Quote of the Day “For most men (till by losing rendered sager), Will back their opinions with a wager.” George Gordon, Lord Byron, from “Beppo”
Before you act on any of the information contained in today’s post, be forewarned that TB has had only brief interludes of success in his gambling career. But the weekend’s comin and it’s football season which means you have to pick college games against the spread. I’m going to give you five regular picks plus a five star, guaranteed, money back, free picks for the rest of the year if I lose, lead pipe, shoo-in, lock of the year, pick each week. If you have a pick of the week, please leave it as a comment. I’ll report each week on the success or lack thereof on each picker, and create some major awards at the end of the year for the best and worst prognosticators.
A surer bet and a good way to forget about losing your weekly office pool is to turn off the TV at some point on Saturday, open a beer if you haven’t already, and listen to some good tunes over the weekend. In that spirit, I also offer a six song playlist from my Ipod library and invite you to add a song or a few that ought to go on it. So here we go.
- Illinois +8′ over Missouri
- Hawaii +35 over Florida
- USM -10′ over ULaLa
- Michigan -3′ over Utah
- Memphis +7′ over Ole Miss
TB’s PICK OF THE WEEK–Clemson -4′ over Alabama
I may look at all of these differently come Saturday morning, and I really have no analysis as a basis for the picks other than Memphis usually plays Ole Miss close and I heard Clemson was supposed to be good this year. So feel free to castigate me, but don’t come cryin that you relied on TB and blew your paycheck.
This weekend’s playlist, and I’m playin it loud:
- Turn it Up–Todd Snider
- Amarillo Highway–Robert Earl Keen
- Late Last Night–Cross Canadian Ragweed
- Hurricane Party–Cowboy Mouth
- Pump it Up–Elvis Costello
- Oh, Atlanta–Little Feat
Travellinbaen 
Tennessee -7 over UCLA is my pick of the week. Excellent playlist, TB. I will add your selections to my weekend playlist (we have 2 bands/artists in common):
Soul Sister – Blue Mountain
Beer Run – Todd Snider
Love of My Life – Cowboy Mouth
Empty Pages – Traffic
Whatever and Ever Amen – Ben Folds Five
Miss Freelove 69 – Hoodoo Gurus
TB likes Tennessee too.
BTW guys, you can leave just a pick of the week, just a song, or any combination, but I’m expecting some good participation here.
Tennessee is a lock and Wake Should roll tonight. Feel free to check out my blog if you want some more in depth analysis.
Memphis at least covers the 7. May win straight up.
Not listed as an option but State easily covers 8 against La Tech.
you don’t have to select one of my picks. The whole board is wide open. I’m putting you down as a “Memphis” for POTW. FWIW, I’m picking State 28-12, but not betting on them, as always.
I’ll take Utah and the points along with Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson.
“She was the color of the Indian summer
And we shared the hours without number
Until one day when the sky turned dark
And the winds grew wild
Caught by the rain and blinded by the lightnin’
We rode the storm out there on Thunder Island”
I’ll take Southern Cal minus the points against whoever they’re playing; I don’t even know. I do know that they knock the snot out of whoever they play on the opening weekend. Playing Arkansas? Ok, we’ll beat them by 40. Playing Montana State Tech? Ok, we’ll beat them by 60. And I won’t be listening to a damn thing b/c my iPod has crashed.
SC you’ve got USC -18′ at Virginia, and I like your well reasoned analysis.
Ipods crash? That’s not good. I’ll be loading up Ed’s tune today, very apropos.
Should’ve included a handy link to Sheridan’s odds–
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/gaming/sheridan.htm
JLM I know you’ve got a pick, waiting on MD, Sweet, BR, Smily, OB, Larry, and others who’ve been here before plus any newcomers. Flash nailed WF last night, but I checked out his site and he actually seems to have a clue, so I’ll be watching his locks for a few weeks closely.
Take Hawaii and the points…my POTW.
Tb, I have been meaning to post comments on some of your recent posts, but I’ve been very busy lately.
Out of your five games here I think Hawaii will keep it closer than 35 points. Sure they’re playing for a new coach, but Florida is playing without their number one WR, which doesn’t matter all that much, but I have a feeling the Gators will treat this much like the NFL preseason games, in which the play calling will be Vanilla and the second and third stringers will play a major role. Hawaii, however, will treat this like their BCS Championship game.
Michigan is another one I like. The Wolverines came out last year and gave a very lackluster performance against Appalachian State, and you can bet they will not be looking past anyone this year. Plus, they will be playing like a team on a mission for their new head coach. Could you imagine what would happen if they got blown out? Would they run their new coach out of town?
I have to disagree with your Memphis selection and take Ole Miss in this one. Houston Nutt has a very good track record and I think these guys are believers in his system. They have good RB’s, a good young QB, and always seem to do enough on Defense. Again, I think these guys want to make a statement for their new head coach and will win by 10-14 points.
My personal game of the week is Florida Atlantic and the +24 points versus the Texas Longhorns. I’m not sure, but I believe Howard Schnellenberger has recruited well and won everywhere he’s been. Sure he doesn’t have the talent of Florida, Florida State, U of Miami, but there’s more than enough talent in Florida for him to build a winner. They won’t beat the Longhorns, but it will be closer than many people think.
TB, Hawaii with its best team in years coughed up a lung against UGA. The Gators will cover despite their recent rash of injuries. Bama, I think, is going to upset Clemson. I would love nothing better than for them to be on the other end of blowout to ruin the Saban nation’s holiday weekend, and to push Wal-Mart UA shirts, hats, flags, etc. sales down for a few days; however, I think they will keep it close enough to take them and the points.
IPOD tunes:
Civil War – Guns & Roses
Proud Souls – Jason Boland & the Stragglers
Loving County – Charlie Robison
Roadhouse Blues – The Doors
Lonesome, On’ry & Mean – Waylon Jennings
Ole miss covers. Bama Covers. State Covers.
i will take clemson to cover
Since I’m not doing so well in the other games I’ll take Bama for the outright victory.
USC 52 UVA 7. Thank you very much.
Fig, nice playlist. I need to add some Jason Boland.
Several nice picks of the week. I had a very bad week. Typical. I’ll post a recap of this weekend on Thursday when I open up next week’s picks of the week.
And I still have room for about 400 songs, so I’ll be fishing for more suggestions.