Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 7th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

"In the NFL it's not IF you get injured, its WHEN." - William Shakespeare (probably)

We are through 6 weeks of NFL action and that’s exactly what its been, non-stop action. We’ve had the President tweet multiple times about the league. Experts proclaiming Carson Wentz is the next John Elway. Half the league kicking themselves for not drafting Deshaun Watson. And lost in all the action, not many people have noticed the Browns have still not won a game. There has been something different about this year though the injuries have actually come to players we care about. If you know anything about football or the work of William Shakespeare you already know injuries in football are inevitable. Some of the best athletes on the planet crashing into each other at full speed is going to cause some injuries you don’t see at your average workplace. The thing about players in the NFL is many of them do not have recognition outside of their helmets. Because football is the ultimate team game many players become more a cog in the machine than a shinning star.

Fun Fact: Lebron James has 39 million twitter followers. The top 10 NFL players in terms of twitter followers have a combined 35 million followers. Not saying twitter followers are the end all be all of popularity but clearly Lebron James is much more recognizable than every player in the NFL. How do I know? I never even mentioned who Lebron James is or what he does for a living and you know exactly who I’m talking about. Out of the top 10 NFL players based on twitter followers, 4 of them are currently out of the NFL, Tim Tebow, Reggie Bush, Michael Vick, and Chad Ochocinco. The NFL never built is popularity on the faces and personalities of players the way the NBA did. But that doesn’t mean the NFL doesn’t have popular players.

If you watch any random NFL game on tv, there is a 100% chance that at some point during a commercial break either Aaron Rodgers, JJ Watt or Odell Beckham will be featured in at least one of those commercials. What do all three of those players have in common? They won’t be playing another game in the NFL this season. Watt, Beckham, and Rodgers have all sustained season ending injuries. How is it possible that three of the most recognizable guys in the league all won’t be playing more than 6 games. Maybe there’s a chance all of these injuries happened to these players on purpose, they say everything happens for a reason. I’m not saying I would wish these injuries on these players but it might not be a bad thing either.

Let’s start with OBJ. Last January before a playoff game in Green Bay, Beckham and the rest of the Giants receivers took a trip to Miami for a quick pre-playoff game vacation and they have yet to win a game OBJ has played in since. In between that time Beckham has campaigned that he should be the highest paid player in the league, and also posted a lot of photos on Instagram. This combination of lofty goals plus the ability to use social media in such a polarizing fashion should be a huge advantage for OBJ’s free time. With Beckham now out for the year with a leg injury he will have plenty of time to campaign the owners of the Giants to be the highest paid player in the league. If I were OBJ I would be using all of this free time to post Instagram videos of all my highlights. Maybe do some daily video blogs making his case for why he deserves a new contract. If Donald Trump has taught America anything, its that if you have lofty goals, a polarizing presence on social media, and a lot of free time; there isn’t anything you can’t accomplish. OBJ should borrow a move from the president and immediately start using his social media to attack other players in the league. Here are some ideas of posts for OBJ.

“Derek Carr is an overrated slob, not nearly as good looking as his brother, does not deserve his contract, sad.”

“Aaron Donald is a fat loser who didn’t show up for his team week 1, doesn’t deserve to get paid, sad.”

“Le’veon Bell is a lazy stoner who has never been there when it matters, not the best RB in the league, sad.”

Taking the negative attention away from his injury and placing it on other players flaws should be the perfect strategy for Beckham to come away with rich new contract. Whoever said injuries were a bad thing.

Now for Golden Arm Aaron Rodgers. Last Sunday Rodgers was hit by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr and broke his collar bone. Shoutout to my brother Dalton for telling me a great conspiracy on this. Anthony Barr who his Rodgers went to UCLA. The Packers backup QB, Brett Hundley was Barr’s teammate at UCLA. Did Barr take out Rodgers with a dirty hit just to get his boy a starting job? Just connecting some dots.

Here is an interesting thought, how happy were Aaron Rodgers parents when they watched him get hit and broke his collar bone? It’s been well documented that Aaron Rodgers does not speak with or get along with his immediate family. I’m sure after years of not hearing from him and Aaron returning their Christmas gifts, they were pretty excited to see him go down with a broken collar bone. With all this free time now it would be too easy for Rodgers just to make a million more terrible State Farm commercials, but I’ve got a better idea. Aaron should go on the Bachelor and compete directly with his younger brother for women. I have little knowledge of how reality dating shows work but I know Aaron’s brother Jordan was a contestant on the Bachelor at some point and won. Now that Aaron isn’t playing football this season he should go on the show to fight against brother for the attention of the lovely women who agree to go on dating shows. Two brothers who hate each other fighting over drunk, desperate women, how is this not the most entertaining tv show of all time?!

Last major injury of the season so far is Captain America himself JJ Watt. This one is pretty obvious why it happened. JJ Watt is the king of motivational posts on social media. If I know JJ the way I think I do he is probably thankful for another opportunity to be the underdog again and come back from a horrible injury next season. “A minor setback for a major comeback” or whatever other motivational BS JJ decides to post on social media for the next 8 months. Part of JJ Watt’s superhero persona was on display last offseason when he raised over 20 million dollars for hurricane relief victims in the Houston area. This injury for Watt could prove to be a blessing in disguise for all the hurricane victims in Texas. With all of his season freed up now, I’m sure JJ will work tirelessly to raise more money for hurricane victims. A loss for the Texans equals a victory for the entire city of Houston. As long as JJ doesn’t get distracted by posting videos of himself working out this injury could prove to be a miracle for hurricane victims.

NFL Week 7 Picks

All Lines used from Las Vegas Westgate Super contest

Colts +3.5

Giants +4.5

Cowboys -6.5

Colts +3.5

It has been well documented this season that I do not like Colts and have they have handled the Andrew Luck situation. Now its been reported that the Patriots reached out to the Colts about trading Jacoby Brissett, not the other way around. Meaning the Colts plan this season was to play Scott Tolzien until Luck was 100% healthy. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around how stupid that thought process is. But the Colts do have Brissett now, and he has actually played decent (compared to Scott Tolzien he looks like  Steve Young.) This bet isn’t about the Colts though, this bet is about the Jags. I know the Jags have had some huge victories this season but there is no reason in the history of football that the Jags should be favored by more than a Field Goal on the road. This is strictly a principal bet, and the Colts have been decent at home. Gimmie Jacoby Brisket at a home dog.

Giants +4.5

The Giants went into Denver last Sunday night and beat the Broncos as a 13.5 point underdog. The Dolphins also beat the Falcons in Atlanta as a 13.5 point underdog. Both the Falcons and the Broncos were at home coming off of bye weeks and somehow lost to huge underdogs. Last week was the NFL version of a Solar Eclipse and we won’t see anything like it again for 40 years. Lost in the eclipse, the Giants are much better than their 1-5 record. Even though they are literally playing with receivers they signed off the street last week, I like them as a home underdog. Their defense is good enough to keep them in any game and as long as they can run the ball against the Seahawks this will be a close low scoring game.

Cowboys -6.5

I mentioned how last week was the solar eclipse of the NFL with huge favorites coming off a bye losing outright. We never see an eclipse in back to back weeks. The Cowboys are coming off a bye playing at the 0-6 San Fransisco Niners. The Niners have lost each of their last 5 games by 3 points or less. Eventually they won’t be able to keep that streak up. I think this is the week it comes to an end. The Cowboys are a better team and this week they win by double digits. Plus the Niners are starting something called a CJ Beathard? (Stops to google CJ Beathard.) If the Cowboys terrible secondary is ever going to have a good game its going to be against a CJ Beathard.

Record to date: who cares records are a stupid thing to keep track of

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 6 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

 

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 6th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

Note from the Author: All sentences that deal with soccer end with a question mark. This is on purpose due to the fact soccer is very stupid and confusing. 

During the Fall there are always two nights out of the week that are much worse than others, Tuesday and Wednesday. Those are the only two nights during the fall where there is absolutely no football on. Unless you want to watch South East Louisiana Tech State vs Middle Arkansas Pine Bluffs U (which of course I’ll watch cause its football but I’m not happy about it.) then we all have to wait two days between Monday and Thursday night football. This Tuesday was different however because we had a critical soccer matchup for the USA men’s soccer team against Trinidad and Tobago? The USA lost this match 2-1 and were officially eliminated from playoff contention World Cup qualifying? This whole thing confuses me and too be honest I did not watch a second of this game and had no idea it even happened until I saw the outrage on the internet after the game. Like most people on the internet I instantly formed by opinion without researching any of the facts or information. And in common internet fashion I agree with all of these outraged people who don’t have any of the facts or information.

The USA Men’s soccer team has a problem? We live in the biggest, richest, most powerful country in the world and someone we lose to Trinidad and Tobago in soccer? How can we not put a soccer team together that is even good enough to qualify for the World Cup? All of the best athletes in our country play basketball or football. No wonder we can’t beat any other country in soccer, we aren’t even playing with our JV athletes, we’re playing with the guys who got cut in middle school. The USA mens soccer team not being able to make the world cup is a flat out embarrassment and something needs to change. Luckily for our country I am here with the solution. But first did you see the Vice President attended an NFL game this weekend?! Well kind of.

