Another week of football and the first week this season that I am starting in a real hole from the previous week. Not that there is any pressure, but a couple of wins would be sweet to get at least to even\u00c2\u00a0 . . . and beyond.<\/p>\n
Saturday started off with a friend of mine sending me a handicapper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s play on the late ABC game – Stanford\/Oregon. I looked at Ducks (-6.5) and figured, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was going to watch the game, so a couple of bucks would make it more interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. But, I also think that if a handicapper is so smart and can pick so many winners, why doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he just bet his plays? So, I thrown a quick 22 to win 20 to have some action on the game and sit back. The first half saw Stanford looking awfully good, jumping out to a 21-3 lead, and reinforcing my belief in these so called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchandicappers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. The Ducks to manage to get within a TD at the half. I resist the temptation to bet the 2nd half. Oregon really comes to life in the second half when that kid<\/em> returns a fumble all the way to the 3.\u00c2\u00a0 Did you see that kid go?<\/em> The Ducks score on the next play. The tide has turned, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to cash. And the first winner of the weekend is registered! YES!\u00c2\u00a0 This is a great way to start the weekend.<\/p>\n Sunday morning is spent with ESPN on the box, Statfox on my screen and the newspaper next to me. Scouring and evaluating, I come up with three picks \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Baltimore (+2.5), Indy (-7) and, at night, the Giants, now at -3.5. I also throw in my weekly parlay, just a two-teamer this week after getting burned with\u00c2\u00a0 2 out of three winners last week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Over in the Packers game and the Saints giving 13. I know, giving 13 in the NFL is tough but I figure, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carolina, possibly one of the 2 or 3 worst teams in the league and the Saints are at home. Of course, neither the Packers offense or defense disappoints and over 50 points are scored but the Saints . . . 2nd week in a row that they lost for me<\/span>. I refuse to believe that I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t picks a Saints game, after all they cashed for me in last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s SuperBowl. Still, I make a mental note that the Saints have cost me 2 straight weeks. They are off the radar for the upcoming week, for sure.<\/p>\n The Ravens\/Steelers game was as to be expected \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a defensive battle that surprised me as two touchdowns were scored early. This made me wonder If I got this all wrong. And it looked like I did. I sweated the game the entire 2nd half. The Ravens held a slim 3 point lead throughout\u00c2\u00a0 a scoreless 3rd quarter. Then Pittsburgh drives the ball the entire length of the field and scores at the start of the 4th quarter. Oh no, not at Pittsburgh. I figured that it was over. The Ravens had done a whole lot of nothing and here they are down at Pittsburgh and down by 4. But Flacco drives down the 2! Here we go \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the sweet taste of victory.<\/em> Denied. Flacco throws 2 straight incompletes and the drive dies at the 2, just two more yards to victory. Oh no . . <\/em>. But redemption is mine as Pittsburgh goes three and out, gets a holding call on the ensuing punt and Flacco has 55 seconds and just 40 yard to go. I think my friend knows Flacco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dad or something, I think Flacco is the man.<\/em> It turns out that Flacco is the man as he throws a touchdown to Hooozmenzaadaaa with seconds left and I cash, 17-14! I call my friend and ask him to tell Flacco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dad to thank Joe for me . . . I find out that my buddy works with Matt Ryan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> Dad\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, cousin. Who cares, another winner. But, looking back on the game, why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t I play UNDER? It was easy to see this as a defensive battle and low scoring in the final game before the return of Rothlisberger. Overlooking this play was probably the mistake of the week.<\/p>\n Then Indianapolis. I must admit I did not watch this game as I figured that this was an easy winner. Instead, I see the score with Jacksonville leading 21-14 in the 2nd half and decide that I will not rush home to see the end of the game \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this one is a loser. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all I have to say about that.<\/p>\n So, I enter the late game down a\u00c2\u00a0 bit on the day but upbeat. I could have gotten creamed if not for my man Joe Flacco, but I also had another play alive. Quite often when things aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going my way, I will play a teaser to get a bit of an edge. I employed this strategy on Sunday.\u00c2\u00a0 As I head to the late game, I also have a 3 teamer alive \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 20 to win 36. The whole weekend (and the 3-teamer) hinges on the Giants.<\/p>\n I am pumped as this game is the difference between winning a bunch of cash or getting crushed. Unfortunately, I actually fell asleep during the game!\u00c2\u00a0 Cash on the line, and still what a drag this game was. Punt, punt, punt, there must have been 20 of them in the game. And personally, before I dozed off, it looked more like a poor display of offense than a great showing of defense. Yawn! ZZZzzzzz.<\/em>Then suddenly something wakes me and I realize that it is a touchdown . . . for the Giants! Oh My God, the score is still only 10-0! How long have I been asleep? <\/em>But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all good\u00c2\u00a0 as 1) I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss anything and 2) it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not how exciting the game is, its whether I cover. I get a little more interested as it gets to 10-3, but realize that this is a winner and so is my $33 straight bet and my wining $36 teaser.<\/p>\n The weekend wagering ends, as the Dolphins are one of those teams that I never get right and I am not confident on MNF so far this season. I am upbeat and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind tuning in and pretending I have whichever team is winning. Did I say that I LOVED THE Pats \u00e2\u20ac\u201c wink,wink. Actually I probably would have bet the Dolphins, buying into the Chad Henney hype. So, the weekend ends up with a $63 profit and after a full month of wagering I am down just 23 bucks. I have had a helluva lot of fun for just over a Jackson so far this year. Next week, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll pull the bankroll back to the black \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I can feel it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another week of football and the first week this season that I am starting in a real hole from the previous week. Not that there is any pressure, but a couple of wins would be sweet to get at least to even\u00c2\u00a0 . . . and beyond. Saturday started off with a friend of mine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[50,65,32,42],"class_list":["post-331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bets-and-more","tag-gambling","tag-nfl","tag-sports-betting","tag-sportsbooks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osga.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}