College Football Picks

Here's my picks for today. Good luck to one and all.

Cincinnati -14.5 over Syracuse
Georgia Tech -11.5 over Vanderbilt
UTEP -7 over Alabama Birmingham
Michigan -6.5 over Illinois
Connecticut -7 over Rutgers
Indiana +17.5 over Iowa
Iowa State +6 over Texas A&M
Ole Miss -5 over Auburn
Houston -6.5 over Southern Mississippi

Friday Morning Links

Some interesting reading on a Friday morning.

- Michaela Murphy and THE Kennedy's (PDF) - very amusing story

- The Philosophy of Knish - giving Joey Knish from Rounders his just due

- How the NFL mismatches have been killing the sportsbooks - though I fully expect people to turn around and give that money right back to Vegas or Joey Bag-o-donuts.

- Interesting look at the strange happenings in the Northwest where seven human feet in sneakers have been found washed up on shore in the past 2 years

Heh Heh

Godfather Though for the Day

Michael Corleone is often thought of as a poor husband and father. He tried to be like his father Don Vito but it just didn't work out. Sure he loved his kids but it just wasn't enough. In the end his family is a mess.

How come Kaye never gets any of the blame for this? Seriously.

Keep in mind that Kaye was Michael's second choice (in fact second wife). If Appolonia had lived - do you think Michael would have had so many family problems? Do you think Appolonia would have ever had an abortion? Divorced Michael? I don't think so.

Maybe the real lesson to be learned from the Godfather trilogy is to not marry a WASP.

Texas Tech

I had the same question. Mike Huguenin from Rivals.com points out something that had me mystified Saturday:

OK, someone explain this. Texas Tech blasts Kansas State 66-14 on Oct. 10. On Oct. 17, K-State blasts Texas A&M 62-14. Saturday, A&M blasted Texas Tech 52-30.

Texas Tech was a 21 point favorite on Saturday.

Mad Men

Last night's episode of Mad Men was just awesome is in the dictionary sense of the word. As always Alan Sepinwall is the place to go for Mad Men discussion.

Two thoughts about last night's episode:

1. So much happened last night and so many loose ends were tied up that is seems impossible that the show was just 1 hour long. This season of Mad Men seemed to be moving so slow and then BAM! Even with so much revealed last night you know that many more twists and turns are about to pop with the JFK assassination just around the corner (time-line wise).

2. Many people make Sopranos comparisons but last night's episode made me think the show was more in tune with The Wire. On that show all the lose ends for the season would be cleared up in the penultimate episode with the last episode acting as almost an afterword. Also in season 3 of The Wire you had Stringer Bell getting killed which made many wonder where the series would go from there. The main plot of the series was McNulty and the rest trying to get Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell but with Stringer Bell dead - where would the series go? Likewise in Mad Men the main plot line was the Dick Whitman / Don Draper secret. Now with the secret out (to his wife at least) - where does the series go? Many people thought season 4 of The Wire was the best of the bunch. I get the feeling things will get even better on Mad Men too.

Steve Phillips

Steve Phillips has been fired by ESPN. My first thought on hearing this was "He'll never work again."

Phillips was not a very good GM in baseball and he was worse as an analyst. Now with the image of Phillips as the guy who was banging a chubby intern seared into people's consciousness - Phillips won't get another job in baseball or broadcasting. Sad but true. What organization is going to hire a guy with his record of sexual opportunism / harassment?

Phillips and John Kruk were/are both mind-numbing on Baseball Tonight. I couldn't help but wonder if John Kruk was caught in a dalliance with a chubby intern if he too would get fired or if that would be looked at differently?

Spiking the Ball - Delay of Game

Twice yesterday, in two separate games, I saw a penalty flag thrown on players who spiked the ball after nothing plays. The result was a delay of game penalty in each case. Good!

