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2013 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 12

We’re in the home stretch of the college football season and ¾ of the way into the NFL season. With the holidays fast approaching and things on the gridiron getting really interesting I’d have to say that this is one of my favorite stretches of the entire year. Last week Zach went 4-2 while your humble Potentate of Profundity was 3-3. I’ll pat myself on the back for getting the USC upset of Stanford right, while Zach & I both correctly predicted that Louisville would beat Houston but not cover and also barely got a win when Oregon St. lost to Arizona St. by 13 points…not 13.5, thereby covering the spread. Zach picked Auburn & Michigan St., both games that I had pegged totally wrong. So thus far the 2013 season looks as such:

                Zach                       =             26-30

                Yours Truly          =             29-27

This week we have some really intriguing games both college & pro, and surprisingly there are no crazy point spreads. I hope these games are all as close as the boys in Vegas seem to think they will be.

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Texas A&M                         at            LSU (-4.5)

I’m actually a bit surprised at the spread. I know LSU has the home field, but they are 7-3, coming off a loss to Alabama, and ranked 19th in the polls facing a Texas A&M team that is 8-2, ranked 10th, and texas_am_01riding a 3 game winning streak. I know home field advantage means a lot, but I didn’t realize it meant that much. At any rate, a victory here combined with impressive numbers could secure another Heisman for QB Johnny Manziel. Meanwhile, the Tigers aren’t really playing for anything other than pride and a more lucrative bowl destination. The vibes are telling me that Johnny Football will rise to the occasion and overcome LSU’s stout defense. Zach is on the same wavelength and thinks it’ll be close until the 4th quarter when Manziel takes over.

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Arizona St. (-2.5)              at            UCLA

The Sun Devils really have kind of snuck up on everyone this year. They are 8-2 and very much in the hunt for a Rose Bowl berth. Who’s standing in their way?? Well…the Bruins. This game might decide the ucla_bruins2south division of the Pac 12 although the USC Trojans are right there as well. Arizona St. already defeated the Trojans back in September (costing head coach Lane Kiffin his job), with USC & UCLA set for their annual showdown next week. When I did my pre-season Top 25 I had UCLA ranked 15th which is right about where they stand at the moment. I can’t abandon them now, right?? Once again Zach concurs, adding that he’s just not that impressed by Arizona St.

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Baylor (-9.5)                       at            Oklahoma St.

oklahoma_state_cowboys_iphone_wallpaperI am really looking forward to this game. With a victory the Bears will vault Ohio State in the BCS (emphasis on BS) standings, meaning that they’d be first in line for a shot at the national title shouldbaylor either Alabama or Florida State falter. Personally I think it’d be awesome if both ‘Bama & the ‘Noles would lose, opening the door for a Buckeyes-Bears national title game, but I’m not holding my breath. However, having said that I do believe it to be within the realm of possibility that one or the other could lose, so this game is huge for Baylor. Meanwhile the Cowboys are just trucking along getting no respect at all despite a 9-1 record and a Top 10 ranking. This game will likely decide the Big 12 champion and a BCS bowl regardless of what happens with those other teams. I have pondered this game a bit and I must say that The Voices aren’t telling me what I expected to hear. I think 9.5 points may actually be too big of a number, especially with this game being played in the friendly confines of Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. Baylor hasn’t really been challenged late into a game with the exception of a mid-October contest at Kansas St. in which they were behind going into the 4th quarter, scored very early in that quarter to take the lead, and then added another late TD just for good measure. I think it is quite possible that this game might be up for grabs with 5 or less minutes remaining. Can Baylor grind out a close one?? Probably. But I don’t think they’ll cover the points. Zach is going in the opposite direction on this one and foresees a Baylor blowout.

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Indianapolis                       at            Arizona (-2)

The Arizona Cardinals are 6-4 and in the thick of the NFC wildcard chase. Not bad for a team that I predicted would go 3-13. Oops. The Colts, on the other hand, are right about where I thought they’d be, which Indianapolis_Colts_Helmetis comfortably winning their division. I know the Cards are getting the home field bump with the 2 points, but I ain’t buying it. I’ll be shocked if Indy doesn’t win this one easily. Zach is concerned that sometimes Indianapolis plays down to their competition but still agrees that they’ll cruise to a victory here.

