Is anything goofier than this tv schedule during bowl season. I know most people could give two fliying shits about a bowl game between Kentucky and Clemson. Outside of degenerate gamblers like myself, nobody real noticed that this particular Music City bowl kicked off at Noon on a Friday. A few of these games (Mizzou/Oregon St. and Okie St./Alabama) have actually been somewhat enetertaining but most are snoozefests.
That's alright, becasue some decent matchups are on the horizon. I have been betting the bowl season on the day the games are played. Since I'm headed down to Austin for New Years, I'll go ahead and post my picks for the games through this weekend and New Year's Day.
Boston College -7 over Navy
BC is going through some coaching turnover but I still think they have too much athleticism on defense to let Navy do much on them. Navy is without their main threat at fullback, Matt Ballard, and I'm not sure if they are going to be able to do enough to hang around in this one.
Navy often relishes the role of underdog, but I don't think motivation will be enough to hang around talent wise in this game.
Small Play Virginia Tech -2.5 over Georgia
As Dave and Cuyler like to tell me, I really need to start rooting for Georgia Freshman Matthew Stafford. Afterall, I am marrying a girl from Highland Park therefore I now have to root for the Parkies and their alumni. Despite their best wishes, I have no particular love for Highland Park athletics, but i certainly encouraged by Stafford to this point. Unfortunately, Virginia Tech has one of the best defenses in the country. I think the more veteran team wins this game so lay the points.
Large Play
Auburn -1.5 over Nebraska
The Cotton Bowl classic has probably never had less excitement. Sure, there have probably been worse teams than these two, but tickets are going for about $15 and probably will be given away by gametime. Pretty sad state of affairs for a once proud game. Talent wise Auburn will blow Nebraska out of the building. And given their lackluster performance in last year's bowl loss to Wisconsin, Auburn should have no problem getting mentally prepared for this contest against Nebraska. Apparently, the world's best fans in the state of Nebraska are having a tough time getting excited for the Big D on New Year's Day. Can't say I blame them...
Medium Play Tennessee -4 over Penn St.
It was an up and down year in Knoxville for the Volunteers but I think the team looked good enough to lay a larger number to a pretty pedestrian Penn St. team. In big games, Penn St. never threatened ND, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio St. Unless Paterno can find a way to score points, Tennesee will be too much offensively for the Nittany Lions. Hope Paterno's knee is doing better.
Medium Play
Wisconsin +2 over Arkansas
Because of the great seasons by Michigan and Ohio St., Wisconsin quietly put together an 11-1 season with a 14 point loss to Michigan being their only blemish. Arkansas put up some fireworks during the middle of the season but a disappointing finish with losses to LSU in Little Rock and heartbreaker to Florida in the SEC game cannot be overlooked. This reminds me too much of last year when Auburn got embarrassed by Wisconsin despite being a much more talented team. Maybe Houston Nutt can prove me wrong, but I like Wisky in this spot.
Large Play
Good luck to everyone this bowl season and everyone have a good New Years!
Okay, I'm sorry. I know it's been way too long since I last wrote an update. I apologize but my Dell laptop has been not working properly with the power chord and battery being replaced. Apparently, many customers have had issues with this particular AC Adapter and Dell's battery recalls are well-known.
I know that an Apple is coming very soon in my future and I can't wait. Plus, those commericals make such a convincing argument. I don't want to be the nerdy guy working on his spreadsheets. Okay, I like Microsfot Excel. Is that so wrong? I have tivo so fortunately I end up watching very few commericals. But the Apple commericals are really pretty good with my man Warren Cheswick from the greatness that is Ed. Check out below:
Matt Damon Does Matthew McConaughey
I know everyone tries to do a Matthew McConaughey especially Cuyler, but this is the funniest damn thing I've heard in awhile.
Did anyone see the Marshall Coach on Sportscenter the other night? The downfall of that network is really sad to see. Check out Desmond Howard during halftime of the TCU/No. Illinois game last night? This was the single worst thing I've ever seen a so called professional broadcaster make. Inexcusable and the former heisman winner and Super Bowl MVP should be fired. I'm serious.
Just so it doesn't feel like I'm pilling on Desmond, Below is the play that made Desmond famous and I remember it all too well.
More to come on bowl season. I had a medium play on TCU and feel pretty good going into bowl season. Expect Rangers talk, NFL, and college hoops to follow as well. With a bunch of other random shit hopefully as well.
A week ago. I really thought there was order in this world. Texas had just lost to Kansas St and cost itself a chance at the National Championship. Sure, it was a tough break, but at least the Horns would handle Texas A&M at home and represent the South Division in Kansas City.
Well, order is officially been rendered non-existant in this world when Texas A&M can walk into DKR and beat Texas with or without Colt McCoy. It had been since 1999 that the Aggies had defeated Texas in Mack Brown's 2nd season. Of course, that game only included the terrible Bonfire Tragedy and an incident involving a College STation Days Inn where Major Applewhite and a bunch of other players were deathly ill. Cuyler and I were at that game and I vividly remember Chris Simms big starting debut in an environment I can honestly say I will never see again with all the emotions surrounding the tragedy. The Aggies were destined to win that day and the refs certainly didn't hurt either with some very questionable calls including a roughing the passer on Simms and muffed punt that cost the Horns dearly.
But this game was in Austin and given Dennis Franchione's track record against Texas, OU, and Nebraska, this was not supposed to happen but it did. And now the Horns have to re-evaluate where it's program is headed AV (After Vince) with birth a birth in either the Cotton, Gator, or Alamo bowl on the horizon. The talent will certainly be there under Mack Brown but a shakeup in the coaching staff is inevitable with Gene Chizik departing for Iowa St and Duane Akina rumored to be leaving. The only certainity this offseason besides another top recruiting class is Greg Davis will still be around. Love him or hate him Davis is going to be in Austin as long as Mack Brown is head coach. And I frankly can live with that because Davis is certainly no Jeff Bowden and will not be confused with offensive minds like Chris Peterson at Boise ST. or Jeff Tedford at Cal. He is somewhere in between but Mack needs to realize that a top Defensive Coordinator is a huge priority.
"The legend of Vince Young began a long time ago," said Titans receiver Brandon Jones, who caught the TD pass that tied the game.
Young agreed.
"It's a sneak peek of what's to happen not just me, but this team in general," Young said of a club that has won four of its last six in matching last year's victory total with five games left.
Is Tony Romo for real? The Cowboys have looked like a completely different team since Romo got under center. If the Cowboys can get passed the suddenly reeling Giants this week, they are all of sudden in the driver's seat in the NFC East and could make a deep run in the playoffs. Life is good in Cowboys land..
I went 2-0 on big plays (Scratched Idaho on Saturday mainly because I missed kickoff time) and 6-2 on medium plays. It had the makings of an unbelievable weekend. Instead, late plays on Rutgers, Wake, and Arizona St. all came up losers. My other early day adds ended up coming through so it was another positive week but I still felt like I should have done better. I guess that's not such a bad thing. In hindsight, Kansas and Cincinnati were great plays that I missed on.
Looking forward to the coming Thanksgiving weekend games so be on the lookout for that..
Meanwhile, here are some links that may or may not keep you interested.
Michael Richards Loses It I really don't know what to say here other than Richards actions are inexcusable...
In a pretty shocking result, Justin Morneau won the AL MVP beating out Derek Jeter 320 - 306 in total pts. I personally have now problem with MOrneau winning the award, but most people would agree that Johan Santana had just as much to do with the Twins success as Morneau.
In a market where FA money is being thrown around like it's Mark Cuban paying a luxury tax, the Rangers have been suprisingly dorman to this point. Jon Daniels did sign Frank Catalanotto back to help in the outfield and DH. Great signing by Daniels after having to let Derosa walk and sign with the Cubs. The Rangers still need a full time centerfielder, candidates include Kenny Lofton and Dave Roberts. Either guy would be fine with me.
