The A-Holes in IT Relent for Two Freaking Seconds

Our tech monkeys apparently hit the wrong button this morning, and "de-restricted" all blogspot websites. Not a good move considering the generally quality of blogs (including this one).

But I digress....as Vegas fades into the shroud of memory, I thought I would hit the remaining highlights of the trip, bullet-point-story-style (feel free to add more in the comments):

• Within two hours of arriving at Treasure Island, Spurt has been banned from drinking. Our pit boss, Trudy, was a complete moron anyway (one of her comments upon finding out that many of us were lawyers or in law school..."It normally takes a couple of times to pass the bar." Yeah, if you're fucking stupid). Spurt dropped a few f-bombs, and that was the end of his alcohol experience. Too bad he was only drinking Coronas at the time (he may be the first person ever cut off while drinking girlie beer).

• 10 dudes in a Grand Caravan on the way to Luxor for steak dinner on Friday night. The minivan was destroyed. Between AJ having to crouch in between the two captain's chairs and Peak literally riding in the trunk well, I was praying that we would not be pulled over. I worried about getting past security (who normally looks in your trunk), but Spurt used his expert Vegas knowledge to assure us that the Luxor did not have security. Unlike the "take Frank Sinatra Drive, it's faster" incident, this one actually worked.

• The return trip to Denny's and the hostess' comment that "we don't have any seats available right now" despite the fact that HALF of the restaurant was empty. T disappearing for ten minutes and coming back with a comp for his dinner.

• The hotness of the waitress at the Venetian (Ari knows), which cannot be overstated. The hobbit-like quality to the waitresses of TI. Watching ND come all the way back from 20 down only to choke. The lack of Caribbean Stud in any casino. The "fun" of "Super Fun 21" at the Fiesta. Triple shot Everclear martinis sounding like a good idea. The Luxor steakhouse: great food, awful service. Forgetting that DJ is actually deaf in one ear and just thinking he was ignoring me. Looking forward to next year.
  

Is This Seriously Going to Happen?

Well, that was a pretty wild weekend of college football. It started, as it often does with me, while I was at a poker game. I'm over at my buddy Sean's house playing a little hold 'em and eight-or-better Omaha (dealer ante, of course), and the Louisville-Rutgers game comes on. Due to my wife being from Louisville, I feel compelled to sit through the horror that is this game. When Louisville is up 25-7, I am feeling pretty good about UofL's championship chances. I figure, at this point, that ND is totally out of the running, so I should root for UofL.

But not so fast, my friend, says Corso. Louisville loses to Rutgers, followed by losses by Texas, Auburn and Cal. Tennessee also lost, which is not necessarily relevant for ND's title hopes, but makes me all warm and fuzzy inside nonetheless. So now ND is ranked #5 in the BCS, with a legitimate shot at the BCS national championship game if they beat USC and Florida manages to lose.

Here is my dilemma. A month ago I bought ticket futures for ND in the Sugar Bowl. If you haven't seen how this works yet, you should definitely check it out. You pay a certain amount of money per ticket, and then if your team makes that particular bowl game, you buy tickets to that game at face value. Before Saturday, all looked to be in line for an ND Sugar Bowl appearance. I don't know if I plan to go to the game or sell the tickets, but the point is that I would have the tickets. Now, if ND goes to the NC game, I am more than happy to forfeit that money. However, if ND goes to the Rose Bowl because tOSU and UM get a rematch, I am going to be pissed.

On to the game recap.....

ND-Air Force, 39-17

Five Things I Liked:

1. Brady Quinn's rocket arm.

2. The sight of the Shark running free in the secondary.

3. Charlie's playcalling on the first two series.

4. Charlie not running up the score just to impress voters.

5. Four touchdown passes to four different receivers.

Honorable mention: Rhema's move after he caught his TD pass. Showed strength and agility. We'll need both against USC.

Five Things I Didn't Like

1. STOP THE RUN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

2. Continued inability to wrap up by Zibby.

3. Is it that difficult to recruit a kicker? It seems like there are probably lots of kids who would like to come to ND and could kick a fucking extra point. Really. It doesn't seem that hard.

4. Dropped passes. Yes, I am looking at you Darius Walker.

5. Life after Quinn looks bleak right now.


This was again one of those weeks where I was very happy to win, but playing a service academy always is a little depressing because it feels like beating up on someone who is not quite capable of responding in kind. 9-1, though, is very nice.

NFL Week 10

While ND prepares for Air Force (can we please learn how to defend someone in the first half?!?), the NFL rolls on. Now that my beloved Steelers are all-but-mathematically eliminated from a meaningful game in January, there is no joy in Rockville.


He's supposed to beat the Bears
this weekend. Umm, sure.


On the upside, I am going to Vegas in March, so this blog will likely look more like a police blotter at that time.

Anyway - on to the games for this week. As always, send your five picks to questionablecommentary@yahoo.com. This means you, SpragueND.

