DAILY DOMER: HAPPY HALLOWEEN

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I won't have time to get to Superserious SuperSaturday Soothsaying this morning--got a flight out to South Bend soon--but here are a few notions: First, I like both Texas Tech and Florida in mild upsets; second, USC is a 44-point favorite at home against Washington: I'm picking the Trojans and I think they'll cover; finally, the Pitt-Notre Dame game is simple: If the Irish jump out to a two touchdown lead, they'll reduce the influence of Panther tailback LeSean McCoy on the outcome and could win big. If they don't, McCoy, who has run for 140 or more yards in each of his previous four games, could do them in. Mark May did make a valid point at halftime last night, which is that the Irish have yet to beat a team with a winning record this season.

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My man Jason Teiken at the home office in Stamford, Conn., moved mountains this week in order to line up webcast interviews between myself and both Mike Leach and Mack Brown. We'd like to thank both coaches for agreeing to do the interviews and you'll be able to watch them some time today on the ol' site. Thanks, Jason, for making this happen. I'm still in shock.

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Notre Dame fullback Asaph Schwapp will be one of the speakers at Friday night's pep rally. Good for him. He works hard, never complains, and blocks well. But I really hope he gives Charlie the biz about how he wouldn't mind getting one freaking carry this season. That's right, by this time tomorrow, Schwapp will have more pep rally pep talks than rushes this year.

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I don't know all that much about the English Premier League, but I do know that Arsenal is Nick Hornby's favorite club and that Bill Simmons adopted Tottenham Hot Spurs as his a couple years back. Recently the two played and this goal by Tottenham's David Bentley (what a delightfully British name) scored late in the first half, is being touted as the goal of the season in the EPL. Hard to disagree.

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This week's New York magazine has an item about a prankster at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan spiking the junior varsity football team's Gatorade with copper sulfate. Two players became violently ill, one was hospitalized. The student who spiked the fluid was suspended for two weeks, but he'd probably be wise to transfer, wouldn't he?

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Terrific piece in Thursday's New York Times about how closely the final season of The West Wing correlates to the current presidential race. Jimmy Smits as Mexican-American Democratic candidate Matt Santos (who has two children) was the Obama figure, Alan Alda as Republican 70ish Republican nominee Arnold Vinick was the McCain figure. As the article's writer, Brian Stelter, notes, "In both 'The West Wing' and in real life, for example, the Phillies played in the World Series duing the election campaign."

Those final-season episodes, now running in syndication on Bravo, first aired four years ago. 

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My good friend Billy, the world's 3rd-coolest fortysomething bachelor (behind David Spade and J.R. Moehringer), always bakes me these "Best Of" CDs that are indisciminate, if nothing else. For example, I've already received Volume 14 just from 2008. Anyway, there are always some true gems in all that surplus and here's my new favorite tune, "Mr. Rock & Roll", by Amy MacDonald. 

If you like that at all, check this out. It's a version of the song by an anonymous MacDonald doppelganger (not to be confused with a doppelbanger) that a lot of viewers prefer to the original. Not sure if I'd go that far, but it is pretty solid.

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By the way, you don't HAVE to lose money in the stock market. If you stay on top of things (unlike me), such a volatile market can actually yield huge rewards. For example, Las Vegas Sands (LVS), which was selling for $135 per share a year ago yesterday, was down to $4.50 per share on Tuesday. Today, just three days later, it's up to nearly $12 per share. In other words, you would have tripled your money in just three days if you'd kept on top of that. Try doing that in your Fantasy League.