STATION PULLS “TREK” ON EVE OF RIVALRY WEEKEND
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP)...Local Sin City TV station KVBC will yank classic Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” to spite the Vegas Vindicator just a day before the college football season’s “rivalry weekend” commences. Local bookies want to give no comfort to the Weber Kid and refused to broadcast the famous forecaster’s favorite episode of the cult classic. A similar strategy by a Green Bay station to deny Giants QB Eli Manning the opportunity to view his fave episode of Seinfeld prior to last season’s NFC Championship game blew up in its collective face as New York upset the Packers and went on to win Super Bowl 42. But just as the cast and crew of the popular sitcom hurried to the aid of the NY triggerman by sending him the entire season’s worth of the series on tape, so too rallied Roddenberry Enterprises, which mailed Vindy its whole series on Beta-Max. As Trekkies nationwide rushed to Vindicator’s cause, even Boston Legal star and Priceline Negotiator William Shatner came to the rescue, providing an autographed photon torpedo to the beleaguered seer. Paparazzi trailing Vindy noted a “boot” on his foot...the result of Weber injuring his plant-foot while trying to impress Captain Kirk by flashing the famous “Live long and prosper” sign... with his toes!
Still basking in the glow of his 12-6-1Week Twelve results (109-102-2, .516) , our hero sets his parlay card to “stun” and, boldly going where no bettor has gone before, orders Scottie to “Energize”....beaming down....
THE WEBER KID’S 2008 WEEK 13 FORECAST
WED. NOV. 19
#14 Ball State over CENTRAL MICHIGAN giving 7: Chippies wasted a late 24-point lead, but beat Northern Illinois in OT last week. CMU has won four straight against the Birds, covering three of them, including last year’s 58-38 romp. Chippewas on a six-game SU win streak, including a victory at Indiana. Nonetheless, we’ll take the stronger offense (and better defense) of Ball State, who oddly turned it over to the stoppers, up just 15 points with about ten minutes left at Miami-O...BSU 38 Central Michigan 27
THURS. NOV. 20
#23 Miami over GEORGIA TECH taking 4: Hurricanes’ first visit to the Top 25 in two years is probably gonna’ be a short one. Bees had last week off and have covered 3 of last four vs. Miami. Pelicans doing it on defense throughout their five-game win streak, allowing an average of 11 ppg to everybody except Duke (which scored 31 in Durham). Updating a preseason stat from The Sporting News... Miami QBs have now tossed 102 TD passes and 86 INTs last six years! Tech’s triple-option plus Miami’s defense equals...field-goal fest...Joja’ Tech 19 ‘Canes 16
SAT. NOV. 22
#1 Alabama: IDLE (next vs. Auburn)
#2 Texas Tech over #5 OKLAHOMA taking 6 1/2: Sooners coverage teams yielded 261 kickoff return yards to Texas A&M. No harm, no foul vs. the Aggies offense, but giving that kind of field-position to the Red Raiders could be a huge problem. Hey, what’s the worst Tech can do...hang a forecast loss on your humble host???!!!...Guns Up 35 Oklahoma 31
Citadel @ #3 FLORIDA: No line.
#4 Texas: IDLE (next vs. A&M 11/27)
#6 USC: IDLE (next vs. Notre Dame)
#17 Michigan State over #7 PENN STATE taking 14: Spartans are 1-4-2 in last 7 as road dogs, but haven’t lost by this many since 2004. Lions had their week to mope over defeat by the Iowa !@%#@!!! Hawkeyes (Oh sorry...is Vindy’s anger over a small insignificant win vs. the Nitwit Lions two weeks ago showing again??!!) and loss of national title shot. PSU was sloppy and unfocused on offense, yielding three turnovers in blown cover against Indiana. Back to business with Rose Bowl berth on the line. Spartans Javon Ringer will get his yards, but if MSU mounts a passing game, Pasadena could be gone too...Not-As-Happy-As-It-Could-Be Valley 24 Sparty 17
#16 Brigham Young over #8 UTAH taking 6 1/2: Overrated Cougars coulda’ lost to UDUB, UNLV and Colorado State, but only blemish was blowout at TCU. Utes were nearly as bad this season, squeaking by Oregon State, New Mexico and the aforementioned Frogs, each by 3 points, but two of those three will go to nice post-season venues. BYU won 17-10 last year and gets first dog role in last 21 games, including post-season bouts. No choice but to grab the points...Utah 17 BYU 13
#9 Boise State over UNR giving 6: No question, Wolfpack QB Kaepernick and the Pistol offense have momentum, but Reno’s been spanked by the better teams it has gone against this year, while the Broncos have beaten Oregon, Bowling Green and Southern Miss...BSU 45 UNR 35
Michigan over #10 OHIO STATE taking 20 1/2: Big Blew misses the post-season for the first time in 34 seasons, so the question is...will the Wolverines join the fray in earnest vs. the big rival or will UM players be surfing the ‘Net at DitchRich.Com during halftime?! Michigan is 1-3 ATS in last 4 vs. the Buckeyes and State has taken last four outright, but the final margins have been well-within this number. After losses to Illinois and Penn State by 25 and 29 respectively, Wolverines showed a little life in losses to Purdue and Northwestern by 6 and 7, respectively (sandwiched around 23-point win at Minnesota)...Buckeyes 33 Michigan 14
