Posted by Dr Fro 7:37 PM
Funny


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Posted by Junelli 9:33 AM
It must take a very loving parent to accept the fact that Chris Farley has been reincarnated as your 3 year old little girl.




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Posted by Johnnymac 7:42 AM
I have updated the post below for Fro's picks from the weekend. He forwarded me the email he sent me on Wednesday night but I still couldn't find it even when I had the subject line and time stamp sitting in front of me. So, I'm not sure what the hell is up with my email, but he's up now.

Also, I will send out an email today to update the poker game situation for Thursday night. Don't worry, Javier, you are on the list.


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Posted by Dr Fro 4:01 PM

I don't think there are any better looking female fans on the planet than what you can find in Austin, TX on game day.

We went to the game this weekend and had a blast. Jamaal Charles got 290 yards russing, 260 of which came after I told Mrs. Dr. Fro that they should bench him. Nebraska sucks, and we beat them by a whopping 3 points. That does not exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling about our final 3 games.

I do, however, have a very warm fuzzy feeling about my football pools. I have won enough already to cover my entry fees, so I am basically on a freeroll for "a few thou". I am in first place in one pool, second in another, in the money in a third and I have a 25% stake in the leader of the fourth pool. Damn, I hope I don't have a Matusow Meltdown!

I watched the Brunson/Tomko Invitational Golf Tournament today. Phil Ivey made a nice long two-put to win the $1.2m prize. At risk was $600k (the diff between 1st and 2nd). Can you imagine putting for that much dough?

I did some damage to my bankroll on Friday night, but I got on a hot streak today and have started to build it back up. I really suck at ring games online, but do very well in SNGs. Unfortunately, I spend too much time at the ring games.

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Posted by Johnnymac 6:39 AM
Dr Fro (18-17 season)

South Florida -5 v CONNECTICUT
VIRGINIA TECH -3 v Boston College
Georgia +8.5 v FLORIDA
OREGON -2.5 v USC
WISCONSIN -7.5 v Indiana


Johnnymac (16-18-1 Season)

FLORIDA -7.5 vs Georgia
NC ST +3.5 vs Virginia
S Carolina +3 vs TENNESSEE
Kansas -2.5 v TEXAS A&M
Indianapolis -7 vs CAROLINA

Padilla (11-23-1 Season)

TEXAS -20.5 v Nebraska
WAKE FOREST -5.5 v North Carolina
KENTUCKY -13 v Mississippi State
Indianapolis -7 vs CAROLINA
Pittsburgh -3.5 vs CINCINNATI


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Posted by Dr Fro 11:23 PM
An oldie but goodie...

http://www.slate.com/id/2060524/

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Posted by Dr Fro 1:07 PM
From: McAndrew, Patrick
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 12:34 PM
To: Dr FroSubject: Junell's new theme song

I think he is going to dress up like this guy for Halloween.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGkxcY7YFU

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Posted by Johnnymac 7:23 AM
If I am going to go 5-0 on my blog picks and 9-1 on my weekend bets to get my entire season back to net positive, then dammit, I'll take the time to post last weekend's results. The one bet I lost last week was 1 unit on the Auburn/LSU under 42.5. In addition to that bet and the bets below, I also played West Virginia -24 vs Mississippi State. For the season I went all the way from -8 units before Thursday's game to +1.5 units at the end of the weekend. The key to the whole weekend was feeling strongly enough about both Rutgers and Auburn to triple my normal bet size on each...

