Walden Pond / Vegas Pound / Terrapin Tales

Another TV show that helps us maintain
a smug attitude toward the world.

TwoGun is still luxuriating in the solitude of Walden Pond with his spouse, and the extreme climatic change that we've experienced here in the hinterland has likely made his piscine pursuits more precarious.  While TwoGun and the Mrs. are remote, I am sure that news has reached my erstwhile associate that Week 1 didn't pan out exactly as we hoped.  So we reload and blast away, foregoing the customary strategy meeting.   I'm flying solo this week.

****  New Mexico @ Arkansa -35
Saturday 6:00 on ESPNU
Arkansas flies a little bit under the radar, as much as that's possible when you're sporting a #15 national ranking.  In their opener, the Razorbacks stomped all over sparring partner Missouri State, 51-7.  In round 2, they'll host the legendary New Mexico Lobos, who waltzed around throughout the afternoon with an equally hapless Colorado State Rams before succumbing 14-10 in week 1.  You would think I'd get shy about a 35 point spread after having three covers ripped away from us last week, but I think Arkansas will see their cherished national ranking depends on their ability to pummel an inferior opponent.  That's the plan, anyway.

*** Ball State  +21 1/2 @ USF
Saturday 6:00 on ESPN3
This looks like a hangover game.  Everybody knows that USF toppled the overblown egos of USB at SB this past Saturday.  The Bulls won because they overcame a bucketful of their own mistakes as a result of the greater affinity for error displayed by Notre Dame.  Ball State, one of those teams that labors out of the limelight, took on in-state rival Indiana on Saturday and earned a "W" over an improved from last year Hoosier squad.  So, this week,  Ball State travels to Tampa for the Bulls home opener.  I'm guessing that USF isn't going to be able to get as excited about Ball State as they did about USB, so the 21 1/2 should be too much.

** Tulsa -14 1/2 @ Tulane
Saturday @ 2:30, no TV listed
Tulsa ran into the buzz saw when they visited Oklahoma last week, 47-14 the final.  Don't be fooled, Tulsa is good, just not Sooners at home on opening weekend good.  The Golden Hurricanes plays an excruciatingly difficult schedule this year, and this will be their opportunity to get a feel-good result. Tulane won 47-33 against Southeastern Louisiana in their opener, but they are  moving up in class this week, waaaay up, and it will show.

*  Iowa -7 @ Iowa State
Saturday @ 11:00, probably on BTN
This is a fun game, the annual match of Iowa Big 10 and Iowa Big 12, Hawkeyes at Cyclones.  The Hawkeyes have won the last three years by a total of 87-10, but Ricky Stanzi doesn't play here anymore.  Unfortunately for Iowa State, the Hawks still have a lot more talent than the Cyclones.

On an unrelated topic, I discovered a new favorite TV show over the weekend.  It's on TruTV, a show called Las Vegas Jailhouse.  It shows a steady stream of drunks, degenerates, hookers and dopers being brought into the Clark County Correctional Center in Sin City.  The drunks are surprisingly boisterous, considering the number of large uniformed police officers that are onmipresent and quite willing to demonstrate attitude adjustment.  The hookers are startlingly skaggy looking (does Vegas have any dentists?), and the degenerates and dopers, well, tune in and see.  It's a wonderful tonic, this show, allowing us to ratchet up our smug quotient along with getting some cheap laughs. 

Smug.  Our word of the day.

Smug.
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Update:  Maryland Uniforms
The new threads are not a haphazard design, though they strike as such.  Matt Hinton with a brief explanation here