I Split Again

The Cardnails just scored. Pennsyltucky Dave just put his shoes on, on the off chance that he was jinxing the Eagles by taking them off. Apparantly he wore them last week vs. the Giants. Barbarian.

The Cardnails just intercepted a McNabb pass on a tip, returned the ball 30 yards or so, then fumbled. Philly's whistling past the graveyard. 7-3.

It's 14-6. Did I mention that I took philadelphia(-4)overARIZONA? Well I did. 'Zona looks like they're going to score again.

They just did. Larry Fitzgerald has two touchdowns. Make that three. Apparantly I don't notice his scores when they aren't spectacular. Dave is shouting at the TV about every other play, the miserable prick. Makes me glad to be a Lions fan.

I knew I should've picked the AFC game before this one started. Now my confidence is shattered. I should've seen this coming. I think I'm still taking Pittsburgh though. This could be the game where Joe Flacco gets EXPOSED. Not to mention Baltimore's defense, who gave up a ton of yards to Chris Johnson last week before he got injured. The injury list for Baltimore looks like a phone book.

Wow. Ten minutes to go and the Eagles just took the lead, 25-24. While I generally root for teams that don't cover for me to lose outright, if the Eagles can hold on to win I think I will feel vindicated in not trusting the Cardnails.

The Cardnails won, 32-25, converting a two-point conversion after their go-ahead score. That conversion, giving the Cards a seven point lead, was my best chance to cover, as it opened the possibility of overtime, and a lucky Eagles TD in sudden death. Didn't happen though. Sometime in the fourth quarter I took PITTSBURGH(-6)over baltimore. Pittsburgh dominated that game, though the scoreboard didn't show it. They should have been up by about 20 at halftime, but instead led 13-7. I guess they got more for their domination than Tennessee did.

I drove Dave home at halftime. He says he won't watch the Super Bowl, now that the Eagles are out, despite the fact that he will be stuck in a hotel room in Atlanta. I guess I felt the same way about the World Series last year.

When the Ravens got down to the Pittsburgh one, courtesy of a pass interference call, my bet was in jeopardy, and when Willis McGahee scored I was upside down. The Ravens trailed,
16-14, four points to the good as far as I was concerned. Going into this weekend I was rooting for the Ravens, despite wagers to the contrary, and at this point they were a big play from the Super Bowl. Now that the Cardnails had completed their unlikely journey, the Ravens would have made for the most striking contrast of styles, their defense vs the Cardnails offense. What about the Steelers, you ask? Not one-dimensional enough. While we will certainly hear endless hype about the Steelers defense and the Cardnails offense, most contests are decided by the matchup of weakness against weakness. The Steelers weakness is their offensive line, and today they looked pretty damn good against one of the best defenses in the league.

In truth the Pittsburgh punter looked just awful, so this might be their big weakness. Hopefully they won't have to punt a whole lot the rest of the way. Anyway, as something of an adopted Baltimorean (Baltimoreite? Baltimander?) I wanted to see the Ravens go all the way, but the way they'd been hanging around the last couple of games, I didn't think they deserved to be there, and frankly, I was becoming less and less sure they could beat the Cardnails if they made it that far.

So I was happy to see Troy Polamalu return an errant Joe Flacco throw for a touchdown. The game ended without a garbage touchdown from the Ravens, and my weekend was salvaged.

I hunted around the internet for pointspreads after the game, and apparenyly Pittsburgh is favored by 6.5 or 7. I'm sure by the time bodog posts a line it will be 7, or 7.5, if not 8. Cowards.

Philly had been favored by 4.5 for a bit last week, so I considered myself fortunate to get them at 4. I think the line even moved back to 4.5 after I bet. The Pittsburgh line was steady once it moved to 6 (from 5), but I think I saw that one at 6.5 as well.

Giants, Chargers Exposed

I took the Eagles and four as expected. Right now it's 3-0 New York, and Pennsyltucky Dave is sitting on the couch next to me in a Westbrook jersey. This can't end well. Either I will end up listening to him bitch through the entire Chargers game, or he will be insufferably obnoxious through the entire Chargers game.

Pensyltucky Dave told his friends at home I call him that. One responded, "I ain't no hick!" At least he knew I was implying that they were hicks. Next he'll be walking upright.

McNabb just stuck it across, and Dave belted out an E-A-G-L-E-S cheer. Lord. Now he's yelling at Derrick Ward not to mess with Brian Dawkins or Dawkins will tear him a new asshole. Something like that. I'm silently congratulating myself on not letting him drink.

The Giants got a safety on a bad call. McNabb got hit, altering his pass and confusing the refs into thinking he intentionally grounded the ball. 7-5. In related news, I'm considering offering Dave some coffee, but I'm not sure about giving him caffiene.

It's 4th & 2 for the Giants, just before 1/2time. The Giants kicker looks like the guy that throws the remote at the wide screen TV in the "wanna get away?" Southwest ads. He made the field goal, so he's two out of three and its too soon to make fun of him. Maybe in the 2nd half.

