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
Good luck to everyone this week!
Big D
Friday, October 13, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Thursday Night Play
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.
Medium Play on CSU
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.
Medium Play on CSU
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Cory Lidle Dies in Plane Crash
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.
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.
Monday, October 09, 2006
What a Win!
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.
In a convincing 28-10 victory that I had the good fortune of witnessing from Section 19 with Sarah and her parents, the Longhorns have exorcised any demons that may have existed from past Mack Brown teams. See 63-14 on that cold, dark day in 2000 and the play below in 2001 on a perfect October day shortly after 9/11 as examples of how painful this series was for Longhorn fans during that era:
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
Mean Green take 7 overtimes to get by Florida International. And the kicker missed about 4 other field goals before kicking the game winner in the 7th overtime.
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.
The Yankees house is crumbling with Steinbrener fuming, Torre's job on the line, and A-Fraud being rumored to be on the way out of town. A-Fraud is the root of this mess if you ask most Yankee fans. The knock on him throughout his career has been that he puts up empty numbers and gone into a shell when it really matters. The stastics bear this reputation out. Check out these numbers:
3-29 .103 AVG -- Last two playoff series
4-41 .098 AVG 0 RBI Last 12 playoff games
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....
Monday, October 02, 2006
Weekend Review
That's more like it. Despite our government's best attempt to shut down offshore sportsbooks and poker sites, I will not be slowed down by such ridiculous legislation from our wonderful Congress.
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.
Check out Mike Leach comments after the game:
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...
David Beckham's New Job as coach of Brad Pitt's son
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.
Check out Mike Leach comments after the game:
"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...
David Beckham's New Job as coach of Brad Pitt's son
Thursday, September 28, 2006
9/30 College Football Plays
9/30 Plays
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.
Good luck to everyone this week!
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.
Good luck to everyone this week!
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I'm Engaged
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 US gets embarrassed again in the Ryder Cup losing 18.5 to 9.5 to Europe, and this result really should come as shock to noone.
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.
I didn't get to see a minute of this game, but Notre Dame somehow managed to come back from a huge deficit and beat Michigan St. 40-37.
The Saints win an emotional game in their return to the Superdome and now stand 3-0 under new coach Sean Payton.
Bill Clinton Freaks Out on Fox News
Cardinals in Danger of Missing Playoffs
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.
Weekend picks to follow soon.....
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 US gets embarrassed again in the Ryder Cup losing 18.5 to 9.5 to Europe, and this result really should come as shock to noone.
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.
I didn't get to see a minute of this game, but Notre Dame somehow managed to come back from a huge deficit and beat Michigan St. 40-37.
The Saints win an emotional game in their return to the Superdome and now stand 3-0 under new coach Sean Payton.
Bill Clinton Freaks Out on Fox News
Cardinals in Danger of Missing Playoffs
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.
Weekend picks to follow soon.....
Friday, September 15, 2006
9/16 Picks
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
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
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Tupac
Because Hurst would be proud of me, I figured today would be a good day to pay tribute to Tupac Shakur on the blog.
In an ironic twist based on his own prophecy of an early demise for himself throughout his lyrics, Tupac died tragically 10 years ago today a full six days after being shot in the chest after a boxing match in Las Vegas. While I admit I'm not a huge music or rap fan, I always loved Pac's music and no telling how huge he would have been (only 25 years old at his death) if still alive today.
So everyone pour out some liquor today in memory of Pac! Or do whatever you want to do to remember a true legend.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
More You Tube
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:
Great Article about the new clock rules in college football
Anybody else intrigued by these commercials that have been running since football started.
FATHEAD!
Finally,
Not happy times for Diddy aka Sean Combs
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
Great Article about the new clock rules in college football
Anybody else intrigued by these commercials that have been running since football started.
FATHEAD!
Finally,
Not happy times for Diddy aka Sean Combs
Monday, September 11, 2006
3 Movies that Look Good
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.
The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson:
Black Dahlia Scarlett Johannson among others
The Departed Scorsese -- This cast is just ridiculous.
Black Saturday
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.
Doug Christie and his wife are getting a TV Show on BET
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.
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.
Doug Christie and his wife are getting a TV Show on BET
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.
Friday, September 08, 2006
More Plays
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.
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.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Texas and Ohio St. Preview; Week 2 Picks
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.
Good luck to everyone this week and Hook em..
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.
Good luck to everyone this week and Hook em..
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Opening Weekend Picks
Is the first week of college football really here? It has been over one hundred degree countless times this summer in Dallas and I never thought football season would actually come. So the day every college football fan is waiting for when a game that actually counts gets under way always gives me a special feeling. I don't ever want to lose that feeling that I have had every fall since I can remember.
This year's opening week does not have many collossal matchups with FSU vs. Miami and Cal vs. Tennesee being the two exceptions. But this week does have plenty of intrigue and while there may be plenty of Texas over Sunbelt foe North Texas type blowouts this week there will also be plenty of surprises and that's what makes College Football so exciting.
I will try to post my picks weekly this college football season unless I go into a prolonged slump in which case I may just disapper. In any event, let's get to the damn picks. And for those aren't familiar with my work, go back through the archives of last season and check out my resume. I take nothing for granted so these picks are obviously not intended for wagering purposes. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way.
Top Plays
@Arkansas (+8.5) over the Trojans
The hogs have a ton of talent coming back and the Trojans are replacing not only the unbelivable backfield but also some pretty big boys on the offensive line including three standout players. I just have a feeling that Houston Nutt has one of his most talented teams and they will give USC everything the want. I see Arkansas at least keeping this close until the 4th quarter and the 8.5 gives the possibility of a backdoor cover alive for the Hogs. This stadium should be unbelievably loud. The only drawback to this play is the Hogs all world tailback Bryant Mcfadden is out with a bum ankle but I don't think it's enough to stay away from this play
Rutgers (+6) @ UNC
Rutgers has the look of the team that could make some noise this year and John Bunting's tarheels have some talent but are just hoping to get out of this game at home with a W. Would not be shocked to see Rutgers to pull of the outright upset
Medium Plays
Northwestern (-4.5) @ Miami (OH) (Thursday Game)
It would be an understatement to say Northwestern has faced a ton of adversity this offseason considering their coach (Randy Walker) suddenly passed away due to heart attack a few months ago. Well, his successor is former Wildcat LB Pat Fitzgerald (only 31 years old!) who inherits the head coaching duties at his alma mater. I look for an inspired effort by the Northwestern team with a new QB under center against the Redhawks. Miami has decent enough talent but is dangerously weak on defense with only 2 returning starters coming back from a not so great D last year. I see Northwestern going on the road to win one for the their late coach.
@Middle Tennessee St. (-10.5) over Florida International (Thursday)
Yes, this one is obscure but it's the start of the season so what do we really know about all these teams anyways. MTSU is one of the better teams in the Sun Belt which doesn't say much but I think they have enough to get by Florida International by a comfortable margin at home. Won't be many games more obscure than this one the rest of the year
Small Plays
@ Kent St. (+15) over Minnesota
Kent St. is going to be much improved after a nightmare 2005 and they hope an opening Thursday night tilt against a much depleted Minnesota team. The Gophers have managed to finally run out of running backs (Barber III, Maroney, Russell) and I'm sure the running game will still be above average. But it won't be the same and losing two of their stud Linemen I just see the veteran QB Cupito having some opening game frustrations. Give me the Flashes getting over 2 TDs.
@ Penn St. (-16.5) over Akron
Penn St. has to replace quite a bit but they still have Pozluzny and all those LBs and a ton of playmakers on offense even if they did lose Michael Robinson at QB. Akron has a pretty good returning team that made it to a bowl game last season. I still think Penn St. wins in style in their perceived tuneup for Notre Dame. If the Lions take this one lightly, you will probably know it pretty early on. First half is critical to cover this one.
Houston (-14) @ Rice
Houston has a ton of talent on offense and what they hope will be an improved defense with 8 starters coming back. Rice has a lot of returning starters but with a new coaching staff will probably need some time to get adjusted. I expect the homefield advantage to mean little in this matchup and the Cougars should win going away.
@Arizona (-6) over BYU
Mike Stoops should have his best team yet in Tucson and they play host to a decent enough BYU squad. I think Arizona needs this game desperately with a matchup against LSU looming on the horizon. Could be a nailbiter but hopefully Arizona has enough to get past the number.
Florida St. (+3) @ Miami (Monday)
I annually take the underdog in this game and I see no reason to change that line of thinking this year. With Miami starters out for this game, I think FSU takes advantage and wins a close low scoring game. What else is new. Watch for Miami's tailback relative of Edgerrin James.
