The reasons why September is the greatest month of the year were out in full force this weekend, as college football, the NFL, MLB pennant races and perfect fall weather converged to form a phenomenal 48 hours. Sure, some of the action left a bit to be desired, but overall it was just the kind of weekend that makes you happy to be alive and proud to be an American. So, after the flurry of activity over the last 6 days, what do we know (or at least think we know) that we didn’t before?
If I gambled on NFL games, it would take me much longer to type these entries, due to the fingers I’d be missing on my left hand.
Despite what Dimitri, my former Estonian bookie used to say, winning bets on NFL spreads is not as easy as “being kick by mule”. Unless of course it’s hard to get a mule to kick and he was confusing me with some kind of Slavic slang. At any rate, the atrocious 4-10-2 record I managed to fashion in the season’s first week was the latest reminder that, unless I’d like to answer to the nickname “Gums” for the rest of my days, it’s best for me to stay away from NFL gambling of any kind. In fact, things didn’t look much better straight up, as 5 of the favorites I picked lost outright. The Jets (never liked Sanchez), Falcons (aforementioned “doubting Pittsburgh can make you look dumb” caveat) and Dallas (awful preseason, NFC East games are always tough) can be rationalized a bit. But the Colts showing a softer defensive line than the French army and Niners getting MANHANDLED in Seattle were truly shocking. I mean Houston is good, but were 1-for-the decade against Indy, and the Seahawks…well I just don’t even know where to begin there.
The only thing I can hang my hat on is calling the Kansas City upset, a pick I had so much faith in that I reversed it on Monday morning when putting in a loser’s pool pick I’d forgotten to call in Sunday. The logic of course being that I was wrong on every other instinct so far, so why trust my first thought here? I’m one more week like this from going Costanza on things and just picking the opposite of whoever I think will win.
Twins > White Sox, Part 10
It’s a damn shame the Chicago White Sox won the 2005 World Series, because if not for that, the Twins would have the largest edge in any rivalry other than Hammer v. Nail. Unfortunately, I’m on the record roughly a million times as saying I’d trade one championship for a hundred winning seasons, so taunting Sox fans would ring a bit hollow. Nevertheless, it does feel good to once again watch the Twins perform a smackdown on their Central Division rival, extending the division lead to 6 games before the final series of the year began, and winning another last night to stretch it to 7. The first few nails have been driven into the coffin, and over the next two evening, that puppy could be nailed shut and chucked in the ground. Once again us Twins fans are poised to be the ungrateful guest, happy to be invited to the party (playoffs), but complaining about the brand of beer your serving if it’s not to our liking (first-round ouster). Best record in baseball since the break and home-field advantage mean the bar has been raised. Now go finish off the Whities and keep this thing rolling into October.
The shot heard round Dinkytown
Considering I made the optimistic prediction that the Minnesota Golden Gopher football team would finish over .500 this season, I was a bit surprised to see them fall to a highly mediocre (even for I-AA) South Dakota Coyotes team this past week. Not shocked of course, because I’m not sure any loss could shock me. Even if you told me a high school team had beat them by a couple of touchdowns, I’d need to ask which team in order to properly calibrate my level of surprise. Given the loss to North Dakota State and near-miss by South Dakota State in the past couple years, you’re not exactly picking your jaw up off the floor when you hear it happened again. And that’s pretty sad, actually. The silver lining I suppose is that this loss most likely signals the end of the Tim Brewster Era after this season, barring a miracle upset or two. This week USC travel to Minnesota for the first time in 30 years, and based on the result, I’m guessing the Gophers won’t want to see them for another 30. Line for this game USC -13, can that possibly be right? Easy money if so…then again, see my NFL picks from last week…aw screw it, this isn’t the NFL, it’s the Gophers, bring it on!
First big college football Saturday is a dud
Sure it was a long shot, the idea that an underdog road team would pull off an upset in one of last weekend’s marquee matchups, but something close would’ve been nice. I know a lot of people think of Michigan-Notre Dame was a big game, but in my book I need little numbers next to the name of at least one team for the matchup to qualify as “big”. That one was most certainly good, but definitely not big, at least not currently. If Denard Robinson keeps ripping off 500 yard total offense every week, it might become more significant in retrospect, but that’s about as unlikely as Reggie Bush being asked to host an ethics seminar at USC during next offseason. Well, unlikely until he plays against the Gophers at least.
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