The blog has been getting

.... an unusual amount of hate mail this week and I'm not just talking about the twice weekly e-mails I get from "Anonymous" saying that GolfOdds.com is a way better site than mine. (That's getting really sad by the way, Jeff.) This week the haters have been complaining about me not posting the Hilton lines or talking about the upcoming Final Four of the Murray Holiday Invitational. I'll admit - That's a justifiable complaint. I dropped the ball on that one. The problem was that I forgot to take home a sheet with the SuperContest lines on it so I had to wait until I went to work on Friday to get the numbers.

Why didn't you just call someone at work on Wednesday or Thursday and get the numbers from him?

Moving on....

Another major complaint I got was that there was a typo in my Christmas blog. This wasn't just a minor error. It basically rendered the entire entry unintelligible. What it should say is that C-Jack told me on Tuesday that he sees no possible way that the Florida-Oklahoma game will go OVER the total. In fact, he told me on Friday that he actually already made a bet on Under 72, despite the fact that the number will almost certainly go up as we near kickoff. I am therefore recommending a play on the OVER. It's C-Jack.

One of the dumber complaints I got this week was that I only linked the bowl game previews on PlanetBlacksburg.com one time. How many times do I need to link something? If people wanted to read through them, they would have just clicked the link the first time I posted it. See if you can guess which previews I did. And please stop with the silly complaints.


And then there were four:


The "Who Made Your Sweater? Ralph Lauren? Oh, JCrew, huh? Yeah, well mine's Ralph Lauren" Bowl: "Darts At a Board" vs. "Bennie Silman"

These two have been arguably the biggest stars of this competition and now they go head-to-head for a spot in the Murray Bowl. BS appears to be on a mission to prove that his vast NFL knowledge can be applied to successfully handicapping the league while DAaB couldn't be more pleased with herself over her incredible 11-2 start in the MHI. Should be a great one.

The Party at MGM Grand Bowl: "+ Units" vs. "Mr. Salmon"

Both of these cappers survived close scares in the Elite Eight to advance to this week's Final Four. Mr. S barely won his moneyball pick on the Dolphins while his opponent had taken Miami's opponent the Kansas City Chiefs as his moneyball. Switch that result around and "Milton Bradley" is playing this weekend. Meanwhile, it took an overtime touchdown by the Giants for "+ Units" to get past "The Player" in his quarterfinal. Now both of these sharps find themselves one win away from the Murray Bowl. "+ Units" has to be considered a slight favorite beacuse.... I mean come on.... He's "+ Units" but like any game in the Murray Holiday Invitational, I could see this one going either way.

Here are the lines:

Raiders (+13) @ Bucs

Lions (+9.5) @ Packers

Cowboys (+1) @ Eagles

Giants (+7) @ Vikings

Bears (+3) @ Texans

Panthers @ Saints (+3)

Rams (+15) @ Falcons

Chiefs (+3) @ Bengals

Jaguars (+12.5) @ Ravens

Titans @ Colts (+3)

Browns (+10.5) @ Steelers

Dolphins (+2.5) @ Jets

Patriots @ Bills (+6)

Seahawks (+6.5) @ Cardinals

Redskins (+3) @ 49ers

Broncos (+8) @ Chargers


* Players have the option of picking between 5-7 games.

* Players have the option of selecting a 2 point moneyball pick.

* In the event of a tie, we will go to weekday bowl games to decide who advances.

* Picks must be in by Midnight Saturday. Two players have already submitted me their plays. Those can be edited until Midnight.


Here's what else is going on as we approach the final day of another frustrating Washington Redskins season:

* Not all of the feedback I get is negative. Austin told me that he got an e-mail from an old high school girlfriend the other day who said that she had googled his name and my blog came up. I really like hearing that the blog is reuniting old couples, although I'm sure that she just wanted to get in touch with him because she's still mad at him for being such a cocky asshole. He just has that effect on people.

* I was missing home on Christmas Day after I heard that most of my extended family was getting together at my parents house. And I was really missing home after I heard that my Mom had dressed up the dog in a hilarious sweater and that he was completely miserable all day. And I was really missing home when my brother called to tell me that my cousin's husband had grown a ridiculous beard and looked even funnier than the dog. However, had I been home on Christmas, I would have missed the opportunity to dine with two of the sharpest sports bettors this city has seen in years.

Imagine being a wide-eyed, run-of-the-mill sharp square from Virginia and breaking bread on Christmas Day with not only a sharp sharp but a sharp's sharp, as well. The only downside for me was that I was afraid to offer up any gambling insight/opinions/stories for fear of being mocked by the other members of my party. Imagine you are sitting at a table talking golf with Tiger Woods and Jeff Sherman. Or talking baseball with Bill James and Chris Bennett. Or talking NFL football with Bill Belichick and Ed Salmons. Would you say anything or would you just smile, nod, and soak up everything they had to say? It's just a good thing for me that Bennett was in Minnesota and not occupying the fourth seat at our table. Had he been there, the conversation would have been so razor sharp, I would have been forced to ask the waiter to attach a kiddie table to the main table for me to sit at.

* Have you ever been watching a game in a sports book and had the kids break out into a "De-fense!" chant? I can now answer yes to that question after my experience in the Wynn on Christmas Day during the Celtics-Shermans game.

* Have you ever seen Andrei Kirilenko playing craps at the Wynn on Christmas Day? I can also answer yes to that one now.

* Lots of celebrities courtside for Lakers-Celtics, among them blog favorite Kevin James shamelessly plugging his new movie which.... well, it doesn't look funny, I'll leave it at that. I scanned the crowd closely but have to admit that I did not see Jeff Sherman anywhere. I assumed he was sitting somewhere in that first row with James, Markie Mark, Adam Sandler, and Snoop Dogg but the cameras never showed him for whatever reason.

(Too much Jeff talk, huh? Pipe down, CB. I talk about Jeff because he is one of the blog's favorite characters. Good writing is all about character development. I have spent a lot of time working to establish Jeff as the blog's resident Grinch. Someone who is too good, too big, too important to read what I have to say. And now that I have established him as the villain, I have to keep talking about him. That's just how it works. Sorry, bro.)

* We've talked about the blog's antagonist so why don't we talk a little about the hero of this space: Jorgie. Does anyone know why Gene Chizik, the now ex-head football coach at the Big Purse's alma mater, would get the job at a major program like Auburn after losing his final 1o games in Ames? That's almost as ridiculous as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator getting a head coaching job. Well, I guess they did almost score a touchdown against USC.

* Pat White is now the first QB in college football history to go 4-0 in bowl games with wins in the Sugar, Gator, Fiesta, and, of course, the Meineke Car Care bowls on his resume.


CB is running away with the biggest snob poll but I feel I made a compelling case for all of those guys. What do you think?



Enjoy the game.