Last Sunday the 49ers were in Indianapolis playing the Colts. It was one of the most boring matchups of the year featuring Brian Hoyer and the 0-4 Niners vs Jacoby Brissett and the 1-3 Colts. Like an idiot I picked the Niners to win in Indy, which meant I spent 3 hours on a beautiful Sunday morning watch this poopfest of a matchup. Do you know who was smart enough to not watch this incredibly bad matchup? The Veep himself Mike Pence. Our Vice President is the former governor of Indiana and flew back last weekend to honor Colts legend Peyton Manning who has having his number put in the
Ring of Honor. However after the National Anthem Mike Pence and his posse left the house that Peyton built. Shortly after leaving Pence tweeted out the reason he left the game was because of players kneeling for the National Anthem. Apparently the Vice President hasn’t watched many 49er games this season or last because they were the team who started the anthem protests in August of 2016 and have had at least 1 player kneel for every game since then. Obviously this was a set up by the White House to have the VP walk out after the anthem knowing full well the Niners would have players kneel.

Since this stunt by the White House Sunday the political world and NFL world continue to interact. The President since then has tweeted multiple times about the NFL and how players kneeling is hurting the game and disrespecting the flag. After the crazy old man in the White House tweeted about the anthem Sunday, another crazy old man in Texas spoke out saying any that if any players disrespect the flag they won’t play. Now I’m sure there are over a million crazy old men in Texas that feel this way, but one of their opinions matters a little more than the rest. Because the man who said players won’t play if they kneel for the anthem was Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

BREAKING NEWS: A 74 year old white man from Arkansas has the opinion that NFL players should stand for the anthem. If you did not know this information before Sunday I’d also like to congratulate you on being born yesterday and/or living under a rock. Jerry Jones disliking anthem protests is not surprising, even after he ‘attempted’ to show unity by kneeling with his players before the anthem a few weeks ago. The problem with Jerry Jones is not his opinion, its the blatant hypocrisy. Jerry Jones are financially supported more wife beaters and drug addicts than a mob boss. I can’t even begin to count the number of Dallas players who have either been arrested, accused of a crime, or failed a drug test and have continued to play for the Cowboys. The most blatant example was exactly two years ago when the Cowboys signed Greg Hardy. I don’t feel like its an extreme opinion to say Greg Hardy deserves to be locked away and throw away the key. He beat a women nearly to death and threw her on a bed full of guns.  Instead of going to prision he went to Dallas and became a member of the Cowboys. Not only was he on the team for a season Jerry Jones even called him a “leader”.  JERRY JONES YOU CAN PISS ON MY FACE BUT DONT TELL ME ITS RAINING. Do Drugs, beat up a woman, or get a DUI; just don’t you dare use your first amendment right to peacefully protest on Jerry Jones’s watch.

With everything that’s happened this week regarding the National Anthem the NFL is now considering a rule to require players to stand for the National Anthem. This seems like an extreme solution to what the NFL views as its biggest problem. I can think of a much easier and more efficient solution. Thankfully for the NFL I’m here to do all the heavy lifting for them

At the beginning of this post I said I knew how to fix the USA mens soccer team, now I’m claiming I can fix the NFL’s “problem” with players kneeling for the National anthem. I am fully prepared to solve both these problems by killing two birds with one stone.

From here on out any NFL player who uses his first amendment right to protest will have to suit up one game for the US men’s soccer team. 

All of the best athletes in the United States play football. These guys are freak athletes with a dangerous combination of size, strength, and speed. Imagine some midget European soccer player trying to stop Dontari Poe from running downfield. Picture some little Brazilian guy trying to keep LeSean McCoy in front of him.  The possibilities are endless! If NFL players wanted to continue to use their right to take a knee, they would also be volunteering their service to compete for the US men’s soccer team. Players are happy because they get to continue kneeling. Owners are happy because now players who kneel seem even more patriotic since they will later be competing for their country in soccer. I believe a US mens soccer team captained by Colin Kaepernick (who is 6’5 230lbs, and runs a 4.5 40.) would roll through the pathetic world of soccer teams on their way to a world cup championship. Come at me soccer fans!! You couldn’t possibly argue that little 5’7 Lion Messy is even in the same universe of athlete as Colin Kaepernick. (How is a guy who’s 5’7 and 150lbs considered the best player in any sport? In America we would call him a water boy.) Lets do this America, send our best to show the world what we’re made of. NFL owners need to Nut up or shut up now and volunteer their players for service in the US men’s soccer team. The world won’t know what hit ’em.

NFL Week 6 Picks

All lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Packers -2.5 -135

Rams +3 -135

Falcons Broncos Redskins Patriots moneyline parley -116

Packers -2.5 -135

The brother of a former Bachelorette contestant has the Packers looking like one of the best teams in the NFC after leading a last minute drive to beat the Cowboys in Dallas 35-31. The Vikings on the other hand are without a true starting QB and are coming off a game where they barley were able to beat the 1-4 Bears who were starting a rookie QB. The Vikings defense have been great especially at home but this brother of a former Bachelorette contestant hasn’t been slowed down all year. On offense the Vikings have struggled to move the ball without Dalvin Cook who is out for the season. The Vikings will struggle until they will be able to get a real QB and the Packers will take advantage. Like the Packers game last week I think this game will be close which is why I’m buying the line down to -2.5

Rams +3 -135

The Rams have been hot all season especially after coming off a statement loss at home against the Seahawks. The Jags on the other side definitely used some form of dark witchcraft or black magic to put Big Ben into a trance where he through 5 INTs and the Jags beat the Steelers 30-9. Now the Jags do have a good defense but the Rams are the better team here. The strength of Jacksonville defense is stopping the pass, but the Rams have been able to consistently move the ball on the ground with Todd Gurley. The Jags offense has been heavily relied on rookie Leonard Fournette to run the ball, if the Rams can hold Fournette to short gains the Jags will not be able to throw on anyone the Rams.

Falcons Broncos Redskins Patriots moneyline parley -116

This isn’t the first time I’ve been overly confident in such a stupid bet and it won’t be the last. All of these teams are at least -9.5 point favorites and all of them are at home except the Patriots who play the Jets. The only worry about the Patriots is Bill Belicheat is hiding some information regarding Tom Brady’s shoulder. Even if Brady is injured I would feel confident with more handsome Jimmy G playing QB to beat the Jets. Another good sign for the Patiots is they played last Thursday night meaning they got a ‘mini bye week’ a full 10 days off before this game. The Broncos, Redskins, and Falcons are all playing at home, coming off an actual bye week and have had a chance to get healthy. Each of those 3 teams is also playing at home which is a huge advantage to stay at home and have no travel for 2 weeks. And finally all 3 of these teams are double digit favorites for a reason, they are playing terrible teams. So how does this bet get screwed up? I don’t know yet but it sure will be exciting to find out how.

Record to Date: 7-9 ATS

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 6 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 5th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

Pete Carroll is a good football coach. Pete Carroll might even be a great football coach. He has turned every team he has coached for into a contender, (or at least stopped them from being a laughing stock.) He has been the Head Coach of 3 different NFL franchises, which is 3 more NFL teams than 99.99999% of American males have been the head coach of. He also restored USC to its former glory, coaching them from 2000-2009, and according to some dude’s opinion on Wikipedia the team of the decade in college football. Pete Carroll is one of a handful of people to win a super bowl and a college football national championship. So with all of his accomplishments and experience, why can’t Pete Carroll get the Seahawks to win in September.

Since Pete Carroll became the head coach of the Seahawks they have been an dominate franchise in the NFC. Seattle has made the playoffs 6 out of the last 7 seasons all with Carroll as the head coach. His accomplishments in Seattle are solidified with a Super Bowl victory in 2013 over the Broncos. And yet with all that success his teams in Seattle are only 13-10 in the month of September. This season Seattle was only 1-2 in September and many people have been asking what is wrong with the Seahawks. If you followed Seattle this offseason it was easy to see this trouble was coming. In late May, ESPN published an article detailing the turmoil inside the Seahawks locker room, mostly due to the fact they lost a Super Bowl 3 years ago on a last second interception. An under reported part of the article was how much tension their is between the offense and the defense. An offense and a defense not getting along is not unique to the Seahawks. Offensive and defensive players don’t always have much in common. The interesting part of the Seahawks situation is the defensive players specifically don’t like the teams QB Russell Wilson.

The average American football fan probably roots for Russell Wilson. He is an outspoken Christian. He is a very positive person who always says the right things in the media. He even spends his free time visiting sick kids in the hospital. If Russell Wilson were elected president his approval rating would be higher than almost any football player to be hypothetically elected president. However here’s the thing about people with a perfect public perception, if you spend a lot of time around someone like that you might realize the truth, HE CORNY. The Seattle defense has definitely figured this out. Russ is so positive it becomes unrealistic, no one at their job can be 100% positive all of the time. Especially when at the very least 4 or 5 times a season every team is going to be upset by a loss, and at least once a season every team is going to be crushed when they don’t win the Super Bowl. Wilson acts like he is immune to this disappointment, always staying positive even after defeat. If Russell Wilson worked in an office he would be the guy who walks around on Monday saying “sounds like someone’s got a case of the Mondays.”

