Clayton Picks All the Games Correctly: Week 12- The Duffy’s Cliff Edition

Until 1933, there was a 10 foot incline in front of Fenway Park’s Green Monster known as “Duffy’s Cliff.” It was named after Red Sox outfielder Duffy Lewis, who measured the incline, which was at a 15 percent grade. The cliff served to support the left field wall and it also compensated for the difference in grades between the playing field and Landsdowne Street, which is located behind the wall.

Last Week: 8-5

Season to Date: 116-61

Our Game:

Cincinnati (3-7) at East Carolina (2-8): I’ve been working through the catalog of Judas Priest. I never paid them much mind, but now that they have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I figured I would give them a listen. Man, did this band benefit from being on a major label. Once Columbia Records and producer Tom Allom got their hands on Judas Priest, they suddenly had a rhythm section. Allom seems to have convinced this double lead guitar/screeching vocals ensemble that it was fine to be a heavy band but that there songs would be more evocative if they had a strong foundation. In particular, I recommend the albums Point of Entry (1981) and Screaming for Vengeance (1982).

Final Score: Cincinnati 38 East Carolina 31

The Rest of the AAC:

UCF (9-0) at Temple (5-5): Sylvester Stallone should give out a ¾ length leather jacket every year like the Masters gives out a green blazer.

Final Score: Temple 31 UCF 28

SMU (6-4) at Memphis (8-1):

Did John Denver steal “Sunshine on My Shoulders” from Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It With Mine”? Possibly.

Did John Denver rip “Calypso” off from Loggins and Messina’s “Watching the River Run”? Could be.

Final Score: SMU 48 Memphis 43

Navy (6-3) at Notre Dame (8-2): I expect Notre Dame to play a much different game this week.

Final Score: Notre Dame 41 Navy 20

Houston (6-3) at Tulane (4-6): Over the past three decades, a series of historians have constructed a complex narrative of the emergence and development of Evangelical Protestantism in the United States during the twentieth century. Beginning with George Marsden’s Fundamentalism and American Culture (1980), new historians of Evangelical Protestantism have dismantled the narrative of the movement established by the likes of Richard Hofstader, Lawrence Levine, and Robert Mapes Anderson which depicts evangelicalism simply as a means for downtrodden people to compensate for their material depravation.

Final Score: Houston 42 Tulane 34

Boston College (5-5) vs. UConn (3-7) (At Fenway Park, Boston, MA): On July 29, 1954, Fenway Park hosted an outdoor basketball game between the Harlem Globetrotters and the George Mikan All-Stars. Not to ruin it for you, but the Globetrotters won.

Final Score: Boston College 20 UConn 13

The Rest of the Country:

Michigan (8-2) at Wisconsin (10-0): Once upon a late-October evening in antebellum New York City, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt bore her second child, an eight-pound baby boy named Theodore. “Teddy,” Martha and Theodore Roosevelt Sr.’s first son, entered an affluent, old New York family whose wealth was produced by the family’s multi-generational import-export firm. Theodore Sr., known both for his piety as a philanthropist and his boorishness at New York society balls, had already risen to the ranks of the city’s elite by Theodore’s October 27, 1858 birth. Five years his junior, twenty-two year old Martha “Mattie” Roosevelt was the daughter of a wealthy Georgia planter. The petite Southern Belle basked in the pleasures of New York high society.

Final Score: Wisconsin 38 Michigan 10

Kansas State (5-5) at Oklahoma State (8-2): Young “Teedie” endured a sickly childhood within the comfortable trappings of American luxury. He suffered from terrible asthma attacks that weakened his already undersized body. Theodore Jr. also suffered from near-sightedness, which forced him to wear eyeglasses his entire life. Teedie spent much of his boyhood reading history and zoology and collecting house mice. The sickly little boy could not gallivant around with his peers, wreaking havoc in their luxurious surroundings. Roosevelt spent his adolescence boxing, wrestling, and sprinting himself into a robust man. A combination of strenuous exercise and sheer will built the sickly Teedie into a strapping young buck by the time he entered college. Teddy encouraged young men to mimic his desire for the “strenuous life” in order to keep their bodies as well as their minds fit.

Final Score: Oklahoma State 52 Kansas State 20

UCLA (5-5) at USC (9-2): UCLA is a mini-Armoire with walnut finish. A lift top with mirror and organizer tray. USC is a juxtaposition of two smooth shanties: Loggins and Messina’s “Watching the River Run” and Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s “Southern Cross.”

Final Score: USC 45 UCLA 42

As always, this is a work of parody and not intended to be taken seriously. For more of the same, follow me on Twitter: @ClaytonTrutor