NFL ruins Weekend

I'm a bit behind posting my NFL picks, but here they are.

CAROLINA(-4)over arizona For whatever it's worth, the line moved to Carolina by five after I bet. Right now Arizona is up 10-0, so right now it's not worth much, though I'd hate to be off 15. Two TD's gets me a push.

san diego(-3)over new orleans The game is in London. I believe this is a "home" game for the Saints, but my DirecTV labled it "Saints @ Chargers.* I checked Bill Simmons' column, and he put both teams in small letters, same as me. (He also picked the Chargers who trail, 16-10--make that 22-10, with the extra point coming. Drew Brees just connected for a long TD pass, after which the receiver celebrated soccer style, by doing a slide on his knees in the corner of the end zone. The refs then penalized him for excessive celebration, which prompted a chorus of boos from the English fans. I wonder if the people running the NFL are even aware of the standards overseas. They are probably as clueless as the jerks running our economy and foreign policy....

Antonio Gates just scored. 23-17, Saints.

I was hoping San Diego's atrocious pass defense stats were due to other teams playing catch up. Given that they are 3-4 right now, that may not be too realistic. On the other hand, Jay Cutler probably put up 1/3 of those stats....

If the NFL wanted to give the English a high scoring game then mission accomplished.

atlanta(-9)over PHILADELPHIA Philly has a reputation for eating inexperienced quarterbacks alive. Even if I buy this logic I wouldn't give more than 7. Maybe 7.5. I figure the Eagles should be favored by about 5.

It's almost halftime, and it's 7-7.

Michigan State finally got in together and beat Michigan yesterday, 35-21, after trailing 21-14 in the 3rd quarter. State missed three field goals, and Michigan scored on a botched out of bounds call, so we probably should have won by between 20 and 30. The win put me at 2-1 on the day. If I'd taken Penn State and LSU I'd be 3-2. Penn State beat Ohio State 13-6, but LSU fell to Georgia, 52-38.

I'm thinking about taking SAN FRANCISCO(-6) over seattle. On the other hand, all the underdogs are covering, in my games at least, so giving 6 with the Niners may not be the solution.

Philadelphia now leads Atlanta 17-7. I need to end these posts sooner. On a related note, New Orleans is now up 30-17, and Arizona is up 17-3....make that 17-10. Egad.

*They also labled one of the Premiereship games "Tottenhame v. Bolton." Shows what they know. Though with the way they're playing this year, Tottenham doesn't deserve to have their name spelled right. On the other hand they beat Bolton, 2-0, for their first win of the season. In related news, Washington currently trails Detroite, 10-9.

I take State as Line Moves

Michigan State opened as 4 point favorites at Michigan, while Accuscore projects to the Spartans winning by 10. Not bad for a team that lost to Ohio State 45-7 last week. I waited to bet, hoping that somehow $$ would pour in on Michigan. Didn't happen, of course, and State is now favored by 4.5. The internet is chock-full of Greenbloods terrified of losing to the worst Michigan team in my lifetime. I think this is like the second time State's been favored here since I was in college, and some of the Spartan anxiety comes from Michigan playing the spoiler.

I'm still tempted, but that is a big 1/2 point. For now I'm staying away.

Accuscore really likes Georgia to win at LSU. LSU started out favored by 2, but now are favored by only one. I like the Tigers at home, which is a nice way of saying I think Georgia's overrated. I suspect I don't know what's going on here, whcih could be enough reason to stay away.

I like Penn State(-2.5) at Ohio State, but they never win in Columbus, and the Buckeyes finally played up to their potential last week, so....

I may go 0-0 on the three biggest games of the week.


Zach Rosenfield likes central michigan(-4)over TOLEDO, and so do I. I meant to take them last week. Besides, the worse Toledo turns out to be, the more embarrasing for Michigan.

Zach likes texas tech (+1)over KANSAS. For me it's even. texas tech(pick)over KANSAS. The Jayhawks are ranked #23, while Tech is ranked 7th or 8th, depending who you ask. This week will show that Kansas isn't that great--maybe next week we foind out about Tech.


................................


The Michigan-Michigan State line has dropped to 3.5. I guess I wasn't so crazy to hope that before. I've now got michigan state(-3.5)over MICHIGAN. Six minutes into the game State leads 7-0. I almost didn't get this bet in because I forgot I'm on Central Time and the schedule is Eastern Time.