Another criticism the Seattle defense reportedly had with their QB Wilson was he gets preferential treatment from the coaching staff. The ESPN article detailed how in Seattle film sessions the coaching staff would yell at the defense and harshly criticize them but when it came to the Offense and Wilson the coaching staff would be much nicer. Which is very easy to believe if you know anything about Pete Carroll’s past. Carroll coached a number of dominate college players at USC. Just when the university was about to be busted by the NCAA for paying those dominate players, Carroll conveniently realized he wanted to fulfill his dream of coaching in the NFL again and left for Seattle. Pete Carroll was paying Reggie Bush’s entire family rent every month just because he was a Heisman RB, not difficult at all to believe he would go soft on Russell Wilson in a film session. (Russell Wilson not being yelled at in a film session doesn’t have anything to do with the fact Reggie Bush was being paid at USC, but I wasn’t gonna write about Pete Carroll and not mention the fact he was breaking the rules at USC and right before the school got busted he bailed and left the school to pay for his mistakes. Pete is a horrible person for that and the world needs reminded.)

The reason the Seattle defense most dislikes their QB Russell Wilson is they believe he is overpaid. Two years ago Wilson signed a 100 million dollar contract to stay in Seattle which is what many great QBs do at his age. But once he is paid that much there are certain expectations that go along with that. Wilson is a great QB but every time the team does not win or Wilson throws an INT it is easy to think, ‘why is this guy getting paid 100 million dollars, is he worth it? Is anyone?’ Mostly the reason the defense doesn’t like it is now the team has less money to pay other players and over the course of the last 5 years the Seattle defense has lost a few great players because they could not afford to pay them. The obvious reason his contract is a problem for Wilson is no one likes a rich guy (except the voters of the United States.) Every high school has that one kid who gets a BMW or some very expensive car they don’t need for their 16^th birthday. No one ever has genuinely liked that kid. People might pretend to like the kid who drives a Cadillac to school so they can get a ride, but secretly behind their back everyone else makes fun of that kid. Wilson has become the high schooler who drives a BMW.

My Favorite reason the Seahawks defense doesn’t like Wilson is the perception that Russell Wilson isn’t black enough. The Seahawks defense has approximately -1 white players in their starting lineup, which is not uncommon for the NFL. Russell Wilson on the other hand might actually be the whitest black person of all time. He went to college in Wisonsin, a state’s black population that can be counted on Jason Pierre Paul’s hand. Wilson’s voice sounds like Joel Osteen preaching a sermon. And in the most White move of all time Wilson runs his instagram account like a 16 year old girl who just got her first boyfriend. We can debate all day about the idea the perception of being black or white and whether that is right or wrong but facts are facts. The Instagram account doesn’t lie, Russell Wilson might as well be the NFL version of Hannah Montana. Shocking to believe Michael Bennant and Richard Sherman doesn’t like him.

All this locker room turmoil between Carroll, Wilson, and the Seattle defense, combined with history of losing in September created an obvious bubble for the Seahawks this season. Seattle started the year 1-2 in September and signs pointed to the team having a down year. Then last Sunday the calendar flipped to October and the Seahawks started the month by destroying the Colts in the second half of Sunday night football 45-18. Pete and Russ might have finally woke their offense up after September ended, and the rest of the NFL might need to be worried.

Week 5 NFL Picks

All Lines used from Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Browns -110

49ers +100

Seahawks +100

Browns -110

This is the point where you should stop reading because clearly I’ve lost my mind betting on the 0-4 Cleveland Browns. But stay with me for a second, don’t think of this as betting on the Browns, think of it as getting a -110 moneyline bet against the Jets who are on the road! The Jets came into this season with as low of expectations as possible, and somehow they are 2-2. The Jets have won their last 2 games who were both at home and now people think they are going on the road and winning? I don’t think so. This will also be the first game for 2017 number one overall pick Myles Garrett who will provide a much needed pass rush for the Browns. Even though the Browns stadium has been referred to as the factory of sadness, it is still a clear advantage playing the lowly Jets. This game will be ugly, but nobody does ugly better than Cleveland.

49ers +100

Ok at this point I have no idea why you’re still reading. I’m picking not 1 but 2, 0-4 teams?! That’s right this is the week the Niners get their first win also. Unlike the Browns the Niners have actually showed some signs of life, losing their last 3 games by a combined 8 points. Playing the Colts who’s only win has come at home against the Browns. I think the Niners offense is good enough to outscore Jacoby Brissett and a home coming for former Colt Pierre Garcon, look for him to have a big game.

Seahawks +100

Like I said above, the Seahawks suck in September, good thing September ended 8 days ago. The September Seahawks are dead and the October Hawks are looking great winning last week 45-18. Many people are excited about the Rams this season who have put up some incredible numbers. Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, and Sean Mcvay are the talk of the NFL and some would say they’re so hot right now. There’s good reason to believe the Rams will be an exciting team this year, but people are forgetting something, THE SEAHAWKS OWN THE NFC WEST. Don’t be so fast to crown the young Rams just yet, the Seahawks have won this division 3 out of the last 4 years and they aren’t about to lose it this year to the Rams. I like Seattle to remind the league how dominate they can be by shutting down the darling of the season, the LA Rams.

Record ATS to date: 6-7

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 5 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 4th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to waste time writing about serious political issues when I should be wasting time writing about stupid football things. I really wanted to write about how much I hate the Chargers, and the city of LA having two football teams, and specifically how much I absolutely can’t stand Phil Rivers for no good reason other than I hate his stupid face. Instead the President decided to open his mouth and word vomit all over a crowd in Alabama, telling them he wishes NFL owners would fire players who took a knee in protest for the National Anthem. 

Let’s start with this, I don’t really follow politics. I think its boring, and depressing, and much less fun that obsessively following sports. I know President Trump has said some crazy things before but I actively do not pay attention to any of the things he says or tweets. This time was different, Trump stepped out of the Presidential world of politics and stepped into the world of the NFL, that’s when I started paying attention. Trump’s comments made one things clear, he feels players who are kneeling during the anthem are disrespecting the United States and the flag. Which is the most obvious ’70 year old white guy’ opinion on the NFL. The players who are kneeling are actually protesting police brutality toward minorities in the United States. The reason players are kneeling instead of sitting is based on the advice former Seattle Seahawk and Green Beret, Nate Boyer, gave to Colin Kaepernick a year ago when the protests first started. Based on the President’s comments, I believe he does not know any of that.

So what was President Trumps goal when addressing the NFL anthem protests? Did he hope the owners would actually fire players who knelt and the protest would stop? If that was his goal he is going about it all wrong. Anyone who’s ever made a deal with a small child knows yelling at them to stop is never going to result in the solution you’re looking for. Put yourself in this situation,  a small child around 7 or 8 years old is sitting in the drivers seat of a car and refuses to move. You need to get in the driver’s seat to drive the car to your hypothetical destination. If you yell at the child and say “GET THIS SON A BITCH OUT OF THE FRONT SEAT HES FIRED!” How do you think that child is going to react? Yelling at people and calling them names is no way to get them to do what you want, and everyone over the age of 9 knows that except for Donald Trump.

Maybe President Trump’s goal was not to stop anthem protests but simply make a point. If that is the case, WHY IS TRUMP TALKING ABOUT THE NFL IN THE FIRST PLACE, THATS FOR LOSER BLOGGERS LIKE ME TO DO, NOT SOMEONE WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE NUCLEAR LAUNCH CODES. I don’t know what a President is supposed to be doing on a day to day basis, but its safe to assume the President of the United States has a pretty packed schedule. At my job during the day I normally find less than 15 minutes to check twitter and tweet my thoughts about the NFL. How is someone with the most important job in the country finding time to tweet 20 times a day about the NFL?

This may be the first time a sitting President has voiced such strong opinions against NFL players, but this is not the first time Donald Trump has been involved with a football league. A lifetime ago Donald Trump bought  franchise in the upstart United States Football League, a spring league looking to compete with the NFL. Long story short the league folded after 3 seasons and the primary reason why was Donald Trump demanded the league move from the spring to the fall. If you watch the 30 for 30 documentary on the USFL basically everyone involved agrees if Trump had never owned a team the league would not have gone defunct. Which brings me to another theory, is Donald Trump trying to destroy the NFL just like he did the USFL. Clearly there is a precedent set by this president for destroying football leagues, he’s done it once, what’s to say he won’t do it again. Trumps criticism of NFL owners may lead to them actually firing players, leading to a watered down product, leading to the folding of the NFL. This is an unlikely theory but so was one man taking down the USFL.

Last theory; I started this blog by asking what does Trump hope to accomplish by bashing NFL players? It makes no sense assuming the President of the United States has a lot more important things to do than follow sports. Maybe he has screwed up those more important things so bad he needed to create a distraction so the American people don’t realize how terrible he is at his job. I may be a little too into conspiracy theory but after watching 5 seasons of House of Cards on Netflix I’m pretty sure I understand how politics works. The President starts a controversy by design with the worlds most popular sports league, and millions of Americans spend the coming weeks reactivating to what he said and arguing with each other. Meanwhile the Trump administration can continue to ruin relations with North Korea, fail to give American’s health care, or any number of horrible political things. Stay woke everyone, most likely Trump is encouraging this controversy as a distraction to the fact he is not good at his job.

And finally if you’re still upset about players kneeling for the anthem, don’t blame Colin Kaepernick, blame the NFL. Before 2009, NFL players did not even come out of the locker room for the National Anthem. In 2009 the NFL made a deal with the US government to have players stand on the field for the anthem to seem more patriotic (wow did that backfire).  Before Kaepernick began protesting last season the anthem was never even available for the TV audience. The anthem was always played during a commercial break and only the people in the stadium could participate. In 2015 it was discovered that 14 NFL teams had been paid by the department of defense (thats the government department not something related to the ’85 Bears) to honor soldiers during games to make a show of patriotism. NFL teams were literally accepting money to seem more patriotic. If you wanna blame Kaepernick for all this, fine be wrong, who’s really to blame is the greedy NFL owners and greedy US government for taking advantage of staged acts of patriotism in the first place.

