Weekly Picks

Finally a good week. It did turn out to be one of the easiest weeks in years, but still 50% of the teams lost so I take a little pride and hope to keep the good feelings going.

denver -3 1/2 CAROLINA
I love the way Peyton Manning's playing and the Panthers are bad. I actually like picking against bad teams right after a win.

atlanta -2 1/2 NEW ORLEANS
Atlanta has been walking a lot of tightropes on the way to 8-0 but the Saints, even though they are showing signs of life, are still terrible on defense. And Atlanta keeps finding a way to wind.

houston +1 1/2 CHICAGO
Everybody is on the Bears bandwagon right now. But please remember even with an awesome ballhawk like Peanut Tillman, turnovers are largely a product of luck. I say they don't get the turnovers this week, and Cutler makes a few.

MINNESOTA +2 1/2 detroit
This is another contrarian indicator. The Lions have been hot lately but their defense still stinks. Ponder has been bad lately, but things do tend to turn around.

BEST BET
new york giants -3 1/2 CINCINNATI

All of the sudden the Giants stink, Eli Manning is bad again and the Giants fans are panicking. The team is good, Eli Manning is great and no way they lose two straight games, the second against the Bengals. But they do like to make things interesting so I am moderately afraid of a field goal game.

Last Week: 4-1 (5 points)
Season: 19-26 (14 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (2-7)
Home Favorites: 2-0 (5-15)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (4-2)
Road Favorites: 2-0 (6-6)
Road Underdogs: 0-1 (4-3)

3000 Words: Hurricane Sandy Edition

My alma mater, Susan E. Wagner High School is being used as a staging ground for relief efforts. And those displaced from their homes by the storm are sleeping in the school's gymnasium.

New York Magazine photo of the city with the lights out in most of Lower Manhattan.

The destroyed boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach where we have taken the kids the past two years, and hope to make an annual tradition.

How Tall This Fall

Our Halloween tradition continues. Kids are getting big.

2012:

2011:



2010:



2009:



2008:



2007:

Behind the Numbers

I love looking at exit polls to see which groups and topics that haven't gotten much attention are interesting.

First, the Jews: 69% to Obama, 30% for Romney. Jews make up only 2% of the entire vote.

93% of blacks voted for Obama. Down slightly from 2008. They were 13% of the total vote.

Gays made up 5% of the vote. More than twice as many gays as Jews. And I'm sure there were plenty of gay Jews. Anyway, 76% voted for Obama, 22% for Romney. That surprises me. Nearly one in four gay people went for Romney. That tells me two things: they are not single issue voters, and they realize that even if Obama says he thinks gay marriage should be legal, he hasn't addressed it in his policies for four years. So if neither candidate wants to make gay marriage legal, might as well find another issue to decide on.

Young people (under 30) voted for Obama by a 60 to 37 margin. Unmarried women went to Obama 67 to 31. If we're going to pay for their birth control I at least hope the sluts put out.

38% think Barack Obama is most to blame for the current economy. 53% say George W. Bush is most to blame.

18% of voters say their household contains a union member. And those voters went to Obama by a margin of 58-40. Surprised so many union households went to Romney actually

Here's the scariest number to me. 15% said response to Hurricane Sandy was the most important issue to them. Those voters went for Obama 73 to 26. I think the media, and Chris Christie may have given the President an assist there. While early response seemed to be good, FEMA predictably failed to provide strong assistance as the days wore on.

And the most upsetting number: only 60% of voters have a full-time job. The full-time jobbers were split 49-49. Those part-timers and unemployed went for Obama 53-45, giving some credence to the joke that Obama would be in the lead until Republicans got off of work.

