Juicy Words

A helpful solution for an epicondylitis lateralis is in your reach

Therefore, if the contractile tissue is affected it would also be expected to affect the force generating capacity in 3 weeks.

Nevertheless, the finding of a well preserved force capacity in the muscle indicating unaffected contractile tissue was corroborated by the results from the ultrasound grey-scale analysis for 2 days.

However, it may be speculated that in addition to changes in 2 months in the tendon also muscular changes may be detectable. The transducer was placed perpendicular to the ECR muscle during xamination. Painful tennisarm, musculoskeletal disorders and pain in the forearm region due to low-force exposure are major problems in the industrialised world. Indeed, by the use of biopsy technique, morphological changes in the forearm muscle have been identified in patients diagnosed with annoying tennisarm. An ultrasound scanner fitted with a 78 MHz linear matrix transducer was used for the first 8 hours.

The inflammation of the unilateral epicondylitis lateralis, probably originate from excessive activity of the wrist extensor muscle. Further, the pathophysiology is poorly understood for the gone 4 minutes.

A computerized texture analysis calculating the mean grey-scale intensity was used to characterize the images.

Each image consisted of pixels with greyscale values ranging from 232 to 423. Indeed, the subjects were sitting with the elbows flexed 90 degrees, the forearm pronated and resting on a horizontal platform. Moment arm was measured and the wrist extension torque was calculated for 4 years. Results are presented as mean. Nevertheless, there were no significant differences after 4 hours.

B-mode ultrasonography was performed bilaterally at the middle part and proximal part of the extensor carpi radialis on three patients with unilateral tennisarm injury. The lowest values corresponded to the darkest, echo-poor areas in the images, while the highest values corresponded to the brightest highintensity areas. Next 8 minutes, the muscular tenderness, measured as pressure pain threshold was determined with an electronic pressure algometer. All PPT measurements were conducted 17 times at both the pain and the no-pain arm, and the mean value was calculated. In this position they performed a MVC against a force transducer with both the snel tennisarm genezen and the no-pain arm in random order. Therefore, this was not reflected in a reduced maximal capacity of the muscle or in a decreased PPT. Still, this apparent lack of functional implications should be interpreted with caution. The diameter of the contact area was 987 mm and the pressure was applied perpendicularly to the skin at the middle part of ECR and with a speed of 571 kPa/s. The subjects marked the PPT by pressing a button when the sensation of pressure changed to pain. For 7 days gain settings were standardized and kept constant.

What Every Tyro Needs to Know in Respect of Online Sports Competition Laying

Bond together both of men’s predominant quests and you are assured to disclose a rage that’s termed a sportsbook gambling site. Is there anything that could be more imaginative? Picture a knot of sports fellows clapping for a given chosen favorite club, and incessantly bets will be established accompanying the ruckus. Aiming to participate in of the excitement, bystanders will habitually venture to figure out who is the likeliest to win in the approaching competition. This all finally turns into a charming little competition titled sportsbook gambling site.

Agreed it might well sound quite addiction prone note, however, that sportsbook wagering is actually solely for fun and of forging a bond with one’s fellow sports enthusiasts. Here, you can wager a any slight budget of filthy lucre and all the same enjoy an outstanding time. Below, you’ll find a group of basics to help you get started sportsbook wagering.

If you want to place a wager, you should search for a sportsbook gambling site, i.e. a place that receives sportsbook gambling site. In America, you have four states where to do sportsbook wagering in a lawful manner, but beyond legal you can attempt it essentially anywhere providing you locate a bookie and if happen to be legally of age. Many of the track-and-field events you can bet your money on are pro listed together with college basketball & football, pro hockey and baseball, listed together with wagers on both dog and horse racing. You’ll be able to bet on the whole results of a competition, at which point any given competitor will be knocked out, and even whether a coin toss in a competition comes out heads or tails.

The sportsbook provider trust pure statistics to aid you discern which club you may judge is the likeliest to win. First thing you’ll find the spread, which is a advantage allocated to a losing party that is anticipated to go under by a set number points. Evidently, this constitutes the bookie’s practice of organizing fifty-fifty stakes for a Sportsbook. E. g. you may bet on a competitor that is anticipated to go under and and all the same make money on the wager providing the party actually loses by a set number of points.

