Love Them 'Dawgs

A week and a half ago, the Golden Nugget released lines on a number of games.  You gotta love the spirit, taking the opportunity to get the cash flowing two and a half months early.   The early birds lined up to put their money down, and they moved some lines around in a big way.  The object of greatest show of affection was the University of Georgia.  The love starts in Week 1.

The Week 1 matchup of Boise State @ Georgia came out of the box at Boise -6.  The smarts said no, and bet it all the way down to -1 1/2.  Week 2 features the South Carolina Gamecocks @ Georgia, and SC came out at -3 and went to -2 1/2. 

The next time Georgia is featured is Week 5 when they host Mississippi State.  This one moved from -3 1/2 to -5 1/2.  There's another big 'Dawg move in Week 9 when Georgia visits Florida.  They started at +3 and moved to -1, a big, big swing.  Week 11, Auburn @ Georgia, went from -4 1/2 to -9. Huge! 

Georgia is featured in two other games, -3 1/2 @ Tennessee in Week 6 and - 6 1/2 @ Georgia Tech in Week 13, neither of which moved.

Notre Dame got show of financial support, too.  In Week 2 @ Michigan, they went from -2 to -3.  Week 4 @ Pitt, ND went from -4 to -5.  They picked up a point in Week 6 hosting Air Force, and a point again hosting USC in Week 8, and once again@ Maryland in Week 11.  Week 13, ND @ Stanford, ND went from a 6 1/2 point dog to 4 1/2.

Clemson hosts Auburn in Week 3.  Clemson opened at -1 and soared to -6.  In Week 4 FSU goes to Clemson.  Clemson went from a 7 point dog to 5 1/2.

My Wildcats showed up in a few games, too.  NU @ Michigan, Week 6,  opened at Michigan -4 and went to pick 'em.  The 'Cats are unchanged as a PK in Week 8 hosting Penn State.  NU is a 12 point dog when they visit new Big 10'ers Nebraska in Week 10. 

Fun stuff.  We'll wait until it's a little closer to kick off to put out any cash. 

Fathers' Day Redux

I just picked this off one of the sports feeds, and it stirs the imagination of practitioners of the art of wagering, albeit from an unusual perspective.

It seems that when Rory McIlroy, the young stud golfer, was just 15 years old, his father scratched the itch.  Dad (and 3 of his chums) placed a bet of 400 British pounds that young Rory would win the British Open before the boy turned 25.  As the bookies were dealing with a 15 year old boy, they comfortably extended odds of 500:1.  The world has turned a few times since then, and dad and his pals are now looking at having a shot at winning $80,000 apiece if young Rory turns the trick and nails an Open championship.

Now, don't go mortgaging the family bungalow to plunk down a bunch of cash in Panama because Little Johnny went 4 for 4 at Saturday's tee ball game or Susie banged in a couple goals at her soccer match.  Papa McIlroy still hasn't actually won anything.  The thought of further fueling demented sports dads is pretty frightening ("...put away that math homework and go practice your curveball!).  

We'll keep an eye on Rory.  This could turn out to really be fun.  For a view of another extreme, click here to read an imaginative tale about a Little League dad who traded his own kid for a case of beer. 

Generic Products Are Growing in Marketshare

It was my genuine pleasure to be a guest at the Notre Dame Club golf outing today.  It was held at a beautiful country club (a term, country club, that has come to be pretty much meaningless, since the suburbs, where all the clubs are located, are definetly not the "country", althought the idea of qualifying golf clubs as country clubs by requiring them to continuously blast country music throughout their environs makes me smile), the camaraderie was highly enjoyable and nurturing, and the hospitality that we were all extended was most gratifying. 

The morning rains stopped right on time, as if ordained by the Great Spirit (the chaplain stepped right up to take credit, imagine that) and we were off.  I won't bore you with details of my game, other than that a marginal day on the golf course beats a great day in the office hands down.  The guest speaker at dinner was Brian Kelly, head man of the Notre Dame football team.

Before Kelly got started, the chaplain (the weather guy) was called upon to say grace.  It was a little tardy and intrusive, as I'd half finished my meal, but what's a few seconds to listen to a few words of thanks and benediction?  What followed was an abbreviated Sunday sermon, which is a blessing in church but penance at the dinner table.  Then came the coach.

I confess that I was prepared for a rousing reception, maybe having the assembled faithful break into a spontaneous rendition of the fight song, or a swelling applause and vocal affirmation.  The welcome Coach Kelly got was more along the lines of polite. 

As I listened to the coach, who began by explaining that this was his 17th and final alumni club meeting since April, I was impressed that he covered all the hotspots: need to win, the tragedy of the young videographer whose life was squandered (my term, not his), the uncertain quarterback situation, etc.  I think he glossed over some of the critical issues, specifically the stupidity of the situation where the boy died, but he covered the bases.  Kelly's manner of address was rather disjointed, as he went back and forth on topics, but he's paid to win football games, not entertain at banquets.  He did make reference, several times, to the fact that he needs to win games, a move that appeared aimed at assuring the crowd that he knew his place, sort of.

