The Bottoms Line College Basketball Podcast: Interviewing Jay Bilas, “Idiots” Tweeting to Recruits, and 2011-12 Previews

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In episode #4 of The Bottoms Line College Hoops Talk Podcast, I am joined once again by Rob Dauster and Troy Machir of Ballin’ Is a Habit.

The three of us discuss Troy’s recent interview with the great Jay Bilas, idiots tweeting crazy stuff at recruits, and previews galore including the Colonial, Mountain West, and West Coast Conferences plus Butler, Fairfield, Long Beach State, Michigan, and more.

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College Football Picks and Point Spreads: Oklahoma-Texas, Florida-LSU, Iowa-Penn State, and more

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Already we are nearing the halfway point of the college football season, and Week Six brings another set of marquee matchups.

Thursday night starts the week off with a showdown between a pair of 3-1 Pac 12 teams as Cal heads to Autzen stadium to face the Oregon Ducks.  In addition, one of the best annual rivalries in college football is renewed this weekend when Texas and Oklahoma meet for the 106th time.

Now that most teams have played several tough games, it becomes more clear what each team’s strengths and weaknesses are for betting purposes. With those in mind, here are my picks for this weekend’s top games, plus a fun, free suggestion for anyone who has ever wished they could play fantasy football with college players.

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Fantasy College Football: Enter the Free $250 Big 10 Fantasy Football Challenge

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That’s right: college fantasy football.

And since the Big 10 is the official conference of record for us here at Midwest Sports Fans, it only makes sense that our first college football freeroll contest with the guys at Daily Joust is Big 10-focused.

To enter, for free: click here.

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Jay Cutler Dominates: Jay Cutler vs The NFL’s Best RBs

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I’ve already shown you how Jay Cutler dominated against the Falcons and the Saints, and how he is a much better and more balanced QB than to Aaron Rodgers, but what you may not also know about our boy Cutler is he is also the NFL’s best running back.

Surprising, I know, but that doesn’t take away from how completely and ridiculously true it is. Cutler has 853 career rushing yards to go with five rushing touchdowns.

I think it’s about time for Cutler-Payton comparisons.

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Fantasy Football Week 5 Start Em, Sit Em: Start/Sit Picks, Player Projections, and Week 5 Lineup Advice

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Injuries!

Andre Johnson is gone.  Ben Roethlisberger is banged up.  Miles Austin is on the mend.  Marques Colston is back, but when will he get on track?

With the bye weeks now here, the time has come when fantasy leagues are truly won and lost.  If you drafted well, and got a little lucky, you should be near the top of the standings.  But nobody can ever completely escape the injury bug.  Managing your lineup properly when byes and injuries attack is what separates the good owners from the great ones.

So let’s look at the Week Five games and decide who to start and who to sit this week.

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Jon Washburn @The_Dr_Twitch

NFL Power Rankings Week 5 – “Drunk Girls Alone At The Bar” Edition

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I don’t like that NFL teams wear pink during the month of October. I love the idea that they are celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month and doing what they can to increase awareness and honor those who have fallen victim to the disease, but I don’t like that they add pink to the uniforms for the whole month.

30 years from now when the next generation of kids are watching highlights from the 2011 season, they will randomly see players wearing pink, and unless the NFL continues this practice forever, they won’t know why. The great thing about highlights from the 60s and 70s is that teams always looked the same. They were the definition of uniform.

Nowadays each team has at least one throwback or alternate uniform that they wear periodically throughout the season. And while they look great, it messes with continuity. I realize that the extra uniforms bring in racks on racks on racks of extra money each season, but they need to do away with it. Teams should be forced to pick one uniform design – one home, one away – and stick with it. If the throwback uniforms are such a hit and look better than the default uniforms, then switch back.

On to the Week 5 Power Rankings.

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The Bottoms Line Non-BCS Watch List: Iona Gaels

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As we officially past the halfway point of the Non-BCS Watch List, we make our second stop in the MAAC.

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Commercial Grade: McDonald’s Monopoly Ad with LeBron James – Video & Analysis

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Every year, in October, McDonald’s hosts a Monopoly game in which certain items from the menu come with game pieces attached to them that may yield prizes such as McDonald’s food items, video games, cars and a grand prize of a million bucks.

Other than the marketing tie-in very little about the McDonald’s game of Monopoly resembles the board game version, but I find that to be of little importance.

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13 Things We Learned This Weekend

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Wisconsin is lovely in the autumn.

The Tinley children are on Fall Break, so we’re spending the week vacationing on Perdido Key. I was without Internet access until yesterday, when I successfully guessed the password for a wireless router in a neighboring condo. A word of advice: If you’re in Florida and your wireless password is “sunshine,” you’re inviting anyone who can pick up your signal to use your Internet.

Anyway, here are some things we learned this week:

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Baseball Bashers: Let’s Stop the Hypocrisy

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Many times in life, we end up changing our minds on certain things.  It’s not a big deal – we are fickle people – but we at least owe it to ourselves and everyone involved to be honest about it.

When I was in high school, I liked a certain type of girl.  It worked for me in high school, and I had a lot of fun, but as I grew older, I grew to appreciate other qualities.

I don’t need to spend time bashing the girls I dated in high school.  I DEFINITELY don’t need to start making up “facts” that support why I am now a better person either.  I just need to be honest and say that, quite simply, I changed.

Baseball bashers think differently.

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Jon Washburn @The_Dr_Twitch

Hilarious Music Video: “More Than Words (With Friends)”

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This video was featured in today’s Hot Clicks, and it’s superbly done.

Since I was pretty heavily addicted to Words With Friends there for a while (I’ve since completed rehab and am doing well, thanks), and have many close acquaintances who remain strongly addicted, I particularly related to this humorous parody of the classic song by Extreme.

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ESPN.com trolls Yankees ace CC Sabathia

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Look, we all know that CC Sabathia is man of heft, specifically around his waistline. And as someone who has acquired his own waistline heft over the last few years, I applaud Sabathia for proving that even the chubby and rotund can achieve athletic greatness.

So I found ESPN.com’s treatment of Sabathia tonight to be particularly unnecessary.

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Enjoy the superb spoof trailer for “Too Much Moneyball”

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The video below was just tweeted out by Yankees fan Jimmy Traina with the quote “If you hate the Yankees, this video is your porn.” While that is true, not only Yankees haters will enjoy this video.

Anyone who appreciates clever satire and a well done, succinct spoof will also enjoy it.

So watch, and enjoy.

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Video and Commentary: Jackwagon dad teaches his son to burn a Tony Romo jersey…are you serious???

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Is this guy serious?

I realize Cowboys fans are frustrated with Tony Romo for making a few bone-headed decisions yesterday that allowed the Detroit Lions back into the game, but I really cannot fathom any excuse for a grown man to decide he should teach his son to burn Romo’s jersey in retaliation.

Watch the video, which I just saw over at Black Sports Online courtesy of Robert Littal, and then let’s talk about it.

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NFL “Suck 4 Luck” Power Rankings: Week 5

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Update: The complete NFL Week 5 Power Rankings are now posted. In this “Drunk Girls Alone At The Bar” Edition, Drew Lange ranks every team from 1-32, explains his reasoning for not liking teams adding pink to their uniforms during October, and provides useful advice about, well, drunk girls alone at bars.

Another week of football players on football teams playing National Football League football games is in the books*, which means that it’s time to assess the carnage and see which teams are now best positioned in the yearlong “Suck 4 Luck” Sweepstakes.

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