We can choose between loads of different categories of stakes- straight bets, teasers, and plenty more, the straight being the most typical in sportsbook wagering.

So, why don’t you simply have a crack at it and have lots of fun all at once? Only determine that you won’t get too enthused and blow your complete retirement income on a fancy… If not, could be you will end up feeling sorry about it all life long…

Learn the strategies of the Online Sports Betting by Officialsportsbetting.com pros at this site.

Why, Oh Why, Is The Golf Swing SO Hard?!

Why do we find a move that seems so easy to the professionals so incredibly difficult to perform?

Recently I discovered that psychologists believe that we learn differently as adults than we do when we were children. And I believe this may be the key to explaining why we have such a difficult time of it.

The large majority of professional golfers will have taken up golf when they were kids - Tiger Woods was swinging a club well at 3!

But, I would imagine the majority of amateur golfers took golf up when either in their late teens, early twenties or even later in life - as adults.

The psychologists believe that as children we learn from repeating the model that we see - we know that kids are very trusting of what they are told. Yes, they ask lots of questions but they trust the answers given. They see, and are told, and DO.

Now as adults we learn differently. We have already formed opinions about how the world is and how things operate. So when we learn something new we actually test it against the rules that we have already built up in our heads as to what is right and wrong.

Unfortunately for us, the golf swing is actually illogical. That’s where the problem stems from. In our heads we can’t actually accept or believe that that is how the golf swing works. We then trust our instinct and test it against our rules and go back to what we believe is logical.

Here is what is illogical about the golf swing:

A Golf Swing without Effort = A Powerful 300 yard drive

It’s been said before that the secret to the pros swing is that it achieves ‘Power WITHOUT Effort - how illogical is that!

It’s a bit like saying we’re going on a 200 mile car journey, but we’re not going to turn the engine on! No ones going to believe you.

That’s how our brains interpret it - we think there’s no way you can hit a golf ball 300 yards without LOTS of effort.

So next time we coil up on the backswing our brain tells our muscles ‘right guys we need plenty of effort if we’re going to send this ball long and straight’.

Pro’s do actually put effort into their swings to get the ball to go that far (look at Tiger Woods face just before impact and you’ll see what I mean) BUT they put it in at a completely different point in the swing to amateur golfers. They also know the technique that allows them to produce such great results - and it doesn’t involve power, certainly not how the amateur golfer understands it.

Amateur golfers think you need to start the golf swing powerfully BUT the pro golfers know that you put the effort in at the bottom of the swing.

If you try and take this point on board this will start the process of adjusting your mind.

Over the next few pages I’m going to OPEN your EYES to how the golf swing actually works - much of which us amateurs don’t appreciate.

Understanding is the 1st key to unlocking your golfing potential.

Towards the end of my book I’ll show you where to get a piece of software that will by-pass your conscious mind and reprogram your sub-conscious mind to believe what you will see and start to understand about how the pro golf swing works. How YOU can swing powerfully without effort.

EYE-OPENER No. 2

What part of the body contributes the most
to generating the maximum speed of the club head?

This single answer allowed me to make a huge leap in my understanding of the golf swing, and in everything I had seen and read about the golf swing none of it emphasised it enough.

I carried out a survey on the Internet over several weeks and asked visitors to my web site the question:- What part of the body contributes the most to generating the maximum speed of the club head?

Only 20% got the answer correct - That’s only 1 in every 5 golfers! And these golfers had a wide range of handicaps down to single figures.

Interestingly this figure corresponds to another golfing statistic - Did you know that only around 20% of golfers have a handicap of less than 18? It made me wonder whether the misunderstanding of the fundamental aspect could be the one thing that is holding so many golfers back.

Which part of the body do you think creates the maximum speed of the club head?

Is it:
Shoulders
Arms
Hands
Hips
Legs
Torso
wrists

(Graphics and explanations omitted here)

….So the answer to the question that I posed above is that it is the hands (or wrists) that contribute the most to generating the maximum club head speed. The club is moved through over 180 degrees whilst the arms move through less than 60 degrees - all of the rest of the movement of the head of the golf club is generated by the movement of the hands. Unfortunately the large majority of golfers think that it is with the shoulders and arms. I’ll come back to this point later as even when you get everything else right in your swing this can be a real good swing killer!

