Addison Recorder Pick ‘Em Week Twelve – Does Not Compute
Welcome to the Addison Recorder‘s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.
This week we welcome back our very own Andrew Rostan. Last time he made picks it led to the worst Saturday in Big Ten history. Let’s hope it works out better this time!
#1 Mississippi State at #4 Alabama
Bean: The marquee matchup of the weekend. Mississippi State has gone from unranked to top dog this season thanks to a string of impressive wins over the heavy-hitters of the SEC. Bama stumbled against Ole Miss, but has fended off all else. They also have history and probabilities on their side, since the Bulldogs have never experienced this sort of success before and have much better recruits. I think that makes the difference and the Cinderella run will end. Crimson Tide by 7.
Rostan: Let’s talk college, Bean. The senior Mr. Rostan sent me this really fascinating article yesterday by one of his favorite writers, Nat Hentoff, on how colleges discourage some forms of free public speaking and even disinvite some speakers. Hentoff didn’t even have to touch on the shame of Anita Sarkeesian at Utah to make his point. Higher education at its best, as Mark Shiffman also recently pointed out in his excellent essay “Majoring in Fear,” is supposed to challenge us, to make us reflect, to present us with points of view we don’t have to agree with but should at least try to understand, because only be overcoming fear and uncertainty in dealing with new and different ideas can we work together to build a great country.
And speaking of “Majoring in Fear,” I think every student in America is fearful of Mississippi State, and not even Saban can change that. Bulldogs by 7. [Read more…]