test me baby

test

FREAKING BLOGGER:
FROM EARLIER
Red has passed on to a greater reward, a reward earned from a long life and enjoment of every day. I think I will stop a pick up a stogey and light it up later in memory of this legend.

UGH- talk about going in the tank today on my college picks, a big whopping 4 wins. Sheesh, flat out ridouculous.

NFL week 8 picks later this morning.

Oh, yeah, congrats to the Cardinals on winning the WS. Well earned and about fricking time.

NFL - Week 8

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. Thru 7 weeks I am 51 and 49 against the spread. My only dogs that I have winning out right this week are Indianapolis, Jets, and Atlanta.

The interesting games should be the Indy vs Denver game which I think will be decided by a last second FG. The Dallas game because we will all be waiting for Romo to fail and Parcells head explode when he is forced to go back to Bledsoe.

New England at Minnesota on Monday night could be interesting depending on whether the Patriots passing game has improved or if Brady becomes frustrated because his receivers keep on getting knocked off of their routes.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
Kansas City	- 5 1/2	Seattle	Kansas City
Chicago	- 16 1/2	San Francisco	San Francisco
New Orleans	- 2 1/2	Baltimore	New Orleans
Tennessee	- 3 1/2	Houston	Tennessee
New York G	- 9 1/2	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
Green Bay	- 3 1/2	Arizona	Green Bay
Cincinnati	- 4 1/2	Atlanta	Atlanta
Philadelphia	- 6 1/2	Jacksonville	Philadelphia
San Diego	- 8 1/2	St. Louis	St. Louis
Pittsburgh	- 8 1/2	Oakland	Oakland
Denver	- 2 1/2	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Cleveland	- 1 1/2	New York J	New York J
Carolina	- 4 1/2	Dallas	Dallas
New England	- 2 1/2	Minnesota	New England

Not a bad week last week ( 7 and 6) but since I basically choked in the college picks yesterday am hoping for a big, big, result today.

College Football Picks Week 9

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football picks. Just as a recap, last week I went 9 and 1 which brought my season picks to 66 and 14. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Oklahoma	3	Missouri	Oklahoma
Penn St.	1	Purdue	Purdue
Notre Dame	10	Navy	Notre Dame
Nebraska	8	Oklahoma St.	Nebraska
Arizona St.	5	Washington	Washington
Texas	9	Texas Tech	Texas
Tennessee	4	South Carolina	South Carolina
Florida St.	6	Maryland	Florida St.
Miami (Fl.)	7	Georgia Tech	Miami
Georgia	2	Florida	Florida

Some tough games this week. The Penn State - Purdue game, Georgia - Florida game, Oklahoma - Missouri game and the Tennessee - South Carolina game are all flip a coin type of games. Then again I am not too sure about the 5 - 7 games either.

The only locks, I think, are Notre Dame (almost always beats Navy), Texas and Nebraska. Nebraska appears to be back in business as a good team week after week.

The Tennessee game is tough, because I think Tennessee is the better team but that guy walking the sideline with the visor always gives the Volunteers fits. Purely a gut call.

Nfl Week 7 wrap up and other idle thoughts

Freaking cowboys, I can't believe they choked as bad as they did last night. Parcells hit the nail on the head with his comment about being embarassing. Of course what really sucked was that I ended up going 7 and 6 for the week with my picks.

Am tired of everybody griping and complaining about LaRussa not challenging Rogers etc. in game 2 of the Series. Whether he had pine tar or not, the game is over and done and is in the books. Personally, I think he did use tar, I think LaRussa should have challenged and got him suspended for the rest of the series, but I was not the one sitting on the bench worrying about my pitchers (maybe) being challenged etc. Still, would like to see St. Louis win this game (hey, grew up in that KMOX Broadcast area) and the series.

Idle thoughts

So yesterday I am sitting (ok, lounging) in the big chair watching the Tennessee and Bama game while keeping one eye on the Notre Dame UCLA game. In both games my picks were losing and I was watching 15 confidence points go down the drain, when lo and behold Notre Dame got the ball back with a little over a minute to go and you just knew they were going to pull out a win, sure enough I get that win and flip back to the Tennessee game to see Bama cough up a loss. Sometimes its better to be lucky instead of good.

