pore

Super Bowl LIII

Been a great football season. Probably my best, which is kinda cool. Won the Survivor Pool, made money in Mississippi and Vegas on the games in person. Finished top 5 in Every Edge Pick Six contest. My two Super Contest tickets hit at about 50%, the usual not-so-great showing, but it was fun. And lots and lots of max withdrawals from my offshores. I'm an expert at the intricacies of Bitcoin now. Who knew that would become the defacto payment processor for our industry?

As far as today's game goes, I'm afraid it's gonna be a boring contest with the Patriots systematically taking the sheepies apart. Run up a big lead, McVay has to toss his game plan, starts taking risks. Sheeps make something interesting of it late, but alas it's not enough. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, but...

Anyway, it's just a normal three star play for me. It kinda feels like an afterthought, this game. Like the season is already over. Should be Chiefs and Saints, but I guess that's in an alternate universe. I already pulled 95% of my funds out, taking time off until March Madness, then settle into baseball season.

To tell you the truth, I'm more excited about my Squares numbers at my favorite dive bar. So I'll share those. In the $10 game I've got:

NE 1 Bah 7 <----Brady leading 21-7 halftime sounds good.
NE 3 Bah 0
NE 8 Bah 0 <----Patriots up 28-0 anyone? 28-10 maybe...?
NE 9 Bah 6

In the $5 squares I've got:

Pats 7 Sheeps 4 <-----both these first two could be winners. Stoked about this!
Pats 4 Sheeps 0
Pats 8 Sheeps 2 <-----ick!!
Pats 9 Sheeps 1 <-----wtf, who can name me one score in the history of the game that landed on this??

One jerk bought an entire row in this game, covering every single Patriots number. But karma said, not so fast jackwagon, and he drew a Rams FIVE. Suck it, loser. 

But, I digress. 

Should we talk about marijuana stocks in Canada that I like? Hmm, maybe tomorrow. 

New England ML at whatever you can get. I see -135 to -140. Risking enough to win three stars. Enjoy the game and the commercials. Wish Star Wars Episode IX was dropping a teaser trailer today, but alas doesn't seem to be happening.

Caesars Palace NFL Tickets

I posted these on EveryEdge last weekend, and I wanted to show that I'm true to my word: I am betting what I post there. I posted a four star play on the Colts +1' which is the ticket on the right. The four star teaser on Colts and Seahawks I actually played for five stars in real life. It is the ticket on the left.

When Janikowski came up with the pulled hammy at the end of halftime in the Seattle game, I posted that I hedged out of my teaser. It came down to the final two-point conversion attempt. That play cost me the middle and $5,250. I was playing craps and not watching. The groans throughout the casino could be heard all the way to the strip.

Three star First Half Seahawks Under hit 

The Chargers were a four star play for me on Sunday

 

Only Human

Over the course of the two week Winter Break I took my kids to Nola for a whirlwind of exploration during the day with them, and craps all night. Then home for Christmas day, big week 17 and a victory in the Survivor Contest (and the requisite partying as a release), then right off to Vegas for the Wildcard Weekend. I called 3 of the 4 games perfectly and was only a crossbar away from sweeping everything. Craps was generous. Vodka was plentiful. Life was good. But my no-longer-thirty-something body was taking a beating.

By the time I got on the airplane Monday morning, I was already a shell of my former self. And just to make sure I got the message, the Universe decided to give me a taste of the flu on the plane ride home. It was like something out of the movie Contagion: within hours I was symptomatic. By the time I was at the baggage carousel, I could barely stand up. I caught an Uber home and collapsed in my clothes on the sofa. Went to Minute Clinic on Tuesday and they did the nasal swab. Yep, influenza A. Guess I've never had the flu before so I didn't realize how bad it is. You feel like every muscle in your body has been hit with a baseball bat. Non-stop coughing, your eyes water continuously. All I've done for a week is lie in the fetal position on my bed, alternating between sweating and shivering.

So, I've taken a week off from life. I haven't thought about football and haven't watched ESPN or listened to any talking heads. The only thing I've done this week was re-watch the entire 7 seasons of the Sopranos on HBO on Demand, basically a season a day. That's kept me alive. 

