With a Bang AND a Whimper

Excuses first.  I was about to push the button on "under" for yesterday, when it occurred to me that it was just not enough to make a payday.  I wanted to root for somebody, and I thought LSU was going to win this one. 

From the first series, it became increasingly clear that the Alabama boys were going to have none of that.  How long did you stick around?  I went to bed at 15-0.  'Bama's defense was very good last night. With the assistance of the new LSU Keystone Kops playbook, the Alabama defense was resoundingly dominant. 

The magnitude of LSU's offensive futility was mirrored in the grimaces of the LSU QB, Jordan Jefferson, who orchestrated the crescendo of this dreadful performance rather prematurely when he flipped an underhand pass into the arms of an astonished red shirted defender.  The intended receiver had turned around to block as Jefferson came thundering toward him.  The guy missed the block,too, so it was all a proper mess.

While it is the Alabama defense who are rightfully basking in the glow on the morning after, give some credit to their counterparts at LSU.  The Tigers' defense performed admirably all night long, finally surrendering a TD after I'd headed off to sleep. 

The statistics of this rout are available for your viewing pleasure here.

This was my shot at finishing the bowl season at .500, and it didn't happen.  Oh, well.

Next?  The wall that I'm patching in the basement will get finished, and the bedroom and the dining room may get painted as planned.  Mimsy will begin her annual American Idol ritual, so I need to find something to do.  Anything else to do!

Hail the champions: Alabama.

Dut-dah-da-daaahhhhhh!

That's my text representation of the blare of royal horns.  Try it again now if you didn't get it the first time.

There's not a lot for me to say about tonight's game that someone else somewhere hasn't already said, is currently saying or will be saying shortly on TV, on the radio, on websites, blogs and in the surviving newspapers.  I'll post some thoughts and a choice later; as for now, I am leaning LSU.  My son is walking around challenging me with "roll Tide".  My spouse is smiling because there will be something other than football on the big screen after tonight.

I am preparing for withdrawal.  When do we start again?

UPDATE I : I bought LSU +2 1/2 at 7:24 p.m.
UPDATE II : it's halfway through Q3 and LSU's offense is still MIA.
UPDATE III : Missed! 4 field goals it all they have to show so far.  Screen passes ain't a gonna gitterdone, Lester.  Tide is a rollin'.
UPDATE IV : Lester! You watchin' this?  We need somebody else at quarterback, hear?

MAC v Sun Belt in the Penultimate Bowl

Mobile in January!  Not too bad: a high of 70 today and a low of 58 tonight, with some showers in the forecast.

The last game before the game that everybody's been waiting for. 

Two Gun's despised MAC vs the darlings of the season for our earnings, the Arkansas State Red Wolves. 

Intrigue!  Arkansas State's coach, Hugh Freeze, did a Wanny  Graham on them and bolted for Mississippi.  Hugh, btw, was coaching at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee,  just a few years ago (2009) and has leveraged that to one of the big jobs to be had anywhere, Ole Miss.  Lambuth has leveraged itself, too, sort of.  This past summer, they were sold to the University of Breathe for Me Elvis Memphis and became a campus of that school.

Mr. GunN, I know how little enjoyment you glean from the MAC, and I know you've enjoyed the Red Wolves this year.  Despite that, I have made two wagers on tonight's game.

The NIU Huskies to score over 31 1/2.

The NIU Huskies to win, straight up.  The give/get is only a point, anyway.  The big reason is the Freeze Out.  How do those kids, playing at high-high-high levels all year long, crank it up tonight when the coach has packed up the old carpet bag and droove on down the road (droove is a multi use past tense of to drive, from the Richard Petty school of American English, e.g. "he droove it inta the corner real hawrd an she just let go and he put 'er in the fayunce").

It's NIU tonight, Mac...

UPDATE I : the young man who kicks field goals for NIU has missed twice.  At this point (3:36 to go in Q3) those points would have been 31 and 34---dingdingdingdingding--that was the "over 31 1/2" alarm sounding.  It has been fun thus far, shank  you very much.
UPDATE II : the final was 38 skate donate to 20.  A pair of "w"s to put a little sugar on the season.

'Cause it's fun to say "Birmingham"

I think it is, anyway.  It sounds rather dignified, "Birmingham" as it rolls off the tongue.  In the world of college bowl games, espousing dignity may be the best this game can strive for. 

