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Friday, September 15, 2006

Footballish Weekend

Yes, you have my permission to go right ahead and apply anything you learn here for gambling purposes.

First of all, someone go get Maitri and tell her to bring her seismograph as tomorrow is LSU vs Auburn day. Not only do these two teams hate each other.. but this matchup annually carries big time national championship implications.

All week the T-P has been running a series on the recent history of what has become perhaps the most heated rivalry in the SEC. (see here here and here)

I was in the Tiger Stadium student section for one such meeting in 1995(?) when we still had high hopes for Gerry Retardo's campaign to "bring back the magic". A young and coming Tiger squad was ready to prove something against 5th ranked Auburn. Somewhere in some box I still have packed away a plastic cup with teeth marks imprinted while Troy Twillie made a game saving end zone interception in the closing seconds.

[Aside: I also recall the following Monday morning when a certain economics professor of mine treated us to some bullshit about the parallels between college football and the defense of some hypothetical medieval village. Later during the course I handed in a paper in which I cited this incident along with other evidence I had assembled of what I termed "egotistical pedantic schmuckery" on the part of this particular professor. I may have mentioned in this space before that I have twice decided that graduate school is beyond my tolerance. The fact that such "schmuckery" is in fact rampant in academia may have something to do with this.]

Anywhooo... back to Auburn. You know what? Fuck Auburn! If there were any justice in the world, we'd knock the snot out of them.

Um... remember, there is in fact no justice in the world.

Auburn 17 LSU 6


Reggie Bush's family took about $100,000 in gifts from agents while he was at USC. It's a scandal. The school may have to forfeit games.. and its (one) National Title. Meanwhile, Bush may have to... continue his life as a gazillionaire football player. All I can say is Ha!

This week, Bush and his little team are in Green Bay to take on a Packers team which currently features one two-thousand year old quarterback, one crippled running back, and one... um... Mike McCarthy. The Saints are coming off a surprising performance (particularly by the defense) against Cleveland while the Packers are still trying to figure out if they are eligible for a refund on all that furniture they bought on Labor Day. Are the Packers that bad? Are the Saints that good? This has all the characteristics of a game where things even out a bit.

Packers 24 Saints 10


Oh yeah. Is Tulane even playing? Whatever. Take the other team. Minus the points.

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