Not all who wander are lost...

 
PIGSKIN PICKS - SEPTEMBER 28, 2002

Well, things are looking better for Bitey's prognostications... 3-2 last week. Oregon rolled, thank you Texas A&M for choking as predicted and pilijng up a whopping 3 points in a must win game AT HOME!! Easily the game of the week was the Irish-Spartans game. I didn't believe the hype about Charles Rogers before the game... now I do! That guy is a freak. Clearly the best player on the field as that catch in the back of the end zone illustrated. Honestly, when Smoker released that throw, I jumped up from my hands and knees (a begging position I always tend to assume when its nail-biting time for the Irish), and actually started to celebrate because I thought he had thrown is so high, it would harmlessly sail through the uprights incomplete. Boy was I wrong! I didn't believe he could possibly have been inbounds until I saw the crystal clear replay. Amazing catch, and and even more amazing call by that ref. He seemed to take an extra second to study the call in his mind (and extend my angst), then he made the right call. Well done.

On to this week...

The Irish are off, so it will be the Ducks and four other games.

OREGON - ARIZONA: I'll take the Ducks, but in their first road game of the season against a Wildcat team coming out of Madison bloodied, this one could be interesting. It's tough to win in the desrt, but Oregon should have enough to survive.

NEBRASKA - IOWA STATE: Iowa State in a game that could define the Cornhuskers season. Sure the Penn State game was embarrassing for the Blackshirts, but lose here, and it's legacy losing time. Nebraska Football... meet the 2001-2002 North Carolina Hoops team.

OREGON STATE - USC: The Beavs haven't beat USC in L.A. since 1960. That's gonna change this year. Derek Anderson (a pre-season question mark?) has thrown 15 TD's versus just 1 interception. Are you kidding me? The kid is smooth. Hang 59 on Fresno State, and you have the stuff to go to war with the Trojans and enjoy the flight home.

VIRGINIA - WAKE FOREST: Not a big game, but I will be in Charlottesville (though the game is in Winston-Salem), so I need to root, root, root for the local squad. Cavs over the Deacs by who really cares.

UPSET SPECIAL...Michigan at Illinois intrigues me, as does Texas at Tulane (gambler's note: take the Green Wave and the points). But the game I think could actually happen is Florida at Kentucky. The Wildcats and their large quarterback who seems to have been there since Pitino was a 'Cat can really move the rock. Florida coming off the big upset seems primed to get brought back to earth with a Lorenzen-charged upset.

Fins Up!
posted by Sean McMahon at 6:49 PM

 
THE AT&T COMMERCIAL...

A new feature here on the site will be my random musings about the hysterically stupid or chillingly poignant commercials that grace America's airwaves. Some I will applaud... others... well, others are so deserving of no comment, that they will get a commment.

Case in point: AT & T has just started airing a new commercial for mLife. You remember... "What is mLife?" Well, I still don't know, but this commercial sure got me thinking. The ad depicts a basketball team lounging in an airport terminal waiting to catch a plane. Though now official logos are visible, it is clear the team is intended to be of high school or college age. The premise is that all these players are tossing the same cell phone around talking to various friends and loved one. The pace of the ad is rather fast as the phone passes between the legs and over the shoulder to five or six teammates. They are all yucking it up having a good ol' time as the narrator says something not worth remembering about mLife. Why talking on the phone is so much fun puzzles me until the end of the commercial when the coach confronts the team in a jolly voice and quizically asks, "All right guys, who has my phone?"

BAMMM!!

That coach shouldn't be smiling. He just lost his starting five!! Under the arcane rules of NCAA competition, use of that there phone call was a clear violation. It definitely falls under the category of illegal benefits that the NCAA has been trying to stamp out. Two-game suspensions for all the crank yankers!!

