BOOKS ADOPT TEMPORARY BARTER SYSTEM
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (UPI)....With mid-term elections on the horizon and recognizing economic difficulties, sportsbooks in Sin City are sponsoring a promotion based on a concept offered earlier this year by then-U.S. senatorial candidate Sue Lowden. The Nevada politician spoke to the virtues of a bartering system, in which local doctors once accepted chickens in exchange for medical services. Under “Clucks for Bucks”, bookies, for one weekend, allowed bettors to use the barnyard fowl as collateral to place wagers. As word spread, casinos began looking like free-range farms, and taking advantage of the publicity, companies such as KFC, Popeye’s and Chick-Fil-A had representatives onsite at many of the Strip properties. One anonymous bookmaker said, “I nearly had a coronary when a Perdue tractor-trailer pulled into the parking lot!”
The chalk made its presence known last week as the favorites covered 13 of the 19 ranked games, leaving Vindicator to go just 9-9 (66-75-2, .468) for Week Eight.
That robo-call received by citizens across the entire state of Nevada at 1:00 AM Monday morning was sponsored by members of the Tee Ball Party and Long Island Iced Tea Party in an effort to rally support for...
THE WEBER KID’S 2010 WEEK 9 FORECAST(As released this week by WikiPicks!)
TUES. OCT. 26
#2 BOISE STATE over Louisiana Tech giving 35: Following four straight losses to I-A teams, Bulldogs put together back-to-back victories over Utah State and Idaho, both at home, before taking this past weekend off. LT has been money-burning home dog at 7-20 ATS the last four-plus seasons. Weeziana lost just 45-35 at home last year, but 38-3 and 55-14 in its past two trips to the azure rug. Tech also lost in September 48-16 at Texas A&M, who would likely lose to Boise as well. Bulldogs have two transfer WR from BCS squads who have accounted for four of the team’s nine passing touchdowns, but are just 3rd and 7th, respectively, in reception yardage. Boise is just 3rd in the WAC in passing offense (301 ypg), while Tech comes in at 4th (244 ypg). The truly-significant difference lies in TD-to-INT ratio. Bulldogs have 9 scores and 11 picks, while the Taters show 18 and 1. No reason to believe Spuds won’t carry on in “take no prisoners” mode until at least next week at Hawaii or a month from now at Reno. Putting the ‘Dogs somewhere between Toledo and Wyoming, we’ll say...Tubers 54 Canines 11 (THIS ONE’S IN THE BOOKS AS A LOSS AS LA TECH PULLED OFF THE BACKDOOR COVER, SCORING A USELESS TD WITH UNDER A MINUTE LEFT)
THURS. OCT. 28
#16 Florida State over NC STATE giving 3 ½: Wolfpack was one of 2010's feel-good stories until dropping two of last three games straight-up and ATS, including an OT loss at East Carolina. NCSU could assure itself of no worse than a .500 regular season with the minor upset. ‘Noles haven’t started their annual swoon and are 3-1 ATS in ACC contests this year. We wanna’ believe in the home dog, but just can’t ...FSU 24 NCSU 17.
SAT. OCT. 30
#1 Oregon over #24 USC giving 7: Line looks reasonable given that the Trojans made Stanford sweat and Troy has gone 2-2 SU/ATS in its past four games, winning two by an average of 36 points per game while dropping a pair by total of 3. The Mallards, however, trashed the Cardinal and have plenty of motivation with loss of BCS top spot to Auburn despite 60-13 humiliation of UCLA. Trojans are getting points at home for first time since 2001...Decoys 44 USC 33
#3 Auburn over MISSISSIPPI giving 7: This got a good hard look for lock. We’d consider this line a whole lotta’ love for the Rebels had Auburn’s special teams and vaunted defense not been allowing opponents to keep coming back like Lindsay Lohan to rehab lately! Ole Missus lost by 13 at ‘Bama, 14 at Arkansas (a game in which Mr. Masoli helped the offense ring up 512 yards of offense in a losing effort) and oddly, by 14 to Vandy. Mississippi’s best chance for an SU win the rest of the way is next week hosting the Ragin’ Cagemens of Louisiana...Tigers 29 Mississippi 13
