The NFL’s all out war on sports gambling continued this week with the hiring of Rick Neuheisel to serve on Brian Billick’s offensive staff. Little noticed amidst his more widely known scandals, Neuheisel was once investigated for spending time with an organized crime/bookmaking type. Slick Rick’s story was that he just attended a Monday Night Football game watching party at the guys house and didn’t know who he was. This was long before his $20,000 office pool shenanigans. The University of Washington had to cut their football budget to help defend themselves against Neuheisel’s wrongful termination lawsuit. In reality that cash was undoubtedly instantly replaced by a booster but announcing the “cut” is a good way for UW to trash their former coach just a little bit more as a fundraising vehicle. No word on whether the Ravens are boosting the custodial staff in their offices to account for the greasy film that their new quarterbacks coach leaves behind everywhere he goes.

Friday’s Wall Street Journal has a front-page story on the clunker of an idea that “private gaming salons” have proven to be in Las Vegas. Casinos that have spent $3 million to furnish a lavish area have had two visitors actually play there in a two-year span. Seriously. Why the failure? Due to the amount of personal and financial information required to play in these private areas the targeted Chinese market isn’t participating. Apparently a great many of their targets are Chinese Communist Party officials themselves, who apparently don’t want a record of exactly how much cash they’ve skimmed and shaken people down for.

Incidentally, those high roller areas you see with the burly security guards and the Asian baccarat players are as open as any other part of the casinos. They are trying to intimidate you into avoiding them, as that is where the Asians play without all the government paperwork, but by law you can stroll in off the street in cutoffs and flip flops and watch all day in these public areas.

Without providing a forecast (the people who pounded the Colts from +2½ to -1 or more last Sunday based on long-range predictions of “mild conditions” have likely learned that lesson) let’s note that the wind may be a factor in both games this weekend. The new stadiums in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia offer extremely tricky wind conditions for kickers and passers alike. Remember that at one point and time the Steelers Kris Brown was on track to become the most accurate NFL kicker in history, nailing 50 of his 59 field goal attempts in his first two seasons. When the Steelers moved into Heinz Field Brown closed the season on a 9 for 18 run at home, including four misses in a crucial 13-10 loss to archrival Baltimore. Psyched out by his home field, Brown has spent the past three years kicking in the perfect conditions for the Houston Texans. Philly is no better, particularly at the open end of Lincoln Financial Field. Don’t be surprised if a missed kick looms large this weekend.

Early candidate for “Bill Snyder Schedule of the Year Award” for 2005 is likely Mike Leach of Texas Tech. The Red Raiders play 7 of 11 games at home and their September schedule consists of home games against second year 1-A school Florida International and 1-AA entrants Indiana State and Sam Houston State. Got to wonder if the Red Raiders will attempt to boost ticket sales for the latter two games with some sort of “Century Saturday” promotion in which they try to hit 100 points against their outmanned foe. The Snyder Award’s namesake cost himself a shot at the 2005 title by scheduling a road game at Marshall.

Be sure to be calling for our free basketball selections at 1-770-618-8700 (a free 24-hour call). We’re going to suggest a look at Oklahoma State on Saturday. There is always effort being put forth by Baylor’s shorthanded squad and Scott Drew is doing an admirable job leading the Bears back to respectability. But today the Bears run into an angry bunch of Cowboys. The only person who looked more grim than Eddie Sutton during OSU’s Monday night loss to Texas was “head coach designate” Sean Sutton, who looked like he was ready to pour battery acid on some of his players following more ill advised shots and defensive breakdowns. It has been a rugged week of practice for Oklahoma State and the level of talent and depth here isn’t even close. Baylor is off of a rare national TV appearance on Wednesday night, a win over Colorado absorbed quite a bit of this thin team’s energy. Look for a blistering in Stillwater on Saturday. Go with a focused Oklahoma State team to roll.

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