I'm thinking both

Indianapolis -7
Chicago 49.5o

I waited til the last moment to make my Super Bowl pick because I wanted to get a sense of the weather forecast. Rain all morning, day and evening, high '60's around game time. In a dome, I'd take the Colts hands down. But the sloppy elements favor the Bears as we saw 2 weeks ago: the Saints couldn't get a handle on the ball and it doomed them from the gitty. However, I think slop favors the D and the Bears get bit just as much by that as the Colts.

The only clear advantage that I see for the Bears is special teams, they'll get near mid-field starting position pretty consistently I think. I haven't been impressed with the Bears passing (except Berrian) or running games. I think they're both pretty mediocre actually. And again the elements don't do their long passing game, Rex's strength, any favors.

I think the Colts will struggle at first but if they avoid turnovers, they'll get it going and blaze through the second half. If the Colts D gets turnovers, they'll cover easily.

I like the Bears to be up at halftime and to cover the spread, but I'll take the Colts to win straight up, 27-23. Bears and the under.

Henrik Stenson gets down in Dubai

Henrik Stenson holds off Ernie Els and Tiger to capture the Dubai Desert Classic. Man, what a pimpin' event that must be. The appearance fees are probably staggering, a nice purse and you get to roll through Persian Vegas like MacArthur after the war. Cool.

6 Nations Scores

Sat 3 Feb
Italy 3-39 France
Damn! France tagged Italy!

Sat 3 Feb
England 42-20 Scotland
England starting strong after a rough year.

Vital Statistics

Colts
19 games -- 14 favorites, 3 dogs, 2 no lines.
W-L Record -- 10-4 as a favorite, 3-0 as a dog, 2-0 with no line
Against the spread -- 6-8 as a favorite, 3-0 as a dog, 2-0 with no line

Bears
18 games -- 14 favorites, 3 dogs, 1 no line.
W-L Record -- 13-1 as a favorite, 2-1 as a dog, 0-1 with no line
Against the Spread -- 9-5 as a favorite, 3-0 as a dog, 0-1 with no line

Some notes on Bears-Colts

Both were dogs only 3 times this season. Indy was undefeated as an underdog (at Denver, at New England, at Baltimore). Chicago beat Seahawks at home, won at NYG but lost at New England. The Bears did cover the spread at New England, so both were perfect at covering as a dog.

They both beat the Bills at home and were double-digit faves. The Bears shellacked the Bills (40-7), the Colts won (17-16) but came nowhere close to covering the 12.5 spread.

They both played the Dolphins (but neither in Miami) with mixed results. The Colts won (27-22, no line), while the Bears struggled (13-31) and took their first loss of the season on home field to the Dolphins.

They both played at New England with mixed results. They both covered the spread as a dog but the Colts were able to win handily (27-20) while the Bears came up short (13-17).

They were both 2-0 in Giants Stadium. They each beat the Jets and the Giants on the road and while the Bears and Colts were favored in all 4 games, the Colts were unable to cover against the Jets. Both covered easily against the Giants.

Indy was 4-0 against AFC East teams (only 1-2 against the spread with 1 NL), but the Bears suffered 2 of their 3 losses to the Dolphins and the Pats (3-1 against the spread).

They both pushed in the week 3: Chicago 19, Vikings 16 & Colts 21, Jags 14. Colts at home, Bears on the road.

When was the last time a Super Bowl Champ suffered a 27-point loss during the season as the Colts did? Or losses of 18 & 19 in the same season as the Bears did?

The 6 Nations Cup starts tomorrow. Who ya got?

France has won 3 of the last 5 Cups. Italy used to be a European rugby powerhouse but have faded badly over the years.
Italy v. France 6 Nations Home preview

England is breaking in a new coach after losing 8 of their last 9 matches. Scotland has injury woes and hasn't won the 6N Cup in 20 years.
England v. Scotland 6 Nations Home preview

Ireland has dominated Wales over the years. Is that enough?
Ireland v. Wales Rugby.com preview

Fox's preview BBC's preview Al-Jazeera's preview

Scrum.com has the latest news on all 6 squads.
France England Wales Scotland Italy Ireland

Laying Barbaro to rest

Barbaro was a horse, a good horse. There are coupla reasons why this story resonates.

1) He had just finished a brilliant career and was headed toward an even more brilliant retirement when it was all cut short. That's sad. We work, as humans, hard all our lives in hopes that we can relax in our later years and when you do what you gotta do and fate still conspires against you, it's tragic to witness.

2) The tragedy extends to medical technology. They, quite possibly, tried as hard to save Barbaro as they've ever tried to save the life of a horse before and still they couldn't. In horse racing it is not at all uncommon that they bring a curtain out and just do the poor horse right there on the track, so to see all this effort come up short is depressing.

A productive working life should be rewarded but for Barbaro it was not. That's too bad. Say a little prayer for your dead homies.