Final Week

Let's face it, this is the most anti-climactic final week of football maybe ever. Both Washington and Tennessee must win but face teams that will be resting their players for a majority of the game. One of the "can't miss" sports days of the year has turned into a virtual preseason weekend of football. As a result, I'm headed down to Cali for New Year's and may catch the Giants-Pats and/or Titans/Colts, but that's definitely all. Even a team on the bubble like the Browns find themselves in a strange position. It does not matter whether they win or lose their final game against San Fran....it only matters if the Titans win or lose. I'm not sure I've ever seen a situation quite like it. I'm betting precisely 0 games this week due to the fact it's such a strange week of football. 31-23-1 is my final tally for games wagered this year. I'll certainly take it.

• NY Giants +13.5 New England-The Pats will rest their stars, but do just enough to win.
• Philly -9 Buffalo-Like the Cubs, Philadelphia sports teams know precisely when to start playing well....right after they've been mathematically eliminated.
• Tampa Bay +3 Carolina-I don't care who starts for Tampa, they're still better than the Panthers.
• Cincy -3 Miami-Too bad the Dolphins beat the Ravens, this could have been worth watching.
• Dallas +9 Washington-Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but isn't Washington in better hands with Todd Collins? The Skins play solid D, run the ball well, and thrive in games where they turn the ball over less than their opponents. Insert veteran backup Collins instead of high risk Campbell....now you have a team that will win the turnover battle and, like the Jags, have a QB that makes a couple of big plays a game to win a lot of games close. With the death of Taylor, this team has bonded and is now a serious contender in the NFC. Can they win in Seattle? Stay tuned....
• Detroit +4 Green Bay-The Pack rests and wins ugly at home.
• Houston -6.5 Jacksonville-The Texans finish strong in 07. With a couple of acquisitions, this is a playoff team in 08.
• Chicago +1 New Orleans-The Saints have proven they can't win the big games this year.
• Pittsburgh -3 Baltimore-People are trying to make a big deal about the #3 seed in the AFC as you can potentially avoid the Pats in the 2nd round. If the Pats ARE going to lose in the playoffs, wouldn't it be in their 1st game due to a little rust facing a team with some momentum? And are the Colts that much better of a draw in the 2nd round? Both the Jags and the Titans/Browns will not be an easy 1st round draw, so I don't see the big deal here.
• Seattle +1 Atlanta-If you wager on this game, you'd bet on handball....errr wait.
• San Fran +11 Cleveland-If by some stretch of the imagination I make a wager this week, it's on San Fran. Playing a little better, they are trying to gain momentum like they did at the end of last season. Again, this game means NOTHING to Cleveland's playoff scenario, so take the points.
• Indy +6 Tennessee-Here's my logic: Harrison is going to start. Since they want to get the rust off of him, Manning and the crew will play more of this game than will be expected. If this game is close, it's not beyond the realm of possibilities to see Manning and company either stay in or come back in the game to keep a division rival out of the playoffs.
• Denver +3 Minnesota-It was a fun run for the Vikes, good riddance.
• San Diego -9 Oakland-I'd take all backups of the Chargers outright on the road against this Raiders team.
• St. Louis +6 Arizona-Take the Rams and the over (48).
• Kansas City +6.5 NY Jets-Betting ON Brody Croyle this week, definitely a strange week!

Good luck!

West Coast Week 16

• St. Louis +7.5 Pittsburgh-This pick just feels wrong, but I'm remembering the turds that Pittsburgh has put up so far on the road (ex: Arizona and NY Jets).
• Dallas -10.5 Carolina-assuming Jessica Simpson is not in attendance.
• Cleveland -3 Cincy-I have nothing positive to say about the Bengals.
• Chicago +9 Green Bay-My friend in Chicago knows that the Bears stink this year but believes the Bears will win this game outright. That's enough for me in this huge rivalry.
• Houston +7 Indy-The Colts are easily the better team, but have nothing to play for.
• Detroit -4.5 Kansas City-Let's all say it together: Bet against Brody Croyle.
• Buffalo +3 NY Giants-I haven't done the math but I do know that this will be a very tough outright win for a Giants team that is not playing particularly well...and they have New England next week. Is it possible, assuming the Giants go 0-2, that they could not get into the playoffs if New Orleans or Washington won out? I don't know but this seems like an interesting possibility.
• Jacksonville -13 Oakland-By far, last week's most impressive performance was by the Jags. I no longer can question their toughness after that. Again, where is JaMarcus Russell? I don't understand.
• New Orleans -3 Philly-The Saints are still alive in the playoff hunt but need serious help. Philly won very ugly last week-betting against them b/c of it.
• Washington +6.5 Minnesota-The Skins are still alive and will fight to the death in this game. Although I haven't bet on it yet, I probably will.
• Atlanta +11 Arizona-The Cards win, but not by that many.
• Tampa Bay -6 San Fran-The Bucs are surprisingly solid. There is absolutely no reason to think the 49ers can come within a TD of them on the road.
• New England -22 Miami-I'm still not betting against the best team in NFL history.
• Seattle -13 Baltimore-I'm not sure this is the final line for this game, but I have seen it somewhere. This post will be edited if the above is not accurate.
• NY Jets +10 Tennessee-Too many points.
• Denver +9 San Diego-I love the way the Chargers are playing, but in this rivalry, 9 is too big of a number.

