LATEST BARBIE INTRIGUES BETTING INDUSTRY
EL SEGUNDO, California (AP)…Despite
demands on Mattel to have a two-way
conversational doll, advocates implored the toymaker to throw in the towel on
plans for this holiday season’s “Hello Barbie”. Those warnings went ignored and
recently, it was voted the Worst Toy of 2015. The doll, long a staple of
popular culture, encompasses artificial intelligence and speech-recognition
software to “talk” with kids and send recordings of the conversations to the
Cloud, keeping them for up to two years. Eavesdropping officials can analyze
and tweak responses based on those verbal interactions. Seeing yet-another
method of marketing, sports-handicapping outfits, individual touts and even
sportsbook-directors in Sin City have gone all-in on the toy, buying access to
the data and creating appropriate comebacks, on top of the 8000
originally-developed ones, that encourage kids to get one or both of their
parents to drop a few dollars on sports wagers! One anonymous bookie said he
envisioned exchanges going something like…Child: “Barbie, do you like to play
with teddy bears?” Barbie: “I love da’ Bears…plus 7! I think your Daddy
does too! You should tell him to call me at 1-888-BET-HERE and give us
some money to prove to you just how much he likes Bears!”
Havin’ correctly called
Army’s cover vs. Navy last Saturday, we’re hopin’ to be rescued from the I-formation of Misfit Toys by…
THE
WEBER KID’S 2015-16 BOWL PREDICTIONS (PART I)
(Still undergoing NFL concussion-protocol
in the wake of the Championship Week disaster!)
DEC.
19
GILDAN
NEW MEXICO BOWL (@ Albuquerque, NM)
NEW
MEXICO (+9) over Arizona: Motivational angles favor the
Lobos. 4th–year coach Bob Davie’s charges play beyond the regular-season for
first time since 2007, also first time since that year New Mexico has tallied
more than 4 SU wins. Davie can now build on that momentum. Across da’ field,
6-6 ‘Cats battled Boise State in the Fiesta this time last year and get little
joy opening the season’s bowl-parade, showing only a victory over then-ranked
Utes as lone triumph in last six games.
A loss here would not only result in an extended cold-shoulder for QB
Anu Solomon by Coach RichRod, it would likely result in the need for said-QB’s
transfer to Northern Arizona or some other nearby I-AA institution, but…Arizona
34 Lobos 31
ROYAL
PURPLE LAS VEGAS BOWL (@ Las Vegas, NV)
Brigham
Young (+3) over Utah: Initial reports alleged neither
team wanted this match-up and reportedly, da’ Coogs-backers hoped for the
Hawaii Bowl because the hoops-team was on the hardwood in the Islands for a
tourney coinciding with the gridiron contest.
But days-later, the bowl committee scored the coup. With both sides’
excellent travelling fan bases, the real winner here is any given casino’s
hotel reservations desk! Sadly, other factions of the community will see nary a
penny dropped in a machine or at the bar! Both squads finished 9-3 SU. BYU’s
best victory mighta’ been 33-28 at now 5-7-but-bowling Nebraska. Utes breezed
along to start the year, but lost QB Travis Wilson and suffered 18-point defeat
at USC, then later edged Colorado by 6 in late November. In another edition of
Da’ Holy War, we like…Utah 17 BYU 16
RAYCOM
MEDIA CAMELLIA BOWL (@ Montgomery, AL)
Appalachian
State (-7 ½) over Ohio: Mountaineers 41 Bobblecats 29
AUTONATION
CURE BOWL (@ Orlando, FL)
Georgia
State (+3) over San Jose State: Takin’ the Spartans,
who were expected to be better this year and are one of the hat-trick-worth of
5-7 squads playing in the post-season, would be just too easy. San Josie wasn’t horrible in non-conference
play, losing by 14 each to Oregon State and Auburn, while absorbing a mere
one-point defeat to BYU, but put four of final six-pack in the “L”-column and
covered just 2 of 6 away from home. Panthers on the other hand, turned out to
be quite the pleasant surprise, snagging a bowl-berth just a year removed from
a dismal 1-11 FBS debut that saw State concede 43 ppg. Initially, it looked
like “Here we go again”, with Joja’ State giving Charlotte its lone-FBS victory
and falling to I-AA Liberty. But GSU ended on a four-game SU win streak,
including stunning road-upset of Joja’ Sudden…by 27 points! Panthers covered 9
of 11 overall and the scoring-defense was reasonable (48 at Arkansas State
notwithstanding). Why, you ask, are
we even offering coverage/analysis/breakdown of this contest? Because Washington Post writer Patrick Stevens,
in ranking the TV-watchin’-worthiness of each post-season melee, had the Automated Curad Bowl dead-last among the forty tussles. Somebody’s got give a little recognition
to the clubs-in-question. Yer welcome!…GSU 31 SJSU 27
R+L
CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL (@ New Orleans, LA)
Louisiana
Tech (-2 ½) over Arkansas State: Bulldogs 48 Arkansas
State 37
DEC.
