College Football Picks Week 1

Welcome back kids, the greatest sport in all the land, college football, returns to us tomorrow. If you know me at all you know I love college football to a fairly unhealthy degree. I've got a few ideas of how this season will go down...will I be right? clearly no, but it is always fun to take some shots. So here are some random college football thoughts:

• Notre Dame will win at least 9 games. I will have a full post on this next week, but bank on it.
• Michigan will finish .500 at best. Wishful thinking, somewhat, but when you lose that much of your team (I think only 10 starters returning) and try and put in a new system, which is fairly niche w/o the right personnel...you are f'd.
• Texas finishes under 10 wins for the 1st time in God knows how long. They could still get there, if they do it will be a 9 win regular season and a bowl win, but I think the team is too young this year and still dont trust Colt McCoy to A) stay healthy and B) get the job done. In the interest of full disclosure, I also think they will be top 5 next year, possibly challenging for the title with a better schedule and great experience, just not this year.
• Tebow doesn't repeat for Heisman. There are too many talented players out there this year, and I feel like the voters will be less likely to award a repeat this year, my early pick now is Beanie Wells with Knowshon Moreno right behind.
• Auburn wins the SEC. They are going to lemur the league so bad this year it's not even funny.
  
• The National Title game will be OSU vs OU. I really think OSU makes a ridiculous 3rd straight trip, luckily for them, not against an SEC team this time around. OU's D is stacked, their OLine will be arguably the best in the land, and a lot of talent around Sam Bradford who led the country in Pass Efficiency last year. If he can avoid the soph slump...yikes. OSU's main test comes week 3 in everyones preseason pick for game of the year against USC. Since 1/2 of the Trojans are dealing with jock itch (literally) and injuries to Sanchez and Joe Mcknight I think they are going to start the year slow while Beanie Wells will run amok. I expect UGA and Auburn to be in the hunt but for the SEC to kill everyone off.
  

In a throw back to my good old days on the radio I'm gonna pick 5 games against the spread each week. My goal is to end the season above 65%. Knowing me, I wont come close, but it will be fun. One of the games will be ND every week they play cause I'm a homer. The other 4 will be the best/most interesting games IMO. I may pick more than 5 if there is a stacked week, just cause I can. I'm going to get my lines based off of centsports.com's lines. I think I told you all about this before, but it's a site where they give you $.10 to start betting for free, if you lose it, they reload, if you win, you keep going. Get above $20, cash out cash money. That's right kids, free money. If interested: http://www.centsports.com/?opcode=95841. If not, here we go, feel free to play along in the comments, I'll keep track of people that play along as well. Ill be keeping track of W-L and against the spread as I plan on calling out both, just for kicks. Picking more than usual for this week since I gotta pick the Thursday game and why not, football's back:

NCST @ S. Carolina (-12.5):
Pick: S. Carolina cover. I told ya they could go...yah click clack. The Ol Ball Coach is gonna have his boys ready to go and we all know Spurrier loves putting up points.

SMU @ Rice (-3.5):
Pick: SMU to win. What the hell...pony up! June Jones is coming out in his first game with the very dangerous Justin Willis at QB. Yes, Rice has one of the best WRs in the year in Jarrett Dillard but I wanna see the reclamation project get off on a good note. Slightly homer pick but like the billboard says, June's not just a month, it's an era. hahaha

Hawaii @ Florida (-36):
Pick: Hawaii to cover. I think the game will be a beatdown, but the line intrigues me. Hawaii has to move on after losing Jones and Colt Brennan while Florida tries to bounce back from last year behind Tebow. With several guys, especially Percy Harvin, a lil banged up, I expect Urban to stay a lil conservative in this game and the final to end up about a 28 pt win.

Utah @ Michigan (-3.5):
Pick: Utah to WIN. That's right I said it. Seriously, 10 starters total returning, your entire O production gone, and as of 3 days away still no idea who the starting QB is? Utah meanwhile is one of the best teams in the Mountain West. Upset me.

Alabama @ Clemson (-4.5):
Pick: Clemson cover. Davis and Spiller are too ridiculously good to contain. I expect them to put up #s like McFadden and Felix Jones last year. The overlord Nick Saban will be able to do nothing to shut it down

Michigan St. @ California (-4.5):
Pick: MSU to WIN. I think MSU could end up being the 3rd best team in the Big Tenleven behind OSU and Wisco and I dont really see Cal doing much this year.

Illinois @ Missouri (-9):
Pick: Missouri to cover...handily. I'm sorry, Missouri is gonna be nasty this year. Yes the Zookster still has Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn (turncoat) but no Mendenhall, Williams still good for 2-3 picks a game, and we haven't even gotten to the absurdity that will be the Tiger O this year. Kansas was a flash in the pan last year but expect Mizzou to be up there all year.

So there it is kids, thoughts, predicions, hopes, fears? Play along in the comments, it's much more fun that way.