Totals
I usually royally stink at these, but new year so why the hell not (props to Bader for alerting me of the Tech total)
Over 54.5 SMU/Texas Tech
Is there something the linesmakers know I don't about this one? This has all the makings of a sucker line but I am terrible at totals so why not roll the dice. Tech might score 50 themselves against a decent Pony defense but very suspect secondary. Plus, Tech just plays different on that track in Lubbock. It's almost unfair. I'm serious
Under 50.5 Wisco/Bowling Green
Both teams have major holes on offense with the skill guys for Wisconsin and Jacobs for Bowling Green. Being played in Cleveland I expect this to be a defensive minded game. But what the hell do I know.
Good luck to all this week and I hope this season starts on the right foot.
I'm off to Boston this weekend and a trip to Fenway but I'm sure I'll find a TV somewhere on Saturday. And if not, I have about 13 games Tivo'd just in case.
This year's opening week does not have many collossal matchups with FSU vs. Miami and Cal vs. Tennesee being the two exceptions. But this week does have plenty of intrigue and while there may be plenty of Texas over Sunbelt foe North Texas type blowouts this week there will also be plenty of surprises and that's what makes College Football so exciting.
I will try to post my picks weekly this college football season unless I go into a prolonged slump in which case I may just disapper. In any event, let's get to the damn picks. And for those aren't familiar with my work, go back through the archives of last season and check out my resume. I take nothing for granted so these picks are obviously not intended for wagering purposes. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way.
Top Plays
@Arkansas (+8.5) over the Trojans
The hogs have a ton of talent coming back and the Trojans are replacing not only the unbelivable backfield but also some pretty big boys on the offensive line including three standout players. I just have a feeling that Houston Nutt has one of his most talented teams and they will give USC everything the want. I see Arkansas at least keeping this close until the 4th quarter and the 8.5 gives the possibility of a backdoor cover alive for the Hogs. This stadium should be unbelievably loud. The only drawback to this play is the Hogs all world tailback Bryant Mcfadden is out with a bum ankle but I don't think it's enough to stay away from this play
Rutgers (+6) @ UNC
Rutgers has the look of the team that could make some noise this year and John Bunting's tarheels have some talent but are just hoping to get out of this game at home with a W. Would not be shocked to see Rutgers to pull of the outright upset
Medium Plays
Northwestern (-4.5) @ Miami (OH) (Thursday Game)
It would be an understatement to say Northwestern has faced a ton of adversity this offseason considering their coach (Randy Walker) suddenly passed away due to heart attack a few months ago. Well, his successor is former Wildcat LB Pat Fitzgerald (only 31 years old!) who inherits the head coaching duties at his alma mater. I look for an inspired effort by the Northwestern team with a new QB under center against the Redhawks. Miami has decent enough talent but is dangerously weak on defense with only 2 returning starters coming back from a not so great D last year. I see Northwestern going on the road to win one for the their late coach.
@Middle Tennessee St. (-10.5) over Florida International (Thursday)
Yes, this one is obscure but it's the start of the season so what do we really know about all these teams anyways. MTSU is one of the better teams in the Sun Belt which doesn't say much but I think they have enough to get by Florida International by a comfortable margin at home. Won't be many games more obscure than this one the rest of the year
Small Plays
@ Kent St. (+15) over Minnesota
Kent St. is going to be much improved after a nightmare 2005 and they hope an opening Thursday night tilt against a much depleted Minnesota team. The Gophers have managed to finally run out of running backs (Barber III, Maroney, Russell) and I'm sure the running game will still be above average. But it won't be the same and losing two of their stud Linemen I just see the veteran QB Cupito having some opening game frustrations. Give me the Flashes getting over 2 TDs.
@ Penn St. (-16.5) over Akron
Penn St. has to replace quite a bit but they still have Pozluzny and all those LBs and a ton of playmakers on offense even if they did lose Michael Robinson at QB. Akron has a pretty good returning team that made it to a bowl game last season. I still think Penn St. wins in style in their perceived tuneup for Notre Dame. If the Lions take this one lightly, you will probably know it pretty early on. First half is critical to cover this one.
Houston (-14) @ Rice
Houston has a ton of talent on offense and what they hope will be an improved defense with 8 starters coming back. Rice has a lot of returning starters but with a new coaching staff will probably need some time to get adjusted. I expect the homefield advantage to mean little in this matchup and the Cougars should win going away.
@Arizona (-6) over BYU
Mike Stoops should have his best team yet in Tucson and they play host to a decent enough BYU squad. I think Arizona needs this game desperately with a matchup against LSU looming on the horizon. Could be a nailbiter but hopefully Arizona has enough to get past the number.
Florida St. (+3) @ Miami (Monday)
I annually take the underdog in this game and I see no reason to change that line of thinking this year. With Miami starters out for this game, I think FSU takes advantage and wins a close low scoring game. What else is new. Watch for Miami's tailback relative of Edgerrin James.
Totals
I usually royally stink at these, but new year so why the hell not (props to Bader for alerting me of the Tech total)
Over 54.5 SMU/Texas Tech
Is there something the linesmakers know I don't about this one? This has all the makings of a sucker line but I am terrible at totals so why not roll the dice. Tech might score 50 themselves against a decent Pony defense but very suspect secondary. Plus, Tech just plays different on that track in Lubbock. It's almost unfair. I'm serious
Under 50.5 Wisco/Bowling Green
Both teams have major holes on offense with the skill guys for Wisconsin and Jacobs for Bowling Green. Being played in Cleveland I expect this to be a defensive minded game. But what the hell do I know.
Good luck to all this week and I hope this season starts on the right foot.
I'm off to Boston this weekend and a trip to Fenway but I'm sure I'll find a TV somewhere on Saturday. And if not, I have about 13 games Tivo'd just in case.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Top 25 Analysis
In what I will admit is usually a pointless event, but the news of Preseason AP rankings being released brings a smile to my face. Just another sign that we are that much closer to the start of football season. Or Christmas day if you are like me.
Well, let's go ahead and get to the rankings and a quick capsule on each team. Before I start, I just wanted to comment on the 2006 season in general. I think obviously there a ton of talented teams out there this year as evidenced by the number of different teams getting first place votes in the preseason poll, but I just don't see any of these teams or anyone running the table. Just look at the top 5 and tell me that you see no question marks with any of those teams on that list including Texas. Just thought I'd go aheand put that on record when we are in Mid-October and noone is left undefeated. Also, don't forget about the additional 12th game that is in play starting this year.
I have also included number of starters returning on each side of the ball (courtesy of my prophet Phil Steele) and predicted record after September 30th games:
1. Ohio St. (35 First Place Votes) 7 starters returning offense / 2 starters returning defense-- A lot of optimism in Buckeye land obviously with the number of skill position guys returning (Antonio Pittman, Troy Smith, Ginn and others), but questions still exist for the Linebackers and Secondary. Three September games large September games: at Texas (9/9), Penn St. (9/23), at Iowa (9/30) will tell a lot about their chances at a National Championship.
3-2 record on 9/30 (Losses at Texas and at Iowa)
2. Notre Dame (Ten First Place Votes) 7 offense / 9 defense-- As someone who has basically followed the Notre Dame program since I was a toddler, I can usually tell whether a Notre Dame team has "it" within a game or two. And for whatever reason, I think the Charlie Weis is going to have the magic back in South Bend this season. It doesn't Hurt to have Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija (yes I had a look up that spelling, among other on offense and 9 starters back on Defense including my personal favorite Tom Zbikowki. Key games against Penn St. (9/9), Michigan (9/16), @ Mich St. (9/23). Watch out if ND is 5-0 after September.
5-0 on 9/30 (Shaky start against Georgia Tech (9/2) but back to back huge wins against Penn St. and Michigan in epics the Irish could tasting national title. Then again, both the Penn St. and Michigan games are tossups and at Michigan St. (9/23) and Purdue (9/30) are not gimmes either. This is an interesting schedule in any event...
3. Texas (Eight First Place Votes) 6 offense / 7 defense -- Texas is just absolutely loaded with the exception the Quarterback position where Colt Mccoy (redshirt Freshman) and Jevan Sneed (True Freshman) will have the task of filling Vince Young's huge shoes. But neither guy has to be a miracle worker under center. With Billy Pittman, Sweed, Charles, Blalock, Studdard back on O and a defense that should be even better than last year's team behind Gene Chizik. The sky's the limit in Austin but Texas fans are getting used to dreaming big under Mack Brown since VY set foot on campus. What a great ride it's been, and after the monster show down in Austin September 9th, the schedule lets up until a 9/23 test against Iowa St. The Red River shootout (10/7), at Nebraska (10/21) and at Lubbock (10/28) will be good tests for this Longhorn squad.
