September 2007 Archives

What a crazy day of college football. I'm in Chicago right now, half delirious because I didn't sleep on my red-eye yesterday (or is it today?) and the other half delirious from seeing all the upsets. I guess I shouldn't be as cocky as I was, but I'm a slow learner. On that note, today's NFL picks, with home team in caps....

I'm pressed for time, but as per my duty, here are my college and Big Bear picks for Saturday. I went 8-3 in college last week and while I can't guarantee similiar success, if I do, you'll make some mad cash.

After watching Colton destroy Marina in the OC last night, somewhat (but not entirely) validating my existence as a prognosticator, I've decided to give some more picks for tonight's games.

I already had this entry written, but I lost it in the excitement of seeing Erin Andrews on the blue turf at Boise State. You can't really blame me for that, nor can you blame me for my 7-4 week in predicting high school games. You can, but I will pull a Mike Gundy on you if you do.

I'm doing this as sort of a tribue to Bulletin writer Clay Fowler and Dumb and Dumber character Lloyd Christmas , but more because I liked Fowler's idea for doing this than the wit of the irrepressible Christmas. I'm biting Fowler's style a bit, but he gave me the OK, so here's my Top 10 ballot, complete with semi-educated comments and other cool banter.

I'm sure you guys have heard this, whether on Sportscenter or on the web, but Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy ripped into a Daily Oklahoman columnist during the postgame press conference after the Cowboys' 49-45 victory over Texas Tech Saturday. The video is below....

Cajon has set its date to honor its 1987 CIF championship team for Nov. 2, when the Cowboys host San Bernardino High School.

Well, at 4-7-3 this week, (I forgot to pick the Cleveland-Oakland game) I'm really off to an awful start to the NFL season. Not really sure what I need to do to turn it around. Um, let see if we can get the Monday nighter at least.

The new area top 10, fresh out of the oven....

Being that I'm in Vegas and its 5 a.m., these picks are going to be brief. But since I was awful with the elongated version last week, that might be a good thing. So here we go, with home teams in all caps.

I wish I had something witty to write here, but I'm pretty much stumped. I'm watching the original Die Hard, which is definitely the best of the Die Hards, though I was pleasantly surprised by Live Free or Die Hard when I saw it this summer.

Well, Miami got me off to a good start tonight with a walloping of Texas A&M and their male cheerleaders. Hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the week, as I'm going to Vegas Saturday to cover Upland and hopefully have some good, clean fun.

To the picks...

I have to give ESPN some credit. Everytime I think that they can't throw the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry down the throats of this nation any more, they manage to do it. My rant now is the whole "Will the Red Sox collapse?" thing since the Yankees are apparently 1.5 games back.

I arrived home from work after a long day of calling people and writing preview capusles and decided to turn on the television. The first thing that I see is the movie Necessary Roughness, the 1991 comedy about the Texas State Fighting Armadillos and their struggle to field a football team after basically being convicted of the Death Penalty.

Good article on Big Bear's stud quarterback in the L.A. Times this morning. The story is right here. I guess the Times is a competing paper, but its a good story none the less.

The days of San Gorgonio High School having to travel off campus to play football are over. At 5 p.m. today, the Spartans will have their first practice at their new on-campus stadium, complete with FieldTurf.

As far as first impressions go, I really did horribly as far as my picks were concerned. I was 5-6 in the college picks and a pathetic 4-10-1 against the spread in pro picks. If I were on a date, not only would I not have gotten to first base, but my date probably would have poured sugar on my gas tank and thrown a drink on me. Not cool.

I'll try to salvage this week with a Monday night pick

Here's this week's top 10. Unlike last week, things remained pretty stable in the rankings.

As I'm watching the Patriots destroy the Chargers (you stay classy San Diego), I want to give my congratulations to Detroit Lions rookie safety Gerald Alexander.

As we watch to see how the college football picks tonight work out, here are the pro picks for tomorrow.

