After 5 games of the NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings had a (5-0) record. Tonight they take a mere (6-5) record, into their home tilt with the Dallas Cowboys.
Dallas has won 10 straight games, after losing their opening game at home to the New York Giants, by one point.
In all likelihood, only the (8-3) Giants have a realistic chance to keep the Cowboys, deemed a non playoff team when Tony Romo was injured, from being the NFC one seed.
However with Dak Prescott at quarterback, Dallas which no covered “Wash” last Thursday, has been obviously most impressive with rookie Ez Elliott, leading the way, a superb offensive line doing the same for him.
Tonight the Cowboys are 3 point favorites and I just hope it is Al Michaels and not Mike Tirico as the lead announcer although in either case Cris Collinsworth’s non stop talking, gushing, phony,”aw shucks,” not important words, will be shoved down our collective throats.
Both teams played last week on “Turkey Day,” each “losing” to the “spread” (not the one, many in this country “gorged” on while others right here in the United States do not have enough to eat), by a fraction of a point.
Some good football only notes concerning some Cowboys and NFL history in the next post, before tonight’s tilt. I will also offer a prediction.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who, in my opinion, should have received, not presented title rings to the Cleveland Cavaliers, for unjustly suspending Dray Green for game 5 of last year’s title series, wants gambling on NBA games.
I do not think that is a good idea. Last night, having been denied a 10 to 1 payout the night before, when the Warriors won by 5 points vs the underdog Hawks, I did not “money line” any NBA tilts.
This is akin to not taking one’s medication and the results of not one, not two, but three big underdogs (two double figure “dogs”) winning OUTRIGHT, and not having anything to show for it, are devastating.
The 7 plus point Bucks (never “bucks” for me, “nada” on Trump to ease the pain, little on the Ottawa Redblacks, “nada” on Ms. Helm vs Rousey, “nada” on the Cubs when down down (3-1) and not enough but at least some, on two more “antis”/underdogs, the Pey Manning Broncos and the Cavs) won at home vs the Cavs.
The 10 plus point underdog Brooklyn Nets upset the Clippers, in Brooklyn.
If that was not enough, the Magic, “barked” outright as 12 plus point underdogs, in San Antonio.
Since I did not bet any, I can only approximate the “money lines” and offer the odds of all three teams that won, doing so were conservatively (not having “gambling man” and he did say one needs “to take a gamble in life” and credit him for doing so, Trump, at 5 to 1 for “emotional protection” will haunt me forever, which is a long time) TWO HUNDRED FORTY FIVE, to one.
I did the math based on Bucks (plus 250), Nets (plus 600) and Magic (plus 900) on a Kohl’s “flyer.” (Philly won last night also) and in utter despair, I can not (even) shop there.
Well Dad, I just can never “leave one out” (in this case THREE) can I? Sure I am not a degenerate, not even close, but while I can stay away from tracks, casinos and lotteries (all disgusting, government sanctioned entities, that give unfair odds) which is not easy, I can not avoid knowing sports results.
Thus as the therapist, who did not help one bit when Mom died, devised, I can and seemingly “must” bet small (one dollar often is the case), on what I believe will happen.
Last night I failed to do so and as the rainy, depressing day begins, Trump elected, empty, alone, unfulfilled, the added burden of this, is much to bear.
However, I will!
Forty years ago, the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots each an original AFL team, and one sans a Super Bowl victory in the 10 such games played to that point in time, met in a late afternoon classic in the 1976 “slots”/divisional round.