5-0 The Longhorns cruise in their other September games after a classic tilt with Ohio St. that I think UT wins in Austin. Whatever you say about the Texas fans and I've said plenty to criticize my alma mater about our fricklel fans, but the place rocks for big games and it doesn't get any bigger than this one in Austin coming off a national championship. The hype for this game is unlike any other I've seen for an early September game. Brings back memories of this one on a rainy day in September of 1989 in Ann Arbor when #1 Notre Dame played #2 Michigan.
Rocket TD return #1
Rocket TD return #2
4. Auburn (Theee First Place Votes) 6 offense / 6 defense -- Tommy Tuberville has been pretty impressive in Aubun and if it wasn't for a heartbreaking loss in Baton Rouge and some shoddy kicking this team would have been one of the bst in the country at the end of the season. As it was, they inexplicably lost to Wisconsin 24-10 in the Capital One Bowl which I'm pretty convinced kicks off at 6 AM New Year's Day. Regardless of how last season ended, Tuberville is going to have a talented squad that has been a little banged up in the preseason. This is a team you must watch very closely early including their massive tile with LSU (9/16) on the Plains. I've had the good fortune to visit Auburn, Alabama a couple times but never for a gameday. I'd like to do that very shortly because that stadium feels electric when watching it on CBS HD. The resiliency of this team will tested often but as is life in the SEC. Other big games include: Florida (10/14), Georgia (11/11), at Alabama (11/18)
4-1 on 9/30 -- Wins against WAZZU, at Miss St, and LsU. Loss at South Carolina !!! on Thursday 9/28.
5. West Virginia (Six First Place Votes) 9 offense / 5 defense -- West Virginia is a very sexy pick coming into the 2006 season and for good reason. The WV backfield combination of Steve Slaton at RB and QB Pat White really flourished last year in always well coached offensive coached football of Rich Rodriguez (former OC at Clemson). This West Virginia team has all the makings of an undefeated team if their defense can step up their level of play. Still games at Louisville (11/2) and at Pittsburgh (11/16) are about the only real tests for this team so not exactly a schedule that scares anyone in the bigger conferences.
4-0 on 9/30 -- Wins against Marshall/E Washington/Maryland/at East Carolina, not exactly murderer's row.
6. USC (Three First Place Votes) 4 offense / 6 defense-- If you lose Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and LenDale White, there is going to be a dropoff, but the question is how far? I still have the USC "Fight On" stuck in my head from the Rose Bowl where Sarah and I sat in the middle of the USC donor section. Great fans but once the horns took the lead the laidback SC fans got pretty fucking angry. Still got of in disbelief that I was really at the game. Back on point, SC has John David Booty or Mark Sanchez as their starting QB but Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith are still left at receiver so this team will still move the ball. I thinking losing Deuce Lutui, Matua, and Winston Justice may sting just as hard for this team as losing Bush, Leinart and White. Either way, this team figures to be down a notch but it's still SC and they could run the table.
4-0 on 9/30 with a big home game against Nebraska (9/16) and Arkansas (9/2). Big games against Cal and Notre Dame later in the season will dictate how far the Trojans go this season.
7. Florida -- Urban Meyer has Chris Leak and a lot of Ron Zook recruited talent at his disposal. This team will go as far as Chris leak will learn Urban Meyer's offense which worked wonders for Alex Smith and Utah.
8. LSU 6 offense / 5 defense -- Like Meyer at Florida, Les Miles has an unbelievable amount of talent on the Bayou thanks to Nick Saban's relentles recruiting while at LSU. Ally Broussard, a junior tailback and Justin Vincent will try to carry on the recent tradition of good running backs to come out of LSU (Joseph Addai being the most recent). JaMarcus Russell seems to be improving at QB but super-recruit redshirt freshman Ryan Perriloux will be vocally lobbying for more playing. Perriloux famously snubbed UT a few offseasons ago because he felt he could play over Vince Young. Yes, it should be an interesting season in Baton Rouge. at Auburn (9/16), at Florida (10/7), at Tennessee (11/4), at Florida are all huge road games.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Auburn. Later games will decide much...
9. California 7 offense / 8 defense -- Jeff Tedford just might have the team to win a Pac 10 title this season and the AP voters seem to agree with that line of thinking. QB situation is okay but Marshawn Lynch and Desean Jackson are difference makers on the offensive side of the ball. This should be Tedfod's best defense since he has been at Cal.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Tennesee on opening weekend (more to come on that game later)
10. Oklahoma 4 offense / 9 defense -- Obviously the Bomar situation was the big offseason story in Norman. They still have a dominant defense and Peterson is an unbelievable tailback but losing Bomar is going to hurt and besides Paul Thompson the qb situation is pretty bleak this year. If Thompson is decent then this team may be able to win 10 games. The Texas game looms large...
3-1 on 9/30 with a loss at Oregon
Rest of the top 25 upcoming...
11. Florida State
12. Miami (FL)
13. Louisville
14. Michigan
15. Georgia
16. Iowa
17. Virginia Tech
18. Clemson
19. Penn State
20. Nebraska
21. Oregon
22. TCU
23. Tennessee
24. Arizona State
25. Texas Tech
Others Receiving Votes:
Alabama 141, Utah 52, Boston College 41, Georgia Tech 39, Boise State 23, Arkansas 18, Wisconsin 18, South Carolina 15, Tulsa 11, Texas A&M 10, UTEP 4, Purdue 4, Brigham Young 4, Iowa State 3, Northern Illinois 3, Mississippi 3, Michigan State 2, Arizona 1
Well, let's go ahead and get to the rankings and a quick capsule on each team. Before I start, I just wanted to comment on the 2006 season in general. I think obviously there a ton of talented teams out there this year as evidenced by the number of different teams getting first place votes in the preseason poll, but I just don't see any of these teams or anyone running the table. Just look at the top 5 and tell me that you see no question marks with any of those teams on that list including Texas. Just thought I'd go aheand put that on record when we are in Mid-October and noone is left undefeated. Also, don't forget about the additional 12th game that is in play starting this year.
I have also included number of starters returning on each side of the ball (courtesy of my prophet Phil Steele) and predicted record after September 30th games:
1. Ohio St. (35 First Place Votes) 7 starters returning offense / 2 starters returning defense-- A lot of optimism in Buckeye land obviously with the number of skill position guys returning (Antonio Pittman, Troy Smith, Ginn and others), but questions still exist for the Linebackers and Secondary. Three September games large September games: at Texas (9/9), Penn St. (9/23), at Iowa (9/30) will tell a lot about their chances at a National Championship.
3-2 record on 9/30 (Losses at Texas and at Iowa)
2. Notre Dame (Ten First Place Votes) 7 offense / 9 defense-- As someone who has basically followed the Notre Dame program since I was a toddler, I can usually tell whether a Notre Dame team has "it" within a game or two. And for whatever reason, I think the Charlie Weis is going to have the magic back in South Bend this season. It doesn't Hurt to have Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija (yes I had a look up that spelling, among other on offense and 9 starters back on Defense including my personal favorite Tom Zbikowki. Key games against Penn St. (9/9), Michigan (9/16), @ Mich St. (9/23). Watch out if ND is 5-0 after September.
5-0 on 9/30 (Shaky start against Georgia Tech (9/2) but back to back huge wins against Penn St. and Michigan in epics the Irish could tasting national title. Then again, both the Penn St. and Michigan games are tossups and at Michigan St. (9/23) and Purdue (9/30) are not gimmes either. This is an interesting schedule in any event...
3. Texas (Eight First Place Votes) 6 offense / 7 defense -- Texas is just absolutely loaded with the exception the Quarterback position where Colt Mccoy (redshirt Freshman) and Jevan Sneed (True Freshman) will have the task of filling Vince Young's huge shoes. But neither guy has to be a miracle worker under center. With Billy Pittman, Sweed, Charles, Blalock, Studdard back on O and a defense that should be even better than last year's team behind Gene Chizik. The sky's the limit in Austin but Texas fans are getting used to dreaming big under Mack Brown since VY set foot on campus. What a great ride it's been, and after the monster show down in Austin September 9th, the schedule lets up until a 9/23 test against Iowa St. The Red River shootout (10/7), at Nebraska (10/21) and at Lubbock (10/28) will be good tests for this Longhorn squad.