Philly drove down and answered with a field goal of their own. It's halftime, and Philly leads
10-8. Philly will get the ball to start the 2nd half, and will get the ball in the 4th quarter. MVP so far? The wind.

4:20 left in the third, and Philly holds onto a 13-11 lead, as the Giants kicker hooks one left. Wanna get away? Har-de-har. He's three of five, and 4 of 5 would give them a lead....

Field goals will not decide this game. Philly leads, 23-11, 3:42 remaining. Me and Dave are trying to figure out pointspreads for the next couple of weeks. I say Philly by one, or a pick next week. At first Dave said 'Zona by three, then he backed off to a pick. Sandbagger.

Steve Smith (the Giants wideout, not Carolinas) just juked the ball out of his hands. The Eagles recovered. Game over. First NFL game ever to end 23-11.

I am LaDanian Tomlinson in more ways than I know, according to the Chunky Soup ads. Tell me about it. I turn 39 this month. I too, am old and washed up. I too, watched helplessly as the Chargers lost. Worse, I watched them fail to cover. I wonder if Pittsburgh's 35-24 butt-whipping was convincing enough that we don't have to listen to Charger fans whine in the offseason. Or the Chargers for that matter.

You don't hear me whining about the loss. I'm whining on the inside. Har.

Actually I don't mind losing that one a bit. Now I don't have to figure out if the Chargers are for real or not. Just Arizona. And Philadelphia. And Baltimore. Just kidding. Arizona is not for real, Philly is. Baltimore is for real too, but not as real as Pittsburgh. The Steelers just turned into the sort of singularity that White Zombie had in mind in the song
More Human than Human. They are predatory higher life forms, like vampires. Or lycans.

My dish went out again after the games. Now I have something to whine about. Since it was out this morning I knew how to fix it, and did. Who did I see as soon as the signal came back? LT! I waited expectantly, but he delivered a whine-free interview. He looked like he was about to cry, but hey, so does Tim Duncan, and Duncan's the man.

Now I have a week to talk myself into betting on the Ravens, getting five. I don't think it will be long enough. Before the game I was figuring on taking the Ravens. I figured the Steelers would be overrated, and the Chargers would still feel unreliable enough to where I'd like Baltimore. Can Baltimore win? Yes. Can they cover? Certainly. Can Pittsburgh pop Joe Flacco like a zit? You betcha. I'll betcha.

Pittsburgh lost to New York and Philly earlier this year. At this point I think I'd favor them over either. We'll see in a couple of weeks, when the Eagles once more play the bridesmaid, after which their fans again consider whether they want to can Donovan McNabb. I pissed and moaned a couple of years ago when the Steelers lucked their way to a championship over the
C-hawks (C is for choke--clever, no?) but this time they are for real. They are like the 2000 Ravens, only with a better offense. The Ravens are like the 2005 Steelers, only they don't get to play against Jake Plummer. And they didn't luck their way past Peyton Manning, only Kerry Collins. That's right, the Titans dominated much of that game. If the Ravens regress towards the mean, that means they get reamed--next week.

I'm glad Arizona won, since I picked them, but now that the Chargers won one playoff game, and 'Zona's won two, we're never going to get the NFL to fix the playoff system.

I've already heard the arguments for San Diego. I know they beat New England. Matt Cassel was still trying to figure out what he was doing, but fine. San Diego deserves it more. Fine.

New England beat Arizona 47-7. Pittsburgh looks dominant right now, especially against the remaining 6 and 4 seeds. Do they beat Indy? Do they beat New England? I'm happy to watch them play Baltimore, because I think they belong in the AFC Championship game. But I'd be happy to watch them play New England too. Would Pittsburgh be happy to play them? Maybe. I bet they wouldn't be favored by five though.

What will Pittsburgh be favored by if they play Arizona? 13? 14? 16? Philly is favored by 2.5 or 3, depending on who you ask, which works out to them being favored by 8.5 or 9 at home. 'Zona's 20 point win over Carolina has earned them a point of respect. Nice. Philly beat them in Philly, 48-20. Nice.

Three Dog Night?

Before this weeks games, the statistic everyone kept pounding was that Jake Delhomme is third alltime in playoff QB rating after Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas. Or was that Joe Montana and John Unitas? I wonder where he ranks now. Steve Smith caught a TD pass a play ago, so that should help a bit. Carolina just missed the 2-point conversion, so the game should end, 33-13.

You'd think that the above zinger was born out of frustration, but no. I took
arizona(+10)overCAROLINA. I seriously considered going the other way, but in the end I decided I was more nervous laying ten with the Panthers than getting it with the Cardnails. All the hype swayed me, but didn't uproot me.

If there was any frustration it came from the first game, where I took
TENNESSEE(-3)overbaltimore. Tennessee dominated much of that game, but came up empty over and over. I'm happy for the Ravens, as Baltimore is the latest of my adopted cities, but I still doubt they can keep winning on turnovers and big plays. I adopt cities the way Angelina Jolie adopts third world street urchins, as opposed to the way Mia Farrow adopts third world street urchins. That's why I don't root for the Cowboys, Astros, or Spurs.