1st set of NFL games have now finished, with wins in 5 of the 8 games. Mental note to self, never ever change your mind when inputting your picks, especially if the trend is with your initial pick. Still, looking better than I have in the last two weeks.

St. Louis takes the first game of the World Series and now Detroit must count on the Gambler to even the series. Don't count on it, bubs.

NFL - Week 7

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. After week 6 I am 44 and 43 against the spread. My only unders winning outright this week are Carolina and Green Bay. My initial thoughts on the Pittsburgh and Atlanta game was to have Atlanta cover, but after thinking about it I changed my mind to a close Pittsburgh win.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
San Diego	- 5 1/2	Kansas City	Kansas City
Jacksonville	- 9 1/2	Houston	Jacksonville
Cincinnati	- 3 1/2	Carolina	Carolina
NY Jets	- 3 1/2	Detroit	NY Jets
Miami	- 4 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay
New England	- 5 1/2	Buffalo	Buffalo
Philadelphia	- 5 1/2	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh	- 1 1/2	Atlanta	Pittsburgh
Denver	- 5 1/2	Cleveland	Denver
Arizona	- 3 1/2	Oakland	Arizona
Seattle	- 6 1/2	Minnesota	Minnesota
Indianapolis	- 9 1/2	Washington	Washington
Dallas	- 3 1/2	NY Giants	Dallas

Hopefully I can do better than last week when I only won 5 games (2 weeks in a row I was below 500).

Below is a chart showing the teams playing this week and how they have done against the spreaed. Headings are G - Games, HG-Home Games, and AG-Away Games.

Team	G	G Cov	HG Cov	AG Cov
San Diego	5	80%	100%	66%
Kansas City	5	20%	33%	0%
Jacksonville	5	80%	100%	50%
Houston	5	20%	33%	0%
Cincinnati	5	60%	50%	66%
Carolina	6	16%	0%	33%
NY Jets	6	60%	50%	66%
Detroit	6	33%	66%	0%
Miami	6	0%	0%	0%
Grean Bay	5	20%	0%	50%
New England	5	60%	33%	100%
Buffalo	6	50%	50%	50%
Philadelphia	6	66%	66%	66%
Tampa Bay	5	60%	66%	50%
Pittsburgh	5	40%	66%	0%
Atlanta	5	60%	66%	50%
Denver	5	40%	33%	50%
Cleveland	5	60%	50%	66%
Arizona	6	33%	50%	0%
Oakland	5	20%	0%	33%
Seattle	5	40%	100%	0%
Minnesota	5	60%	66%	50%
Indianapolis	5	40%	33%	50%
Washington	6	33%	33%	33%
Dallas	5	60%	100%	33%
NY Giants	5	66%	66%	66%

Games where I am bucking the trend are:

Kansas City - A Division game between two rivals that I expect to be won by a 4 point spread (21-17).

Carolina - I expect Carolina to win this one going away.

Buffalo - Another Division game and Buffalo always gives the Patriots fits at their place.

Tampa Bay - This is really a push as far as the percentages (Eagles 66% on the road, Tampa 66% at home).

Pittsburgh - I think Atlanta will be reeling from the Vick comments and wouldn't be surprised if they got blown out.

Denver - Another push as each team is 50% in this situation, but I believe Denver is at least a touchdown better.

Seattle - Seattle isn't as good as their record suggest and Minnesota is better than their record. Look for Seattle to win by a FG.

Indianapolis - Both teams cover 33% of the time in this matchup, another push. Still I think the Colts are the better team but won't win by 10 points.

Well, those are the picks and some of the reasons that I went the way that I did.

College Football picks week 8

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football. Just as a recap, last week I went 9 and 1 which brought my season picks to 57 and 13. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Iowa	9	Michigan	Michigan
Texas	3	Nebraska	Texas
Alabama	8	Tennessee	Tennessee
UCLA	7	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
Georgia Tech	1	Clemson	Georgia Tech
Mississippi	4	Arkansas	Arkansas
Colorado	5	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
Wisconsin	2	Purdue	Wisconsin
Fresno St	6	LSU	LSU
Indiana	10	Ohio St	Ohio ST

Pretty much a straight forward week this time. The only Upset would be the Clemson game and that is not much of an upset since Clemson is 12th ranked and Georgia Tech is 13th ranking. In fact the only game that I think will be intriguing will be the Texas at Nebraska. Is Nebraska for real or was that blow out loss to USC the blip on the schedule.
GO HOGS!!!!!!!!!!