Speaking of bets I didn't get in, the Georgia at LSU line dropped to pick in the last couple of hours. Originally LSU was favored by 2, and for the last couple of days the line was 1. I liked LSU all along, but Accuscore really likes Georgia, and this scared me off until I saw the line drop to zero.

I only realized the game had started when Pugilant Mick called to see if i was watching the game, and to inform me that he currently hates Michigan State more than he hates Michigan. I'll take that as a compliment.

Georgia just scored to strech their lead to 21-7. Glad I didn't take LSU. Meanwhile, Michigan has tied it at 7. It was 4th and 11 from the 19, so my guess is Michigan scored on a fake field goal. I think I'll call Mick, to confirm this, and get a dose of the fresh irrationality on display.

Earlier I lost my bet on Cental Michigan, as they beat Toledo 24-23, and fell short of the 4 point spread. Meanwhile, Texas Tech as a pick at Kansas was still a bargain, as the Red Raiders romped to a 63-21 victory.

I slowly adapt to Sattelite TV

I'm a bit late in posting, but today I've taken NYGIANTS(-11)over san francisco, and CHICAGO(-3)over minnesota. It's halftime right now, and I'm not feeling particularly good about either pick. The Bears are up, 27-24, and the Giants lead 17-10. The NFC North teams show no indication that they can play defense, supposedly their hallmark, and the Giants are only beating this supposedly inferior team because of turnovers.

On the other hand, I feel great about not drinking any of the Cowboy Kool-Aid, as they trail the mighty St Louis Rams, 24-7. When the Cowboys picked up the other Roy Williams from the Lions I spent some time berating Cowboy fans on the internet, and joking about Tony Romo being unable to administer a shocker to his pop-star--er...country star girlfriend. I like that Jessica Simpson is insecure enough to re-invent herself as a country singer to compete with Tony's ex, Carrie Underwood. ESPN actually deleted one of my "two in the pink, none in the stink" jokes. I could only find where it was by finding the response that "he could use his left hand." Well put. Better than putting in Brad Johnson, whose 'Boys now trail 31-7. On a related note, Jimmy Kimmel's Cousin Sal joked on two different podcasts that now Jessica Simpson can only count to 19, and avoided getting censored. On the other hand, he won an Emmy for writing "I'm Fucking Matt Damon," so maybe he doesn't have to worry about ESPN censoring him.

Meanwhile, the 'Niners continue to turn the ball over, and the Giants have now pulled in front of the spread, 24-10.

Yow! The Bears just scored on a LOOOOOONG run, after a short pass. 51 yards, and the Bears lead, 41-31.


The Bears just intercepted, and returned down to the 5 or so....

I'm back. Matt Forte scored from the half-yard line after a bogus pass interference call in the end zone on 4th and one. The Vikes have come back with a field goal, to make it 48-34. The Giants are up 27-17, and are 85 yards from beating the spread. Well, 50 yards and a strong right leg anyway.

J. T. O'Sullivan just extended his lead over the rest of the league...in fumbles. The ball squirted backwards until a 'Niner kicked the ball out the back of the end zone. Saftey! Giants lead,
29-17, and the spread by one.

I took the Giants this game because of all the attention to how badly west coast teams do when they travel east 3 time zones. Looks like the Bills over the Chargers was a better example. The Bills were favored by one, won by nine, 23-14.

The Giants have won, 29-17. The Bears held on to win, 48-41, and I'm 2-0 against the spread. I'm 3-0 for the weekend, since Miami Beat Duke yesterday, 49-31.

Not that I wanted to watch it, but the Cowboys-Rams game was blacked out here. This is my first Sunday with a dish, (and the NFL ticket) and I wasn't expecting ANY blackouts. I also thought Killeen was far enough from Dallas that this wouldn't be an issue. Lions games were never blacked out in Battle Creek.

I just Yahoo mapped it--Battle Creek is closer. WTF. Meanwhile, the Colts at Green Bay game is blacked out too....

Wait--that game is on CBS. The Cowboys were probably on a local station too. I've got to remember to check the local stations. I was stunned to think the Cowboys might not have sold out, even if their season is slowly going down the tubes.

