Adults: worst thing about kids and sports

            Yet again, the worst thing about kids' sports are the adults.

            A 10- and 11-year-old team in California is being accused of a kids bountygate. The Tustin Junior Pee Wee Red Cobras apparently were offered cash – hell, what happened to ice cream or pizza? – for big hits and knocking out other players.

            Wow.

            That'd be funny if it wasn't so absurd. We see what happens to adults with too many concussions. The noggin of a 10-year-old is still forming itself. To inspire the bruising of another kid's head?

            Man, those involved should be forced to watch a youth sporting event while bound and gagged. Such dirtbags can't help but meddle.

            And are we to believe that parents knew nothing about this? Parents are good at knowing nothing, but this is doubtful.

            Roger Goodell said there will be no replacement team, and the kids are being suspended with no Spongebob or Xbox.

 

CALL THE BOOKIE REVIEW

            Bowling Green plus 22 at Va. Tech:

            That was the Va. Tech we're used to: come out pissed off and hammer away. Hokies won 37-0 and easily covered the 22.

            UTEP plus 16 at Wisconsin: Wisconsin will not be playing for the Big 10 title, and yes, more assistants may get fired before the season is over.

            UTEP went into Madison and gave the Badgers a conference-level game before losing 37-26, and, dammit, covering, which means Wisconsin didn't.

            Again.

            We interrupt this to note that Duke was a 24-point favorite aaaaand pushed, winning 38-14.

            Eastern Michigan plus 28.5 at Michigan State: "The Spartans should have a first-quarter hangover after staggering to the 20-3 loss to Notre Dame."

            Unfortunately, the hangover pretty much lasted all game, and the Spartans needed 14 in the fourth quarter to muddle past EMU 23-7.

            We interrupt this guessing to point out that Northern Illinois, of the MAC, was a 10-point favorite over Kansas, but only won by 7.

            Missouri plus 9 at South Carolina: The Gamecocks are on a roll, and the Tigers are on a learning curve.

            USCE cruised 31-10, as expected.

            LSU minus 19.5 at Auburn: The Les that drives folks crazy was back on The Plains.

            LSU won 12-9, could have easily lost with better timeouts management and decent quarterbacking.

            Of course, it's all part of Les's plan to lull everybody else into a sense of overconfidence.

 

            Don't touch: Florida -23.5 vs. Ky (Florida 38-0: UF followed up, UK's coaching search has started); Arkansas -2 vs. Rutgers (Rutgers won by 9: good seats increasingly available in Fayetteville and Little Rock the rest of the year); Clemson plus 14 at FSU (Florida State 49-37: I believe, Noles, I believe; but Clemson ain't done yet) UGA minus 16 vs. Vandy (Georgia 48-10: am starting to believe in the Dogs).

            Bonus: Cal plus 15 at Southern California: The Trojans got 10 n the fourth to cover by 3.

            I'll take it.

            Record: 2-3 for the week, 6-9 for the season.

            Come onnnn, October.

 

CALL THE BOOKIE THIS WEEK

            Baylor getting 11.5 at West Virginia: The Mountaineers struggled against Maryland, who they should have hammered.

            Baylor barely got past Louisiana-Monroe.

            WVU hasn't flexed in a week or two. Prepare for flexing.

            Take the Mountaineers and smile.

            Penn State getting 1 at Illinois: Hold on there, bubbaboyyy.

            Illinois, of the Big 10/11/12, got beat 52-24 - that's 28 points - Louisiana freakin Tech. At home.

            Both teams are 2-2 overall. Penn State should be 4-0. The Lions might not match LaTech's romp, but it'll be close.

            Take the Nittany Lions and a point and giggle.

            La.Monroe giving 19 to Tulane: How bad is Tulane? Good grief.

            ULM is 15-7 against the spread against losing teams, and Tulane is 17-38 against the spread in the last 55 on turf.

            Yeah, I got analytical.

            It's a lot, and it's at Tulane, but apparently the Wave are that bad.

