Tuesday, August 26, 2008

new poll

yeah, I know the previous sports polls didn't exactly take off. I'm just expressing my pessimism about this upcoming Bears season, which I will write precious little about, unless there's another Tank Johnson type situation of social interest.
For the record, I'm not expecting a ton from Illinois this year. I think we're good for 7 wins, whether or not we make a bowl game-- I'd expect a loss in any good bowl, a win in any substandard bowl. And, yes, I don't expect better than 6-10 for the Bears. 5 wouldn't shock me. 7 would be a bit of a surprise, even considering our really weak division. If I were a bookie and wanted to set up a wins total prop bet for people like me, I'd set it at Illinois +.5 wins. If a bookie were sitting next to me and offered it and I wasn't totally broke, I think I'd take it.

1 comment:

BTM said...

I'm confused. Doesn't "Illinois +.5" mean "add .5 to Illinois's win total and compare that number with the Bears' win total"?

The NFL in general seems wildly unpredictable to me, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Bears' win total is anything in the 5 to 9 range. I'm putting Indianapolis and both Minnesota games down as losses already, which means 10 wins seems out of the question. But, they were 7-9 last year, were basically in every game, and have upgraded a few positions without taking any serious downgrades, so 8 or 9 wins wouldn't shock me. I actually think I'd feel pretty good about the season if we gotten two or three decent O-linemen in free agency or instead of some of the wasted picks this year and last year.

I don't really follow college ball, but it seems like Illinois has an isolated decent season every now and then, and is pretty crappy otherwise, so I'm voting Bears on this one.