The combatants are the University of Pittsburgh and Southern Methodist University.  The mention of either conjures up no image of anything much, these days.  Pitt was coached by Wanny, then he left last year, leaving his team to go to this very same bowl game without him, at which very same bowl game they did prevail. 

Wanny's replacement, some guy whose name escapes me at the moment (the guy is Todd Graham, I looked it up), has "pulled a Wanny" and left the Pitt boys without their head coach for the second consecutive year, and for their second consecutive appearance in the fine BBVA or something Compass Bowl in this dignified sounding southern burg of Birmingham.

This is SMU's Gerald Ford Stadium, not the site of
today's game in Birmingham, which will be played
at Dignified Stadium (not really, I'm just too lazy
to look up the name of the stadium).  Gerald Ford,
the individual after whom this stadium is named,
was NOT the President of the U.S. of A!!!
GOTCHA! 
This is a different Gerald Ford (haha), a lad
who made a couple bales of money in his career
and decided to fork over a chunk to SMU to
build this nifty little playpen.  I've pictured it
here because I like new stadiums, and this one,
at 32,000 seats, appears to be pretty much a
perfect place to June Jones' teams before he
packs up the old carpet bag and shuffles off
to his next duty station.

The opponent for this afternoon's match up is Southern Methodist University, coached by good old June Jones, he being formerly the headmaster of the football program at the University of Hawaii, as well as the former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and for a short time, the big guy for the San Diego Chargers.  I also learned that June Jones was a college quarterback, and true to his itinerant nature, he performed for no less than three schools : Oregon, Hawaii and Portland State.  Coach Jones was recently a candidate, along with Todd Graham, the chap whose name I had to look up,  for the coaching job that was eventually bequeathed to the now former coach of Pittsburgh.  The job for which they vied was at Arizona State, home of the Sun Devils, boo-yah.

So, after a short study period on this game, I became highly agitated that I was facing yet another bet in a series of bowl games at which I have displayed the success and accuracy rate of a chimp flinging shit at the zoo crowed, and was thus cowed by the realization that I'm not having fun doing this and my performance record is a very strong indication that neither am I competent in this area.   Doing what any rational man would do, given a like set of circumstances, I made another wager.

So there.
UNDER 46

Friday Fun

Cotton Bowl tonight.



The fields in the song are in Louisiana.  This game is in Dallas.  I just think a little Johnny Cash on a Friday will put you in a good mood.

#7 Arkansas and #11 Kansas State.  I studied a bit an then decided to take a shot, see if these guys keep the offensive showcase going.

The game is no longer played at the Cotton Bowl Stadium. It is played at Cowboys Stadium.  As I began to marshal an argument about the heresy of this, I found the following page.  Click the link here, then click the seating chart on the destination page.

Pretty cool.
OVER 63 1/2

UPDATE I : End Q1, "only" 61 points to go.
UPDATE II : Halftime 28 points.  That's a little better.
UPDATE III : End Q3.  Gettin' a bit anxious here.
UPDATE IV : Not tonight...sigh...

I Like a Good Story

Tonight, it's the Sugar Bowl:  West Virginia and Clemson. It's another match up for which I don't have a much top-of-mind knowledge.  What I do know is that the combatants are both ranked, they're both high scoring teams, and over these past couple weeks, not too many of these bowl matches have showcased teams that have shown much defensive moxie. 

When was the last time you saw anyone use the word "moxie"? 

There is a story behind the word moxie, and heaven knows I love a good story.  Moxie is an American word, not a Latin, Greek or any other derivative, but an honest to god American word that emerged in the 1920's, derived from the name of a carbonated beverage, Moxie.

Here, ladies and gennemens,  is the story:




My pick for this evening's soiree is over 62 points. 

That's showing some moxie, and there's more right here (click).

UPDATE I: This is great--we have covered the over at halftime!
UPDATE II: WestVirginia has covered the over by itself with 9:18 to go in the 3rd.

Not So Successful, But Fun

In the title today I am referring to the record that I've posted thus far.  Without those heartbreaking last minute changes, I'd have a decent record.  That is just like one of my favorites about ifs, e.g. if my aunt had whiskers, she'd be my uncle.  It just ain't happening. 

There's one game today, the Sugar Bowl, featuring Michigan and Virginia Tech.  The lines are VaTech+3 with an O/U of 51. 

I'm spending the points and going with coach Brady Hoke and the Wolverines.:
1.  Hoke has speedily reinvigorated the Michigan program,
2.  there's a local lad who's their center, and
3.  VaTech is down to it's 3rd kicker, thanks to various misbehaviors by the prior pair of incumbents. 

