Thank God It's Over

So the Cardinals won the World Series. When I saw it happen I kind of chuckled. What a joke, I thought. It should have been us.

But thank the fucking lord this is done. The only person I know that may be happy about all of this is my mother, who when she hears that the MVP was a nice boy with a big nose named Eckstein, she might go screaming to her little gang of Jewish ladies about how great Jews are.

Her enthusiasm oughta last until I tell her that there is like a 40% chance that Mr. Eckstein is a direct descendent of the Third Reich.

Anyway, baseball is done. Your noodle is Kakadoodle. However you want to look at it, it is now OK to move on.

For me I smell my second favorite time of the year.

While I enjoy the NBA and couldn't be more fired up for Nellie inserting his own version of Steve Spurrier's Fun and Gun out in Golden State, that is still not enough for me.

When I see the Knicks jump off to a red hot 2-14 start, yes I will chuckle. This false sense of optimism where people assume that this team can win 30-35 games makes me more sad than anything else.

But the two things that have me fired up are this.

One, college basketball is on its way. I am back in NYC. For some reason I have always had a hard on for watching college ball at the Garden. With the NBA being the circus that it is, it is one of my favorite sights seeing kids step on the Garden floor for the first time.

Sure, 30% may be getting paid under the table. But so what? I think they should be.

But there is college ball, and now, for the first time I can shift gears and relaly turn to football.

With football comes the three bigs for me.

There's the Giants, who right now look like they can play with just about anyone.

There's fantasy football, which makes Sundays perfect in my opinion. My league has my same 12 friends from college and we we are working on Year 6 of hopefully 60 with this crew in tact.

Then there is football gambling.

I don't claim to be a saint. While I don't take drugs and I try to be respectful of women, that doesn't stop me from chasing this piece of the action.

Like my boy John Anthony, all I do is lift weights and pick winners.

Or so I like to think. When it comes to gambling on anything I try my best not to bet with my cock. I don't put action on games just for the hell of it. I don't even really like to watch the games that I bet on.

For me, I like to think of it as an investment of my knowledge. Me against Vegas, but more so, me against the public. Vegas sets the lines, but the public is what shifts them.

There are days when I think everyone in America is a genius and there are days when I don't. I am not one of those guys that fades out the public.

I am not one of those guys who researches ATS on the road against teams in your division who have at least three vowels in their city's name.

For me, it is all about feel. I know all the teams. I watch all the games. I like to think that when I am on, I am on.

So below are some of my picks. To pick every game in the NFL, in my opinion is to flip a coin.

I like Green Bay -3.5 vs. Arizona. Ill take Favre over Leinart in Lambeau.

I like Carolina laying 5 against the Cowboys in Carolina. This line is 5 if Bledsoe is starting. But I think a lot of people are giving Tony Romo a little too much credit and also forgetting that Carolina is still very much the team that half of America picked to come out of the NFC.

I like the Jets +2 in Cleveland. Say what you want about the Jets' D, fact is the Browns are bad. They just fired their offensive coordinator, RIP Mo Carthon. Don't see why the Jets don't win this game on the road.

Finally, I like the Chiefs laying 4 to Seattle, with a big if. That is, if Damon Huard is playing this game. For my friends that know me, god knows how much I like Brody Croyle.

Last year I dreamed of the day when on MNF, now Sunday nights, young Brody could introduce himself, "Brody Croyle, Alabama," with his sick southern drawl. Unfortunately I am not ready to my father's pair of brown socks that I took last night that he can win his first NFL game.

Those are 4 games I like.

I think the most fun game to watch this week may be the Texans vs. Tennessee. I have this creepy suspicion that Vince Young may be really legit and that with an underrated O-Line, the Titans could really start running on people with Young and my boy J-Murder's' "Angriest runner in the game," Travis Henry combining for 30+ carries.

That Colts vs. Broncos game will be really interesting for obvious reasons. I am curious to see just how good this Denver D is. Man those linebackers are fast, though. The one thing on my interests section on my facebook profile is "fast defenses." Not sure what it is. I just like dudes that can run sideline to sideline. Speed kills.

As for our beloved G-Men... I am worried that this game screams let down city. Laying more than a TD, I would never touch this game. Though, I don't ever bet the game in which my team is playing. It would make things too big of a sweat.

But Tampa Bay is coming off of wins against Philly and Cincy, my two Super Bowl teams at the start of the season. Their D has shown signs of vintage Tampa and with my 4th string fantasy QB Bruce Gradkowski at the helm, the O, at least, is not making a lot of mistakes.

Alright, that is it for now.

Enjoy the games.

Vaya con dios to baseball. We will talk about you a lot but not see you for about 5 months.

And to the rest of you.

Vaya con dios.

Sip