In both cases the player was upset with themselves so they spiked the ball and the refs penalized them. Two minor penalties would normally not be worthy of mention but this is a pet peeve of mine. It irks me to see players get to the NFL and immediately feel entitled to be jerks. I'm glad that the NFL is cracking down on spiking the ball and delaying the game. People are sick of these "look at me" demonstrations.

Now if only the NFL could do something about players celebrating like fools when they tackle a player after an 8-yard gain.

King of Spades

Did you know that the King of Spades on a playing card was originally supposedly designed to represent King David from the Bible? The sword he holds was supposed to be the sword used to cut off Goliath's head after young David killed him with a rock from his his sling.

During the early parts of the Civil War - Robert E Lee was given the nickname "King of Spades" because of his propensity to dig trenches as part of his strategy. At first the nickname was derisive because soldiers hate to dig. Later when the effectiveness of his tactics saved the lives of many of these same soldiers - the nickname became affectionate. reportedly Lee always loathed the nickname.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Saturday will feature the last Notre Dame / BC matchup in football for some time. BC has done very good in the series to have a 9-9 mark against the "powerhouse" Fighting Irish. The Eagles have won the last 6 matchups. The unspoken reason why this series is coming to an end is because the Boston College fans are obnoxious when it comes to Notre Dame. There is simply no couth on the BC side of this "rivalry". You're better off wearing Red Sox gear head to foot at Yankee Stadium than simply wearing a Notre Dame cap at a BC home game against the Irish. The line in this game is ND -7.5 but I wouldn't touch this one (if I was to pick it my heart would be with BC but my head would say ND)... Girls in bikinis doing hula hoop. Yeah baby!... Georgia Tech beat highly touted Virginia Tech by 5 points last week yet the line against Virginia is just GT -5.5 points? This looks like a gimme. Am I missing something? Is this a trap?... On this date in 1850 Worcester was host to the first National Women's Rights Convention. That put Worcester on the forefront of the woman's suffrage movement. Seeing how Worcester was also the birthplace of the birth control pill - it can be argued that Worcester was one of the most important cities in terms of woman's rights in the entire US (throwing this in to balance off the girls in bikini's doing hula hoop)... Hard to believe but both the iPod and ESPN's Pardon the Interruption have been around for 8 years now... I wonder why the Wake Forrest / Navy game is off the board? Navy was an early 3-point favorite... Happy 47th birthday to Doug Flutie. I have no idea why Flutie is not still with ESPN doing college football. He is way more knowledgeable than dickhead Jesse Palmer. Can someone explain this to me? Doug Flutie is to Larry Bird what Jesse Palmer is to Michael Smith.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The biggest upset on Saturday was 14 point favorite Ohio State being pasted by Purdue. The biggest upset Sunday was 14 point favorite Philadelphia being beat by Oakland. I had Ohio State and Philly. How was your weekend?... This was awesome.... I agree with the people who compare Peyton Manning and his colts to Greg Maddux and his Atlanta Braves. Both were not the best athletes but who used their heads to become perhaps the premiere players at their positions. Yet even though their respective teams were in the playoffs every year - each player only managed one championship ring... I predict we will see a 3 interception performance out of Brett Favre within the next 3 games... I think Mike Shanahan was over-rated as a pro coach. I think the success Josh McDaniels is having may be emphasizing that point. That's why I think the perfect job for Shanahan would be to take over the University of Colorado program.

Religious Affiliations of the Super Heroes

I found this very interesting.

Who knew that Batman was a lapsed Catholic who is now an Episcopalian? It was easy to guess that Catholic Girl was Catholic (how come there's no Catholic Avenger? That would be a cool name for the Pope's alter ego and while I'm rambling - who ever heard of Catholic Girl?). But did you know that Ben Grimm (the Thing from the Fantastic Four) is Jewish? Magneto (the X-Men super villain) is also Jewish.

The funniest one I thought was J. Jonah Jameson who is the employer of Peter Parker. His religious affiliation is listed as "hates Spider-man". I just found that amusing.

