Christmas Scotch Tasting

Glenmorangie Lasanta

"Glenmorangie Lasanta is an elegant and full-bodied single malt whisky."

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Best of Luanne, featuring Brittany Murphy

Snowfall in North Carolina

From The Sports Curmudgeon - But don't get him wrong, he loves sports!

Mythical Picks - NCAA - Weekend of 12/12/09

Hold your applause. Maintain your composure. This is going to be the last iteration of NCAA Mythical Picks for 2009. No one shall have to endure any of this any more - - - until at least next year…

The Wildcats of Linfield College defeated St. Thomas (Minn) 31-20 last weekend to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Division III football championship tournament. This game was close; Linfield led by only 4 points late in the 3rd quarter but they pulled out a win. The last time Linfield made it to the Division III semifinals was in 2004. That was the year they also won the Division III national championship. This week Linfield goes on the road to play the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; the winner of that game will go to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl – the Division II championship game – in Salem, Virginia. The other bracket for the semifinal found pairs Mount Union (Oh) against Wesley (De). Wisconsin-Whitewater is 13-0 on the season and is the champion of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Linfield is 12-0. Since 2005, Wisconsin-Whitewater has a cumulative record of 68-5 in football. I do not care what league you play in, that is a superb span of success. Good luck to all four of the remaining tournament participants - - nevertheless, Go Wildcats!

Here are some pluses and minuses from last week's Mythical Picks:

1. I liked Oregon State with 9.5 points against Oregon. Oregon State covered. Plus.

2. I liked Cincy/Pitt to go Under 58. They went over by more than 4 TDs. Minus.

3. I liked Pitt with 2 points against Cincy. They only lost by 1 point. Plus.

4. I liked Arizona plus 7 points against USC. Arizona won outright. Plus.

5. I liked Arizona/USC to go under 50 - - and said that the game might go Under 40. Final score was Arizona 21 USC 17. Double plus.

6. I liked Cal to win and cover 7 points against Washington. Cal lost outright. Minus.

7. I liked Alabama with 5.5 points against Florida. 'Bama won by 19 points. Plus.

8. I liked Alabama/Florida to go Over 41 even more than I liked 'Bama with the points. The game went Over. Plus.

9. I liked UConn to cover 7 points against USF. They did not. Minus.

10. I liked Texas/Nebraska to go over 41.5. It went Under by a mile. Minus.

11. I liked Clemson plus a point against Georgia Tech. Clemson lost by 5. Minus.

Even though there are a couple of seemingly prescient picks above, no one should be dumb enough to think that they would take any information here and use it to make a decision on what to bet relative to the only Division 1-A college football game this weekend. If you did that you would probably be dumb enough to think that a terminal illness is what you get in an airport after you order the nachos at one of the airport eateries.

General Comments:

This is the last of the NCAA – Mythical Picks for the simple reason that I would not wager on 90% of the bowl games unless my life and the lives of all my family members depended on me getting down on those games. Having said that, I do have more than a few comments/observations about the bowl game pairings that will fill up TV time this month and into the early parts of next month. Let me begin with comments about that sub-section of the college bowl games I call the WGARA Bowls - - standing for the Who Gives A Rat's Ass Bowls:

The New Mexico Bowl pairs Fresno State and Wyoming. I do not want to be overly fussy here and I acknowledge that Wyoming is much improved this year as compared to last year. Nonetheless, Wyoming is a less-than-awe-inspiring 6-6 coming into this game with the following losses on their dance card:

TCU 45 Wyoming 10
BYU 52 Wyoming 0
Colorado 24 Wyoming 0
Texas 41 Wyoming 10

The New Orleans Bowl brings together Southern Mississippi and Middle Tennessee. Not to put too fine a point on it here, but I did not give a fig about either team during the entirety of the regular college football season. Why should I give a damn now?

The Little Caesars Bowl will feature Marshall against Ohio University. Unless Edward G. Robinson and Douglass Fairbanks Jr. are reincarnated to serve as grand marshals of a parade at halftime, this game has no intrinsic interest whatsoever. Oh, and the game will be played in Detroit on the day after Christmas. Do you think I will be able to book a flight and a room for this one at the last minute…?

The Independence Bowl has Texas A&M facing Georgia. The game is in Shreveport, LA; nothing says "independence" to me like Shreveport, LA. This ought to be the Mediocrity Bowl. Here are two teams that were mediocre for the 2009 season and the reward for each of them is a mediocre opponent at a mediocre venue. I may have to miss this game. I think I have to review my auto insurance policy that day…

The Humanitarian Bowl sends Idaho up against Bowling Green. Be still my heart… Look, Bowling Green is at a significant disadvantage here; a bowling green is - - well - - green. And this field is going to be blue. How is that fair?

The Insight Bowl has Minnesota playing Iowa State. Minnesota is 6-6; one of those wins came at home by 3 points against South Dakota State. Iowa State is also 6-6; one of their wins came at home against North Dakota State. Will the winner here be the Dakota State Champion for 2009? Here are a few "Insights" for the people who might tune in:

One of these teams will end the season with a losing record.

This game is less than meaningless.

This game will be telecast on NFL Network. You would think the NFL has sufficient "stroke" in the football world to get a better game for their time and effort.

Given the limited access to NFL Network as compared to ESPN, this game may draw as many as hundreds of viewers…

The GMAC Bowl pairs Central Michigan and Troy on Jan 6 2010. For the sake of brevity, may I ask, "Why?"

January 2, 2010 may be the singular black hole of college football for the entire calendar year. Here are the games on that day:

UConn vs. South Carolina Ho-hum at best.