The Rangers still also must address their starting rotation with Kevin Millwood and Robinson Tejada with the only guaranteed rotation spots at this point. Vicente Padilla has to be priority #1 for Daniels at this point. Adam Eaton has also expressed interest in coming back to Arlington next season.
I know most people have been bummed out the last week or so because Texas no longer has a shot at the national championship. It's been a hell of a run but it's time for people to snap out of it damnit, Texas can still can still win the conference and get to a BCS Bowl. Sure, it's not a national championship but Mack Brown and his bunch certainly have plenty to play for especially with games against A&M and hopefully the big 12 championship in wonderful Kansas City. Got to hand it to the big 12, they certainly know how to get people excited by playing a game in 20 degree weather. I'm sure Marcus will be there with his shirt off and his chest painted and the damn Borat mustache, but I'll passing on that one.
A UT/Boise bowl matchup would really be more interesting than most people think, but a UT/ND matchup would make anyone excited.
AJ Abrams (#3) A 5-10 sophomore Abrams is really the only player with significant minutes from last year's squad. Abrams hails from the Austin area (McNeil High school) and he can fill it up from the outside. While AJ is only 5-10, he is much more effective when playing off the ball, and luckly Barnes when out and got DJ Augustin to play the point.
DG Augustin (#14) Augustin is highly regarded point guard hailing from New Orleans and obviously his high school career was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Augustin ended up playing his senior year in Sugar Land at Fort Bend Hightower. Somewhere Cody Daniel and Chad Casey are smiling.. Augustin has a similar build to a stephon marbury but looks to pass before shoot unlike Marbury during his carerr. Which is very good on this squad, because the two best players on the next two guys.
Kevin Durant (#35) Durant was simply the 2nd best player in last year's unbelievably talented senior class behind Greg Oden. Oden has only drawn comparisons to Bill Russell and Shaquille O'neal so there's not much hype behind that guy. The best way to describe Durant at this point is the wingspan and ballhandling of a Kevin Garnett with a Tracy McGrady like shooting stroke. If you don't believe me, watch this guy play. He is that special.
I had the good fortune of seeing Kevin Durant play last spring in a game in South Dallas against South Oak Cliff and KU freshman Darrell Arthur. And I love Arthur, but Durant stole the show and his talent was apparent. Durant was something special that day and he has the ability to take Texas basketball to new heights even in only one season. His unselfishness is apparent in his upbringing , and I expect him to a good job of leading this young group it was is honestly the most open season imaginable outside of Florida.
Kevin Durant's Montrose Christian Team Defeats Vaunted Oak Hill Academy last season
Damion James The 6'9" James is no slouch himself and should be a good complimentary player for Durant this season anyways. James will probably be a first rounder but after his sophomore or junior season most likely. He only led 4A Nacogdoches High School to the playoffs 3 straight season averaging over 24 in all three seasons.
Texas can also rely on JD Lewis (Long Range shooter type who is a role player at best) and a pair of other Freshman, Justin Mason and Harrison Smith. Mason appears to be a guy who Barnes is going to rely on, not so sure about Smith.
Front Court
Matt Hill This Freshman from Lincoln, NE needs to put on the pounds because at this point he looks like he can be muscled down low. His Fro will remind people anywhere from Fletch to Sideshow Bob and anyone else in between. His Hair kicks ass, but he needs to hit the weights because we are going to need him later in the season.
Conor Atchley One of the other few holdovers from last year's team, Atchley is not going to strike fear in many teams. Hopefully he can provide decent minutes as a backup in case some of the other guys get in foul trouble.
Dexter Pittman This 315 pound Freshman needs to stay away from the Jester Cafeteria and Players Grill Cheeseburgers. From Rosenberg, Texas, he will most likely be phased in slowly and hopefully can provide a needed boost to team that is going to need frountcourt help in conference play. Lots of potential with this kid if he can keep his weight under control.
Craig Winder (the lone senior) who saw limited duty on last year's squad and should figure to have a veteran presence on this team.
Ian Mooney Last guy on the bench and a transfer from St. Louis University. If you remember Yair Harari from a few years back, you'll know this guy's likely role.
Gambling wise, the 2nd half of the season has been good to me and last week was my best year to date going 11-4 for the day.
I got to admit that I like this week's card as much as any all season so I need to be careful and have some discipline. Let's see how this turns out:
@Minnesota -2.5 over Iowa -- I don't care if this seems like a sucker line or not Minnesota has awoken from the dead after a murderous stretch against the big boys of the Big 10. Iowa was reeling and any last statement they were going to make would have been last week at home against Wisconsin. Iowa has owned this series, but Minnesota will get their revenge in a big way tomorrow morning in the battle for the Floyd of Roysdale trophy.
Big Play
@Vandy +8 over Tennessee -- Vandy has been pretty competitive in this series the last few years and I see no reason why this team can't keep it close against tired and beaten up Tennesee team. Expect Vandy to get it interesting.
Medium Play
@Navy -31.5 over Temple -- This is a huge number to lay if you are an option team, but I feel decent enough in this spot to push my luck. Temple may give up 700 yards rushing in this game..
Medium PLay
@Kentucky -20 over Louisiana Monroe- Very rarely are you talking about a Kentucky team blowing out anybody. Unless they decide to take the week off which is unlikely at this point in this season, the difference between a decent SEC team and a bad Sunbelt team will become apparent.
Medium PLay
Okie St. +6 over Texas Tech -- I've been really impressed with Oklahoma St.'s offense all season. Tech is always dangerous on that carpet in Lubbock but I'll take my chances getting a TD in this spot. Medium Play
@Rice +2.5 over East Carolina -- I really believe Rice has found something special this year and while I love Skip Holtz's squad at East Carolina, I'm going to say Rice wins a huge game for their program over the Pirates in Houston.
Medium PLay
Arizona +14 over Oregon
Arizona quietly has put together huge back to back wins. Oregon is struggling and will have a tough time running away from Arizona even at Autzen.
Big Play
Idaho +10.5 over Fresno St.
Yes, Fresno St. got a win last week... over New Mexico St. Idaho is better than New Mexico St. and I think Idaho keeps this one close.
Big Play
New Mexico +27 over BYU
Yes, BYU is good. But they aren't this good over New Mexico team that is at least c competitive in the Mountain West.
Medium Play
More to come tomorrow if I have time. Good luck to everyone this week!
What a good week it's been already with the Democrats taking over control of the House and Senate. About damn time. Although nothing will probably get done in the next two years, a little oversight of this Executive branch is not a bad thing.
Onto this week's plays:
Minnesota -2 over Michigan ST.
My big play last week (Indiana) ran into a buzzsaw that is Minnesota who woke up from the dead with a huge performance from QB Bryan Cupito and Minny churned out over 150 yards rushing. Michigan St. is just playing out its season under John L. Smith and I look for Minnesota to get a road win in this spot.
Medium Play
Navy -15 over E. Michigan
Eastern Michigan is one of the worst teams in the country and Navy is undefeated on the road this year. Navy has been feasting on lesser opponents this year and getting beat up by the big boys. Expect a thrashing in this one as long as Paul Johnson's boys stay focused.
Medium Play
Houston -3 over SMU
I will be in attendance at this one on SMU's homecoming. Won't matter much because the place will probably have 10K at most show up. Houston is just the superior team. While SMU needs a statement win to clinch a bowl spot, it's not going to happen here.
Big PLay
Oregon St. -2 over UCLA
The Beavers have really turned it on as of late, and UCLA is reeling. Take the Beavers in this spot.
Medium PLay
@Arkansas -6 over Tennessee
Arkansas has really been thumping people (See big Bet win last week against SC) and Fayateville should be rocking for this one. I just don't see Arkansas slipping up in this spot and I'll lay the points in the hope that Nutt can get his team a convincing victory at home.