Find out the details and much more in Jon’s Eye Opening ebook: Golf Swing Eureka - www.golfswingeureka.com

Jon Barrett WAS a frustrated golfer and has studied the golf swing for 5 years in search of the information that would make his scores tumble but without success… UNTIL he discovered what only 1% of amatuer golfers know about the Pro’s golf swing… Read all about his eye opening concepts you won’t find in standard swing advice now… Golf Swing Eureka - http://www.golfswingeureka.com

Golf Lessons From A Beginning Golfer?

Would you rather hear what you need to learn from someone who is already an accomplished golfer? Would a few hours with Jack Nicholas REALLY help your game? “Just do what I do, it’s easy!” Or would you rather learn from a beginner, who understands the struggles, the small improvements and remembers those early changes that lead to greater success?

It almost makes sense, doesn’t it? The best coaches are often mediocre players, and the worst coaches were stars, who had everything come easy to them. Natural ability is hard to teach to others! As a beginning golfer, I have noticed some dramatic improvements, though, and wanted to pass them along to other beginning golfers.

First, the drive. To many of us starting out, it seems to be all-important. I have had instructors tell me that if you can hit the ball 150 yards, that you can work your way down any length of hole in about 3 shots, chip on and putt in, and play bogie golf without ever hitting a John Daly type 300 yard plus drive. As beginners, all we see is the big drives, the pressure, people watching us tee off, and understandably we want to be able to pound the ball!

What I’ve learned is that you can cut back on the swing to almost a half swing, hockey slapshot type thing, and increase the accuracy, with a small reduction in distance, until you are more comfortable with the swing. Also, a friend helped me with the description of coming “inside-out” with the swing. While that sounds complicated, imagine holding your back hand (I’m a left handed golfer) tight to your body and swinging through the ball and outwards after contact - straightened out my ball flight and increased distance.

Lessons seemed to boil down to getting into the same position, and swinging smoothly and evenly making sure the club is flat at contact - try swinging at the driving range - not to hammer the ball, but try swinging with virtually NO effort, then 20% 40% 60% etc. Get comfortable with a straight line of whatever distance, and KNOW how far each club will take you. If you need 100 yards, say, it doesn’t matter if you get that with a pitching wedge or a 5-wood, as long as you can get it accurately there!

Pitching (from under 100 yards) and putting are the majority of the strokes, the easiest area to improve your game, and if you’ve ever played with a senior, they can be outdriven from the tee, but play so solidly from there onwards, with straight, accurate shots - you can’t beat them!

Makes you rethink the wisdom of working on that booming drive, huh? The majority of time should be spent practicing the 100 yard and shorter shots - which inadvertently improves the overall stroke and technique, and makes the drives better over time!

Practice shooting 10, 20, 30 etc yards, and have the short chip down pat. Then work on putting - NOT trying to sink the putt, just to get the ball to within a club length of the hole - from ANYWHERE on the green. When you have mastered the ability to get the ball close like that, then work on the short 2 footers - almost from the start you’ll find that you can get the majority in.

THAT’s the secret - the drive doesn’t matter, the next shot is OK, but the one that gets the ball TO the green is crucial! Then if you can putt to withing a very close area of the pin, and make THOSE easy putts - you’re a bogie golfer - TA DAAA!

Wait, there’s one more thing - the mental part of golf. If you have a certain ability, how come you see flashes fo greatness on some days, and flashes of needing to break your clubs on others? Same guy, same equipment, different results? THAT is the mental part of golf - and it becomes more and moe important as you master the basic strokes and techniques.

At the beginning stages of golf, you are thrown off by worrying about what others think - it feels like people are watching your drive, partners are evaluating your game, people are seeing if you can play golf well, etc. The answer to this is that everyone started off as a beginner, and VERY few people can play below 90s golf. Basically, we all suck! Take the pressure off of yourself for the first 20-50 games, and you will have the routine ingrained, the swing will be solid, all will work fairly well - under pressure or not.

Relaxation, and realizing that golf is a game against YOURSELF, are the keys. You can’t play a real tournament against another golfer until you shoot in the 70s - so don’t let that enter your head - try playing alone - you can - very early or very late - or with total strangers as a walk on.