Tired of national anthem talk yet? me too. All of this is exhausting and what have we accomplished? Kaepernick still is unemployed, Trump is still ignoring the importance of his job, and people on both the left and the right are mad for who knows what reason. Let’s not forget why we watch football in the first place. To put our differences aside for a few hours and make money gambling on grown men who play a game wearing capri pants.

NFL Picks Week 4

All Lines used from Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Vikings -130

Chargers -125

Giants +3

6.5 point teaser Patriots -2.5 Falcons -1.5

 

Vikings -130

I’m not actually gonna bet on Case Keenum right? I’M NOT ACTUALLY GONNA BET ON CASE KEENUM RIGHT?!?! I know this sounds like a bad idea but the Vikings are 2-0 at home this season and their defense has been leading them only allowing 18 PPG at home this season. On offense the Vikings are led by Stefon Diggs who has absolutly been BALLIN out this season, he’s third in the league in yards and 2nd in the league in TDs. Rookie RB Dalvin Cook has been a huge factor as well averaging 96 rushing yards per game which is 2nd in the league. As for Case Keenum (gulp) he didn’t look horrible last week. Also people easily forget Keenum threw for almost 20K yards in college and over 150 TDs. (always a good sign when you have to look up a dudes college stats to make yourself feel better about a bet.)

Chargers -125

This is a tough game to pick because the Double COVERage team has the Chargers season win total under 7.5 wins. This is also a tough pick because Phillip Rivers might be the worst person to root for in the history of sports. Rooting for Phillip Rivers is like rooting for Jaden Smith to win an oscar. It must be a sad life for the one Chargers fan who still somehow supports this team. They can’t even sell out a 25 thousand seat soccer stadium with the help of opposing fans making up half the crowd. Even with this game being in LA and the majority of the fans being Philly fans I think the Chargers win. The Chargers have had a brutal schedule to start the season but they are much more talented than their 0-3 record shows. The Chargers have found some crazy ways to lose games so far this year. I think Sunday they find a way to win their first.

Giants +3

Ben Mcadoo might be the worst coach in all of football and I wouldn’t be shocked if he is fired at some point during the season. Without the 4th quarter of last weeks game against the Eagles, the Giants offense had only managed 13 points in 11 quarters of football. Fortunately for them they somehow scored 24 points in the 4th quarter of last Sundays game. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe their offense is finally waking up. Either way the Giants are too talanted of a team, especially on defense, to start the season 0-4. If the Giants don’t find a way to win this game, and start the season 0-4, then Eli Manning should be forced to give back one of his Super Bowl MVPs.

6.5 point tease: Patriots -2.5 Falcons -1.5

If this sounds familiar its because this was almost the exact same bet I made week 1, when I took the Falcons over the Bears and the Patriots over the Chiefs. Well now we know the Cheifs are actually good and the Panthers are terrible. Even though the Patriots have given up the most amount of points in the league this year, the Panthers have barely been able to move the ball at all. And just like last week, even if the Patriots give up 33, you always expect Brady to find a way to score 34. The Falcons on the other hand are very lucky to be 3-0. However I am confidently taking my team at home against the surprising 2-1 Bills. The Falcons at home score 30 points in their sleep. Even if the Bills have the number defense in the league they are facing the number one offense in the league from last year. Buffalo’s offense won’t be able to keep up in a shootout with the Falcons.

Record ATS to date: 5-4

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 4 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the third straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

There is a 100% chance Trevor Siemian has been mistaken for the ball boy at some point during his NFL career. He played at a college known for producing more douchey ESPN personalities than NFL players. And yet somehow Its week 3 of the 2017 NFL season, and Trevor Siemian is the best Quarterback in the NFL. Siemian is currently leading the NFL in touchdown passes with 6. He has a passer rating this season of 106.9 (which I have no idea how good that is but Scott Tolzien has a rating of 33.8 so I know Siemian is significantly better than that.) Most importantly Trevor Siemian is the starting QB for a team that is undefeated. A season ago Trevor Siemian started 14 games and went 8-6 on a team that was coming off a super bowl victory. Siemian spent most of the season looking like drunk John Elway on the field, rather than looking like the best QB in the NFL. The season ended with the defending Super Bowl Champs missing the playoffs and many Bronco fans questioning who would be the starting QB for the team would be next season. So what changed? How did Siemian go from fighting for his job a few weeks ago, to leading the NFL in touchdown passes after week 2? The answer is more complicated than you think.

Did you get a chance to watch the Thursday night football game was week between the Bengals and Texans? What about the Monday night football game between the Lions and Giants? If you have a life unlike me and actually accomplish tasks during the evening when football is on; I’ll catch you up on what you missed. The Bengals, Texans, Lions, and Giants combined for 4 total offensive touchdowns in 8 quarters of play. The two games featured QBs Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford, and Andy Dalton who have been to a combined 8 Pro Bowls. It also featured rookie Deshaun Watson who was drafted 12th overall in this years draft and is coming off a college season where he won a number of awards and won a national championship. These 2 games also featured WR Golden Tate, AJ Green, Deandre Hopkins, and Odell Beckham Jr, all of whom have made at least 1 pro bowl. How is it possible these 4 teams with this much talent, experience, and fire power only manage to score 4 TDs in 8 quarters of play? The Lions, Texans, Bengals, and Giants all have prominent QBs and WRs who anyone would want on their fantasy team. How is it possible they struggle so much to score yet Trevor Siemian is leading the league in TD passes.

If you did get a chance to watch the Monday night football game you might have noticed Eli Manning and Matt Stafford were sacked a lot, 9 times combined to be exact. The explanation for this is the left tackles for both teams had horrific games.  Ereck Flowers for the Giants had a Pro Football Focus (or PFF) grade of 40.9 (out of 100) and Greg Robinson for the Lions had a PFF grade of 31.4. What is strange about this is both of this guys were former top 10 overall draft picks. Maybe Eli Odell, and Stafford and Tate haven’t hit some kind of back slide but instead their offensive lines are not helping them out enough to move the ball and score TDs.

The Bengals Texans Thursday night game was no different. The Bengals offensive line had a average PFF grade of 40.4!! (again this is a score out of 100) The Texans O-line was not much better averaging a PFF grade of 41.9. I know most of you don’t read this to see stats you don’t understand but hear me out. Are Eli, Stafford, Dalton, and Waston all bad QBs who can’t take advantage of their star WRs? Or is their a lack of quality offensive linemen in the league to protect these QBs giving them enough time to throw to their star wideouts. A possible theory to explain the lack of production from offensive lineman is the lack of a preseason. Most teams have turned the preseason into an audition for young players to earn a roster spot. While the players already making millions of dollars will play a series and then spend 2 hours on the bench trying to eat hotdogs without fans noticing. The preseason is supposed to be a valuable time for linemen to get their chemistry and footing down before the real season begins. Instead coaches are too afraid to have their starting 22 get hurt they refuse to play them in the preseason.

So what does any of this have to do with the man boy who looks more likely to lead his grad school class in GPA, than to lead an NFL team to a super bowl, Trevor Siemian? Last season Siemian didn’t play great, but given what he was working with he wasn’t playing terrible either. In 2016 the Broncos had a terrible offensive line, and their top RB CJ Anderson was hurt for a majority of the season. Denver went out and revamped the Oline, drafted Garett Bolles in the first round to play left tackle and be the corner stone of the offensive line for years to come. The Broncos went out and signed former division foe and pro bowler Jamaal Charles to help their backfield. CJ Anderson is also healthy again and has dominated the first two games averaging 100 yards per game. So what does an improved offensive line, and a healthy running game mean for Trevor Siemian? He looks like the best QB in the NFL. With pass protection and the ability to run the ball Trevor Siemian is allowed to have time to find receivers for TDs.

Trevor Siemian may not be the most talented QB in the League, but he’s been playing like the best QB in the League the first two games because the Broncos have put him in a position to succeed. Surrounding him with a solid offensive line, great running game, and an unbelievable defense. The media spends so much time dissecting quarterback play, comparing, ranking, trying to decide who is elite and who isn’t. What they fail to mention so often is who is surrounding a QB matters so much. Last season Dak Prescott as a rookie led the cowboys to a 13-3 record and was considered an MVP candidate. Is Dak Prescott a great QB? Time will tell, but in 2016 he was given the best offensive line in football, and a great running back. This allowed Dak to minimize his risks and help his team win 13 games, Trevor Siemian may be able to do the exact same thing this season.

Is Eli washed? maybe. Is Andy Dalton drastically overrated? maybe. Is Trevor Siemian the best QB in the League? maybe. I’m just some dude who learned how to type words into the computer and hasn’t played football since my freshman year of high school. But I do know this for certain. The players around these quarterbacks, Offensive linemen, Running backs, and coaches, matter a lot more to these quarterbacks success than we give them credit for. Trevor Siemian might lead the Broncos to the Super Bowl this year, and he won’t deserve that much credit. Just like he didn’t deserve the blame for the team missing the playoffs last year. Let’s just hope if the Broncos do make the super bowl, Siemian will stop getting mistaken for the ball boy.