Olympic gold and College football...what a week

Hey kids,
Luckily Team USA (no i will not play your lame ass nickname game assorted sports media) got the job done in a surprisingly close game against Spain in the gold medal game on saturday night. After curbstomping them by 37 earlier in the tourney, the fact that it was a 4 point game with 2 minutes left, with Calderon riding the bench, was very surprising. The good news tho is USA came through and got the win. Hopefully we can continue to rattle of golds before the rest of the world gets uppity again.

More importantly, College Football comes back on Thursday. I'll talk about my ND thoughts next week, but I'm gonna (pretend at least) start to pick some games each week once they get the lines up. So stay tuned. The only thing that really matters is football is back baby, get excited

~Eddie

Olympic thoughts

~Michale Phelps is a freak of nature, he has arms like a gorilla and the killer instinct of..umm..idk, a cheetah or something else that has a really good killer instinct. The guy won a gold, set a world record, and was pissed off because he knew he could have gone faster and was only slowed up because his goggles got water in them. That is scary

~If you haven't watched team handball, get on the damn bandwagon cause it is awesome. It is also the only olympic sport i think i could possibly compete in...well, that and air rifle, cause its just shooting a gun. Any sport that you could train for with duck hunt shouldn't be in the olympics.

~Synchronized diving off the high platform is awesome. Synchronized diving off the 3M springboard...not so much

~The USA is so infinitely better in softball than anyone else i almost feel bad....almost

~I'm really glad Natalie Coughlin is back, but what happened to Amanda Beard??

~I've watched a TON of volleyball, M and W beach volleyball and girls indoor Vball, it's a fun sport. Thoughts so far: Brazil's beach W team...YES, May and Walsh are ridiculously good, as good as our girls indoor team is...wow Cuba's is so much better, and seriously guys beach are gonna lose to Latvia?? What the F??

~Finally the most important to me: Baskteball...Yes yall beat the hell out of China and Angola, and you clearly didn't try the 2nd half of Angola. Does that asauge my fears about having to few big guys? no. Does the fact that Kobe only has 21 points in 2 games combined make me feel good about playing Greece, a team that beat us 4 years ago...no. Am I still confident? Yes. I am the poster boy for blind enthusiasm when it comes to USA bball. I have no clue how any team could possibly step up to us. However..i'm still crazy paranoid about foul trouble and what happens if we dont hit the 3. Please do me a favor boys and just crush Greece.

Let me kno what yall think. Goooooooooooooooooooooodnight now

~E

As always, Oklahoma is stupid

So the Sonics moved to OKC, and while it sucks for Seattle, I think it's a good thing for OKC. They stepped up strong when the Hornets were there and showed they deserve to support an NBA team, so good for them. Whenever there is a new team, everyone always starts speculating on what the new name could be, cause why not, it's fun. One joke that I'm sure everyone saw all over the internet was they should be called the OKC Bombers. Too Soon? Of course. But you can say it's just for 3 pointers, and it is kind of funny...right? No, I'm just a bad person? Fair enough nameless internet person, I can accept that. So you know that wasn't gonna be it, but what could it be? Well, according to ESPN here are your 6 options: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3505617

Barons, Thunder, Bison, Marshalls, Energy and Wind.

Are you joking me OKC? Those are brutal, I mean absolutely ridiculous in their stupidity. Anyway, it's Friday night, time to go out and fall in love again cause that's just how this game is played. I'll be back tomorrow with thoughts on tonight's Team USA game against the ever scrappy Canucks. Thanks DVR. If you got thoughts have at em in the comments. Good night now

Darrin Walls, NCAA 09, Crack > Steroids, Batman, and so much more

So over the last 2 weeks or so I've had a ton of things I've wanted to write about, yet inexplicably haven't. So let's try an knock some of them out all in one huh?

~Most importantly, at least for me...Darrin Walls is done for the year with the Irish. All the school said is for personal reasons, so it could be it actually is a personal reason, but most speculation is going with a lot of rumors about academic problems. I'm hoping whatever it is that D Walls gets it figured out so he can come back in the spring. However, if it is academic...what the hell dude?? I mean, here you are arguably the most important player of the D for this year (You can make the argument for Crum) and are one of the keys to the secondary that most people see as a strength for the Irish this year (I can't believe I just typed that). You've got a responsibility man, I'm not saying I want academic all-american out of you but freaking qualify. The hope now is that Raeshon Mcneil is ready to step up and that Gary Gray has healed up from the injuries that kept him out last year.

~Let's stick with ND for a bit, a new AD was hired, and he's someone nobody knows. Apparently a bigwig in Indianapolis, got them the superbowl, which is impressive, since its...you know...Indianapolis. As long as he cares more about football than fencing he's got my support, just remember where you are at buddy.