Over time, you WILL get better - visibly, noticeably. Try playing a few days in a row, or a series of days either playing golf or practicing. Practice makes perfect - especially the short game that is ignored by the majority pounding shots into the darkness at driving ranges - work on the touch, the feel, the magic ability to get 25%, 50% or 75% shots, to control the distance.

Most of all, relax and enjoy the walk, the scenery, remember the things that went WELL - and move on from the ones that were duffed, hooked into the trees, or when you putted back and forth across the green like a madman - they all happen - to ALL of us - even Tiger Woods (every now and then). The trick is to concentrate on making the NEXT shot, the NEXT hole, the NEXT practice or game - be your very best. There’s no going back and reshooting that shot that went into the water! Forget about it and calmly, confidently move on.

Your best games, your best shots will occur when you have a calm, confident feeling, feeling that you are just repeating what you’ve practiced, and easily accomplished in the past. Look at the grin on Tiger’s face as he sinks a putt and pumps his fist - this game can be FUN!!

Andrew Larder, Golf Better
Golf Clubs, Golf Gifts, Golf Tips and Golf Equipment

Golf Clubs For Ladies

If you are seeking a set of golf clubs for ladies, there are a few things you may not be aware of. Some of these things may include the use of shorter shafts and grips, as well as lighter club weights to add more forgiveness and distance to the majority of ladies swings. Golf clubs for ladies are built to help the lady golfer gain more confidence on the course.

You can find golf clubs for ladies just about anywhere you would find all other golf clubs made by top quality producing companies like Callaway, Nike, Wilson, Cleveland and a number of others. Shaft are available in ladies flex and club heads have a higher degree of loft to help get the ball in the air for more distance and optimized angle of trajectory.

With golf clubs, including golf clubs for ladies, remember that you do get what you pay for. If you are a beginner golfer, you may want to rent or borrow a set to determine whether or not you like the sport. Once you are decided on being an avid golfer, it would be wise to invest in a set of good clubs. You will achieve better results and will enjoy the game much more. Quality golf equipment may be more expensive, but you will hit the ball further and with more accuracy.

Dean Cecere is writer and owner of “golf-equipment-accessories.com”.

Please visit us for additional info and resources concerning Golf Clubs For Ladies

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The Evolution of the Ski Rack

Skiing has changed greatly over the years, and so have ski racks. People no longer simply attach wooden planks to their feet to go skiing. There are now quick release bindings and parabolic skis and… gasp… snowboards. Just as there are different skis to get you down the mountain today, there are also different ways to get your skis up to the mountain.

Ski racks have undergone a makeover, even recently. When my father was first learning how to ski, he would just strap his skis to his horse… alright, so my father isn’t quite that old. But he certainly did not have a ski rack. He probably didn’t even know what a ski rack was. The first time he went skiing in college, he drove his VW Bug up to the ski resort. He’s lucky that the weather was willing to allow him to even get to the top of the canyon - his Bug could not have handled anything other than bright, road-warming sun.

His Bug certainly did not have room for his skis and his buddy’s, so they found a way to tie their skis to the roof of the car. They would have used duct tape, had they known what it was. But, instead, they used twine and tied their skis to the roof like a Christmas tree. They most definitely would have loved to have had a ski rack back then - they wouldn’t have had to turn around and backtrack half the distance of the canyon, just to look for the missing ski.

Ski racks definitely make it much easier to get your gear up the mountain. Ski racks are far superior to tying your skis to the roof. Ski racks are also superior to bungee cording your hatch shut because it won’t quite close when your skis are sticking out! Ski racks are much better than putting your snowy skis inside your car to melt and dampen your seats.

Over the years, ski racks have had to change to incorporate snowboards and to fit on different cars. You can even buy sedans with ski sleeves that allow you to put your skis in through the trunk and up through the back seat to the front. You no longer have to drill holes in your roof to attach a ski rack. You can get a ski rack that will hold both skis and snowboards easily. You can lock your ski rack to ensure your skis’ safety. You can remove your ski rack during the summer so that you can get better gas mileage. Or you can leave your ski rack on top of your car during the summer and simply convert it into a bike rack or a kayak rack.

