to a free agent contract.
— Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks (torn UCL) is on the IL.
— Astros activated OF George Springer, P Collin McHugh from the IL.

6) Phoenix Suns declined Jimmer Fredette’s team option, Warriors say he’ll join them in summer league, so summer league just got a little more interesting. Summer league starts at the end of next week; if you like the NBA, do yourself a favor and go watch it in person some time.

Its in Las Vegas, so even if you wind up hating summer league, chances are you’ll find something to occupy your time, of that I am not uncertain.

5) Portland Traiblazers are trading Evan Turner to Atlanta for Kent Bazemore.

4) NBA fined the New York Knicks $50,000 for refusing to credential the New York Daily News for a press conference last week. Tough week for the media in the Big Apple.

3) Steven Matz’s first inning ERA this season is 10.93; in 15 starts, he’s allowed 10 first inning home runs. No bueno.

2) There have already been seven games this season where both sides hit 4+ homers; all of last season, there were only three games like that.

1) Mike Conley won both the 2018-19 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award and NBA Sportsmanship Award, right after he gets traded to Utah. Wonder what the fans in Memphis are thinking when such a good guy/popular player (12 years with Grizzlies) gets traded away?