8902200220
DETROIT FREE PRESS
891216
Saturday, December 16, 1989
METRO FINAL
6B
MITCH ALBOM
The picks
Copyright (c) 1989, Detroit Free Press
NOTHING WRONG WITH THE LIONS' MEMORIES
OK. I'm on the bandwagon.
I walked into the Lions' locker room this week after practice and was
barraged by "Look who it is!" "Hey, didn't you pick us to lose to Chicago?"
"Uh-huh. Uh-huh." They strutted past. They pointed at me and laughed.
You know what you call that?
Cockiness.
I haven't seen that with the Lions in years.
And that's what has been missing.
Of course, I wouldn't mind if they took it out on the opposing team
instead of me, but. . . .
Now this week's picks. . . .
* DETROIT 21, TAMPA BAY 14: The Lions beat the Bucs last time -- and that was
without Barry Sanders. Besides, if I pick against the Lions this time, I
might need a cane to get to work.
* NY GIANTS 28, DALLAS 10: Let's see. The Cowboys already used the
Bounty-On-Our-Heads excuse. This week they try the Gatorade-On-Our-Heads
excuse.
* DENVER 12, PHOENIX 3: Denver better win a game soon, before it forgets how.
* GREEN BAY 21, CHICAGO 20: Jim Harbaugh announces his retirement after the
game, saying, "If it was good enough for Bo, it's good enough for me."
* CINCINNATI 30, HOUSTON 28: After last week's embarrassing loss to Seattle,
Bengals coach Sam Wyche put a gag on his team -- which made it tough to eat
this week.
* INDIANAPOLIS 28, MIAMI 21: Eric Dickerson ruins Don Shula's Christmas.
* PITTSBURGH 17, NEW ENGLAND 16: Doug Flutie misses the game because of his
annual December job as one of Santa's elves.
* KANSAS CITY 27, SAN DIEGO 14: The Chiefs are now known as Mr. Christian and
company. All they need is Captain Bly.
* WASHINGTON 20, ATLANTA 9: What does Deion Sanders want for Christmas? How
about a muzzle?
* CLEVELAND 10, MINNESOTA 9: I swear this is the last time I pick Bernie
Kosar. If he loses again, I'm sending him back to Sesame Street under his
stage name, Big Bird.
* LA RAMS 30, NY JETS 21: The Rams are still on the field from Monday night,
trying to figure out how they lost to the 49ers.
* BUFFALO 20, SAN FRANCISCO 17: The Bills need this game to have a prayer for
the playoffs. The 49ers already have all their prayers answered.
* LA RAIDERS 21, SEATTLE 19: When the announcement came that Bo was retiring,
Bo Jackson got confused and didn't come to work.
* PHILADELPHIA 23, NEW ORLEANS 16: The Eagles' new punter is named (Bootin')
Tuten. Now how can you pick against that?
* RECORD LAST WEEK: 8-6.
* RECORD VS. SPREAD: 6-8.
* SEASON RECORD: 129-67.
* SEASON VS. SPREAD: 92-99-5.
* BEST PICK LAST WEEK: Philadelphia 20, Dallas 10. Eagles won, 20-10.
* WORST PICK LAST WEEK: Cincinnati 41, Seattle 10. Seahawks won, 24-17.