I usually don't go with these guys, but tonight it is:
Michigan -3

UPDATE: This 3rd string kicker who is supposed to VaTech's achilles, he is perfect so far tonight, 3/3, and his points have kept VaTech in the game to this point.  He may be the posted child for the stumbling results of this year's Bowl-a-rama Wagering Extravaganza.  VaTech has just converted on a 2 point conversion to tie the game with 10:22 to go.
UPDATE II: OT-----VaTech has a TD taken off the board, their kicker finally misses and Michigan goes on to kick a 3.  Not pretty, but they win.  We gave 3, so it's a push, and a gift at that.

New Year's Day +1

All the New Year's Day Bowl games -- and the Rose Parade!!! -- have moved from "Jan. 1 Actual" to "Jan. 1 Celebrated", so as to avoid a head to head collision with the final NFL Sunday.  Moving the games, fine, but the Rose Parade!?  I always watch the Rose Parade,  at least 12 minutes of it, sometimes as much as 16;  now I am flummoxed. 

Reviewing my results thus far for bowl season, the parade schedule is clearly not the only topic about which I am flummoxed.  Having used the word twice, I am compelled to offer you the following excerpt from http://www.merriam-webster.com/:

No one is completely sure where the word "flummox" comes from, but we do know that its first known use is found in Charles Dickens' 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers and that it had become quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century. One theory expressed by some etymologists is that it was influenced by "flummock," a word of English dialectical origin used to refer to a clumsy person. This "flummock" may also be the source of the word "lummox," which also means "a clumsy person."

Now you know, and you may also rest easy that I have verified that "flummoxed" is spelled with only one "x".  Armed with this new knowledge and warmth of heart, we proceed to the games of the day.  I have decided to plant my flag with the favorites, with one exception.

Ticket City--Penn State and Houston
Two GunN has been touting this one for a while, and I think he's right. PSU's football team has been subjected to perhaps the most bizarre season ever.  Now they will lose their bowl game.
Houston -7
UPDATE : 30-14 winner

Outback--Michigan State and Georgia
The oddsmakers have the two teams 3 points apart.  I am trusting their assessment, and assuming the Spartans, keeping up the B1G tradition, will come up short.
Georgia -3
UPDATE:  MSU has more stamina at the end and takes the W right out of Georgia's hands! This one is a real let down, because it was the 4th leg of a 5 part parlay that paid 25:1, and 1,2 and 3 had already proven correct.  Dang!
Capital One--Nebraska and South Carolina
This is sure to be an entertaining game.  It will not, however,  be as entertaining as watching my son parade around the house in his University of South Carolina t-shirt that proclaims "Go Cocks", all the while thinking he has succeeded with a great joke for everyone.  
South Carolina -2 1/2
UPDATE : 30-13 winner

Gator--Ohio State and Florida
St. Urban the Great will be presiding over the meeting of his former and future followers.  Obviously, he's a great football coach, and the Ohio State University will pay him many millions in tribute, but he creeps me out.  As for the game, the B1G will lose again, and there will be endless discussions about how their performnce was adversely affected by the absence of Jim Tressel and a lot of OSU's best players, including Terrell Pryor.  Whatever, just get on with it.
Florida -2
UPDATE : 24-7 winner

Rose--Wisconsin and Oregon
There's going to be so very much football talent on display in the Rose Bowl, and these are two of my favorite teams to watch.  Oregon is a 6 point favorite. I am looking for Wisconsin to overcome. Go Monte Ball!
Wisconsin +6
UPDATE: Ducks win kills my other parlay, a 4 step 15:2.  Dang II !

Fiesta--Oklahoma State and Stanford
This is yet another match that offers grand promise.  The Cowboys have been on an upward tilt all season long and have a pretty powerful argument that it is they who should be taking on LSU for the national championship.  Stanford has the top QB in the college game, Andrew Luck (who should shave), and a boatload of talent to go with him.  I think that Oklahoma State will rule the day and further the argument about a national playoff, a position to which I am not in agreement, if for no other reason than there would be one less thing about which to argue, and that is ultimately one of the main reasons we all participate in this annual ritual.
Oklahoma State -4
UPDATE: The poor kid from Stanford missed a chance to end it in regulation.  Then he missed again in OT.  Then the review took the OSU TD off the board and they kicked the game winner instead of going for it from the 1/2 yard line.  That blew the cover.  OSU by 3 instead of 6.  It's simply not my year.

Happy New Year from Four Star Football

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