Now this was a good week. Well, at least in the NFL. For some reason though, I cannot seem to win on back-to-back Saturdays and Sundays. This was the case as BOTH of my Saturday plays lost but on Sunday I did manage to cash all but 1 wager.

I opened with the Under in the Temple/Bowling Green MAC matchup. I was unable to watch this game, but I just could not see the Owls giving up a ton of points to an unusually weak Bowling Green squad. I am glad that I did not watch. Here the score was 28-20 (under) with less than 20 seconds on the clock. Bowling Green scored a touchdown with no time left on the clock, but went for two and ended up losing the game. The touchdown as the clock expired did make the game go over. Kinda wish that the Falcons had won, just to screw Temple for allowing that final touchdown.  So, I had already lost one play by the time I sat down  to watch the Ohio State/Wisconsin matchup. I figured to up the ante and win back my earlier loss. The Buckeyes, #1 in the nation, at just -4. Sure, they were on the road, but laying only 4? It seemed like an easy play. And yes, I fell into one of those trap lines I talked about two weeks ago. I see it every so often, when a line looks too easy, it usually is, and the play ends up losing. Ohio State was down 21-3 at the half and I knew that this play was doomed. Sucked in by the ‘too easy’ line, I ended up not even watching the end of the game. The Badgers dominated Ohio State and the second $33 went down the drain.

That was enough of college football, although I should have played Hawaii at 1130 because the Warriors are so tough at home. I used to bet the Rainbows in NCAA baskets and cashed on them often. I always figured that any school that sends their players to paradise for a few days prior to the game was going to have a tough time competing. This week the Warriors come East to Utah, who is a home dog. Mmmmm, love home dogs.

Sunday came around and I was ready. The total on the Chiefs game was an easy winner with over 60 points scored. Ching! Up $40. The total on the Giants/Lions matchup was a bit different. I had over 46 for $33 to win $30 and figured that the Lions and the Giants had both been scoring points, kinda like KC and Houston. At the half I was good, knowing that there had already been 24 points scored and usually the 2nd half sees MORE scoring. Confidence is high. The only score in the 3rd quarter was an Eli Manning pass to take it to 21-10. But then the Lions go 3 and out and the Giants start driving. Hope springs eternal! Then their drive stalls and the Giants punt down to the Lions 13. Oh no . . . There is no way that this is gonna go over. I need MORE than two touchdowns and extra points. But then hope! Calvin Johnson reels in a BOMB! Just 8 more points are need and there is a whole quarter of football left. Maybe another BOMB? Giants 3 and out. Starting to sweat. Lions 3 and out. Starting to sweat a little more. Giants 4 and out. Just plain sweating. Then as the Lions are driving, they fumble. Hope once again springs eternal. The Giants go into score quickly and I need just 1 point with over half of the quarter still to play. The Lions return the kick to Giants territory and I am now starting to smell a win. Well, a win for me, I didn’t really care at this point who wins the game. Then the win is right there, in the form of a 50 yard field goal from 40 year-old Jason Hanson. Does he still have the leg after 20 years in the league. Yes, he does! The 50 yarder sails through the uprights and I am back to nearly even money for the weekend.

However, that field goal was a bittersweet and a short lived victory as the Giants only covered by 8, not 10, and thus my weekly $20 parlay went down the tubes. It would not have mattered much as the 2nd part of the 2-teamer was the Colts (-3) on MNF that pushed. In the late afternoon games I only had the Vikings -1.5 over the ‘Boys. I still think the Cowboys are just overrated, their coach stinks and they have yet to show me anything, anything at all, this year. Another tickets cashed by playing against the Cowboys.

I also had the Colts in a teaser play for the third straight week. Teasers are funny, because quite often I say, I did not need those points. Well, in this week’s play I needed them in two out of three games!  The game I did not need was the first one, as the Eagles manhandled the Falcons. The Eagles looked really good and I immediately started thinking that my teaser should have been a parlay. Luckily it wasn’t, as I broke one of my personal rules and bet on a really bad game – Raiders at Niners. Luckily, I had Oakland teased up to +13 as they lost by 8 . . . the closing line of 7 would have killed me. The final piece was the Colts on MNF. I have had a hard time with the Colts this year, but after years of cashing tickets with them, I cannot let them go entirely. So I put ‘em in the aforementioned parlay and into this teaser. Is nice to be able to tease from a -3 to a plus 3, as I have had huge success in moving onto a three – never mind that it also got me off of the -3. $20 to cash for $36 again this week

It was a good weekend as I ended up another $50. The season total is now firmly into the black at +$148. This week I may expand my plays a bit as I now have some house $$ to play with. Two winning weeks in a row and whole bunch of games sitting at 3. I smell a COUPLE of teasers on Sunday.

Check back with next week’s Confessions mid-week. Good Luck to all of us this weekend!