#4 Texas Christian over UNLV giving 35: With Air Force’s touchdown in the first 15 minutes last week, Toads have been scored upon now just once in the last 12 ½ quarters. Rebels have covered both home dog opportunities on the year (but the bye week won and covered last Saturday!). Like Boise, TCU wants to put on a show to hang around the upper-tier of the BCS poll. The Rebels can earn a “badge” by logging in on their Foursquare accounts by cell phone should they actually hit paydirt vs. the Froggies...TCU 44 UNLV 0
#5 Michigan State over #18 IOWA taking 6 ½: Sparty’s on the road for third time in four weeks, but already has two outright wins and covers over a pair of other Top 25 foes. A win here very likely allows State, who rallied from 17 down at Northwestern, to finish the regular season undefeated. Hawkeyes’ home loss to Wisconsin was a team effort...dropped passes on offense, poor coverage and missed/blocked kicks on special teams and inability to stop the Badgers on very short-yardage 3rd and 4th Downs...Michigan State 24 Iowa 22
#6 Alabama: IDLE (next @ LSU)
#14 NEBRASKA over #7 Missouri giving 7 ½: Tigers got their first cover in 9 tries against ranked teams last week, using a big 4th Quarter to pull the upset over the Sooners. Huskers had their own dogfight vs. Oklahoma State. Big Red has covered six straight against the Top 25, but until knocking off then -#17 Cowboys, had been one of two BCS teams to have not won outright over a Top 19 squad since November of 2001 (Duke is now the lone club in that category and we thank Phil Steele for that tidbit!)...Nebraska 27 Mizzou 19
#8 Utah over AIR FORCE giving 7: LOCK OF DA’ WEEK. Okay, the average margin of victory in this series the last seasons has been five, but these are much different teams this year. Pilots were in the game for one quarter at TCU and were minus their starting fullback. Flyboys are undefeated in four opportunities at home on the year, but are on 0-5 ATS slide. Air Force beat Colorado State by 22. Utes rolled up 650 yards on offense and smacked the Rams by 53! Even if Utes look ahead to the Toads, this is a small enough line that it shouldn’t matter...Utah 27 USAF 12
#9 Wisconsin: IDLE (next @ Purdue)
MINNESOTA over #10 Ohio State taking 25 ½: Despite three TD passes and 299 passing yards from that other Weber kid, Gophers’ first game under new interim coach did not go well (12-point loss at Still-Not-Happy Valley), but Minny has covered both ranked games (vs. USC and at Wisky) and though the Gerbils’ only SU victim so far was Fun Belt club Middle Tennessee State, their average margin of defeat has been less than 10 ppg. Buckeyes vented last week, smoking Purdue 49-0 and didn’t covered either game away from ‘Da Shoe...Brutus 38 Hamsters 16
#11 OKLAHOMA over Colorado giving 24: Best guess for “wish I had it back”. We’d normally expect Oklahoma to blow-out floundering Bison after losing last week, but Sooners’ close wins over non-BCS squads and Cincinnati has us concerned. Buffs, who get this many points for just the third time in last four-plus seasons, lost starting QB Tyler Hansen in the second quarter last week and though he gave a valiant effort, Coach Hawkins’ son Cody couldn’t get it done vs. Texas Tech. CU got crushed at Cal and lost 26-0 at Mizzou...Oklahoma 35 Bison 9
#12 LSU: IDLE (next vs. Alabama)
#13 Stanford over WASHINGTON giving 7 ½: Jake Locker is nursing his ribs. Sled Dogs have somehow knocked off two of the four Top 25 clubs they’ve played (USC and Oregon State in 2OT), while getting blasted by Nebraska and Arizona, who took down UDUB last Saturday with a strong ground game and some decent throws from the second-string QB. Trees are recently 0-3 against the number. We expect that change to here...Stanford 31 Huskies 16
#15 Arizona over UCLA giving 8 ½: Nick Foles probably won’t be at quarterback for the Wildcats, but Matt Scott had little trouble dispatching Washington. UCLA, due to suspensions and injuries of its own, is in disarray and just 2-5 ATS on the year. AZ might look forward to Stanford, but we don’t think so...Arizona 23 UCLA 10
#17 SOUTH CAROLINA over Tennessee giving 17 ½: Another well-played first half went down the drain for Tennessee vs. ‘Bama. Citing youth, inexperience and confusion due to multiple changes in leadership, Vols coach Derek Dooley likened his team to the Germans at Normandy during the Second World War. Uh...yeah...that whole D-Day thing woulda’ worked out much better had the “home team” not been wearing bright orange and singing Rocky Top when the Allies hit the beaches!... Poultry 31 Tennessee 10