Pittsburgh wins on turnovers and big plays, so what the heck. I suspect the Ravens have an inferiority complex vis a vis their divisional rivals, but I'm not convinced the Steelers make it past the Chargers tomorrow, so what the heck. That's right, I've got
sandiego(+6)overPITTSBURGH. This is the only line I jumped on at the beginning of the week

a.) Because I'm not convinced that the Steelers score often enough to be favored by six over anybody--

b.) Because I expected the line to drop to 5.5 or 5 immediately.

I was wrong. Pittsburgh seems to be the popular side, though not enough to move the line any. Now, I fully expect Big Ben to play like crap most of the game, get knocked around by the Chargers' pass rush, but make two or three big plays to win the game. I just think that translates to Steelers, 17-13, or Steelers, 9-7. Maybe I should take the under. The O/U is 38. I could get a push with a 21-17 result. Nice!

I still haven't bet the Giants-Eagles game, but I've been leaning
philadelphia(+4)overNYGIANTS all week. This line was originally five, which had me more excited than any line other than Chargers(+6). I thought the line ought to be Giants by 3.5, lower if you think the Eagles can shut down the Plaxless version, but more if you think Brandon Jacobs was the key missing ingredient last time 'round.

I Split Weekend

The Ravens-Dolphins line has moved to 4. I got the Ravens -3, so that makes me feel a little better about the lines I settled for in Saturday's games. The Eagles are now favored by 3.5 as well, so at least I got them for -3. Now the Vikes will probably win. Right now the Ravens and 'Fins are knotted at 3. The under looks damn near unassailable right now.

Ed Reed just returned an interception 57 yards for a touchdown. 10-3 Ravens, just in front of the two-minute warning.


The Ravens took over the game, winning 27-9. Chad Pennington threw four interceptions, including one more to Ed Reed. If it's any consolation, this is the only game where I really felt confident of the outcome, and it turned out to be the only game that wasn't really close.

The Eagles came through and beat the Vikings, 23-14. For a while my big worry was that the Eagles wouldn't bother to score again, and would only win 16-14, failing to cover the three points. After they scored, I was afraid Minnesota would get a meaningless late TD (or a more meaningful, earlier TD, for that matter) and would lose by only two. Ah, the joys of sports betting.

I just found the early lines for next weeks games. Here they are:

TENNESSEE(-3)baltimore
CAROLINA(-9.5)arizona
NYGIANTS(-4.5)philadelphia
PITTSBURGH(-6)san diego

Right now I like San Diego with the points, and Tennessee giving three. I'm afraid the line will move before I can get these numbers. On the other hand, a line move on the NFC games might help me decide. If Carolina goes up to 10.5 I think I'd have to take Arizona. I sort of expect a Carolina blowout, but I think the Panthers are unreliable enough that they shouldn't give more than ten.

I think NY should be favored by about 3.5. I also suspect Philadelphia has their number right now. Right now I'm leaning Philly, and I think I'll take them at this number, and almost definitely if it moves to five.

Home 'Dogs Prevail

I got the Colts a couple of days ago when the line dropped to 1.5. After that it moved back to two on news that LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates were injured and might not play. It's almost halftime now, LT and Gates are playing, though perhaps not consistently. Darren Sproles just scored, giving the Chargers a 14-10 lead, and giving me a chance to go 0-2 today.

Speaking of which, the Colts may have just fumbled the kickoff.

After a long review, the Colts retain posession.

The Falcons line opened with them favored by one, moved to 2.5, then dropped to a pick. Unfortunately, I got the Falcons with the worst line possible. On the upside, the Falcons lost
30-24, so this didn't cost me. If the Falcons had come back to win 31-30 I would have been screwed.

The Colts line opened as a pick, jumped to two, dropped to 1.5, then came back up to two. I got the best line that was available to me, but overall on a 4.5 point swing over two games I've given 4 out of 4.5 points. This bothers me about as much as being on the wrong side, so far.

I went to Austin last night to see my cousin's ska band, the Green Room Rockers. They drove down from Purdue, and will play in San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, and from there they go to Georgia & Florida...perhaps to Atlanta and Jacksonville, but I don't remember. I had to work this morning on about an hour & a half of sleep, but the silver lining was that I slept through the first half of Falcons-Cardnails.

Darren Sproles just took a screen pass down to the one where he fumbled. The ball went out the back of the end zone. Touchback, Colts. Tomlinson has about six carries and I don't think he's played this quarter. At halftime the announcers were falling all over themselves over how LT wasn't supposed to play, but has! Then they caught themselves and admitted that he had only six carries, can't really cut, and had only one good run. Douchebags. Say what you like about Madden, but at least he's figured out that the Chargers will go as far as Rivers and Sproles can take them.

I should've taken the under. 17-14 with just over two minutes left.

The Chargers won in OT, on a 22 yard touchdown run by Sproles, who totaled 328 all-purpose yards. At least I took the Colts when the line dropped, rather than betting the Tomlinson injury. Sproles is a more than adequate replacement for LT. I would even argue that this year he has been an improvement. We'll see if Pittsburgh or Tennessee can handle him next week.