The Wiz of Odds

Why Facebook? Why Not?

Does Facebook have any redeeming value? As far as we can tell, the answer is a resounding no. That's exactly why we have a Facebook page, and that is why we want to extend an invitation to you to join it.

In the coming weeks, we do plan to add to our photo album and snazzy things up a bit, but for now, the mission is to recruit newbies. Something like a gazillion people join each day and the hope is to one day have more friends than Michael Phelps.

Consider this your opportunity to join the fun. And tell your friends, your neighbors, perhaps even your relatives.

Arnold Has a Message for Auburn Fans

When we last left Tom Arnold, he was claiming that he hadn't turned his back on his homestate Iowa Hawkeyes. This came days after he was spotted at an Alabama practice. Now comes a TMZ-like video of Arnold wearing a Crimson Tide shirt and telling Auburn fans what he really thinks of them. Makes you wonder if he is not only riding the Crimson Tide bandwagon, but driving it.

On the Air

Join me Friday night on the regular radio gig, "Sports Overnight America," on the Sports Byline USA Radio Network. The show starts at midnight and there is plenty to talk about, including that big Chattanooga-Oklahoma game in Norman. The pointspread is holding steady at 48.5.

Listen live by clicking here and give us a call at 800-878-7529. If you're in the military, listen over the American Forces Network, available in 177 countries and U.S. territories along with all the Navy ships at sea.

Looking for a guest to talk college football on your show? Drop an email to dawizofodds (at) aol.com. It's good karma.

Game of the Weak

Mike Hlas is an award-winning columnist with the Cedar Rapids Gazette and force behind The Hlog. Each week he will break down the biggest mismatches in college football. Mike's task is perhaps more complex than solving global warming considering the increasing number of Bowl Championship Series teams scheduling games against cupcake opponents. These games merely bilk fans out of hard-earned money and cheapen the overall product.

The Miami Hurricanes move into their new football home — 21 miles north of their campus — and this is how they try to draw fans?

The Canes open their Dolphin Stadium era Thursday night by hosting ... Charleston Southern?

Ah, there's nothing like a game of pattycake against a I-AA cupcake to keep an NFL stadium's parking lot empty on the last Thursday of August.

Some bad, bad, bad Week 1 matchups vied to be our initial Game of the Weak. Inexplicably, Chattanooga (2-9 last year) is at Oklahoma on Saturday. But that matchup isn't as much weak as it is sadistic or masochistic, depending on if you're the Sooners or the Moccasins.

Maine is at Iowa. One of the two lost to Stony Brook last year and one of the two lost to Western Michigan.

Iowa has offered its fans a guarantee. Namely, they'll be able to get home from that game in plenty of time to watch the appealing Illinois-Missouri game on television Saturday night.

West Virginia students probably won't even bother to burn their couches after the Mountaineers maul Villanova.

But Charleston Southern? It played a I-A team last year. Its flight to Honolulu was a long one. The flight home was longer after a 66-10 drubbing from Hawaii. The Warriors' star quarterback, Colt Brennan, had a sprained ankle and didn't even play. Good thing. He could have turned the game into a rout.

But the Buccaneers' ultimate indignity was in their season-finale, a home clash with state-rival Coastal Carolina. The Bucs, needing a win for a 6-5 record and fourth winning season in a row, lost 41-2. Their only points came on a return of a blocked-extra point.

Charleston Southern was 1-3 in the Big South, making you wonder just how big the Big South could really be. Virginia Military was 0-4 in league play, leading one to believe Russia would have an easier time trampling Virginia than Georgia.

Charleston Southern plays at Miami (Ohio) in two weeks. That won't be pretty, either. Maybe it should try Miami (Guam). Luckily, the Bucs have upcoming games against the likes of North Greenville and Edward Waters.

As for the Hurricanes, they share in making this the Game of the Weak. They lost their final four games last year, including their Orange Bowl farewell, to finish 5-7.

This is the program that went 46-4 between 2000 and 2003? This is the program that has five national championships? This is NFL U? Playing Charleston Southern for a win to try to help itself go 6-6 and maybe return to the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise for the second time in three years?

Weak.

Washington Players Ty One On

How uptight is Tyrone Willingham? The Washington coach banned a booster from practice this week after the man divulged the following information about the Huskies on the site Dawgman:

"Some players showed some serious fire ... I watched each line going through drills and there was absolutely no screwing around ... I personally really like this coaching staff ... [Ed] Donatell is first-class ... [Steve] Gervais is a total stud ... I really hope it stays intact from the head coach on down."

At least Willingham's players aren't wound so tight. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted this video of several players impersonating Willingham.

Crazy Mike Leach Endorses Acupuncture

Texas Tech's Mike Leach has not only cleaned up his act by stopping use of smokeless tobacco, he also has found a way to control asthma — acupuncture.

Leach has had asthma since he was a child and the condition only got worse when he arrived in West Texas in 2000. His search for relief brought him to Chinese medicine.

"I felt like it helped asthma," Leach said. "To stop dipping, I thought it worked great. I mean literally, right then, right there. You go [for treatments] three or four days straight and you're done."

He adds: "No, it's not painful at all. Best-case scenario, it feels like you had a massage. Kind of restful, you had a massage, and it solves your problem. Worst-case scenario, you've had a massage and it doesn't solve your problem."

So where did they put the needles? "Well, I've seen that chart there, and I damn sure haven't had them where the chart suggests some of them go. They definitely put them places where I haven't had a necessity to dabble in."