This week's real money wagers: Steelers/Rams over 43, Seattle -10, Washington +6.5...waiting for Cleveland to hit 2.5.

Week 16 - Midwest Flava

Two weeks to go and I'm down seven picks. At this point, I'd be labeled a longshot in any of the sportsbooks Mr. Kim has been known to frequent. But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve so I should at least make this interesting. May the best man (me) win.

Pittsburgh -7.5 @ St. Louis
Dallas -10.5 @ Carolina
Cincinnati +3 vs Cleveland
Chicago +9 vs Green Bay
Indianapolis -7 vs Houston
Kansas City +4.5 @ Detroit
NYG -3 @ Buffalo
Jacksonville -13 vs Oakland
New Orleans -3 vs Philadelphia
Atlanta +11 @ Arizona
Tampa Bay -6 @ San Francisco
Miami +22 vs New England
Seattle -10 vs Baltimore
NYJ +10 @ Tennessee
Minnesota -6.5 vs Washington
San Diego -9 vs Denver

TPC

For Love of the Game...Week 15 Recap

I went 1-2 on real money wagers but never really had a chance in the Pats game with those conditions. One of the downfalls of making wagers early in the week is that you don't get to study weather conditions. This was a huge mistake in my case this week. Regardless, there were some great games that didn't need action on it to enjoy. This year's best snow contest goes to Buffalo and Cleveland. This game had the perfect conditions with two teams from crappy weather cities coupled with none other than Gus Johnson announcing. I've never been more excited to watch an 8-0 football game. I'm beyond pissed that this game didn't end up as the Sunday Night flex game so everybody could watch it. What'd we get instead? Washington-NY Giants...yippee! Another East coast bias game. The Skins went on to upset the Giants, but for God's sake, outside of DC and NY, who watched this game?

In other action, Jacksonville showed they were a tougher team than the Steelers in December. On paper, this makes no sense. What happened? The Jags pulled off the upset and much of this was from the best drive I've seen all year. 20 plays, 74 yards in the 3rd quarter for a TD. Even though the Steelers tied it up late, you could really sense the Jags were still in control of this game. The only way the outcome will actually matter is if Pittsburgh somehow stumbles against the Lambs or the God awful Ravens and the Browns win out. In short, this game was interesting, but probably won't matter at the end of the season.

What's happening with the Cowboys? A close win at Detroit and a bad loss at home to Philly? Suddenly, wins at Carolina and Washington don't look so easy! What if the Packers beat the Bears and Lions and the Cowboys stumble again? How great would that be? Favre could get one last crack at a Super Bowl?! Maybe he's over hyped by every announcer and reporter in sports, but honestly in today's age of egotistical and selfish play, isn't it refreshing to watch a guy play at the twilight of his career for love of the game? Favre is the best ambassador to football that has ever played the game. Is he the best or most talented? No, definitely not, but his record number of starts, touchdowns, and now passing yards tell a different story. He isn't Babe Ruth to his sport, he is Cal Ripken Jr. In some ways, he is a freak of nature. In my lifetime, it's highly doubtful there will ever be another player like him.

There are a few teams which I have temporarily fallen in love with this year. I broke up with the Titans a few weeks ago and the Cardinals after this week. What remains? Cleveland and the Packers. Also, the Chargers are starting to look like the girl that suddenly got hot after being ugly in high school. These are the best kind of girls b/c they have low self esteem although they definitely should not. If you ever find one of these rare gems, hang onto it. Will any of these teams go all the way? Highly unlikely, but it's definitely been fun watching. All 3 are dangerous teams, and in normal years without dominant forces like the Colts and Pats, I'd make one of these teams a dark horse to run the tables....OK maybe not the Browns.

The results from Week 15:
West Coast Style 8-8
Midwestern Flavor 6-10

STANDINGS
West Coast Style 112-102-10
Midwestern Flavor 105-109-10

Week 15, West Coast Style

coast /koʊst/ –noun
1.
the land next to the sea; seashore: the rocky coast of Maine.
2.
the region adjoining it.

Vegas fits definition #2 for several reasons
1. Vegas is approx. 4 hours from the ocean.
2. We have the same: laid back mindset, cultural values (or lack thereof), tastes in music and fashion as SoCal.
3. Californians make up more than any other group of people that live here.
4. We're in the Pacific Time Zone.
5. Vegas is Hollywood's playground.