NFL Picks Week 3

All Lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Broncos -3

Steelers Packers Patriots: Moneyline parley -148

Steelers Packers Patriots: Moneyline Parley -148

3 team moneyline parley for a -148 payout doesn’t seem like the most lucrative bet but this isn’t about making a sexy pick, this is about picking a winner, and I think all 3 of these are winners. Steelers are 2-0 and go on the road to take on the Bears and the corpse of Mike Glennon. Pittsburgh hasn’t been great on the road in the Big Ben era, but the Bears are not a good football team. Meanwhile the Steelers are a good football team, and usually good football teams beat bad football teams. Packers are 1-1 at home taking on the Bengals who are a few weeks away from realizing they should have fired Marvin Lewis 2 years ago. The Packers are in a good position to bounce back from the loss Sunday night in Atlanta by beating up on the 0-2 Bengals. Finally the Patriots are at home against a rookie QB. Bill Belicheat is 1,548-0 against rookie QBs in his head coaching career. You don’t even need to pay attention to this one, the Texans aren’t winning in Foxborough.

Broncos -3

The Broncos travel for the first time all season, where they are in Buffalo to play the Bills. The Bills are somehow 2-0 ATS this season probably due to the fact they got to open the season playing the JV squad known as the Jets. Last week in Carolina the Bills only were able to put up 3 points. The Panthers have a good defense but the Broncos defense is even better. The best compliment you can give the Bills all season is their teams effort is great despite the fact management clearly wants to tank after trading Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby in August. The Broncos will move to 3-0 beating the Bills easily.

 

Record ATS to date: 5-2

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 3 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

 

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the Second straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

Words cannot describe how excited I was for the NFL to be back last Thursday night when the Chiefs took on the Patriots in Foxbrough. Roger Goodell showed up to New England to watch the Pats raise their 5th banner and celebrate the fact that NFL football was finally back. Like most people, I expected the Patriots to roll over the Chiefs quickly and effectively like the well oiled machine the Patriots are. I expected Brady to throw a couple TDs to whatever new white WR Bill Belichick picked up from the local YMCA that afternoon and the Pats to win no problem. I confidently took the Patriots -2.5 on a teaser and figured I could fall asleep around the 3rd quarter with no worries. Only there was a worry, the Patriots lost. Not only did they lose, but they blew a lead! (cue the new ‘Patriots blew a 17-7 lead jokes’). How in the hell could the Patriots lose on opening night at home? I was for sure the Patriots winning on opening night was inevitable, like death, taxes, or the fact that Kobe Bryant raped that girl in Colorado. So what went wrong? Are the Chiefs that good? Are the Patriots in for a long year? All I know is facts, and here’s a fact; Tom Brady is 40, and that’s not nothing.

“History repeats itself” is that just a meaningless quote history teachers tell high schoolers in order to get them to shut up when they ask why they have to learn about World War 2? Or is it a true statement? (As a high school history teacher I can tell you its both.) We’ve seen different European leaders take over Egypt thousands of years apart. Presidents have been assassinated in eerily similar ways. And we’ve seen Germany try to take over the world not once but TWICE! If that statement is indeed true what does that tell us about the last time Andy Reid and the Chiefs hung 40 on the Pats and Tom Brady?

You may or may not remember but 3 years ago this happened. In week 4 of the 2014 season the Chiefs destroyed the Patriots and Tom Brady 41-14 and it wasn’t even that close. In the days and weeks that followed the media asked the obvious question, is Tom Brady’s career coming to an end? Ya know cause he’s old. Bill Belichick famously said the team had moved on to Cincinnati, and long story short the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl. Its been three years since anyone has seriously questioned whether or not Brady is too old to be playing mostly because he’s always proved everyone wrong. Coming off a bad loss I have an idea what will happen to Tom in the near future.

Bill Belichick has a history of cutting good players. Willie McGinest, Ty Law, Deion Branch, Lawyer Miloy, Mike Vrabel, Asante Samuel, Richard Seymour, Adam Vinitari, Wes Welker, Logan Mankins, Jamie Collins. That is just some of players who were cut or traded by Bill Belichick well before their primes were over. Part of what makes Belichick a genius is he is never afraid to get rid of a player who doesn’t fit his system, or is getting too old to play their position. The only consistent with the Bill Belichick led Patriots is there will be enough Caucasian wide receivers to make you question whether or not Belichick is racist, and Tom Brady will be the QB, only until he isn’t.

Father time is undefeated, its a quote that is often heard on sports talk shows and like most cliches its become a cliche because it is true. The list of NFL QB’s playing into their 40’s is short and unsuccessful, much like Kobe Bryant’s rap career. No matter how much kale TB12 eats he is coming to the end of his career. For any team in the NFL a QB that has played a 17 year career in a city and winning multiple super bowls is a ticket to finish your career however you want. However the Patriots are not like every NFL team, and Belichick is not every NFL coach. Belichick has a well document past of getting rid of players before their time, what is stopping him from doing the same with his beloved Tom Brady. You might think, ‘oh Bill has cut lineman and cornerbacks but they are replaceable unlike the great Tom Brady.’  WOW HOW WE HAVE ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT HOW TOM BRADY GOT HIS JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE, HE REPLACED ANOTHER LEGENDARY QB.

Drew Bledsoe is only 5 years older than Tom Brady, and was far from washed up when he replaced Brady during the 2001. In fact going into the 2001 season Bledsoe had just signed a 10 year 100 million dollar contract. That did not stop Belichick from naming Brady his starting QB and throwing Bledsoe into the trash (aka Buffalo). At the time this move was shocking and controversial. Brady’s unworldly play over the next 15 years made the world forget about Drew Bledsoe. However precedent has been set, Belichick is willing to shock the world and replace a seemingly irreplaceable QB.  All he needs is the next Tom Brady, and he may have it in Jimmy Garoppolo.  Jimmy has only made a few starts and thrown a handful of passes but that didn’t stop teams this offseason from trying to trade up to 2 first round picks to pry him away from Belichick. Yet somehow Jimmy G is still a Patriot. We’ve already established that is Belichick doesn’t want you in New England, you’re gone. So why is Jimmy G still there?

The Patriots may finally be at the crossroads of Tommy terrific’s career. As with any crossroad there are two options, the Patriots destroy the Saints this Sunday and blow through the dumpster fire known as the AFC East en route to their 6th Super Bowl. Or this is the time for Belichick to shock the world, bench his golden goose and go with a younger and much more handsome arm, Jimmy Garoppolo. I’m not saying which one is going to happen, but I will guarantee this. Tom Brady will not play QB for the Patriots forever and at some point Jimmy Garoppolo will be the Starting QB for New England. And it may happen sooner than you think.

 

NFL Week 2 Picks

All lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

6 point tease: Ravens -1.5 Panthers -1.5

Redskins +2.5

Broncos +2.5

Patriots -6.5

6 point tease: Ravens -1.5 Panthers -1.5

I got bit by temptation last week taking a tease of the 2 teams who made the super bowl last year and sweet temptation got me again this week. I’m taking another tease. This time I’m going with 2 teams who looked great in week 1 over two teams who looked mediocre in week 1, HOW COULD ANYTHING POSSIBLY GO WRONG. Ravens defense looked dominate in week 1 against the Bengals and I like them to dominate again at home vs the team who has started 800 quarterbacks since 1999 and is starting a rookie who went 4-8 his last season in college. Panthers on the other hand beat up on the niners last Sunday and head home to play the Bills. The Bills are 1-0 but that is just because they had the pleasure of playing maybe the worst team in the history of professional sports, the Jets. The Bills are not a good football team and I expect them to lose easily to the Panthers in Carolina.

Redskins +2.5

Washington spent the offseason firing their GM, then pretending they hired a new one? I honestly don’t think there is a person on the planet who fully understands what Dan Snyder is doing. The Skins are also going on almost 30 months deciding if they fully want to commit to franchise QB Kirk Cousins or not. Basically this whole Redskins season has disaster written all over it, or as Redskins fans call it, just another year. Still they are a better team than the Rams. The Rams destroyed the abysmal Colts last Sunday, which is the primary reason they are almost a field goal favorite in this game. Washington is the better team in this matchup and a much tougher opponent for the Rams than Scott Tolzien and the Colts.

Broncos +2.5

The dominate, super bowl 50 winning Bronco defense as a home underdog, this is a gamblers dream scenario. The main reason the Broncos are underdogs at Mile High is they are playing the Cowboys, who went 13-3 last year (with a very soft schedule let me remind you), and are the most public team in the NFL. Meaning more people bet on the Cowboys which moves the line toward them. The second reason is the Cowboys looked very good last Sunday against the Giants. I believe last Sunday was more a case of the Giants offence is terrible without OBJ, rather than the Cowboys actually have a good defense. And finally the Denver defense is still very good in case anyone has forgotten, especially against young QBs. 

 

Patriots -6.5

Tom Brady will eventually be replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo. Tom Brady is human and will eventually play like it. Tom Brady doesn’t have his safety blanket in Julian Edelmen. BUT this week is handed a gift. He gets to play against the horrific Saints defense. Bill and Tom are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games coming off a straight up loss. The Patriots set the NFL record last year ATS going 16-3. All they have to do is beat the Saints by a Touchdown? Give me that all day. The poor Saints are in a tough spot coming off a Monday night game on the road and meanwhile the Pats have 10 days rest playing last Thursday. The Saints defense won’t know what hit em, I like the Patriots by double digits on Sunday.

 

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 2 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the first time since February, Welcome to NFL Sunday.