Vanderbilt over #19 ARKANSAS taking 20 ½: Commodores kept South Carolina off the board until 12 seconds remained in the first half. Hogs’ defense let Ole Miss hang around until shutting down the Rebels midway thru the 4th quarter. Admirals scored at least 21 in each of their first five games, but just 7 total in the last two...Razorbacks 34 Vandy 17
#20 Oklahoma State over KANSAS STATE giving 5: We’d first look to the “over” on this game. Cowboys score more than 48 ppg, K-State yielded 20 or more in 5 of its 7 games. Wildcats supported Vindy’s 4-1 “best bet” tally last week with a meaningless score in 5-point loss to Baylor, but 40's is not KSU’s usual MO. ‘Cats are 4-2 against the line, but fortunate to get two of those spread wins, and just 2 of last 8 as dogs in Manhattan...OKSU 44 KSU 34
#21 Virginia Tech: IDLE (next vs. Joja’ Tech 11/4)
#22 Miami over VIRGINIA giving 14 ½: Cavs have been unable to take advantage of a schedule that sees them playing their sixth home game in the past nine weeks, posting wins only over I-AA Richmond and VMI, and belting MAC bottom-feeder Eastern Michigan. Virginia is mired in 3-7-1 ATS skein back to 2009. Pelicans are 2-2 ATS on the road (missing at OSU and Duke), but Harris has thrown just one pick in the last two games...Miami 31 Virginia 10
Kentucky over #23 MISSISSIPPI STATE taking 6 ½: Bulldogs found themselves in unexpected field-goal fest vs. feisty UAB. KY got caught celebrating its break-thru upset win by surging Joja’. ‘Cats get the nod to bring the A-game again in another tight one...MSU 24 Kentucky 21
#25 Baylor over TEXAS taking 7 ½: In all honesty, we were expecting Hawaii in this spot of the rankings. Have to figure, Da’ Bears got da’ nod over da’ Bows based on Baylor’s 6-point road win over Colorado, who bombed UH by 18 at home. In May, the Texas State Board of Education re-penned curriculum standards for history classes. In fact, under the new guidelines, the last four BCS titles have actually been won by TCU, Rice, Baylor and...Texas 20 Bears 16
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKSBTW, the original name of the previously-noted casino promotion was “Chicks for Picks”, but was quickly changed after several guys tried to swap their wives, girlfriends and mistresses for wagers!
Ex-FSU player Kamari Charlton was sentenced to be caned in Singapore for wearing out his welcome...actually, his visa. At least Miami fans can say a Seminole was beaten by a ‘Cane once this season!
As the Nitwit Lions prepare to host Big Blew this weekend, we note that a 300-year-old shipwreck was found at the bottom of Lake Michigan this past summer. Researchers thought it was the U.S.S. Wolverines....until finding JoePa’s high school letterman’s jacket onboard.
The Nevada Supreme Court last week upheld OJ Simpson’s armed robbery conviction. The judge appeared from the under the replay hood, turned on his mic and announced that “Upon further review, the call on the field stands!”
Matt Hasselbeck’s character made a cameo appearance on last week’s episode of South Park. Jokingly, the Seattle QB said he’d like to be on The Simpsons. “34...16....hut...hut...D’OH!” Meanwhile, back over on Comedy Central, we’d hear Cartman say, “Oh no! They killed the Seahawks!! Those bastards!!!”
Black Shirt: Goes this week to Michigan State running back Edwin Baker for a late 25-yard run for the covering score vs. Northwestern!
“Wish I Had That One Back”: Vindy wants a mulligan on his Texas -21 pick after starting the game analysis with “It’s still scary layin’ three scores with the ‘Horns”.
“Locked in a Box?”: The Gamehens made us wait for it, but eventually covered at Vandy, raising the record to 4-4 (.500).
Shoppe Talk: Anyone care to join Vindicator in some beef burritos as the Steers come in at 1-6 (.143)??!!. We’ve electrified the lily-pads for the TCU Horny Toads, now at 2-5 (1-5 skid, .286) and are makin’ room for West Virginia (1-4, .200).
Vindy’s Week 9 Best Bets: Last Week: 4-1 Season: 16-21 (.432)
Southern Methodist -8 over TULANE, Texas El-Paso +3 over MARSHALL, OHIO -14 ½ over Louisiana (Lafayette), Washington State +21 over ARIZONA STATE, Northwestern -3 over INDIANA
For those about to block (FIRE!!!!).....we saluuuuuuuuute you!
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