Midweek thoughts

• Checked the “Blogger” tournament at PokerStars.  650 entries.  Uh-huh.  Like there were really 650 poker blogs before they announced this tournament.  Shouldn’t there be some kind of tenure involved?  Like at least a MONTH of blogging prior to entering a “Blogger” tournament?  

• Slowly chipping up at Pacific.  That $5 stake has crept up to $35 playing nothing but $5+.5 SnGs (oh, and one $4+.5 to start).  So, depending on whether I follow an arithmetic, multiplicative, or exponential progression, I might have $60, $245, or $1200 next week.  Or zero.

• Sticking to my ONE SnG per evening system.  So, I’ll either be in the 16-seaters at Pacific or the 18-seaters at PokerStars.  Let my daughter watch a little last night.  She’s got the makings of a total calling station.  “Ooh, Queen-four.  You might get a pair of queens…”  Reminds me of the classic analysis of “Well, he’s on a pair draw”.  My son is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum.  When I raised on the button with JTs, he freaked out.  When I took down the pot with a continuation bet on the ragged flop, I could almost see the dawning of understanding in his eyes.  Almost.

• Football picks were pretty shaky last week.  

• Bad picks – Pats over Chargers (umm, NO), Jags over Broncos (not close), Rams over Giants (not in the same country), Seahawks over Skins (I might have to admit that Joe Gibbs might know more about the game than me), 49ers over Cards (did you know Tim Rattay is an anagram for “try at aim”?).  OK, so it’s off by a letter, but pretty damn close.

• Good picks – Saints over Bills by 10 (actual = 12), Iggles over Chiefs by 4 (actual = 6),  Colts big over Titans, Ravens over Jets in a low scoring game with Jamal getting 30 carries.  Oh, and in the non-upset of the week, ABC has officially married Brett Favre and made the leader of an 0-4 team their official suck toy.

• Bingo pick – Bucs over the Lions by 4 with a late run by the Lions.

Moving on to week five…

• Ravens at Lions – Interesting game.  The Lions defense is better than they’ve been given credit for.  The Ravens offense just plain sucks.  Once again, it falls on Joey.  Lions 17-10.  

• Dolphins at Bills – JP Losman vs. Gus Frerotte?  Gotta take a guy named Gus, especially when the guy named JP can’t throw worth a shit.  Fins 20-12.

• Bucs at Jets – V-v-v-vinnie and the Jetsssssss.  Surprisingly good team at a surprisingly bad team = tight game.  17-14 Bucs.

• Saints at Packers – 0-4.  Brett Favre at home used to be a mortal lock.  I haven’t checked the weather, but someone will lose this one on missed field goals.  27-24.

• Pats at Falcons – Pats can’t lose two in row, can they?  Urrr, yes they can.  See Mike run.  Run Mike run.  See Tom pass.  Pass pass pass.  See them score.  Score score score.  31-28.  Falcons in a minor upset.

• Bears at Browns – Good lord, these games suck.  Coming off their bye weeks, both teams have a record of…  oh, it’s the Bears and Browns?  Who the hell cares?  20-17 Bears.

• Titans at Texans – Another barnburner.  Or at least I’d rather be in a burning barn than watch it.  Here’s an odd prediction.  Dominack  Davis and Chris Brown will both go over 100 yards.  And it’ll still be a shitty game.  19-13 Titans.

• Iggles at Cowboys – A touchy game for the Eagles.  Big win against a tough interconference foe.  Cowboys coming off a weak effort against the Raidahs.  Closer than it should be 24-20, Eagles.

• Skins at Broncos – Never bet against the Broncos at home.  And yeah, I know I said that Joe Gibbs knows more than me, but still….  Mark Brunell?  But, the Broncos aren’t exactly Elway-esque either.  Waffling on this as I write it, but gotta go with my gut.  Skins 20-17.

• Seattle at St Louis – Does anyone else think that Marshall Faulk is poisoning Mike Martz?  Who else thinks that the Vikings should trade their second-round pick for Faulk?  He’s got two good years left in him, and would make a big impact for the Vikes, and Martz is just dumb enough to do it.  Anyway, this battle is to see who the LEAST bad team is in the NFC West.  Watch the scoreboard spin around on this one.  37-33 Rams.

• Colts at 49ers – What’s the over/under on TD passes for Peyton?  Nine?  Ten?  This has all the makings of a early season college football game for Texas A&M against the crippled sisters society.  Alex Smith, I like you to meet Dwight Freeney.  Again and again and again.  Niners will score but only because they’ll be throwing constantly.  37-17.

• Panthers at Cards – Josh McCown can throw.  He’ll have to.  Panthers take a big early lead, Cards chip back like the Pack did on Monday.  27-17.

• Bengals at Jags – Marvin’s been yelling at them all week for not beating the Texans by more.  Tough defense for the Jags, but too many weapons for Carson.  Bengals keep the dream alive 23-16.

• Steelers at Bolts – The Bolts are flying high after rolling the Pats.  Look for the trend to continue.  Cowher puts eight in the box and gets smoked by Gates and McCardell and screen passes.  Big Ben starts to rally late, but it’s too late.  Bolts 31-21 as a last drive for the Steelers ends in a pick.