From Jim Armstrong is a sports columnist for the Denver Post Is it just me or have things been a little too quiet in New Orleans lately? Oklahoma and LSU, who'll square off in the Sugar Bowl Sunday night, have been in town for a week and not a single incident has gone down. No arrests, no suspensions, not so much as an overtrained defensive tackle losing his lunch on Bourbon Street. What is this, the national championship game or the national spelling bee? In the players' defense, they're amateurs at these kinds of things. They're not supposed to drink anything harder than Gatorade. But come on, this is New Orleans we're talking about. Who'd let a silly football game get in the way of a good party? The coaches aren't going to like me saying it, but the fact is, the hardest-partying team usually wins the big game in the Big Easy. The team that studies the most Dos Equis and Os always seems to be a step ahead of the competition. It all started with the first Super Bowl, when Max McGee came stumbling into the Packers' team hotel just before breakfast, only to catch two touchdown passes later that day. Then there's the Tooz, John Matuszak, the toast of the town before the Raiders' victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl XV. Oh, and who could forget Jim McMahon and his Bears teammates reading their playbooks by the light of the jukebox at Pat O'Brien's, honorary captain Bill Murray by their sides? The amazing part was that, when the coaches went to the players' rooms for bed check, they were all there. The beds, that is. Not so this week. Here they are, in the greatest party town in America, and both teams are walking the straight and narrow in anticipation of Sunday's showdown in the Superdome. Sure, many of the players are too young to drink, but you'd think, with both teams in town at the same time, there would at least be a testosterone-fueled rumble or two. Instead, neither team has rustled up a good food fight in the cafeteria. I only mention this stuff because the party factor makes it easy to figure out who's going to win. In New Orleans, you don't go with the better team. You go with the one whose hotel is closer to the French Quarter. With these two teams playing to a scoreless tie on the party scene, I'm in a quandary. I'm about to flip those two coins I have left after enduring the Christmas shopping season. Part of me says to go with LSU because of the Tigers' home-field advantage. Neutral site? Yeah, right. It's about as neutral as the lions' den was for the Christians. Then there's Oklahoma's lackluster running game, which has accounted for 217 yards on 90 carries in the Sooners' past three games. By contrast, LSU's defense allows 68 rushing yards a game. So it's LSU then, right? Not exactly. The problem with picking LSU is I'd be picking against Oklahoma. After considerable exhaustive research -- straight up with a twist, barkeep -- I've decided not to go there. The Sooners were the best team in the country in 12 of their 13 games, so I'll take my chances with them. Yep, that's my pick and I'm sticking to it. I just wish somebody would miss curfew so I could be sure about it. Nonsense.
Figures he writes for the Big 12 (Colorado) ... they really hate the homers ... his pick statement gives it away.