Song of the Week

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The NFL is Poop - Week 9

Don’t Hibernate on the Bears Defense wins championships, especially opportunistic defenses that force turnovers. And that is why the Bears are dangerous. The Bears scored 51 points, the highest total for the franchise since 1980. They forced 5 turnovers. Peanut Tillman forced 4 fumbles, breaking his own record. Before you say that this was just against the Titans please remember the Bears defense has scored 7 touchdowns, this season, and only allowed 17. They are +16 in turnover margin. They are 7-1 and their only loss was a game Jay Cutler threw 4 interceptions. And Peanut Tillman has been doing this for years. He has 36 forced fumbles, 32 interceptions and 7 touchdowns. It’s pretty hard for a defensive back to win Defensive Player of the Year, unless he has a large number of interceptions, but if it could happen, this could be the year, and Peanut Tillman could be that player.

Where Did They Come From?
When last we spoke of the Tampa Bay ExpensiveCornPrices they were rushing their opponents on kneel downs in an effort to prove that their effort was for the full 60 minutes. But now we have a better reason to speak of them. They are an offensive juggernaut. They scored 19 ppg game in their first four, and 36 ppg in their next four. A lot of that is because of Doug Martin from Boise State who is averaging 139 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry over the past 4 games. That includes his incredible 251 yards, 4 touchdown performance against the Raiders. As you fantasy geeks surely know, it is one of the best fantasy games of all time. Only surpassed 3 times, by players who scored 5 touchdowns, Shaun Alexander, Jerry Rice and Clinton Portis, who put up 54 fantasy points in a game against the Chiefs in 2003.

I Hate New York
Eli Manning has given the Giants two Super Bowls. This season he’s led the Giants to some exciting wins. As recently as two weeks ago the New York Post was wondering if he was the best quarterback in the NFL. But one subpar performance has the Post ripping Eli on the back cover. It’s the reason the Knicks and Mets have been bad for so long. The pressures in New York are unbelievable and there is zero patience, even for a guy who has already won two Super Bowls.

Lucky Again
The New York Giants continue to be on the receiving end of some favorable breaks including a horrible call by the officials that resulted in a Giants touchdown. Ben Roethlisberger’s arm was hit by Osi Umenyiora as he pulled it back to pass. It didn’t dislodge the ball though. His arm moved forward while still maintaining possession of the ball. According to the tuck rule, any forward movement of the arm constitutes an effort to make a forward pass. This call was botched by the officials, and upheld under replay (perhaps they thought the ball had been knocked loose), resulting in a touchdown for the Giants. This didn’t cost the Steelers the game, thankfully, because if it had, this would have been the worst call since the Fail Mary.



Game of the Week
Indianapolis Colts 23 Miami Dolphins 20
Both of these teams are surprisingly frisky this season which made for a very interesting contest. This game may be remembered as Andrew Luck’s coming out party. He threw for 433 yards, a rookie record, set by Cam Newton last year. He led his team on two late drives to take the lead. And he converted on 13 of 19 third downs. But even more memorable than that, was this postgame speech by Chuck Pagano, who we now know is in remission, after undergoing treatments for leukemia.



Game of Next Week
Houston Texans at Chicago Bears
Two 7-1 and teams going at it. This should be a fun game. This could easily be the matchup at the end of this column if the damn Falcons would just lose a game.

A Brief Rant About the Redskins
I think the league is starting to figure out RGIII and Kyle Shanahan’s lame offense. Run on first down, run on second down, play-action pass on third down. 25 points in the last 2 games, after scoring more than 20 in every game but one out of the first 7. The Redskins are second in the league in rushing yards. And second worst in passing yards allowed. This is the 21st century, it is a passing league. We have dynamic quarterback and yet we are still trying to play smashmouth football from the 1950s.

Picture of the Week
The NFL honors the military by having fans holds up placards before the Packers-Cardinals game.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
Atlanta Falcons 21 Houston Texans 17
The Falcons are not impressive, but they keep winning. Similar story for the Texans but I can't remove either one of them until they lose.

Election Prediction

Electoral College
Barack Obama: 294
Mitt Romney: 244

Popular Vote
Barack Obama: 51.5% (64.8 million)
Mitt Romney: 47%
Gary Johnson: 1.5%

Election will be called at 1:15 AM Wednesday morning.