I figure I ought to at least mention the scores of all the games I followed/mentioned yesterday. So....Texas 56 Missouri 31. Penn State 46 Michigan 17. (Actually I forgot to mention this one. According to bodog Michigan covered, but the spread was 24 or 25, so I'm not sure who is doing their math. I suppose it's a glitch, so I wonder how often glitches like this happen. This game went more or less like I expected, except that Michigan didn't cover. I wonder if the Wolverines have done enough to be favored next week....

Or if we've done little enough. Ohio State 45 Michigan State 7. I had a feeling the Bucks were going to finally cover, but...damn.

Texas Tech eventually pulled away from Texas A&M, 43-25. Iowa trounced Wisconsin, 38-16--I woulda lost that one.

Central Michigan beat Western Michigan, 38-28. Woulda got that.

Oklahoma State beat Baylor, 34-6, warming up for a showdown in Austin next week.

Pittsburgh beat Navy, 42-21.

Virginia Beat North Carolina, 16-13. This is the way I would have bet this, if I thought the Cavs were remotely reliable.

Boston College beat Virginia Tech, 28-23. BC is 5-1. Are they actually good this year? these ACC games are always so close, like NFC divisional games. Whatever.

What's with the Faux Simon & Garfunkel guys in the Burger King 'Shroom and Swiss ads? Anytime they resurrect musicians from the '60's and start calling mushrooms 'shrooms I start thinking somebody's trying to sell me psilocybin. Or cholesteral-laden-heart-attack burgers.

Congrats to Toyota, whose "Saved by Zero" ads make marginally more sense than the lame song they were adapted from. And much more sense than the Honda ad I just saw where the Honda lures giant mosquitos into a giant bug-zapper. Or maybe the Honda was just really small.

Washington leads Cleveland 7-3 at the beginning of the 4th quarter, and I think I'm going to finish off Season I of Dexter before Mad Men comes on. Or rub one out. Speaking of which, That Dexter kills almost as compulsively as I whack off. Or almost as frequently....


Tampa Bay is up 7-0 on Seattle in the Sunday Night game. Just saw CNN's ticker say that Texas crushed Missouri, 56-3. Missouri should sue. This is stuff from last night on CNN. It really magnifies mistakes when they show the same stuff over and over.

Quality over Quantity?

I took mercy on my three readers last week and failed to announce my NFL picks. I also failed to win either of them. I had new england(+6) over SAN DIEGO, and
nygiants(-8) over CLEVELAND. New England lost 30-10, while the Giants lost 35-14. Ouch.

Right now I'm listening to Dave Damechek's podcast to find out if Zach Rosenfield makes any sense. I didn't find last weeks installment, so I don't know how he did. So far they are going on about how crushed he is thatOklahoma lost to Texas, since he's an OU grad.

Zach and Dave both LOVE BYU. Unfortunately, they lost (badly) last night. They also like miami(-3)over DUKE and so do I. I used to do well betting against Duke, but lately they don't suck nearly as much. Still, even a not-so-self-respecting 'Caines team should be able to beat Duke by 4.

Interestingly, according to the podcast BYU opened as a 3 point favorite, but TCU was favored by one by the time of the podcast. Apparently the betting public was on to something, since the Horned Frogs won, 32-7.

If I remember correctly, the Ohio State at Michigan State line opened at OSU by 3.5, and the line has dropped to 3. Of course, I'm too emotionally invested in this game to bet on it either way. I think this is probably State's best chance to beat the Buckeyes in a while. It would have been better to meet them a couple of weeks ago, when their freshman QB was really fresh, but he's still figuring things out. I suspect Ohio State will be much stronger by the end of the year, unless they lose to Michigan State and Penn State, and then give up. Not that Jim Tressel's teams have any quit in them or anything. Just saying.

I waited too long to bet on the early games. The Wisconsin at Iowa line was up to Iowa by 4.5 by game time. I was going to take the Badgers, but at the moment Iowa is up, 14-3, so I'm glad I didn't.

Right now Texas A&M is up on Texas Tech, 16-13. A&M is a 21 point dog, so this game is much better than advertised. Right now even with my new dish I'm not finding any thing better. This game is on twelve different stations. TWELVE. No shit.

