Post-Christmas Thoughts...

In light of my most recent post, I want to take the time to gloat for a while as my hubris may or may not be humbled in the coming weeks. So far, so good. But lest we forget there are still 26 to go and games played after a month long hiatus are a bit less predictable than your standard Big 12 clash. But without further ado, my Big 12 record for the regular season finished as follows:

Against the Spread: 29-8-1
Straight Up: 30-8

Not exactly Biff Tannen, but not too shabby either. As you may have noticed, I have begun this bowl season 5-1 (it should be noted that all bowl predictions are straight up rather than ATS), running my overall record to 35-9. Or in other words, exactly 26 games over .500 – so I need at least 1 more win the rest of the way to come out ahead this college football season. You know, if gambling were legal (sorry Simmons).

Now, on to something much more entertaining…I have wanted to (and may still) do a mascot analysis. But in the meantime, I need to try and figure out how not to plagiarize this little diddy, which is pretty much spot on. And the extremely logical and insightful comments below are pretty entertaining as well.

In other news, some Big 12 basketball teams took a bit of a "hit" this weekend.

- Neither Oklahoma's win nor Methzouri's close loss to Arkansas look all that fabulous after their loss to Appalachian State.

- Oregon similarly discounted a win/close loss from a couple Big 12 teams (Nebraska and Kansas State) with their humbling loss to previously 5-6 Oakland. But at least Ernie Kent had some time to schmooze Detroit recruits.

- A day after I wrote this, "Methzouri's last test comes tomorrow against Illinois. A win here is almost a must as the Illini are coming off a home loss to Miami (OH) and I'm pretty sure Methzou hasn't won this "rivalry" game this millennium. Assuming they don't shit the bed tomorrow, I am going to go ahead and confirm my suspicions that I originally underrated them." They of course proceeded to go ahead and soil the chaise by going scorless the last 3 minutes. And now they will head into conference play with their best OOC win coming over Purdue as their earlier win over the Terps has lost all credibility (VCU, Ohio and American have done the same).

- Not surprisingly, Texas' joy ride ended with a loss to Michigan State. More surprising, depth didn't appear to be the fatal flaw - Sparty genuinely looked like the better team on the floor. As long as they beat Bo and Badgers and then the Gaels, all will be well in Austin.

- And then Tech let a golden opportunity slip away with their loss to Stanford. Leading for most of the second half, they forgot how to be patient on offense and wound up losing by a point to give the Pac 10 the edge in the inaugural Big12/Pac10 Challenge, 7-5. Of course, when you factor in the games outside of the challenge, the Big 12 wins, 9-7 (KU over USC, KSU over Cal, Neb. over Oregon and TAMU over Washington). All in all, a good showing for both leagues, but since the Pac10 is widely regarded as the best league in the country I'd say the Big12 has to be happy with the showing.

Switching sports, if this doesn't confirm to you the greatness that is baseball, I don't know what will. I have a slight hunch that more credit should go out to the researcher(s) that compiled all of this, but well done Jayson Stark.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Matthew Berry continues to be completely devoid of talent, humor and nearly everything else that typically makes for a good columnist. But I'm sure he has some "sexy" picks for you.

Back to a better brand of football, not to mention real, I want to apologize for having not truly discussed the upcoming Orange Bowl. I feel almost as badly as Ryan Wood after succumbing to a silly hijinx. I assure you that detailed preview will be appearing shortly, as I leave for South Beach in 6 days and will have it done prior to that.

In the meantime, here are some predictions from other sources.

- From ESPN, the previously mentioned and always articulate (and of course knowledgable), Rod Gilmore.

- From CFN, the staff picks. Only Clucko seems to be on board after Fiutak had originally gone the way of the Jayhawks. (Scroll down for both)

- SI.com's Stewart Mandel gives his hypothesis here.

- Here is a peak at Methzou alum Pat Forde's thoughts on the game.

- And sticking with the Black and Urine, here is Mizzourah's completely non-bias, non-jealous, educated take on the Orange Bowl.

- The take from Texas blog, Barking Carnival.

**Added afterwards** I knew that someone somewhere had picked the mighty Jayhawks, and this morning I remembered who it was - here are some picks by ESPN's Chris Low.

As you may have noticed, there is a pretty common theme among these prognostications. Fortunately, if everyone is leaning one way, things usually go the other. And in case you missed it, I have already pledged my pick to the 3.5 point dog.