The Greatest Sports Weekend Ever Since I Began this Blog

Soooo many fantastic storylines popping up for this weekend, let's start with the happiest first:

As best I did to jinx him, Steve Trachsel might have thrown his best game of the season last night, and the Cubs played long ball in outhomering the Astros 6-2. Yesterday's headlines regarding the Cubbies were running amok about how huge that double play was in the game before; on PTI, Wilbon went as far to call it the best win the Cubs have had since the Bartman incident. The jury is still out on that one, but I was more excited about last night's victory: decent power accompanying stellar pitching.

There were two unsung heroes last night: Jacques Jones for that great catch against the wall at the top of the eighth, and the Cubs bullpen for shutting down the Astros in those later innings. Carlos Marmol pitched two scoreless innings and Kerry Wood looked excellent in the one inning of he relief he pitched. Cubs fans should be excited for that; if Wood can still help get this team into October, it'd be a wonderful story, bordering on the pre-HGH connected Rick Ankiel vibes. :D

Which reminds me, we play those douchebags this weekend. We can take 'em.

***

From sixty to zero we go, as Notre Dame travels to Michigan to get its ass kicked for the third week in a row. Numerous people have asked me who's going to win tomorrow, and every time I've said (while rolling my eyes and dying a little on the inside) Michigan ought to win handily. That's how little faith I have in our team's offense right now. Jimmy Clausen is quite good, and he'll continue to improve as the season continues, but he literally has nothing to work with, even if it is against a suspect Wolverine defense. Add Mike Hart's thirst for blood to the mix and this probably won't be a very pretty game.

Still, it's amazing how much national intrigue there is to the match-up with both teams sitting at 0-2. Look, both these guys' seasons are done! But maybe they just want to spend more time hating on Lloyd Carr, which would be a shame. The last four-five years may not have gone as scripted for Carr, but he did get a share of the national championship in 1997, losing out to sentimental favorite Tom Osborne (whose former school has a huge game at home to USC this weekend) in the coach's poll. How many schools would love to have the kind of tenure Carr had at Michigan?

An even better question: who would you rather have coaching your team right now: Charlie Weis or Ty Willingham? For Domers that gossip on the Net too much, the answer is Weis because they're biased idiots (a column on that is in the works, trust me). But you can't say Willingham's Washington squad is in a far worse position, hosting OSU in a game that everyone thinks will be a huge upset. (and because everyone's calling for that upset, I'm going to utilize a Bill Simmons betting strategy and go the opposite direction) Washington may have the more talented quarterback in Jake Locker, and might--save for the running back game--have the better offense overall with its variation of the spread formation that destroyed Michigan a week ago (per the Oregon Ducks, who have both one hell of a QB and one fucking insane mascot). No one outside of Columbus, however, has given enough respect to Ohio State's defense, with Lauranitis in the middle and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins long overdue for a monster game (yes, these are the only two Buckeye defenders I can name from memory, and no, I don't care). This defense will do its job in Seattle. Offensively, the running game needs to have a big day (and it was good to see Jeff Saine play so well against Akron) and it should be sufficient to give the Buckeyes a well-earned road win for returning home for the juggernaut that is Northwestern.

There are also some NFL games on, but they aren't nearly as enticing as these matchups. The Bengals will kill the Browns (which will result in the Cleveland fans completely turning on their team), and the Bears ought to handle Kansas City, seeing as the Chiefs are on the verge of self-destruction here--their offense, save for LJ, is almost as bad as Notre Dame's.

Predictions:
Cubs win the series over the Cards
Michigan over ND
OSU over Washington
Bengals over Browns
Bears over Chiefs
CliffX over FFL
CliffX over drunk chicks
Indians good
Reds bad