Come on Mr. Grinch. 😉

At least we got two out of three good games yesterday. FINALLY!

But I certainly agree about Toledo. How on earth can they get shutout?

A good part of my town and Family history, has completely faded, I live in small town NW Indiana, at one time in the early 70''s this town would have 3 or 4 cigar stores where Folks would drink coffee, eat donuts, punch punch boards and bet on football and keep linked with each other. In the early 70's the returning Vietnam Vets bought them up and ran them, my Proud Grandpa and Dad brought me down there to shoot pool and play pinball, eat free donuts, candy and root beer, I eventually introduced my kids and Grand son , for me 5 generations of social memories, You would see Your school teachers there, the guy You shook hands with at Church, a your Little League Coach, Great Pride was shown in local sports!!!! Well my Grandson is 6, he was a regular down there for 3 years he received tons of hugs kisses, dolled bills shoved in his pockets etc. It's all gone 2 years ago excise shut rumor has it, the guys who ran it were all sick and old. Lot of good memories and ghosts lingering around. Still watch every game, but not as much fun as when I had 3$ riding on a parlay card! Well, thanks for letting me vent........Love Ya'll Much ........joe

[Edited on 12/25/2017 by crazyjoe]

A good part of my town and Family history, has completely faded, I live in small town NW Indiana, at one time in the early 70''s this town would have 3 or 4 cigar stores where Folks would drink coffee, eat donuts, punch punch boards and bet on football and keep linked with each other. In the early 70's the returning Vietnam Vets bought them up and ran them, my Proud Grandpa and Dad brought me down there to shoot pool and play pinball, eat free donuts, candy and root beer, I eventually introduced my kids and Grand son , for me 5 generations of social memories, You would see Your school teachers there, the guy You shook hands with at Church, a your Little League Coach, Great Pride was shown in local sports!!!! Well my Grandson is 6, he was a regular down there for 3 years he received tons of hugs kisses, dolled bills shoved in his pockets etc. It's all gone 2 years ago excise shut rumor has it, the guys who ran it were all sick and old. Lot of good memories and ghosts lingering around. Still watch every game, but not as much fun as when I had 3$ riding on a parlay card! Well, thanks for letting me vent........Love Ya'll Much ........joe

[Edited on 12/25/2017 by crazyjoe]

Some cool memories, I can almost close my eyes and picture the setting.

I'm in my 40s. Times change, people change, how we interact are changing.

When I was in my early teens, one of my favorite things to do I used to walk about a mile to this coin and stamp shop with whatever allowance or gift money I had accumulated. I would spend hours and hours in there looking through 3-ring binders of the football cards they had, occasionally and selectively picking out some of the best players from years before my time. All the old timers in there would talk about sports, smoking cigars. Other people coming in the store, not to buy anything, but to sit and talk to the guys behind the counter. Now a Walgreens sits on the same spot that coin shop once was.

Just about everything, I kind of reminisce and romanticize my younger years. Sporting events meant more, I think, because it was less saturated than now and everyone and everything wasn't so overexposed.

Games get a little more interesting this week.

Where is stratdal? Rosen rumor saying he won't play due to concussion concerns, doctor's orders. Read he would play if cleared, not wanting to sit out to protect himself or draft position...unless it is a front to not look bad. Playing behind that Bruin OL has been hazardous to his health.

That ESPN pick'em site sucks. I constantly get error messages and have to keep reloading, I feel like I am trying to buy tickets to a tough event on TM just to make my picks or check everyone else's.

Well Scott, another game and another rout... 🙁

Being from Detroit, I hope The Motor City Bowl (or whatever it is now called) is a good game.

Well Scott, another game and another rout...

Being from Detroit, I hope The Motor City Bowl (or whatever it is now called) is a good game.

Yeah, that game was pretty brutal. WVU was pretty undermanned and played really poorly, but even for scoring 30 pts, Utah was really sloppy as well with several dropped catches and potential INTs. It was hard to watch, I had to leave it for a while it was just bad football.

Watching Little Caesars Pizza Bowl now - aka Motor City Bowl aka Quick Lane aka Ford Subsidiary Bowl.

ANOTHER blowout bowl? Sheesh...