Ok State vs. Ole Miss Both underperformed expectations this year.

S. Florida vs. N. Illinois About as exciting as a PB&J sandwich.

E. Carolina vs. Arkansas Quick, name 4 players on either team…

Michigan St. vs. Texas Tech Mercifully, the last game of the day.

Lest anyone say that all I can do is to see the glass as half-empty, there are four minor bowl games that are worthy of attention and viewing:

The Capitol One Bowl pairs Penn State and LSU. Here are two good teams that will meet in a decent venue (Orlando, FL). This deserves attention.

The Las Vegas Bowl has BYU against Oregon State. Again, here are two much better than average teams. I do not know how much of a crowd they will draw playing 3 days before Christmas, but this should be an interesting game.

The Poinsettia Bowl features Utah and Cal. Once again, these are much better than average teams but they are consigned to play 2 days before Christmas. Whatever. This game is worth checking out.

The Sun Bowl drew Stanford and Oklahoma this year. The game is New Year's Eve starting at 2 PM EST. That means you have plenty of time to watch this game and get yourself showered and dressed in time for whatever you have planned for that evening. This game should be worth the time it takes to watch it.

Some folks are miffed that Boise State has been paired with TCU in one of the BCS Bowl Games. Those folks say that the BCS "cartel" - - to use Michael Wilbon's characterization - - did not want to allow either team to play and possibly beat one of the "big boys" in a BCS Game. Frankly, I like this matchup. Other than the Championship Game itself, compare TCU/Boise State with the other four BCS games; it really is the most interesting game of the bunch:

Iowa/Georgia Tech: Wake me when it's over.

Ok St/Ole Miss: See "Black Hole" discussion above.

Cincy/Florida: Good if you like bridesmaid-on-bridesmaid action.

Oregon/Ohio State: Do you really care who wins here?

The Iowa/Georgia Tech game in the Orange Bowl presents an interesting situation. The Big 10/ACC Challenge has been very successful in college basketball over the past several years. The Orange Bowl is a mini-version of the Big 10/ACC Challenge. And, the real challenge will be for that game to draw ratings that will beat a typical pro 'rassling show on cable TV. That game looks to be the pigskin-coated version of Ambien…

Oregon will play in the Rose Bowl this year. The only time Oregon won the Rose Bowl was in 1917 when they defeated the University of Pennsylvania. That's not Penn State; that's the Ivy League entry…

Temple will play in the Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington DC on Dec 29. If Army wins this weekend against Navy, Temple and Army will meet in that game. If Army loses, they will not be eligible for the bowl game and Temple will then face UCLA. There was a time when UCLA was a force majeure in college football; now they have to hope that they squeeze into a meaningless bowl game 3000 miles from home in a bad weather site in order to face Temple. Sic transit gloria mundi…

One more comment on the myriad upcoming bowl games; let me put this in the form of a Quick Quiz:

Which is more embarrassing for a school?

A. Dropping football because the school cannot afford it - - OR

B. Playing in the GMAC Bowl Game?

In other college football happenings, I want to make something as clear as I possibly can. I have no equivocation with regard to this position:

I DO NOT CARE who wins the Heisman Trophy.

I would not care if they decided not to make the award this year.

Does anyone here recall Beano Cook saying that Notre Dame could be playing for the BCS National Championship this year and that if they beat Michigan, they might wind up the season 11-1 - - the potential loss coming to USC? Do not rag on Beano because Lou Holtz also had Notre Dame as a participant in the BCS Championship Game. Well, the Irish went ZERO-for-November and now they are looking for a new coach…

Mark Mangino is out at Kansas amidst allegations that he verbally and emotionally abused his players over the time he was the head coach there. Former players and parents of players came together to say that Mangino was only a short distance removed from "monster status". The school cut ties with Mangino via a settlement. Let me assume for a moment that all of the allegations about Mangino are 100% true and that he abused his position of authority as a football coach. [I don't know that to be true and I don't really believe it to be absolutely true, but work with me here for a minute.] That brings up a very troubling situation:

Where were the cries of indignation and allegations of abuse against Mangino from former players and parents of former players and assistant coaches over the past several years while Kansas was having great success of the football field? Recall, Mangino was the national coach of the year just two seasons ago…

Chutzpah is a great Yiddish word. It conveys the sense of outrageous audacity and unbelievable gall. If there were a college football award for chutzpah, this year's winner would have to be Georgia coach, Mark Richt. The Georgia defense has been less than good this year; there is no way to sugar coat that. Richt fired the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, the linebackers' coach and the defensive ends' coach right after the final game of the season. Then came the chutzpah… He asked all three of the coaches he just fired to stay on and coach the team through Georgia's meaningless bowl game against Texas A&M on Dec 28. He fired them and then asked them to give up Christmas with their families so that they could continue to be less-than-satisfactory coaches. I know what I would tell him to do with his bowl game…

The Ponderosas:

There were two Ponderosa spread games last week. Boise State did not cover; La Tech covered. The week was 1-1 for the favorites covering. That makes the season total for 2009 36-38 for the favorites covering.

There are no Ponderosa spread games this week.

The Game of Interest:

Army vs. Navy – 14.5 (41.5): Army needs this win to go to the Eagle Bank Bowl; if they lose, they are done for the year. Nonetheless, Army is not nearly as good as Navy; four of the five wins for Army came against abjectly dreadful teams this year. The game is always worth watching so I would urge you to tune in to see football played with all of the hustle and heart that you could ever want in a game. However, if I HAD to wager on the game, I think I'd take it to go Under.

But don't get me wrong, I love sports…

The infectious puerile boogie of The Fairlanes variety

Every second Tuesday at Fisher's.