Labor Day 2010: Just another day at the office

Traditionally, Labor Day is regarded as a day of rest for most American’s.  That will not be the case for The Uglies in 2010.  Monday, September 6th at 8:00 pm the Broncos of Boise State stampede into FEDEX Field for a showdown with Virginia Tech.  This is by far the first marquee match up of the 2010 season and with Belmont being 3 weeks away why not start handicapping week 1 of the college football season.  “ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!”  (I actually got the chills as I typed that – do I have a problem???)….

Boise State is coming off an impressive unbeaten season capped off by a 17-10 victory over third ranked TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.  Boise enters the 2010 season returning 21 of 22 starters including quarterback Kellen Moore who threw for over 3,500 yards a year ago.  While bringing back an entire team that won a BCS Bowl game a year ago is impressive, it is not the strongest argument as to why Boise has a shot at beating Va Tech on the road.

In my opinion Boise’s biggest advantage will be standing on the sidelines come game day.  Chris Petersen is a twisted individual.  He is also the head coach and play caller for The Broncos.  Giving a Scientologist 8 months to game plan may be one of the more horrifying concepts in all of sports.  It was last reported that Chris Peterson rose from his bed in the wee hours of the morning following their bowl victory and marched deep into the woods carrying nothing but a pen and pad of yellow lined paper.  He returned home 4 months later with a game plan.  This may be the first time a team actually runs the Annexation of Puerto Rico in a live game.

Virginia Tech may be the faster and more athletic team in this match up but with a flea flicker here and a statue of liberty there you will be surprised how quickly a defense will be back on their heels.  The play calling we could see in this game will be bizarre enough to make Gus Malzahn say, “What the %#$@.”  Chris Peterson’s playbook is more disturbing than Charles Manson’s diary and we will have a chance to see it all on display come Labor Day.  If Boise is getting a field goal or more it will be hard to stay away from Chris Peterson and the Broncos.   It may be 4 months away from kick off but my god am I ready….

“Ace Right- 3J- X Jagger -Zebra dig- on 2 on 2″

Stay tuned for week one lines and our picks.

That horse loved the slop!

We love this horse.

It’s been a long time coming for us to get back involved with this whole thing. We raked during football season. And saying we raked really isn’t a strong enough adjective to describe what actually occurred this fall. Let’s just say it was a sad day when the final whistle sounded and we had to settle up.

And ever since Super Bowl Sunday we’ve been having some withdrawal issues. The trips to the casinos for some craps are great, but we really, really missed this. So the Kentucky Derby came at the perfect time, because I could tell by the looks on some of the guys faces that there was a hefty bet about to be placed on the Nationals-Marlins game any second.

Churchill Downs was an absolute mess on Saturday, so that left plenty of room for the this scene to be played out over and over by the guys as we began to handicap the race. Not that we really know anything about handicapping a horse race, but we definitely knew we needed a mudda.

Myself, I got anxious and put win-action on Super Saver, Lookin’ at Lucky and Sidney’s Candy (what a disaster that was). Then I boxed those same three on a Trifecta. Rich meanwhile apparently had made the Super Saver call earlier that day at the beach, and he became a bit, uh, violent, when he tried to reiterate the fact that this horse was a stone cold lock. Regardless, I think we were confident for a few reasons:

• Super-jockey Calvin Borel was riding, and we all love his hold-em-back style which is perfect for The Derby.
• We’d spent all day listening to the talking heads feel bad for Todd Pletcher. It was a way too much, but it was setting up for a storybook ending.
• We’re never wrong when we initially make a pick. I guess there is something to be said for confidence. Or at least blind faith.

So finally, post-time arrived. We got Super Saver at 15-1 odds at our book, while he was about 7-1 at the track. Decent value. Gavin laid down his first action ever, and went in strong to say the least. He woke up with a stiff one today I’d imagine. Needless to say, this exact scene played out:

Except for the fact that there was 15 of us,  Eddie screamed out “Where’s our horse?!” at least 5 times, and Rich punched my dog in the face while he did his best Willie Randolph waving in the horse from 3rd base.

Calvin Borel, you made a play!

And, we’re back to old habits…

(We’re on the Lakers -7 today. I think I’m going to be sick.)