Two Dogs, Whaddaya Think?

One of the dangerous traps into which I repeatedly fall in trying to handicap these games is that I take a liking to (or have an ongoing grudge against) certain teams and unwittingly transfer my biases to the analyses.  It's a pretty serious sin, and it frequently is a costly one. 



Dick Motta is the shortest, though maybe
not the palest guy in this photo. There were
some great players on this team: #2 is
Stormin' Norman Van Lier, who was an
absolute joy to watch, #8 is Bob Weiss,
aka "Mr Shifty from Mt Nifty", a nickname
that didn't stick, that I mistakenly
thought had been bestowed by the great
old gasbag announcer Red Rush.
Upon further review, I found that Red was
 never a Bulls announcer.  #14 is Cliff
Ray, a very talented but smallish center,
#20 is Dennis Gentry, a very talented but
very pale center, #25 is the great great
 Chet Walker, and the giant who is
inexplicably in street clothes is the great
Bulls center of the era, Tom Boerwinkle.
Back to Wesley "Red" Rush, he was
the voice of  DePaul basketball games
during the times when a big sponsor was
Gonella Bread Company, giving rise to
more Red Rush-isms, e.g.  to
celebrate a home team score "it's swella,
fella, just like Gonella Bread!!!".  Another
exclamation, in describing a dunk: "he
stuffed it home, just like putting a loaf of
Gonella Bread in the shopping cart!!!"
The games were played in the long gone
Alumni Hall, and Red sat at a folding
table about halfway up the bleachers,
no sidekick, no relief man, just him
and a loaf of Gonella Bread, pouring
a ton of enthusiasm into every play.
What's this have to do with football?
Nothing, but it's swella, fella.



So as I sat around this evening watching the White Sox try to move a little closer to a division title, I tried to disregard the emotions, this while looking for a couple of likely dogs to pair up to get a decent payday.  I think I've found them.  My pair is the Rodney Dangerfield no respect Memphis Tigers (+23 @ Duke) and the Fresno State Bulldogs (+5 1/2 @ Tulsa). 



I'm going with Memphis because I don't think that Duke should give 23 points to anybody.  Memphis isn't very good, but I don't think Duke is that much better.   Memphis is 0-3, 1-2 ATS.  The spread began at 24 and fell off 1, so there's some folks who agree with me. 

Fresno State is 2-1, 3-0 ATS.  After a cupcake opener with Weber State (where Dick Motta made his mark before becoming the coach of the tenacious old Chicago Bulls, 1968-1977), Fresno State hung with the mui bueno Oregeon Ducks before losing 42-25 in week 2, then beat the snot out Colorado 69-14 last week.  I'm betting that the week 3 team shows up against Tulsa. 

The Sox just finished off the Royals, reducing their magic number to 13.  It's all good!