Dr Fro (2-3 this week; 18-17 season)

S Florida -2.5 vs RUTGERS LOSS
Texas Tech + 3.5 vs MISSOURI LOSS
KENTUCKY + 6.5 vs Florida LOSS
Auburn + 10.5 vs LSU WIN
Michigan - 3.5 vs ILLINOIS WIN

Johnnymac (5-0 this week, 16-18-1 Season)

RUTGERS +2.5 vs S Florida WIN
PURDUE -7 vs Iowa WIN
Florida -6.5 vs KENTUCKY WIN
Auburn +10.5 vs LSU WIN
DALLAS -9.5 vs Minnesota WIN


Padilla (0-5 this week, 11-23-1 Season)

Minnesota + 9.5 vs DALLAS LOSS
WASHINGTON -8.5 vs Arizona LOSS
NEW ORLEANS -8 vs Atlanta LOSS
San Francisco +9 vs NY GIANTS LOSS
NE/Mia under 52 LOSS


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Posted by Johnnymac 2:16 PM
I guess I should also say, even if you don't want to play next week and you want to be on the list for future weeks, or if you were on the list and didn't get an email from me today, send me your updated address and I'll get you onto the list, eh?


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Posted by Johnnymac 1:40 PM
I just sent out an email invitation for the first garage poker game of the year. Since we didn't play at all last year I didn't keep the list updated and there are a LOT of dead addresses.

The email is reproduced below for anyone else in this audience who didn't receive it and still wants to play. The usual rules apply - I either have to know you or know someone who will vouch for you... This is especially important since poker has once again become a "dangerous" pasttime (just the way it should be!)

BTW, if you don't know my personal email address, then you probably don't qualify to come play at my house in the first place. But if on the off-chance you do need an address to reply to, use iagtourneys -at- gmail.com and I will consider your request.


UPDATE - I should make it clear, we're talking about NEXT Thursday, November 1.

------------------------------------

From: Johnnymac
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 1:40 PM
To: Degenerate Gamblers of Houston
Subject: Cold Front = Garage Poker Game


Now that the cooler weather has arrived, it’s time to restart the garage game.

I would like to play 50c/$1 PL Omaha 8 next Thursday night at my house (garage) beginning at 7:00 pm.

Please reply with your availability and your game preference. If we can get 8 or more players for Omaha that’s what we’ll play, but if more people would prefer we can play NL holdem instead and save the Omaha for later.

Since the game was on hiatus last year, this distribution list is very old and I know I am missing a bunch of current email addresses. Please feel free to forward this invitation on to other people so long as the usual vouching/familiarity/Iknowthemalready rules apply.

See you guys next week.

jmg


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Posted by Dr Fro 1:57 PM

I finally moved some money into my PokerStars account. I played my first SNG last night:

+++++++++++++++++++++++

PokerStars Tournament #64700864, No Limit Hold'em

Buy-In: $5.00/$0.509 players

Total Prize Pool: $45.00

Tournament started - 2007/10/20 - 20:59:31 (ET)

Dear phreaux, You finished the tournament in 1st place.

A $22.50 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Now, I have always heard a theory that the first SNG you play on a site, you win. The theory is that they let you win so you will be very excited about playing on their site. I don't really believe this, but it certainly is true for me over the 5 sites I have played - 5 times I got first place in my first SNG.

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Posted by Dr Fro 11:03 AM

Junell spotted this, which is probably a top 5 all time story about internet poker. Unless you are naive, you know that there are players out there that cheat, but this involves the owners of the freaking site. They have so much to gain by keeping the game honest, yet they chose to cheat. That is just terrible.

I wonder where the people are now that claim that internet cheating is not a problem. I've never really worried about it too much at the little tables where I play, but where the stakes are high enough, there is just too much incentive for players to cheat.

Combine this with the NBA referee scandal, and the obvious lesson to be learned is that you can never assume that any bet is a fair game.

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Posted by Johnnymac 7:13 AM
Football Picks:

Dr Fro (16-14 Season)

S Florida -2.5 vs RUTGERS
Texas Tech + 3.5 vs MISSOURI
KENTUCKY + 6.5 vs Florida
Auburn + 10.5 vs LSU
Michigan - 3.5 vs ILLINOIS

Johnnymac (11-18-1 Season)

RUTGERS +2.5 vs S Florida
PURDUE -7 vs Iowa
Florida -6.5 vs KENTUCKY
Auburn +10.5 vs LSU
DALLAS -9.5 vs Minnesota


Padilla (11-18-1 Season)

Minnesota + 9.5 vs DALLAS
WASHINGTON -8.5 vs Arizona
NEW ORLEANS -8 vs Atlanta
San Francisco +9 vs NY GIANTS
NE/Mia under 52


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Posted by Johnnymac 2:50 PM
Paging Morris. Paging Morris. Morris, please call the IRS hotline on the red courtesy phone.


