Let's hear it for the Little Guy!

Finally, someone is listening, and more importantly, acting, on the advice I've been megaphoning for the past 30 years (i.e. post-puberty)--

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER

One need look no further than Major League Baseball's decision to name Tim Lincecum as the NL CY Young winner, then back it right up (Cannonball coming in!) with Dustin Pedroia as the American League MVP yesterday.

Pedroia who is listed at 5'9" is the smallest player to win the MVP. He should get the MVP for growing an inch in his 20s--he was listed at 5'8" when he played at Arizona State, and has been reported to be 5'7" by the stalwart of journalistic integrity--the USA Today.

But then again, should we be shocked? Men have been lying about their size since time began.

Speaking of big things that come in little packages--how about next year's favorite Fantasy Football team name-the Somali Pirates. Using barely more than some hand-me-down AK 47s and a 28 foot motorboat, they successfully hijacked the Sirius Star, a Saudi oil tanker worth more than 100 million dollars. What's more, the tanker is 3 times the size of an aircraft carrier and was

450 miles out to sea!

Something tells me that catch might be a little hard to hide, not to mention resell!

But let's leave their obvious foolhardiness aside. What about the Saudi owners? How do you not see a pirate coming when you're 450 miles out at sea? Did they disguise themselves as a friendly dolphin?

What's more, if you and I had a tanker carrying $100 million worth of oil, you might think about installing an alarm system, or, uh, a couple armed guards. I mean, it's not like the pirates hadn't already hijacked a dozen ships in the last year.

Instead they had just 25 crewmembers on board, all apparently playing bingo or watching reruns of the Love Boat. I can tell you one thing--Gopher (er, Senator Fred Grandy) would have brought the hammer of Thor on any would-be pirates of the Love Boat.

Speaking of which, the Top brought the hammer last night--the mighty Huskies easily covered the 3 pt. spread at Kent St. and furthermore, cruised right through the over, which inched up all day long to close at 52.

Hockey was a push as Calgary somehow managed four goals on the road.

Tonight, we have some outstanding opportunities before us--

Germany/England, international friendly--at Germany

First of all, unless you have a very high level of disposable income, NEVER, place any kind of wager on what English "bettors-or punters" call "an unfriendly." This is worse than any exhibition MLB, where at least the teams can actually meet each other during the regular season. It's quite likely that Germany and England might not play each other for 3 years--especially since England SUCKS!

Last time the two teams met was in a friendly at Wembley stadium in 2007 with Germany stealing a 2-1 victory. With Theo Walcott out for 3 months with a dislocated shoulder (only in soccer do you take three months off for a dislocated shoulder), England's only viable speed threat is sidelined.

This is all Germany--play them straight up or line up a 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 exact score bet, all of which pay 4-6 to one.

With last night's exciting MAC clash between the Huskies and Golden Flashes in the bank, The Top turns its attention to another more important match between two Mac rivals--

Ball State -7 at Central Michigan

Over/Under 58

Both teams are undefeated in conference play, and as I'm sure you know, Ball State is on the verge of a BCS bid as one of the few remaining unbeaten teams. What you probably don't know is the controversy surrounding Central Michigan's nickname, which is currently up for review. The Chippewas, so named, after a Native American Michigan tribe, must jettison their name for political correctness reasons. And can you guess what's being considered as a replacement?

You got it, The Squirrels!

Well, as any reader of the Top knows--you don't mess with the Squirrels!

Play the over between these two very high scoring teams, and if you must, caveat emptor, play the spread, then go with the home team.

Happy hunting--

Go Stuff!

The Top