Then came the awkward moment. The coach opened the floor to questions, and for an incredibly long interval, there was not a question.  Nobody raised a hand, nobody stood up to speak.  It lasted for maybe a minute, but that's a minute longer than usual.  Then came a few questions, nothing substantive, nothing insightful.  Then it was over, and there was more polite applause.

In the middle of the coach's remarks, it occurred to me that if one was able to freeze time, race in and change the logo on the the coach's shirt, you could have been listening to any coach of any college.  The whole presentation was lacking in the whole "we are" emotion and connection, even though the comments were liberally spiced with references, forced references, to those things that the Notre Dame perceives to make it unique. 

Voila!  Generics have expanded to Notre Dame football. 

Petey...you're such a turd!

Here's a quote from Pete Carroll (courtesy of Dr. Saturday) that will make you shake your head and flash one of those incredulous little smiles:

Smarter than the average bear. Let'sgrab
the goodies and skee-daddle... to Seattle.

"[The NCAA has] to do what they do. They figure out how the thing is supposed to work," Carroll said in the interview. "I don't agree with much of any of it. It's unfortunate that kids, years and years after, are punished for what the NCAA is dealing with from years and years before. That's the most unfortunate thing ... kids that were in junior high at the time, or in grade school, are paying the price for it."


Where does one begin to fashion a response to Petey's moral (amoral?) observation?  He was in charge in Trojanland when all the dirty deeds took place.  Petey is certainly a smarter-than-the-average-bear kind of guy, so inferring that his flight to the Seahawks was simply fortuitous timing is a rather challenging leap of faith.  He cashed a lot of checks along the way, and those haven't been recalled.  So, PC has the dough, the new gig, a comfortable comfort zone between himself and the scandal...all's well for Pete Carroll, USC be damned (ok, so there is some redemption here, as Everybody Hates Lane Kiffin is the beneficiary of all this drek).

The guy always covered for us, so he's got that going for him.

OK...see ya

Big news!  Not.

Terrelle Pryor announced that he will skip his final season at Ohio State.  What's that I hear, wailing and gnashing of teeth?  Hardly.  More like a collective "oh", the kind you utter when your old auntie tells you that her neighbor, Estelle, passed away.  Didn't know her, but it's too bad anyway.

Ohio State script, shades of gray since 1936.

Pryor was ultrahyped as a recruit to OSU.  He did well, delivered some very exciting performances, though I have trouble getting really excited about Ohio State, ever, unless I have a financial interest in their results.  The insurmountable obstacle that faces guys like Pryor is that unless they are performing at a superhuman pace every game-and in every public moment of  their personal lives, too, they have no chance to ever live up to the hype.  Nobody can do that.

Pryor was going to be gone for the first five of fall anyway, the punishment for selling some of his stuff.  The crime that took down Coach Tressel and now Pryor (and probably more to come) wasn't much of a crime, in my opinion.  He sold some of his stuff.  HIS stuff.  So what?  Players who commit real crimes, actions that are against the law as opposed to against the rules, they can ride out their problems and come back and join the team, rah-rah for the team, as long as they are properly publicly humble.  

Pryor hustled for a few bucks, selling stuff that had been given to him.  Probably would have been ok if he'd done something actually illegal, gone to court, received supervision and then apologized to everybody.

Which brings up my big question: outside of Columbus, does this really matter?

Start Time

It's the start of the summer stagnation.  The temperatures are rising.  The baseball teams are withering.  Hoop dreams have run out of gas, and the only ice at the United Center is going into overpriced drinks at concerts.  Where do we look for inspiration?

Football, baby, football.

With the niffle spending its resources on labor law instead of training camp, college football, our passion, stands alone, awaiting the spotlight.  Jim Tressel is outside looking in (probably soon to be joined by his former boss at THE Ohio State University), Nebraska is gearing up to be the 12th member of the Big10, USC just lost its national championship...things are starting to perk.

Old Soldier Field, hosting ski jumping in 1954.  They
did a lot of unusual stuff in the old stadium.  If you
ever had to use the restrooms during a Bears game,
you know just how unusual it could get.

The news item of the day is that the Big10 selected Indianapolis as the site of the newly minted Big10 Championship game.  The reasons for selecting Indianapolis are pretty compelling.  Indoor stadium (not my personal choice), relatively central location for the conference members (yeah, Chicago would have been more central, but there's no major league facility, hah, take that,Soldier Field with no roof  and perenial sod problems), and no chance of accusations of favoritism (the University of Indiana and Purdue are not going to be in the title game within this generation).  Indy also hosts the Big10 basketball championships and handles the 300,000 visitors for the 500 pretty well each year, so there's a proven track record.

The Big10 was born in Chicago in 1896.  The Big10's main office is in Park Ridge, IL, near O'Hare Airport. The Big10's biggest media center is Chicago.  The Big10's new marquee championship is going to Indianapolis, and weird Soldier Field is the reason.

Too bad.