College Football Picks

In the spirit of every other sports blogger out there, i'm making some week 4 picks. These are the games i would bet on it. Umm, you know, if that was legal and all...

Florida -24.5 over Mississippi.
Please, Florida is gonna roll Ole Miss.

Penn St. -3 over Michigan.
Michigan hasn't improved that much in just one week. The Wolverines fall to 1-3.

LSU -17.5 over S. Carolina.
I haven't picked an underdog yet, but i haven't seen any i like either. LSU is just too good.

Georgia +3.5 over Alabama.
There it is! Perfect set up for an upset by Georgia.

Upset Special (and homer pick of the week): Iowa +7.5 over Wisconsin.
For some reason, i like iowa's chance against the Badgers. They usually play them very tough, and after a disappointing week last week, i think the Hawks will be looking for some redemption.

Oregon -18.5 over Stanford.
Oregon has looked too good this year to not win by at least 21.

USC -25.5 over Washington St.
Yeah, that's a huge line, but i just can't see USC not blowing this team out.

8 Games To Go

It is kinda hard to take pictures at a baseball game when you leave your camera in the car. Worthless...

The Dbacks, on the other hand, were not worthless, destroying the Dodgers 12-3 behind homers by Chris Young, Tony Clark, and my boy Mark Reynolds. Paired with a Padres loss in the 14th inning to Colorado, the Dbacks hold a 1.5 game lead in the NL West with 8 games to play, 9 for the Padres. Magic number for the Dbacks (as far as i'm concerned) is now 4.

ps- I got my 'Anybody, anytime t-shirt last night. Nice...

Dbacks vs. Dodgers

Tonight the Dbacks open a 3 game series against the struggling Dodgers. Even though the Dodgers have lost four straight, they did take 2 of 3 the last time these two teams matched up, a week ago. The Dodgers would like nothing better than to play spoiler as the Dbacks play for a division crown and best record in the NL. The Dbacks need to keep on keeping on, by taking two of three from the Dodgers. If they can do that they will be in perfect position for their last six games of the regular season, all of which are on the road.

I will be in attendance of tonight's game at Chase Field, which is 'Anybody, anytime' free t-shirt giveaway night. And trust me, i am very excited about it...

Anyway, i'm taking my camera tonight, so expect some pictures up tonight or early tomorrow. Go Dbacks!

9 Games To Go

Wow, wow, and wow. The Diamondbacks come back from behind twice to win this game 6-4, after a less than stellar outing from their starter Doug Davis. The bullpen once again held up, throwing 4 great innings, including Jose Valverde's MLB leading 46th save.

As for the other teams they are watching? The Mets won, keeping pace. The Phillies lost, losing ground. The Dodgers lost, to the Rockies, who have now overtaken LA in the wildcard race. Not that it matters. As for the Padres? The Pirates, who they were playing, ONCE AGAIN BLEW A LEAD, being up by a run with two outs in the 9th. The Pirates promptly gave up a walk-off, three run home run to former Dback Scott Hairston. I only hope the Pirates will play this horrifically against the Dbacks next week.

Dbacks are off tomorrow, and return to action Friday against the Dodgers (a game i will be at). Like i said, as long as the Dbacks take care of their own business, nothing else matters. Magic number (as far as i'm concerned) is down to 5. Anybody, anytime...

10 Games To Go

Here we sit, with just 10 games to play in the regular season for the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Up 1 game over the Padres, who have 12 games left, and 2.5 games over the Phillies in the wildcard. Which i think is ridiculous to mention, since they are winning the division, but everyone seems to report that.

The Dbacks haven't played particularly well as of late, losing three of their last 5, including a bad defeat against the Giants two nights ago when they lost after leading by three heading into the 8th inning. The Dbacks recovered last night, however, behind a complete game shutout by Micah Owings. Micah was fantastic, facing only one batter over the minimum, giving up one walk to the first batter he faced, and allowing just two hits. The effort came at just the right time, righting the Dbacks ship after a bad few days.

Without their best hitter Orlando Hudson the rest of the way, who is out with a torn ligament in his left thumb. In his absence, the Dbacks have filled in nicely with Augie Ojeda, Jeff Cirillo, and Alberto Callaspo splitting time at 2nd base. Ojeda has been red hot at the plate, and Callaspo had a solid night last night.