The great Oakland quarterback, Ken Stabler, denied entry into the no longer glorious NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio (still worth visiting), another “shonda” (a Yiddish word for disgrace, a word Mr. Stabler learned in heaven where he and fellow “hard living” great quarterback Bobby Layne share “drinks” with such as actors, all Roberts–Mitchum, Ryan and Young, discussing how the theme of the 1947 movie they were in, “Crossfire” about ignorant hate of those different, in that instance Jewish people, is sadly and horrifically relevant today, more so with the presence of a “white supremacist” on the “elected” president’s team), despite gimpy knees, rolled into the end zone for the game winning touchdown vs the underdog Pats, who surely covered the spread in defeat. (I did not know of such things then and also loved football. Things change, but, alas ignorant hatred of those different is a disgraceful, veritable “energizer battery,” evoking a Stephen Bishop hit song, in this the “run on” of “run on ” sentences, going “on and on.”)
However, to this day controversy hangs over the Oakland win, which was followed by easy playoff wins en route to the only “Supe” ever won (only appearance as a head coach in such game either) by that “overblown parody of himself,” John Madden. The former coach noticed the improving 1981 “Hack” Giants passed the ball on first down, as was dubbed an analytical genius, by the largely ignorant, go for the “sizzle” (think the otherwise very, very intelligent Mike Lupica), sports media.
On a third down play, the Patriots’ Raymond Hamilton (yes I know his nickname) was called for roughing the passer, the key play to keep the winning drive for an eventual Supe winner going.
Twenty five years later, the two teams met in another classic, controversial, “div” playoff game. More on that one in a future post.
It is my “fault” for not posting two “winners” in time. Additionally two more were not posted at all.
The so called “system” games (“What is this “system” “Little Emanuel,” played brilliantly by Rafael Campos, asked on the great show, “All in the Family”) where one “takes” a previous week’s “loser” in the game and vs the point spread, as an underdog vs an opponent that won the previous week both in the game and vs the spread and is the favorite, clicked in all 4 cases, none specifically cited by me, on time.
Yes, in trying to avoid the “slings and arrows” of pain this type of thing can cause, I did not do my homework and opportunity, in this case being right in cyberspace, passed by, yet again.
I put up the fact that SF (at Miami) and “Jax” (at Buffalo) were system games, with the underdog team already ahead by a touchdown. Each team would be outscored by two touchdowns the rest of the game, thus lose by 7 points, but cover the spread.
I did predict Tampa Bay to cover vs Seattle and KC in a field goal game either way to do the same at Denver.
In the latter, while ‘suffering” the “slings/arrows” of a Denver late touchdown that had them ahead by 8 (by the way did non stop talking Collinsworth ever cite that maybe Denver receiver and touchdown maker Em Sanders should have fallen down at say the KC 5, to make victory more probable. I did not listen but did see he and Tirico “yukking” it up” as overtime approached. They knew the General Electric? coffers would fill), I more or less hit the game on the head. (Big deal, though somewhat impressive.)
Two I did not cite, one a “system” game as Jets bettors, though their hearts were in their throats as NE back, LeGarrette Blount raced free, before going out of bounds, assuring a Jets’ cover in a game, in which they played well in straight up defeat, vs the Patriots.
The other I realized too late, sets up a “Pooh and the Gang” “CELEBRATION,” a brilliant quip on the “Kool & The Gang” hit song, “Celebration.” ( the quip works if you know I call Jim Nantz, “Pooh.”)
CBS and Nantz/”Pooh” get a revitalized “GB” Packers team hosting Houston, a Nantz favorite city. Thus G.B. plus 4 and “a slice” should have been a selection.
Click below to view “Kool & The Gang” perform “Celebration.”
The two teams tied with the top records in the AFC are the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders.
Each team sports a (9-2) record, after victories yesterday.
The Pats have been incredible starting with the Super Bowl winning season of 2001.
Meanwhile Oakland has struggled mightily, since making the Super Bowl in 2002.
Perhaps these teams will meet in either the AFC title game or in a significant anniversary year redux of a famed controversial divisional playoff game.
I will talk about both famed divisional playoff games between the two teams, in a post or two tomorrow.
Harvard graduate and CBS football studio person, James Brown, whose incompetence over the years has stirred emotions invoking Pandora’s Box, “bothered” me and should have had the same effect on you, as he erred concerning the eventual Oakland Raiders’ “on the number,” 3 point win vs the Carolina Panthers.