NFL football is finally back! We’ve had the nice appetizer of 2 weeks of college football which is fun but sort of like trying to make a full meal out of mozzarella sticks, it can leave you feeling a little empty inside. The college kids making their schools millions in free labor and advertising can be cute but for true fans nothing will touch the thrill of sundays. Gambling, fantasy, seeing players from your favorite team take a knee during 2 minutes of a 200 year old song before the game and then having the entire country lose their mind over the fact a backup QB can’t get a job, I mean CAN YOU FEEL IT FOOTBALL IS BACK. Each Sunday I’ll give you my picks against the spread in at least 3 NFL games. Before that though I would like to talk about some bad news.

Have you ever had to give someone bad news? Break up with a significant other? Tell someone their dog died? It’s not fun for anyone involved. No person is ever happy when they are forced to give someone bad news but sometimes bad news is necessary, especially when you’re the boss. Employer’s might be the best qualified people to give bad news. They often have to tell their employees the truth, which can be bad, or even there are times when employers have to fire employees.  I’ve never personally fired anyone but I have been bad enough at jobs to deserve to be fired.

If I did have to fire someone I would wait until a Friday, statistically there’s less of a chance for an incident. The one occasion I know I would not be able to fire someone is if I knew they were going through a hard time. I couldn’t bring myself to give that person more bad news. Which brings me to my question? How long is it acceptable to wait after a person has battled cancer to fire them from their job?

Before I attempt to answer that question I would like to state my opinion. Cancer is bad. According to the National Cancer Institute almost 600,000 people die every year in the United States from Cancer. Basically the population of the state of Wyoming dies every year from cancer. It is a horrible disease that has affected almost everyone in our country. Cancer can destroy families and cripple people financially (In certain cases it can even drive innocent chemistry teachers to start selling meth to pay their medical bills and even turn them into drug kingpins).

In case you don’t remember, almost 5 years ago the Indianapolis Colts head Coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with Leukemia. He missed 11 games during the 2012 season, and during that time the Colts thrived under interim head coach Bruce Arians. Pagano beat Leukemia and returned to the Colts for a playoff run that season. Pagano went on to lead the Colts to 11-5 records the next two seasons before losing to the Patriots both times in the playoffs. Since they the Colts have struggled, finishing 8-8 over the past 2 seasons, even though they have something everyone in the NFL covets, an elite QB in Andrew Luck.

A huge part of the Colts struggles the past 2 seasons has been Andrew Luck’s health. Luck has missed 10 games in the past 2 seasons mostly with shoulder injuries. You might call QB injuries ‘unLucky’ (ok that was very lame but it was too easy to not say it) or you could say Luck’s career has been mismanaged by the Colts organization. Allowing Andrew Luck, the present and future of the franchise, a player any of the 32 teams would kill to have, play while injured is flat out neglect. He is 27 and should be in the prime of his career and instead he is entering his 6th season on the bench because the Colts have no allowed his injury to properly heal.

Andrew Luck playing with one shoulder instead of two is better than 95% of QBs in the NFL. Which is why the Colts have been able to go 8-8 in the first place the last two seasons. Their roster is much worse than a .500 team but a QB as great as Luck has kept them afloat. Getting blown out in the playoffs in back to back years and then going .500 for the next two seasons should have been enough to lose Chuck Pagano his job this offseason but he is still the HC in Indianapolis. Which begs the question,

How long should you wait to fire someone after they’ve beaten cancer? 

I’d say 4 years is long enough. Chuck Pagano is an inspirational man. Beating cancer is no small feat, but how many more seasons of Andrew Luck’s prime are the Colts going to waste on this 8-8 coach?

Who is the incompetent boss in charge of keeping Chuck Pagano? None other than this guy, Jim Irsay.

It all makes sense now. How does a franchise with the best young QB in the league go from a top playoff contender, to back to back 8-8 seasons and refuse to fire their coach? That team is owned by this guy. It really does make sense why the Colts are so dysfunctional when you look at their owner. I don’t need to explain much more than Jim Irsay’s rap sheet Wikipedia page. DUI, drug possession, randomly tweeting out a picture of a naked women in the middle of the night. They say leadership starts at the top and its not hard to imagine why Irsay has never got around to firing Chuck Pagano. Hard to tell a man who beat cancer he’s out of a job when Irsay can’t go 6 months with out taking a mug shot. If I were Jim Irsay (first of all I’d stop getting DUI’s and posting pictures of naked women on the internet) I would sit Andrew Luck out for the entire season. Seriously an option to consider, he is the future of your franchise and it is not worth trying to go 8-8 again just to see him farther injury himself. The Colts need to make up their minds and stop wasting Luck’s prime going 8-8. Fire your coach, (even though he is a hero for battling cancer), Play Jacoby Brissett, go 4-12, and draft nothing but offensive linemen next year to help Luck out.

NFL Week 1 Picks

All Lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

6.5 point tease: Patriots -2.5 Falcons -0.5

Cardinals -2

Rams -3.5

Patriots -2.5 Falcons -0.5

Originally the Pats are favored by -9 and the Falcons are favored by -7, with the 6.5 point teaser I’m taking both these teams to cover smaller spreads for a -150 payout. Let’s start with the Pats, they open the entire NFL season at home on Thursday night against the Chiefs. Roger Goodell will be in attendance and Gronk will be healthy for the first time since he was in high school*. Since Bill Belicheat became the head coach the Patriots are 98-0 in home openers probably. The Pats are going to take care of the Chiefs. As for my Falcons, yes I am worried they are all suffering from 28-3 PTSD, but there is one reason I am very confident they will win Sunday. The Falcons are playing the Bears and Mike Glennon is the starting QB, Stop, don’t over think it. The Falcons might have suffered the worst lost in the history of the NFL, Football, Sports, human history, the entire universe, but they aren’t gonna lose a game to Mike Glennon.

Cardinals -2

Remember when Chuck Pagano had cancer and an interim head coach led the Colts to an 11-5 record? Turns out that interim head coach was actually a pretty great coach. The Cards had a disappointing year last year after reaching the NFC championship the year before partial due to the fact they opened the season on the road at New England. After losing to the Pats week 1 it was all downhill from there. Bruce Arians is not about to let that happen twice. The new and improved Cardinal defense will get after Matt Staford and the Lions who happen to be missing their best defensive player for week 1.

Rams -3.5

Tough to bet against the great Andrew Luck in week 1. Oh wait, Luck isn’t playing? There hasn’t even been a game yet how is he hurt? His injury is from last season? How is that possible? BECAUSE HIS TERRIBLE COACH AND TERRIBLE OWNER NEVER LET THE FRANCHISE PLAYER HEAL HIS INJURY 100% AND THEY SHOULD BE SENT TO FOOTBALL JAIL FOR PUTTING HIM IN GAMES BEFORE HE IS HEALTHY. The Colts are starting Scott Tolzien week 1 on the road in LA, and I don’t even care if the Rams are trash and Jared Goff doesn’t know which direction the sun sets. Scott Tolzien is not winning a game on the road, even without Aaron Donald the Rams are winning this game.

 

Thank you to everyone for reading and apologizes to Colts fans for having such a terrible owner. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 1 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

Ever been in a long distance relationship? Spent a long period of time away from someone you love? Talking to them on the phone but going to bed at night and waking up in the morning with an empty aching feeling because you can’t see them. That’s exactly how I feel every June after the NBA finals all the way until September when football starts. Welcome to the Double COVERage NFL preview.

Let’s go ahead and start by addressing the 25 point lead hundred pound elephant in the room. The Super Bowl was one of the worst days of my life even though I twice predicted the Falcons to blow it. I’m well aware of the fact the Super Bowl is the most watched television program every year, but I did not realize how many people knew I was a Falcons fan until after Super Bowl 51. One of the worst parts of living in this post 28-3 blown lead world I am living in is having casual acquaintances (and casual football fans) asking me “what did you think of the Super Bowl?” Now think about that question for a second. what did I think of the Super Bowl. Am I allowed to ask someone, ‘what did you think of your divorce?‘; ‘what did you think of your recent dogs death?‘; or maybe ‘what did you think of your house being robbed?’ When asked about how I felt after the Super Bowl I usually just respond with ‘well I only wrote 2 drafts of a suicide note before I decided it was a bad idea.’ And yes the awkward silence that follows is almost as awkward as Matt Ryan’s gatorade commercial

But…. seriously how do I feel about the Super Bowl. I have still NOT rewatched the game and I don’t know if I ever will be able to. I now live life in a constant fear of the number 28 or 3 or any combination of numbers that can be added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, twisted, melted down, or constricted in any way to equal the number 25. The Falcons have a stacked roster this season but who knows. Maybe they go 8-8, and miss the playoffs due to a string of bad losses because of some 28-3 shell shock. All I know for certain is there is now a good chance 30 years from now I’m going to be laying on some therapists couch saying; “if they just kneel 3 times after the Julio catch and kick a field goal none of this would have happened.”

Other things have happened since the Super Bowl besides me learning to live with depression. The most incredible NFL news this offseason is that former Bills Running back/murder suspect OJ Simpson was granted parole and will be out of prison in October. Which is amazing timing considering we are in an OJ Simpson pop culture renaissance. Thanks to 30 for 30, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Dave Chappelle, now people who were not old enough to remember the infamous OJ murder trial have a real understanding of who this guy was pre incarceration. Some of my favorite takes this summer have been ‘what is OJ Simpson going to do when he gets out of prison?’ The guy is 70 years old, he’s gonna go down to Florida and sleep like every other retired 70 year old. It is an interesting question though, if 70 year old OJ Simpson were to get out of prison and back into the public eye what would he do? Even though they will probably never happen I made a short list of my dream future OJ Simpson return to fame scenarios.