Medium PLay
Alabama +19 over LSU
Sure, LSU is definitely the stronger team and is playing at home. These two teams are not as far apart as the spread indicates. Take the points and hope Bama can keep it somewhat close.
Small Play
@East Carolina -8 over Marshall
Both teams have been hot but I think East Carolina will create enough turnovers to run away from Marshall. Marshall's wins have come against some of the worst teams in college football.
Small PLay
Others:
@Maryland -3 over Miami (FL) -- Does having a teammate shot affect your play?
New Mexico St. +11 over Fresno St. -- Probably the worst game of the week but how is Fresno laying 11 against anyone.
Wisky -1.5 over Iowa -- Iowa has won last 4 but Wisky is simply the better team this year even with Stocco hurt.
@Gators -12.5 over South Carolina -- Urban Meyer ruins Spurrier's homecoming.
Cincy +18.5 over West Virginia -- Louisville hangover for West Virginia as Cincy keeps this one somewhat tight.
This week has been good. For the most part this season, I have stayed away from the weekday games despite the obvious trend favoring the home teams. This lack of action has cost me lots of profit over the course of the season. Not so this week. I bet on SMU at home Tuesday night, Boise agianst Fresno on Wednesday, and Louisville (or the Ville as I like to call them) against West Virginia last night. All 3 teams won and it feels nice to go into Saturday already on a winning note.
The card this week looks pretty tasty (still got 15 games I'm working through), but a few more road teams than I would like. That's okay because I have plenty of live dogs in the equation at this point. Here is what I got so far:
Indiana +6 over Minnesota
Indiana surprisingly has looked pretty impressive over the last few weeks including a pretty good thumping of Michigan St. this past Saturday. While I do like Indiana, this is more of a fade Minnesota play than anything else. The numbers do not look good for Minnesota on either side of the ball and their usually reliable running game has gone in the tank over the last month. While they have played some tough teams (Wisco, Michigan, Ohio St.), they also had a nailbiter against North Dakota St. I look for Indiana to play well enough to get a rare conference road win and easily stay within the 6 points. Medium Play
@Wyoming -14 over San Diego St.
Wyoming rained on my parade last weekend against TCU, but I think they bounce back at home this week against a pitiful Aztec squad. The Wyoming defense shuts SDSU down and they score enough points to cover the two touchdowns.
Small PLay
Washington +17 over Oregon
Washington has had some tough luck this season but have been competitive in almost all of their games. This should be your usual Pac-10 wild one, but I'll take my chances that Washington can keep this one close. Small PLay
@Wazzu -17 over Arizona
Washington St. has been a serious under the radar team this year, and they really have been playing well as of late. Same cannot be said for Mike Stoops bunch at ARizona. This doesn't seem like the best point in the season for Arizona to be making a long road trip to face a hot WAZZU team. I'll lay the number and hope Wazzu can continue forcing turnovers (#2 in the nation in takeaways) Medium Play
Arkansas -2 over South Carolina
South Carolina in a tough emotional spot coming off a close loss to Tennessee at home. Arkansas has quietly been cruising behind a punishing running game and a freshman QB (Mustain) not trying to make too many mistakes. I think Arkansas is the better team here and the homefield will not be enough to save South Carolina tomorrow night.
Big Play
Va Tech -2.5 over Miami
We all know the story of Miami this season, but Va Tech saved their season with a great win over Clemson last Thursday night. The tide has completely turned in this series and Va Tech now has the mental edge on the Hurricanes even in the Orange Bowl. I see no reason for that trend not to continue tomorrow night.
Medium PLay (Could be Big depending on how the day goes)
Others:
@Vandy +17 Virginia +12 Navy -12 Fla Atlantic +12 Hawaii -27 Tulsa -3.5 East Caolina -6
First off, let me say personally that I was not even going to be on the game tonight between Louisville and West Virginia. I think it's going to be a great game and certainly don't need money on this one to keep my attention. PLenty is already at stake tonight with both teams in the top 5.
With that said, 3 of my favorite cappers on the internet are all on Louisville BIG tonight. And since these guys all have a hell of a lot more impressive resume than me, I tend do listen when they are on a game big. And for all 3 guys to be on the same game big is very rare. For that reason and the fact I love betting Louisville at home means I am ready to pound Louisville tonight.
If West Virginia does somehow win this one tonight, at least I know I won't be the only taking a big loss. It will be a blood bath.
I know my College Football picks have been pretty terrible this year, and I don't hide from this fact. Some years are better than others, but this season is far from over and I plan to use my learning experiences from prior years to end on a high note. In other words, PLENTY of time left in the season to right this ship.
I started this week off on a good note picking up a small win on SMU last night -5 which looked shaky during much of the game. I'm going to ride another home favorite tonight in Boise St. at home against Fresno. I know Boise is laying a fairly large number (-22 down from -26 earlier in the week), but the gap between these two teams really is that large. After taking into consideration the quit factor on the part of Fresno (they have been terrible all year) and Boise's homefield edge on the blue turf, I think Boise makes a statement tonight in a revenge situation from last year's loss.
Medium sized play on Boise St. -22.
Tonight's game is just an appetizer for the titanic clash between Top 5 teams Louisville and West Virginia which might be one of the best Thursday matchups ever.
There is so much to cover that I really don't even want to talk about my gambling weekend. Overall, I was about even for the week and continue to hover around even for the year. Still plenty of time to make some profit but the season is running short so I really need to put a strong card together this weekend.
I was very happy to see the Cardinals win their first World Series since 1982 and 10th World Championship overall on Friday night in Detroit behind unlikely heroes like David Eckstein (MVP) and Jeff Weaver (Dave Duncan deserves a ton of credit for turning Weaver around). The main thing people will remember about this postseason will be Detroit's monumental upset of the Yankees and the same Pitchers that guided Detroit to the World Series costing them a championship because of untimely throwing errors throughout their final 5 games.
Got to give the Cardinals credit, no matter how wide the perceived gap between the National and American Leagues (by Simmons and myeself included), the Cardinals simplay outplayed Detroit and won a world championship.
I would argue that the Cardinals deserved to win at least the '85 series (anyone remember Don Denkinger?)and very easily could have won the '87 series they not had the misfortune of playing 4 out of 7 games in the Metrodome in series that all 7 games were won at home. Those cardinal teams behind Vince Coleman and Willie McGree were lethal on turf.
Very good weekend for Cardinal fans and I have to admit that I feel grateful to be fan of such a great franchise. Now if my Rangers would ever turn things around, things would really start looking up.
Random Fact: The Cardinals were the 13th best team record wise in baseball during the regular season. This should be a lesson to Ranger fans that going for it at the trade deadline like this year's deal to get Carlos Lee is not a bad thing. Getting in the playoffs and getting hot at the right time can really make a difference in the current playoff format.
The Horns outlasted Tech in Lubbock in a win that Texas really had no business winning. Giving up 500 passing yards to Graham Harrell was inexcusable but give the Texas coaches credit for going in at halftime and figuring out how to shutout Tech in the 2nd half. I would have more commentary on the game, but frankly I haven't rewatched my Tivo recording yet and I have vague recollections of much of the game thanks to the Bri-guy's wedding shower. It ended up turning into more of a game watching party with all the Tech and Texas fans there.
As always, Lubbock at night when all those nutso fans have been getting sauced all day is usually a bad recipe for Longhorn teams. Getting down 21-0 didn't help either, but Texas was able to find a way to get a W, and this season in college footbal is all about just winning. Tech always seems to find a way to play Texas tough in Lubbock (2004 excluded) and has absolutely owned A&M of late. Give Mike Leach credit, he is a mad scientist.
USC's 27 game PAC - 10 winning streak came to a screeching halt in Corvallis losing to Oregon St. 33-31 on a failed two point conversion attempt. USC was down 23 but somehow manged to get within 2 of putting it into overtime. Watching this one, I felt like Oregon ST. had to stop that 2 point conversion or SC would have had too much momentum going into overtime. Didn't matter and SC should have a very interesting end to the season. ND is LOOMING on the horizon.
