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By Mike Rose
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Monday, September 12, 2005
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Rose’s Rant - September 12th, 2005
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The busiest time of the year is now upon me as well as all my
other cohorts over at Who2Beton.com. Week 1 of the NFL season wraps
up tonight with the rematch of the NFC Championship game as the
Philadelphia Eagles head down south and pay a visit to the Georgia
Dome to take on the Atlanta Falcons. The 2005 college football season
is in full swing as we enter Week 3, and the MLB season is coming
to a close with every team in the league having less than 20 games
left on the docket. This is a sports fans favorite time of the year,
and an excellent time to get an edge on the books with odds makers
having to release lines on two of the four majors all at once. That
being said, don’t go overboard. Just because there’s
hundreds of games to choose from doesn’t mean you have to have
action on all of them. Pick your spots, follow a reputable service,
or have your two-year old kid tell you what he/she thinks at the
breakfast table every morning. Don’t let it overwhelm you,
and you’re sure to have an enjoyable time of churning out
winners while being entertained by these multi-millionaires earning
their salaries.
The volatility of this year’s MLB standings have really
stepped to the forefront in the last few weeks. The seemingly
impenetrable lead once held by the Chicago White Sox in the AL
Central is now down to a measly 5.5 games, and the Cleveland Indians
now find themselves with a 1.5 game lead in the Wild Card race
after winning eight of their last 10 games. The AL West is a two
horse race with LA and Oakland battling it out. Their four game
set in Oakland at the end of this month will most definitely decide
who wins that division. The NL West looks to be the only undecided
division race in the league since no club is capable of playing
.500 baseball. Which brings us to the NL Wild Card race. Houston
currently holds a half game lead at the time of this writing, but
the furthest away a team in contention is 5.5 games back and all
these teams will face one another in the closing three weeks of
the regular season. This is sure to be one of the most exciting
finishes a Wild Card race has had since its exception.
The First Week of the NFL season kicked off this past weekend,
and there’s plenty of knowledge I picked up as I sat
back glued to my big screen watching the Superfan package
on DirecTV.
New England will run into trouble against a team that has an
above average defense in every facet (D-Line, LB’s,
secondary). Oakland will score a boatload of points this year,
but continue to give them up just as fast. Denver’s got
some serious offensive problems after making a conscious effort
to improve its defense in the off-season. Miami finally has
themselves a coach. Cincy could be a sleeper in the AFC North.
Cleveland will be a tough team to handle further down the road
once the new guys gel. Houston still sucks, and QB Carr will be
knocked unconscious at one point this year due to a very poor
O-Line. Buffalo is Super Bowl worthy, but will only go as far
as their youngster under center can take them. Pitt looked even
better on offense without “The Bus” and Staley;
scary! Both Chicago and Washington will continue to be letdown
by their anemic offenses. New Orleans did a fabulous job picking
right back up where they left off a year ago, and made thousands
of people ecstatic in the process. I wasn’t buying all the
talk about Carolina going to the Super Bowl before their game,
and I’m still not. Tampa finally has the offense HC Gruden
has longed for, but his defense is old. Minny’s got MAJOR
problems!!! Seattle looks exactly like a carbon copy from a year
ago, while Jacksonville’s going to the playoffs this year.
The Jets are nowhere near as bad as they portrayed themselves to
be, and the Chiefs will be better defensively vs. average
offensive teams but will get smoked by potent attacks.
The afternoon slate saw some very interesting events occur. SF
smoked what has always been a poor STL team on the road on grass,
while the Giants pulled away late from the Cardinals in a very
wacky game. I still think the signing of QB Warner was a mistake
by the Cardinals as I felt the moxie of Josh McCown was worthy
enough of giving him another shot this season. Expect a change
either due to poor play or injury down the road. Green Bay is
even worse than I thought they were going to be, and the Lions
have all the makings of a high-octane offense but are still a
few weeks away from punching the gas pedal. SD’s pass
defense still sucks, and “The Tuna” with a vertical
passing game spells trouble for the NFC East. Finally, the Colts
are the best team in the league right now. They WILL get home
field advantage this season, and they WILL win the Super Bowl.
Get those future bets in now, because the values only going to
diminish with every passing week.
That just about wraps up this week in sports, and I’ll
get into college football a bit more next week after seeing
more teams play only their second game of the season. Until
then, have a great week and SLAM YOUR MAN!
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