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Denver (-2.5)                     at            New England

0809-Broncos-NFL-kickoff-Peyton-Manning_full_600Has anyone else noticed that NBC’s Sunday Night Football gets all the good games?? I bet the powers-that-be in Bristol are not happy about that. Personally though I like it. There’s usually brady.tom.112807nothing else better to do on a Sunday night than watch football, while Monday is wrestling night and only a game involving my Pittsburgh Steelers will tear me away from WWE Raw. Anyway, the Broncos are coming off a huge win over the Kansas City Chiefs and will travel to Kansas City to face that same team again next week. Unfortunately they don’t exactly have a cakewalk in between with the Patriots, who got hosed in a loss to the Carolina Panthers last week. This is Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. Not much else needs to be said to sell it, right?? I’d feel a lot better about picking Denver if the Patriots hadn’t gotten screwed by the refs last Monday night. They’ll be angry and out to prove that they’re still big & bad. Nevertheless I just can’t go against Manning. Zach does NOT think that the Patriots got screwed against the Panthers (he’s wrong), but unlike someone else is willing to go against Manning and pick New England.

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2012 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 6

 

The old saying is that “close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades”, and I am not a big believer in moral victories anyway. However, I must say that I came oh so close to going 4-3 last week but instead ended up 2-5. Usually I get myself in trouble when I pick with my heart instead of my head, but as it turns out picking the hated Hokies of Virginia Tech over the Cincinnati Bearcats was a bad idea. I was also very disappointed in the effort of Michigan St. RB La’veon Bell, a potential Heisman candidate who I thought would do some damage to Ohio St. but was instead held to a paltry 45 yards in a loss. And maybe it’s time to jump on board the Minnesota Vikings bandwagon. Of course as soon as I do that they’ll start to look like…well…the Minnesota Vikings. At any rate, for the season I am at 13-24, a deficit that cannot be made up in one week. In other words, I am like a football team that is down atleast two scores. But since I am more of a ground & pound guy instead of a run & shoot aficionado I’ll just hunker down, grind it out, and dig out of the hole one week at a time.

 

 

 

Arizona                at            Stanford (-9.5)

Stanford wasn’t even on my radar at the beginning of the season. I just figured that they’d fade a bit after losing QB Andrew Luck and a few other pieces to the NFL. Instead they have gone 3-1, complete with a victory over media darling USC. They stumbled last week at Washington, but I will assume that was just a hangover loss after the high of defeating the Trojans in the previous game. I also looked over Arizona from the outset because it usually takes Fraudriguez a couple of years to install his offensive scheme. However, the Wildcats have looked more than decent thus far in compiling a 3-2 record. This game marks the halfway point of a murderer’s row of 6 straight ranked opponents for Arizona, and I think maybe now we’ll see what we usually see in inaugural Fraudriguez seasons. Stanford may possibly be looking ahead to a matchup at Notre Dame next week, but otherwise they hold all the cards here so I am picking them to win and cover.

 

 

Navy                      at            Air Force (-8.5)

I really like watching the service academies play football. Maybe it’s the fact that they aren’t the big, athletic NFL prospects that we see on so many other teams. They are legitimate student athletes who retain the essence of what amateur sports should be. Or maybe it is the knowledge that these young men truly have a higher purpose and will all go on to do something meaningful and, to varying degrees, heroic with their lives. And I suppose it has a lot to do with the old-fashioned style of football played. Navy is 1-3 and among the top 25 rushing teams in the nation. Of course they rank near the bottom in passing yards & points scored, so I guess they need to mix it up a little more. Air Force leads the nation in rushing and is near the bottom of the barrel in passing yards, but they are averaging 37 points per game. Their defense has really let them down though, so they are only 2-2. I expect to see lots of running here, and probably a high score. I’ll take the Falcons to get the victory and cover the spread.

 

 

LSU (-2.5)            at            Florida

I have picked two favorites thus far. Will the trend continue??