21
MIAMI
BEACH BOWL (@ Miami, FL)
South
Florida (+3) over Western Kentucky: Bulls looked doomed
again, following two seasons and a total of six SU wins under a new coach, then
beginning 2015 at 1-3, but took 7 of the final 8, including a beat-down of
then-ranked Temple. ‘Toppers’ only defeats came at Indiana and at LSU. We think
former-Hilltoppers coach Willie
Taggart, now on the South Florida sidelines, will have some thoughts on how to
slow-down prolific Western KY QB Brandon Doughty, who’s thrown an average of
more than three scoring tosses per game…USF 28 WKY 27
DEC.
22
FAMOUS
IDAHO POTATO BOWL (@ Boise, ID)
Akron
(+6 ½) over Utah State: UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK. Aggies
won just a single game away from Logan, beating a poor Fresno State club and
covered just 2 of the 6 games-in-question, losing QB Chuckie Keeton to
early-season injuries…again. Despite Kent Myers 14-3 passing TD-to-pick ratio,
State won only six games while losing an equal number. Zips ended last season
1-5 SU/ATS slide, but come in here having won four consecutive games. Outside
allowing 41 at Oklahoma and 59 at Bowling Green, the Akron scoring-D has been good.
Zips in first postseason since 2005 and should be primed to hang with Aggies,
whose 12-9 opening victory over FCS Southern Utah was an apparent omen of the overall
2015 campaign…Akron 27 Utah State 24
MARMOT
BOCA RATON BOWL (@ Boca Raton, FL)
Temple
(-1) over Toledo: Temple’s proven themselves, without a
doubt, a season after being bowl-eligible but getting zero invites. With a
10-win campaign already in-hand, we think Philly Fowl send a clear message that
2014 snub was in error…Owls 24 Rockettes 20
DEC.
23
SAN
DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL (@ San Diego, CA)
Northern
Illinois (+8) over Boise State: Broncos appear to be
still gettin’ lines-maker-love based on achievements of yore, despite falling
outright in 3 of last 5 contests entering the postseason, including losses on
the blue-field to New Mexico and Air Force. BSU’s won 2 of last 3 year’s bowls,
but covered just one and probably ain’t crushed to see a non-PAC 12 opponent on the other side of the field. Huskies
outlasted 3-win UNLV 38-30 and lost final two games to Western Michigan and da’
Bee Gees in MAC title match, but we like their road-upset of then-ranked Toledo
and September near-miss at da’ Shoe more than we like State’s 16-13
season-opening win at home vs. UDUB, which seems so far ago now…NIU 31 Boise State 28
GODADDY
BOWL (Mobile, AL)
Bowling
Green vs. Georgia Southern (“over” 66): Falcons 44 Joja’ Sudden
34
DEC.