5-0 The Longhorns cruise in their other September games after a classic tilt with Ohio St. that I think UT wins in Austin. Whatever you say about the Texas fans and I've said plenty to criticize my alma mater about our fricklel fans, but the place rocks for big games and it doesn't get any bigger than this one in Austin coming off a national championship. The hype for this game is unlike any other I've seen for an early September game. Brings back memories of this one on a rainy day in September of 1989 in Ann Arbor when #1 Notre Dame played #2 Michigan.
Rocket TD return #1
Rocket TD return #2
4. Auburn (Theee First Place Votes) 6 offense / 6 defense -- Tommy Tuberville has been pretty impressive in Aubun and if it wasn't for a heartbreaking loss in Baton Rouge and some shoddy kicking this team would have been one of the bst in the country at the end of the season. As it was, they inexplicably lost to Wisconsin 24-10 in the Capital One Bowl which I'm pretty convinced kicks off at 6 AM New Year's Day. Regardless of how last season ended, Tuberville is going to have a talented squad that has been a little banged up in the preseason. This is a team you must watch very closely early including their massive tile with LSU (9/16) on the Plains. I've had the good fortune to visit Auburn, Alabama a couple times but never for a gameday. I'd like to do that very shortly because that stadium feels electric when watching it on CBS HD. The resiliency of this team will tested often but as is life in the SEC. Other big games include: Florida (10/14), Georgia (11/11), at Alabama (11/18)
4-1 on 9/30 -- Wins against WAZZU, at Miss St, and LsU. Loss at South Carolina !!! on Thursday 9/28.
5. West Virginia (Six First Place Votes) 9 offense / 5 defense -- West Virginia is a very sexy pick coming into the 2006 season and for good reason. The WV backfield combination of Steve Slaton at RB and QB Pat White really flourished last year in always well coached offensive coached football of Rich Rodriguez (former OC at Clemson). This West Virginia team has all the makings of an undefeated team if their defense can step up their level of play. Still games at Louisville (11/2) and at Pittsburgh (11/16) are about the only real tests for this team so not exactly a schedule that scares anyone in the bigger conferences.
4-0 on 9/30 -- Wins against Marshall/E Washington/Maryland/at East Carolina, not exactly murderer's row.
6. USC (Three First Place Votes) 4 offense / 6 defense-- If you lose Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and LenDale White, there is going to be a dropoff, but the question is how far? I still have the USC "Fight On" stuck in my head from the Rose Bowl where Sarah and I sat in the middle of the USC donor section. Great fans but once the horns took the lead the laidback SC fans got pretty fucking angry. Still got of in disbelief that I was really at the game. Back on point, SC has John David Booty or Mark Sanchez as their starting QB but Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith are still left at receiver so this team will still move the ball. I thinking losing Deuce Lutui, Matua, and Winston Justice may sting just as hard for this team as losing Bush, Leinart and White. Either way, this team figures to be down a notch but it's still SC and they could run the table.
4-0 on 9/30 with a big home game against Nebraska (9/16) and Arkansas (9/2). Big games against Cal and Notre Dame later in the season will dictate how far the Trojans go this season.
7. Florida -- Urban Meyer has Chris Leak and a lot of Ron Zook recruited talent at his disposal. This team will go as far as Chris leak will learn Urban Meyer's offense which worked wonders for Alex Smith and Utah.
8. LSU 6 offense / 5 defense -- Like Meyer at Florida, Les Miles has an unbelievable amount of talent on the Bayou thanks to Nick Saban's relentles recruiting while at LSU. Ally Broussard, a junior tailback and Justin Vincent will try to carry on the recent tradition of good running backs to come out of LSU (Joseph Addai being the most recent). JaMarcus Russell seems to be improving at QB but super-recruit redshirt freshman Ryan Perriloux will be vocally lobbying for more playing. Perriloux famously snubbed UT a few offseasons ago because he felt he could play over Vince Young. Yes, it should be an interesting season in Baton Rouge. at Auburn (9/16), at Florida (10/7), at Tennessee (11/4), at Florida are all huge road games.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Auburn. Later games will decide much...
9. California 7 offense / 8 defense -- Jeff Tedford just might have the team to win a Pac 10 title this season and the AP voters seem to agree with that line of thinking. QB situation is okay but Marshawn Lynch and Desean Jackson are difference makers on the offensive side of the ball. This should be Tedfod's best defense since he has been at Cal.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Tennesee on opening weekend (more to come on that game later)
10. Oklahoma 4 offense / 9 defense -- Obviously the Bomar situation was the big offseason story in Norman. They still have a dominant defense and Peterson is an unbelievable tailback but losing Bomar is going to hurt and besides Paul Thompson the qb situation is pretty bleak this year. If Thompson is decent then this team may be able to win 10 games. The Texas game looms large...
3-1 on 9/30 with a loss at Oregon
Rest of the top 25 upcoming...
11. Florida State
12. Miami (FL)
13. Louisville
14. Michigan
15. Georgia
16. Iowa
17. Virginia Tech
18. Clemson
19. Penn State
20. Nebraska
21. Oregon
22. TCU
23. Tennessee
24. Arizona State
25. Texas Tech
Others Receiving Votes:
Alabama 141, Utah 52, Boston College 41, Georgia Tech 39, Boise State 23, Arkansas 18, Wisconsin 18, South Carolina 15, Tulsa 11, Texas A&M 10, UTEP 4, Purdue 4, Brigham Young 4, Iowa State 3, Northern Illinois 3, Mississippi 3, Michigan State 2, Arizona 1
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Is Carlos Delgado a hall of famer?
My man, Zach Allen, posed a question last night after watching Carlos Delgado hit his 400th homer in dramatic fashion when the Mets beat the Cardinals 8-7. Is Carlos Delgado a hall of famer?
The answer I'm not sure but let's take a look at his resume:
Delgado Resume
Delgado is 34 years old and still probably has at least 3 or 4 more good season in him. To this point (through 2006 season) he has a career .282 BA with .391 OBP and .557 SLG %, 1680 hits, 400 HRs and 1259 RBIs.
Probably the most impressive item on his resume is a 10 consecutive season run of 30+ home runs including this season. He has 3 40+ home run seasons and 3 130+ RBI seasons. He only has been to two All-star games and only has two top 5 MVP finishes in an era where 30+ home runs while impressive isn't all that out of the ordinary.
I think Delgado needs to at least reach 500+ home runs before he gets considered and even then it's not a slam dunk.
If the Rangers had any hope of winning the AL West starting this week, those hopes have quickly vanished quickly thanks to 3 straight losses to the lowly D-Rays and the Rangers currently stand 7.5 games back in the AL West.
Time for Jon Daniels and Tom Hicks to seriously consider getting rid of the manager in the offseason. This team has not played up to capablities with the exception of 1 year during Buck's tenure and for some reason this group of players does not seem to respond to Buck's managing style. Plus, given Buck's prior history, we should win the world series the year after he leaves anyways (see his time in NY and Arizona). My gut says Hicks will stay loyal and give him one more year to turn things around. ARGH!
Indians spot Royals 10 runs in first inning and still win 15-13 in 10 Innings
In honor of Dolly's return to Dallas this past weekend,
here is some news about the real Dalai Lama himself not getting along with China.
Officially one week away until the start of college football season.
The answer I'm not sure but let's take a look at his resume:
Delgado Resume
Delgado is 34 years old and still probably has at least 3 or 4 more good season in him. To this point (through 2006 season) he has a career .282 BA with .391 OBP and .557 SLG %, 1680 hits, 400 HRs and 1259 RBIs.
Probably the most impressive item on his resume is a 10 consecutive season run of 30+ home runs including this season. He has 3 40+ home run seasons and 3 130+ RBI seasons. He only has been to two All-star games and only has two top 5 MVP finishes in an era where 30+ home runs while impressive isn't all that out of the ordinary.
I think Delgado needs to at least reach 500+ home runs before he gets considered and even then it's not a slam dunk.
If the Rangers had any hope of winning the AL West starting this week, those hopes have quickly vanished quickly thanks to 3 straight losses to the lowly D-Rays and the Rangers currently stand 7.5 games back in the AL West.
Time for Jon Daniels and Tom Hicks to seriously consider getting rid of the manager in the offseason. This team has not played up to capablities with the exception of 1 year during Buck's tenure and for some reason this group of players does not seem to respond to Buck's managing style. Plus, given Buck's prior history, we should win the world series the year after he leaves anyways (see his time in NY and Arizona). My gut says Hicks will stay loyal and give him one more year to turn things around. ARGH!
Indians spot Royals 10 runs in first inning and still win 15-13 in 10 Innings
In honor of Dolly's return to Dallas this past weekend,
here is some news about the real Dalai Lama himself not getting along with China.
