at slow speed, you'll seem focused

Welcome to Sports Friday (as opposed to Sports Every Day of the Week like it's seemed to be lately).

If you've been around me for any amount of time, you know how much i hate Tulane. Absolutely can't stand them.

I'm one of those people who rarely, if ever, roots for an underdog. I find it much more enjoyable to watch a good team impose their will on a lesser opponent and systematically dismantle them.

So tomorrow you have a team I hate, Tulane, playing LSU, a team that will most assuredly systematically dismantle them. Sounds like a recipe for a good time to me. But last night I got so mad because I just can't get excited about tomorrow's game.

It's all Les Miles' fault. (Incidentally, I decided that the LSU game plan was the reason they lost Saturday. While the officiating was truly, truly, truly terrible, I decided not to mail the letter to the SEC office. Seemed like a cop-out to me. Excuses, as one high school baseball coach often preached, are for losers.)

LSU is going to beat Tulane and Mississippi State the next two weeks by a combined 98-0 (63-0 and 35-0, respectively) and I can't get excited because against Florida or Tennessee or Arkansas or Alabama, our coaches are going to screw up something and lose a game we should win. (i've spent the last several Fridays making myself delete every "we" reference when I'm talking about LSU, but I can't do it anymore).

so i'm sure it'll change once i get into Tiger Stadium tomorrow, but i can't help but expect to wake up Sunday with the thoughts of something that happened during the game that will continue to reinforce my fears that LSU coaches are incapable of adapting.

DISCLAIMER: defensive and special teams coaches are immune from any coaching criticism in the above paragraphs.

*****

"Hey, It's Your Money" Picks of the Week
Overall record: 6-6-5
Last week: 2-4-4
Point balance: 612
Last week: -388

1.LSU -36 Tulane
2.Notre Dame -3 Mich state
3.USC -22.5 Zona
4.Louisville -14 K-state
5.Minnesota -3 Purdue
6.Mich -13.5 Wisc.
7.West Virgina -19 ECU
8. Iowa State +25 Texas [EDIT: Originally had oklahoma here, but the line shifted a couple of points]
9. UCLA -3 Washington
10. Iowa-20 Illinois
11. Hawaii +14.5 Boise
12. Wyoming -1 Air force

Point Plays:

200 points LSU -36 Tulane
100 points USC -22.5 Zona
100 points West Virgina -19 ECU

2 team parlays
100 points LSU, USC
50 points LSU, West Virginia

3 team
30 points LSU, USC, WVU
30 points LSU, Notre Dame, UCLA

Remaining Balance: 2 points (Yikes, this is could get ugly in a hurry)
Best case scenerio: 1760