~A lot of NBA moves since the draft have gone down, seems like most of it in Cali too (for a quick look: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=PlayerMovement-2008-09 ). Elton Brand leaves the Clips for the 76ers, right after Baron Davis signs with the Clips.
Corey Maggette also leaves LA, sadly not for the Spurs as many rumors said, but to the Warriors in a psuedo trade. The Hornets added James Posey, which does NOT make me happy. Spurs signed Roger Mason...eh, whatever. The Spurs lost Brent Barry (to Houston) can't say I love it, but it's not a huge loss. Hopefully the Spurs make another move before the season starts. The only thing that has really stunned me so far was that Gil stayed put with the Wizards...I thought he was gonezo.

~All-Star game was fun, it went from a pitchers duel to a classic in a hurry. I still couldnt believe when the NL had bases loaded with no outs in the...12th I think...and didn't score.
Also, Dan Uggla is literally the worst all star EVER. 3 K's, GIDP to end an inning with runners at the corners, and 2 errors...brutal guy. As for the home run derby, Hamilton was awesome, but was there any doubt he was gonna blow it at the end after as many swings as he had taken? Also, you can always leave it to ESPN to beat a story into the ground, YES we know he did a lot of crack, we know he lost his shot at the league but got to come back, yeah it's all well and good, SHUT UP CHRIS BERMAN!! After the 32nd go round you are really just making me want him to fail.

~Now I know I say this will be mostly a blog about sports, but it's my blog so pretty much I do what I want, stick with me. Plus, this is kinda sports. NCAA 09 came out last week, as always a day I look forward to far more than any normal person should. I'm pretty sure the amount of time I've already put into the game is a perfect explanation of why I'm single. So far I'm really enjoying it, but the game has a lot of problems. Allegedly they're fixing em, and I hope they do, but worst case it's still a very enjoyable game. That, and the ability to have an online dynasty with your buddies across the country is both one of the coolest things I've seen in a game as well as the worst things that could ever happen to me. That and it affirmed why I hate the BCS. Year 1 I went undefeated with ND but was relegated to a Rose Bowl rematch w/ USC while UF played OSU for the title. Weak

~Finally, go see The Dark Knight...right now. One of the best movies I've seen in awhile, infinitely better than the first one. Ledger was amazing in his last flick, it was actually frightening how good he was. I don't wanna say too much about it because I don't want to give anything away.

Olympics are just a few weeks away, I can't wait, especially for the basketball. I'm a little worried about how the US set up the team, but I'll get to that at a later point. Most importantly, kick off is only 47 days away. Football is coming kids. That's it, good night now.

Draft Recap

So the draft is done, here are some quick thoughts:
~OK, I was pissed about George Hill getting picked by the Spurs, especially with Darell Arthur, CDR, and Mario Chalmers all on the board. But then I read up on the guy a little more, he wrecked shop at the Orlando pre-draft camp. He avg'd 21.5 points last year and shot 45% from 3, so unlike Tony, if teams think they can leave him open for 3 when he's running the point, they will be punished. It also sounds like he's really quick and a good passer, both things i like out of PG's. The main thing that swayed me was the San Antonio Express article that said the Spurs were waiting on him the whole time. They must have seen something in this kid who was pegged as a 2nd rounder in every mock draft out there that they were so pumped he was available at rd 1. Pop did pretty well the last time he drafted a PG late 1st round, so I guess I should just sit back and trust him. Plus, we all know the Spurs are winning it all next year, I mean, it's an odd year.
~Freaking Portland man. They were able to trade their 13th pick, Brandon Rush, and Jarret Jack to Indiana for Jerryd Bayless, a guy who could've possibly been a top 5 guy. Why Indiana would make this trade makes NO sense at all. I guess the upside is now Brandon gets to play with his brother Kareem (altogether now...awwwww). Not only that, but they reloaded for more draft picks. Kevin Pritchard is absolutely running the show right now, why GM's are letting him do this I have no idea.
~Memphis traded Kevin Love to Minnesota for OJ Mayo. Why would you do this you ask? I've been saying this the whole time, my theory is Memphis is putting the pieces together to trade for Michael Beasley from Miami. Now that they have Mayo, I'm thinking a package like Mayo, newly acquired Marko Jaric, and hell, maybe trade Darell Arthur for a 4th time to get Beasley. Maybe you throw in some draft picks. Admittedly they just got Chalmers, so maybe that screws up my plan, I still just dont think Miami keeps Beasley, Riley's got too much of an ego to go with someone he doesn't want.
~Westbrook, Durant, Green...man, the Sonics and Blazers are gonna be freaky good the next few years, good thing Dallas sold their future and we dont have to worry about them anymore.
~The dude from the 2nd round that got drafted by the Blazers from the D-League...that was strange. Apparently since he still had eligibility(cause he got booted off his team) he was still eligible for the draft. Still a weird situation.

Pretty crazy draft on the whole. I'll be interested to see what else shakes out from it. Yall's thoughts?

And we lose

CDR finally gets picked by the Nets, 5 picks ahead of the Spurs next pick...I'm demoralized