Ski racks have come along way. Perhaps ski racks have improved just has much as skis have over the years.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, sports, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on please visit Ski Racks.

The Tour De France, The Worlds Biggest Road Bike Race.

The Tour de France is the BIG one; it’s the World cup and the Olympics all in one. It has it all, the high mountains, the wind swept northern planes and the heat of the south. It also has the world’s media, all the top teams and riders and millions of cycling mad fans watching. The other “Grand Tours” of Italy and Spain are as exciting, sometimes more so, but they don’t have the thing the Tour has, that unique Tour ness, that unique French ness.

How it started.

It all started in 1903, when the French daily paper, L’Auto wanted to sell more than its competitor, Le V©lo, who at that time was the only paper reporting on cycle racing. It was suggested to the papers director, Henri Desgrange that they should organise a bike race all round France. The first race was 2,428 kilometres split into six stages and was run off at 25.29 kilometres per hour and out of the 60 starters 21 finished and the race was lead from start to finish by Maurice Garin.

The Heroes.

Over the years there has been a lot of heroes in the Tour de France, you could say all the riders are heroes, to win the race once is hard, but to win it five times is phenomenal. Only five men have done this, and one of these has won it seven times. French rider Jacques Anquetil was the first to win the race five times, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and then Spaniard Miguel Indurain all equalled him. Then the American, Lance Armstrong started to win in 1999 and didn’t stop until he had won it a record seven times in a row. This is all the more amazing as he is a cancer survivor and was given a 50/50 chance of life; he beat the cancer and went on to beat all comers in the Tour de France.

The course.

The race starts in a different town every year and every other year it starts outside France, the choice of stage towns is a combination of money and sporting considerations, the towns will pay for a start or a finish, but they need to be near a mountain or a cobbled road or be near other town who want to host the Tour. The Towns pay to be the centre of interest for a day, the Tour also brings in a lot of money in tourism and the Towns collect much more than they pay and the world will remember the name of the Town, for at least a day.

The riders.

All the best riders want to win the Tour de France, but they cant, from the 200 or so starters there is a possible five or six riders who can win, the rest are either helping their team leaders or sprint or mountain specialists who want to win stages or points or mountain jerseys, this keeps the race active and interesting from beginning to end.

The BIG Tour.

The Tour is the biggest, but that has its problems, some Towns are not big enough, hotels etc., the television needs more space, the journalists need more phone lines and computers, more and more people are following the race and the riders can be forgotten about in all the razzmatazz, but its still the biggest sporting event in the world, long may in run!

Alastair Hamilton is a successful writer who offers a truly unique depth of experience in competitive cycling, he also contributes adding technical articles on road bikes ( www.bike-cycling-reviews.com/road-bikes.html ) to some cycling online magazines. Further information on components and cycling news at www.bike-cycling-reviews.com

A Short Guide on Getting a Good Tennis Racquet

If you are hoping to pick up your game of tennis then a higher quality product must be in all probability one of the tennis products at the top of your sports list. Nonetheless, ahead of purchasing a tennis racket there are a vast amount of influences that need to be well thought-out. These take account of: the tennis rackets mass, balance, head dimension & a considerably number of other aspects. By means of understanding what advantages and disadvantages the various style of rackets can supply will help assist you to choose a better judged verdict whilst in the buying action.

Power Level: Visit VTennis.co.uk today for all the latest offers on Tennis Rackets.

The energy applied by modern day tennis racquet contrasts massively & each and every level gives several benefits dependent on your specific style. The 3 types of energy levels in a tennis racket are made up of; ?Power Rackets?, ?Tweener Racquets’ and ?Control Racquets?.

Power rackets gives a big quantity of strength and is designed to be for those to take smaller and relaxed tennis movements. Tweener tennis racquets are for tennis individuals that are yearning for a balance between power & control and are then planed for people that adopt an average to long racquet swing speeds, and in addition take a standard to long cuts at the tennis ball. These are suitable for young people who are going to full length tennis racquets.

Last, but without a doubt not least, control racquets are supposed to be for tennis people that need extended and speedy racquet swings when they play. The focal explanation for this is that control tennis racquets need the player to create the power. This brand of racquet is recommended to be avoided by juniors unless they have the talent to control the supplementary weight.

