Parade and Picks

Some highlights of the Victory Parade today in Chicago:
-Brian Anderson wearing a CPD hat.
-Geoff Blum has a job on the SouthSide for the rest of his life. He’s also most likely to open a bar in Birdgeport.
-I love Ozzie wearing the Venezuelan flag.
-The fans chanting “We Can’t Hear!” or something like that to that guy from U.S. Cellular.
-Bossard getting a shout out!
-The Mayor! Don’t you love how every banner during this parade had Daley’s name on it? Just fantastic. And I love how he never puts his face on any of these things. You know pictures of him holding a shotgun or standing up straight and looking out from the lake towards the city. Oh the subtle differences between dictators.
-Pretty cool moment when Konerko gave the final out ball to Jerry Reinsdorf.
-All the people who were there… amazing. Just amazing… the number of people who showed up alone is awesome. We have waited so long for this day. And this was our first chance to celebrate a championship winning baseball team in 88 years. Just a very cool day and few hours. Thanks to WGN for broadcasting that, even though you have to figure that it kills them to broadcast the Sox Victory Parade.
-It really was cool to watch them come down LaSalle and all the people cheering and the ticker tape falling. Only one other city in this country could pull something like that off and that’s New York. How cool.
-Did it get better than those guys holding up the Championship Trophy over their heads? I could never get sick of that.
-You really have to start wondering what sort of effect this is going to have on the baseball landscape in Chicago and in the Midwest. The Cubs will always have their fans because of all the transplants throughout the Midwest who move to Chicago and the North Side and get sucked in to the whole Cubbie bullshit.
-When Hawk goes “To those Heine Birds who didn’t believe. Screw 'Em!” Basically calling out Jay Mariotti. Fantastic.

Okay let’s get to the picks.
NCAA:
Let’s just get this out in the open. I took BC yesterday and boy is that painful. In the hole already to start the week. Never fun.

PENN STATE (-15.5) over Purdue
At some point Purdue will just roll over and give up. They put up a fight last week against the Badgers, but still lost by 11. I think they just roll over at this point. Either that or they run the table and make it to a bowl game… but that’s not going to happen. Purdue just isn’t that good this year. That said, I’m looking forward to next weeks “Most Disappointing Big Ten Team Game” against Michigan State.

Wisconsin (-21) over ILLINOIS
The Illini have nothing to play for and have been getting killed on the road. Meanwhile Wisconsin finds it self in the middle of the Big Ten race despite being just a good team this year. Oh and the new ‘handicapping’ the Big Ten race update! With Iowa’s loss (after I had them ranked #1)…
4) Northwester
3) Penn State
2) Wisconsin
1) Ohio State

Ohio State (-3.5) over Minnesota
Let’s just say that by taking Ohio State and ranking them #1 in the Big Ten race I’m hoping that the same thing happens to them that happened to Iowa. Minnesota is a good team, but that loss to the Badgers killed them.

Georgia (+3.5) over Florida
Just seems like I should take the points here.

NORTHWESTERN (+3) over Michigan
I know, I go against Michigan and then they turn around and win. Not this week. I swear.

BOISE STATE (-21) over Nevada
This is the game where the Broncos get the job done in part to the beautiful blue unis they wear.

Last week: 3-1
Overall: 6-6

NFL:
Call me what you will, but I’m not touching the ‘Skins and Giants game. I like both teams… a lot. In fact, maybe too much. The Redskins are for real and are in the middle of a season where they’re going to get every break. Some may call it magical in a few weeks. The Giants are a really good team too… so I don’t want to pick against either team. This has 17-13 written all over it, I just don’t know who. I guess Giants, but don’t hole me to it.

I know I love going against the Cowboys this year, and it’s been good to me (or at least it feels that way)… but not this week. But I don’t like ‘em that much either.

BENGALS (-9) over Packers
This game could get ugly. I’d love to see USC play the Packers. That would probably be the most entertaining game in the NFL season this year. Two teams that can score but can’t really stop the other team is always entertaining.

Raiders (-1.5) over TITANS
I know Fisher gets his guys ready week in and week out, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Titans. So much so that they should be in good shape going into next year. But the Raiders aren’t a bad team. They played a lot of good teams to start the year. They aren’t an elite team and that’s why they lost those games. But they can been the good to pretty good teams. And the Titans are an okay team at best.

SAINTS (-2.5) over Dolphins
Saints back in Louisiana for the first time. If they lose this game… I’m not going to think about it.

Chiefs (+6.5) over CHARGERS
There are two weird lines this week and this is one of ‘em. In fact this line is so weird, that the Lee Corso rule may apply. But I just think this is people saying ‘hey the Chargers keep losing heart breakers. That’s not going to happen at home!’

NINERS (+11) over Bucs
The other weird line of the week if only because Chris Simms in starting on the road. Also the Caddy might not play and I know Pittman isn’t a bad back up… but Chris Simms is starting on the road! And Alex Smith isn’t playing for the Niners, so that has to be a good sign right?

Eagles (+3.5) over BRONCOS
I just having a feeling about this one. It’s not every day that you get to take the Birds and get points. I just like that combination, sort of like getting bacon and turkey on a sandwich.

Bears (+3) over LIONS
I know Orton is on the road and Garcia is breathing life into the Lions but… the Bears have the best scoring defense in the NFL. They’ve only allowed 68 points (that’s just over 11 points a game). Meanwhile the Lions have a negative point differential and got creamed by the Bears in Chicago. Plus if Garcia goes down, Harrington is brought in and the Bears will probably win.

Bills (+8.5) over PATRIOTS
Two teams that can’t stop the run, which means it comes down to who is better at running the ball. And that’s easy, the Bills are. So I’m going with the Bills in a close one.

Last week: 5-3
Overall: 19-17