Let's Take A Quiz - Phineas and Ferb Lyrics + HQ (MP3 Download) (via PhineasandFerbSongs)

Yes, let's take a quiz. Presented by Bill Lubinger of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and with a tip of the hat to Mizzou alumnus Graham Watson of Yahoo! Sports for linking to it originally. Let's look at four scenarios in this case study. For each one, I want you to determine if it is an NCAA violation or if it is something that is permissible.

Again, you only have the information laid out in each case; no additional information for the presented scenario is forthcoming:

1. A "super fan" of the local college or university team is having a dinner for one at the local sports bar. He notices that a couple of the guys from the basketball team are sitting a few tables over watching a game. The guy calls the waitress over and orders a pitcher of soda and a bucket of wings to be sent to the guys. This guy is just a "super fan"; he is not an official booster. Violation or permissible?

2. The star middle linebacker has been invited to speak at a local Pop Warner football league's year end banquet. He is not being paid for this speaking engagement. He attends and gives a rousing speech. The grateful parents who are organizing the dinner invite the linebacker to stick around for dinner. They are serving chicken, scalloped potatoes, salad and chocolate cake. Violation or permissible?

3. Before the linebacker headed off to the banquet, he stopped by the football offices to chat with his head coach. The coach suggests that the player wear a tie for this speaking engagement, reaches into his desk and pulls out a tie for the player to wear that evening. Violation or permissible?

4. The compliance office receives an anonymous call from a potential tipster. This person is calling the compliance office because they have learned that the university is paying for contact lenses and braces for student athletes. Violation or permissible?

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Mizzou Football Links

• PowerMizzou: Mizzou Camp Preview: Springfield
• The Trib (Dave Matter): Pinkel one of five left standing from Class of 2001
• The Trib (Dave Matter): MU adds QB depth with Jimmy Costello's return
• We Are Mizzou: Blaine Gabbert and Chase Daniel Help Tornado Victims
• NFL News & Rumors: Blaine Gabbert, David Garrard competition likely to heat up as season goes along
• We Are Mizzou: Team Family Dinners
• Big 12 Meetings
  Houston Chronicle: For Revamped League, Happy Days Are Here Again
  Tulsa World: Big 12 meets, absent 2010's turmoil
  Post-Dispatch: Ohio State problems are hot topic at Big 12 meetings
  College Football Talk: With a half-dozen media members in tow, Big 12 opens expansion-free spring meetings

Other Football Links

• Torbush
  College Football Talk: Cancer diagnosis prompts Kansas DC to retire
  Dr. Saturday: Kansas coordinator Carl Torbush retires after cancer diagnosis
  KC Star: Defensive coordinator Torbush leaves KU football program after cancer diagnosis
  Lawrence Journal-World: Vic Shealy replaces Carl Torbush at defensive coordinator; Buddy Wyatt promoted to co-defensive coordinator
• Tressel
  Roll Bama Roll: The College Football Coach's Conundrum

Basketball Links

• The Dagger: Florida's Billy Donovan proposes seeding SEC tourney by RPI
  

Other Mizzou Links

• Mizzou Softball
  Daily Oklahoman: Your guide to the Women's College World Series
  KC Star: With ace pitcher, Missouri confident heading into WCWS
  The Missourian: PHOTOS: Images from MU softball's season
  The Missourian: Stanford's Hansen beats out Missouri's Thomas for softball Player of the Year
• Mizzou Golf
  MUtigers.com: Jace Long Tied For Fifth At The NCAA Golf Championships
  The Missourian: Missouri's Long tied for fifth after first round of NCAA Championship
• Mizzou Baseball
  SimmonsField.com: A Tip of the Cap 2011: Quotes & Quibbles
  

Other

• Music
  Rolling Stone: Eddie Vedder on Pearl Jam's 20th and his New Ukulele-Powered LP
  Cover Me: My Morning Jacket cover songs
  Paid Content: New Numbers From Pandora Show Big Growth But No Profits
• Other
  Mashable.com: INFOGRAPHIC: The Facebook Effect on Relationships (via)
  Bad Left Hook: Mike Tyson Talks Hangover Movies, Past Success, Current Happiness, and Hall of Fame
  NY Times: Can Bill Simmons Win the Big One?

It's not too late to donate to the Rock M Nation Tremendous Stubble Charity Drive!

And for those interested in donating to the Ozarks Red Cross in the wake of the brutal Joplin storms, you can go here.

UPDATE: 30-22-1 (58%), baby!

Use this as your pre-basketball live thread and get ready to soak in the rare Mizzou Basketball-Mizzou Football combination...

Another low-on-the-formatting post, as we've got some errands to run shortly.  Week 11 was outstanding for the BTBS picks -- 34-22 (61%).  That still doesn't get us back to .500 by any means, but in the words of Herm Edwards ... we can build on this!

Or not.  It appears that 18 of this week's 53 picks are within two points of the spread again, meaning there will be a bit of luck involved, good or bad.  We'll see.