1. Manager for the younger Kardashian girls.

   Now I live my life actively trying to not learn the names of the youngest Kardashian girls. Every time I see their name in a news story I quickly shut my eyes like I’m Indiana Jones in the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. But I know this much, Their are 2 younger Kardashian relatives who’s father is formerly known as Bruce,  and they have 1 billion instagram followers each. Now just imagine if a former close family friend stepped in to guide the young girls through the trappings of handling fame in Hollywood. Better yet picture OJ Simpson and Caitlyn Jenner in a reality show, it’d be so great you couldn’t look away.

2. President Trump names OJ Simpson White House communications director

   I don’t actively follow politics that closely but I do have an internet connection so I see these crazy people that Donald Trump appoints to power positions who’s main job it is to not say anything stupid in front of cameras. And inevitably they almost always say something stupid in a room full of cameras. Now imagine if that person saying something stupid wasn’t some random white dude who’s name you’ll forget by next week and instead that man was OJ Simpson. OJ’s smooth talking skills could really be put to the test trying to spin every stupid thing President Trump says every other day.

3. OJ Simpson replaces Chris Berman as ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown host.

   The legendary Chris Berman retired last year from one of the most coveted jobs in all of sports media leaving many to question who will replace him as a staple on Sunday mornings? Sam Ponder? her name might as well be ‘hot girl sideline reporter A’ OJ on the other hand? there is a guy who can fill Berman’s shoes. Just imagine OJ Simpson on ESPN reading highlights “Aaron Rodgers absolutly murdering the Bears defense” or “Ezekiel Elliot stabs through the line for a touchdown.” the possibilities are endless.

4. OJ Simpson should fight Floyd Mayweather

   This Saturday over 4 million people around the world payed $100 to watch a 40 year old man fight a UFC cartoon character, which teaches us all a few valuable lessons. First, if people are willing to pay to watch someone who’s never boxed before but has a household name fight Floyd Mayweather, why isn’t that person OJ Simpson? Second, apparently people will still pay for a fight even if they already know Floyd Mayweather is going to win so why not have him fight someone who’s name will draw an even bigger crowd like OJ Simpson. Third, we learned people will take a person seriously, and support them,  if they just yell horrible outlandish things very loudly about their opponent and are very active on social media. Whoops nevermind we already learned that in November when President Trump was elected. Still apparently our government boxing is just a complete circus now and experience means nothing so why play it safe Floyd? Why not go after the opponent who will draw the largest PPV buy ever, Orenthal James Simpson.

 

How can you really tell football season is here?

Last Sunday I decided I needed to go to church. Mostly because I’ve built up a lot of guilt knowing I will be spending the next 20 sundays gambling and skipping church, (plus what else is there to do on a sunday morning without football). I’m ready to spend my morning attempting to become a better person and not think about football when a couple sits down a few rows in front of me wearing this. First of all; what has America come to that an Earl Thomas jersey with socks and sandals is acceptable church attire? I understand church is supposed to be a welcoming place to all but I was praying the pastor would stop his sermon and ask this idiot to leave and only come back when he figures out how to dress like an adult.

Second; what was the conversation like between these 2 people before deciding to wear the seahawks jerseys to church? “hey honey should we wear something nice to church like a tie and a dress?” “oh absolutely not! we should wear our matching seahawk jerseys on a day when the seahawks aren’t even playing.”

And finally; of course Seattle fans would show up to church wearing jerseys. Only obnoxious fan bases would wear matching jerseys to church. You’re never going to walk into church and find a pair of matching Chargers jerseys. Here is a quick power ranking of fan bases who are obnoxious enough to wear matching jerseys to church: 1. Seattle 2. Green Bay 3. New England 4. Pittsburgh 5. Dallas

 

Each summer Vegas puts out an Over/Under win total for every team in the NFL. this means Vegas predicts how many games a team will win and you can bet whether you think that team will win more or less games than the Vegas number. For example the Falcons number is 9.5, if you think they will win 10 or more games, (spoiler alert they will win way more than 10 games) then you can bet the over. Now that week 1 is fast approaching the Double COVERage team has come up with a few of Over/Under season total bets we like.

 NFL season win totals

New York Giants over 8.5 -140

One of my favorite things to look for when betting is a team that is favored to win their division but doesn’t have the highest vegas over/under number. The Cowboys have an over/under of 9.5, but somehow the Giants are a full game lower, with an easier schedule and a better defense, and a better offense, and a less anyoing fan base, (which doesn’t really factor into the over under but its important to remember that Cowboys fans are the worst.) The Giants have really put money into their defense in free agency with studs at every level including Landon Collins, Olivier Vernon, and 4th of July enthusiast Jason Pierre Paul. I believe the Giants defense will lead them to the NFC East division title and 10 or 11 wins.

New York Jets under 4.5 -150

Question: do you know who the starting QB for the Jets is this season? Neither do I! I spend more time following the NFL than almost anyone and I have no idea who they are going to start at QB this year. Mostly because I don’t think the Jets know who they are starting this year at QB. This offseason the Jets lost both Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, meaning their best receiver will be Quincy Enunwa, who tore his ACL in the preseason. The Jets are a mess but they seem to be even more of a mess this season than normal. I guess their defense might have some good players but this is too easy to bet against a team who isn’t even trying to win. The Jets win 3 games, best case scenario.

Los Angeles Chargers under 7.5 +130

The Chargers under is the official Double COVERage bet for the 2017 NFL season. Lets start with the name, doesn’t it just feel wrong that the Chargers are now the third most popular team in the city they play in. Teams that move cities and hire a new head coach in the same year does not exactly scream franchise stability. Last season the Chargers went 5-11 but seem to have the worst luck losing close games and players with season ending injuries. Even with the move the Chargers do show some promise with a number of weapons on offense such as Melvin Gordon, Keenan Allen, and Hunter Henry. They also have a number of solid young players on defense including Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, and Casey Hayward. It is not hard to see why many people think the Chargers will go over 7.5 wins and make a run at the playoffs. However those people are ignoring the fact that the Chargers have a BRUTAL schedule. In fact based on records from last season the Chargers play the third hardest schedule in the NFL. The AFC West will be the toughest division in the NFL this season with the Chiefs, Raiders, and Broncos. Playing those 3 teams a total of 6 times is not the only obstacle the Chargers will have to overcome. Because of the Chargers move to LA they will have to endure this season playing in a 25,000 seat soccer stadium. I’m sold already on betting agaisnt a team playing in a soccer stadium where half the fans will be rooting for the other team, I don’t care how much Joey Bosa can bench, The Chargers will be 7-9 or less.

 

Hope you are as excited for football season as we are. Look out this week for BartSauce first week of college football season picks and the week after I’ll be back with week 1 of the NFL picks. Have a great Sunday and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football.

Betting on sports is illegal in 49 of the 50 United States. Major sports networks will not mention point spreads or over/under’s during any broadcast of a game. The NCAA will not even acknowledge people bet on their games. And despite all of that every March 20% of Americans will take time out of their work day to fill out an NCAA tournament bracket. Some people even put money on their bracket with friends or co-workers. Do you know what that means? It means 20% of Americans willingly participate in sports betting without even really thinking about it. My brother plays football for a division 2 NCAA college, and that means he is not allowed to fill out a bracket.

Really its an unsophisticated tradition. Pick teams to win games based on the numbers next to their name, or the color’s of their uniforms, or whether or not you like their mascots. However you pick your bracket, trust me you’re doing it wrong.

If filling out an NCAA bracket really is gambling, why not think of your bracket the way a gambler would. Look at teams based on odds, point spreads, and past performance. Don’t know anything about gambling? Haven’t watched a college basketball game all season? Well that’s what BartSauce and I are here for. We have spent many hours this season watching endless amounts of college basketball and following point spreads. Is this because we wanted to? Not a chance, we did this for you, so you have the opportunity to educate yourself right before filling out your bracket. Pretending to know what you’re talking about when your co-workers asked how you knew the 12 seed was gonna beat the 5. We did this for you the amateur bracket picker.

The Regions:

South Region: by davech999

Odds to win the region (aka make the final 4): #1 seed North Carolina even, #2 seed Kentucky 2/1, #3 seed UCLA 5/1, #4 seed Butler 9/1, #10 seed Wichita St 10/1, #6 seed Cincinnati 20/1, #5 seed Minnesota 50/1, #12 seed Middle Tennessee St 60/1.

Let’s start with who’s going to come out on top in this region, meaning 1 of these teams is gonna win 4 games to make it to the final 4.Now the biggest mistake people make when filling out their bracket is looking at the number the team is seeded. For now look at the Vegas odds to make the final 4, Wichita State is the 4th best team in this region but because of NCAA politics are a 10 seed. Ignore the 10 seed and stick to odds when making picks.