Syracuse at South Florida is also on right now, as is New Hmpshire at Northeastern. Or I could gouge out my eyeballs with a fork. Sorry. I've watched nine episodes of Dexter in the last three days. I figured out who his season I nemesis was lat night, about two episodes before they told us. They seemed to be hinting at it pretty hard to me, but my wife was surprised. I might ask around to see if it was as obvious to them as it was to me. Tech is up now, 20-16. The Aggies just had a big play come back, on a holding penalty, I think. It's almost halftime, and the first punt of the game was just delivered by A&M.

Zach advised to take Central Michigan(+2) at Western, and Cental is up right now, 21-14. I would have taken this one. Oh well.

22 seconds left in the half, the Aggies just went up, 23-20. I just checked the Duke line, and Miami is now favored by 3.5. I wonder if Rosenfield moved the line. He took Oklahoma(-16.5) hosting Baylor. The line was up to 17.5 last night, but now it's down to 17, so I'm thinking about it. Around here there is alot of Baylor hype, since freshman quarterback Robert Griffin is from nearby Copperas Cove, and the nearest ESPN Radio station is in Waco. (Baylor is in Waco, if you didn't know. Outside of Texas Waco is probably better known for David Koresh and friends.) I find myself rooting for Baylor just enough to not bet against them.

Judging by the hype, Michigan State-Ohio State is the second biggest game of the day. The biggest is Missouri at Texas. Missouri dropped to about #11 after losing to Oklahoma State, but I still think of them as ranked 3 or 4. Texas, of course, vaulted from #5 to #1 when they beat #1 Oklahoma last week. If the line is any indicator, a ton of money has come in on this game, most of it on Missouri. Texas opened as a six point favorite, but are now favored by only 4.5. I've heard sports radio guys argue for both sides of this one. They either love Missouri's spread offense, or they like Texas' defense and ball control. Since Texas is at home, and I never hear anyone say anything nice about Missouri's defense, I like Texas, but maybe only by 3 or 3.5. Too close to call? I guess you could say that.

I liked Pittsburgh(-3) at Navy, until I looked at their recent results. Now I like Navy. I'll sit this one out. I don't know what to make of Virginia, a 3.5 point home dog to UNC. The Cavs have lost to Duke(!)31-3, and to UConn, 45-10, but more recently beat East Carolina 35-20, and Maryland 31-0. Either of these wins was probably more impressive than anything the 'Heels have done. Virginia hasn't won on the road, or lost at home.

Right now the Cavs are losing at home, 7-0. Michigan State trails Ohio State, 21-0, end of the first quarter. My dish is getting 12 channels of USC-Washington State, and Toledo-Northern Illinois, but no MSU-OSU. I called Pennsyltucky Dave to bitch, and he invited me over, but I passed, unless State starts a roaring comeback.

Oklahoma State leads Baylor, 28-6. I'm trying to figure out why the dish isn't picking up this game. What a crock.

Right now the only NFL game I like is tennessee(-9) over KANSAS CITY, but nine on the road? Tennessee just doesn't score that much.

Now that I've returned to humiliating myself by handicapping college football, it's time to take a look at the pros. You didn't know I humiliated myself? Well, lets recap:

Jimmy goes Emo/Irish to Cleave Tar Hooves?

Now that Accuscore's Zach Rosenfield helped me to six wins in my current 12-1 streak, I've been checking all over Accuscore's site, tring to glean some wisdom for this weeks games. This is a work in progress, but so far I've taken MISSOURI(-14) over oklahoma state, and michigan state(-1.5) over NORTHWESTERN. I took Missouri because Accuscore had them favored by 14.5, but I could get them at bodog for 14. Oklahoma State puts up alot of points, so I'm not sure they should be this big of a dog, but I figure I got a little bit of a bargain, especially since bodog's line has now moved to 14.5.

I'm very leery of taking State vs N'western, since they always seem to beat us, but the Accuscore mean result is MSU, 27-20, so this seems like a pretty big edge. Accuscore's simulations usually seem to be within 1 or 2 points of the actual spread, so 5.5 seems like an exploitable margin. I think State is in the process of turning over a new leaf with Mark D'Antonio (meaning they play defense now, or at least try to) so maybe they can keep the score down against the Wildcats....

I'm considering Ball State against Western Kentucky, giving 16.5. Accuscore averages their result at 36-16, and has them winning 91% of the time, and 78.6% of the time they "win big." I'm not sure what this means. Is winning by 14 winning big? Fourteen won't cut it here. For that matter, if winning by 10 is winning big, that won't cut it in the Missouri game.