NFL Week 6 wrap up

Well, thanks to Arizona I was able to finish on a high note. Yeah, right, I went 5 and fricking 8. On the upside I did pick Detroit to win their first game, of course it would have been nice for Seattle to have missed that field goal at the end of the game so that my upset specials could have been 2 and 0.

For the season this makes me 44 and 43. Freaking 500 for the year. Unbelievable The only good thing is that I am still alive in the eliminator challenge.

Not much going on the Red Sox front except the coaching changes. Just sitting back I think Francona is the man pulling the strings on the Papa Jack, Wallace and other firings and he is real active in hiring process. See ya later.

NFL - Week 6

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. After week 5 I am 39 and 35 against the spread (a whopping winning percantage of 53). I only have two underdogs winning outright this week, I think the St. Louis Rams will beat Seattle at home and Detroit to beat Buffalo at home.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
Dallas	- 12 1/2	Houston	Dallas
Philadelphia	- 3 1/2	New Orleans	Philadelphia
Seattle	- 3 1/2	St. Louis	St. Louis
Atlanta	- 2 1/2	New York Giants	Atlanta
Washington	- 9 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee
Buffalo	- 1 1/2	Detroit	Detroit
Baltimore	- 2 1/2	Carolina	Baltimore
Cincinnati	- 6 1/2	Tampa Bay	Cincinnati
San Diego	- 10 1/2	San Francisco	San Francisco
Pittsburgh	- 6 1/2	Kansas City	Kansas City
New York Jets	- 2 1/2	Miami	Miami
Denver	- 16 1/2	Oakland	Denver
Chicago	- 10 1/2	Arizona	Arizona

Will be interesting to see how Dallas bounces back after their complete meltdown against the Eagles last week. Has shaped up to be an interesting season so far this year with the biggest surprises being the 4 - 1 Saints, Rams, Ravens, Eagles and the 5 - 0 Bears.

Later

College Football week 7 recap

I ended my pick post with the following:

The Missouri vs Texas A & M game is also interesting. I can remember (hey I grew up in Big 8 country) when Missouri was a very good football team. They were always competitive and used to give Oklahoma and Nebraska fits every year. Its good too see them having a good year, but I still aren't sold on them being a top 25 team, thus the 2 confidence level.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my backs take on that fierce team from SE Missouri. They better win this game by 20 or they can kiss that 17 ranking good bye.

Well, sure enough the Aggies outlasted the Tigers and another dropped from the list of unbeatens. Of course I would have been happy to have been wrong about this team since that was the only game I lost today. Still 9 and 1 is good enough for me.

Oh, yeah, the Razorbacks actually listened to me for once and wiped the SE Missouri off the field. Also, with Auburn beating Florida, (another unbeaten bites the dust) I look for Arkansas to move up a spot in the polls.

Later will have my NFL picks.

College Football picks week 7

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football. Just as a recap, last week I went 8 and 2 which brought my season picks to 48 and 12. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Syracuse	7	West Virginia	West Virginia
Rutgers	3	Navy	Rutgers
Missouri	2	Texas A & M	Missouri
Ohio St.	10	Michigan State	Ohio State
Cincinnati	6	Louisville	Louisville
UCLA	4	Oregon	Oregon
Maryland	5	Virginia	Maryland
Arizona St.	9	USC	USC
Michigan	8	Penn State	Michigan
Florida	1	Auburn	Auburn

Unlike last week where I thought any of the 1 - 8 matchups could win, this week I think that any team that I rated over 4 are pretty safe.

The most intriguing matchup this week (for me at least) is the Florida vs Auburn game. #3 Florida is 6 and 0 and last week the 5 and 1 Tigers of Auburn were embarrassed at home by Arkansas (yea boy). I look for a big rebound from the defense and expect Auburn to squeak out a win at home. Still, if Florida wins this game and then runs the table the rest of the year, they will be one of the two teams in the BCS championship game.

The Missouri vs Texas A & M game is also interesting. I can remember (hey I grew up in Big 8 country) when Missouri was a very good football team. They were always competitive and used to give Oklahoma and Nebraska fits every year. Its good too see them having a good year, but I still aren't sold on them being a top 25 team, thus the 2 confidence level.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my backs take on that fierce team from SE Missouri. They better win this game by 20 or they can kiss that 17 ranking good bye.