Well, I didn't get off to too hot of a start on Thursday, missing Maryland by a half-point and simply choking on the TCU pick (I actually lost money to my online bookie for that - thanks a lot Horned Frogs). But I've done well for the most part in this young season, so let's just see what we can get going this week with these 8 games.

Just got back from the Bloomington-Rancho Verde game in Moreno Valley. Actually, I think it's closer to Perris, but that's an aside. I'm happy to say that even though both my college picks didn't cover the spread (thanks a lot TCU) I was pretty close in the Bloomington-Verde game, as 31-26 (my pick) was 38-28 after Rancho Verde returned a late fumble for a touchdown.

Because I don't want to step on the prep dog's tail too much, I'll just take a bite (no pun intended really) out of this week's slate, highlighting some of the top games in the area. So here it goes.

In celebrating my newfound responsiblity as blogger-guy, I've decided to do some game predictions. Yeah, I know the season has started, but I'm doing it anyway because I can. High school games will be straight-up, with college and pro games to be taken against the spread. I'll take all the credit if you win a lot of these but if you turn out like this then it was the prep-dog's fault, not mine. And you probably should stay away from the online bookies for a while.

To Thursday's picks...

Usually I'm more than fine with the attention given to my alma mater, the University of Michigan. But I must say that the hype going into this pillow fight with Notre Dame is sickening even to me. If I were fans of other schools, I'd be livid every time I saw these two underachieving teams get air time on Sportscenter.

In one of the coolest moments of the dopest decade of all-time, the 1980s, Mike Ditka apparently was big into the perm when leading the "Monsters of the Midway" to the Super Bowl XX title.

The Sun's prep football top 10, to be released in the paper tomorrow. I'm doing this real quick before I head to Oakland to watch my Lions take on the Raiders. Yeah, I'm a Lions fan, hard to believe.

1. Redlands East Valley (1-0)
2. Colton (1-0)
3. Los Osos (2-0)
4. Serrano (2-0)
5. Miller (2-0)
6. Colony (1-0)
7. Big Bear (2-0)
8. Don Lugo (2-0)
9. Chino Hills (0-1)
10. Upland (1-0)

Other teams considered were Apple Valley, Redlands, Hesperia, Etiwanda and Rim of the World. Feel free to give your opinions on this. Now off to Oakland.

I got a little distracted and didn't finish my original thought from the last post. Oh well, it happens. Anyway, I must say I was impressed with Big Bear today...

It's been nuts at the Sun, between going to Riverside for the epic REV win and watching Big Bear physically overwhelm Aquinas in the mountains - all while my alma mater Michigan decides to embarrass itself. Yeah, I'm not bitter or anything. But on to what really matters....

Yucaipa's new FieldTurf surface isn't quite ready for game action as of yet, so tonight's game between the Thunderbirds and Rancho Verde has been switched to Rancho Verde High School. Game time will still be at 7:30 p.m.

Los Osos junior running back Arby Fields looked outstanding in the Grizzlies' 42-20 win over Cajon last night. He showed vision, elusiveness and second-level speed that Cajon couldn't deal with. With fellow running back Lance Adams and qb Richard Brehaut, Los Osos will be hard to stop. However, they might also have problems stopping others. Either way, a Los Osos football game will be entertaining if nothing else.

In talking to REV coach Kurt Bruich yesterday, apparently sophomore right tackle David Peterson will not play against Riverside North tomorrow night because of a torn meniscus in his knee. Despite being young, Peterson grabbed a starting spot, so it will be interesting to see how this affects the Wildcats....

As far as Week 1s go, this one definitely holds it own. I know I'm pretty pumped about the three games I'm covering this week, starting with Cajon and Los Osos tomorrow night. After putting up 41 points on Bishop Amat, I'm definitely...

In accordance to the changing times, the Sun has decided to allow me to do a blog on high school football. If you want rankings, updates, anecdotes and info, you can come here to see what's going on in county football. Have comments, questions or just want to get on me for misspelling someone's name (I certainly hope not)? Comment on here or feel free to e-mail me at tj.berka@sbsun.com. The football season is just getting into high gear and personally, I can't wait to get going on this.

Thanks,

T.J.