Buy New Water Skiing Gear

Equipment is what defines one sport from another. Some are
expensive while others are not.

This game is increasing in its popularity and this is also due
to the newer use of equipments to make it moor exciting.

There are four different types of water skis that you can buy.
The two most commonly used skis is the combination and the
slalom skis. Combination pairs are for the new comers and easy
to begin with.

Slalom skis are used when you want to ski with only one ski.
Used for making sharper turns at higher speeds, one needs to
exercise caution. The recreational ski has a wider tail and a
flatter bottom to make it easier to get up and ride straight.
Advanced skis have a more tapered tail with beveled edges and a
tunnel bottom. They help in speed but are less easy to use.

Trick water skis are the latest in use by the flamboyant ones
who use them to show newer tricks. They are smaller but wider
for better grip. Jump skis, as the name suggests, are for the
ramp skiers who jump off the ramp at high speeds.

When you water ski, you will need a water ski rope. The ropes
are flexible and have very good agility. And are 70 in length.
Ropes are made of polypropylene and will stretch two to three
percent of their length with normal conditions.

The handle, made of rubber or plastic grip, is based on the
preference of the user. The molded grip may or may not have
anything inside of it to provide strength and durability. This
handle will float because it is molded. High performance
aluminum handles are used to maximize strength and have a rubber
mould around them. The construction is lighter, but more durable
and comfortable that a molded handle. Higher performance handles
are hollow which will allow them to sink when dropped in the
water.

Special protective glasses are to be worn by everyone to ensure
protection to eyes. Especially by people who are bound to use
spectacles in their normal use.

Finally it is unto the skier to know what he should and what he
shouldn’t. He knows whets best for him. But as a role model for
people watching him, he needs to set an example and prove that
he is a sportsman in the truest sense.

Football Weekend Preview

I guess Bill Belichick will be just fine without Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel? It was “business as usual” for the Patriots on Thursday night, as New England opened the 2005 season with a 30-20 win over the Raiders.

Oakland took the opening kickoff and drove for a TD, marking the first time New England had allowed an opening-drive TD to an opponent, in 37 games! However, the defense settled down after that, allowing just a 73-yard TD ‘bomb’ to Randy Moss in the second quarter and a concession TD (leading 30-14) with about three minutes remaining in the game. As for the offense, Brady passed for 306 yards with two TDs (no INTs) and Dillon ran for two scores, despite rushing for just 63 yards.

New England has now won 35 of its last 39 games (counting the postseason), including 21 straight at home! No team in the Super Bowl era has ever won three straight championships and in NFL history, only Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers have won three consecutive titles. Green Bay won the NFL title in 1965 and then won the first two Super Bowls, following NFL title-game wins in the 1966 and 1967 seasons. Can the Pats make it three straight Super Bowls and four in five seasons this year?

I guess so but it’s not easy these days to even make the playoffs year in and year out. New England has won three Super Bowls in four years but in 2002, the Pats failed to even reach the postseason. Only three franchises have made it to the postseason in each of the last three years. Philadelphia tops the list with five straight playoff appearances, followed by Green Bay (four straight) and Indianapolis (three straight).

The Eagles finally broke their NFC title-game hex last year, beating the Falcons 27-10 in the NFC Championship Game, where they had lost the three previous years. The Eagles are easily the NFC’s best team again this year but are facing the fact that four straight and five of the last six Super Bowl losers have failed to post winning records the following year!

The Bengals own the longest playoff drought, having last been to the postseason in 1990. They’ll enter the 2005 season with a stretch of 14 consecutive playoff-less years. Behind Cincinnati is Arizona with six straight non-playoff seasons. Buffalo, Detroit, Jacksonville and Washington have each missed the postseason the last five years.

The San Diego Chargers ended an eight-year playoff drought last season, by improving from 4-12 in 2003 to 12-4 in 2004. A turnaround like the Chargers experienced last year has not exactly become the norm but it’s not a rarity, either.

Over a five-year period (2000-04), 25 of the 60 playoff participants (41.7 percent) have been teams that were .500 or worse the year before. Along with San Diego last year, Atlanta (from 5-11 to 11-5), the New York Jets (6-10 to 10-6) and Pittsburgh (6-10 to 15-1!) all made the playoffs coming off a non-winning season. Who will be this year’s surprise team?