Am I really slamming the NCAA more than AT & T with this rant??? YES! Should AT & T, sponsors of so many NCAA events, know better?? YES!! (Christ! "The Rose Bowl brought to you by AT & T").
posted by Sean McMahon at 6:14 PM

 
PIGSKIN PICKS

Well, last week Bitey had a rough week with the college football picks. I was 2-3 on the week, but like I said, I happily absorb the loss since it means the Irish upset Michigan. Ugly game, but I'll take it. I'm damn proud of picking the Penn State-Nebraska upset, but even I didn't think it would be a woodshed classic. If I had known the Colorado's starting quarterback wasn't playing, I would have taken USC, but hey, that just measn Bitey has gotta do better homework.

On to this week's picks...

NOTRE DAME - MICHIGAN STATE: Despite the Irish victory last week, this game still scares me. The Spartans have taken 5 straight from the Irish, so not a single Domer knows the feeling of beating Michigan State. My dad always told me that the most dangerous teams are the ones that get their butts kicked the week before. With that in mind, I'm picking Notre Dame, but if they lose, I'm blaming Cal!

OREGON - PORTLAND STATE: The Ducks in yet another laugher. The boys from Eugene will get down to business when the Pac 10 season starts.

FLORIDA - TENNESSEE: Definitely not the same level of hype going into this one as there has been over the last few years of this series. Is it because Spurrier is gone? I think so. But nevertheless, the game doesn't mean anything anyway. Tennessee wins, and Florida is out of the National hunt with its second loss, but they already are out of the hunt since the media doesn't over-rank them like they did when the Ball Coach was around. If Florida wins, Tennessee is still in the National hunt. Like Florida and Tennessee last year exemplified... when you play in the SEC, the BCS gives you the benefit of the doubt as long as you only lose once. I bet there are a lot of coaches in the Big Ten and Pac 10 that would love to have that luxury! Volunteers win this one.

VIRGINIA TECH - TEXAS A&M: I'm taking Virginia Tech in this one because ALL Texas teams choke in at least one big game per season. The Aggies might as well get their choke job out of the way early.

UPSET SPECIAL: Three games look tempting to me... Arizona over Wisconsin, Central Florida over Marshall, and Fresno State over Oregon State. Fresno State has lost some close ones this year. Marshall has to be a bit deflated after the Virginia Tech loss. For some reason, my mind keeps thinking of Arizona over the Badgers. Call it a gamblers gut feeling. If I was in Vegas, I'd drop a Jackson and take the Wildcats and the points.

Fins Up!
posted by Sean McMahon at 2:18 PM

 
POLL THIS..

So the United States thinks it wants to go to War with Iraq??? Or does it?? Opinions polls say that after President Bush’s speech to the United Nations, somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% of Americans supported a military effort in Iraq. The Administration is giving Bush credit for delivering a convincing oration because prior to his speech, only about 30% of Americans thought marching on Baghdad was a good idea. So perhaps a few more speeches from Bush, support might grow to 65%, then it will be time to send in the troops.

What’s wrong with this line of thinking?

Our political leaders are so married to public opinion polls that they use them as some kind of mandate to support their own pre-conceived initiatives. Shape the policy to sway the polls to support the policy? Now I can only sit back and laugh at the folks who want to fight now and are all excited because the public is behind them. Are these people so lacking in foresight that they feel opinion polls of today will justify policy follies.

Think about it. Any feeble opinion that is able to be swayed in favor of War by one speech, or even a series of speeches, will undoubtedly be swayed against War once body bags start coming home. Yet these are the opinions to which our Administration is catering its actions.

Make no mistake, despite my misgivings about the current Bush Administration, this is not an accusation that can be leveled at Bush II alone. I gladly concede that even a Gore Administration would likely be guilty of similar policy.

What it boils down to is this. Sometimes leadership means acting boldly against, or without public support. History will be the judge of right and wrong decisions, not contemporary public opinion.

posted by Sean McMahon at 1:50 PM

 
A bit about what you can expect to start seeing on this site...

Bitey the Shark was born out of my love for Jimmy Buffett and all things Margaritaville. Therefore, large amounts of Parrothead references and Corona-induced tales are soon to come.