Notre Dame was a nine point dog at North Carolina, but now it's 8.5. I think the line started out at 7.5. I'd like to call Pugilant Mick and berate him, but right now it's too early because he's onn the West Coast. I've been trying to figure out if North Carolina has a mascot man-like enough to use the infamous voodoo doll. The only things I've seen are feet with black on the heels (of course) and a ram's head with overgrown horns. Is this a ram with human feet. This sort of Dr. Moreau hybrid could have some sort of demonic genesis, and ram horns have long been associated with the devil, on Tarot Cards, for instance. On the other hand, there's nothing cloven about these Tar Heels. They ain't the Tar Hooves, savy? Unless some Devilish tendancies have rubbed off from their rivals in Durham....not to mention Wake Forest....

On the other hand, apparantly Jimmy Clausen has now shaved his head, prompting some fans to say he looks like an Emo kid. Is Notre Dame being led by somebody that listens to Joy Division? Or did the golden boy decide, Britney Spears like, to make himself a voodoo doll? Somebody needs to watch Jimmy and make sure he doesn't start cutting himself, or getting a bunch of piercings.

Of course, if Clausen is making a voodoo doll of himself, we still don't know why. By losing the flowing blonde locks he may be rejecting his California Surfer heritage in order to put a hex on USC. What the heck. Nothing else has worked lately. In any case, something tells me Jimmy isn't going all Chris Gaines on us to put a hex on th Tar heels....Or is he? Noth Carolina may have legions of Garth Brooks fans, in which case this could get into their heads. Somebody needs to check and see if Jimmy has concocted an alternate biography, or if he has an album coming out. Maybe in a couple of hours I can give this assignment to Mick.

The average Iowa at Indiana score on Accuscore is 23.4-22.4. This would seem to make the Hoosiers a pick, since they are a 5.5 to 6 point dog. Apparantly nobody respects Indiana, including me, because I'm scared to take them here. On the other hand, I don't really respect Michigan State, but I took them....maybe I'm just a hypocrite.

Similarly, Florida is favored by 6 or 6.5, and accuscore has LSU losing by 2. Here any worry I have about Florida covering is compounded by how difficult it's been for me to handicap the SEC in the past.

Meanwhile, in the other huge game for the day, Texas is still a seven point dog to Oklahoma, but now the vig indicates money is coming in on the Sooners, where earlier it was coming in on Texas. I'm sorely tempted to take the Sooners, but I want to dress up in Burnt Orange and root for the 'Horns at Texas Roadhouse or Hooters, and that would sort of spoil that. Accuscore averages Oklahoma winning by 8.2.

Ball State is now favored by 17, so I probably should have taken them before. I am now. ballstate(-17) over WESTERN KENTUCKY Bodog has no information on Wetern Kentucky, which leads me to believe that they are not Division I.

Tulsa at SMU is another game I probably should have taken earlier, as the line has moved from 24 to 24.5. Accuscore has Tulsa winning by an average of 28.5 though, so what the heck. I could buy a half-point, but I won't. tulsa(-24.5)over SOUTHERN METHODIST. Strangely enough, Accuscore's fan poll has 90% picking Tulsa to beat the spread, but only 84% picking them to win. Maybe more than six percent of them didn't understand the question. If these are the same people John McCain and Sarah M. Palin are targeting on the stump that would explain alot. Six percent is enough to swing most elections.

I'm taking CINCINNATI(-7.5)over rutgers. Accuscore favors Cincy by 11, and I'm going to assume a positive hangover from the Mark D'Antonio era. Money is coming in on Rutgers, so I might wait to see if the line goes back to 7, but there is only about 30 min to gametime.

I'm paying for a 1/2 point, to give me CINCINNATI(-7)over rutgers. Seven is so much more common than the bigger numbers that I think it's worth it.

Accuscore turned me on to Texas Techlast week, and this week they average Texas Tech by 24.5 over Nebraska, while the actual spread is 21.5. Again, here I like paying for a half point. TEXAS TECH(-21)over nebraska.

Accuscore averages Kentucky as winning by 2.5 hosting South Carolina, while the Gamecocks are favored by 3 on bodog. I think I have to take that. KENTUCKY(+3)over south carolina. Money must be poring in on the Wildcats. I just had to pay a 1.25-1 vig. Bodog clearly doesn't want to move the line down, though I'm not sure why theirs was 3 in the first place, since accuscore's was 2.5.

