Tubby! Tubby! Tubby!

Well well well.  Look who got the first statement win of the season.  That’s right.  A University of Minnesota athletic team has actually pulled a major upset in a major sport and I’m majorly excited (you see what I did there?)  The Gophers beat the Tar Heels out of North Carolina (and ranked #8 in the nation) 72-67.  Harrison Barnes really showed why he was the first freshman to be a pre-season All-American by shooting 0-13 and Blake Hoffarber lead the way for the Gophers by scoring 20 points (and jacking up a shit ton of 3’s.  That’a boy Blake, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take).  TUBBY!

Anyway, there is still football to be played this weekend and the most ridiculous story of the weekend is not Cam Newtown getting paid a lot to play a spot he should be playing for free*. It’s the game that is to be played in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.  What a story this is.  Northwestern faces off against in-state rival Illinois in the ballpark that hasn’t seen football in 70 years.  Only they aren’t using the old field layout that the Bears used to use, they decided to have one endzone in the 3rd base foul territory and the other one in right field.

This right field endzone is where the trouble lies.  This picture says it all…

Would you want to play on that field?  The outfield wall is only six inches away from the back endzone line.  Its basically Arena Football (which, unbeknownst to me, is back and going strong) for half of an endzone. So what do they do?  Well, they decided to have the offenses for each team try and score in the same endzone.  Obviously not the end zone above.  So basically if you have a seat in right field, sucks to be you because the only scoring you will see in your face is a defensive one.  My question is, why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?  It’s like they put up the padding and thought, “Wait a minute.  This doesn’t seem right.”  Well good thing that they decided to change it the day before they play the game, that was probably scheduled years ago, which meant that they would have already decided that Wrigley Field was suitable for that said football game to be played…something like that.

On to the picks! (Home team in CAPS)

Ohio State vs IOWA

Ohio State is coming off a big home win vs Penn State and Iowa is coming off a loss late in their game vs Northwestern (which lost QB Dan Persa on the game winning touchdown).  Iowa is allllways good at home and they showed that as they really took it to Michigan State but I like my Buckeyes in this one.  TPeezy2 will come ready to play and I think OSU has too many players for the Hawkeyes.

Prediction: OSU 20 – Iowa 9

Virginia Tech vs MIAMI

I’m picking Miami in this game for two reasons: One, this video:

and #2, I had to live 30 minutes away from Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, VA and all you hear about is Hokie this and Hokie that.  Well, screw you Hokies.  ITS ALL ABOUT DA U!

Prediction: Va Tech 21 – Da U 34

UPSET PICK!!!!  Wisconsin vs MICHIGAN

Fuck Wisconsin, clap clap clap clap clap, Fuck Wisconsin, clap clap clap clap clap

Prediction: Bucky 24 – Michigan 38

Green Bay vs MINNESOTA

Well Brett, this is it.  How fitting that this game is against the Packers too?  If the Vikings lose they go to 3-7 and for sure out of the playoffs and done for the season.  Does a loss mean that we see some T-Jack action?  Does a loss mean that Brett Favre gets surgery and retires? Could we see the last game ever played by Brett Favre?  Am I blowing your mind? 

Prediction: Packers 24 – Vikings 27

HOW ABOUT NOW!

Indianapolis vs NEW ENGLAND

The annual Manning-Brady bowl is also played this weekend marking the 11th time since 2002 that these qb’s have faced off and wouldn’t ya know it, the series is tied at 5 a piece.  Fitting right?  I expect the Patriots to hold their own at home and tip the scales towards Tom and pull out a close victory vs the banged up Colts.

Prediction: Colts 17 – Pats 27

New York vs PHILADELPHIA

Did you see Mike Vick on Monday?  DID YOU! DID YOU SEE THAT! All joking aside it was probably the most impressive display ever put on by a quarterback in my lifetime and Mike Vick was the guy to do it.  This guy is unreal.  Can’t say enough about him but the Giant pass rush could cause a problem for Vick in this game.  Not saying that they will sack Vick multiple times but they will force Vick out of the pocket and to run the football.  Vick has been successful this season because he is exhausting all of this throwing options before he runs with the football, not vise versa which he was doing in his Hotlanta days.  Vick has become this year’s MVP because he is dangerous passing the football and THEN running the football.  The Giants will try to make him a running QB again.  They still will lose.

Prediction: Giants 24 – Eagles 28

Lets hope I can win more than 2 games this weekend.  Until next time…