College Football Preview

Hey everyone. And wow, how stoked am I for the College Football Season that kicks off tonight. Should be a specatcular year with a wide open chase for the National Title. Let me give you some of my picks:

ACC-Miami: Man, I love the Canes this year. They will have a stifling defense including possible the best secondary in the country. Kyle Wright is about ready to make that next step. Schedule sets up nicely catching FSU and VT at home. Watch out for that trip to Louisville in September however.
BIG 10-Ohio State: Not as big a fan of OSU as some are. Need to rebuild that back 7, and even though they surely have the athletes to plug in, experience matters. With a young defense, I see them slipping up at least once.
BIG 12-Oklahoma: Loved Oklahoma before QB issues, still think they will have enough to win the BIG 12. Texas had its year last year, and will struggle without the leadership of Mr. Young. And the North is still light years away from the South.
PAC 10-USC: Still loaded, dont be fooled. They will play with a chip on their shoulder all year long, and their defense is going to be fast and physical. I dont see anyone in the PAC 10 to challenge them, as I am not a fan of Cal.
SEC-Florida: How loaded is the SEC? I mean, seriously, there are about 5 teams that are in the Top 15 in the nation. Then you got 3 or 4 more that could do a lot of damage in another conference. I am going to go with Florida because there schedule sets up decent, they have a great defense, and experience at QB with Leak. I look for a big year from the Gators this year, but they will not be able to go unbeaten.
BIG EAST-Louisville: Slight edge over WVU since WVU is getting all the ink, and their game is in Louisville.

Through the year I will be back posting predictions, along with overall observations on games for the coming weekend. Enjoy the season~!

WGC Bridgestone Invitational Preview

Lets take a quick look at the golf tournament this weekend since this is a World Golf Championship and all the top players are in the field. This is a strange week because most tournaments that are hosted the week after a major are devoid of the top players but this weekend is different. This makes this a little harder to handicap. But, lets dig deeper.

Woods is always the fav when he tees it up, and his odds this week at 1.25 to 1 show that very clear. And his past domination on this course, along with the way he is swinging and putting right now lead me to believe he will put up another W this week. However, with the second best odds at16 to 1 for Furyk and Mickelson, lets dig a little deeper and see if we can find some value.

Furyk is a solid play at 16 to 1, his game is very good for this course. Another player I like this week is Easy Ernie at 20 to 1. Ernie has yet to find the winners circle on the TOUR since his boating accident last year, but he appears to be playing relatively well all things considered. Two others I like are Adam Scott at 33 to 1, and Chris Dimarco at 40 to 1. Both played well last week, and are top notch players at very solid value odds.

Take those 5 and come talk to me on Monday when you make some extra cash to spend on Labor Day weekend!

Baseball chatter

GM sports fans, thanks for reading "Paddy the Pounders" blog.

Baseball

What is going on in the National League, particularily the West? As a Giants fan, I gave up on my squad about 2 weeks ago. Now, they won 8 of 10, Dodgers are losing to everyone except my Giants, Padres are on fire, DBacks keeping pace, and as many expected, Rockies are done. One down, Four to go. And who knows, maybe two can make it. I like the Dodgers to win the division, and the Giants to win the wild card. Central also heating up with Reds making a run on the Cardinals. Cards having real issues the last month or so, they really are not getting the job done with their pitching. Not that the Reds have great arms either! I like the Cards holding on. And the East is and has been all about the Mets all year long. If I were a Mets fan, I would be worried about the starting pitching. I saw a stat the other night showing how the Mets starters ERA has steadily increased every month this season. Not good, and with Glavine and Pedro on the mend, things are not looking as bright as they once were in Queens. Although they will hang on to win the division.

American League has a bunch more solid teams, but that doesnt matter because only 4 are going to make the playoffs, just like the National League. Red Sox really falling apart with that 5 game sweep this past weekend. I think this falls on the front office for not making any moves at the deadline. Someone like Zito would have been a great fit, but they stood still, and will pay the price. Yankees will hold on, what else is new? Central we got the Tigers. Man, how impressive have these guys been this year? You got the young arms in the rotation, Ordonez and Rodriguez providing the leadership, and Leyland handling the coaching. They are going to win this division obviously, and it will be interesting to see how they react in the playoffs most likely matching up with the West winner. Wild cards appears to be coming from either the Twins or White Sox. Give the edge to the White Sox in my opinion at the moment due to experience and Liriano's injury. However, they do have the tougher schedule left so that could be the deciding factor. Out West, Oakland appears to have this puppy wrapped up with another one of their patented late year runs. Seems they win every game in August and September every year. Lets see how they do in the playoffs.