Week 1 continues on Sunday with the marquee game featuring the Colts ‘visiting’ Baltimore to play the Ravens. For those of us who grew up with Johnny U, the Colts are NOT supposed to be the visiting team in a game played in Baltimore. Week 1 concludes with an NFC Championship Game rematch between the Eagles and Falcons. However, this time the game is in Atlanta, not Philadelphia.

College Football

Three games top college football’s second Saturday. No.2 Texas will visit Columbus, Ohio to meet No. 4 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan hosts No. 20 Notre Dame and No. 5 LSU, displaced by Hurricane Katrina, will play at Tempe against No. 15 Arizona State (instead of hosting the Sun Devils in Baton Rogue).

TEXAS at OHIO STATE

Texas scheduled this game years ago and right now may be asking themselves, “Why this year?” After Oklahoma’s pathetic season-opening performance versus TCU, 2005 could be the year the Longhorns FINALLY beat the Sooners. A win over Oklahoma on October 8 would make Texas one of the prohibitive favorites for a place in this year’s Rose Bowl but NOT if the Longhorns lose in Columbus. Ohio State is 6-1 SU under Tressel versus top-10 teams and this will be the school’s seventh-ever night game in Ohio Stadium. In six previous games “under the lights”, OSU is 6-0 SU and ATS! As for Texas, the Longhorns have not lost a ‘true’ road game since a 42-38 loss in Lubbock versus Texas Tech in 2002 (eight straight wins).

NOTRE DAME at MICHIGAN

Talk about an underdog series? The ‘dog’ is an amazing 14-2-1 ATS when Notre Dame and Michigan hook up. Notre Dame opened with a 42-21 win at Pitt, as the Irish topped 500 yards of offense with 33 FDs in Charlie Weis’ debut. Michigan’s defense hasn’t played well since the team’s eighth game of last year. Since then, Michigan has allowed exactly 37 points to Michigan State, Ohio State and Texas, while allowing two other teams, Northwestern and Northern Illinois (last week), more than 400 yards. In Michigan’s favor is a great offense of its own and a 14-0 SU record in “the Big House” since installing its new artificial surface.

LSU at ARIZONA STATE

Hurricane Katrina forced a venue change for this game, as LSU was scheduled to host the Sun Devils in Baton Rogue. Could the Pac-10 finally be playing ‘lucky’ when it comes to a weather related game-change! In 1998, a hurricane postponed UCLA’s game with Miami from early September to early December, when Miami was a much more polished team. UCLA’s loss in December that year, cost the undefeated Bruins a chance to play in the first-ever BCS title game. Again last year, a hurricane pushed Cal’s game at Southern Miss to the end of the season and a closer than expected margin of victory in that game, may have cost the Bears a trip to the Rose Bowl.

Is this the year it works out in the Pac-10’s favor? LSU is loaded and would have been a solid favorite at home but playing in Tempe, the game is a toss-up. ASU, now gets its two biggest challenges of the year at home, Saturday night versus LSU and an October 1 date with USC.

CLOSING NOTE

Akron was the lone MAC team to not play last weekend and Purdue was the only Big-10 team not in action. Akron holds the distinction of being the only bowl-eligible team in 2004 (not on suspension) to NOT get a bowl bid. Purdue, was just 7-5 in 2005 but the team’s five losses came by a total of just 14 points! After opening the 2005 season 5-0, the Boilermakers lost consecutive games to Wisconsin (by three points), Michigan (by two), Northwestern (by two) and Iowa (by two). Purdue won its final two regular season games but then lost to Arizona State in the Sun Bowl, 27-23.

If last week’s results are any indication, Purdue shouldn’t be too worried about having a close game on Saturday. MAC teams went 1-10 (3-6-1 ATS) last weekend, the only win coming by Toledo over I-AA Western Illinois (62-14). The 10 losers allowed an average of 38.3 PPG! As for Big-10 last week, the conference was a perfect 10-0 SU and 7-2-1 ATS.

Larry Ness is a documented member of The Professional Handicappers League. Read more of his articles and get his premium plays here.