In my pre-season Top 25 I put the Bayou Bengals at #17 with the logic that they have a target on their backs and opponents will be especially psyched to take them down. That has been true so far…kind of. LSU is 5-0 and ranked 4th in the polls, but they have slipped a spot each of the past two weeks after lackluster victories over Auburn and Towson. A subpar effort won’t cut it this week though against the 10th ranked 4-0 Gators, who have been impressive in wins over Texas A&M, Tennessee, & Kentucky. So this looks like a contest of two undefeated & highly ranked teams that are going in opposite directions…one on the rise, and the other on the verge of being knocked down a peg or two. The boys in Vegas apparently didn’t get that memo since they have made LSU slight favorites even though they are venturing into decidedly unfriendly territory at The Swap. I think that is the difference here. I just can’t have much faith in a team that struggles to beat Towson and is now faced with the daunting task of playing a Top 10 team in one of the most…spirited…venues in college football. Florida gets the upset.

 

 

Georgia                at            South Carolina (-1.5)

I suppose it isn’t all that shocking that we get the pleasure of seeing two SEC teams face one other who happen to be 2 of the top 6 teams in the country. The ESPN Gameday crew will be in Columbia slobbering all over themselves and fellatiating the SEC, but as much as I hate to say it the praise has been earned. Both teams come into this game undefeated and in the hunt for a national championship, but at the end of the day one of them will pretty much out of the running. The Gamecocks are slim favorites only because of the home field advantage. I picked South Carolina #3 in my preseason rankings, while I left the Bulldogs off the board entirely. The latter may have been a mistake, and this game will decide if the former was an egregious error as well. I don’t think it was. I stand behind my choice and will go with South Carolina here.

 

 

Denver                                 at            New England (-6.5)

Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. That’s enough to sell this matchup. Brady leads the rivalry 8-4, and unfortunately I think he’ll extend the lead this week. I picked both of these teams to make the playoffs and the Patriots to make The Super Bowl. At this point I am not ready to back off of either prediction, but will say that both teams have looked much more…ordinary…than I thought they would. That being said, I think right now New England is a more complete team and Manning is still knocking off some rust. It makes me physically ill to pick the Patriots, but I think they’ll win and cover.

 

 

Buffalo                                 at            San Francisco (-9.5)

Who would have thought at this stage that the 49ers would NOT be in 1st place in their division?? Though they are 3-1 they are behind the undefeated Arizona Cardinals (although as I write this it looks like the Cardinals are going to lose their game). A stunning defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings left the football world abuzz, but I think it is much ado about nothing. If anything it just means that the Vikings are a lot better than we thought, but it almost certainly doesn’t indicate that San Francisco won’t be as awesome the remainder of the season as most of us believed they would. Buffalo currently sits in a 2-2 logjam in the AFC East and needs to do anything possibly to keep pace with the aforementioned Patriots, who are undoubtedly better than their record. I think this will be a defensive struggle, and the spread makes me a little nervous. San Francisco should win, but by how much?? Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is inconsistent at best, but has occasional flashes of being an actual NFL quarterback. Will he have a good week?? Word on the street is that both of Buffalo’s banged up running backs…Fred Jackson & CJ Spiller…will be ready to go for this game, but I’m not sure how much that’ll help against San Francisco’s stout run defense. I guess it can’t hurt, right?? But I really think it comes down to the play of Fitzpatrick. My vibes are telling me that Buffalo will study the SF/Minnesota game film and figure out a way to atleast keep this close, so I am picking the Bills.

 

 

San Diego            at            New Orleans (-4)

Anyone who read my NFL Preview might recall that I said “I do not believe that a team can go through the turmoil that the Saints have experienced this offseason and not be affected.” That might be the wisest prognostication I’ve made all season. But not even I thought they’d start the year 0-4. Will they drop to 0-5?? I also predicted that the Chargers would go 6-10 and said that “the party is over in San Diego and head coach Norv Turner will soon be enjoying an early retirement”. That hasn’t been so accurate thus far, as the Chargers are 3-1 and in 1st place. Are these trends solid or just a mirage?? I’ll go with the latter. I don’t think New Orleans is THIS bad, nor do I believe San Diego is that good. I think the Saints win & cover here, and I still think they can make it to the playoffs.

 

 

 

 

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On Political Debate, Senseless Violence, and The Constitution

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. It’s an expression some elected officials and media types would be well served to learn.