Officially one week away until the start of college football season.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Tiger Wins Again; Rangers Stay Hot
Tiger's dominance in majors continued Sunday as he cruised to his 12th Major Title in Chicago at the PGA. Because he is so dominant, little drama exists on a Sunday when he begins the day as the leader. It's still great to know you are watching history every time Tigers tees it up, and he has never looked better than he did this week.
Right now, it's tough to imagine anyone being able to keep up with Tiger given the way he is playing. He is just too good and Jack Nicklaus' 18 professional majors may be in sight by the time Tigers turns 35 if not sooner.
Tom Lehman uses his captain picks on Stewart Cink (no surprise) and Scott Verplank (very surprising) . Davis Love came close to making the team with a solid PGA performance but he will be off the team for the first time since at least 1993. On paper, this American team should get crushed but maybe the guys will relish an underdog role for once in this event.
Rangers take 3 our of 4 games in Detroit with a come from behind 7-6 win yesterday afternoon.
Yankees go for the rare 5 game sweep of Boston this afternoon after winning in 10 innings last night 8-5
Finally, a story about the 6'8" Saudi Arabian Little leaguer
Writeup on AP Top 25 coming soon....
Saturday, August 19, 2006
AP Rankings are Out; Ohio St. #1, ND #2, Texas #3
In what I will admit is usually a pointless event, but the news of Preseason AP rankings being released brings a smile to my face. Just another sign that we are that much closer to the start of football season. Or Christmas day if you are like me.
Well, let's go ahead and get to the rankings and a quick capsule on each team. Before I start, I just wanted to comment on the 2006 season in general. I think obviously there a ton of talented teams out there this year as evidenced by the number of different teams getting first place votes in the preseason poll, but I just don't see any of these teams or anyone running the table. Just look at the top 5 and tell me that you see no question marks with any of those teams on that list including Texas. Just thought I'd go aheand put that on record when we are in Mid-October and noone is left undefeated. Also, don't forget about the additional 12th game that is in play starting this year.
I have also included number of starters returning on each side of the ball (courtesy of my prophet Phil Steele) and predicted record after September 30th games:
1. Ohio St. (35 First Place Votes) 7 starters returning offense / 2 starters returning defense-- A lot of optimism in Buckeye land obviously with the number of skill position guys returning (Antonio Pittman, Troy Smith, Ginn and others), but questions still exist for the Linebackers and Secondary. Three September games large September games: at Texas (9/9), Penn St. (9/23), at Iowa (9/30) will tell a lot about their chances at a National Championship.
3-2 record on 9/30 (Losses at Texas and at Iowa)
2. Notre Dame (Ten First Place Votes) 7 offense / 9 defense-- As someone who has basically followed the Notre Dame program since I was a toddler, I can usually tell whether a Notre Dame team has "it" within a game or two. And for whatever reason, I think the Charlie Weis is going to have the magic back in South Bend this season. It doesn't Hurt to have Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija (yes I had a look up that spelling, among other on offense and 9 starters back on Defense including my personal favorite Tom Zbikowki. Key games against Penn St. (9/9), Michigan (9/16), @ Mich St. (9/23). Watch out if ND is 5-0 after September.
5-0 on 9/30 (Shaky start against Georgia Tech (9/2) but back to back huge wins against Penn St. and Michigan in epics the Irish could tasting national title. Then again, both the Penn St. and Michigan games are tossups and at Michigan St. (9/23) and Purdue (9/30) are not gimmes either. This is an interesting schedule in any event...
3. Texas (Eight First Place Votes) 6 offense / 7 defense -- Texas is just absolutely loaded with the exception the Quarterback position where Colt Mccoy (redshirt Freshman) and Jevan Sneed (True Freshman) will have the task of filling Vince Young's huge shoes. But neither guy has to be a miracle worker under center. With Billy Pittman, Sweed, Charles, Blalock, Studdard back on O and a defense that should be even better than last year's team behind Gene Chizik. The sky's the limit in Austin but Texas fans are getting used to dreaming big under Mack Brown since VY set foot on campus. What a great ride it's been, and after the monster show down in Austin September 9th, the schedule lets up until a 9/23 test against Iowa St. The Red River shootout (10/7), at Nebraska (10/21) and at Lubbock (10/28) will be good tests for this Longhorn squad.
5-0 The Longhorns cruise in their other September games after a classic tilt with Ohio St. that I think UT wins in Austin. Whatever you say about the Texas fans and I've said plenty to criticize my alma mater about our fricklel fans, but the place rocks for big games and it doesn't get any bigger than this one in Austin coming off a national championship. The hype for this game is unlike any other I've seen for an early September game. Brings back memories of this one on a rainy day in September of 1989 in Ann Arbor when #1 Notre Dame played #2 Michigan.
Rocket TD return #1
Rocket TD return #2
4. Auburn (Theee First Place Votes) 6 offense / 6 defense -- Tommy Tuberville has been pretty impressive in Aubun and if it wasn't for a heartbreaking loss in Baton Rouge and some shoddy kicking this team would have been one of the bst in the country at the end of the season. As it was, they inexplicably lost to Wisconsin 24-10 in the Capital One Bowl which I'm pretty convinced kicks off at 6 AM New Year's Day. Regardless of how last season ended, Tuberville is going to have a talented squad that has been a little banged up in the preseason. This is a team you must watch very closely early including their massive tile with LSU (9/16) on the Plains. I've had the good fortune to visit Auburn, Alabama a couple times but never for a gameday. I'd like to do that very shortly because that stadium feels electric when watching it on CBS HD. The resiliency of this team will tested often but as is life in the SEC. Other big games include: Florida (10/14), Georgia (11/11), at Alabama (11/18)
4-1 on 9/30 -- Wins against WAZZU, at Miss St, and LsU. Loss at South Carolina !!! on Thursday 9/28.
5. West Virginia (Six First Place Votes) 9 offense / 5 defense -- West Virginia is a very sexy pick coming into the 2006 season and for good reason. The WV backfield combination of Steve Slaton at RB and QB Pat White really flourished last year in always well coached offensive coached football of Rich Rodriguez (former OC at Clemson). This West Virginia team has all the makings of an undefeated team if their defense can step up their level of play. Still games at Louisville (11/2) and at Pittsburgh (11/16) are about the only real tests for this team so not exactly a schedule that scares anyone in the bigger conferences.
4-0 on 9/30 -- Wins against Marshall/E Washington/Maryland/at East Carolina, not exactly murderer's row.
6. USC (Three First Place Votes) 4 offense / 6 defense-- If you lose Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and LenDale White, there is going to be a dropoff, but the question is how far? I still have the USC "Fight On" stuck in my head from the Rose Bowl where Sarah and I sat in the middle of the USC donor section. Great fans but once the horns took the lead the laidback SC fans got pretty fucking angry. Still got of in disbelief that I was really at the game. Back on point, SC has John David Booty or Mark Sanchez as their starting QB but Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith are still left at receiver so this team will still move the ball. I thinking losing Deuce Lutui, Matua, and Winston Justice may sting just as hard for this team as losing Bush, Leinart and White. Either way, this team figures to be down a notch but it's still SC and they could run the table.
4-0 on 9/30 with a big home game against Nebraska (9/16) and Arkansas (9/2). Big games against Cal and Notre Dame later in the season will dictate how far the Trojans go this season.
7. Florida -- Urban Meyer has Chris Leak and a lot of Ron Zook recruited talent at his disposal. This team will go as far as Chris leak will learn Urban Meyer's offense which worked wonders for Alex Smith and Utah.
8. LSU 6 offense / 5 defense -- Like Meyer at Florida, Les Miles has an unbelievable amount of talent on the Bayou thanks to Nick Saban's relentles recruiting while at LSU. Ally Broussard, a junior tailback and Justin Vincent will try to carry on the recent tradition of good running backs to come out of LSU (Joseph Addai being the most recent). JaMarcus Russell seems to be improving at QB but super-recruit redshirt freshman Ryan Perriloux will be vocally lobbying for more playing. Perriloux famously snubbed UT a few offseasons ago because he felt he could play over Vince Young. Yes, it should be an interesting season in Baton Rouge. at Auburn (9/16), at Florida (10/7), at Tennessee (11/4), at Florida are all huge road games.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Auburn. Later games will decide much...
