Thursday Picks and a Minor Quarrel with ESPN

First, the picks. Both lines from Matchbook:

Milwaukee Brewers +158, 1 unit to win 1.58 units.

Manny Parra = Brandon Webb with control issues. Given the fact that Parra is young and talented and is hopefully resolving his control issues quickly as he works through his rookie season in the bigs, plus the fact that the Diamondbacks have been flat-out awful since wowing everyone in April, (Webb hasn't been the same, either) we're more than happy to take +158 on this late afternoon game.

Florida Marlins +116, 1 unit to win 1.16 units.

Neither pitcher inspires confidence, but at least Andrew Miller is young, has good stuff, and is improving. None of those things are true about Mark Redman. Let's hope the homer-happy Marlins knock a few out of Coors Field this evening.

And now my ESPN bitching. This "Titletown USA" thing is appallingly stupid. You know that, I know that, there's plenty of articles about that. One of the many things that annoys me about it is this: Columbus, Ohio is a finalist.

Now, The Ohio State University is a fine school with a quality athletic program, among the nation's best. There can be no doubt about that. Plus Columbus harbors the AAA affiliate of my beloved Washington Nationals. That town houses the athletes responsible for keeping me sane over the next decade. Nothing second-rate about that.

But back to the Buckeyes. Ohio State has won a few NCAA Division 1-A football championships. Seven, according to both ESPN and Wikipedia. However, that only puts them 8th in the all-time rankings (fifth if you only count the "modern era"). If you ask me, New Haven, CT is Titletown USA. 18 NCAA Division 1-A titles, plus the edumacation of yours truly, handicapper extraordinaire? How can you deny that? Anyway, being 8th/5th best doesn't seem like an outstanding qualification for much of anything. I don't see Lawrence or Durham on the list.

But more importantly ... didn't anyone at ESPN point out that Ohio State has made a complete mockery of the college football title game for the last two years? Isn't this akin to considering Buffalo, NY as finalist for "Titletown, USA" in 1994? Why isn't this being ridiculed? If your flagship team's performance in the title game is so bad that it makes a strong argument for completely restructuring the way your sport awards its titles, I don't think you're "Titletown."

Ah. That was a good way to kill time. Now to start four days of binge drinking.