Who saw the 500 hours countdown to Michigan and Ohio St this weekend during Gameday? Look I'm as excited as anyone else about Michigan-Ohio St. but that was so lame and I have begun to tire of College Gameday on Saturday mornings. Maybe I'm just turning into a soccer fan, but watching the Premier League is about even as watching Lee Corso bumble through his analyis.
This is our Country ad campaign by John Mellencamp is going to end his career. Book it. It was bad enough when he pimped himself and his Chevy trucks during Game 1 of the World Series. And look I am as big a John Cougar as anyone but this is too much. I remember drinking beers in the back of Cuyler's pickup jamming Jack and Diane, but he has gone too far, and I won't stand for it.
The Tony Romo era has officially begun in Dallas and It feels good. Romo (who went to I-AA Eastern Illinois) and grew up in Wisconsin does resemble a young Brett Favre. His talents are becoming stuff of folk legend (Rylan said Romo dropped 35 points in a pickup basketball game and he is a scratch handicap golfer). For now, he is going to have to worry about being the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys because he looks as good at first glance of any guy in a Dallas uniform since old #8 retired.
As nice as it feels to be a Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio St. Michigan, USC or any other big school fan, you have to give credit to fans of schools like Temple, who endured a 20 game losing streak before finally winning a game against Bowling Green 28-14. It may not seem like much but to the fans of Temple, but one win it is a huge step for that program.
Duke is next up on the watch list with a 16 game losing streak. North Carolina (November 25th) may be their next chance.
Ali G interviews the Beckhams
In the give credit where credit is due department,
Texas A&M and Oklahoma both had a huge wins for their respective programs this past Saturday.
Oklahoma went into Columbia and got a win in convincing fashion dominating both sides of the ball. This season might be Bob Stops best coaching job and his team has a 1 loss A&M squad on the horizon.
Coach Fran was on the verge of losing the Aggy program and I was one of his biggest critics, but the Aggies have played inspired football this year since the heartbreaking loss to Tech and they have really impressed me the last two weeks with Wins @ Oklahoma St. (a miracle win if you saw the highlights) and @ Baylor this past weekend. Fran has people excited about Aggy football again and that is not necessarily a bad thing. But I admit I like it better when the Aggies stink.
A look at the upcoming week Louisvile/West Viriginia (Thursday) Tennessee/LSU Oklahoma/A&M Texas/Oklahoma St.
Just to name a few this weekend in an increasingly exciting college football season.
I'm off to the SMU/UAB game tommorrow for a halloween special. So if you are watching TV instead of out on the town tomorrow night, turn the dial to ESPN because chances are you might see me on TV. SMU draws about 4 thousand to its games. Let's hope it's more for the TV audience...
Last week ended with a fizzle. Thank god I was unable to watch the Georgia Tech meltdown (thank you Worthy for having a birthday dinner), but it didn't take the sting out of my Play of the Year LOSS.
I know it really doesn't matter all that much, but I did pretty well otherwise on the weekend with medium sized wins with Idaho, WAZZU, and Wyoming. Colorado was close to pushing for me at +14 until Stoops decided to run up the score with about 30 seconds to play and move that game from a push to a Loss.
To rub salt in my wounds, Clemson didn't get off the bus last night against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and I was one week off in trying to guess which game they wouldn't show up for. Lesson learned.
On a brigher note, the Cardinals are one game away from another World Championship.
On to this week's picks.
Medium Sized Plays
@Missouri -1.5 over Oklahoma
At some point, the Sooner luck is going to run out, and it has to be this weekend right? Mizzou has historically played OU tough and the teams have never been so even talent wise as this year. After their slip up against A&M, I think Mizzou knows they must win this game if they have serious thoughts of winning the North title.
Mizzou and Gary Pinkel get a landmark win against the hated Sooners.
@Georgia Tech -5 over Miami
Georgia Tech has to show up this week right? After failing to even get Calvin Johnson one catch last week, the Jackets get their offense going against a Miami team that is just a shell of its former self. If Georgia Tech loses this game, I will never bet on a Chan Gailey coached team again. I promise you that.
Wyoming +6 over TCU
Quietly, Wyoming has put together a good season relying on a damn good defense. I've taken advantage the last two weeks and I see no reason to jump off the bandwagon now in a road game against the Frogs. Sure, TCU got back in the win column against Army last week, but this game should be very close. I'll take the points in what will almost assuredly will be a defensive struggle (O/U is 38)
Other plays:
BYU -8 over Air Force @South Carolina +3 over Tennessee @Baylor +4.5 over A&M LA Tech +9 over San Jose St. @Okie St. +6 over Nebraska
Last week was good. Good, but not great thanks to a 7-0 record on my top bets and an abysmal performance with some of my lesser plays. I am trying to use last week as a learning experience to be a little pickier about my plays and being more agressive with the plays I do lock into as my stronger picks.
This week's card includes one play I feel very confident about (strongest I've felt about a game in at least year) and a few others that I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I feel about them. So here we go:
PLAY OF THE YEAR
Georgia Tech +7.5 over Clemson This should be a great game that is all converging into a perfect storm for Georgia Tech backers. The visitor has covered 16 of the last 17 in this series. Georgia Tech is off a bye week and Clemson has a short week coming up with a Thursday night game in Blacksburg following this home game against Georgia Tech.
Clemson has two of their top receivers out for this game and don't forget their two top linebackers already out for the year since early in the season. Clemson has put up gaudy numbers rushing (7.0 YPC) but has not faced a defense nearly as talented as the outfit Georgia Tech runs out there every week (2.5 YPC against).
This game has so much working in Georgia Tech's favor and I expect this game to be another close one with Georgia Tech have a real shot at winning this one outright. Maybe there is something I don't see with this game (Chan Gailey factor?), but I haven't felt this strongly about a single play in a long time.
As for the rest of my plays, the follwoing 4 plays all into the medium play category:
@Wyoming -3.5 over Colorado St
One of my dumber picks last week was taking Utah -4 on the road in Wyoming. Utah got their asses handed to them by the Cowboys and ended up losing 31-15 but the score could have been much worse. Wyoming showed me something last week and I think this is a good spot for them against a mediocre CSU squad who is a little banged up.
Colorado +12 @ OU
Dan Hawkings finally ended the suffering for Colorado fans with a win over Tech with the Z man and the Defee brothers in attendance for the elder Defee's bachelor party. Coloardo has gotten some confidence and makes a trip to Norman to play a wounded Sooner squad thanks to the loss of their all-world running back Adrian Peterson. Going to be tough for OU's offense to recover fromt that loss, and I'll take the Buffs to make this one cloer than expected.
@Idaho +21 over Boise St.
Sure, Boise is rolling people under new coach Chris Peterson and his potent offense. But Boise can't kill every team on the road and Idaho appears to be in a good spot here getting 3 TDs at home. I'll take my chances with the hope that Idaho shows the form they have been playing with lately.
@Wazzu +3.5 over Oregon
This game traditionally is a close one and I see no reason why this game won't be any different. Oregon is pretty banged up after their UCLA game and I expect they are gonig to get everything they want from a feisty Wazzu crowd.
What a game 7 last night between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the pivotal game on a 2 run homerun by the unlikeliest of heroes, catcher Yadier Molina in the top of the ninth . The Mets were able to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth off rookie closer Adam Wainwright but left them all stranded when Carlos Beltran struck out looking to end the game. It seemed like NY had all the momentum after the sixth inning catch by leftfielder Endy Chavez, making one of the best catches I've ever seen off a ball hit by Scott Rolen.
The Cards now move on to face the Tigers in a rematch of the great 1968 World Series. Let's hope this year's fall classic approaches the 7 game epic that was the '68 series. Obviously I'm rooting for my hometown Cards, but the Tigers seem like a team on a mission and the Cardinals may have a tough time matching up to the strong Tiger pitching.