The Diamondbacks throw Double D out on the mound tonight, Doug Davis, in the rubber match of the Giants series. It is an extremely important game, as are just about all the remaining ones. The Dbacks can't afford to lose any more series', and they must take care of business today. The Padres are breathing down their necks and playing the Pirates, who really are just awful. It is the third game of a four game series, and the Padres' are looking for a sweep.

As far as i'm concerned, the Dbacks magic number is 6. If the Dbacks finish the season 6-4, the Padres would have to go 8-4 to win the division. While not impossible, it is a tall order, even for a good team likes the Padres. Besides the remaining games against the Pirates, the Padres get Colorado at home, then finish the season at San Francisco and at Milwaukee. The Brewers should (hopefully, maybe, ah hell who knows...) still be in the middle of their own division race, which will make that final series of the regular season a good one.

You see, the beautiful thing is, the Dbacks hold the tiebreaker over the Padres, by means of taking 10 of the 18 games the two teams played this year. So even though technically the Dbacks are only a game up on the Padres, the Dbacks win the division if they finish tied, so the Padres need to finish ahead of us by a game. Which means they have some work to do...

As always, the Dbacks have to take care of their business on the field. And even though he can't be a leader on the field, O'Dog is keeping a great presence on the bench. That presence will help the young guys on the team, many of whom started the year in the minor leagues and have never been in this situation before. Then again, that could be a good thing. They don't know any better to be nervous or jittery.

10 games to go, this is where it gets exciting!

Fantasy Football

I am in two fantasy leagues this year, one i care about, one i really don't. The one i don't really care about is a first time league, with a first time commish, and is back in the midwest where i'm from. I wasn't able to draft in that league, as i was travelling home from chicago that day. I ended up with an ok team, though i am in desperate need of some new receivers.

The one i care about is run by my brother, the illustrious smitty of this very website. It is my second year in the league, and last year i did fairly well, making it to the second round of the playoffs. Of course, my team that week decided to collectively crap the bed, and i was knocked out.

This year expectations abound, and i was quite happy to get Peyton Manning in the 2nd round. I've never owned Manning before, and he seemed to work out for me, putting up 20 points on Thursday. Of course, my running backs sucked, and the team i'm going against, my brother, had Tony Romo and T.O. I need not tell you they hooked up for two touchdowns, Romo threw two more, and also ran for one. Fucking Cowboys...

I really have no point to this point, just felt like writing about my fantasy teams for a sec. Not that any of you care...

CFB: Week 2 Review

Can i take down my college football previews, in which i stated Michigan will be one of the best teams in the country, Iowa St to surprise, and Texas as the team to beat in the Big 12. Do-overs anyone? All that aside, it was another fantastic weekend for college football, so let's get into it.

Can someone please tell Michigan the season has started? The team (especially the defense) is acting like these games don't count. Or, more specifically, acting like they aren't remotely prepared for these games. Their defense has been terrible, to historic proportions. Their vaunted offense, which i touted, is been terrible, scoring just 7 points this week. Their Heisman hopefully quarterback was hurt, and will miss this weeks game against Notre Dame (don't get me started on them either). Not that it matters, since like his teams national title hopes, his Heisman campaign is officially done. Michigan looks like it has no answers on defense, and as bad as Notre Dame has been the first two weeks, i still can't pick them to win. That game could finish 2-0 and i wouldn't be surprised. Someone has to win, i guess...

And how can i let myself, an Iowa homer and therefore Iowa St hater, be seduced by this team just because they hired Gene Chizik? They open the season by losing two games at home, by 9 points to Kent St and 11 to Northern Iowa. This team is terrible, i mean really bad. And it doesn't get any better for them, as Iowa comes into Jack Trice stadium this week and looks to hand them an 0-3 start.

And then there's Texas. While Texas hasn't really done anything wrong, it is clear Oklahoma is the team to beat in the Big 12 this year. They have absolutely dismantled the two teams they have faced, winning by a combined 130-23. And while maybe N. Texas isn't very good, the second team was Miami. Granted they aren't the Miami of a few years ago, but they're still Miami. And they still got destroyed.

Speaking of teams to beat, LSU looks like it might be the team to beat in the entire country after taking apart Va. Tech. Scoring early and often, LSU looked like it could do pretty much whatever it wanted, while limiting the Hokies to just 149 yards and 7 points. LSU should have moved into first place in the polls this week because USC didn't play, but of course the people who vote in these things aren't that smart. LSU will be penalized because they started the season in 2nd place, but they are clearly the #1 team in the country right now.

That's all for now. Sorry i've been absent a lot lately, i am now back. NFL Week 1 review coming later...