9. California 7 offense / 8 defense -- Jeff Tedford just might have the team to win a Pac 10 title this season and the AP voters seem to agree with that line of thinking. QB situation is okay but Marshawn Lynch and Desean Jackson are difference makers on the offensive side of the ball. This should be Tedfod's best defense since he has been at Cal.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Tennesee on opening weekend (more to come on that game later)
11. Florida State
12. Miami (FL)
13. Louisville
14. Michigan
15. Georgia
16. Iowa
17. Virginia Tech
18. Clemson
19. Penn State
20. Nebraska
21. Oregon
22. TCU
23. Tennessee
24. Arizona State
25. Texas Tech
Others Receiving Votes:
Alabama 141, Utah 52, Boston College 41, Georgia Tech 39, Boise State 23, Arkansas 18, Wisconsin 18, South Carolina 15, Tulsa 11, Texas A&M 10, UTEP 4, Purdue 4, Brigham Young 4, Iowa State 3, Northern Illinois 3, Mississippi 3, Michigan State 2, Arizona 1
Well, let's go ahead and get to the rankings and a quick capsule on each team. Before I start, I just wanted to comment on the 2006 season in general. I think obviously there a ton of talented teams out there this year as evidenced by the number of different teams getting first place votes in the preseason poll, but I just don't see any of these teams or anyone running the table. Just look at the top 5 and tell me that you see no question marks with any of those teams on that list including Texas. Just thought I'd go aheand put that on record when we are in Mid-October and noone is left undefeated. Also, don't forget about the additional 12th game that is in play starting this year.
I have also included number of starters returning on each side of the ball (courtesy of my prophet Phil Steele) and predicted record after September 30th games:
1. Ohio St. (35 First Place Votes) 7 starters returning offense / 2 starters returning defense-- A lot of optimism in Buckeye land obviously with the number of skill position guys returning (Antonio Pittman, Troy Smith, Ginn and others), but questions still exist for the Linebackers and Secondary. Three September games large September games: at Texas (9/9), Penn St. (9/23), at Iowa (9/30) will tell a lot about their chances at a National Championship.
3-2 record on 9/30 (Losses at Texas and at Iowa)
2. Notre Dame (Ten First Place Votes) 7 offense / 9 defense-- As someone who has basically followed the Notre Dame program since I was a toddler, I can usually tell whether a Notre Dame team has "it" within a game or two. And for whatever reason, I think the Charlie Weis is going to have the magic back in South Bend this season. It doesn't Hurt to have Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija (yes I had a look up that spelling, among other on offense and 9 starters back on Defense including my personal favorite Tom Zbikowki. Key games against Penn St. (9/9), Michigan (9/16), @ Mich St. (9/23). Watch out if ND is 5-0 after September.
5-0 on 9/30 (Shaky start against Georgia Tech (9/2) but back to back huge wins against Penn St. and Michigan in epics the Irish could tasting national title. Then again, both the Penn St. and Michigan games are tossups and at Michigan St. (9/23) and Purdue (9/30) are not gimmes either. This is an interesting schedule in any event...
3. Texas (Eight First Place Votes) 6 offense / 7 defense -- Texas is just absolutely loaded with the exception the Quarterback position where Colt Mccoy (redshirt Freshman) and Jevan Sneed (True Freshman) will have the task of filling Vince Young's huge shoes. But neither guy has to be a miracle worker under center. With Billy Pittman, Sweed, Charles, Blalock, Studdard back on O and a defense that should be even better than last year's team behind Gene Chizik. The sky's the limit in Austin but Texas fans are getting used to dreaming big under Mack Brown since VY set foot on campus. What a great ride it's been, and after the monster show down in Austin September 9th, the schedule lets up until a 9/23 test against Iowa St. The Red River shootout (10/7), at Nebraska (10/21) and at Lubbock (10/28) will be good tests for this Longhorn squad.
5-0 The Longhorns cruise in their other September games after a classic tilt with Ohio St. that I think UT wins in Austin. Whatever you say about the Texas fans and I've said plenty to criticize my alma mater about our fricklel fans, but the place rocks for big games and it doesn't get any bigger than this one in Austin coming off a national championship. The hype for this game is unlike any other I've seen for an early September game. Brings back memories of this one on a rainy day in September of 1989 in Ann Arbor when #1 Notre Dame played #2 Michigan.
Rocket TD return #1
Rocket TD return #2
4. Auburn (Theee First Place Votes) 6 offense / 6 defense -- Tommy Tuberville has been pretty impressive in Aubun and if it wasn't for a heartbreaking loss in Baton Rouge and some shoddy kicking this team would have been one of the bst in the country at the end of the season. As it was, they inexplicably lost to Wisconsin 24-10 in the Capital One Bowl which I'm pretty convinced kicks off at 6 AM New Year's Day. Regardless of how last season ended, Tuberville is going to have a talented squad that has been a little banged up in the preseason. This is a team you must watch very closely early including their massive tile with LSU (9/16) on the Plains. I've had the good fortune to visit Auburn, Alabama a couple times but never for a gameday. I'd like to do that very shortly because that stadium feels electric when watching it on CBS HD. The resiliency of this team will tested often but as is life in the SEC. Other big games include: Florida (10/14), Georgia (11/11), at Alabama (11/18)
4-1 on 9/30 -- Wins against WAZZU, at Miss St, and LsU. Loss at South Carolina !!! on Thursday 9/28.
5. West Virginia (Six First Place Votes) 9 offense / 5 defense -- West Virginia is a very sexy pick coming into the 2006 season and for good reason. The WV backfield combination of Steve Slaton at RB and QB Pat White really flourished last year in always well coached offensive coached football of Rich Rodriguez (former OC at Clemson). This West Virginia team has all the makings of an undefeated team if their defense can step up their level of play. Still games at Louisville (11/2) and at Pittsburgh (11/16) are about the only real tests for this team so not exactly a schedule that scares anyone in the bigger conferences.
4-0 on 9/30 -- Wins against Marshall/E Washington/Maryland/at East Carolina, not exactly murderer's row.
6. USC (Three First Place Votes) 4 offense / 6 defense-- If you lose Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and LenDale White, there is going to be a dropoff, but the question is how far? I still have the USC "Fight On" stuck in my head from the Rose Bowl where Sarah and I sat in the middle of the USC donor section. Great fans but once the horns took the lead the laidback SC fans got pretty fucking angry. Still got of in disbelief that I was really at the game. Back on point, SC has John David Booty or Mark Sanchez as their starting QB but Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith are still left at receiver so this team will still move the ball. I thinking losing Deuce Lutui, Matua, and Winston Justice may sting just as hard for this team as losing Bush, Leinart and White. Either way, this team figures to be down a notch but it's still SC and they could run the table.
4-0 on 9/30 with a big home game against Nebraska (9/16) and Arkansas (9/2). Big games against Cal and Notre Dame later in the season will dictate how far the Trojans go this season.
7. Florida -- Urban Meyer has Chris Leak and a lot of Ron Zook recruited talent at his disposal. This team will go as far as Chris leak will learn Urban Meyer's offense which worked wonders for Alex Smith and Utah.
8. LSU 6 offense / 5 defense -- Like Meyer at Florida, Les Miles has an unbelievable amount of talent on the Bayou thanks to Nick Saban's relentles recruiting while at LSU. Ally Broussard, a junior tailback and Justin Vincent will try to carry on the recent tradition of good running backs to come out of LSU (Joseph Addai being the most recent). JaMarcus Russell seems to be improving at QB but super-recruit redshirt freshman Ryan Perriloux will be vocally lobbying for more playing. Perriloux famously snubbed UT a few offseasons ago because he felt he could play over Vince Young. Yes, it should be an interesting season in Baton Rouge. at Auburn (9/16), at Florida (10/7), at Tennessee (11/4), at Florida are all huge road games.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Auburn. Later games will decide much...
9. California 7 offense / 8 defense -- Jeff Tedford just might have the team to win a Pac 10 title this season and the AP voters seem to agree with that line of thinking. QB situation is okay but Marshawn Lynch and Desean Jackson are difference makers on the offensive side of the ball. This should be Tedfod's best defense since he has been at Cal.
5-0 on 9/30 with a win at Tennesee on opening weekend (more to come on that game later)
10. Oklahoma 4 offense / 9 defense -- Obviously the Bomar situation was the big offseason story in Norman. They still have a dominant defense and Peterson is an unbelievable tailback but losing Bomar is going to hurt and besides Paul Thompson the qb situation is pretty bleak this year. If Thompson is decent then this team may be able to win 10 games. The Texas game looms large...
3-1 on 9/30 with a loss at Oregon
Rest of the top 25 upcoming...