Favorite Spread Underdog

Kansas City Chiefs 1 MIAMI DOLPHINS

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 10.5 Houston Texans

San Diego Chargers 1.5 CINCINNATI BENGALS

ATLANTA FALCONS 8 Cleveland Browns

Baltimore Ravens 7 TENNESSEE TITANS

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 11.5 Buffalo Bills

PITTSBURGH STEELERS 4 New Orleans Saints

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 7 Washington Redskins

NEW YORK GIANTS 1 Chicago Bears

MINNESOTA VIKINGS 5 Green Bay Packers

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 10.5 New York Jets

DETROIT LIONS 6 San Francisco 49ers

Denver Broncos 9 OAKLAND RAIDERS

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 3.5 St. Louis Rams

Dallas Cowboys 7 ARIZONA CARDINALS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

CAROLINA PANTHERS 9.5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Working Too Much

The disaster of the last UNC-ND meeting


and posting too little. QC will try to do better in the future. Anyway, below is a rundown of last week's game against North Carolina plus the updated scores for the NFL pool.

ND 45 - UNC 26

Five Things I Liked

1. Brady Quinn is the man. A good number of the throws he made on Saturday were NFL-caliber (looking off coverage, going all the way through the progression, superior arm strength, etc.)

2. Zibby finally holding onto a punt return. That was nice to see.

3. Scoring seemingly at will in the second half.

4. Shark and Rhema having huge days together. Grimes emerging as a true third threat.

5. The hoodie.


Five Things I Didn't Like

1. The gaping holes in the secondary.

2. Our seemingly endless inability to tackle an opposing player in the open field.

3. Allowing a return touchdown.

4. Allowing Joe Dailey to look like Joe Montana.

5. That games like this somehow damage Brady's Heisman chances. It infuriates me that a QB at tOSU (who, btw, admitted taking cash from a booster a/k/a cheating) can throw for 100 yards and an interception and not be penalized for playing crappy competition.


Scores from this week (a/k/a my eyes are bleeding):

Geaux Irish: 46 points (nice work)
Clown Hater: 11 points
Festering in Dallas: 1 point
SpragueND: 1 point
QC: 0
CU Lions: 0

Updated standings out tomorrow. I don't think they will be favorable for me.

No more John L. Smith and other tidbits from around the world

• John L. Smith ("Jonelle" for purposes of this character assassination), was fired Wednesday from his position as head football coach at Michigan State. This development alternatively delights and saddens me. It delights me because Jonelle was, and is, not a particularly good human being. First, he broke his contract with the University of Louisville but was so bad at keeping the secret that his players found out via cell phone during the game. Second, he refused to discipline his players for the flag planting incident last year. I'm not saying the guy is a criminal; just that he is a used car salesman who finally got caught trying to sell another lemon. It saddens me because Jonelle, despite his record against ND, was not likely to beat Charlie again. Ever. This is one guaranteed win we lose each year. MSU might hire someone competent, and that means another difficult game each year.

• Cal and Tennessee jumping ND in the polls in the last two weeks is the best evidence of pollsters' bias I can point to. Neither team played the week before. Cal's movement is particularly egregious, as ND blew out Navy (as expected). Unless ND goes undefeated in coming years, we have no shot at playing for a national title.

• I went to the Navy game, and it lacked something. Don't misunderstand me - I had a terrific time and was glad to see ND look so good (especially on offense). The main thing missing was any animosity for the opponent (and rightly so). I have the ultimate respect for the service academies - they are populated by young men and women doing something I could not have done. It's difficult to be too happy about a win over them; the game feels more like a scrimmage.

• Louisville beat West Virginia last night and should be #3 in the BCS standings on Sunday. They deserve it. I am tired of the SEC apologists who cry that the Big East is undeserving of a NC bid. My answer to them is the same answer I gave about ND - win all your games and it won't be a problem. Unless you're Auburn in '04. That one probably did kind of suck.

• Want to see something from the legal world that is priceless. Harold Reynold's complaint.

• My picks for this weekend's games: Cowboys, Packers, Bears, Falcons, Patriots (Seattle on MNF). Guaranteed to go 2-3 at best.

• Prediction for the ND-UNC game: ND 35, UNC 14.

Performances are Improving..We're Second World Status Now, Baby!

Nice job by the pool participants this week in rebounding from the horror that was the Week 7 picks. We're still not performing "well," but we'll take it at this point. Listed below are the standings. Longer and more detailed post coming tomorrow about the week that was, including Jonelle's firing, Notre Dame's continued prison rape in the polls, why attending games against the service academies lacks something and other a la carte commentary.

Results for Week 8:

SpragueND: 41
CU Lions: 41
QC: 25
Geaux Irish: 25
Clown Hater: 21
Festering in Dallas: 16

Predictions for the Week

Here are my picks for this week's chosen games:

25 points, Colts (+2.5) @ Broncos: Manning has owned Denver, and despite the Colts' seeming weakness this year (14-13 over Tennessee), I like Peyton to do enough to win this one.

15 points, Steelers (-9) @ Oakland: Even with Big Ben wondering where his motorcycle is, I like the Steelers in this one.

10 points, Eagles (-6) vs. Jaguars: Eagles seem to play well every other week, so we're going with them on this one.

5 points, Bengals (-4) vs. Falcons: I hate to pick the Bengals, but they should win this game by a bunch. The Steelers should have beaten Atlanta by two touchdowns last week but committed some stupid turnovers.

1 point, Jets (+2) @ Browns: Mangini has the Jets playing hard. The Browns cannot score very many points. I'll take a shot.