Penguin Fan.... :iagree:
Here's Boston's local handicapper's take on this game...
Interesting to see how much $$$ you'd need to make it back...Fawking Raiders!
BOSTON HERALD
I.M. BETTOR
BY THE NUMBERS
WEEK 9
Friday, Oct. 31, 2003
Call it irony or apropos, but isn?t it a bit of both that on this Halloween, the Oakland Raiders, the team that inspires a stadium full of Mad Max wannabees and sundry other foolish costumes has been the biggest trick of the 2003 season. Seven times have the defending AFC Champions taken the field and seven times they have failed to cover the spread.
Maybe Al Davis can coin the phrase, ?Return to the home equity loan? to describe what this edition of the Silver & Black has done to its backers.
Imagine doubling up after trying to win a $100 on the Raiders in Week One. From that narrow miss, but nevertheless failed cover at Tennessee, to the stop at the one-yard line on the game?s final play in the Monday Nighter at home vs. the Chiefs, entering Week Nine, your initial $110 wager would be up to over $4,000 just to get back to even.
Off a bye week, the Raiders go from Tower of Power land to the land of The Impressions to play the bottom feeding Lions. In what be the only game in 2003 to feature two teams that lost to the Bears, for this Motor City Toilet Bowl, that grumpy old man, Rich Gannon, will be holding a clipboard and wearing a baseball cap.
In recent weeks, Gannon, the West Coast version of Kurt Warner minus Brenda, has taken to yelling at both his coaches and receivers for what he perceives as errors on their part. A two-year wonder, Gannon has produced a less noteworthy first- the introduction of a ?torn labrum? into my medical lexicon. Translated this means, a sore shoulder puts Margues Tuiasosopo in at quarterback.
In what will be a battle of Pac-10 quarterback, we have the untested -Tuiasosopo- and the regressing- Joey Harrington- leading some dismal outfits. But for the Raiders, being on the road is a good thing. For the Lions being at home is a bad thing. Let Harrington throw one early pick
and the home folks will be screaming for Mike McMahon- you know the guy from Rutgers.
Entering the midpoint of the campaign, the squeamish disciples will find $70 wrapped inside the rubber band as a result of posting 6-4 mark by the numbers. In an attempt to thicken the bankroll and fuel fanciful thoughts of marlin fishing at Cabo San Lucas with a cooler of Dos Equis, let?s break form in Week Nine.
I like the quarterback change not to mention the addition of Teyo Johnson to the Oakland lineup. I hate laying points on the road and hate betting into losing streaks. But when I watch Joey Harrington, he reminds me of a precocious first grader who all of sudden forgets how to read ?Dick and Jane? books when he hits second grade. The Raiders laying 2.5 points (NOTE TO EDITOR- if it?s 3, that?s okay) at Detroit will be a $440 risk on Sunday.