The South is loaded and in my opinion the toughest region in the tournament. I believe any one of 4 teams could realistically make the final 4 and I wouldn’t be surprised. Let’s start with the bottom of the region because it is going to be the most competitive of any in the entire tournament. UCLA and Kentucky as the 2 or 3 seeds could easily make the final 4 and no one would blink, but on their side of the bracket is Cincinnati and Wichita state. Both teams are very capable of upsetting either powerhouse team, especially Wichita state. The number 1 seed is North Carolina and Vegas has them at even money (meaning bet $100 to win $100) for them to make the final 4. UNC’s road to the elite 8 is much smoother than whoever is coming out of the bottom of the south making them an easy pick however…

My Pick: UCLA 5/1

My Sleeper Pick: Wichita State 10/1

There are 4 things I know for certain in this world: death, taxes, Kobe Bryant was guilty of rape, and the UCLA Bruins are going to score a lot of points. Seriously their offense is as good as anyone’s in the country, just ask Kentucky when they beat them in Lexington back in December. In an elite 8 match up UNC will most likely be favored over UCLA but the Bruins are capable of running anyone out of the building.

Matchups to take advantage of:

Another common mistake people make when filling out their bracket is picking the higher seed to beat the lower seed because they think the lower number is better (I might have already mentioned this). For example most people are shocked when a 12 seed ‘upsets’ a 5 seed. In a lot of cases though its not actually an upset, like in the south region.

#12 Middle Tennessee State over #5 Minnesota: Middle Tennessee State, sounds like the school I made up to tell my friends my ‘girlfriend’ who they had never met attended and when they asked for a picture to prove she was real I couldn’t find it. But ITS ACTUALLY A REAL SCHOOL and they are actually good at basketball. You might remember last year when they ruined your bracket by beating Michigan State in the first round. They are going to beat Minnesota this year, and you don’t have to thank me for the pick because Vegas has this game as a pick ’em (meaning pick either team to win, no point spread).

#10 Wichita State over #2 Kentucky: This would be a potential second round matchup if both teams advance. If you can’t tell by now I like Wichita State. The country has seen them do it before in the tournament but what most people don’t realize this:

In the last four (4) seasons Wichita State has lost four (4) conference games. I repeat, THEY HAVE ONLY LOST FOUR (4) CONFERENCE GAMES IN THE LAST FOUR (4) YEARS. The senior class at Wichita State has lost fewer conference games than the number of tutors Coach Calipari hired to take the SAT for Derrick Rose (allegedly)

There is something to be said for a team who has established a culture of winning, and is not used to losing. Wichita is not just satisfied with winning one game and going home, they are hungry to advance. 2 years ago the then 8 seeded Shockers upset number 1 seed Kansas and I think they can do it again against the young freshman led Kentucky team.

West Region: by davech999

Odds to win the West Region: Gonzaga 3/2, Arizona 2/1, Florida State 5/1, West Virginia 6/1, St. Mary’s 7/1, Notre Dame 12/1.

The ‘West’ region actually does not have two of the best west coast teams (Oregon and UCLA) in it. Also the west region does not have a lot of depth making it tough to predict the lower seeded games. The region does have one of the worst overseeded teams, Florida State, and one of the most underseeded teams, Notre Dame, in the entire tournament. If ND was a 3 seed and FSU was a 5 I don’t think anyone would blink.

My Pick: Gonzaga +150

My Sleeper Pick: Arizona 2/1 (not much of a sleeper but I’ll be shocked if anyone besides this 2 make the final 4)

Let’s clear up some misconceptions about the Zags. First: ‘They don’t play anyone during the season’ actually they have 3 wins against teams who are in the tournament and not named St. Marys. They beat 5 seeded Iowa State, 4 seeded Florida, and the Pac 12 tournament champ Arizona (as well as beating 7 seed St. Marys 3 times). Second: ‘Gonzaga always chokes in the tournament.’  Its true that Gonzaga has never made a final 4 but very few mid major schools have. Gonzaga has made many tournament runs but never gone to the last 4. The best team they’ve had recently made it to the elite 8 before losing eventual champion Duke who happened to have a team with 3 future first round NBA draft picks starting for them, I would hardly call that a choke. Third: ‘Gonzaga is full of white players’ actually this one is usually pretty accurate, this season they are led by 7 footer (unspellable first name) Karnowski who is Polish, and white. But their real leader is Nigel Williams-Goss, a transfer from the University of Washington. Goss is incredibly light skinned but in Spokane Washington I assume he is basically Wesley Snipes.

Matchups to take advantage of:

#7 St Mary’s over #10 VCU: West coast is back

#5 Notre Dame over #12 Princeton: Princeton has made a nice run winning the ivy league which is like being voted most likely to succeed at a correctional high school. Notre Dame however is one of the few under seeded teams in the tournament, they should have been at least a 4 or a 3 seed. Notre Dame should handle Princeton and West Virginia in the second round.

#14 Florida Gulf Coast over #3 Florida State: That’s right give me the 6/1 underdog Florida Gulf Coast to upset the interstate favorite FSU. Florida State has struggled all year on the road or in neutral sites and they were way over seeded. Florida State is by far the weakest 3 seed and either way should pave an easy path for Arizona to the elite 8.

East Region: by BartSauce

Odds to win the East Region– Villanova 8/5, Duke 2/1, SMU 6/1, Wisconsin, 12/1.

I have a feeling the the first round of the region might have some of the craziest games in the tournament. With teams like UNC-Wilmington and ETSU it’s bound to get crazy. Unfortunately, cream is going to rise to the top with this region. Wisconsin could mess stuff up in the second round and beat Nova, but I don’t think that is likely to happen. In my opinion, we’re going to end up with Villanova playing against an inferior opponent in the Sweet Sixteen and we’ll have an awesome Duke v. SMU matchup on the bottom of the bracket. I like Villanova to make the Elite Eight easily. For people who know college basketball, they know SMU is a VERY good basketball team and them playing Duke is a toss up at best. Whoever wins that game has to play a Villanova team that probably hasn’t been tested since the round of 32 against Wisconsin. I’m going to go with the well rested defending champions!

My Pick: Villanova 8/5

My Sleeper Pick: SMU 6/1

I have been watching Villanova all year long and have been very impressed. They don’t blow teams out, but they the most solid TEAM in the tournament. They have every tool in the shed to defend their title. I don’t know if they will do that or not, but they come out of the East.

Matchups to take advantage of:

(5) Virginia v. (12) UNC-Wilmington: Here’s the thing, Virginia plays GREAT defense, but they go on scoring droughts worse than Southwest Nebraska in the early 2000s . UNC-Wilmington can flat out score points, but they don’t play great defense. This could be a very interesting game to watch, I think if UNCW gets out to an 8-10 point lead in the first ten minutes things could get very dangerous for Virginia.

(4) Florida v. (13) ETSU : I was on Florida early and often this year and it was paying off big time. They looked like a potentially great team for most of SEC play, but then they lost their starting center and things got rough for them. They have lost 3 of their last 4 games, including two in a row to Vanderbilt. I know they are well coached, I just don’t know how crazy I am about Florida right now. ETSU is a prime example of a team getting hot at the right time. They started out the year well, went through a lull in the middle of conference play, and then started rolling again at the end of conference play and won their conference fairly easily. I really like ETSU in this one. If there was a possible 12/13 matchup in the round of 32, I think the East Region has the best chance to get it.

Midwest Region: by BartSauce

Odds to win the East Region: Kansas 3/2, Louisville 16/5, Oregon 19/4, Purdue 6/1, Iowa State 8/1, Michigan 8/1. 

I think the major excitement in the Midwest Region is going to come in the later rounds. While there is upset potential in the first round, I think there are very exciting upsets late in this region. Two of the hottest teams in the country are in the Midwest. Those two teams are Michigan and Iowa State. Iowa State has won 10 of their last 12 and won the Big 12, Michigan has won 9 of their last 12 including a Big Ten Championship. I don’t really know what’s going to happen in the early rounds, but I think it comes down to Kansas v. Iowa State and Michigan v. Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen. After that, I wouldn’t be surprised by any combination of those four teams in the Elite Eight. I know Oregon lost their big man in the conference semifinal, but Dana Altman is a fantastic coach and will find a way to win the East Region without him.

My Pick: Oregon 19/4

My Sleeper Pick: Michigan 8/1 (They survived a horrific plane crash, ya know?)

Call me bias, or stupid, or whatever you want, but I LOVE West Coast Basketball. While I’m not quite on the Bill Walton “Pac-12: Conference of Champions” train yet, I do enjoy watching the Pac-12. Picking Kansas scares me, a lot, and I don’t know how much fire power Michigan and Iowa State will have at the end. I’ve been watching Oregon all year long and they can flat out play (especially Dillon Brooks). Again, call me whatever you want, but I’m taking Oregon to take the Midwest.

Matchups to take advantage of:

(4) Purdue v. (13) Vermont: Notice that I haven’t said anything about Purdue yet? That’s because I’m not going to waste my time about a team that’s going to get beat in the first round. Everyone (people that aren’t degenerates) just assumes Purdue will win this game with ease, but it won’t be that easy. Vermont hasn’t lost a game against December (credit to my wife for giving me that nice little stat). I’m not going to put the house on it or anything, but I love Vermont over Purdue.

(5) Iowa State v. (12) Nevada: I know that I have been raving about Iowa State, but the committee didn’t do them any favors by giving them Nevada in the first round. Nevada won the Mountain West Conference and didn’t really have much trouble through the year. They are a confident team with a couple NBA players on the roster. That spells mad news for the opponents. Good news for Iowa State, they have a couple NBA players also. This will be a fun one.

Double Coverage Picks: Saturday, April 1st 

Tournament Record to Date: 31-29-2

 

Thanks for reading and good luck with your picks! Have fun watching the game and most importantly, ZAG UP!