If Good Saturdays Lead To Bad Sundays?

Well, if days like saturday lead to days where I go 4 and 10 in my football picks, I will take them. Stunning upsets by the backs and eliminations of the spankees are high on the list and will always outdo disappointments of those picks. By far my worst day of picks this year. UGGGGGLLLLLLY.

Yo, Bledsoe, how about throwing the ball to your team instead of the opposing team. The rest, well, that is what happens sometimes against the spread.

Want some good thoughts on the Tigers and A's series, well you can go to Fire Brand's for his take or Hardball Times has a good one also.

Hope you enjoyed Columbus day, I know I sure did.

NFL football week 5

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. Remember (he brags), so far am 35 and 25 this year against the spread. Before we get to the picks though make sure you check out the latest Dilbert newsletter in all its glory.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
St. Louis	- 2 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay
New Orleans	- 6 1/2	Tampa Bay	New Orleans
Indianapolis	- 18 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee
Minnesota	- 6 1/2	Detroit	Minnesota
Chicago	- 10 1/2	Buffalo	Buffalo
New York NYG	- 4 1/2	Washington	NY G
Carolina	- 8 1/2	Cleveland	Carolina
New England	- 9 1/2	Miami	Miami
San Francisco	- 3 1/2	Oakland	Oakland
Kansas City	- 3 1/2	Arizona	Arizona
Jacksonville	- 7 1/2	New York NYJ	NY J
Philadelphia	- 2 1/2	Dallas	Dallas
San Diego	- 3 1/2	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh
Denver	- 4 1/2	Baltimore	Baltimore

Underdogs that I expect to win this week: Green Bay, Oakland (yes Oakland is bad but so is San Fran and even blind squirrels find an acorn), Arizona (Lienart's first start), Dallas and Pittsburgh.

Dog upsets am 8 - 4 this season

Today was a good day

Update: **** that was quick but it looks like the Boss is already making changes. ***

Lots to be thankful for this week, starting off with a 22 year anniversary, but today was a good day.

Got 3 hours of sleep and then got up to watch my Arkansas Razorbacks stun the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare stadium 27 - 10. After getting up out of the easy chair and doing my victory dance (embarrassing the daughter and making the wife throw me out of the living room), I checked out my football picks and noticed that I was 7 and 0 in the afternoon games. Always good to start out well.

While waiting for the Yankee game to start I watched the last 30 minutes of last night's Battlestar Galactica (freaking show is driving me crazy), since I had to leave for work just as it was getting good last night. Love this series and am really glad I don't have to wait months for the next one.

Kept flipping back and forth between the Florida LSU game and that NY game, Bonderman was freaking unhittable for the first 5 innings. Will be interesting watching how the papers will blame this all on A-Rod but I notice that Giambi wasn't even playing in this game, Sheffield was just as bad as A-Rod, Damon batted 250 in the series, Mussina sucked, Johnson sucked, Wright was horrible. Looks like a total melt down to me and I fully expect explosions from the Boss in the next few days.

Like I said, today was a good day.

Arkansas at Auburn

UPDATE: Arkansas 27 Auburn 10 !!!!!!!



SOOOOIEEEEEE! PIG! SOOOOIEEEEEE! PIG!

HOGS UP BY 7 AT THE HALF. Yeah boy!!!!!!

ALDS playoffs

Am shocked by this result. The team that hasn't been able to win a series in years not only wins one but sweeps the freaking Twins. Wow.

Of course this result is just as surprising (Hey Ordway Still Think the Spankees are going to win the World Series?). Am glad that I don't bet on baseball. My picks for all four series looks like crap, with a good chance that I may go 0 - 4. ugghhh.

College Football picks week 6

Update: fixed and added links

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football. Just as a recap, last week I went 8 and 2 which brought my season picks to 40 and 10. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Clemson	3	Wake Forest	Clemson
Pittsburgh	7	Syracuse	Pitt
Purdue	6	Iowa	Iowa
Navy	5	Air Force	Navy
LSU	4	Florida	Florida
Michigan St	10	Michigan	Michigan
Tennessee	2	Georgia	Georgia
Oregon	8	California	Oregon
Nebraska	9	Iowa St.	Nebraska
Texas	1	Oklahoma	Texas

Really no surprises this week, but it was tough deciding my 1 - 10. I really think that the 1 - 8 picks are toss ups this week and would not be surprised if my 9 and 10 picks lost. Working on a Schilling review which I hope to post later after I get some sleep.

