When the NFL first instituted the night game into their Thanksgiving slate, I thought it was a load of shit.  America had a routine, and it was perfect.  Feast during the Lions game and then gather around the TV for a prime time showcase of the Dallas Cowboys.  Even when Dallas would be having a bad season, it was a great way to let the country check in on the league’s flagship franchise and promulgate our status as America’s Team.

Unfortunately, the night game diminished a lot of the showcase effect of our matchup.  Some people even have their dinners during the Dallas game now, which is just a giant slap in the face of American tradition and seems flat out treasonous if you ask me.  In addition, the night games themselves been horrendous.  Until this year, the only entertainment we’ve gotten was being able to laugh hysterically at the butt fumble, and that was still a dumb blowout game.

Thursday’s game, however, was amazing.  Obviously, watching Cutty and my Tulane homeboy Matt Forte shred through the Packers D for a victory was pretty sick.  However, the best part of the night was the epic troll job Brett Favre pulled off at halftime…

Everybody and their mother was sitting in Lambeau trying not to explode inside their pants at the sight of Brett Favre.  I don’t get it.  They acted like he could actually give two fucks about any of them.  But he doesn’t.  He doesn’t give a shit about any of the Packers fans and for some reason they’re all oblivious to it.

For years after leaving Green Bay, Brett Favre never returned and never really cared to try and make it happen.  After his final retirement, a long standoff ensued where it seemed he was trying everything in his power to keep his distance from Wisconsin.  His final ultimatum was his refusal to attend a number retirement ceremony unless Bart Starr was also able to show up, and a lot of people believe he made that demand hoping Starr’s terminal illness would make the ceremony impossible.

Last summer, he finally returned to Green Bay to get inducted into the Packers hall of fame.  There were 67,000 fans in the crowd for an event that sold out in less than an hour.  All to honor a quarterback that was last seen in Green Bay playing for a division rival.  Kind of hard to respect fans that go from booing you louder than you’ve ever heard before to selling out a stadium in your honor despite showing zero contrition for abandoning them…

For the number retirement, Brett Favre showed up dressed to impress…

The number of times I saw him smile at any fans was exactly zero.  He had a look on his face like he clearly did not want to be there.  My favorite part of his speech was when he said this…

Hahahah.  That’s a backhanded compliment if I’ve ever heard one.  “My family here from the South is used to great weather, but I told them they would have sooooo much fun in the freezing rain up in Wisconsin!”

Why so many Packers fan continue to ride his knob, I have no idea.  I will admit, I’ve met a lot of chill, intelligent Packers fans that are good to have sports conversations with.  Unfortunately for the reputation of Packer nation, just about every single one of those fans reside outside of Wisconsin…

I used to live in Wisconsin for about three years.  Almost every Packer fan I met there thinks Mike McCarthy is great coach, Ted Thompson is a bad GM, and Aaron Rodgers is heterosexual.  Going to Lambeau is a creepy experience.  The crowd cheers like it’s some enormous pee wee football game.  They have bench seats, which is awful because a ton of the fans are morbidly obese.  It’s also cold and miserable.  You also see people like this…

Good god.

I guess the point of this post is… Fuck the Packers

Indiana -7.5 at Purdue

Indiana barely loses to all the good teams and blows out the bad teams.  Purdue falls under the latter category and Indiana will smoke them.

USC -3 at #22 UCLA

This game could be really dope.  The winner not only gets bragging rights throughout Los Angeles, but they also get the opportunity to get their shit wrecked by Stanford again in the Pac-12 championship game.  There’s nothing wrong with that though; Stanford is really good.  I pick USC in this game because Helton has reenergized the Trojans run game and UCLA’s run defense blows.

Minnesota +2 at Wisconsin

I’ve been waiting forever to gamble on this game.  Unfortunately, Northwestern exposed the badgers one week too early and this line isn’t as juicy as I was expecting.  I’m still gonna lay the wood on Minnesota because they’re still underdogs and they’re still absolutely going to throttle Wisconsin.  Minnesota is up there with Indiana as a criminally underrated Big Ten squad while Wisconsin might be the most overrated team in the country.

