Sports

When did we get adopted by the athletic department? I surely wasn’t aware of any such changes. (Before going on, let me apologize for the formatting errors that follow. I’m really bad at this whole “internet” thing.)

However, it appears we now have a new big brother. And he’s mean. The Athens police force was out in full force last weekend and it seemed their socks got wet in the rain and they took it out on us. They clearly haven’t watched Forrest Gump (http://www.jahozafat.com/php/sounds/?id=gog&media=MP3S&type=Movies&movie=Forrest_Gump&quote=socks.txt&file=socks.mp3).  One person wrote into the Red and Black to complain about the police misconduct. I was forced to empty my pocket while they searched me for booze. The pocket in question contained my keys. Plausible, right?

Note: this was the smallest bottle I could find.

There was a small group of fans sitting in front of me who were thoroughly searched for questionable items during the second half. A cop approached on his cell phone while looking to the upper deck. He then made the group remove their jackets in the pouring rain (of course, his remained firmly fastened) while patting them down in hopes of finding illicit material. It was obvious to all, except the cop, that the group had nothing. Yet, for some reason, the cop remained on his phone and appeared to be talking to another cop in the upper deck who remained convinced the group had something.

Yes, he is being asked to pull up his shirt

Not to mention the fact that we all have to scan our ID’s just to get into this stadium. The AD knows where we are and what we’re doing with their spies from above. And don’t even think about being late, mister or you’ll be grounded. (Note: the late policy has since been changed and the link now shows this).

Ok, lets get to some more positive material, like me going 7-2 last week. The record against the spread is now 10-4 and I have gone far beyond my expectations. I’m hoping this record will carry me for awhile because this weeks spreads are extremely tough to analyze. That being said, it’s a good week to be an SEC fan as we’re getting into the meat of the conference schedule. We’ll be able to find out if Auburn’s offense is for real against Tennessee, is Mississippi State had a great game last week or if LSU pulled a stinker and if our defense is as bad as I hope it’s not.

First, here’s some linkage.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/3825/sec-power-rankings-4

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/3832/turnover-penalty-problems-linger-for-georgia

Now lets get to the lines.

Alabama heads to Kentucky this week to try and establish that they’re better than the Gators and put a whooping on the ‘Cats. Poor Kentucky. ‘Bama covers.

Ole Miss needs to recover desperately. Luckily they play Vanderbilt. Easy cover for Ole Miss at -9.

I can’t decide whether Mississippi St. is legit or not. I am buying Dan Mullen. Plus, you’re giving me the SEC and points? Thanks Vegas! State covers at home +6 against Ga Tech.

The Auburn Tennessee game is very tough to predict. Is Auburn’s offense as good as advertised or have they just been picking on weaker foes? I’m a big fan of defense (which is why this UGA team is REALLY frustrating me) and I’ll pick Tennessee -2.

The Arkansas vs. Texas A&M line has been all over the place. They’ve both been favored at different points this week. Who knows where it will be come game time. I’m going to assume it’ll be a pick ‘em game, and, of couse, I’ll take the SEC.

Finally, the UGA LSU game. I am terrified. Our turnover ratio is atrocious against a team who has created a lot of turnovers and a lot of points off those turnovers. Our defense is terrible. But don’t worry, I refuse to pick us to lose. Sanford Stadium better get up this week, and I’ll take UGA to cover the spread at -3. Hesitantly.

High hand scanner – 89

Low hand scanner – 7

Until next time, Ball Hard.