Hope you are enjoying your holidays Lee. Even if we aren't enjoying competitive football games.

Saturdays have been great for upsets atleast. 4 out of 5 on the opening Saturday and 2 out of 3 last Saturday. Other that that, favorites are winning and covering the M-F games at a 8-1 rate so far. As happens alot in bowl season, but even more so far this year, point spreads have yet to matter, straight up winner has covered every game, fav or dog. BC looking much better than Iowa so far in this one, but close on the scoreboard.

I'm large on Texas tonight. Hook 'Em!

I want to bet the Purdue - Arizona game, but just can't get comfortable enough with either side.

Enjoyed watching Iowa win its bowl game. Iowa's game time salute to cancer patients puts it all in perspective. Every football fan should watch the Gameday segment before they watch or attend a football game.

GO DAWGS!

Very curious call in this Virginia-Navy game near the end of the 1st qrt. A Navy defender very clearly made deliberate helmet-to-helmet contact with the UVA QB on 3rd and 10. The ref threw the flag, then picked it up, saying there was no targeting - which by the rule, there clearly was as they showed on TV replay. And the game officials did not stop play to review it, which they can do for targeting, even if the refs do not call it, the replay officials can stop play for review. It was clear targeting to the exact definition. Will be watching to see if there are other "favors" going Navy's way in this one.

Thanks Scott, you too!

Boy, you have a lot of time to digest all those stats!

We did get a couple of good games yesterday. The Iowa/BC and Purdue/Arizona were decent matchups.

And the Big Ten is 2-0.

That was clearly a judgement call. To me it looked like he grazed the QB's helmet which I guess if you hit the guy in the head is probably a personal foul at the least nowadays. Not sure I agree it was targeting though.

Indeed it was an interesting call.

That just goes to show, here, you and I two people watching the same play have different opinions on it.

Which is why I laugh when people say "we need instant replay to get the call right"...well the only guarantee is you are going to get the opinion of the replay official, because after all what really is or isn't right on most of these things? Almost all of them are judgements and different people will look at them different ways.

I've bet just about every game, so I know off the top of my head alot of those ATS stats. Been a tough year to pick games. Several I haven't decided on until right up to kickoff and in others I pick one way in our pick'em pool and bet the other way. Lots of close matchups on paper makes it hard. Motivation is always the big one. And which teams improve over the bowl break or which ones regress.

What did you think about the fake kneel down bum-a-rooskie inspired play by Purdue? I thought it was pretty awesome, but I am reading alot of controversy with people thinking it was unfair to appear to concede with a kneel down only to run a trick play off of it. Play to the whistle right?

Didn't see that play you are referring to. BUT, that occasionally happens. The first time I recall it was in an NFL game. And you are right; don't stop. Serves you right if you get burnt on it. Not illegal...

I took the under (51) in the Navy game. As long as Virginia's offense keeps struggling I'm not worried. Navy runs a lot of clock.

But for the life of me, I can't understand why teams struggle stopping Navy. All they do is run and the plays are pretty much the same.

It is just their superior execution. They run alot of variations off a limited number of plays like you say, but they are just so precise and experienced in what they want to do. It is how they make their living. Additional prep to stop the option definitely helps the D, but the D can't match the level of execution Navy brings.

I am a little surprised Navy is on the cusp of scoring 28 in the first half, but I am more surprised that Virginia's O hasn't threatened to score once (not counting KO return). Teams with good passing games and WRs with size and speed have always given Navy D trouble, but Virginia has been unable to exploit that.

If nothing else, Virginia's O should be able to mount a comeback. Navy will make it tough trying to own TOP in the second half, but SMU was down like 18 or something at Navy with a similar O style and a bad D that made timely stops, SMU almost came back to win that game. So I won't be turning this one off yet.

I took the under (51) in the Navy game. As long as Virginia's offense keeps struggling I'm not worried. Navy runs a lot of clock.

But for the life of me, I can't understand why teams struggle stopping Navy. All they do is run and the plays are pretty much the same.

I took Navy primarily because quite a bit in bowl games the team's desire to play is a big factor. Any service academy will always keep coming at you for all 60 minutes. This one looks pretty good, which is nice after an 0-2 yesterday. 😉

Have Stanford getting three later and may take the Spartans giving one.