#14 North Carolina (-190 ML) at NC State

The spread has moved from UNC -6 to -4 despite a lopsided 75% of spread bets on UNC, meaning the sharps are all over NC State in this game.  That scares me, but I still don’t see UNC losing this game.  Their QB Marquise Williams is outstanding and deserves to be a Heisman finalist.  Their defense under Gene Chizik has risen to a top flight level.  And overall, I think this team is a sneaky good bet to beat Clemson and win the ACC.  They should cover the spread, but the line movement indicators are worrisome so going with a tease or moneyline bet is a safer route.

#2 Alabama -15 at Auburn

I think Alabama is overrated, but Auburn is TERRIBLE this year.  Just god awful.  They are gonna get smoked by the Tide.

Temple -13 vs UConn

Upon sucks.  I know they beat Houston on their senior night last week, but that speaks more to why the American conference doesn’t deserve to be in the playoff discussion than it does to Conn’s ability as a football program.

LSU -6 vs Texas A&M

Everyone is all aboard the LSU fade train these days, but when they’re playing a team as soft as A&M, you’re stupid to go against the Tigers.  Les Miles goes out with a nice victory in his last game in Baton Rouge, then laughs all the way to the bank with his new $15M check.

#6 Notre Dame +3.5 at #9 Stanford

Notre Dame is going to win the National Championship.  They are the fastest team in the country and their defense is stacked with pro prospects and coached by a former NFL coach.  They’re really good.  The Prosise injury is concerning, but Kizer and Fuller are still at full strength and I expect the Irish to be just fine.

Arizona St at Cal over 68 points

Arizona State sucks at defense.  Cal sucks at defense.  Jared Goff is throwing around the pigskin at home.  There’s gonna be a lot of points.

#24 Toledo -8 vs Western Michigan

With the exception of one slip-up against Northern Illinois, Toledo has been dominating the MAC this year.  All they need to do is win this morning to clinch a berth in the championship game where they will proceed to pound the shit out of Bowling Green for a second time this year.

Toledo’s biggest strength is their run game, with junior Kareem Hunt and sophomore Terry Swanson averaging over a combined 200 ypg.  Western Michigan’s biggest weakness is run defense, having been shredded for over 200 yards the last five games.  I think Toledo covers but I am more comfortable having them in a tease or on the -330 moneyline.

#15 Navy -2 at #21 Houston

Keenan Reynolds has firmly established himself as the best option QB since Eric Crouch while putting Navy on track for a New Year’s bowl game.  Navy’s only loss was at Notre Dame, and they kept that game close for awhile.  Every other game has been a victory by at least two scores, and they’ve had some good opponents like Memphis, USF, Tulsa, and ECU.

Houston is no slouch themselves.  They have a really good black dual threat QB in Greg Ward Jr.  But their resume consists of eking out (and arguably lucking out) victories against good teams while pounding some of the worst teams in the country like Tulane and UCF.

I already thought Navy was going to win this game, but once I heard that Roger Staubach is attending the game and giving speeches in the Navy locker room, this became a lock for me.

Pitt -7 vs The U

Another game that I’m not too comfortable laying a lot of points with, but I’m confident Pitt pulls through in a tease or moneyline bet.  They are one of the more underrated teams with their only losses coming against national championship contenders (Iowa, UNC, Notre Dame).  Miami’s been better since kicking Al Golden to the curb but they still don’t play very hard and I don’t see them going on the road this late in the season and giving much of an inspired performance.

Nebraska +3 vs #4 Iowa

Iowa is a fraud.  Their schedule has been easy as shit and many of their wins have been flat out depressing to watch.  Nebraska is an underrated squad, especially when QB Tommy Armstrong Jr is healthy.  I’m looking for the home underdog to get the outright upset here.

#20 Washington St +7.5 at Washington

I touched on this game earlier this week and it is sneakily one of the best matchups of the weekend.  The Cougars are getting a ton of points because Luke Falk is not expected to play, but as much as I love Falk, I still see Washington State winning this game without him.  Backup QB Peyton Bender was in a training camp battle with Falk that went down to the wire and he’s looked pretty good in relief.  I expect him to be an adequate replacement against a very young Washington team.

