Many of the Top's readers will be surprised to learn that we owe our Thanksgiving tradition not to the Pilgrims, but to that rather undistinguished country--Spain.
As history would have it, the first settlers of the continental US were not Pilgrims, but a band of French Huguenots who built a 16th century settlement in what is today, St. Augustine Florida. Upon settling, the French held a "Thanksgiving Feast" of traditional french fare.
And, as you might expect from the French, instead of chilling out in sunny Florida, they began attacking every Spanish galleon that passed their way. Word got back to Spain, who promptly dispatched warships that wiped the Huguenot settlement off the face of the earth. Thank god, because as the photo shows, we may well have been a nation of "she-men!"
The Spaniards then built the earliest American city--St. Augustine on the site of the razed village and thus paved the way for Pilgrims and of course, golfers.
So you were moments away from celebrating Thanksgiving with a nice Cote du Boeuf, haricot verts, and a French burgundy.... What a shame!
In the long term, neither country has much to offer in the way of sports achievement. The French lost the World Cup to Italy and, well, Spain? They can best they can offer up is chronic underachiever, Sergio Garcia.
The Top certainly didn't underachieve yesterday, correctly calling 5 of the 6 available bets on the Turdkey bowl. It would have been six, but for the lop-sided nature of the Cowboys game.
The Titans made mincemeat of the Lions (Shocker!). And as we expected, the Eagles came rallying back (those of you with Brian Westbrook on your fantasy team are happy campers!) and kept themselves in the playoff hunt. But we're most interested in the Giant/Cowboy game on the horizon.
Today is a very slow day for major sporting activities. We notice one televised College Football game--the undefeated Boise St. team at home against Fresno St. Boise St. is for real having beaten Oregon earlier in the year and for them, this is a statement game at home.
Boise St. is 8-3 against the spread and 4-6 against the over. Fresno St. has won its last two games by playing solid defense, but even so, they are a high scoring team.
We think the game stays that way--
At 56.5 points, we still like the over, though do check the weather first.
Tomorrow has three outstanding opportunities:
USC-27 at home against Notre Dame
Over/Under 47
Well, there are no snowballs in Southern California, but there is a wildfire and we expect it to continue raging. USC will absolutely dismantle a ND team that has totally fallen apart. And how do you have a 27 point spread with a 47 point over/under?
Play USC to cover, skip the over/under
"The Civil War"
Oregon +3 at Oregon St.
Over/Under 60
One very disappointing team (Oregon) visiting a somewhat disrepected Oregon St. team. Both teams enter at 8-3. Oregon won this match-up last year 38-31, but we think it will be different this year. Oregon St. has as good a defense as Oregon has faced this year. And Corvallis will be as jacked up as Corvallis can be.
This seems like a 30-17 kind of game.
Take OSU (not as a feature)
Take the under
Alabama at home -14 against Auburn
Undefeated Alabama heads home with all eyes tilted to next week's huge game vs. Florida. One might be tempted to think they will look ahead. And they might--if it weren't Auburn, just about the biggest rivalry in college football.
Alabama runs away with this, play them to cover. Skip the over/under, Bama has been wildly unpredictable in their scoring patterns.
We realize today's Top is a little straightforward. We're sorry, just a little "tired" from yesterday's activities. We'll be back in full form tomorrow.
Happy Hunting and,
Go Stuff!
The Top
No comments:
Post a Comment