            Take ULM and 19, but you'll sweat it out.

            Tennessee getting 14.5 at Georgia: Holy crap, here we go, a Georgia game, and a rival game against a team that pretty much needs a win, or least a quality effort.

            And would a 14-point loss to the No. 5 team in the country count?

            Derek Dooley is under more heat than he should be, and losing by 17 or 21 to Georgia but playing well is OK.

            Georgia is getting a swagger. Richt is playing info games and leaving starters in longer than he should.

            Take the Pooches and 14.5.

            Clemson giving 7 at Boston College: BC is a comical program.

            Arrogantly left the Big East, where it wasn't doing much, for the ACC, where it's doing less.

            Clemson gave Florida State three good quarters, so the Tigers know they can play - at least on offense - with a national title contender.

            BC can't even contend for the New England title.

            Take Clemson and, after a moderately sluggish first 20 minutes, the seven and guffaw.

            Don't touch: Texas A&M minus 13 vs. Arkansas (at some point, Arkansas will get it together; and A&M hasn't played anybody since Florida); Central Florida giving 2 to visiting Missouri (wow, Missouri is really impressive in the SEC, being an underdog to a team that did beat a crappy Boston College team by 27 early last yearr and then lost to a crappy UAB team six weeks later);

             That's five games without even hitting the dinnertime schedule.

 

LOUGHDMOUTHINGS

 

            It almost would have been quite a magical and shocking baseball season.

            Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the postseason?

            We almost had it.

            Baltimore has the lead in the AL wildcard.

            Unfortunately, Pittsburgh ain't gonna make .500. The Pirates got no-hit on Friday and are five games under with five left.

            Baltimore's season will continue, and Pittsburgh still had a nice and surprising season, a sign that at least the Pirates are progressing. ...

            So, college football playoff lovers, as it stands, two teams from the best conference are on the outside, as is the team that gave Oklahoma its fourth home loss under Bob Stoops.

            Indeed, it is mighty clear that Alabama, Oregon, LSU and Florida State are the four playoff teams.

            Georgia, South Carolina, Stanford, WVU, etc.? Suck it up. The people demanded the clarity and fairness of a playoff, and they got it.

            Well, until Notre Dame starts sniffing the top 5 and it's late November. Then an already paranoid nation becomes more so. ...

            The Phillies deserve something of a high-five for their second-half of the season. Nobody expected them, even with Ryan Howard for awhile, to suck so bad, but they made a run at the wild card and can finish above .500.

            Considering where they were, that's an accomplishment. ...

            Funny – and not surprising – how anti-union people were suddenly for the NFL refs union. ...

            UAB challenges Ohio State, UTEP pesters Wisconsin, Central Michigan wins at Iowa, Eastern Michigan hangs around Michigan State, Louisiana freaking Tech abuses Illinois by 28 (28?).

            Big 10, meet ACC. Now, both of you, head to the psychiatrist office. ...

            We'll have Southern Cal back in the top 5 soon enough, and West Virginia might be the national championship wildcard.

            And yup, them Georgia Bulldogs are a legit national contender. That, in reality, wasn't the case a few years back.

            Right now, South Carolina matches up better with Alabama – yup, looking ahead – in the SEC champeenship because of the swagger of its head coach and players.

            Georgia is slowly getting some of that pep in the step.

            As it is, the UGA-USCE game has national championship implications. Who'd have ever thought that? ...

            Have the Atlanta Hawks done anything this offseason? ...

            Let's note this.

            In the AP poll: Stanford, TCU, Louisville, Mississippi State, Rutgers, Boise State and Baylor

            Not in: Michigan, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State.

            And Louisiana Tech is getting more votes than Miami and all but three ACC teams.

Speaking of which, Ohio State will be out of the top 25 before college basketball practice starts. ...

            As for the refs formerly known as replacements, thankfully, that's over.

             A couple of the scapegoats, er, refs sat down and talked about it. It's enlightening, for those who actually can handle being enlightened.

            And for all of the idiotic fans out there, I wish their dad was a ref for a day.