In games I've declined to bet on, Accuscore likes Indiana, Oklahoma, and LSU, so I want to keep track of those as well. Oh yeah, and they like Penn State over Wisconsin by 9 instead of 6. Forgot to mention that one before.

Streak Continues--Thats what I call a Bailout!

I turned on the Redskins game this afternoon, saw that they were down 14-0, and agreed to go to Wal-Mart with my wife. When we returned, Washington led Philadelphia 23-14. They held on to win 23-17. Not bad for a seven point dog.

The only other game I bet on was on New England at San Francisco. New England got behind early, but came back to win, 30-21. This makes me 2-0 on the day and 8-0 on the weekend. At least I picked the pro games myself. Dating back to last week I'm on a 12-1 roll. Sadly enough, I'm not sure if this puts me in the black for the season. I suppose this would be a good time to tabulate my total results, before they go to crap again.

The game I considered but didn't take was NYGIANTS(-7.5) over seattle. The Giants won,
44-6. I'm thinking you could take the lines for the Giants and Cowboys and assume that one of them won't cover. Figure out which one won't, and you can take the other one. No problem.

Evil Computers help me go 6-0 on College games

The spread on Wahington at Philadelphia has moved to 7, and I've taken
washington(+7)over PHILADELPHIA. I was considering the 'Skins before the line moved, and seven seems like too much to me. Not that I'll be shocked if the Eagles win in a blowout or anything.

Zach Rosenfield just may be a genius. He is at least using his evil computers to come up with some outstanding picks. Right now I'm still catching up, but so far he's gotten everything right.

In the game that started before I could bet on it, Georgia Tech dumped Duke, 27-0. Off the top of my head, the spread was 13 or 14....It was 14. Right.

Oklahoma covered the 25 point spread in the first quarter, jumping out to a 28-0 lead, then hung on to beat the number, 49-17.

Texas Tech was favored by 8 over Kansas State, and won, 58-28. Did you know Tech is ranked 7th? They'd be even higher, but all the top 6 won...I think LSU had a bye since I don't see their score.

North Carolina was favored by 7.5 over UConn. In hoops? No. UNC won 38-12. Including the Tech game, Zach is 4-0, me 3-0.

After making a very compelling arguement for Texas on the road over Colorado, Zach refrained from making Texas an official pick. I was convinced, and the 'Horns covered the 12.5 easily,
38-14.

Tulsa beat Rice 63-28, covering the 17 point spread.

Ball State was favored by 7 over Toledo by the time I took them, and won 31-0. So far I'm 6-0 on the weekend, on the strength of Zach Rosenfield's picks. He also got Georgia Tech over Duke right, and Vandy over Auburn right.

Back to School(s)

I haven't posted as much in the last bit....Either I've been busier, or I'm still in shock from going 4-1 last week. This week we saw MICHIGAN(-13) over johnmccain. Senator McCain suspended his campaign in the Great Lake State when polls showed him trailing by 13 there. I heard this on the radio as I was dropping off my absentee ballot. Wasted effort? Heck no, I was mainly voting in favor of the medical marijuana initiative. This one might not pass, but if they keep putting it on the ballot it might pass by the time I'm no longer subject to random drug testing. If this thing passes, John should retire to Michigan. I'll smoke him down, whether he has cancer, glaucoma, or whatever, or not.

On the other hand, Thursday we saw SARAHMPALIN(+14.5)over joebiden. I'm not saying she won the debate, I'm saying she only lost by about nine, thus exceeding expectations. Before the debate I saw a thing going around the office called Sarah Palin Bingo. It had a normal Bingo grid, except the squares had things like "hockey mom," "gosh darn," and "moose hunting" on it. The idea was you could cover a square whenever she said something on the board. Or do a shot.
The cards are at palinbingo.com. I guess if McCain wins you can use this card again, if they let her speak, that is.

Finally, on Friday WALL ST BAILOUT (+$850Billion) over us taxpayers. I know the vote was in Washington DC. I consider that a home field for Wall Street.

I was going to sit out this week in college, since nothing was jumping out at me, but I'm taking some of the advise of Zach Rosenfield, who was on this week's Dave Dameshek podcast. I've never heard of the guy, but he picks college games the same way I do. He looks for mismatched teams, particularly focusing on what he termed "scoring machines. I waited too long to take Georgia Tech (-14) over Duke, (and MICHIGAN STATE(-7)over iowa--not one of his picks, or one of mine, but State is more attractive now that the line is only 7. I think it was 8 before.)