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Posted by Johnnymac 5:29 PM
Now that last week's results are out of the way, some early picks say that Craig likes USF and I like Rutgers as a home dog on national TV in primetime.

(I tend to remember a couple of Thursday night games last year involving Louisville upsetting a higher ranked West Virginia team at home and then getting upset themselves in New Jersey a few weeks later, but that was a different team, right? I mean South Florida, they've been a powerhouse for years and haven't made a name for themselves with a couple of big upsets early in the season, right? Totally unlike last year's Louisville team, right? No comparison at all, right?)

If I were you, I would go with Craig. But I'm not you, I'm me, and I'm stupid and like to torture myself and make tendentious historical comparisons so GO SCARLET KNIGHTS!


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Posted by Johnnymac 5:10 PM
Football results from last week. Hopefully, at this point no one is using any of our picks to make live bets, or if they are, they're smart enough to go the other way. My reaction to BC's decision to take it easy on their fellow Catholics at the end by not kicking the meaningless field goal from inside the 30 almost caused Mrs Johnnymac to serve me papers on Saturday night...

Gambling-wise, I bet on the games below, plus 4 others, winning only New England's smashing of the Cowboys and losing three other college games. I went large on the Red Raiders, though, so total losses ended up not being too bad. This is turning into a brutal season thus far.

Dr Fro (3-2 this week; 16-14 season)

TEXAS TECH -8 v Texas A&M WIN
Oregon State +14.5 v CAL WIN
Louisville +10 v CINCINNATI WIN
LSU - 9 v KENTUCKY LOSS
USC- 22 v Arizona LOSS

Johnnymac (1-3-1 this week; 11-18-1 season)

TEXAS TECH -8 v Texas A&M WIN
LSU - 9.5 v KENTUCKY LOSS
Boston College -13.5 v NOTRE DAME LOSS
HOUSTON -20.5 v Rice LOSS
Tennessee +3 v TAMPA BAY PUSH

Padilla (1-4 this week; 11-18-1 season)

UTEP -2 v East Carolina LOSS
Baylor +27 v KANSAS LOSS
TULSA -13.5 v Marshall LOSS
CLEVELAND -4 v Miami WIN
Hou/Jax under 37 LOSS


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Posted by Johnnymac 11:29 PM
TOUCHDOWN! ...other guys



Hey, they covered against BC last week, those bastards.


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Posted by Johnnymac 7:24 AM
If anyone around here is looking for a job, here is one that I found over the weekend that I am not qualified for given that I don't have an engineering degree. Since most of our readers are here in Houston, I figure someone else here might be interested. You wouldn't even have to move!


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Posted by Dr Fro 9:55 PM

I think Ron Prince is a hell of a coach. I think he is one of those guys (e.g., Bill Snyder, Urban Meyer) that can make something out of nothing. He is a risk-taker, unlike the coaches that get hired by the likes of UT or A&M.

So it just pisses me off that he is getting dragged through the mud on this whole fire-for-hire mess. If Ron Prince wants to sell a bunch of mercenaries to the U.S. government for deployment in Iraq, I think he should.

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Posted by Dr Fro 9:18 PM
It's official.


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Posted by Dr Fro 8:49 PM

I am very surprised to find the video of me and Junell playing heads-up poker on the internet.

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Posted by Dr Fro 8:17 PM

I loved Morris's last blog entry. It was insightful. In his usual form, he was able to speak volumes in very few words. So few that I had to squint to be sure I caught them all.

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Posted by Dr Fro 7:57 PM
Our nation suffered a great tragedy today.

The Dallas Cowboys, America's Team, lost its first game of the season.

In case you were unaware of their designation as America's Team, let me explain. Several years ago, all of America voted on its team. The Cowboys won. (Actually, Al Gore got the most votes, but the Supreme Court gave the moniker to the Cowboys anyway.)