Tigers in 6 is my prediction but I am mainly just hoping the Cardinals are able to save more NL ridicule and make this an entertaining World Sries.
This past weekend could not have gone better. Well with the exception of forgetting to set my lineup for any of my 3 fantasy football teams on Sunday in running out the door to make the TExans/Cowboys game. It started with a Friday night showing of The Departed, which somehow manages to live up to the epic hype.
Saturday was a just a great day of football and I went 7-0 on my bigger bets but was abysmal with my lesser plays and only netted a a modest amount this past weekend. A nice profit but nowhere near what it should have been had I practiced better money management.
In a grind that is a college football season, you need to not only pick winners but also narrow a card on any given saturday down to 5 or 6 strong plays. I continue to not practice the proper discipline and it has cost me the last few weeks. I plan on not making the same mistake next weekend.
The schools and their conferences Sunday suspended 31 players for one game: 13 from Miami, which plays Duke on Saturday, and 18 from FIU, which plays Alabama on Oct. 28. Monday evening, each school announced tougher penalties:
• Miami safety Anthony Reddick, who swung his helmet as a weapon, was suspended indefinitely. Miami and the Atlantic Coast Conference said in a statement "additional disciplinary measures will be taken for all involved (Miami) players, including community service and other unspecified actions."
• Florida International dismissed Chris Smith and Marshall McDuffie Jr. from the team and suspended 16 others indefinitely. All 18 will be required to complete 10 hours of anger-management counseling and fulfill 50 hours of community service "intended to educate South Florida youth on appropriate behavior at athletic competitions."
Thomas cheered as his fellow Hurricanes embarrassed themselves in an on-field fight with FIU that resulted in 31 players getting suspended from both teams, but surprisingly didn't cost Miami Coach Larry Coker his job.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," Thomas bragged as helmets swung and players attacked one another with little regard. "You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don't come into the OB (Orange Bowl) playing that stuff."
Thomas sounded like a fool, behaving as if he were watching a professional fight instead of one of the biggest disgraces of the college football season.
"I say, why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more?" Thomas crowed. "You don't come into the OB, baby. We've had a down couple years, but you don't come in here talking smack. Not in our house."
Fortunately, I have regained some of my confidence the last couple weeks with some positive results after traveling much of September. I still haven't had that knock em dead week. Last year I hit my top plays at a ridiculous percentage and to have a the kind of week I really want, I need to do well on my top plays. Here goes nothing:
Large Plays
Play of the week @Kent St. -7 over Toledo
This looks like one of my strongest plays of the year so far. Kent St. has forgotten all about their struggles of last season and this appears to be a great spot to gain even more momentum going into the bye week. Homecoming weekend for the Golden Flashes and with wins @Miami (OH), Bowling Green, and Akron already under the belts, this team cannot afford a slip up against a struggling Toledo team. I look for Kent St. to assert itself early and hopefully cruise to an easy cover. Of course, this is the MAC so anything's possible but I really like this play.
South Florida -2.5 @ UNC
Originally got this one from my dad, but after looking at it more closely seems like a good play for a team that won my biggest play to date in USF's thrashing of UCONN last weekend. I'm going to ride the Bulls this week against a UNC team that seems to be headed nowhere yet again in the ACC. USF has more guys coming back from suspension so I feel pretty good about laying pts. as a small road fave in this one.
@Wisky -8 over Minnesota
I didn't know whether the new coach at Wisconsin would be able to fill Barry Alvarez's shoes, but he has done a fine job this year with the exception of a slip-up against Michigan. I still don't think Minnesota has quite the same team as previous years and this appears to be a spot where they might get exposed. Wisky lost in heartbreaking fashion last year, and I expect them to extract some revenge this year against the Gophers in the battle for Paul Bunyan's axe.
Medium Plays
Okie St. +2 @ Kansas
The Cowboys went belly up for me last week at home against K-st. so I'm hoping they get their breakthrough win this week against Kansas in a game both teams desperately need.
@Auburn +2 over Florida
Jordan-Hare should be rocking and Auburn comes up with a much needed win to make the SEC conference race very interesting heading into the 2nd half of the season.
Mizzou -2 over A&M
Aggies cannot afford to lose this game at Kyle but Mizzou has too much momentum to slip up here. Take the Tigers.
Tech -7 @ Colorado
Tech needs a bounceback game after an embarrassing loss at home to Mizzou. Colorado is a good place to get your confidence back
Hawaii -4 @ Fresno
Fresno somehow managed to lose to Utah St. last week and the wheels have completely fallen for Pat Hill's bunch since late last season. Hawaii is playing some of its best football since June Jones arrived so I'll lay the points even with the Bows traveling away from the island this week.
Small PLays
Utah -4 over Wyoming @Bama -14 over Mississippi @K St. +10 over Nebraska @San Jase St. -14 over Utah st. UCLA +10 @ Oregon @Penn St. +6 over Michigan
After a choppy first few weeks, I have started to gain some footing and have a little more confidence as we head into the meat of conference season. Let's hope the positive momentum continue this weekend which is shaping up to a medium sized card.
Polarek was complaining about me not posting my mid-week plays so I figured putting one up this week couldn't hurt anybody. All my picks for the rest of the weekend should be up by tonight.
Colorado St. +6 @ Air Force
The Rams have been playing some decent football and I see nothing on Air Force's resume to warrant being this large of a favorite in what figures to be a close game. Air Force is coming off a tough home Loss to Navy and now must play Colorado St. on a short week. I'm not into trends but Coloardo St. is 6-1 ATS their last 7 on Thursdays and Air Force is 0-4 SU on their last 4 Thursday night games. As long as Colorado St. has at least some success running the ball against a surprisingly good Air Froce run defense, I think Colorado St. has a real good show of covering.
I'm sure most people have already heard or read about New York Yankee Cory Lidle dying in a small plane crash on the Upper East Side today in New York. Eerily, a lot of interviews and comments from Lidle by the New York media and others during the season about his flying and as recently as yesterday.
Just a terrible, terrible tragedy and puts New Yorkers on edge about their own security.
Meanwhile, some of the A's are mourning their former teammate as they play game 2 of the ALCS against the Tigers desperately needing a win.
On a side note from an article in the ESPN Lidle story. Manny Acuta, the Mets thrid base coach, lived in the building that Lidle's plane crashed into. Acuta just happens to be one of the leading candidates for the Rangers managerial jobe.
Just a crazy story and such and such an unnecessary tragedy.
Sure, OU had won the previous 5 games in Dallas prior to 2005. And Bob Stoops has owned Mack Brown in the past pre-Vince Young. Whatever the past results in the Red River Shootout between these two coaches can now be thrown out the window going forward. Because Mack Brown has changed the momentum in this series and the talent gap is widening between Texas and Oklahoma. Since the 2004 Orange Bowl, Oklahoma is just 11-7 and the recruiting for Texas is like a runaway freight train for Mack Brown.
See if you can spot Cuyler on this clip who was the handler for Bevo during this game and I have seen on other replays of this painful play.
Commentary on Cotton Bowl
While the TX/OU game will remain in Dallas through at least 2010, you can't go to this game and not wonder what could have been had the City of Dallas not missed their opportunity to bring the Cowboys to Fair Park. The area around the Cotton Bowl and Fair Park is very run down as well as crime-ridden and it will most likely will never recover from the city's mistake. By losing the Cowboys, the city has probably lost any chance of connecting Fair Park to downtown and reveloping the land that has become a wasteland between Deep Ellum, downtown, and Fair Park. It's a very distinct possibility that development similar to what has happened in Uptown would have occurred in the area around Fair Park with new Cowboys stadium and all the money that comes with Jerry Jones. If this money had been dedicated to fund such development in the form of money from the Cowboys, private development and the City. The Super Bowl, Final 4, and many other marquee events may still be played out in Arlington, but what a pity for the city of Dallas and for this area in general by missing such a great opportunity.