#11 Oklahoma State: IDLE (next vs. Oklahoma)
#12 Missouri: IDLE (next vs. Kansas)
#13 Georgia: IDLE (next vs. Georgia Tech)
Air Force over #15 TCU taking 18: Flyboys actually led the Mormons by 4 at the half last week before disastrous 3rd Quarter and have the ball-control offense to make this a quick game. Frogs off a week of rest, have covered 13 of last 17 spotting points in Ft. Worth and haven’t suffered consecutive spread losses all year...TCU 20 Pilots 10
Mississippi over #18 LSU taking 5: Baton Rouge ain’t what it used to be for the Bengals. Tigers have a great, big goose-egg in the home spread-win column and are a 30-point 4th Quarter rally last week vs. a Sun Belt team away from a mere 4-3 SU home record. Rebels could actually take this outright with a few breaks. LSU now 8-23-4 vs. other SEC squads. The Weber Kid has picked the Bengals correctly in five of seven tries this seasons...LSU 20 Ole Miss 17
#20 Pittsburgh over #19 CINCINNATI taking 5: If the Tech-Oklahoma game becomes a rout in either direction, this one is potentially the best game of the week. Rested Panthers have gone 7-1 straight up since opening loss to Bowling Green and have scored at least 21 in each of those tilts. Bearkats have been kind to this forecaster, going 4-0 in four appearances in the weekly picks, but just played a couple of hard-fought games...Cincinnati 17 Pitt 16
#21 Oregon State over ARIZONA taking 3: LOCK OF DA’ WEEK. Beavers steaming toward Rose Bowl rematch vs. Penn State if they can win out. Last week’s 10-point loss by Arizona at Oregon wasn’t nearly that close as the ‘Cats scored three touchdowns late against the Ducks scrubs. AZ held the ball more than 40 minutes, but still yielded over 500 yards of offense to the Mallards. UA is 3-0 ATS this year as home chalk, but those wins came vs. Idaho, Toledo and UDUB...Oregon State 30 Wildcats 20
Florida State over #22 MARYLAND taking 1: ‘Noles should be getting back their five wideouts, who were suspended for Boston College game. State hasn’t won outright in College Park since 2002, but ranked ACC teams have struggled in recent weeks. Terps played “keep away” vs. the Tarheels long enough to boot the winning field goal last week...Injuns 23 Box Turtles 19
#24 Oregon: IDLE (next @ Oregon State)
North Carolina State over #25 NORTH CAROLINA taking 11: Wolfpack seems to be getting a better grip on second-year coach Tom O’Brien’s schemes, covering 6 of its last 7 games to-date and riding two-game SU win streak. Not expecting an upset here, but we like the double-digits in a rivalry game...Tarheels 28 NCSU 24
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS
BTW, before transporting your host to the surface, Mr. Scott neglected to mention that without the di-lithium crystals in 3 days, 4 hours and 17 minutes, Vindy’s Picks were all going to die anyway!
The Golden Gophers host the Iowa !@&$*#@!! Hawkeyes (Damn! Sorry...there we go AGAIN!). In the annual battle for the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig trophy. No word yet on whether a certain former-VP hopeful will be on-hand to apply a bit of lipstick (we heard her schedule’s been freed up recently though!).
Back in February, the Wheeling (West Va.) Wheelers minor league hockey team held a “Shred Rich Rodriguez” promo, providing discount tickets to fans bringing pics or news articles of former WVU football coach. Vindy’s willing to return the tickets and painstakingly tape or glue the shredded photo strips back together if Wolverines manage the cover vs. Ohio State this week!
The Steelers beat the Chargers this past weekend by a first-ever final score of 11-10. Big deal. Bettors wanting to wager on any individual team against the spread see that number everyday in the sportsbook!
Donovan McNabb fessed up this week he didn’t know NFL games could end in ties...but added that although he struggles with the Windsor knot, he’d be sure to keep plenty of the stylish neckwear on the sidelines each week just in case. Vindy had half a mind (had?) to tell the Eagles quarterback that games still undecided after the first OT period actually go to penalty kicks!
Now on the playlist for PA operators at stadiums everywhere across the country (or at least in the blue states) ...”We Will Barack You!”
A professional Japanese baseball league just drafted its first-ever female player... Eri Yoshida. The diminutive 16-year-old knucklerballer aspires to be like BoSox hurler Tim Wakefield. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a couple of Big Tim’s teammates admitted he “does throw like a girl!”
Black Shirt: Goes to Ohio State cornerback Malcolm Jenkins for scoring a 1st Quarter safety, allowing the Buckeyes to give Vindy a push rather than a loss vs. the Illini last week!
“Locked in a Box?”: It didn’t happen until late in the game, but the Cincy Bearkats helped Vindy bust a Friday night slide and covered nicely in win over Louisville, raising the lock tally to 10-2 (.833)!
Shoppe Talk: Texas Tech was off, but the Mormons of BYU (2-7) continue to confound Vindicator!
Vindy’s Week 9 Best Bets: Last Week: 1-3 Season: 32-22-1 (.592)
NORTHWESTERN +2 ½ over Illinois, Arkansas +1 over Mississippi STATE, OHIO +3 over Akron, Colorado State -2 ½ over WYOMING
No comments:
Post a Comment