And as if to pour salt on our wounds, we had to lose to New England. There is nothing more un-American than New England. What does New England know about America? Hell, they named themselves after England (the only country more Communist than England is, duh...France. If we had lost to the New France Frittes, I would have killed myself.)

I am not a Romosexual, but I have always wanted to experiment. So, I tuned into the game around 7pm. When I saw that Dallas was about to lose, I figured it was a typo. After all, we have the greatest team ever.

Evidently, T.O. Owens hid a sharpie in the goalpost, and he used it to write his suicide note. It said, "Media, I am not talking to anybody until this suicide is over. I have zero reasons to live." This loss is hurting us all.

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Posted by Dr Fro 4:35 PM
Has a video ever been made better than One?

I remember when I first saw it. I was so bothered by it that I couldn't sleep.


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Posted by Dr Fro 3:32 PM

I was looking forward to the Blogger championship on Pokerstars.

We started at 2pm with 1336 bloggers. At about 15 minutes in, there were technical problems that had multiple players disconnecting. Then, I had personal technical problems when my connection got lost (I hate SBC!). Finally, around 2:35, I got connected again.

Then I woke up with KK and got all in preflop. He had JJ. I flopped a King (he rivered a J of no consequence). So, after all the problems I had with my connections, I was pleased to double up so early. That put me in 77th place out of 1190 remaining.

My M at the 1-hr mark was 25, and I decided to tighten up for the next hour. Good thing, as I got some crappy cards. I didn’t see the flop from 3:00 to 3:27. The pot was raised with JJ and I shoved all in with AK. I flopped a King. He rivered a Jack. Down to 7k in chips. A couple hands later, I ended up all in with AQ against….Jacks. Third time was a charm, and I busted out in appr 700th place. Another rivered Jack for good measure. Crap.

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Posted by Johnnymac 10:09 AM
Football Picks:

Dr Fro (13-12 season)

TEXAS TECH -8 v Texas A&M
Oregon State +14.5 v CAL
Louisville +10 v CINCINNATI
LSU - 9 v KENTUCKY
USC- 22 v Arizona


Padilla (10-14-1 season)

UTEP -2 v East Carolina
Baylor +27 v KANSAS
TULSA -13.5 v Marshall
CLEVELAND -4 v Miami
Hou/Jax under 37


Johnnymac (10-15 season)

TEXAS TECH -8 v Texas A&M
LSU - 9.5 v KENTUCKY
Boston College -13.5 v NOTRE DAME
HOUSTON -20.5 v Rice
Tennessee +3 v TAMPA BAY


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Posted by Dr Fro 3:00 PM

Subject: Blog
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:48:53 -0500
From: junell

To: phreaux

I can't seem to log into the blog, so will you post this...

The game at the ballpark lofts was robbed by 3 armed men about a week ago. I understand they made off with over $20,000 from the house as well as the wallets/watches from over 25 players.

In light of the recent "closings" of the Palms and Prime, and now this robbery, cardrooms are not a safe place to play anymore. I expect other rooms to be further targets from both the police and the criminals. Home game anyone?

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Posted by Johnnymac 9:21 AM
Football results. Good God this has been a bad season for me. In addition to the 5 games below, I bet two others and was 1-0-1, but that only was a bandaid on the bleeding.

Dr Fro (2-3 last week; 13-12 this season)

Kentucky +4 v SOUTH CAROLINA LOSS
Texas +10.5 v Oklahoma (@ Dallas) WIN
Nebraska +7.5 v MISSOURILOSS
Florida +9 v LSU WIN
USC -38 v Stanford LOSS

Padilla (1-4 last week; 10-14-1 this season)

Kentucky +4 v SOUTH CAROLINA LOSS
LOUISVILLE -13.5 v Utah LOSS
Miami -7 v NORTH CAROLINA LOSS
Tulsa -3 v UTEP LOSS
INDIANPOLIS -10 v Tampa Bay WIN