Politics and issues around the world are also intriguing topics I plan to touch on on BiteyTheShark. Just so you know, I refuse to limit myself by associating with any specific political party, so some of my ideas will definitely cross the so-called "party lines". I just feel that of all the things George Washington taught us, why did America refuse to heed his warning about the negatives of political parties? So political thoughts.... awesome. Political parties... a crutch for the weak.

Sports... well, sports has been the seed of much of my professional career, so I will be offering numerous "takes" (as Jim Rome would say) on people and events within the sports world. Shocking as it may seem to some, though my career has focused on sports, I am not a sports apologist. A sports apologist is someone who believes that sports is the key to life and chooses to look the other way when things in the sports world seem a bit fishy. Sometimes people just have to accept the fact that sometimes sports simply suck. Other times, the sport itself is great, but the attractiveness of it is spoiled by the athletes themselves, or other powers that be.

For many reasons, my favorite sports are college sports. I'm a college football junkie who will spend all day Saturday on the couch if my favorite teams are on TV. I grew up Irish, so my longstanding allegiance belongs to Notre Dame. I also went to college in a small town in Oregon where, with the help of my college roommate, the excitement of the Oregon Ducks captivated me. They are my adopted team, so no matter what, I bleed Kelly Green. Whether that is the green of the Ducks or the Irish, doesn't matter to me. I truly rue the day the Irish might play the Ducks in a bowl game. Like so many other of life's questions, who I might root for in that showdown is a question I will answer if, and only if, the time comes!

I am also a big soccer and college hoops fan. There is no greater let-down than the moment after the end of the final game of the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. You have just lived and breathed nothing but buzzer-beaters and cinderellas for four straight days. It is late Sunday night and you realize you have to wait all the way til Thursday to get your next fix. It is like Christmas morning right after you open your last gift. You have all this cool stuff, but you realize it will be 364 more days until you get to open more presents. Painful for a kid. The anguish of waiting for March Madness to resume is almost enough to make me want to care about the NIT.... almost.

I grew up a soccer kid and played four years in college. My love for the beautiful game runs deep. I'd like to touch on the soccer topic a bit more right now, but that will have to wait for a future blog. For now, since it's football season, I'm gonna start a Friday tradition of picking five games from the upcoming weekend (including the Irish and Ducks of course), and give you my predictions. Yes I am an Irish and Duck fan, but I am also a realist. If I think they are over-matched, I will pick against them. I will never ROOT against them, but I might PICK against them because for these picks to be legitimate, I have to be honest with you. Here you go...

Notre Dame-Michigan: Ohhh... a toughie. The Irish are turning things around, but we still haven't scored an offensive touchdown, and Michigan impressed the heck out of me when I watched them defeat Washington (barely!). I will pick Michigan and hope I can come back to you next week happily proven wrong.

Oregon-Idaho: Ducks in a blowout.

Washington State-Ohio State: The ground dominance of Clarett and Co. against the Air Superiority of Gesser and Crew. I know the game in columbus, but I'll pick Washington State because the Cougars air game is wicked and the Buckeye's stud Doss can only cover one receiver at a time.

USC-Colorado: I am a Pac 10 guy through and through, but I just don't know what to think in this one. I didn't see the Trojans beat Auburn, but then again, that was only Auburn. But, I did see Colorado suffer thier annual loss to Colorado State. This could be a great game, but I'll take the Buffs, only because they are at home.

UPSET SPECIAL: Nebraska-PennState: I'm taking the Nittany Lions in this one. The Huskers didn't impress me in their opener against Arizona State, and with the game being played in Happy Valley, the upset is not out of the question.


Well that is it for now. See you later, and look for that soccer blog next week!

Fins Up!
posted by Sean McMahon at 2:48 PM

 
OK, everybody, let's get this thing started. Bitey the Shark will soon become your home for ridiculous opinions and witty tales of misadventure. I'm gonna try to bring this thing up to speed with solid contant as soon as I can, so bear with me. You may be asking yourself what, or who, the hell is Bitey the Shark?? Well, those of you that know, already fear him.... those of you that don't.... will!

Fins Up!
posted by Sean McMahon at 3:37 PM