Now that I've established how ridiculous I am by arguing geography on a sports blog, let's make our Week 15 predictions.

• Houston +1 Denver-Easily the toughest outright call this week, I'm going with the home team in a big performance by Andre Johnson.
• San Fran +9 Cincy-Way too many points for a bad Bengals team on the road.
• Arizona +3.5 New Orleans-This should be one of the more entertaining games this week. In a track meet, I'll take the Cardinals in an upset.
• Atlanta +13.5 Tampa Bay-It's just too hard for me to take the Bucs as this big of favorite, even with their previous meeting in the books.
• Baltimore -3.5 Miami-I have action on Baltimore -3 this week....if I lose that bet to an 0-13 talent-less Dolphins team I may go into tilt mode and wager on somewhere between 8 and 139 games next week.
• Buffalo +5.5 Cleveland-This game clearly should be the Sunday Night flex game this week...if it weren't for small market Buffalo and a Cleveland team that the average fan can't name more than 4-5 Browns. With all that said, I'll take the Bills to keep it close.
• Green Bay -10 St. Louis-This may be a mistake, but I'm still in love with the way the Packers are playing this season. On paper, they should blow the beat up Rams out of the water.
• Pittsburgh -3.5 Jacksonville-If the Pats didn't prove their superiority last week against the Steelers, this line would be higher. The Jags away from home don't scare me at all.
• New England -23.5 NY Jets-I'm betting this game on any spread up to 49.
• Carolina +9 Seattle-This is just too many points for a bad road team to cover.
• Tennessee -4 KC-Again betting against Croyle. By the way, I'd love to hear the defense of Jeff Fisher on the "hit" that was put on Merriman. Watching that play again on NFL Replay, is there any doubt this happened?
• Indy -10.5 Oakland-The Colts roll again. Where is JaMarcus Russell?
• San Diego -10 Detroit-Even with Merriman out, the Chargers roll again. I'm not saying this team could go into New England and win, but anybody else?...Look out. Looking at the 1:00 games this week, it appears I'll be napping. (Indy, SD, Dallas are combined 31 pt favorites)
• Philly +10.5 Dallas-I have no idea what to make of the Eagles, it just feels right to take them here.
• Washington +4.5 NY Giants-The Skins are clinging to a small bit of hope that they can win out and secure the last NFC playoff spot. That thought will end this week, but it will be close.
• Minnesota -10 Chicago-Who would've thought this would have been a realistic line at the beginning of the season??? The Vikes are the most dangerous team in the NFC right now.

Those are the top 5 off the top of my head....does 2Pac getting killed here count?

Week 15 - Midwest Flava

Three weeks to go and I'm only five games back. Clearly I had to be listed as the underdog (3-1 sound right Rich?) when we started this thing - my opponent LIVES in Vegas. Let's just say he has a significant homefield advantage. I know, I know....excuses are like assholes. But, it would have to considered an upset if I come back and beat the geographically confused Rich aka West Coast Style - Vegas is just a little bit a way from being West Coast. We'll have to change that name to West Close Style.

Alright, after I just called out my competitor (and compadre) I need to back up my words. To quote Key from the movie Hustle & Flow, "There are two types of people: those that talk the talk and those that walk the walk. People who walk the walk sometimes talk the talk but most times they don't talk at all, 'cause they walkin'. Time for me to start walkin'....or something.


Denver -1 @ Houston
Cincinnati -9.5 @ San Francisco
New Orleans -3.5 vs Arizona
Tampa Bay -13.5 @ Atlanta
Baltimore -3.5 @ Miami
Buffalo +5.5 @ Cleveland
Green Bay -10 @ St. Louis
Pittsburgh -3.5 vs Jacksonville
New England -23.5 vs NYJ
Seattle -9 @ Carolina
Tennessee -4 @ Kansas City
Indianapolis -10.5 @ Oakland
Detroit +10 @ San Diego
Dallas +10.5 vs Philadelphia
Washington +4.5 @ NYG
Chicago +10 vs Minnesota

TPC

Week 14 Recap

The playoff picture is starting to get a lot clearer. Big wins by Minnesota and Cleveland vaulted them into a good position to capture the final wild card spot in their respective conferences. Couple the Browns win with a devastating Titans loss, and the final weekend of the NFL season could be fairly anti-climactic. If the playoffs started tomorrow, Cleveland and Minnesota are very scary 6 seeds. Both teams are finishing out the regular season on a tear.