When one has a public forum like this there is a certain sense of obligation to comment on significant events. However, one must exercise caution. I have been guilty on occasion…maybe not here so much as in other places…of letting my emotions dictate a phrenetic response full of, as my Grandma used to say, piss & vinegar. That is usually not a wise course of action and so I have learned the fine art of pondering. It has been a couple of days since the tragic events in Arizona, which has given me time to contemplate my views.

All manner of news outlets, from TV & radio to newspapers & the Internet, have been covering the sad shooting rampage at a political event for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Rep. Giffords was shot in the head and though she survived and the prognosis is positive the road that lay ahead is undoubtedly long. Six others were not as fortunate, dying as a result of their injuries. The dead included three individuals in their upper 70’s who were so close to completing this race we call life only to be cut down violently in their “golden years”. Their funerals will not be what those of such an advanced age can, most of the time, reasonably hope for…slightly melancholy yet buoyant affairs that are often a reunion of sorts for friends & family, a celebration of the life of a person who has successfully run the course and finished as well as could be expected. No, these folks don’t get that sort of quasi-triumphant ending. And then there is 9 year old Christina Green, ironically born on September 11, 2001, a little girl whose budding interest in politics spurred her to attend the event in Arizona and ultimately ended her life. Think about that…nine years old. There are no words capable of capturing the sadness and anger such a death brings about. The murderer is a 22 year old wackjob whose motives are unclear and will probably never make sense, because there is no way that killing 6 people…especially a child…can ever make sense no matter how much context one is able to attribute to the circumstances.

But we are human beings, and asking “Why??” is just one of those things we do, even when we know there will never be a satisfactory answer. To that end, there has been no lack of response to the Arizona tragedy, and much of it has been predictable yet troubling.

Infamous law enforcement pinata Rodney King once asked the question “Can’t we all just get along??”. The answer Rodney, is no, we can’t. Why can’t we all get along?? I suppose there is a variety of answers to that, but an overwhelming reason is self-serving greed and egotistical narcissism. We Americans can muster the capability to be united in heartbreaking anguish and wrath for about 10 minutes before someone decides to use the situation to further their own agenda. And, with apologies to my bleeding heart liberal friends, it has to be said that it is usually their heroes that are the first to start gnawing on something like a dog with a rawhide, usually in an effort to demonize conservatives and spit on The Constitution. In the past 48 hours we’ve seen the Arizona sheriff investigating the shooting blame Rush Limbaugh, South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn demand renewal of The Fairness Doctrine (which limits free speech), New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy call for yet more gun control laws, and idiots ranging from testosterone-challenged Keith Olbermann to Hanoi Jane Fonda blame The Tea Party and more specifically two of its most ardent figureheads, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. Meanwhile, back in the real world, evidence is mounting that the shooter was an anti-Semitic (Congresswoman Giffords is Jewish) leftist pothead with a personal grudge against his target and no affiliation with any political party. There is absolutely no evidence that he was a listener much less a passionate follower of any particular talk radio host or other pundit, and nothing to support the assumption that “vitriolic political rhetoric” is to blame for his heinous act save for a not uncommon dislike for the government in general. Several friends and acquaintances have come forward expressing a decided lack of surprise that this lunatic would commit such a violent crime. Even the dimwitted sheriff so hell bent on casting aspersions on Limbaugh stated that the man came from “a somewhat dysfunctional family”. The predilection toward trying to assign rationale to irrational, violent behavior is understandably human. The penchant for taking advantage of the grief of others to play political games and crap all over freedom & liberty is a sad commentary on the state of both “journalism” and ethical, moral, sapient leadership.

The bottom line is this…..

More gun laws will neither bring the dead back to life nor would it have prevented the event from happening. Stifling of free speech would be just as misguided. The simple fact is that a young man with a lot of issues and more than a few screws loose went off the deep end. He is to blame for his actions, and if the legal system works the way it is supposed to then some form of justice, as hollow as it will undoubtedly seem in relation to the lives of the victims and their families, will be served. Everything else is just a bunch of poppycock, a vain attempt by some to make this horrific tale about them and their megalomaniacal tendencies & need for power and control.

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