Tanner Lee declares for the NFL draft.

WTF?

(He stinks!)

Lee to the NFL? At one point at Tulane and in the transfer to Nebraska he was believed to have some pro-potential, but this season certainly ruined those chances. I guess he will probably land on a camp or preseason roster and might be able to make a practice squad or emergency QB at some point. It is really funny, if you have ever looked at some of the names on NFL practice squads, you would never believe the QBs still getting an NFL paycheck.

He could've transferred again, to try and improve himself, probably would've had to have gone to a IAA.

I bet the under on the Navy game mostly as an afterthought. I put more on them to win so I guess I shouldn't bitch. My site went from Virginia -1 to Navy -3 in like two hours. So I jumped when it moved that much. Sounds silly but I figure someone knows something.

Michigan State is giving three on mine. That is kind of telling. And not to sway you guys but as a Meeechigan guy, the Spartans are PISSED that they are playing today and Michigan got a New Year's game. Can't say I blame them. MSU and the Bucks both beat them and Michigan gets New Year's. Really?

Yeah, I followed that story on the MSU feeling snubbed when Michigan got to go to the "new year's day" florida destination bowl. I read the selection process for the bowl, the committee voted and they picked Michigan. Saw some player quotes about it and then saw the tweets from Harbaugh and Dantonio. Fuels the rivalry.

The Holiday Bowl and San Diego is a fantastic bowl and destination however.

I do think that this can play right into Dantonio's typical selling point of not being respected.

I have flipped on this game so many times I lost count. I think WSt D is respectable, but I also think that Lewerke could pose some problems for them with his running. WSt's DC has one foot out the door, rumor he is going to Ohio State as a 10th assistant coach. He did do really good work on that Coug D the last few years.

WSt will be without their top 2 WRs, one dismissed and one announced transfer. Some people think that isn't as big of a deal as it normally would based on the system, but I think it could matter.

One angle for WSt is the fact they were in this bowl last year and were upset by Minny. So chances are they are more focused and motivated than a typical team would be returning to the same site as last year's bowl.

Again, a really hard game for me to pick.

What is that Lee guy thinking? Does he not know the draft class for QBs next year? Someone is giving him bad advice. At least it isn't like coming out early in the NBA where you are pretty much screwed if you aren't picked in the first round.

Tanner Lee doesn't have the hype around him, but remember DeShon Kizer came out early from ND after an atrocious season and was rewarded with starting for the Browns.

I do think that this can play right into Dantonio's typical selling point of not being respected.

As I said, I am a Michigan guy and growing up there, Dantonio is late to the party on that thought. The Spartans have ALWAYS felt like the red headed step child. My whole life they have been pissed that Michigan doesn't consider them their biggest rival. Sorry, Ohio State is way bigger and to a lesser extent so is Notre Dame.

Try being a UM fan and going to MSU for grad school. That was interesting. 😉

Try being a UM fan and going to MSU for grad school. That was interesting.

Ha!

I can get Va Tech and a touchdown. I might put a little on it.

That Stanford/TCU game should be interesting. Both had an outside shot at getting into the Championship so who knows who shows up? That's the thing with some of these bowl games. Seems like there are always times when you never know if a team really wants to be there.

Did you say you bet under 51 for the game or the Virginia team total? Geesh. How embarrassed must Virginia be with this game? Like a broken record this year, one team plays above their potential and another team just doesn't even show up.

Atleast yesterday provided some good games. Today is still young.

At least yesterday provided some good games. Today is still young.

Yeah if I am ambitious I will try to stay awake to watch the Michigan State game. If I was REALLY ambitious I would go to one of the handful of MSU bars here in Chicago. But the five degree temps might just make me stay on the couch.

I'm going the couch route!

Did you say you bet under 51 for the game or the Virginia team total? Geesh. How embarrassed must Virginia be with this game? Like a broken record this year, one team plays above their potential and another team just doesn't even show up.

Atleast yesterday provided some good games. Today is still young.

Some credit to the Hokie defense, but Virgina's offense hardly showed up for a big rivalry game, shutout. And today, they run the opening kickoff back and then nothing again. And, with a "pro caliber" QB.