Thursday, October 09, 2008

NLCS PREVIEW AND PREDICTION


Despite watching little baseball the past month I somehow managed to pick all 4 of the division series winners correctly. I'm not going to lie, when you are this fucking good at picking baseball games it should be noted that a baseball mind as brilliant as mine should be hired to at least be a bullpen coach or at the very least a mid level assistant GM position. Seriously, I got the time. Call me.

Now let's take a look at the National League Championship series which starts tonight between the Man Ram led Dodgers traveling to Philly to take on the Phightin Phils. The Dodgers come in red hot after sweeping the Chicago Scrubs and have the swagger and veteran leadership to make this series against the Phillies a really short one. In Game 1 we have postseason veteran and proven winner Derek Lowe going against Cole Hamels, no chump himself. The Phillies crowd will be fat, loud, and boisterous. Expect many expletives thrown at Manny even when they aren't coming from Tim McCarver's stupid mouth. As much as I like the way Hamels is pitching right now I got to take the Dodgers in Game 1. Manager Joe Torre has the team clicking and focused and a large part of that is the addition of SS Rafael Furcal to the leadoff spot. The Dodgers will take game 1 tonight and should take game 2 with Chad Billingsley out dueling Brett "Smack my bit--" Myers.

The series will then go to Hollywood with the Phillies in a deep 0-2 hole. Their hitting will start to pick up a little bit against Hiroki Kuroda but it won't be enough as the Dodgers will thrive off of Jamie Moyer's slow pitches and will take a 3-0 series lead. The Phillies, ever resilient, will come back and avoid the sweep in game 4 by unloading their bats against future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. It will be too little, too late though as the Dodgers behind some stellar starting pitching and great top of the order hitting will beat the Phillies in 5 games.

Philly fans can then redirect their anger and angst at Donovan McNabb for the next two months.

Pictures courtesy of COED Magazine

GET YOUR PICKS IN


There are only 10 games on the board for this weekend since I failed to pick the games before Sunday. One of the games is tonight's game between Wake and Clemson so be sure to get your picks in or it will pick the home team of Wake by default.

Who ever has the best week wins a free Sportscrack shirt.

Go to www.funofficepools.com to make your selections.

And to think while you worry about who is going to win this week Hugh Hefner is worried about which 19 year old twin(pictured above) he is going to bang with his old wrinkled up man member.

Oh, I'm just kidding. He will bang both.

SPORTSCRACK TOP 10 CFB POLL


1. Missouri Tigers-Mizzou is my new #1, vaulting over Alabama because I think right now they are playing better than BAMA. Chase Daniel and this offense are locked in and really can't be stopped. Similar to when the St. Louis Rams were scoring a ton of points with Kurt Warner at QB, Mizzou has a ton of weapons on offense and have yet to show they can be stopped. They face an undefeated Oklahoma State Cowboys team at home and it could present some challenges but I think the Tigers will handle them.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide-I knew they were in for a letdown game against Kentucky but I still thought they would win comfortably. They didn't. Winning by a field goal is still a win but I wonder if the Tide have hit their peak and will slowly come back down to earth. They get an off week to prepare for Ole Miss and I'm sure Nick Saban will be shouting obscenities to remind them they haven't accomplished anything yet.

3. Oklahoma Sooners-The Sooners cruised past Baylor and managed to cover the 27 point spread with a late touchdown. They get the Red River Shootout this Saturday and it could be a great game with Texas playing unreal right now. Who ever wins is in the driver's seat for the Big 12 South division.

4. LSU Tigers-The Tigers had an off week to prepare for the Gators in the Swamp. If they beat Tim Tebow and company then they have a good shot at competing for another National Title. RB Charles Scott should have a big game against a weak Florida defense and put himself into the upper echelon of Heisman candidates.

5. Texas Longhorns-Colt McCoy has this team rolling right now and this should be their best chance to beat Oklahoma since Vince Young was wearing the burnt orange. If you are a die hard college football fan you owe it to yourself to sit down and watch this game on Saturday.

6. Penn State Nittany Lions-The JoePa's face a desperate Wisconsin team in Madison on a Saturday night in what should be a battle of defenses. If Penn State wins then they are top 5. If they lose then they drop out of the top 10. I think they will win in Madison and prove they are a team worthy of putting them into the BCS Title discussion.

7. Vanderbilt Commodores-They lead the toughest division in college football in the SEC East and at 5-0 overall they have a chance to go 4-0 in conference with a win at Mississippi State. Vanderbilt has hit their peak and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost to the Bulldogs this week and next week in Athens.

8. Texas Tech Red Raiders-They won in Manhattan so I will give them some props. I'm still not convinced their defense is good enough to hang with Mizzou, Oklahoma, and Texas but they have a chance to prove me wrong as the season progresses. I wouldn't be surprised if they put up 60 this week against Nebraska. Cornhusker football is terrible right now.

9. USC Trojans-I really, really hate to put USC this high especially after losing to a team like Oregon State just two weeks ago but fuck...where else am I going to put them? QB Mark Sanchez is battling a bad knee and could miss this week's game against Arizona State but I don't think it will matter. AS-Pooh has looked like garbage all year.

10. Georgia Bulldogs-Georgia and Mark Richt need to prove themselves this week by destroying a struggling Vols squad in Athens. There are no excuses. If they think they deserve consideration as one of the top teams in the country as I think they are then they need to prove it on the field starting at 3:30 in Sanford Stadium. I have faith in Matt Stafford stepping up his game once again and proving they are legit.

NEW SHIRT: FEAR LES FOOTBALL PUTTING THE NASTY BACK IN DYNASTY


Since Les Miles has arrived in Baton Rouge he has been able to maintain the level of excellence first developed under Nick Saban. No school has more BCS National Championships than the "FEAR LES FOOTBALL" so it is only appropriate to make a shirt to honor them as they have been "PUTTING THE NASTY BACK IN DYNASTY."

ORDER HERE