Johnnymac (0-5 last week; 10-15 this season)

KANSAS STATE -3 v Kansas LOSS
Wisconsin +2.5 v ILLINOIS LOSS
HAWAII -39.5 v Utah State LOSS
RUTGERS -3.5 v CINCINNATI LOSS
DENVER +1 v San Diego LOSS


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Posted by Dr Fro 9:54 PM
The Aftermath

To be honest, how I feel rarely has any bearing on how I act. I have taken some brutal beatings at the poker table and acted as if I didn't care. Of course I cared. It's just my thing - you can call it pride, you can call it a poker face, or you can call it being a good sport. Either way, the result is the same. I rarely piss and moan.

If you know me well, you know it is pride. I bury any outward expression of failure because, well, hell if any one will get to see that from me.

I took a bad beat 1.5 weeks ago. Texas lost to Kansas State. It was a tough pill to swallow. So, I didn't swallow it. I kept it in.

Then I had a moment the following Sunday that I can only liken to the episode of Good Times when the dad dies. The mom acts all cool for a couple days, and everyone worries about her. She is alone in the kitchen when she throws down and shatters the salad bowl and screams, "Damn, Damn, Damn" (this was pretty naughty in 70's television). It occurred to the other characters that the reality of his death set in with her.

The reality of UT's 2007 season set in with me that Sunday. While I still think the critics who think we are absolutely terrible are, well, wrong, I realized that day that we would be hard pressed to achieve any of our goals (NC, Big XII Champ, BCS Bowl). Damn, Damn, Damn.

That said, I am still glad that I had the presence of mind to bet a large sum of money on the OU game!

But that doesn't solve the funk I have been in since I shattered the salad bowl. Nor did the loss to OU.

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Posted by Dr Fro 8:44 PM

You saw that I got a special (only 2,000 of us!) invitation to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker. Well, I hope it turns out for me like it did for last year's winner. If you don't have time to read his entire post, at least look at the pictures.

Maybe I can at least win an iPod to replace the one I won on Poker.com's tournament for bloggers. (In case you haven't heard, I dropped it, and it died. I considered killing myself.)

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Posted by Dr Fro 8:13 PM

I saw the last episode of the WSOP last night. I still enjoy the show, but I really wish ESPN would stop giving attention to buffoonery. Mild buffoonery got attention a few years ago because it was noteworthy. That only encouraged more ridiculous behavior (i.e., buffoonery beget buffoonery). From the guy making animals out of balloons in the first episode to the very awkward scene involving two people praying to God simultaneously that they win the hand. Look, I am pretty sure that God doesn't care which side wins a football game, but I am certain that he doesn't give the river card to the one who prayed the hardest. That was hard to stomach.

ESPN should focus on the pros. Give plenty of attention to well-behaved amateurs, but focus on the pros. For goodness sakes, Lee Watkinson and Daniel Alaei were at the final table and placed 25th, respectively, but neither got much more than a nod from ESPN. Meanwhile, we get regular updates on Hevad Kahn's Red Bull total. Give it a rest. The marginal fan has either been sucked in or turned away. Cover poker, not buffoonery.

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Posted by Dr Fro 9:47 PM

Junk hands

I played poker a week ago and lost a lot of money on a hand. I had KK pre-flop and raised 5xbb pre-flop. I got a caller who had 57o. Flop came 689, and the turn and river brought 4 and 4. I slowed down a bit when the board paired on the river, but other than that, I was jamming each street. When he showed me that he flopped the straight, my jaw hit the ground.

You might think that this is the point in the post when I complain about a bad beat, about how smart I was and how stupid he was. On the contrary...

There are two basic types of junk hands that can hit a big draw: suited cards and connected (including 1-gappers) cards. Suited cards just aren't that valuable because when the third card of a suit falls, everyone slows down. You'll only get action from a higher flush. When junk cards connect with a straight, nobody sees it coming. It is like a cheap-shot punch from the back in a parking lot fight. You are kicking a guy's ass, feeling pretty good, and then, BOOM, you're seeing stars. Not only will people not see it coming, they will still think they are value betting their overpair (junk cards require low/middle cards to connect, so in all likelihood, there will not be an Ace out there to scare off the betting).