            One other things for the dinbgats: would they rather have not had football than have officials who got it right more than the paying customers do in their jobs? ...

            Reggie Wayne of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel looks at a different version of bumping:

            "A video of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart grabbing the rear end of Kevin Harvick's wife caused a ruckus last week, but Stewart explained it's a friendly joke that's been going on for years.

            "Incidentally, that's not the first time Tony Stewart and rear end has been used in the same sentence."

            Let's skip the "get off the replacement refs' ass, they've had all of two days on the job" sermon and go straight to the field.

Falcons already look primed for playoff run

 

            Sure, it's been only a week and one game.

            But this is the new Falcons.

            Good riddance to coordinators Mularky and VanGorder. The massive differences in coordinators was evident from the start. Atlanta took a little bit to get going, and Kansas City matched the Falcons for the first half.

Call the bookie

            It's safe to say that New Orleans will do its best to not annoy Roger Goodell, now that he's been overruled.

            Somewhere, David Stern is smirking, "Let somebody try dat shit with meeee."

            It may be a loss for Goodell, but it's also safe to say that the NFL has gotten the point across on bounties and that kind of stuff.

            Of course, the level of paranoia we can expect from the Saints and moreso Saints fans will be nice and high.

            We are, you know, a country of paranoia.

 

CALL THE BOOKIE

            Five to make money on:

Welcome to the SEC, Mizzou; better get some ice

    

            The great thing about the first weekend of football is that we finally get a little idea about how good or bad teams are.

            The bad thing is, as the country is increasingly wont to do, the raging paranoia on one side or the other.

            Georgia's inability to really sock it to Buffalo has a fair number of Dog populace worried. Winning by only 22 points isn't terribly surprising, considering that Georgia usually is slugging against inferior teams and wasn't anywhere near 100 percent firepower.

            There were going to be issues. And, of course, there's the fact that most fans don't know much about teams outside of their conference, stat and brain. Thus, they don't know much about the vast majority of teams, like Buffalo.

Tee that bad boy up

            It's a little more humid than we'd like, especially after some fall-like days the past few weeks.

            But football's here.

 

LOUGHDMOUTHINGS

 

            Grew up in Pa., never was a Penn State fan, and as an adult, never even close to a Joe Paterno fan. Certain arrogance in Happy Valley.

            But again, I find myself sort of pulling for them a bit now. I like Bill O'Brien, and think Penn State got scuhrewwwed by the NCAA. People are making more of certain things than are necessary because it sounds good.

            And my bet is that Penn State will emerge from the four years with a winning record. ...

            Dear ESPN,

            Enough with Sparty and Meeechigan every freakin time you mention Michigan State and Michigan. Please, I'm begging you. It's not funny or cute or creative or indicative of personality.

            It's lazy. It's like every Berman reference to music is pre-1988 and his "oh yeah, this just in, ______ is good" and, well, every blasted thing he says. ...

I keep hearing this: Les Miles will reinstate Tyrann Mathieu next year.

            Really? Even Miles knows that would cause all sorts of hell.

            That's a little different than Richt-like compassion and simply helping a player. It would be disruptive as hell, and by October, LSU will have completely moved on from not having Mathieu. ...

            As I scroll through the cable guide, it says "college football" on five channels in the first 60. Sweeeet.      

            Quick picks:

            Buffalo at Georgia: Those playing for the suspended get plenty of playing time, and even their backups will. This shall make life better next week and all season.

            Georgia 65, Buffalo 13.

            Clemson vs. Auburn: Sources report that Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is a candidate for the job at, OK, any one of 47 teams that have yet to announce an opening.         

            Clemson survives without Sammy Watkins.

            Clemson 24, Auburn 17.

            Michigan vs. Alabama: For some inexplicable reason, I almost want to pick Michigan.

            Playing indoors helps Michigan, which is pretty hungry. Both teams are without a few folks.

            OK, logic returns.

            Alabama 28, Michigan 17.

            That's all. Kickoff's here.