Football?

I've been mildly distracted this week. I rushed my picks, not even glancing at the spreads offered in each game. The Saints will win. The Chargers will too. What's got my attention? I started back at work and had a blast relearning my job after a three month hiatus. Also, 6,494 players in the WSOP Main Event have been shaved down to the November Nine. The Final Table is starting as I type this. There are 7 "professional" poker players out of the nine left. Sure, it's all luck and no skill. (lol).

If you have the ESPN coverage DVR'd, don't read this: Phil Ivey, the greatest player in the world, is at this year's final table. I can't wait to see how he does with a mildly short stack. (He's got about 15 trips around the table left at the current blind level). For hand-by-hand coverage, check out this site. I haven't been this excited about anything poker in a very long time; that is saying a lot!

The Heavily Favored Home Teams Have It

The total point spread in favor of the home teams this week is 81 to 3.5. The only road team favored is the Texans in Buffalo. Ironically I think it is the best situation for an upset. The Texans haven’t run the ball worth a damn this year. Their 79.1 yards per game on the ground is 30th in the league. They will be facing the 10th best pass defense in the league, and one that doesn’t like to give up points (7th in the AFC). If the Bills can manage their third downs, and if they happen to stop the mediocre Texan running game they have an excellent shot of winning at home.

The only other upset I picked this week was the Giants over the Eagles in Philly. They’re not even the favorite anymore after a few days of people taking the points and the Giants. The Eagles are a hit and miss team. The Giants aren’t. Well, the Giants have been nothing but miss for two weeks, but they’re better than they showed against the Cardinals. They will likely handle Philly with ease.

Another close call for me was the favored Packers at home vs. the Vikings. Green Bay has been nothing but great all year. They had two close losses (including their last loss versus the Vikings) to first place teams. They have also put a hurting on every bad team they’ve played. It’s amazing that I’m going to say this, but the Packers may be the most underrated team in the NFL. ESPN has them as the lowest ranked two loss team. We’ll see Sunday if that holds up.

Monday Night Football pits the 10 point home favorite Almighty Saints versus the Atlanta Falcons. Easy pick. Saints the rest of the way. And if I had any doubts, last week’s second half erased them.

Televised Bills Games are Bad for My Heart

The Bills have won again! It’s amazing! I can’t figure out why a team like Carolina would be so pass-happy early against the worst run defense in the entire NFL. It was nice to see though. I’m excited to see where the Bills go from here. (Did I just give praise to the Bills by not calling them Jauron’s Team and follow it up with an “excited” comment in the same paragraph??) Thank goodness for Carolina’s 19-yard line average starting field position.

The most upsetting game for me was the Cowboys v. Falcons. Once again I was close enough in the pool that a win by the Falcons would have had me tied going into the Monday night game. Not only was that upsetting, but I hate to see the Cowboys win anytime they’re not playing the Raiders or the Patties.

I didn’t get to watch the MNF game, as I was on my way back home to Sitka. It was unimpressive seeing the score. If the Eagles can lose to the Raiders and seemingly barely beat the Redskins, I don’t expect them to do well against better opponents. Also unimpressive this week: the Giants. Not that I watched the game. Collinsworth prevented me from doing so. I expect the Giants to easily handle a team so affected by a good pass rush. Perhaps their game against the Raiders caused them two weeks’ worth of hangover?

For the first time this season both of my favorite teams won in the same week! I went 10-3 this week, which is excellent (still not enough to win though). Overall that brings me to 66-37 (.641) heading into week 8. Not too shabby.

It is finally time for me to fly back home to my family. After 91 days away, I fly to Anchorage today and on to Sitka tomorrow. My trip here was better than expected. The family and I coped well, and we’re all looking forward to a couple of months of “down” time over the holiday season. We had a great supporting cast throughout. I want to say thank you so much to all of the friends and family that helped out with timely care-packages, phone calls, emails, and blog posts to keep our minds off the unfortunate parts of such a trip.

The crew here was great as well. Three months is a long time to spend every waking moment with people you work with. Each person’s year-long tour here is a testament to their mental and emotional toughness, and their willingness to look out for each other. I will miss each of them, and I look forward to seeing them again this winter if I am back up here for the opilio season.