Thursday Night Football

How about that soccer game last night? Oh, couldn't watch it? Me neither. Why directv doesnt have TSN and why my stupid antenna refuses to pick up NBC Nonstop in chicago is beyond me. Oh well, football time. I intentionally waited until now to try to get a better line on the Bears/Packers game. I was looking for an elusive 7, which it is clear now is not going to come through. I will, however, take Bears +6 (from Jazz) and hope that Greg Jennings being out pays dividends. Look for the Bears to win outright, and if football isn't your sport, the Dodgers and Cardinals should make for a good MLB game tonight as well.

How about some soccer?

Tonight's pick is gonna be a controversial choice. I know many of you do not care for soccer, especially American soccer, but tonight's game has a special meaning for me, as do all games between Toronto and Chicago teams.

My best friend from college is from Toronto and it is always fun to root for all the Chicago teams to display their dominance over our friends to the north.

The Chicago Fire and Toronto FC square off tonight and I encourage everyone to give it a chance. These teams play aggressive so it should be a bit faster paced and exciting than most American Soccer.

The betting line is at a pick em, I'll take Chicago to overcome the syrup sippers!

Back to Posting

I got a bit buried this weekend, so no picks or posts. Here is a little piece for today though.

The pick is the Nationals over the Mets outright. Not only do I really enjoy watching the Nationals play, but Zimmerman will all but determine my shot at a fantasy baseball championship this year. I need a big night to secure some pitching categories.

This should also make for a great TV matchup as R.A. Dickey is throwing for the Mets.

Nationals-1/2

Saturday Football Pick

The basketball draft went well. I think I have a good shot at the championship this year. The Utah / Utah State game was a good one. Utah State won outright and I blew my pick. It just didn't look like Utah was taking the game seriously until it was too late. No national championship for either of these teams, but it was entertaining on a Friday night. For today's selection, I like Alabama -38 over Western Kentucky. I'm hoping that the Crimson Tide can run up the score and win huge. Watching the Maryland game right now, so sorry for the short post. More to come tomorrow.

A Win! And another pick.

Cincinnati came out of the gates string and seemed to turn on the cruise control late. If not for a miraculous shovel pass by Pitt's QB, the score would have been even more lopsided.

Picked up another win here and some of my personal plays hit as well, making for a good day in everything but tennis. (Tennis is my kryptonite) If anyone is interested in joining our pigskin pick em group on espn, drop me a line.

I will keep the college football picks rolling, mostly because I am so excited that football is back! Utah and Utah State face off tonight in an instate rivalry game.

Bet365  has Utah at-6.5 and I like that number being down under 7. Utah played well last week and should be able to put this one away before too late in the game. Utah State should come to play however and that stadium should be pretty pumped up about a chance to take down Utah.

My pick: Utah-6.5

Tomorrow is my fantasy basketball draft and I will have Lebron at any price. Look for a late pick for one of the night games.

Pick for 9/6

Raise your hand if you had the Cowboys winning by 7 last night. Now put your hand down, you are lying. Obviously the Giants didn't cover the spread, losing outright and looking bad in a huge game.

The Giants have no RB depth behind Bradshaw and everyone looked flat but Martellus Bennent who was slow at times. It could be a long year for Eli and company, but there are a lot of games yet to be played.

As far as today's pick goes, I am looking at the Pitt/Cincinatti game. I found Cincinnati -4.5 on Matchbook, so I'm going to run with that number. Seeing as this game opened at 2.5 and can be found now at 5.5, its obvious who is the bigger fish in this game. With how poorly Pitt played last week I'm surprised its not more. I won't be able to watch this one tonight, but it should be a good one, more exciting than last night at the very least. The BearCats are an aggressive team and that makes for good TV.

The NFL is here!

Split my Lynx pick last night, but won against the spread. Streak for the Cash this month had started pretty rough and I am having trouble stringing wins together.

In order to win our yearly contest, all I need to do is avoid an absolute tanking... but on to the NFL!

The Cowboys and Giants kick off the season in just about 12 hours. With the Cowboys dealing with a variety of injuries and their recent inability to beat the Giants, I am not sure they can win this game. If Demarco Murray shows up in a big way there is a chance, but with the limited reps that Cowboys starters received this preseason, the Giants could go up big early and never look back.

Add the homefield advantage for the defending champs and I have to take the Giants-3.5 over the Cowboys.

Enjoy the opener and good luck in your fantasy matchups!

How to pick on a thin day.

Blew that tech game yesterday, sorry. Georgia Tech played really well and were just a clutch kick away from winning a huge game for them.

