Next, for those of you who bother to read our College Football posts I should point out that talent clueless ex-Notre Dame coach Bob Davie is the new HC at New Mexico and not Mike Leach as we mentioned. Good luck with that.
In an earlier post we pointed out that Davie's tenure at ND and as an analyst at ESPN has been marked by an ability to evaluate talent that rivals Matt Millen. Davie, who once touted Ron Powlus as the second coming of Joe Montana, reminds me of my College roommate John who thought every new band that had a hit on the radio was the next Pink Floyd. But sometimes you just gotta take a long hard listen and realize it's time to put the Eurythmics and Wall of Voodoo albums at the back of the shelf and stick with "Dark Side of the Moon".
Last night's hammering by Stanford was perfect evidence of how far Notre Dame has fallen in terms of recruiting Blue Chip talent under Davie and then "too nice" coaches like Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis. In the past month Stanford played two top talent/recruiting squads in USC and Oregon and had 101 points hung on them by offenses that brought both size and speed to the table. The Irish, on the other hand, scored 14 points with 7 coming on a meaningless score with :35 left.
Notre Dame still has size, but lacks speed; still reacts smart, but moves slow...or as Green Bay WR Jordy Nelson put it in an interview this week, they "play white". I'm not sure I'm allowed to go any further with that metaphor plus this is supposed to be an NFL post, but let's just say HC Brian Jones needs to add some color (in the generic sense) to what has too long been a vanilla Notre Dame squad.
And in one last note from yesterday our picks split, but I haven't taken a boning like the one I got on the Michigan-Ohio State game since that night I spent in the Los Angeles County Correctional Facility for peeing on Tony Danza's Star and screaming, "Who's the Boss now, huh?" For those who missed it the would-be covering TD was first overturned by review and placed two inches from the goal line as if the length of the stab wound on S.D. Jones' back (that's what it was, right) was "indisputable evidence", This gave the Wolverines two shots to punch it in, but when their first try succeeded they were called for not only Holding, but a Personal Foul creating 3rd and goal from the 25 and, ultimately, settled for a non-covering FG...This is why people play Fantasy Football.
NFL NOTES
--The Thanksgiving Games: You can only fool people so long, as evidenced by the band we formed in college and named "Free Beer" so that the marquee at the Student Union would read "Tonight Only-Free Beer"...We drew an SRO crowd but, suffice to say, things turned ugly. Similiarly Jim Harbaugh has done a great job drawing attention to the 49ers with their 9-1 start, but uneventful wins over Cleveland, Washington and Arizona over the last month were hardly the stuff that stamped them Super Bowl contenders. Thursday night's ugly 170 total yard, 9 times sacked, 6 point performance at Baltimore shows that this club still has a ways to go. Not that we're telling you anything you probably didn't already guess, but it's just a reminder that playing in the NFC West can mask many a blemish. For the remainder of the year the Niners play 4 games against division opponents with one against Pittsburgh sandwiched in between. If that doesn't strike you as a wagering possibility San Francisco's Treat (which by the way was my nickname in college...what, I liked rice...) could be rolling into the playoffs as a soft #2 seed at 13-3. They are currently 1-2 against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today and have averaged a mere 225 ypg in those contests so betting opportunities would appear to abound...Dallas' win over Miami has them in first place by a half game over the Giants going into today's action. The Cowboys did not exactly impress Turkey Day so they need to make hay over the next two weeks when the Giants will be underdogs against New Orleans (today) and Green Bay while the 'Boys get the potentially 3-8 Cardinals next week. Jerry's Kids then finish with 2 vs. NYG plus Philly and at T.B. while the Giants get Washington and the Jets in addition to the Dallas duo which could make the race for the NFC East and the two Wild Card spots, with Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago in that picture, very interesting...As for the Lions 12 turnovers in the last 3 weeks has tempered their 6-2 start, but let's talk Ndamukong Suh. Suspension? Absolutely, but not so much for going after a GB lineman like a 21st Century Mongolian Stomper, but for his postgame comments trying to convince us he was just attemping to "get his balance". As the old saying goes, "don't piss in my ear and tell me it's raining"...unless, of course, you look like this
at which point I believe it becomes a Golden Shower. If you're gonna lie to me at least put a little effort into it. I've had enough already of people telling me "I smoked, but I didn't inhale" or "Guaranteed to add two inches..." it just doesn't work...er...I mean it just isn't true and if we keep on buying it these asses can get away with anything.--Years ago I was somehow coaxed into taking a Safari vacation to Central Africa with a girlfriend. When people asked how it was she told tale of magnificent vistas, wild animals and exotic cultures while I tended to lean close to the inquisitor and in my best Old Jewish Man Sending Back Soup In A Deli-voice said, "it used to be nice, but it's all Black now..."
