Organized Chaos
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My cat predicts football games
September 19th, 2008, 9:20 am · 6 Comments · posted by Brad Milner
Predicting games is a crapshoot. To prove this point I’ve enlisted the help of my cat, Musa, to predict the outcome of football games.
Here’s the rundown of how it happens:
My cat, like all animals, likes a bit of attention and petting. He also likes to talk, though my wife believes he can’t understand us. That’s another issue.
I face him away from me and make sure he’s looking straight ahead. And yes, he actually does this. I pet him some then ask him the names of the teams that are playing.
Whichever direction he looks after I call his name is the team he picks. The first team name is to the left and the second is to the right. Pretty simple, eh?
His first weekend he was 4 for 5, hitting on Wisconsin, USC, Georgia and Dallas, while missing the Denver-San Diego game, though that had a controversial ending and really should have gone the way of the Chargers.
I have him pick three college games and two NFL games for the time being, with more in the future. I’ll pick against his choices and we’ll see what happens. I was 5 for 5 on the first picks.
His college picks for this weekend are: Georgia over Arizona State, Florida State over Wake Forest and Tennessee over Florida.
His NFL picks are: Philly over Pittsburgh and San Fran over Detroit.
My picks: Georgia, Wake Forest, Florida, Philly and San Fran.
What do you think?
The Eagles over the Steelers? Wake Forest over the ‘Noles?
No wonder you need your cat to assist you, with picks like that.
So what happens if your cat is directionally challenged?
I reckon I’ll get my dog, a hounddog mix, to do my picks for me. I’m going to use a variation of the old Greek gypsy tea leaf readings. I’ll feed the dog some left over chicken bones. If he poops in the yard, the home team loses. If he poop in the field, the home team wins.
I’ll let you know how he does, once he makes the picks. I didn’t name him lucky for nothing.
The game is at Philly and Big Ben isn’t completely healthy. I think the Eagles D will contain Willie Parker fairly well, too. And he’s not assisting me. I’m using him as an example that picking game’s is not an exact science. And it’s not so much he has to know direction, I simply go by which way he looks when I say his name.
Musa is a very intellectual cat! Kelly knows it, too, but just won’t actually voice it….he (Musa) might get the big head.
I had assumed that since your cat had a near death experience that he was somewhat psychic. If he starts to pick the games correctly on a regular basis, you’d have to hide him from Wiccan women looking for a familiar. But my poor attempt at humor in the previous post was terrible, my apologies for that.
I didn’t realize Roethlisberger was banged up, that does make a difference. Defense wins NFL games. The Steelers have a good one, and the Eagles are in the running for most arm tackles by a team since the ‘76 Tampa Bay Buc’s. I still think the Steelers will win.
I’m getting excited about the Atlanta Falcons, with Matt Ryan, the new coach and the great rushing attack. The rook had one of the worst first halves ever (3-15-36, with 2 interceptions). Mike Smith stuck with him and the Falcons were in the game until the last few minutes against Tampa Bay, who had trounced them twice last year. This week they take their #3 in the NFL rushing attack against Kansas City, who are the worst in the league against the run.
The cat picked the Eagles, too. Hey, at least this is interesting. A bit odd, but funny and interesting.
The Falcons are on the right track. Michael Turner will be a star, Ryan will grow and they have a talented young group of receivers. Last year will be a distant memory, as all the Vick stuff really hurt the team. And I’m all for Turner going wild against the Chiefs. He’s on my fantasy team.
And I had thought about the near-death experience creating his powers. You never know.