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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