October 23, 2011

Not a good time to be part of The Crew right now, as there is tension in the office that you could cut with a knife, with some of the boys going at each other like cats and dogs. It stems largely from a huge disagreement Friday, when some wanted to go with Texas Tech +29 as one of our Saturday plays. Upper management won out and we instead took Auburn +21, which, of course, was a horrible decision. Tech, as everyone knows by now, won straight up.

There was also considerable disagreement regarding the Super Play of the Year yesterday. There were more than a few guys who thought it was preposterous to play against Stanford, who was -- and as it turns out, still is -- perfect ATS.

Whatever the case, one thing is readily apparent to everyone: We clearly are scuffling, having put together four consecutive losing days in a row, including an 0-3-1 record on our Super Plays. It puts us in the unfamiliar position of being under .500 for the year overall and an even .500 on our Super Plays.

Bill Parcells once said, "You are what your record is," and right now we are clearly very average. We, however, didn't become the Northwest's most anonymous, low-stakes handicapping source by performing like that. Today it ends. The Crew gets back on track.

Couple thoughts before we get to the Super Play...

Kim Kardashian should be consulted on foreign policy decisions before anyone takes the various recruiting rankings seriously. To wit, according to Scout, Andrew Luck's 2008 class at Stanford was ranked 43rd in the country, with eight current Pac-12 teams ahead of them, including Colorado, UCLA and Arizona, who are a combined 6-16 this season...

Coaches know the spread. They'll tell you they don't, but they clearly do. This week former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach admitted that he would try to score at the end of the game if it meant covering the spread. And then last night, when Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville was interviewed on the field by ESPN following the Red Raiders' monumental upset of Oklahoma, the first thing he mentioned was that his team was "28-point underdog." It shouldn't surprise anyone. Boosters, especially rich ones, gamble, and covering a line or two elevates a coach immensely in their eyes...

If The Crew hears again that Tim Tebow is a winner, they are going to vomit. Sure, he was part of two National Title-winning teams at Florida. Twenty three players, however, were drafted to NFL rosters while Tebow was at Florida. Andy Dick could have played QB for the Gators and would have been a winner...

Super Play of the Day

Speaking of Tim Tebow, he rubs. He now rubs even more with Brandon Lloyd playing for St Louis. Yes, Miami is horrible too, but we can't imagine they have enjoyed hearing about Tebow all week. We like the Dolphins to win their first game of the season today, taking advantage of a limited, Tebow-led offense. That the Broncos have to play the early game after traveling east makes us like the Dolphins even more.

Miami -1.5


Other picks

Titans -2.5
Packers -10