11. Florida State
12. Miami (FL)
13. Louisville
14. Michigan
15. Georgia
16. Iowa
17. Virginia Tech
18. Clemson
19. Penn State
20. Nebraska
21. Oregon
22. TCU
23. Tennessee
24. Arizona State
25. Texas Tech
Others Receiving Votes:
Alabama 141, Utah 52, Boston College 41, Georgia Tech 39, Boise State 23, Arkansas 18, Wisconsin 18, South Carolina 15, Tulsa 11, Texas A&M 10, UTEP 4, Purdue 4, Brigham Young 4, Iowa State 3, Northern Illinois 3, Mississippi 3, Michigan State 2, Arizona 1
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Baseball Brawls are Cool
Sure, the Rangers 9-3 win over Anaheim felt like just another game that the Rangers desperately needed. And yes, the Rangers still have not picked up any ground on Oakland during this hot streak and actually sit 6.5 games back in the AL West currently.
In a scene that should surprise noone who has been watching these two teams play all season, the brawl last night was enjoyable to see for this particualr fan. And sure the media around town is saying that this incident combined with the Kenny Rogers camera man fiasco and the Frank Francisco chair thorwing escapade in Oakland a few years back give the franchise a black eye around the league. While that may be true to a point, I'm just happy this team is showing a little life.
Even if it's too litte too late, it's nice to know that at least some players care. I still think this team is likely headed nowhere with Buck Showalter as manager. I have been a big Buck supporter since he arrived, but I just don't see this group of players responding to Buck's managing style as sad as it makes me to type that. Granted, I still don't think Tom Hicks is ready to give up on Buck anytime soon so I'm not holding my breath that a mangerial change is even a possibility this offseason.
Life as a ranger fan. It's not easy...
Finally, if last night's brawl wasn't enough for you,
check this one out
Monday, August 14, 2006
Rangers Sweep Mariners; Getting Closer to Football, Golf Talk
With Evander Holyfield in attendance and thanks to the girlfriend scoring tickets from work, I had the pleasure of sitting front row behind the Rangers dugout last night as the Rangers swept the Mariners and now have 5 wins in a row (2nd longest winning streak of the season). Not many people possibly care, but Holyfield makes a return to the ring this Friday night at the American Airlines Center . His opponent not even a Buster Douglas worthy Jeremy Bates with record of 21-11-1.
As for the Rangers currently standing at 61-58, they still sit 5 games back off the A's and only .5 game back of the Angels. With plenty of series against both teams left thanks to the unbalanced schedule, anything is possible. Although the A's do this every year, so it's hard to be that optimistic.
The Rangers managed to handle pantheon worthy prospect "King" Felix Hernandez to the tune of 6 runs in a little over 5 innings . From my vantage point, the kid has sick, sick stuff (including a fastball that can touch 99 on the gun, an 89-90 slider and an offspeed pitch that just dives right at the plate). Felix just needs to get a little more seasoning at the major league level before he starts to dominate. At age 20, I'd say he has a pretty bright future.
Here is another Rangers story from the
Star-Telgram about the Rangers bullpen, most notably Wes Littleton out of Cal-St. Fullerton.
Next Simms Chooses Louisville
Matt Simms, son of former Super Bowl MVP and Louisville native Phil Simms, has committed to sign with U of L, his high school coach said last night. Rivals.com ranks him as the nation's 13th-best pro-style quarterback.
The 6-foot-2 Simms led Don Bosco Preparatory High School to an 11-1 record and the New Jersey parochial state final as a junior last year. He threw for 2,744 yards and 30 touchdowns while completing 62 percent of his passes.
"He's got a tremendous arm, but he's so much more than that," Don Bosco Prep coach Nunzio Campanile said. "He's that rare commodity who has great talent and all the intangibles. He's smart, he's a great leader, he's tough and he's got a great heart. He's about as good as there is for a quarterback
Not that I watched it, but the Cowboys beat the Seahawks 13-3 on Saturday night . Tony Romo played the entire game converting 19-25 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown. Of course, the only thing the first preseason game proves is just how desperate this city is for football. No, there is no quarterback controversy although it proves that Romo might have a better football future than his near scratch handicap in golf.
Speaking of Golf, the PGA championship has snuck up on us this week at Historic Medinah golf club in Illinois . The course which hosted the famous '99 PGA when Tiger and Sergio (And Sergio's miracle "closed eye" shot right up against that tree) dueled to the very end with Tiger coming out triumphant. Strangely, Sergio still lacks a major and it can basically be summed up that he has failed to show up since then on a Sunday when in contention at a major (this year's British and the '01 US Open at Southern HIlls come quickly to mind).
The course is playing a ridiculous 7,561 yards to a par 72. Expect long hitters to do very well this week. Probably won't be any Jeff Slumans ('87 PGA winner) or Corey Pavins ('95 US Open at Shinneock) holding up the Wannamaker trophy this year. As most golf fans know, the PGA is the last chance for anyone outside of the top 10 to make the Ryder Cup team. As usual, I hear people on this side of the pond (well just Lanny Wadkins this past weekend at the International) expecting big things out of the US team when they play over in Ireland at the end of September.
Fat chance. The Europe team is much better and much more experienced and always hands the Americans their asses over in Europe. And you can expect tensions to be running extra high with Europe and the rest of the world in general not real big fans of the US currently. Either way, expect fireworks as I expect the US to make a last stand before being totally humiliated in an event they once owned.
If you don't believe me, check out the last 20 years of Ryder Cups dating back to the Mid 80s.
2004 Oakland Hills CC, Bloomfield Township, MI 18.5 Europe 9.5 USA Europe in a Huge way wire to wire in one of the biggest ass whippings in the event's history
2002 Sutton Coldfield, England USA 12 ½ Europe 15 ½ Europe nips the US in England thanks to some heroic putting on Sunday
1999 The Country Club, Brookline, MA USA 14 ½ Europe 13 ½ The scene of Crenshaw's famous "I believe in fate" speech. Unless you witnessed this event live or in person, it's hard to create the drama on that day. Easily one of the top 5 sporting events I've ever witnessed and the comback was complete when Justin Leonard's miraculous putt to beat Olazabal. And of course the American team trampling on the green with wives and cameraman before Olazabal missed the putt to halve the hole.
1997 Valderrama GC, Sotogrande Spain Europe 14.5 - USA 13.5 Gutwrenching defeat for the Americans. Probably the best the US has played on Europeans soil since they last won in 1993.
1995 Oak Hill CC, Rochester, NY USA 13 ½ Europe 14 ½ In probably the most underrated Ryder Cup that I remember, just an unbelievable Saturday teams and Sunday singles. Ended up with Nick Faldo (with an ace in Sunday singles) beating captain's pick Curtis Strange to give Europe the victory.
1993 The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, Eng USA 15 Europe 13 USA's last win in Europ and probably the last time the US had momentum on their side in this series.
1991 The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, S.C. USA 14 ½ Europe 13 ½ "The War at the shore" as it was called had some nailbiting action and some unblelievable winds of the South Carolina coast. Hail Irwin narrowly beat Bernard Langher in a Sunday match for the ages. This was more a survival test than golf under those conditions. There were more casualties than heroes on this day, but the US had finally won again.
1989 The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, Europe 14 USA 14 The dispicable draw that helped Europe retain the cup. I vaguely remember this one but I remember Mark Calcavecchia and a few others butchering the 18th hole as became the custom for America during this time period.
1987 Muirfield Village GC, Dublin, Ohio USA 13 Europe 15 The disgrace of all disgraces for US golf fans losing at Jack's course with Jack Nicklaus is captain. Easily one of the worst days in US golf history.
1985 The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, Eng USA 11 ½ Europe 16 ½ While I personally don't remember this Ryder Cup (I was 7 for crying out loud), this Ryder Cup would become a signal of the years to come for the US after such long dominance in this event.
So that final tally since 1985, 6 wins for Europe, 3 wins for the USA and 1 draw in which Europe reatained the cup. Pretty pitiful and I wouldn't expect things to change this year.
Here is a list of both teams heading into the PGA:
USA
1. WOODS, Tiger 4,150.000
2. MICKELSON, Phil 2,474.375
3. FURYK, Jim 2,076.000
4. CAMPBELL, Chad 1,129.602
5. TOMS, David 1,072.250
6. DiMARCO, Chris 830.000
7. TAYLOR, Vaughn 780.833
8. HENRY, J.J. 778.750
9. JOHNSON, Zach 756.477
10. WETTERICH, Brett 746.000
All I got to say is Tiger, Phil, and Furyk better play out of their minds because this top 10 looks absolutely scary on paper. Of course, the US may need that sort of underdog mentality on their side. So this may not be so bad afterall. Of course, maybe we should suit up Tom Lehman and Pavin (both captain and co-captain this year) for these matches. Brett Wetterich, Zach Johnson (A&M clown), JJ Henry (TCU boy), and Vaughn Taylor are going to be pissing in their pants during their first matches.
