Unverified Voracity Hates Tennessee Again

Funds to raise. The Kinesiology department is having a fundraiser in honor of Pat Maloy, a professor who died of cancer in 2001. The auction starts in October and there are over 200 items of sports memorabilia up for bid. Register by September 17th to be entered in a drawing for one of five prizes -- win the Red autographed puck and send it to me! I'll post a reminder when the auction nears.

Karma got you. Insignificant injury news for everyone except Michigan fans:

James Kamoku, a fifth-year senior who is a key member of UW's special teams, will miss the entire season after suffering an Achilles' tendon injury in preseason camp, coach Bret Bielema announced today.

"He'll be out for the remainder of the season," Bielema said, "and unfortunately that is also his career because he is a fifth-year senior."

Guess who's got two thumbs and no sympathy whatsoever? This guy!



Do unto others ACLs as you would have fate do unto yours.

Temperance and Lambertville, you're in luck. Buckeye Cable, which services Toledo and surrounding environs, will provide the Big Ten Network on expanded basic this fall. If you're on this map, congratulations.

Also, anyone living in Cleveland or select other cities (Milwaukee being the most Big Ten-y of the available options) can get the BTN on AT&T's new UVerse service.

Odds. The Oddsmaker's top 25 -- er... top 30 -- is always an interesting look at college football, and it's most interestingly valid in the preseason, when actual results don't exist. (As Dan notes, I'm against the idea of ranking teams based on who should have won instead of who did win once the season starts. Most egregiously, last year the poll had a 5-2 team in front of two teams with fewer losses that defeated it.) Dan Steinberg posts it regularly; the first edition for 2007 is up.

ODDSMAKERS LOVE

• #4 Louisville, up from #10 in the AP.
• #7 Cal and #9 UCLA, each up five slots from their AP rankings.
• Nebraska, Miami, South Carolina, and Georgia Tech. This stretch is from 14 to 18, each is way above their AP rankings.
• #22 Oregon, up from a hypothetical #29.

ODDSMAKERS HATE

• Georgia, Auburn, and Tennessee. None features in the top 25. Georgia and Tennessee are 26 and 27; Auburn is totally omitted.
• Rutgers, #24 to the polls' #16. I think the blogpoll is on track here with the skepticism.
• West Virginia is #8 instead of #3; huge schedule effect here as a number of AP doofs explicitly vote on WVU's schedule while the oddsmakers are going strictly by who they believe is better.
• Michigan is #11. WTF?

This oddsmakers thing combined with SMQB's devastating prediction of fourth in their division will cause me to re-excise Tennessee from my poll; Auburn and Georgia are already absent.

Boy this is (silly.) The Detroit News has an article on how Henne's learned to be a "jerk". Yeah. Um:

"It's kind of like being a (jerk) at all times when we're practicing," said Henne, Michigan's four-year starter at quarterback. "If you're not being a (jerk) to them, it's not like they won't respect you, but it's a different look in their eyes -- that, 'OK, we're here to concentrate, we're here to focus and we're here to play hard all the time.'

"If you're laid-back and letting it go sometimes and then be a (jerk) other times, it's tough. So you have to always be on those guys to get the best out of them."

He did not say jerk. "Asshole" is running as the favorite with "Dickwad" a distant second. At the very least the News could give us the first letter and some dashes instead of going all ABC family on us. Give me the keys, you fairy godmother.