Mike Leach’s squad is good.  They were a last second field goal away from beating Stanford and they throttled Oregon on the road.  I expect them to easily cover and the +250 moneyline is good too.

San Jose St +7.5 vs Boise St

Have you seen Boise State play lately?  No?  Good for you, because they suck.  Their past two weeks have been horrific home losses to New Mexico and Air Force.  I don’t see how they’re laying over a touchdown to anybody on the road right now.

Arkansas -14 vs Mizzou

Missouri is the worst team in the SEC and Arkansas is one of the best.  They steamroll Mizzou just like every other team has this year.

Tulsa -7.5 at Tulane

Tulane alum here…  We fucking suck!  Our coach is about to get fired and our players might play harder for him tonight, but they’re still not good enough.

#19 TCU +2.5 vs #9 Baylor

TCU gets Trevone Boykin back and Baylor is down to their 3rd string qb.  The game is in Fort Worth and the weather is gonna suck, which favors TCU.  Take the points.

I’ve never been to Buffalo, and I don’t really care to change that.  Frigid weather and depression is not really my cup of tea.  However, as a Dallas native, I can’t be more thankful for its existence.

Its a rare occurrence that we actually play them in sports.  They’re too poor to have a baseball or basketball team, while the Bills and Sabres are in different conferences than the Cowboys and Stars.  When we do play them, though, we always beat them.

There were two Super Bowls in the 90s that were just your normal ho hum Dallas Cowboys ass kickings…

Those were awesome, but honestly kind of boring to talk about because we were so dominant that there’s nothing to really say except that we were the best team to ever play.

The 1999 Stanley Cup, on the other hand, was rife with controversy.  I have no idea why, though, because Brett Hull 1000% scored a legal goal…

At the time, I just assumed that Buffalo natives were so used to dejection that they wouldn’t have too many problems accepting the fact that they will never finish higher than 2nd place behind Dallas in any sport.  Instead, they fell under the delusion that they were capable of being winners for once, and ended up holding a rally to demand another game.

Sometimes I get frustrated when I hear them (still to this day) complain about this.  Not only was it a legal goal, but it was still highly unlikely for them to be able to score again in Game 6, and it was even more unlikely that the Sabres would’ve been able to travel down to Dallas for Game 7 and actually pull off another win.  It’s annoying to think that they can’t just accept the fact that Hasek didn’t have enough left in the tank to stop the greatest American sniper in history (prior to Chris Kyle).

But then I remember that my city has sunlight, my brain has serotonin, and my sports memories have legit rings to kiss…  Let the bums up north try to whine and moan their way to a level of catharsis that will keep them off of suicide watch.  I can just relax and enjoy the genuine happiness that my hometown brings to me.

 

Unfortunately, there haven’t been any championship matchups between Dallas and Buffalo since then, but there still has been some interesting regular season games.  We typically murder the Bills every four years, but in 2007 there was a Monday Night Football game that was actually close…

But no cigar for Buffalo.

 

Last week, the 1st place Dallas Stars went to Buffalo, and Lindy Ruff, the Sabres coach in 1999, was ironically on the bench for the good side this time.  Once again, the game ended with the refs making the correct decisions…

And for good measure, we beat them again 3-0 on Saturday.

Lol.  Suck it Buffalo.

For those who haven’t been paying attention to the Pac-12 this year (can’t say I blame you), Washington State QB Luke Falk is the absolute fucking truth.  Mike Leach has a knack for cranking up stats with the air raid offense, but this kid is looking like a legit Heisman contender and pro prospect…

-4,266 passing yards, 1st in the country

-36 touchdowns (on 8 interceptions), 3rd in the country

-418 completions (1st), 7.2 YPA, 148.8 rating

He’s fucking awesome.  And he’s not like any of the other pretty boy west coast quarterbacks we’re used to seeing roll through the Pac-12.  He’s a legit gladiator.

That being said, Falk took another bad fall against Colorado on Saturday and now it’s looking like his brain is getting dangerously rattled…

https://twitter.com/TheCauldron/status/668308529091108866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

His head hit the ground with a lot of force, but to warrant a straight board to cart him off the field is concerning to say the least.  Fortunately, Colorado sucks and the Cougars were fine without him.  Falk’s performance at UCLA was awesome to watch, and it was refreshing to see such a vintage level of courage from a quarterback these days, but now he should take a long rest for his brain to get settled back into place.

