Let’s get something straight here, other than a few legitimate (and there are many illegitimate) monitors like The Sports Monitor and SportsWatch, there is no publication that does a true “ranking” of sports handicapping firms. And any recommendation of sports books is colored by financial relationships; there is no benevolent independent organization out there that simply wants to help you. If this is news to you here’s another flash: there’s no Easter Bunny.

One wily thing the Football Betting Guide hustlers do is to credit many handicappers with better records than they actually earned. If you think about it, a 53% handicapper credited with a 58% mark is unlikely to look to expose these guys. It would be refreshing to see one of the big name handicappers show some integrity and courage by renouncing their ranking, but I won’t hold my breath.

If you’re tempted to suggest that these guys are at all authoritative, consider the following. This year’s Football Betting Guide says that my friend Mike Lee “has a bright future”. Mike died last September. While there are some hard working handicappers doing a good job for Friends of Mike Lee Sports, that kind of ignorance (and insensitivity, you think Mike’s friends and family like reading that?) shows that you shouldn’t trust a single word uttered by Football Betting Guide and their equally sleazy imitators.

My Strategic Sports Publishing selection service was the #1 service out of 150+ monitored by The Sports Monitor with a 74-34 (68.5%) pointspread mark. Get my “go with” and “go against” teams for this season in my Maximum Profit Football Annual. This 16-page publication is not just about football, it is about winning at football betting; get it mailed to you by visiting http://www.consumerbet.com/signup.html.

What a nightmare for the defensive coordinators. Maryland against Navy should be an interesting offensive chess match between Ralph Friedgen (63% vs. the pointspread at Maryland) and Paul Johnson (65% vs. the pointspread at Navy). If you admire military academy players you’ll be pleased to hear that Navy’s former battering ram of a fullback Kyle Eckel has a live shot of making the Patriots roster as an undrafted free agent. I suppose he could be called up to active duty at some point, but you would think the Navy and Army would be savvy enough to allow these guys to play while doing recruiting appearances. A case can be made that they should be on the front lines with their fellow academy grads, so make them serve a more active duty role in the off season. Seems like it would work for most, and be great publicity at a time where military recruiting is understandably down.

Looking for a lot of college football action this weekend? Join Nelly’s Sportsline, ASA, Al McMordie, Tom Stryker, and yours truly for big games every weekend at www.Vegas5.com.

Life imitates Playmakers: Michael Thompson, who played for the Falcons for three years and then had cups of coffee with the Seahawks and the Jets before washing out of the league a year ago, was arrested on three counts of armed robbery this week. Thompson robbed three hotel guests at gunpoint down the street from the Falcons former training complex in Suwanee, Georgia.

Let’s take a look at a college game this weekend. Interesting matchup between coaches who haven’t coached on college campuses in a long time. Both Charlie Weis and Dave Wannstedt have headed back to their alma maters to take over programs with a lot of history to them. When you think back to last season you remember that Pitt was significantly better than the Irish, then you see that in Pitt’s 41-38 win in South Bend last November they were actually an 11-point dog!! That line was an overreaction to ND’s win at Tennessee the previous week.

We see the coaching change at Notre Dame as a positive and doubt that is the case at Pitt. Weis was as good an offensive coach as you’ll find in the NFL (to say nothing of the college game) and has a veteran offense (10 starters back) to work with at Notre Dame. Teams are likely fairly equal in talent (maybe something of an edge to Pitt) but game planning and adjustments should go the way of the Irish here. Consider taking the points with Notre Dame.

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Have a great weekend. Good luck and be careful.