Smack Zone

Lin--Aw, yeah. Anderson and Victory, you two blazed this path for me--to number one! Putting my money on Yale really paid off last week--on all 11 counts--so here's $500 for the fencing squads to foil the slide rule-wielding Engineers, $1,000 for gymnastics to stay undefeated at UMass, and $500 for men's hockey to continue its streak over both Cornell and Colgate. Last Week: +$2,750. Current Balance: $7,760.

Smith--I'd really like to know how Lin and Chen, who suffered losses the week before last, have suddenly overtaken me. I should have tried harder in Math 112--I think they're scamming me with some calculus that I didn't learn. It's time to knock some heads. At Yale, give me $700 each on men's hockey over Colgate and women's fencing over M.I.T. in a big way. I'll also put $1,100 on gymnastics over UMass (to better Lin). In the NHL, I'm laying down $900 for the Devils over the Islanders and a cool $1,000 for the Red Wings over the Lightning. Last week: +$600. Current Balance: $7,250.

Ray Fair, guest--The Bulldogs (Fresno State, that is, my alma mater) still have a chance for a ticket to the big dance, but they will have to win their conference to do it. $1,000 says Fresno State beats archrival UNLV on Thurs., Feb. 19. The Bulldogs (Yale, that is) play Princeton in hoops on Valentine's Day. Can they stop the Princeton juggernaut? Twenty-five cents and a valentine says Yale will pull the upset of the season. $1,999.75 says that the U.S. women's ice hockey team, with Choate Rosemary Hall high school student Angela Ruggiero playing well, will squeak out a victory over Canada in the final. This may be MJ's last All-Star game, so look for him under Larry Bird's leadership to lead the East to victory. I'll put $100 per year forever on this prediction. (Assuming an interest rate of 5 percent, all Econ 116 students should be able to figure out the value of this bet).Last week: +$1,000. Current Balance: $6,000.

Ray Fair is a professor of economics.

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