Road Team (spread) at Home Team | Projection (ATS pick in bold)

Tuesday

Ohio (+7.5) at Temple | Temple by 10.1 (LOSS)

Wednesday

Bowling Green (+10) at Toledo | Toledo by 7.7 (LOSS)
Miami-OH (-9) at Akron | Miami by 4.8 (WIN)

Thursday

UCLA (+2.5) at Washington | Washington by 3.8 (!) (WIN)
Air Force (-19.5) at UNLV | Air Force by 29.8 (LOSS)

Friday

Fresno State (+30.5) at Boise State | Boise State by 42.2 (WIN)

Saturday

11:00am

Pittsburgh (-3) at South Florida | Pittsburgh by 9.2
Penn State (-10) at Indiana | Penn State by 9.2 (!)
West Virginia (-5) at Louisville | West Virginia by 3.7 (!)
Virginia (-6.5) at Boston College | Boston College by 8.4 (!)
Purdue (+20) at Michigan State | Michigan by 32.9
Wisconsin (-5) at Michigan | Wisconsin by 8.4
N.C. State (+2.5) at North Carolina | North Carolina by 0.5
Oklahoma State (-24) at Kansas | Oklahoma State by 41.6

11:21am

Troy (+22) at South Carolina | South Carolina by 27.2

12:00pm

East Carolina (-9) at Rice | East Carolina by 18.2
Northern Illinois (-15) at Ball State | Northern Illinois by 22.0

12:30pm

Duke (+12) at Georgia Tech | Georgia Tech by 9.4

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UPDATE: A 34-22 (61%) week!  Yay!  And with many more near-wins than near-losses!

Alright, nothing fancy here -- just want to get these on record (so you can mock them) before heading to the FAR TOO EARLY TAILGATE for the FAR TOO EARLY GAME.  Bleh.

Also, you can use this as your pre-kickoff live thread.

Last Week: 23-29.  Bleh.

Bleh, bleh, bleh.

Below you'll see the following format: Road Team (spread) at Home Team | Projection (ATS pick in bold)

Tuesday

Toledo (+11) at Northern Illinois | NIU by 13.6 (WIN)

Wednesday

Miami-OH (-3.5) at Bowling Green | BGSU by 6.0 (WIN)

Thursday

Pittsburgh (-5.5) at Connecticut | Pitt by 19.5 (LOSS)
East Carolina (+1) at UAB | ECU by 0.8 (WIN)

Friday

Ball State (+3) at Buffalo | Buffalo by 10.7 (LOSS)
Boise State (-34.5) at Idaho | Boise State by 44.1 (WIN)

Saturday

11:00am

Miami (-3) at Georgia Tech | Miami by 16.7
Iowa (-10) at Northwestern | Iowa by 26.0 (don't like this pick at all)
South Florida (+2) at Louisville | Louisville by 3.9
Boston College (-3.5) at Duke | BC by 1.9
Indiana (+21.5) at Wisconsin | Bucky by 26.3
Cincinnati (+5) at West Virginia | WVU by 9.5
Minnesota (+21) at Illinois | Illinois by 28.4
Southern Miss (+10) at Central Florida | UCF by 19.9
Michigan (-13) at Purdue | Michigan by 19.3
Ole Miss (+2.5) at Tennessee | Ole Miss by 4.0 (dependent on Masoli playing)

11:21am

Vanderbilt (+15) at Kentucky | Kentucky by 19.0

11:30am

Kansas State (+12.5) at Missouri | Missouri by 16.7

12:30pm

Iowa State (-2.5) at Colorado | Colorado by 2.9

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I crashed to an epic degree last night, so my streak of weeks in which I got these picks out before Saturday ends at ... one.

Last Week's Results

After nice progress, last week was a water-treading week of sorts ... an 5-12-2 start doomed me, but a 10-5 finish made things respectable.  Most categories hovered right around .500, but the 10-20 point range continued its massacre of my 2010 season.  Take the 10-20 point spread out of my results, and I'm sitting at 171-155-8 (.524) ... which, considering my horrible job of phasing out projections and phasing in real numbers, isn't terrible.  My struggle in that range tells me I still haven't pinpointed the best way to estimate just how much better Team A is than Team B -- my head-to-head numbers are just fine, but the range is still a struggle.  We'll see I'm able to actually figure out in the offseason.

This week's picks after the jump.

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Look at me!  Technically getting this post out before Saturday!

Last Week's Results

At some point soon, I'm going to put up a graph of my week-to-week win percentages for this season.  I was a complete and total disaster as the preseason projections were being phased out and the real data phased in, but this is 3-4 straight high-quality weeks.  Hopefully it continues, and I'm actually able to get back to .500 at some point.

This week's picks after the jump.

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UPDATE: Looks like a 28-23 record for the week.

Don't have a ton of time to throw this together, but here are the basics.

Last Week's Results

Another solid week after a series of awful ones, but something feels off about this week's picks.  We'll see.

This week's picks after the jump.

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No need for a Saturday morning live thread with the Mizzou game starting so early, so here's a quick, bare-bones post just to get the picks on record.

It was the picks' first good week in a while last week ... but it looked like it was going to be a lot better.  Things started out at an 11-2 clip (.846), and we were still at 24-17-2 until a 1-7 slump brought us back to 25-24-2.  Luckily, a nice four-game win streak ended the week.

Last Week's Results

I'm not sure what it is about the 20-30 point range, but the picks in that range continue to do quite well.  And yes, the picks I really didn't like went 5-0 last week.  Of course they did.

This week's picks after the jump.

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