Friday, November 7, 2008

Picking On Each Other

Anyone up for making a few picks? — John

The King of the Jungle Bowl

There’s going to be a lot of roaring this weekend as the Lions get a game against the visiting Pride. Though the visitors have played valiantly this season against stronger competition, they’ve been unable to come out the victor all too often. Such will be the case again this weekend at Shirk Stadium as Albright defeats Widener, 24-17.

In other Eastern PA football action, De Sales University will… oh wait, that’s right, their football program disbanded after the entire squad got kicked off the team for constantly being late for practice—half the team was unwilling to give up its Dungeons and Dragons lifestyle, and the other half was addicted to playing Boggle.

Luckily for De Sales, though, there is still much excitement over its athletics as the Lady Bulldogs upset their way into the Freedom Conference finals. The game is against the top-seeded Eagles of Eastern, a team that is 28-1 overall, and 8-0 in conference. As defending Conference champs and having been to the NCAA tournament last year, the #3 seed Lady Bulldogs know how to play in big games. But that pedigree won’t help much as they confront a squad that lost only 10 games in its 28 regular-season best-of-3 matches. Eastern def. De Sales, 3-0. — Kurt


Those predictions would make the De Sales SID proud (if we had one...). And by the way, we cool guys played pinochle in college. Dungeons and Dragons was soooo theater-crowd. — John


Is Kurt permitted to talk about my alma mater and include my Albright Lions in his weekly selections? I do agree with him that "we" will beat Widener this weekend.

With that being said I want to take every one to scenic Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a Saturday noon kickoff between the Pitt Panthers and Louisville Cardinals. Like most Dave Wannstedt-coached teams Pitt is truly baffling. For the first time in many years Pitt was ranked going into the season and they rewarded their diehard fans with a opening-day home loss to powerful Bowling Green. They then reel off 5 consecutive impressive wins and get back into the rankings. What happened next? You guessed it, a blowout loss at home to the mighty Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. They then go on the road and win a 4-overtime game at Notre Dame. The teams combined for 7 field goals (no touchdowns in OT) with the Pitt kicker hitting all 4 and Notre Dame only connecting on 3.

With that detailed analysis I haven't the slightest idea of what is going to happen on Saturday except Louisville plays at Pitt and Dave Wannstedt will be on the sideline. — Dave


It's my understanding that I'm not not permitted. Besides, Albright has much to be proud of, and I thought this was a great venue to share with the world. For example: Who knew that most of Albright's enrollees are overachieving hairdressers? Ooops, excuse me... hairstylists?

Go Lions (and not the Nittany variety.) — Kurt


I KNOW John's absolutely LOVIN' all these in-depth analyses. I'll try my best to keep up with this week's theme: The Other Guy's Alma Mater...

I'd really like to rattle Kevin (Thank you!) and pick the Hawkeyes from the seat of Johnson County, Iowa, and birthplace of Herbert Hoover (Iowa City was founded 1839 as the capital of Iowa Territory, inc. 1853). Instead I'm going with the Nittany Lions from State College, PA located amid farmland in Centre County (settled 1859, inc. 1896).

[Note to anyone wishing to pick the Wake/UVa game: I'll be there cheering on the Demon Deacs. So be sure to factor that into your prediction...] — Phil


I'm drawing a blank on Steve and Brian's alma mater (Rosemont?) and I'd never pick against Kevin's Penn State since "we" Philly fans want to win yet another title. Kurt and Dave got each other, leaving only...Wake.

Sorry, Phil, but with my worst-in-the-group ranking, I'm doing something worse than picking against Wake—I'm picking them to win. Go, Deacs!


The Eagles extended their winning streak to 3 and looked great last week against a mediocre at best football team, the Seahawks. If the Eagles are firing on all cylinders, they may be able to hang in with the Giants, who are playing solid football at this time. Eagles 24, Giants 28. — Troy V. of Yardley


Troy, you're steering clear again of the Cowboys? You're doing Philly proud, which I know was a goal of yours! — John


Cowboys are on a bye. — Troy


Can I still pick them to lose … a head coach? — John

Let's take a look at Week 9 for the Birds when they were coached by the Great One. Buddy Ryan's record was as follows:
1986: Lose to the St. Louis Cardinals, 13-10
1987: Lose to the Stinking Giants, 20-17
1988: Lose to Atlanta, 27-24
1989: Lose to San Diego, 20-17
1990: Beat Washington, 28-14
In each of these years, the Birds had pulled out wins the week before, as is the situation faced by Reid's Birds this year. So, even if Buddy were coaching right now, the Birds would have an 80% chance of losing by a field goal. Prediction: Eagles 20, Stinking Giants 23. — Carnac the Great

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