Ideally, you play suited connectors to bust up big hands, but if you have to choose, go with the connectors that aren't suited rather than play suited cards that are not connected.

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Posted by Dr Fro 9:46 PM

A value bet

I think that betting UT+10.5 is a very smart bet. Johnny disagrees, as I suspect many of you blog readers do. Let me try to persuade you.

First of all, before anyone claims that my views are biased, I would point out that any informed view on UT is necessarily biased. I don’t know any citizen of Texas that follows college football that is indifferent toward UT: either you hate them or you love them. So, people that actually know anything about UT are biased, the only question is the direction of the bias. I’d also point out that I thought we might lose to TCU – not exactly a view associated with a person wearing orange-tinted glasses. So maybe I am more balanced than you might expect.

First of all, it is worthwhile to remember what the line represents. It is not a weighted average; it is a median. For example, consider a hypothetical that the following four scenarios (and related probabilities) are the only ones that exist:

OU wins by 60 – 10%
OU wins by 7 – 25%
OU wins by 1 – 15%
TX wins by 1 – 25%
TX wins by 3 – 15%
TX wins by 7 – 10%

If you took a weighted average, you would come up with OU favored by 6.5. If you correctly took the median, you would put the game at pickem. This would correctly make it 50% likely that either side of the bet would win. If you set the line at 6.5, then only 35% of the time would OU cover.

This is important to remember because I hear a lot of people correctly predict that OU might beat UT by an enormous margin. I think that they incorrectly factor this into their handicapping and overvalue OU, thus moving the line. I do not think UT can blow out OU. I do think OU could win this game by 60. However, I can see a lot of scenarios where this game plays close (within 10 points either way), all of which cover if you take UT +10.5.

The next thing to consider is the gap between perception and reality of this UT team. I do not believe in looking at a small sample of games in handicapping a team. I look at the long term. College football teams do not go from rags to riches or the other way overnight very often. Consider the following long term facts about UT:
- No coach has won more games than Mack Brown in the past 10 years.
- UT is the only team to win 9 or more games every season since Mack Brown took office.
- No team has won more BCS championships than UT. (this one deserves a separate post later)
Nevertheless, the perception continues to exist that UT sucks and underachieves. This is not borne out in reality. There is also a perception that we can’t win without Vince Young, but last year we beat OU without Vince Young. There is a perception that Mack Brown can’t beat OU, but he is 4-5 against OU and has won the last two. I think that these inaccurate perceptions of UT make the line higher than it should be.

UT lost to KSU last week. People are expecting a total team implosion. History suggests that the opposite will happen. UT has rebounded from an early season loss often under Coach Brown to go on a long winning streak. OU lost to Colorado last week. OU has a history of stringing together losses. In 2003, they were riding high before losing to KSU. They then embarrassed themselves against LSU. In 2005, they lost to TCU and then lost to UT. In 2006, they “lost” to Oregon then lost to UT. I think Stoops gets his players to play with a lot of confidence, and that helps them to play very well. However, I think that losses puncture that air of invisibility and consequently take away one of their strengths. Consider this as further proof: Stoops has thrice played UT after an early season loss (99, 05, 06). UT won all three games. One other fact that is interesting, in 1999, UT came to Dallas one week after get schlacked by KSU (including kick returns for touchdowns) and OU came into the game one week after losing a close one (to Notre Dame). History is repeating itself. We won that year (by 10).

It is also important to analyze each team’s lone loss. KSU deserved to beat UT, but from a handicapping perspective, you simply cannot expect UT to give up a kickoff and a punt return every game. Adjusted for that, and UT’s loss looks a lot more like OU’s. OU, on the other hand, lost to CU in the two most meaningful stats: offensive yards and time of possession. While Sports Center will try to make it look like a fluke fumble was the cause for the loss, I would suggest that it only meant that OU lost in regulation instead of OT.

