Survival of the fittest, NFL recap West Coast Style

Let's be honest, Week 9 was b-b-b-brutal for everybody I know. Usually by about week 5 or 6 I absolutely hit the wall in wagering. By Week 5 or 6 of an NFL season, I feel like I know who is good and end up making somewhere between 7 and 192 bets...winning approximately 1 of them. Bad news and good news after last week. The bad news: I went 4-10 ATS overall. The good news: I've matured enough in my wagering career that I only ended up making 5 wagers for the week and ended up 2-3 (thanks to Pittsburgh last night). I survived THE bad week of NFL wagering. There might be other bad weeks, but that one should top them all. Unlike some years, I'm a survivor.

To recap last week, it was so very bad that I needed the J-E-T-S and Browns to narrowly beat their respective spreads to achieve half of my weekly win total. TPC, the Midwestern Flavor, gained 2 games on me by going 6-8. Riveting competition. Overall standings:
West Coast: 66-56-8
Midwestern Flavor: 56-66-8

As far as the big game goes, the Pats proved in the end they were the superior team. Can we go ahead and say 16-0? If this doesn't happen I may be shocked. If it weren't for the lopsided officiating, the Pats would've won the game going away. Speaking of such, my point here is that championship teams overcome bad officiating. Think back to the Seahawks-Steelers Super Bowl. What was everybody's #1 complaint about the game? The officials handed the game to the Steelers? Yeah, not exactly...but my point: good teams overcome even unfair obstacles. You think Tiger Woods packs it in after his ball inexplicably takes a bad bounce off of a cart path? That's the biggest difference between greatness and just being good. I'm done ranting.

Week 10 preview: Several outstanding games on tap.

• Cleveland at Pittsburgh: Huge divisional game. The Steelers should have somewhat of a letdown after their big win Monday Night. Look for a close game here.
• Philly at Washington: Will be competitive, but definitely not the most exciting football in Week 10
• Atlanta at Carlolina: pass
• St. Louis at New Orleans: Seriously, the Rams have another injury? Little out for the season? This team is cursed.
• Buffalo at Miami: should be close...can the Fins get their 1st win?
• Denver at KC: most years this is good, pass this time.
• Jacksonville at Tennessee: definitely must see (assuming Garrard is back and nobody else gets arrested).
• Minnesota at Green Bay: big divisional game...and the best RB since LDT. And don't the Packers have somebody famous at QB?
• Cincy at Baltimore: 2 non-playoff teams, should be a good game though.
• Dallas at NY Giants: game of the week, enough said.
• Detroit at Arizona: strangely, I'm looking forward to this game. Who would've thought that before this year?
• Chicago at Oakland: PASS
• Indy at San Diego: co-game of the week. Indy has New England and SD back-to-back...this has to be the toughest scheduling ever.
• San Fran at Seattle: turdfest on Monday Night

For no other reason except to say it's GAMBLING SEASON as college football winds down with outstanding games, college basketball begins, and the NFL is in full swing...here are my college picks this week. Note: I'm 0-1-1 on real money games wagered this season.

1. Colorado -5.5 Iowa St

2. Air Force -2.5 Notre Dame

3. Alabama -4.5 Miss St.

4. Stanford +10 Wash St.

5. E. Carolina -7 Marshall

6. Texas Tech +6 Texas

7. Oklahoma -37.5 Baylor

8. Kansas -5 Okla. St.

9. Florida -6 S. Carolina

10. C. Florida -20 UAB

11. Navy -15 North Texas

Notice: I'm not playing all of these picks, but I'm guaranteeing at least 6-5 or your money back. It's quite OK to play favorites in college football...this is why the sportsbooks love the fact that more money comes in on NFL games than college.