Losing proposition for Charleston

I gave gambling on my mind this morning.

Which, of course, can mean only one thing. No, not that revenue is down at Harrah’s again. I will get to that in a minute.

It means that football returns tonight. Yes, the Eagles will wind up their silly exhibition season tonight. But that’s not what I’m talking about either, although I can’t resist saying that tonight’s second half, featuring Michael Vick behind center for the majority of the action, might just go down in history as the most-watched final half of a last Eagles exhibition game in history.

Actually, I’m talking about real football. Games that count. The Birds’
regular season does not start until a week from Sunday.

But college football starts tonight. Actually, it got a jump start last weekend with the clash of Cheyney and my old stomping ground, Lincoln U.
How ’bout dem Lions, who rolled over Cheyney!

Tonight marks something called the Mayor’s Cup in Philly, which will feature Villanova and Temple at the Linc. You have to admire what Al Golden has done at Temple, but they still likely will have their hands full with a very good ‘Nova squad.

Penn State and the ageless one, Joe Paterno, kicks off their season Saturday against Akron.

All of this can mean only one thing: Betting. Someone once asked me why football is so popular in this country. I only half jokingly replied it was because God did not rest on the seventh day. Instead he created the perfect vehicle for wagering – football.

Which brings me, in a rather roundabout way, to the oddity of this weekend.

The No. 1 team in the country, Florida, with its Heisman hopeful and all-everything QB Tim Tebow, plays a school called Charleston Southern.
I kid you not.

That’s not the weirdest part. The line on the game is not a typo.
Florida is favored by 73 and a half points.

That means if you bet on Florida and they shut out the hapless Charleston squad 73-0, you still lose because the line is 73 and a half.

It’s almost irresistible to take Charleston Southern in this case.
Except for something that tells me the Gators, looking to polish their case for being No. 1 and make Tebow the runaway favorite for the Heisman, just might lay a 82-0 whipping on Charleston.

In other words, don’t bet the house on it.

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