People keep wondering why UT has not looked very good so far this season. Due to a combination of criminal behavior, NCAA violations and injuries, we have missed a lot of stars. The list of players that have missed significant playing time includes Limas Sweed, Billy Pittman, Brian Orakpo, Adam Ulatoski, Jordan Shipley, Sergio Kindle and Henry Melton. We will have more of our starters available against OU than against any other opponent this year. OU has not had similar holes in their starting lineup in games this year.

The TX-OU game, like other big rivalry game should not be viewed through the same lens as regular games. Anything can happen. The underdog in this game has won the game outright more often than the favorite over the past ~20 years (looking for stat, will have).

Another odd characteristic of this game is the surprise quarterback effect. When Jason White came off the bench to replace Nate Hybel, he was unstoppable. Ditto for Peter Gardere and James Brown when they came in. When you have no film on the player in the most important position on the field, you are at a disadvantage. I don’t expect OU to play their second string QB, but I do expect to see some contributions from Mr. John Chiles. The last time a tall, athletic black man took a snap at UT, the game ended with a Waterford crystal ball and a lot of confetti. I’m just saying, is all…

In summary, I am not going to do a Mike Hart imitation and guaranty a victory. However, I think that there is a lot of value in taking UT plus 10.5. It may not win, but Aces don’t always win either. I still suggest you get all your money in the pot pre-flop with Aces anyway.

(3) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 9:32 PM
Football Picks for the weekend:

Dr Fro (11-9 this season)

Kentucky +4 v SOUTH CAROLINA
Texas +10.5 v Oklahoma (@ Dallas)
Nebraska +7.5 v MISSOURI
Florida +9 v LSU
USC -38 v Stanford

Johnnymac (10-10 this season)

KANSAS STATE -3 v Kansas
Wisconsin +2.5 v ILLINOIS
HAWAII -39.5 v Utah State
RUTGERS -3.5 v CINCINNATI
DENVER +1 v San Diego

Padilla (9-10-1 this season)

Kentucky +4 v SOUTH CAROLINA
LOUISVILLE -13.5 v Utah
Miami -7 v NORTH CAROLINA
Tulsa -3 v UTEP
INDIANPOLIS -10 v Tampa Bay


(1) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 9:18 PM
Here is a request: Mrs Johnnymac and I are leaving tomorrow morning to attend a weekend wedding in Shreveport. The wedding starts at 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday so I am likely going to miss most of the 3rd quarter of Texas-OU, but I'm pretty sure we will be approaching 38-7 territory (or thereabouts) by then, so I'm not that worried about the game... Or at least as worried as I was last Thursday night, so to speak. OU will win and it will be ugly for Texas.

Anyway, the request - because I am being such a good sport about going to see her family and attending a family function with her relatives, Mrs Johnnymac has already given me permission to go play a little poker on Saturday night after she and Baby JM go to bed.

The question is, where? I might be up for some NL, but I would probably be just as happy with 3-6 or 4-8, too. Where are the best rooms and what can I expect? I have never been to Shreveport before, I am curious to see what it's like.


(1) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 6:15 PM
I just saw on the Channel 11 news that a place called the "Palms" (on Westglen near Westpark and Hillcroft) was raided last night. There was a news crew there and they had all kinds of pictures of guys getting chained together and loaded into a paddy wagon surrounded by cops with automatic weapons. Jiminy. The surprising part of this story was that they said that this place had been watched for quite some time by undercover cops who had infiltrated the clientele.

Are any of our regular readers familiar with this place and/or with the raid? It looked like a big place, the news story said there were 14(!) tables in action at the time of the raid.


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Posted by Dr Fro 12:02 PM

I am caught up on the WSOP episodes from this week. The big story was Scotty Nguyen busting out. Aside from the bad editing (it showed Scotty leaving the conference hall before the commercial break then had him interviewed in the Amazon Room after the commercial break), it was a good episode. Before I can be critical of Scotty for going all-in with basically a bluff when he could have folded his way to the final table, I should remember two things. First of all, those moves are precisely what got him as far as he got. Second, Scotty said (and I have to believe it is true) that he was there to win in, not just to make the final table. If that is the case, I can't be critical.