It was a weekend of blowouts with a handful of good games. Dallas-Detroit, SD-Tennessee, NY Giants-Philly provided the most excitement this week. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick many real money winners this week...1-4 on the week. By starting out 0-4 in the early set of games, it made for a fast drinking day to absorb some of the pain. By the time Minnesota routed San Fran for my one and only real money win, I was fast asleep only to wake up to the Colts leading Baltimore by 30+ in the 4th quarter.

We're again on a short week here at the Bullpen Catcher, so stay tuned to picks due by early Thursday (including the largest point spread in NFL history).

Week 14
Midwestern Flavor 7-9
West Coast Style 9-7

OVERALL
Midwestern Flavor 99-99-10
West Coast Style 104-94-10

Week 14 - TPC

Washington +3 vs Chicago

Carolina +10.5 @ Jacksonville

Philadelphia -3 vs NYG

Dallas -11 @ Detroit

Buffalo -7 vs Miami

Oakland +10 @ Green Bay

Pittsburgh +10.5 @ New England

Tennessee +1 vs San Diego

Cincinnati -6.5 vs St. Louis

Houston +3 vs Tampa Bay

Arizona +7 @ Seattle

Minnesota -8 @ San Francisco

Cleveland -3.5 @ NYJ

Kansas City +6.5 @ Denver

Baltimore +9.5 vs Indianapolis

New Orleans -4.5 @ Baltimore



TPC

Week 14 Rapid Fire (West Coast)

• Washington -3 Chicago
• Carolina +10.5 Jacksonville
• Dallas -11 Detroit
• Miami +7 Buffalo
• NY Giants +3 Philly
• Oakland +10 Green Bay
• New England -10.5 Pittsburgh
• San Diego -1 Tennessee
• St. Louis +6.5 Cincy
• Houston +3 Tampa Bay
• Arizona +7 Seattle
• Minnesota -8 San Fran
• Cleveland -3.5 NY Jets
• Denver -6.5 Kansas City
• Indy -9.5 Baltimore
• Atlanta +4.5 New Orleans

Perfection

"Wow. What a great week of football." 20.5 point underdog Baltimore (the biggest home dog in Monday Night history) beat the Patriots. It was all over....several times. How the Ravens failed to close that game out was one of the most painful experiences I've ever seen. On just the final drive by the Patriots alone we saw: a 4th and 1 where the Ravens stuffed the Pats only to have Billick call timeout right before the play started (he's as good as fired---that was the icing on the cake), a ball that was tipped infinitely far in the air where the defense intercepts it 90% of the time fall gently to the ground, a 4th and 5 where the defense held their ground only to have a holding call give the Pats new life, and a beautiful throw to the back corner of the end zone where Gaffney may or may not have had full possession and 2 feet in bounds. That was all right? Oh yeah, Kyle Boller (which except for one play) outplayed Tom Brady and on the last play launches a ball for the end zone and it's caught! Needless to say, the Ravens fell one yard short. It was an unbelievable finish to an even more surreal game. The Pats have now had 2 straight close calls. With a huge target on their back, it's looking bleak that they are going to run the tables and go 19-0. Pittsburgh next week is the best team they will face until January. If they win there, facing the Giants with a 15-0 record and home field advantage sowed up......how many of their starters will play against the Giants? Throw in a possible must win situation for the Giants, and there are 2 more hurdles in the regular season for perfection.

The Pats journey to a perfect season is spectacular and is a great thing for the NFL, but even without them, this has been one of the most exciting NFL seasons in history. I could recap this all, but I think my head might explode. Other interesting stories from Week 13:

• Joe Gibbs is old and needs to be fired. Back to back timeouts to ice the kicker??? This is the worst timeout foul up since Chris Webber. The Skins continue to find new ways to lose games.
• Was there any doubt that the Cleveland-Arizona game would come down to the last play? These are the 2 most exciting teams in the NFL. Each team plays up/down to their level of competition every week.
• Eli Manning has officially shown his true colors, but even doing so has the Giants at 8-4. Has there ever been a more inconsistent talented QB? You can't bench the guy, but he's never going to win you anything. What do you do?
• The Colts continue to do just enough to win through their injuries. What a beautiful backdoor cover by the Jags though!
• I really picked an 0-11 team as a favorite this week. Which explains our new standings.

I'd like to thank my father for forcing me into a casino so he could place his losing Missouri Tigers wager. As a degenerate gambler, I had to put more action on this week's NFL games. I added on Pittsburgh -7 (which tried infinitely hard to give up a late TD to make that game a push), and Buffalo/Washington under 37. 3-2 ATS real money on the week. For those playing along at home, I'm 26-17-1 on the year. Not bad.

Week 13

Midwestern Flavor: As predicted, 10-6

West Coast Style: 7-9

OVERALL

Midwestern Flavor: 92-90-10

West Coast Style: 95-87-10

We're again on a short week at the Bullpen Catcher, so stay tuned for picks due by Thursday morning.