After the Patriots near, but no cover, win vs the New York Jets, Brown “sent” the television audience that had viewed that tilt, with the ever improving Greg Gumbel, to Oakland dispensing inaccurate information.
Brown stated the Panthers had scored 25 consecutive points to tie the game when in fact, their 25 consecutive points gave them a (32-24) lead, (a 4 to 3 ratio to throw in something irrelevant), only to have Oakland tie the tilt, with a touchdown and 2 point conversion.
During the 1987 NBA Finals, Brown made a mistake that indicated he had no knowledge nor appreciation of NBA history. It was about the most inaccurate sports related statement I have heard and there have been innumerable ones, causing me agony in the many years I have watched, listened and suffered following sports.
Interviewing actor Jack Nicholson, Brown said you were a fan of the (L.A.) Lakers back in 1972 when they were losing.
The 1972 Lakers set a record that still stands with 33 consecutive victories, a then record (69-13) record and their first L.A. title.
Yes they happen but you are paid a ton of money to do what other poor souls (really another “s” word fits and it is schmucks) do for “nada” and Brown could not keep track of one of three late games, just two on CBS, which somehow has made him rich all these years. Pandora’s Box indeed!
A fourth post, perhaps in honor of true greats who wore #4, Lou Gehrig, Jean Beliveau and Bobby Orr.
Two predictions on later games, as the one P.M. tilts have commenced.
In those SF leading (7-0) as a touchdown “dog,” and “Jax” also leading (7-0), as a 9 point underdog, fit the loser/loser/underdog “system.”
I predict Tampa Bay, though an upset winner last week, to at least and in my opinion, only cover vs 5 plus point favorite Seattle.
Kenny Albert “covers” his childhood team for a second straight week, Sea 19 TB 16, in a battle of 1976 expansion teams.
At night, sadly with Mike Tirico, not Al Michaels presiding, KC plus three and a half is my choice in what I predict to be a field goal game either way.
Dogs will look good today.
Maybe I feel a bit guilty about my rage. Maybe there is little I can do in any case. Maybe it is the old saying if you can’t beat them, join them. Finally maybe a rarity occurred and I will cite two good notes/comments emerging from someone/something ESPN/ABC.
I give Chris Fowler, still nowhere near a skilled play by play person but rarely one that offensive, credit for a really good comment/line. He “quipped” well in the dramatic second overtime of Ohio State’s eventual victory against Michigan.
When the officials after review, did not overturn a call giving Ohio State a “crucial” (for the game’s result) (when I walked into the hospital in the middle of the night March 8, 1994 into March 9th and was told my father’s condition, I learned what “crucial” really means) first down based on the “spot,” Fowler intoned, correctly and with good wit, “there was not enough evidence to change the call based on the “spot” not in this SPOT (more or less it decided the game!).
Also below a good note on ESPN.com
“Every team that played tonight was on a back-to-back”
Trust me, teams playing back to back games in the NBA (i.e. on consecutive nights) are at a disadvantage.
While Ohio State coach Urban Meyer played to win, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh played not to lose.
Based on that alone, predictably Ohio State bet against from a 6 plus point favorite to say 5, won (30-27) in 2 overtimes.
Twice Meyer and Ohio State went for and converted fourth down plays, as late as the fourth quarter, the second preceding Curtis Samuels’ game winning, 15 yard scamper for a touchdown in the second overtime.
Conversely, more than twice, Harbaugh’s team ran on second down and reasonably long on fourth quarter Michigan possessions, that resulted in “three and out,” with a precarious three point lead.
Though Michigan lost, in my opinion largely due to Meyer clearly out coaching Harbaugh (Harbaugh like Meyer a bit of a jerk, only more so, as are most highly successful football coaches and authoritarian figures, blamed the officials. “Good” sportsmanship there.), they are very good. Additionally Harbaugh is a very good coach, though not in his strategy yesterday.
