Oh, if only I knew

Zuerst: I noticed that Mumia Abu-Jamal was made an honourary citizen of Paris. Just one quick observation: Shame that Danny Faulkner is dead. Maybe, were he still alive, they could have accorded him the same honour.

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College Football: Been a while since I updated. Was 2-3 in my regular 5 picks, and lost my bonus pick. Good to know that I can still pick 'em. I was right about...

• Va Tech hammered Rutgers. Good to know that I can still pick the hard ones. Good thing that I'm not picking against the spread. I'd have lost (by one whole point).


• Texas tried. Goodness knows how they tried to lose that game. K-State (and maybe that freshman QB Young) just wouldn't let them.


• Service academy pride kept it close, in the end. I was just wrong about which service academy would have to muster some pride up.

Which means that I was wrong about...

• So is Tennessee overrated, or is Auburn underrated? I guess we'll have a sense of that this weekend. Tennessee hosts Georgia, and Auburn travels to Arkansas.


• Minnesota beat an inferior opponent. They beat an inferior opponent, having just won a bigger game, and having a bigger game this weekend. Although I'm not ready to say that they're for real, I have to give them a modicum of credit.


• How overrated is Michigan? They lose to Oregon (at Oregon, maybe, but Wazzu blasted UO in Eugene). Oregon lost to a good Utah team, but Utah, last I checked, is a mid-major. Michigan's loss to Oregon looks bad now. Just like their loss to Iowa. Way to collapse, Blue.


• I guess that Navy's pride (and their running game) was too much for Air Force. I already made this point, but it's worth making again. Army is horrible (and the same argument I made for Navy maybe making it close will apply in the Army-Navy game), which puts Navy in a great position to take the CIC trophy for the first time in more than 2 decades.

My top ten:

1. Oklahoma
2. Miami
3. Ohio St.
4. Va Tech
5. Florida St
6. LSU
7. Arkansas
8. Nebraska
9. Washington St
10. Minnesota (hey, they're the 1st bowl-eligible team)

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Pro Football: Some thoughts:

• Dante Hall for MVP.


• Nice to know the Raiders can win the games they're expected to. What? You mean that they have a losing record right now? Noooooooooo.


• Call me shocked that Arizona lost. And, it shames me even to type this, but those goddamn Cowboys are in 1st place in the NFC East.


• Guess Lambeau affected Seattle much more than I thought. Either that, or they couldn't handle the pressure of being undefeated.


• I can't believe that Jeff Fisher came out unprepared for the New England game. That did shock me.


• The Jints are mediocre.


• The Falcons need Michael Vick to do anything. Looking at the last 4 weeks, I'm amazed they beat Dallas. Hindsight is 20/20 like that.


• One of these days, Cincinnati will make the transition from "keeping it close" to "winning". Down the line, I see Marvin Lewis being successful.


• New Orleans sucks. So who do I pick in the Bears-Aints matchup?


• Detroit: (see comments about going from "keeping it close" to "winning")


• Peter Brown says that Marty Schottenheimer will be fired before season's end. I know that I've made the point that Schottenheimer's teams traditionally do better in September and October than they do in December and January. I can't imagine picking them come Thanksgiving.


• Washington still hasn't been involved in a game decided by more than 3 points. Something to keep in mind if the line is, say, 5. In any case, it's a shame that Patrick Ramsey overthrew Laverneus Coles on that 2-point conversion.


• How does Pittsburgh lose by 3 touchdowns in their own building? I can't believe that Cowher didn't have his team prepared, because they just got embarassed.


• I guess this is the week of I can't believe that (pick your coach) didn't have his team prepared.... This applies to Tony Dungy, going back to Tampa, and it applies to Jon Gruden, whose team couldn't protect a 3 touchdown lead with less than 4 minutes remaining in regulation. But you have to give Dungy and the Colts credit, they did what they had to do and scored 28 points in the 4th quarter, and 3 tds in the final 4 minutes of regulation.

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More later - R.