Oh yes, only game I really care about today is the Arkansas at Auburn game. Go HOGGGGGGSSSS!!!!!!!

Tavarez as a starter?

The Hardball Times takes a good look at the case for Tavarez as a starter next year in Boston. Well, worth the read here.

weei's big show asks plls delivers

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings.

Not for sure who (sean mcadam?) asked on the big show yesterday but I deliver the goods thanks to Baseball Musings database. The question was the breakdown on Beckett's games, specifically his ERA in his wins, losses and no decisions. As I think most people know when Beckett was good, he was very good and when he was bad, he was very bad. Anyway, here are the breakdowns.

Wins
In 16 wins he pitched 109 2/3 innings with a 2.22 ERA. In all but one of the 16 wins these were quality starts (6 innings 3 earned runs or less). The one bad start was on 7/8 vs the White Sox. Other things to note, he gave up 12 HR's in those starts, 26 BB's, 83 K's.

He had 3 wins where he pitched shutout ball, 5 wins giving up only 1 earned run, 4 wins giving up 2 earned runs, 3 wins giving up 3 earned runs and 1 game where he gave up
5 earned runs (3 hr's). 1/2 of all his wins no home runs were hit against him.

He won 8 games on the road ( 2 at Yankee stadium) and 8 at home. His 16 wins came against 14 different teams with only the Yankees and Phillies being the only with 2 wins.
These 11 of the 14 teams had overall winning records and combined all 14 had a .513 winning percentage.

Losses
In 11 losses he pitched 57 1/3 innings with a 10.36 ERA. Only 2 of these games did he pitch a quality start (7/3 at Tampa Bay and 8/29 at Oakland). The worst start was his 6/5 game at the Yankees where he pitched 1 1/3 inning giving up 7 earned runs on 7 hits (2 hr's, 2 BB's and 1 K).

20 of his 36 home runs allowed came in these losses, he also issued 34 BB's and only had 49 k's.

His 11 losses came against 6 teams with 2 losses to the Yankees, Cleveland, Toronto, Oakland, and Tampa Bay. Each of these teams beat him at Fenway and in their home stadium. 4 of the six teams had winning records and combined their winning percentage was .526.

No Decisions
In 6 no decisions he pitched 37 2/3 innings with a 5.02 ERA. Half of those were quality starts. He gave up 4 home runs, issued 14 BB's and struck out 26. He had 2 no decisions against Toronto and KC (1 at home and 1 away in both cases). 2 of the 4 teams he faced had winning records.

Road Starts
In 16 road starts he went 9 and 5 with a 5.21 ERA. He faced 12 different teams on the road and 10 of the 16 starts were against teams with winning records. 11 of the 16 were quality starts his pitching line went like this:

Innings	Earned Runs	Homers	BB's	K's
95	55	24	35	75

Home Starts
In 17 home starts he went 7 and 6 with a 4.84 ERA. He faced 13 different teams at home and 10 of the 17 games were against teams with winning records. 9 of the 17 were quality starts his pitching line went like this:

Innings	Earned Runs	Homers	BB's	K's
109 2/3	59	12	39	84

Vs winning teams
Beckett started 20 games against 8 teams with winning records. He went 10 and 7 with a 5.50 ERA. 11 of the 20 games were quality starts. Other parts of his performance were:

Innings	Earned Runs	Homers	BB's	K's
121	74	23	53	85

Vs losing teams
Beckett started 13 games against 7 teams with losing records. He went 6 and 4 with a 4.30 ERA. 9 of the 13 games were quality starts. Other parts of his performance were:

Innings	Earned Runs	Homers	BB's	K's
83 2/3	40	13	21	73

Other things noticed
Vs Toronto he went 1 and 2 in 5 starts with a 6.21 era, giving up 28 hits, 20 earned runs, 8 hr's, 12 BB's, 17 k's in 29 innings. The only quality start was his first start which he won.