Additionally, “Hail to the spread winners/over the total winners” could play (the great Michigan song is “Hail to the Victors,” in this case not quite the Wolverines themselves, but their bettors and over bettors) as a still clutch, despite the team’s loss, Wilton Speight to Amora Darboh, 4th down, 5 yard touchdown pass in the first overtime and subsequent extra point tied the game.
The 6 point touchdown made the score (24-23) Ohio State pulling a “dead in the water” over 44 total (the score stood (3-0) mid second quarter) “OVER” 44 points and making Michigan plus 5 or 6, a likely and eventual winner.
Failure to convert that play amidst the roaring crowd in “Red State” Ohio, in this battle of two states that shamefully voted for Trump, (maybe if the students and younger people had their priorities correct concerning football juxtaposed with this nation’s future, the impending wave of minimum, conservatism, and maybe/likely eroding civil rights and increased racism could have been avoided) would have meant Ohio State “covering” in an “under.” Instead, they no covered in an” over.”
Maybe I go too far in my criticism. One thing, however, is assured. I do so with the biggest criticism reserved for me.
I wasted my life, more as an exponentially intense fan, than as one who wagered currency on football outcomes. Money can be recovered, (I “hold my own” and for the record, profited a small bit on that Michigan first overtime touchdown and was rooting for Ohio State to win the game. I “lost” a “free bet” on Michigan to win outright. Most important, each and every day I battle to not bet any significant emotional or financial amount), TIME CAN NOT.
Finally, as long posts often with political rants (perhaps not appropriate here for a reason or two. At least, I watch my language. While Mr. Trump’s actions/statements regarding what he did or thinks ok to do regarding women, are deplorable (that word again, to the loser writing this goes the thesaurus as well) Keith Olberman’s rage, clearly rage I support, included some questionable and yes offensive language in referring to “face it,” the next United States president) have replaced 3 a day (the latter the case for over 300 days, in horrible 2016), a veritable “offensive to some, questionable quality” over quantity, I lament so much in my life.
If one person can be saved “the slings and arrows” of rooting destruction, I will have contributed something positive. If that manifests, at long last some good will have been derived from my abject failure!
The reason I do not consider the current, 1999 NFL expansion team, the “real” Cleveland Browns is not that they are (0-11), a far cry from the old/real? Browns’ sustained minimum good, and at times great play from (1950-1973) in the NFL, (before that, they won All American Football Conference titles in all 4 years of that league’s existence), but the fact that the original team moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens, subsequently winning two Super Bowls, an overblown game for NFL supremacy the old/real? Browns never even qualified to play in.
Yet, I cite the fact that today when the New York Giants face the Cleveland Browns, it is one week shy of exactly 50 years since a memorable game between teams from the same city, if not the same teams, that was also played in Cleveland.
This year’s calendar is the same as the one in 1966. On Sunday December 4, 1966 (why did not the NFL, which if nothing else, is good for creative scheduling, slate this tilt for next week?) the Browns, in their first year sans the great Jim Brown, since #32 arrived on the Cleveland scene for the 1957 season, overcame a (34-14) third quarter deficit, and won (49-40).
Cleveland destined to fail to win the NFL Eastern Conference crown, raised their record to (8-4) but at the day’s end trailed the (9-2-1) Dallas Cowboys by a game and a half with just two games remaining in the then 14 game “reg” season.
The Giants’ record fell to a horrendous (1-10-1), but surely deserved credit for their effort that day in (I looked this up) 18 degree (Fahrenheit temperature scale) Cleveland.
Huh?? I just know it was truly cold in Cleveland that day, one week shy of 50 years ago today. PS as I typed the headline which includes “50 years ago,” a program “promo” on WNYC included “50 years ago” or was it “over 50 years ago,” that concerning the tragic death of Kitty Genovese, 52 years ago.
Andy B Sports 