I have taken oklahoma(-25) over BAYLOR. Baylor's freshman QB is from a local high school, for whatever that's worth.

I've taken texas tech(-8) over KANSAS STATE. I'm not convinced that K State is as bad as this guy says, looking at their record, but he says they can't tackle, so eight doesn't seem like too much to give with one of these scoring machines.

I'm not used to North Carolina being any good, but apparently UConn's QB has a broken foot. Good to know. NORTH CAROLINA(-7.5) over uconn. Connecticut's too long to type...nice matchup, if this was hoops.

Zach didn't quite take texas(-12.5)over COLORADO, but I will. Colorado managed to lose at 'Bama by only 6, but I think that was before the 'Tide hit their stride. I need to ride this burnt orange wave, as long as I'm here.

I'm checking the scores, and as of 9:00 left in the second quarter, Tech and Duke are scoreless, so I'm glad I missed that one. Duke doesn't suck as bad as I'm used to. For some reason, bodog never seems to be able to post the Michigan State score until later on.

I'm taking ball state(-7.5)over TOLEDO. I'm pretty sold on this Rosenfield character, as Oklahoma is up 28-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. On the other hand, Duke is only down 3-0 at the half. MSU is up 13-3 at halftime, and bodog still doesn't know.

Nice! In the last couple of minutes the Ball State line has dropped to 7. I'll take it, especially since I didn't already with the bigger line. What's up? $$ pouring in on Toledo?
ball state(-7)over TOLEDO.

I'm not sold on this one, but I'm taking TULSA(-17)over rice. I'm not sure that they're that bad, but the hurricaine hitting Houston can't help....like Dave Dameshek, I always thought Rice was in Dallas.

In the pros, I think 6 is too much for Philly to be favored by at home against Washington, but I'll stay away from it, I think. I'm also considering the Giants by 7.5 hosting Seattle. I'm just not convinced the Giants are going to consistently bury foes, though they probably keep winning.
I will take new england(-3)over SAN FRAN. Apparantly bodog doesn't want to raise the spread on this one, because the vig is all out of whack.

Baylor is getting competitive--vs the spread. 35-14 at the half. Georgia Tech is up 17-0. BC is up 27-17 towards the end of the 3rd, and MSU is up 16-6.

I go 4-1, Bailout Shot Down

After a fairly crap start to the season, I went 4-1 last weekend.

I already mentioned Michigan State covering the 8.5 spread, beating Indiana 42-29. Now that I'm back to doubting State's defense, they are favored by 8 hosting Iowa. I'm not touching it.

In the only game where I really felt comfortable all weekend, Tennessee beat Minnesota and the 3 point spread, 30-17. Too bad they left Houston....

And too bad I bet against Houston. The Texans took Jacksonville to OT before falling, 30-27, covering the 7 point spread in the process.

San Diego rallied from a 15-0 deficit, beating the Raiders 28-18. They covered tghe 8 point spread, and caused Al Davis to fire his head coach,....Lane Kiffin. I'm only throwing his name in there because I figure neither one of us will know who he is a month from now. Unless he redeems himself in the college ranks, of course. IK have no opinion about the guy, I just know Oakland was having problems before he got there, so somebody might give him another shot.

In an interesting subplot, the Chargers went for two when they took the lead, and led 18-15 after converting. Good idea if you are going for the win, since this put them up 3. Fairly inconsiderate to poor schmos like me who need them to win by nine, however. I didn't need that exra point--getting only 6 would have ended in a push for me, however (assuming they scored two more times) 26-18. Not that I'm complaining, I guess.

John McCain swooped in to help me pick baltimore(+6) over PITTSBURGH. Baltimore covered, losing in OT, 23-20, so it's unbelieveable that the $70 billion bailout got shot down. I hope they shoot down a couple more before we all get screwed. You know it's coming...they just need to brainwash a few more in the house so they think the sky is falling.

I like how President Bush personally asked Texas Republicans to vote for the bailout, and they ignored him, 15-4. At least somebody's standing up to the current crew of incompetants, thieves and liars, even as our future leaders rubber stamp their floundering machinations. Scumbags.