Dave's Thoughts of the Day: October 19th

First of all, I recommend checking out this week's LOCKS of the Week.  They were posted yesterday so I could jump on the San Francisco game.

HOW ABOUT that 49ers game???   Can you imagine Harbaugh declining extra points from a safety for the sake of saving a free kick and, I would imagine, a potential injury.  That seems an unusual reason to decline points.   More importantly, the move saved my Seahawks +8 or +8.5 LOCK depending on where you looked.  Do the dance!

The 49ers and Seahawks are going to go at it for the rest of the year, I gather.  Both of these teams have pretty damn good defenses, and the 13-6 score was very predictable.  I look forward to the rematch at CenturyLink Field.

Now WHAT is this about LeBron James potentially coming to L.A.?  Check out the recap from Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver:  http://nba.si.com/2012/10/19/heat-f-lebron-james-im-not-going-to-worry-about-lakers-rumors/

It's fun to think about, but first of all, we are at least a year or two away from this happening.  Secondly, it's outrageous to think that LeBron would just up and leave Miami after having a good thing AND his coveted championship there.  What would make him leave?  Los Angeles and Miami are both warm weather cities.   The Heat seem to have a much better, younger overall roster, and now all of their core players know how to play with each other.

The Lakers are great at poaching stars, apparently, but they can't poach *everybody.*   Perhaps we can revisit this rumor two years from now.

I also can't wait for the College Football schedule this weekend.  It's amazing.   Florida/SCAR alone is going to make my weekend.   There's also West Vriginia/Kansas State.    I even like Stanford at Cal A.K.A. "The Big Game."  It's a big weekend, folks.

With each week, I find myself more interested in College Football than NFL Football.  One reason is because of the sheer dominance of some of these teams.  Another reason is the passion that goes into these games.   I think it's important to have the regular season count.   It's much more exciting week-to-week than having a league where only two teams in an entire conference are above .500, and where you can just sneak into the playoffs with a 9-7 record.   In it's own way, it makes the games equally as important, but I think part of my thing with College is that you learn about teams and games and coaches.  In the NFL, we pretty much know everyone by now.   I love both sports but this year college football has me on the edge of my seat.

Another fascinating plot-line with College Football is the newcomers.  Notre Dame hasn't been in the Top Ten for a while (it might have been only a year or two but we didn't take them seriously then).   Kansas State hasn't been a top 5 team in years.  USC is finally bowl eligible.  Florida is back at it, after having gone about three years without serious BCS contention.  I love all of it!

This year, I'm waiting for that underdog story a la Boise State.  A smaller, unhearalded program that starts to run the table and make a run for the top of the BCS.  I haven't seen it so far, but perhaps that team is coming.

That's all for now.    Congratulations to both the Detroit Tigers and, soon, the St. Louis Cardinals for advancing to the World Series.   The Tigers earned it, even though they caught the Yankees at just the right time.

Enjoy all the games this weekend!  Back on Monday.