The Cotton Bowl may or may not be able to keep a game that is played once a year, and the people who live around the cotton bowl will fear for their lives on every other weekend of the year. But you know what, yay for Arlington and for the bastards in Fort Worth who were probably the main reason professional starts where put in Arlington in the first place. I'm not bitter or anything..
While the stadium itself was actually in pretty decent enough shape, a couple minor problems included seats being way too small (everyone stands anyways) and the concession stands are a huge problem with people standing in long lines thanks to above average temperatures. I will admit that I hope the schools decide to keep this game at the Cotton Bowl for the next 50 years. Tradition is a thing lost on many in this generation and I would hate to see a day when the TX/OU game isn't played in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl.
Best Player of the Weekend
The honor goes to Cal's Desean Jackson who not only had a sick TD catch but had this punt return that was downright nast in Cal's thumping of Oregon.
On the same play, an Oregon kicker jumpkicks a Cal player an inexplicably doesn't even get flagged on the play after officials review. Expect a suspension in this one
Denis Hopovac's fifth field goal of the game in an NCAA record-tying seventh overtime gave North Texas a 25-22 victory over Florida International on Saturday night.
Hopovac connected from 34 yards after he and Florida International counterpart Dustin Rivest each missed four field goals in overtime. Hopovac also tied an NCAA record with nine attempts
Tigers End Yankees
In a scene right out of Major League with players like Kenny Rogers and Carlos Guillen going into the stands and celebrating with fans (check video below), the Tigers somehow managed to beat the mighty Yankees with a lineup compared to their 1927 team. Good pitching always beats good hitting in the postseason and just because the Yankees had the NY on their hat didn't mean they could go against that old adage that all Rangers fans knows all too well.
It's hard to argue with the curse of A-Fraud and he has managed to not only bring down Joe Torre and turn a Derek Jeter led team from a Champion into a 200 Million Dollar laughing stock with this collapse and the "Biggest Choke in Professional Sports" history. You have to start to wonder about A-Fraud. Either that or the fact the Yankees ran out a broken down Randy Johnson and mediocre Jarret Wright in games 3 and 4. Despite the shock many seem to make of this happening, The Yankees were a puny 2 games better than the Tigers during the regular season and anyone who followed the American League knows the Tigers had the best record in baseball for much of the regular season not too mention much better pitching.
Can't wait to see the A's/Tigers series and I really have got to give major league baseball credit for providing great drama and my baseball renaissance continues and even more drama awaits....
My posted plays were 6-3 on the blog. While my actual plays were a little different, dropped Wisconsin who just absolutely throttled Indiana and Washington who Tyrone Willingham has playing pretty well and they beat up on Airzona. Special Thanks to Dustin who talked me out of the Washington play. I added Cal and Michigan who both beat up on Oregon St. and Minnnesota respectively in convincing road wins. Ohio and Iowa were my big losses on the day as neither team showed up at home against Bowling Green and the #1 Buckeyes. I was especially disappointed in Kirk Ferentz's squad. Ohio St. has the two best wins so far this year in wins in Austin and at Iowa City.
My other small play wins were San Jose St., ), overall a very positive week for me. I felt like ths week gave me my confidence back so hopefully more good things are to come the rest of the season. After reviewing the early lines for this upcoming week's games, I didn't see a ton of games that stood out to me. Expect a much smaller card this week.
With that being said, a great Saturday slate of games, most notably the Tech-A&M thriller and Bama-florida games. The night games left a little left to be desired thanks to Ohio St. turning their huge clash with Ohio into a snoozer.
Tech beating A&M was Franchione's equivalent of Custer's last stand. As bad as A&M has been under Francione (20-20 in his short career), Saturday's loss was the low point of his tenure. I almost feel forry A&M, but I can't help but laughing with glee at the poor agroids.
"How come they get to pretend they are soldiers?" Leach asked in the article. "The thing is, they aren't in the military. I ought to have Mike's Pirate School. For homework, we'll work pirate maneuvers and stuff like that."
More Aggie ridiculousness..
More commentary on Aggie under Fran
1-9 versus Tech, UT, and OU. 20-20 overall record, including this year's 4 laughable non-conference games. 11 losses (in 40 games) of 20 or more points.
Overall Big 12 record: 10-13 with an average loss of 22 points. Big 12 South record 5-9 with an average loss by 21 points. 2005 pass defense ranked 119th...119th!!!!...in the country. Average loss is 23.35 points per game. Worst loss in A&M history. (77-0 to OU). Worst loss to Tech in A&M history. (56-17) Worst bowl loss in A&M history (Tennessee)
I have become a Premier League fan like many people who followed this year's world cup. They broadcast a lot of the games on Fox Soccer Channel and it's actually really fun to watch. I picked Arsenal as my team this year and I'm pretty happy they are struggling because I don't feel like too bad about picking one of the perennial top teams.
Here is Peter Crouch from Liverpool and probably the best goal i've seen so far this season in the Premier League...
It's a new beginning for me and hopefully for my betting fortunes in this college football season. September is not even over and there is plenty of time to make up for earlier mistakes. I have been doing some research at the games I missed last weekend and hopefully my homework yields some dividends. Buyer beware though because who the hell know what's going to happen. My favorite kind of college football season actually....
Top Plays
Navy +3 @ UCONN
Navy has been historically very good under Paul Johnson in this spot after a straight up loss (Tulsa last week). UCONN has been very so-so to this point. The key matchup in this game is UCONN Pass offense against Navy Pass Defense both of which have been abysmal for both teams. I think Navy controls the clock and wins this game outright at least I'm hoping....
@Ohio -6 over Bowling Green
Bowling Green has been just terrible so far and Ohio has beaten a darn good No. Illinois team. I think Ohio has all the incentive in the world to show up well in this game. Take the small number and be happy you did.
No Illinois -7 @ Ball St.
No. Illinois is a strong rushing team and BAll St. can't defend the run. No Illinois did slip up against Ohio but I don't think BAll St. will have enough to slow down the Huskies in this one.
@Iowa +6.5 over Ohio St.
I have seen Ohio St. in person and came away very impressed with their team. But Iowa has a crazy record under Ferentz at home. I'll take the points in what should be a classic game and say Iowa covers against the #1 team in the land.
Small Plays
Wisconsin -11 @ Indiana
Even after a loss to mighty Michigan, I like Wisconsin to rebound against perennial doormat Indiana who has very little rushing attack.
@ LSU -33 over Miss St.
I like Sylvester Croom. I really do, but the gap between these two teams is so great that I will still lay the 33 points and feel pretty good about it. This one should get real ugly.
@San Jose St. +3 over San Diego St.
Dick Tomey is doing some good things at San Jose St. and while talent wise SDSU may be the better team the results on the field show that San Jose should win this one.
@ WAZZU +17 over USC
I was thinking about this play earlier in the week and the news of Jarrett being out for SC makes me feel more confident about this play. There is always a blowout possibility when you play SC but I don't see this week. Expect a close one with WAZZU covering the number
Washington +3.5 over Arizona
For some reason, Arizona is one of the teams I have seen play often this year and I have not been very impressed at all with Mike Stoops squad. His team seems to make mistakes at the wrong times. Ty Willingham has Washington capitalizing on its opportunities this year and I think this another good spot for them.
I hope all of you loyal blog readers can forgive the lack of updates the last 10 days. While I know plenty has happened in the sports world since I last posted, my personal life has also brought about some big happenings. Last Wednesday, I got engaged to my girlfriend of 3 years, Sarah. I couldn't be happier to have her in my life and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her. On top of the engagement, we both spent the last 5 days traveling up in the Pacific Northwest speding time in Seattle, Vancouver, and Whistler. What a phenomenal trip.