Today is a really thin sports day. Baseball has a half slate and there is no college football to be had, so I wasn't sure which way to go today.

So I an gonna end up taking a WNBA game. The Minnesota Lynx host the LA Sparks tonight in what could an entertaining game. The spread is sitting at 8.5 and I like the Lynx to cover.

This game will also be my espn Streak for the Cash pick tonight as I try to nail this pick right on the spread by taking the Lynx to win by single digits.

Pulling all the way for that 9-point win, which should make for a great 4th quarter of TV.

Football the rest of the week!

9/3 Pick and Some Louisville Opinion

<p>Hit that pick yesterday! Back to a respectable 2-2! </p>
<p>Louisville began putting together some sustained drives and came up with good momentum breaks on defense to put this game away. </p>
<p>Kentucky has a chance to be a decent team, but I think bowl qualification is the ceiling for this team.</p>
<p>For today's pick, I am going to go with Virginia Tech -7.5 over Georgia Tech. VT is not getting enough love at home and should be able to dictate pace and speed to the yellowjackets. Expect some big points to be scored tonight!

9/2 Pick

West Virginia demolished Marshall and covered the spread easily. Move me to 1-2!

Gonna go with Louisville -13.5 tonight over Kentucky. I'm up in the north woods so I don't have a great set of stats in front of me, but I don't think Kentucky will be able to keep up in the 2nd half.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

Michigan State and 9/1 Pick

I thought I had gotten it right. I thought Michigan State would dominate Boise.

This did not happen at all. After making an observation about how good Maxwell looked on twitter (@kingoflakemoor), he went on to self destruct and throw more bad passes than anyone ever needs to.

I have not yet had the chance to watch most of the 2nd half, but be assured that I will and that I will then have more to say about Maxwell.

Boise is essentially eliminated from the public consciousness with this loss and it will be their last year of whining about the BCS as they join a real conference next year.

So now moving on from this 0-2 start (0-3 if you count the under hitting in the Boise/MSU game,) there is a very diverse slate of games for the first day of September. I was very tempted to take Notre Dame over Navy, but it seemed too easy.

Instead, my pick will be West Virginia -24.5 vs Marshall. This isn't really  a rivalry game as much as it is a free win for the Mountaineers. I am not expecting much from Marshall in this one and WV should win easily.

I will spend my morning watching the Badgers dismantle northern Iowa and Northwestern play Syracuse, which should be a great game if anyone is looking for a game to watch.

NCAA Pick for 8/31

Tonight I have Michigan State covering the 7 point spread over Boise State. I missed on South Carolina last night, beginning the season with a disappointing loss. I felt that they came out a bit flat beside Lattimore. For tonight, I figure that with all of Boise State's new starters on both sides of the ball, they will not be able to keep up with Sparty. This is a Boise team that has proven they can beat big name teams early in the season, but I do not think that this year will be so successful without their experienced players. I'm expecting the over to hit, but my official pick is Michigan State -7.

Football Already?

It is mid July, which means that it is time for my way too early football coverage to begin. We are only a few short weeks from preseason action and well within drafting season for all the most casual fantasy players.

So how could there possibly be enough going on for a blog entry you may be asking. The answer is much more complex than the question, but the short answer is that there is only not enough going on for most mainstream fans. Baseball season is barely passed the halfway point and the Tour de France and Olympics will fill the public imagination for the rest of July.

But for the "hardcore" and for the multi sport fantasy players, football season cannot come soon enough. There are those among us (me) who have been eyeing the calendar, waiting for a date close enough to September to begin hounding friends and family about picks leagues, fantasy trades, and Sunday parties.

That time is now. With my major keeper league less than a month from draft day, I was far past excited for football to start. With Drew Brees signing for my Saints and Matt Forte receiving a new contract from the hometown Bears, I can no longer wait for the season to begin. FOOTBALL STARTS NOW!

Within the next few weeks I will be posting on the blog, getting a reader picks league going, presenting my preseason rankings and standings projections, and maybe even putting a G+ fantasy league put together. (I also have an open spot in my big keeper league with Ryan Mathews at $6)

I'm looking forward to sharing this Fall of Fantasy and Football with my readers!

CWS Bracket

The College World Series begins on Friday, but the Division 1 tournament has been active the last 2 weeks. I missed on quite a few upsets, but with the exception of Kent State and Stony Brook, the final eight teams are nothing too shocking. Here are my picks the rest of the way. I'm looking forward to some more great baseball. Feel free to leave you own picks in the comments or I can send you an empty bracket.