Now if it had been Dr Fro, the good doctor would have folded his way into a million dollar final table prize.

How many times in your life have you seen that shot with Scotty telling Kevin McBride, "You call, gonna be all over, Baby" and Kevin calls and Scotty stops drinking beer and smoking long enough to put his hands in the air and a young Mike Matusow runs over to hug him? I saw it plenty during this WSOP to last me for a while.

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Posted by Johnnymac 10:49 PM
I don't normally post political type stuff here, and this isn't really very political, but this afternoon I was delivering Baby Johnnymac to church to meet his mom for some class that they are in together, and on my way there I had to drive through this protest over a proposed high rise that may or may not be getting built off of Bissonet near Rice. It was a pretty wild scene - people in costumes, traffic slowed to a crawl (actually stopped due to an accident going the opposite direction from me), and mostly just a bunch of rich people lining the streets and making noise because they want to keep their idyllic neighborhood unchanged. Generally, I would be on the side of the developers here, but really, I don't care. This thing will sort itself out.



Anyway I am posting this because of a funny quote in the Chron article I linked to above. The article starts like this:

This reversal of the city's position [approving the project], the mayor's personal involvement and the announcement that prominent attorney Rusty Hardin would represent the opponents have reinforced concerns that affluent, politically connected neighborhoods enjoy an advantage over others in Houston's frequent land-use battles...

[Mayor] White and other city officials denied that the Southampton and Boulevard Oaks neighborhoods near the site at 1717 Bissonnet had received any special treatment. And neighborhood leaders said they hope the attention focused on their struggle will lead to policies that will benefit all of Houston's neighborhoods.

Not such an unusual story for Houston, but here's the money quote that made me laugh out loud:

"Sometimes it takes a project affecting folks who can get things done to actually get things done," said James Reeder, a Southampton resident and a partner in the Vinson & Elkins law firm, who said he was surprised and grateful when the mayor returned his recent call to talk about the high-rise. "We are fortunate that we have residents who do have the ear of influential people."

Well no shit.

Surely no one can be this callous or this stupid, so I am thinking Mr Reeder meant that in a good way and was focusing on what he sees as the neighborhood's good fortune to have access to the corridors of power, but how it came out sounds like something one might read in the Onion or National Lampoon.


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Posted by Dr Fro 8:21 PM

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1128943

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Posted by Johnnymac 10:28 AM
Sorry, I have been swamped at work and I have a job interview tomorrow and it's been a busy week. Here are the football results from last week. We all did a bit better this week than last.

Wagering wise, I doubled up on Baylor for 2 units and got slapped by an Aggie team that somehow must like playing for a douchebag. Combine that with West Virginia getting rolled and Alabama deciding not to bother showing up against Florida State, I was down 4 units going into the Troy/LaMonroe game on Saturday night. Luckily, Troy got it together in the 2nd half and then I went 3-0 on Sunday (It took Detroit till the 4th quarter, though) to roar back to even for the weekend.

Dr Fro (4-1 this week; 11-9 season)

Cal + 5 v OREGON WIN
FLORIDA STATE -2 v Alabama WIN
Mich St +7.5 v WISCONSIN WIN
COLORADO +23 v Oklahoma WIN
Baylor +17 v TEXAS A&M LOSS


Johnnymac (3-2 this week; 10-10 season)

Baylor +17 v TEXAS A&M LOSS
W Virginia -7 v S FLORIDA LOSS
TROY -13 v La Monroe (I REALLY like this one) WIN
Seattle -2 v SF WIN
DETROIT +3 v Chicago WIN


Padilla (3-2 this week; 9-10-1 season)

Louisville -9 v NC STATE WIN
Pittsburgh -6 v ARIZONA Houston -3 v ATLANTA LOSS
INDIANAPOLIS -10 v Denver WIN
New England -7 v CINCINNATI WIN
Houston -3 v ATLANTA LOSS


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