24
POPEYES
BAHAMAS BOWL (Nassau, Bahamas)
Western
Michigan (-3) over Middle Tennessee State: Broncos 37 MTSU
27
HAWAII
BOWL (@ Honolulu, HI)
Cincinnati
(PK) over San Diego State: Tough backin’ a Bearkats team that
seemingly lost a game every other week because…well…they did! Cincy did not suffer back-to-back defeats this season, but
managed consecutive wins just once…at home vs. UConn (who played better as the
season progressed) and Central Florida (who apparently quit right from the
git-go). Mountain Jest champion Aztecs played extremely-well on D in conference, allowing more than 14
points just twice (17 at Colorado State and 24 vs. the Flight Platoon in the MWC
championship game). SDSU did, however,
lose all three FBS non-conference games, forking-over an average of better than
35 ppg. UC faced stiffer competition week-in and week-out as part of the AAC,
yielding 33 or more in 7 games, so we also considered “over 58” here…Bearkats 34
SDSU 30
BETWEEN
THE HASHMARKS
BTW, for the Rocky
Horror fans out there, Vindy tried out one of the cutting-edge dolls,
asking, “Barbie…who do you think will
win da’ National Title?”. The doll eerily-responded, “I see you shiver with antici---pation.” And for
the regular horror-genre fans, we
say, “Hi! My name’s Barbie…and I’ll beat your Ken to the end! Heidi-ho!”
As has been pointed out by a local sports-writer, victor
in the Las Vegas Bowl gets the distinction of being first four-time winner at
the venue. We’re not entirely sure that’s something to be proud of, but…
“Then he slunk
to da’ sportsbook. He took parlay cards. He deleted Who-wagers, then slipped past da’ guards. He took all da’ book’s jerseys…and souvenir pucks.
Why, that Vin even drank…the last cup of Starbucks!” Then what
happened next…at the sportsbook they say…was that Vindy’s
small heart…grew three point-spreads that day.
Cindy-Lou-Hoo Dat’ say dey gonna’ beat dem’
Saints???!!!
The Middies donned special
helmets featuring hand-painted
depictions of famous naval vessels and submarines. Vindy has commissioned that same artist to create similar headgear
featuring da’ USS Minnow and da’ Titanic!
In early 2015, BYU issued
its first guidelines on when students may grow beards without violating its
rule that students must be clean-shaven. Allowable: medical conditions,
religious cases (Sikh and Muslim), theatrical production requests from the
Church of Jesus Christ LDS media & drama departments…oh…and if the Cougars
make the NHL Playoffs…until they win the Stanley Cup or are eliminated,
whichever comes first! (Which also led us to contemplate the outcome if bubble-gum
[in da’ facial-hair] met a certain motto…met a famous trading-card company…”Fleer da’ Beard”?!)
Bizarre random thoughts…”Diesel a fuel of my fa-vor-ite things!” And…Tinsel Me, Elmo?!
If a player hits another
player on the posterior side of the body with a Lego piece from behind, is it an “Illegal building-block to da’
back”???!!!
There are forty (count
‘em, forty!) bowls this season and
three feature teams with losing records (5-7), while yet-another paired two
clubs from the Mountain Jest Conference! Let’s hear it for the “These Two Teams
Weren’t As Bad As Their Records Suggest Bowl”!!!! Or for the folks in the
readership who remember the TV series-in-question…the Maxwell Smart “Missed Postseason-Eligibility
By That Much…But We Did Really Well Academically” Bowl!
Black Shirt: Again, we’re sharing the coveted-cloth this week,
awarding it to Army WR Edgar Poe for the fitty-yard punt-return setting up a FG
on Army’s first possession. Honorable mention to Keydets freshman QB Chris Carter
for converting several third-down passes and to Sailors’ DE Amos Mason for
drawing an “illegal hands to da’ Face(book?)” flag that furthered Army’s second possession, resulting in a
touchdown!
Bowls Part I Best Bets: Last Week: 0-0
Season: 41-34-1 (.546)
Weeziana Tech-Arkansas
State “over” 66
It’s da’ mossssssst wonderbowl tiiiiiime of…da’ yearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! To all our
loyal readers, we extend the annual holiday greeting…”Pass on Earth. Goodwill toward linemen.”
And “have yerself a Vindy little
Christmas …!”
We’ll be back around
Christmas Day with Part II!
No comments:
Post a Comment