By Eddie Mayrose
Talk about redemption! Just one week after failing to fire with three dead-piece picks, 
our hero, Gil Lock, came storming back with a 3-0 weekend to even his record for the season. He was so focused this week, so on point with his analysis, that none of his games were close. Rutgers, a 3 point favorite, crushed Maryland while both of Gil’s dogs, TCU and Virginia Tech, won their games outright. Knowing how Mr. Lock had been reeling, I called him early Sunday morning to offer my congratulations.
“Thanks, a lot” was his surprisingly timid reply to my compliments. “It really wasn’t that big a deal.” I was confused for a second until his lovely bride, Jill, picked up the extension and straightened things out. “Of course it was no big deal”, she told me. “No big deal for him. I was the one who made those picks!” ” Do you think it was easy walking around town last week as the wife of the guy who went ohfer? I was embarrassed to show my face.”
Stunned, I asked Jill how she managed to achieve perfection. “There’s this guy who hangs around downtown. Sports nut. Big fan of the Sacramento Maple Leafs, I think. Anyway, he’s always walking around in these crazy throwback sports jerseys and telling people he loves them. ‘Jill, I love ya.’ ‘Pujols, I love ya.’ ‘Cutler I love ya.’” ” He even yells it to our dog.” ‘Neckbolts, I love ya.’ So, I just asked him to take a look at the point spreads and when he screamed, ‘I love ya’, I wrote that team down.”
Clearly humiliated, Gil got back on the line and confirmed the whole story. “Things just haven’t been the same. Now she watches football on Saturday and sends me for coffee. I’m so distracted, I can’t even get the order right. It’s gonna be a long season.”
So, we’ll stick with Jill while she’s hot, (actually, she’s always hot but that’s another story), and we’ll make a decision on when Gil gets his starting job back later in the year. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have an open competition. But, for now, we’ll follow the early muscle.
This week’s Point Spreads
Nevada -3 1/2 over UNLV
- Nevada finaly gets its hands on a cupcake after tough, non-conference games against Notre Dame and Missouri. Its vaunted offense, led by QB Colin Kaepernick, will finally get a chance to show its stuff. I like the Wolfpack big.
Mississippi State +6 1/2 over Georgia Tech-
State comes off a heartbreaker in Baton Rouge and must battle a letdown vs. the Yellowjackets. It’s more a preference of conference here, as the SEC is clearly better than the ACC. Take the Bulldogs at home.
South Florida -6 1/2 over Syracuse-
Never like laying points on the road with a team coming off of a huge win but can’t resist here as Syracuse is so bad. Greg Paulus has shown less as a quarterback than he did as a point guard; no small task. Frosh QB B.J. Walters will give the Bulls an easy conference win. I also like South Florida because Gil likes Syracuse.