Or should he?

Next up on the docket is a mega showdown in Seattle against Washington for the Apple Cup.  Most people assume this game is irrelevant, but this is quietly turning into marquee rivalry.

We’ve touched on Washington coach Chris Peterson before, and it will take a lot for me to waver on him.  He is one of the best in the country, as in a legit top 5 guy.  His run at Boise State was incredible, and his impact is greater exemplified when you look at the Broncos slide this year (two home losses to New Mexico and Air Force in the last two weeks, woof).  Now he’s in Seattle with a lot more resources and talent to pull from and he’s got this program on a definite up and up status.

While Chris Peterson is elite, Mike Leach will forever be a legend.  He had Texas Tech of all programs only one win in Norman away from a national championship, and seemingly overnight he’s taken Washington State from a doormat to a rising Pac-12 power.  What makes him cool as shit is that not only did he revolutionize the sport with his new school air raid tactics, he still maintains an old school mentality in terms of his player discipline and expectations for toughness.

Some people say that he’s reckless, but his job is to win football games, especially big rivalry games, and that is why Falk needs to play.  Let’s be real here…  CTE and all these suicidal former pros are scary to hear about, but most of them are linebackers and linemen that are repeatedly colliding their heads into players on almost every single snap.  Quarterbacks don’t have quite that level of danger.  Steve Young, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Phil Simms….  All of them have played through concussions and they seem fine lapping it up on your TV screen.

Falk is gonna play, he’s gonna dominate, and he’s gonna be fun as shit to witness.

 

PS – FSU needs a quarterback next year and Falk would be perfect for them.  I bet Jimbo Fisher wants a do over on revoking his scholarship…

The Cowboys laying only 1 point to the Dolphins today is a fucking joke. Anybody who thinks Miami has a chance is delusional.

Dallas has gone down to the wire in every single game its played except the Pats game, and they’ve been doing it with dog shit quarterback play.  Brandon Weeden was a 3 and out machine and Matt Cassel was a pick six specialist.  Tony Romo is the cure all and savior to America’s Team and we are absolutely running the table to make the playoffs.

Dallas -1: LOCK OF THE CENTURY!!

Kudos to the NHL for realizing how much their All-Star Game sucks and doing something about it.  In case you haven’t heard, they’re switching to a four team tournament of 3 on 3 hockey.  They also reached into their inner XFL and put down a $1M prize pool for the winning team.

I know one thing is for sure…  I won’t need ecstacy that weekend to be feeling euphoric because gambling on this tournament is going to be the dopamine rush of a lifetime.

I already know I’m going to bet 20 or so units on the Central division to win the whole thing, and then probably another 10 each on their individual games.  Seguin and Benn are going to be locks to crush this tournament.

Can’t fucking wait!

UCLA vs Washington State turned out to be a pretty dope game, as is usually the case whenever Mike Leach is manning a sideline.  I personally was teasing the over and feeling pretty damn good about it.  Washington State can light up the board enough to scare any team in the country, and they looked like they were clicking early on.

Then this shit happened…

https://twitter.com/NussCoug/status/665764064086392833

Yikes…  That was 100% a game ending concussion, but somehow Falk returned to play the entire 2nd half.  Clearly, the concussion exam he took was a sham.  Knowing Mike Leach’s unique history with concussions, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he squeezed the team doctors into giving a favorable diagnosis for the team.  Was it dangerous?  Yeah.  Do I have a problem with it?  Not really.

I’ve said this before and I’m still a firm believer, there are certain times and places where playing with concussions are going to remain a part of sports.  In the NFL playoffs last year, you can’t be a real sports fan and tell me that Big Ben, Russell Wilson, and Julian Edelman had to be sat down.  You can’t tell me that it was smart for Josh Donaldson to leave a playoff baseball game because he was light headed.