Vs Yankees he went 2 and 2 in 4 starts with a 9.45 era, giving up 24 hits, 21 earned runs, 5 hr's, 16 BB's, 14 k's in 20 innings. He had his quality starts in both wins, his first and last start against the Yankees.

Vs Tampa Bay he went 1 and 2 in 3 starts with a 5.03 era, giving up 19 hits, 11 earned run, 5 hr's, 5 BB's, 21 k's in 19 2/3 innings. He had 2 quality starts (his first 2), 1 win - 1 loss.

Vs Baltimore he had 1 start on 5/15, which he won giving up 2 hits in 7 innings with 1 hr, 0 bb's and 6 k's.

See you later.

Playoffs and NFL Week 4 wrap up

Ugh, Green Bay started out alright then Philly brought out the stick and beat them senseless. Ugly! Still, 8 and 6 for the week and 35 and 25 for the year against the spread.

Baseball playoffs start today and my initial thoughts are Yankees in 4, Twins in 3, Dodgers in 4, and Padres in 5.

Update: added link to cardinals series.

The Hardball Times has a comprehensive breakdown of the Yankee series here. The Twins series is here. The cardinal series is here.

Firebrand has a playoff power ranking here.

Like I said I think Yankees, Twins, Dodgers and Padres move on in the first round. Second round I think will be the Dodgers and Yankees. With (gulp), the spankees winning it all.

Idle thoughts on 10/2/2006

After 40 games record of 25 - 15
After 50 games record of 30 - 20
After 54 games record 0f 33 - 21
After 81 games record of 50 - 31
After 100 games record of 61 - 39
After 108 games record of 65 - 43
After 120 games record of 69 - 51
After 150 games record of 81 - 69
After 162 games record of 86 - 76

Hard to think that at the 100 game split was the highlight of the season. The last 62 games of the year the Sox went 25 and 37.

NFL Football week 4 - Going into tonight have went 8 and 5 with my upset specials of Houston, Baltimore and Washington winning. For awhile there I also thought that the Raiders would pull it out also. Still at worse I will be 8 and 6 but I fully expect Favre and the Packers to cover the spread. See you tomorrow.

NFL - Week 4

Well its week 4 of the NFL and time for my picks of today's games. Last week I went 9 and 5 to bring the total to 27 and 19 for the first 3 weeks.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
Kansas City	- 7 1/2	San Francisco	San Francisco
Miami	- 4 1/2	Houston	Houston
Dallas	- 9 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee
Indianapolis	- 9 1/2	New York J	Indianapolis
Buffalo	- 1 1/2	Minnesota	Buffalo
San Diego	- 2 1/2	Baltimore	Baltimore
Carolina	- 6 1/2	New Orleans	New Orleans
Atlanta	- 7 1/2	Arizona	Arizona
St. Louis	- 5 1/2	Detroit	St. Louis
Cleveland	- 2 1/2	Oakland	Oakland
Jacksonville	- 2 1/2	Washington	Washington
Cincinnati	- 6 1/2	New England	New England
Chicago	- 3 1/2	Seattle	Chicago
Philadelphia	- 10 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay

As far as upsets, I think Houston, Baltiomore, Oakland and Washington will win their games.

Game 161 and other thoughts

Well, as far as I am concerned last nights game sums up the last third of the season. A 1 run game gets derailed by the inablility of Timlin to close the deal. At least the streak is over because when we wake up on Monday morning the Sox will be looking up at both the spankees and the jays.

Once again, the phrase through out New England will be "wait till next year".

College football was pretty good today. Watched most of the Florida Alabama game. No matter what the scoreboard shows this game was close. A late interception return for a TD finally put the game away. I really thought that Florida would win this one by a bigger margin. They had the revenge factor going for them, the hangover effect due to Alabama's choke last week against my beloved Razorbacks and the coach factor was in their favor also. They surprised me though as their defense came to play and the running game was solid. I now wouldn't be surprised if Bama went 5 and 2 the rest of the way to close with an 8 and 4 record.

I can't believe that I picked Utah to beat Boise State. I watched most of the first half of this game also ( I love PIP). Boise State is a lot better than I thought. Will be interesting to see how their season goes.

Still, all in all, I can't complain as I went 8 and 2 for the week. After 5 weeks (remember I'm not picking against the spread) the record stands at 40 and 10.