Europe's squad
1 David HOWELL 208.65
2 Colin MONTGOMERIE 207.88
3 José Maria OLAZÁBAL 202.09
4 Henrik STENSON 201.76
5 Luke DONALD 192.25
6 Sergio GARCIA 190.30
7 Paul CASEY 165.33
8 Padraig HARRINGTON 154.46
9 Carl PETTERSSON 154.12
10 Robert KARLSSON 151.46
This team looks much better on paper than the Americans especially when you consider how good Olazabal, Monty, and Garica are in team play. David Howell and Luke Donald form a somewhat fearsome England duo.
The teams in their current form look like a huge advantage to Europe, espcially playing in front of the fans in Ireland . And because it looks like such a mismatch on paper. And because crazy things happen when I don't get to watch them live, I am predicting the US pulls off the miracles and wins on European soil.
Okay, not really but it would be a good story wouldn't it.
Vancouverwon't be too bad as a consolation to missing the ryder cup. Your damn sure I'm gonna watch that son of a bitch on TIVO and maybe even catch the Sunday singles if I'm lucky.
USA, USA, USA
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Do or Die Time
The Current AL West Standings look as follows on August 8th:
W L % GB Strk
Oakland 61 51 .545 -- Won 5
LA Angels 58 54 .518 3.0 Won 3
Texas 56 57 .496 5.5 Lost 3
Seattle 54 57 .486 6.5 Won 1
If the Rangers want to have any chance to win this division, they must at least win one of the last two games in this Oakland series, preferrably both.
Also (big thanks to Fraser for his help), I have finally figured how to post Youtube videos directly on this page. So be expecting plenty of these from here on out. Today's link is a montage of the greatest plays during Rocket Ismail's career at Notre Dame. Whether or not your remember him, this clip is worth checking out...
Texas Has Started Fall Practice and it's tough not to get excited about this team even without Vince. We have so much talent coming back around two very young quarterbacks. I feel like I have paid my dues going out and seeing our team practice in the fall at least 1 or 2 years while in school. Glad to see some other picking up the slack. Cody Daniel attended a tonight or last night and had a good writeup. Hope he doesn't mind making his good work public.
Odd News Link of the Day
Lindsay Lohan wants to take a break from her partying ways and spend some time in Iraq and entertain the troops Marilyn Monroe style. Only in America. God bless this country...
W L % GB Strk
Oakland 61 51 .545 -- Won 5
LA Angels 58 54 .518 3.0 Won 3
Texas 56 57 .496 5.5 Lost 3
Seattle 54 57 .486 6.5 Won 1
If the Rangers want to have any chance to win this division, they must at least win one of the last two games in this Oakland series, preferrably both.
Also (big thanks to Fraser for his help), I have finally figured how to post Youtube videos directly on this page. So be expecting plenty of these from here on out. Today's link is a montage of the greatest plays during Rocket Ismail's career at Notre Dame. Whether or not your remember him, this clip is worth checking out...
Texas Has Started Fall Practice and it's tough not to get excited about this team even without Vince. We have so much talent coming back around two very young quarterbacks. I feel like I have paid my dues going out and seeing our team practice in the fall at least 1 or 2 years while in school. Glad to see some other picking up the slack. Cody Daniel attended a tonight or last night and had a good writeup. Hope he doesn't mind making his good work public.
My Thoughts:
1. Jermichael Finley is going to play a BIG role this year....I hope # 16 isn't on OSU's radar....the QBs love throwing to him. He stood out bigtime. Huge, Fast, great hands, and already has swagger. # 1 surprise for me...just how good he is and how important he will be.
2. Both QBs can throw it....It's going to be whoever reads D's better - and I think Colt is ahead. Snead is bigger and has a quicker release but McCoy is more productive in the drills vs the defense....Our # 1 CBs are tough. Snead had a tough time with the # 1 unit with # 2 WRs....but I think its just our DBs are great. I love Tarrell Brown's game....
3. Kelson looked great.....Fast as Hell and big. Killebrew got kicked out of a drill for laying out Nate Jones in a non-hitting drill....Mack scolded him and Chizik patted him on the rear....I think Gene liked it.
4. Kindle was held out of practice (?)
5. Shipley looks good but held his hammy after one play where T Brown beat him in the air....I just hope he can stay healthy...I have my doubts. He reminds me of a white Aaron Ross in build and speed....makes good adjustments in the air as well. Could be really good but he has to be tougher. FAST.
6. Quan, Billy, and Sweed will make a GREAT starting WR corp - Shipley 1st off the bench
7. TE will be a strength this year as well....Tweadie looks great and I already jocked JF.
8. The rumor is right....Selvin Young is back. He looks GREAT. J-Chuck is exactly the same....shifty and fast as a jitterbug.
9. Reverses might come out more often looking to get the ball in Quan, Billy, and Shipley's hands more....
10. Starting D is going to be better this year....no doubt in my mind. They looked ready to play tomorrow...Chizik's got his squad moving, yellling, and having fun.
11. Snead is more talkative with the other players than Colt.......always low fiving and chatting all practice.
12. Freshman report: Jones got reps, Norton got reps, and so did R Joseph, J Henry, McGee, Webber, Payne, Earnest etc...all will play 2nd/3rd string and Special teams most likely. I was pleasantly surprised with Josh Marshall bigger and faster than I expected...probably still RS b/c of our depth at WR
13. Utalski may start at RT with Blalock moving in to RG or Dockery will play RG and Blalock will stay at RT....
14. Mack has lost 20ish lbs.
15. We're going to be good....I feel better about our team than when I went. QBs will struggle some but their is SO much talent around them...
Odd News Link of the Day
Lindsay Lohan wants to take a break from her partying ways and spend some time in Iraq and entertain the troops Marilyn Monroe style. Only in America. God bless this country...
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Bomar Out at OU
Unbelievable news out of Norman today....
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma starting quarterback Rhett Bomar will not play for the Sooners this season following an investigation by the team, according to a television report.
Oklahoma confirmed that two players had been dismissed by the team but did not identify them. The school said in a statement that the players violated NCAA rules by working at a private business and taking "payment over an extended period of time in excess of time actually worked."
Oklahoma City television station KWTV reported that Bomar, who set an Oklahoma freshman record with 2,018 passing yards after taking over as the Sooners' starter in the second game last season, was one of the two players who had been permanently dismissed.
"We spend a considerable amount of time addressing our players regarding their personal conduct and the NCAA rules," head coach Bob Stoops said in a statement. "They know exactly what we expect from them. Ultimately, they have to make right decisions. The same holds true for our boosters. When they do not, the consequences are serious, and we will not tolerate this behavior.
"Our team and university actions are necessary because of the intentional participation and knowledge of the student athletes in these violations," Stoops said.
A top-rated recruit out of high school, Bomar redshirted his first season while 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Jason White completed his career. Bomar lost a quarterback competition to Paul Thompson last fall, but was named the starter after the Sooners lost to TCU in the first week.
He started Oklahoma's final 11 games and completed 54 percent of his passes, while throwing 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Oklahoma finished 2005 by winning six of its final seven games, including a victory against Oregon in the Holiday Bowl.
"I firmly believe that our program is stronger than any individual player and that a championship program cannot compromise its values," Stoops said in the statement.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma starting quarterback Rhett Bomar will not play for the Sooners this season following an investigation by the team, according to a television report.
Oklahoma confirmed that two players had been dismissed by the team but did not identify them. The school said in a statement that the players violated NCAA rules by working at a private business and taking "payment over an extended period of time in excess of time actually worked."
Oklahoma City television station KWTV reported that Bomar, who set an Oklahoma freshman record with 2,018 passing yards after taking over as the Sooners' starter in the second game last season, was one of the two players who had been permanently dismissed.
"We spend a considerable amount of time addressing our players regarding their personal conduct and the NCAA rules," head coach Bob Stoops said in a statement. "They know exactly what we expect from them. Ultimately, they have to make right decisions. The same holds true for our boosters. When they do not, the consequences are serious, and we will not tolerate this behavior.
"Our team and university actions are necessary because of the intentional participation and knowledge of the student athletes in these violations," Stoops said.
A top-rated recruit out of high school, Bomar redshirted his first season while 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Jason White completed his career. Bomar lost a quarterback competition to Paul Thompson last fall, but was named the starter after the Sooners lost to TCU in the first week.
He started Oklahoma's final 11 games and completed 54 percent of his passes, while throwing 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Oklahoma finished 2005 by winning six of its final seven games, including a victory against Oregon in the Holiday Bowl.
"I firmly believe that our program is stronger than any individual player and that a championship program cannot compromise its values," Stoops said in the statement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)