Here are some of the major super heroes / villains and their religious affiliations:

Superman - Methodist
Spider-Man - Protestant
Batman - Episcopalian/Catholic (lapsed)
Lex Luthor - Nietzschian atheist (I would have guessed Lutheran)
The Joker - atheist

Linky Links

- The Yankees as Welfare Chislers - Interesting look at the tax breaks given the New York Yankees. Your tax money at work.

- Map of the town of Mayberry - Just what I said. Same artist has other interesting TV related drawings.

- How to calculate hand odds in Texas Hold 'em. Nothing like a little math in the morning to make your head hurt.

College Football Picks

Here are my picks for today.

Texas (-3) over Oklahoma
Ohio State (-14) over Purdue
USC (-10) over Notre Dame
Houston (-17) over Tulane
East Carolina (-18.5) over Rice
Kansas (-9.5) over Colorado

Good luck.

Linky Links

Some interesting stuff to read on a Saturday morning while waiting for the college football games to start.

- Missile Silo Fixer-Upper Now Swanky Bachelor Pad - as cool as it would be to live in an abandoned missile silo - I'm not sure if it qualifies as a "bachelor" pad. I think a girl would be sort of on her guard against a guy who invited her back to such a place.

- What Poker Can Teach Us - as far as I'm concerned there is nothing more American than poker. If it was good enough for Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon and Obama - it should be legal for every American.

- Carl Sagan, spaced out on pot - turns out that 4:20 was Sagan's favorite period in the time-space continuum

The Word and Thing of the Day

The word of the day is cacoethes.

The thing of the day is the Imperial Shag.

I have a cacoethes for an Imperial Shag.

WAGS of the 2009 League Championship Series

The wives and girlfriends of the League Championship Series.

I'm partial to this picture of Johnny Damon's wife Michele. Do you think the SI photographer asked, "Excuse me Mrs. Damon but could you give me a good shot of your ass?"

Holy crap is Jorge Posada's wife Laura Posada cut!

Bill James Playoff Predictor - Dodgers vs Phillies

The Bill James Playoff Predictor method has been very accurate in the past in predicting winners. Here's how the Dodgers stack up against the Phillies

1. 1 pt to the lead team for each half-game in the standings (Phillies 4)
2. 3 pts to the team that scored more runs (Phillies 3)
3. 14 pts to the team with fewer doubles (Dodgers 14)
4. 12 pts to the team with more triples (Dodgers 12)
5. 10 pts to the team with more home runs (Phillies 10)
6. 8 pts to the team with the lower team batting average (Phillies 8)
7. 8 pts to the team that committed fewer errors (Phillies 8)
8. 7 pts to the team that turned more double plays (Even)
9. 7 pts to the team that walked more batters (Dodgers 7)
10. 19 pts to the team that had more shutouts (Phillies 19)
11. 15 pts to the team whose ERA was lower (Dodgers 15)
12. 12 pts to the team that has been in postseason most recently or went further (Phillies 12)
13. 12 pts to the team that won season series (Dodgers 12)

Phillies 64 - Dodgers 60

Edge to Phillies

AJ Benza Fired as Host of High Stakes Poker

AJ Benza has been fired as co-host of High Stakes Poker. This is a bad move by the Game Show Network. Benza has good chemistry with Gabe Kaplan and has also earned lots of viewer goodwill over his 5-seasons of co-hosting.

Since Benza is a relatively unknown outside of his work on the show and has even offered to accept a pay-cut I don't think this move was financial in nature. I would guess his departure is due to one of these two reasons:

1. Just a plain stupid move by the GSN executives.

2. A power play by Poker Stars trying to insert one of their pro players as co-host as a way to turn the show into a defacto hour long Poker Stars infomercial.

Mike Sexton - Poker Hall of Fame

Mike Sexton was the only person chosen for this years induction to the Poker Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to Mike Sexton - proff that sometimes nice guys do finish first.