Unfortuantely or fortunately for those of you who follow my picks, I didn't post any plays this past weekend because frankly I had very little time to analyze last week's games and was content to just sit last week out. It seems like plenty of people did well last week, so I was happy to hear that news. I will post my plays for this upcoming weekend probably tomorrow or Friday.
Below is a recap of what has happened since I left last week
The Ryder Cup is still one of my favorite sporting events, but until the American side finds some young talent who can match up to the European side who should be good for years to come. Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, and Paul Casey are not going anywhere and noone on this US Ryder Cup team was under the age of 30.
A once comfortable lead in the National League Central has now been trimmed to 1.5 games thanks to a seven game losing streak. The Astros are surging and I will be sick if the Cardinals manage to lose the division to the never say die Astros.
We all know this weeekend is big. An astonishing 7 Top 25 matchups on tap this weekend which apparently has been duplicated only one other time in October of 1993.
I'm obviously hoping my luck turns around this weekend. Since I'm on a cold streak, I'm just going to break out my games in two tiers. Top tier are games that I'm already locked into and would normally be lumpd into my top and medium sized play category. The other games are ones that I'm still researching and may or may not play based on how tomorrow goes.
Get by a TV starting tomorrow at 2:30 because the football should be unbelievable!
Top Tier
@Louisville -4 over Miami
Louisville's offense has looked as strong as ever in blowout wins over Kentucky and Temple. Miami's D should pose a much greater challenge but Petrino's boys should be able to score some points on the Canes even without all world back Michael Bush. The key question with this game will be the Cane offense vs. the Louisville D. I think Louisville makes enough stops and wins a huge game at home in front of a rowdy crowd.
@Oregon -4 over OU
Another strong home field team in Oregon going against an OU team that I still think has looked shaky in wins over Washington and UAB. Oregon has a thrashing of Stanford and a solid win at Fresno under their belts and i just think they are the stronger team with a huge homefield edge in this one.
@Okie St. -28 over FLa Atlantic
Okie St. looks to be a force this year with new QB Bobby Reid finally healthy. The offense is clicking at Florida Atlantic has a tough time staying within 30 of anybody. Expect this one to get ugly early.
San Diego St. +14 @ Wisconsin
San Diego St. has played some of the big boys tight on the road in recent years. Wisconsin looks decent under new coach Brent Beijama (sp?) but I expect the Aztecs to at least keep it interesting.
Navy +2 @ Stanford
Not sure about this Navy team yet, but they need a big win in this one to get their season rolling. Stanford hasn't looked very good in a convincing loss to Oregon and an upset at the hands of pitiful San Jose St. They are desperate for a win, but they better not take the Midshipmen lightly. I love Navy in a spot like this one as underdog.
BYU +7 @ BC
After a loss to Arizona in Tucson the opening week, BYU went out and throttled a decent Tulsa squad last week. BC struggled with Central Michigan and then won a marathon double OT game against Clemson last week. Expect some hangover after that big win even at home. BYU should move the ball on BC and has a chance for the outright upset.
Other Plays
@ Uconn -6 over Wake Forest @ Central Florida +1.5 over South Florida WAZZU -13 over Baylor @ Nevada -3 over Colorado St. Mizzou -14 over new Mexico @USC -17.5 over Nebraska @Florida International +5.5 over Bowling Green
Did I mention that I like Scarlett Johannson. Here is Bob Dylan's new music video featuring the actress:
Keith Olberman rips George Bush after yesterday's speech to the country.
I thought this person from one of my many message boards summed last night's speech up best:
What Bush has ultimately resorted to is a hope that we will all be reunited again through the psychology of fear, i.e. "If we all drop our opposition to the mistakes that I have made in responding to Al Queda, and get behind those mistakes, we will prevail in our fight in its newly defined "front" in Iraq which, although it had nothing to do with 9/11, with WMDs, with any credible IMMINENT threat to the United States, with trying to exhaust UN diplomacy, is now the lynchpin of our war against terrorism" It is totally garbage.
Bush now cites OBL for declaring that Iraq is now where World War III is occuring; therefore we must continue the battle. He now compounds this by trying to sell the illusion that every insurgent is a terrorist, therefore our fight there is the true fight against terrorists. And in the most recent turn of events, he wants to sell the illusion that this fight is analogous to World War II, and invokes the image of FDR.
FDR postulated that the war we waged was based on the four freedoms. One of those was freedom from fear. It strikes me that what we are now doing is nothing more than a reaction to fear. Al Queda was NOT in Iraq prior to our invasion, yet we put an insufficient number of troops right in the middle of the Middle East where the few Al Queda fighters from abroad could engage them. This is the putting out cheese in the rat house theory that I've posted elsewhere on this forum. It is letting the enemy determine the battlefield and the stakes to be won on it-- not a credible strategy if your goal is to defeat the enemy, and certainly not a shrewd use of our armed forces.
By Bush's reasoning, if Iraq, weakened by a previous war and lacking a sympathetic government to supporting Al Queda, was a viable threat to us, then there were certainly other nations which posed, and still pose, a more tangible threat to us which were deserving of a preemptive attack. Korea comes to mind, as does Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The difference is that two of these three possess atomic weapons. No wonder the Iranians desire the development of a nuclear arsenal -- in the new world of neocons, the best insurance policy against an American preemptive attack is a nuclear capability. And where is the "coalition of the willing" which would support our response? The British (who are having second thoughts)? Mongolia? Who has left us, who so willingly joined us after 9/11? Poland? Spain? Italy? Japan?
We are stuck in Iraq, but the way forward is not with this administration or its sycophants in Congress. Vote them out
Well, it's fall and since I am basically a homebody who doesn't mind going to a movie on Friday night. These three movies I think look good coming out:
The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson:
Black Dahlia Scarlett Johannson among others
The Departed Scorsese -- This cast is just ridiculous.
When things go bad, they can go REALLY bad and that's what happened this weekend.
The trip down to Austin for the Ohio St. game was a fun one, but the outcome of the game was not so fun.
Here are some of my random comments on the weekend:
--The Defensive gameplan had problems from the start because of the Tarrell Brown suspension and Andrew Kelson being held out because of injury. I would need to rewatch the game (I was just happy to be in my seats corner endzone), but whatever we did on Ginn and Gonzalez did not work on the first half. Gonzalez was open the entire first half and the Ginn TD before half was a backbreaker. My girlfriend's 13 year old cousin told me this but why didn't UT just put one of the young guys on Ginn and have Ross go man on man against Gonzalez. Because what the secondary was doing in the first half was just ugly. One of the very few times I'd criticize Chizik but this was a bad gameplan.
--Offense had too many missed opportunities with the Jermichael Finley drop and the fumble on the goalline being too much to overcome on a night that produced very few big plays for the Longhorns.
--This Oline is still dominant. While the offense may have sputtered much of the night, you cannot blame the Oline which still opened up holes for the backs and gave Mccoy adequate protection. Selvin Young and J-Chuck played well and they were very close to breaking a long one on multiple occasions.
--McCoy is more mobile than I thought, but he needs to keep it on the sprint draw to loosen up the defense. I expect these adjustments will be made before OU.
--Those blaming this loss on Greg Davis need their head examined.
--Matthew McCouaghney was up to his usual antics. I saw him leading a whole section of students into a frenzy pre kickoff. And also showing up on Godzilla time sometime during the 3rd quarter when he was trying to inspire a comeback.
--Lebron James, Cris Carter, Lance Armstrong, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting were also in attendance at this one.
ND looked great in a thrashing of what I believe is still a pretty talented Penn St. 41-7 in South Bend. . Charle Weis had his team more than ready for Penn St. and the Irish capitalized basically every mistake. A huge tilt with Michigan awaits this Saturday.
Some other games that I wish I would have seen Saturday
Tech/UTEP -- Tech escapes in overtime. UTEP deserves credit for taking Tech to the wire.
Fresno/Oregon -- You knew this one would be close and it was with Oregon winning 31-24 on a gutsy call by Mike Belotti. He calls a fake field goal with about 4 minutes left and the score tied at 24. The ducks convert the fake and win by a TD. And I had Fresno +4. Did I mention it was bad for me?