In other words everyone has a different take on things, some silly, some realistic. In sports, however, people don't generally want realistic, they want heroes. As witnessed by a 1990's Nets game I attended in New Jersey where the team held "Michael Jordan Night" in honor of a player on the opposing team complete with Jordan posters and wristbands for kids under 15. When the Bulls trailed by 10 going into the 4th Quarter and Jordan had scored 5 points on 2-16 shooting Fred (of Fred's Picks), who just happened to have Chicago laying a dozen, stood up and screamed, "Jordan Sucks", causing children to cry and parents to cast dirty looks as the reality of that evening, at least, was brought directly up to them.
And here's where we talk about Tim Tebow. John Elway's comments about not being ready to anoint Tebow the Franchise QB just yet were about as sober and well thought out as you could get from of an ex-athlete turned GM. In his 5 starts TT is 4-1, but 3 of those victories are by 7 points or less and the loss was a complete debacle at home against the never-known-as-road-warriors Lions. The nationally televised win over the Jets was not so much a Coming-Out Party for Timmy whose offense produced a measly 140 yards in 3 and a half quarters as it was a I Wish He'd Go Back In Party for Mark Sanchez haters throughout the Tri-State area.
And just as the hero-worshippers are loading up the Tebow bandwagon they're just as quickly jumping off Norv Turner's sinking ship in San Diego. The line in that game has already dropped from -7 to -5.5. It's not "Tim Tebow Day" at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, but the sound of "Tebow Sucks" just might be heard from the crowd only this time I can assure you it won't be Fred wagering on the Golden Boy this time around.
Not sure who she cheers for, but the team definitely needs to get her a bigger shirt...--In fact Fred's pick (4-3-1) today is Tennessee -3 over Tampa Bay which means he may have been reading, and concurring, with our Tampa bashing on these pages over the weeks. Despite what the press would like you to think QB Josh Freeman is not hurt or being let down by his O-Line he's simply regressing back to the mean that falls somewhere between his abysmal Rookie year and magical second season. And speaking of regressions if you like to place an exotic wager every now and then try Cleveland to win the coin toss today. They currently stand at 0-10 on the year which means, as the statisticians will tell us, that their chances of winning today are exactly 50-50. Still, I frequently play the Lottery, a Government sponsored tax on people who are bad at Math, so I'm thinking I just might take a flier on that one in Cincinnati.
--On the injury front remember Adrian Peterson is out for Minny, Matt Leinart starts in Houston and Caleb Hanie, who I believe used to play the used Furniture/Tools salesman on Green Acres ("I just happen to have one on the truck"), goes in place of Jay Cutler for the Bears. For those unconcerned about this last change because you remember Hanie filling in so admirably against the Packers in last year's NFC Championship Game just be forewarned that Chicago coaches were so worried that they auditioned Luke McCown or Josh McCown or Cade McNown or Les Brown and His Band of Renown or some such spare part this week so confidence is not exactly brimming in Lovie Smith's and Mike Martz' worlds.
--As for my pick we're gonna stick to our guns and call for San Diego to end their 5 game losing streak at -5.5 over Denver with Phillip Rivers finally getting back on track. After being backdoor-ed by Jake "Davy Jones'" Locker last week I'm pretty much throwin' darts at this point. As for the biggest "Public" teams, according to BeyondTheBets.com the money is flowing in on Pittsburgh, Carolina and New England. After getting pounded by the public early these games have been going the Bookies way of late so tread carefully. And finally the weather is nice in the Northeast today and if Michael Vick plays against a soft Pats D and Tom Brady gets to fling it around against Juan Castillo's stop troops could we be looking at a shootout? Food for thought...now some for me...I'm through!
No wonder the Swiss are always neutral...who's gonna fight when you're running this up the flag pole?
