Fans and even to some extent handicappers have their favortie professional and collegiate punching bags. Some are loveible losers that can endear a nation when they finally claim victory after decades of futility. Then there are teams that cause us to seethe inside when they are winning championships. Lastly, when the mighty have fallen, we are the first to raise at the wake after the burial. On today’s edition of The Brink, we take a glimpse into the recent fortunes of such teams like the Chicago Cubs and Dallas Cowboys. Let us see very recent events are having some rallying to the cause and others to sit back and chuckle at their misfortunes. Also America’s Bookie has provided us with a free pick for the baseball playoffs today.

Brandon Benched

A thing of beauty has been benched in favor of game manager QB Matt Cassel. Brendon Weeden began with such promise completing twenty passes in a row during his first game subbing for Tony Romo. Alas the interceptions have cost him in losing all three of his starts. Now at 2-3, the Cowboys are taking the bye week to implement the QB change. With a pivotal stretch of the Giants, Eagles, Seahawks, and Bucs, Dallas wants to stay within shouting distance of the 3-2 NYG when Romo is projected to come back in Week Eleven. Another factor to precipitate this decsion is that Dez Bryant is ahead of rehab timelines and could be back for Cassel’s first game. For all those that loathe the Big D, this last month has been a pleasant experience from the anti fans standpoint.

Cubs Advance

Except for certain areas of the Windy City and NL rival cities, the nation is enjoying the Cubs’ storybook season. Last night they rallied from an early two run defecit to eliminate the 100 win St Louis Cardinals in four games. They have turned up the power with a plethora of home runs at home. Now they can rest and enjoy the other NLDS as the Dodgers staved off elimination with Kershaw coming up huge in a 3-1 win over the Mets last night. Maybe we have wasted a lot of time handicapping and should have just watched “Back to the Future” with their prediction of the Cubs winning the World Series this year.

Today’s Free Pick of the day revolves round the Game five elimination game in the NLDS between the Astros and the Royals.  KC has their ace on the mound after coming back from the dead with that impressive late rally.  The trend in the last few years of the playoffs is that teams that can create runs rather than rely on power do better in these games.  With the ML of only -132 or so on the home team KC with Cueto on the mound, it is a great value to invest in today.  Good fortune with this and we will see you tomorrow here at The Brink.