Tennesee/Air Force -- Have not seen one highlight from this game but the Falcons take The Vols to the gun and fail on a 2 pt. conversion to lose at the gun.
Georgia/South CArolina -- Would have loved to have seen Mark Richt's crew go in and blank Spurrier at Columbia. Must have been some kind of performance. HP Boy Stafford looks to be the starter now with the nice story but very mediocre Joe Tershinski out with injury.
SMU/UNT -- I had to mention this one because the Ponies my buddy Brian promised were going to be much better got steamrolled by the Mean Green in Denton. It's hard to hit rock bottom at SMU but Phil Bennett is trying this season. Expect an appearance on the Bottom 10 this week for the Mustangs. The Sam Houston St. bobcats loom on the horizon.
I have to watch this trainwreck waiting to happen.
Since going to the US Open last week with Sarah, I have begun to appreciate that sport. Andy Roddick had a hell of a tournament and just got outlasted by Roger Federer in the men's Final. It was quite humorous while watching Roddick's semifinal match on Sunday in the UT law school lounge area. Sarah wants to see how Roddick is doing and turn it to the tennis match. Well, I'm controlling the remote and about 25 Texas fans are watching the ND/Penn St. game and OU/Washington games. Safe to say when I turned it to tennis, the channel got turned back to football at a very fast rate.
The Final Sign it's just not a good weekend to be associated with UT, Chris Simms throws 3 INTs and the Buccaneers get blanked by The Ravens 27-0 in the Tampa opener. Oh yea, one of those INTs was returned for a touchdown. Imagine that from Simms. I have found it interesting in hindsight that the Big 3 apparently were much of the reason holding Texas back from winning national championship. Their ridicule included making fun of Billy Pittman's bell's palsy and almost forcing Pittman to quit school. It wasn't until Vince showed up and instilled confidence in his teammates that the team made the jump the next level. At least something to think about when you consider the Simms era.
Major returns to Austin this weekend as the Offensive Coordinate. Somehow you don't have to envy that assingment.
Finally, I better comment on my pitiful gambling weekend.
I'll be the first to admit my picks were really were god awful this week. It's early in the season, but so far this year has not been anything close to last year's success. Gambling on college sports is a grind so I'm going to try and hang in there this week and hope things turn around. I don't want to make excuses but I've had to make my picks very early the last couple weeks because I've been traveling. A lot of things happen between Thursday and Saturday (i.e. Drew Tate getting scratched from playing right at game time) and there are many cappers around the internet who don't put their plays up until Saturday morning.
From now on, I am going to put up my early plays and update the blog accordingly before kickoff. Hope that will help the rest of the season for those that are following my picks. I know that's probably noone after this week but I'm confident things are about to turn around.
The upcoming week's games look just about as entertaining as a middle of September can possibly get. The following games are all scheduled for this upcoming Saturday:
2:30 Games Central Auburn/LSU Miami/Louisville Michigan/ND Oregon/Oklahoma
Later Games
Florida/Tenneseee TCU/Tech Nebraska/USC
Holy shit!
I have been away from Dallas the last two weeks, but I will certainly by the television for this week's action. It's either that or go to the SMU/Sam Houston St. game. Let's hope my luck turns around as well.
Well, after reviewing the entire card and doing a little more research I have added some more plays. I have played these games listed below at different levels but for this blog I will just go ahead and post them all without designating which level. Because I'm not totally confident this week, I figured anyone who wants to pick some of these plays to use can do so without holding me accountable.
Here is the rest of my card:
Texas Tech -7 @ UTEP
This seems like a sucker play to me, but I'm going to go ahead and bit and play it small. UTEP has been improved under Mike Price but they face maybe Mike Leach's best TEch team. Even without star receiver Jarret Hicks who is having elegibility issues, Tech should move the ball easily on UTEP. And this play is more a testament to the improving Tech defense than anything else. I think it may be closer than some people are thinking but Tech should cover this number.
Penn St. +7.5 @ ND
I thought Anthony Morelli looked very good in his starting debut with the Nittany Lions in a 34-16 winning performance over Akron in a downpour at Happy Valley. Notre Dame is just trying to find a W and get some of their confidence. I'm expecting a very close game with ND probably pulling out a close win.
@ Cal -8 over Minnesota
Cal needs a good performance against Minnesota after their embarrassing debut opening up at Tennesee. I think Minnesota's 44-0 win over Kent was very deceiving as they benefited from 7 Kent turnovers. Now they travel to a very talented Berkeley squad and I think Cal gets back on track. I like this one.
@Fresno St. +4 over Oregon
Sure, Oregon looked fantastic at home in a thrashing of Stanford last weekend but this game is on the road in a very hostile environment. Dwayne Wright is the next in line of great Fresno tailbacks and I think Fresno is a live dog in this matchup. Small play at best.
Auburn -19.5 @ Miss St.
Mississipi St.'s offense is in all sort of shambles with their QB situation looking very bleak. Auburn got off to a nice start and should continue to roll on the road in STarskville. Large road favorites are risky but this looks like a decent spot.
Iowa -19 @ Syracuse Same situation as above. Very good looking team against a team with a terrible offense. Sytracuse might not score in this game even at home. Small play because of the large road favorite this early in the season.
@ Wake Forest -19.5 over Duke
Sure, Wake Forest lost their starting QB Ben Mauk in their first game which could prove to be a devstating blow later in the season. I was looking for WF as a sleeper team this year but losing Mauk will not bode well for them later in the year. However, I don't see WF having problems with an injury ridden Duke team that lost to a I-AA team last weekend. Small play because of Mauk's injury.
Check this Link from one of the veteran posters on the Texas fan sites. This guy obviously has way too much time on his hands but he does some pretty incredible work.
As for the first week of college football, I spent the weekend in Boston and was not able to watch the entire weekend's worth of action. I was able to keep with up some of the more marquee matchups and was happy to see ND squeak by Georgia Tech in a very tight contest. Texas looked impressive in Colt McCoy's debut at QB.
Overall Record for the First Week
1-1 Top Plays
1-1 Medium Plays
2-3 Small Plays
1-1 Totals
Very underwhelming debut to the 2006 season but I'm just trying to get my legs underneath me so hopefully this week will show more promise. I really am not able to find that many attractive games this week so the card will be relatively small. Watch for next week's card to be fairly large with plenty of huge matchups occurring on the September 16th weekend. Onto this week's action:
Top Play
@Texas -2.5 over Ohio St.
I just think Texas will find a way to get the job done in Austin. This will be the biggest home game for the Horns in recent memory and I think the Buckeyes while hungry don't have enough on defense to slow down the Texas attack. I see Texas pulling away late in what has become customary late game magic as of late under Mack Brown. Sure it's a homer pick but so what.
Small Plays
@Arkansas -28.5 over Utah St.
Okay, so I blew it with the Arkansas pick last week against USC. What an embarrassing performance by the razorbacks at home against the Trojans losing 50-14 in front of a rowdy Saturday night crowd. Houston Nutt has decided to scrap his plan to play Robert Johnson at Quarterback and has inserted super recruit Mitch Mustain into the starting lineup. I think the Razorbacks find some rhythm behind Mustain and take out their frustration on an Utah St. team that got throttled 38-7 by Wyoming in their opening game.
Idaho +17 @ Wazzu
Washington State struggled in their opening game at Auburn and tries to rebound this week against an improving Vandal squad led by form Cane coach Dennis Erickson. The Vandals put up a game effort against Michigan St. last week and should be able to hang against a mediocre Cougars squad.
I don't have much else for this week and really haven't see much else that sticks out at me. The TEch -7 line against UTEP seems too easy so I'm passing on that one this early in the season. I may post a few additional games tommorrow but as for now I'm gonna stick with this 3 game card.