Luke Falk is the heart and soul of this program right now and he was on the road in a huge game.  If he’s still functioning and he’s okay with going back onto the field, I’m all for letting him finish his job.  Just make sure to do your best to avoid anymore repeated head blows for the rest of the game.

That being said, I definitely had an issue when I saw this…

Holy shit man.  Even by my standards, that was not okay.  That was a kill shot in the literal sense of the term.

When I said I was fine with Falk going back into the game, I assumed that those types of dirty plays can’t happen in football anymore.  At least half of the targeting ejections I’ve seen this year have been disappointing ticky tack calls.  For the refs to let that play slide was one of the most egregious misses I’ve ever seen.

Clean that shit up Pac-12!

 

PS if you were wondering how the game ended…

A cover for me, and job well done for Mike Leach and his QB.  Awesome throw and catch.

The Mavs beat the Clippers on Wednesday night, and judging by the response of local media, you’d think they won a playoff game…  Seriously?  People are talking about basketball in November?  The NBA regular season is boring enough if you can cheer for a good team in the winter.  If Dallas is getting hyped about a win our shitty team made in the fall, its a rock bottom moment.

Yes, I know about the whole DeAndre Jordan saga last summer.  I still don’t see why anyone should care about it.  If anything, the Mavs are way better off without having a max out contract on the books for a player who at best would get us to the 5 seed and the 2nd round of the playoffs.  Apparently Jordan was booed when he took the court on Wednesday; the fans should’ve cheered him instead.

Mark Cuban – I love the fuck out of you.  You will forever be immortal in my beloved hometown for saving this sad sack of a franchise and making it cool as shit for so many years.  But please stop sounding so butt hurt.  It’s not a good look on you or the city.  I guarantee you if this same story happened in New York or Boston everyone would’ve moved on a long time ago.

Also, fuck the Clippers.  They’re not a relevant contender anymore.  Houston was awful in the playoffs last year and the their defense was absolutely horrendous.  LA’s collapse was was one of the most embarrassing playoff performances I have ever seen.  No way the Clippers are recovering from that.  Warriors, Thunder, Spurs, and Pelicans would torch them in 5 games this year no problem.

I didn’t watch a single second of that game Wednesday night, and my serotonin levels are much higher because of it.

Did you know that last May, Greg Hardy beat up his girlfriend and threw her onto a pile of guns?  Chances are that 100% of sports fans on the internet do know about this already, so I’m not really sure what the purpose of today’s exposé by Diana Moskovitz is supposed to be…

Granted, the pictures she released are new to the public, but anybody who needs to see photos to realize the severity of the situation is a fucking moron.  In addition, this raises an ethical quandary in that Nicole Holder certainly does not want these very personal pictures of her body out on the internet for everybody to see.

The social media stratosphere seems to be taking this ‘development’ as an opportunity to partake in moral grandstanding and bash the NFL over the way they conduct their business.  They are missing the point entirely…

First of all, Greg Hardy has already been suspended for the maximum number of games the courts would allow given the terms of the CBA.  In addition, Hardy spent nearly the entire 2014 season on the exempt list, severely hindering his future earnings potential in the process.  If you want to be upset over the lack of ‘justice’ Hardy has received, turn your anger towards the North Carolina justice system for letting him get through all of this unscathed.

Given that these charges have been completely expunged from Hardy’s record, it seems pretty un-American to me that he wouldn’t be allowed to continue to pursue his profession of choice.  Some would say that, due to the high profile nature of the league, major off-field transgressions should preclude players from being able to step back on the field.  Again, these people are missing the point…

The NFL is an American business.  They make a shit ton of money by putting together an extremely entertaining product for fans to attend and view on TV.  In terms of on field ability, Greg Hardy definitely provides value to their product.  In terms of off-field character, could Greg Hardy possibly have an adverse impact to the NFL’s bottom line?  Doubtful…

If any of the smut bloggers or internet commenters actually plan to tune out the NFL on Sunday, then yes Greg Hardy’s moral character does disincentivize the league from employing him.  Based on the consensus reaction to last year’s Ray Rice fiasco, chances are all of those writers and commenters are still going to be all in on the NFL come kickoff on Sunday.  Therefore, it may be wiser for these people to direct their anger towards their own mirrors instead of the NFL.