So here we are on Saturday, and I'm feeling much better. A little weak, 8 pounds lighter. But it's an important day for me since my Chiefs have a chance to win a home playoff game for the first time since 1994 and avenge their horrible collapse to the Colts in the playoffs a couple years ago. With my Panthers long gone from the playoff picture, I ordered my first non-Carolina jersey since I lived in KC back as a kid. A very sharp-looking red Mahomes from Amazon, which just arrived last night. I'm going to venture out of the sleep cave and try to be human for a bit this afternoon, rooting on my Chiefs even though my bets in the next post will belie my thoughts on their prospects of winning.

Survivor

I'm proud to report that I have won the 100k Survivor contest for the second time in four years.

Survivor Week 17

This 100k contest started at Sportsbook.ag on September 9 with 12,299 entries. Here we are 111 days later where 31 still stand. Glancing back at the teams I have used, I managed to chose 12 teams that are either in the playoffs or still fighting for their lives. Only four teams that I used are having bad seasons. Somehow, the plan is all working out the way I had hoped. I have scrupulously saved New England for Week 17 like a wise Crow saving a shiny button. I spent the first part of this week floating on the feeling that I had already made my toughest decisions for this journey, I survived the Tennessee v Washington near debacle whilst walking through the French Quarter on Saturday evening, and now all I had to do was plug New England into the final spot and wait.

But there's a wrinkle. I forgot that this clause in the Terms and Conditions had been triggered. 

Moreover, if there are between 10 and 34 entries alive after Week 16, each contestant must select two teams that will win their Week 17 game outright.

Well, that changes things a bit now doesn't it? I'm back to full worry mode again. You can imagine the noises my stomach is making as I sit here drinking coffee three days before kick off. While on the one hand it's good that this is more than likely going to vastly narrow the field of winners down, it is no longer a 90% certainty that I am going to make it across the finish line myself. However, I have made good decisions thus far and now my usage of marginal teams NYG, ATLANTA and TENN in weeks 14-16 is going to pay off, because I still have Houston in my back pocket, ready to play in a spot I liked them in: at home vs. a team playing for nothing in a position where they need to win to secure the division title. 

100K Contest 

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas, Seattle, New York Giants, Atlanta, Tennessee

Week 17: NEW ENGLAND & HOUSTON

There are 31 tickets left vying for the 100k.

Survivor Week 16

Atlanta smoked Arizona last week. Here we are with two decisions left to make. I've made my selection and I'm taking my family to Nola tomorrow for a Christmas trip. Hope I can resist the urge to watch this game Saturday. I may just walk along Rue Royale and just listen to street musicians with a good bottle of wine in my leather satchel. 

100K Contest 

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas, Seattle, New York Giants, Atlanta

Week 16: TENNESSEE

17. New England v nyj

There are 33 tickets left vying for the 100k.

Survivor Week 15

Really nice to be alive after 14 weeks. Last week, sticking to my guns on NYG paid off. Denver fell in SF. Ontheplusside lobbied for taking NE and then they fell to the Miracle in Miami. Pittsburgh knocked out another 29%. All told, 67% of the 109 got the axe. 37 remain.

I'm not going to worry about that number. My job is to get over the finish line. We'll see who is standing beside me at that point. 

100K Contest

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas, Seattle, New York Giants

Week 15: ATLANTA

16. New England v buf

17. Houston v jax

There are 37 tickets left vying for the 100k.

Survivor Week 14

Nice to be able to type that headline. Still alive with one ticket after 13 weeks. There are 109 survivors, but I can't think about my competition. I just have to keep my head down, make four winning picks and make it across the finish line. 

I have agonized over this week. I have Denver beating SF on the road in my Path to Victory, but I cannot trust Atlanta next week at home against Arizona. Atlanta might be in total rebuilding mode in ten days (as I expect GB to wax them this week) and Arizona proved resilient last week (a desert team winning in the snow, hmmm). So then we look to Tennessee tonight at home against the Jaguars. I picked Tennessee this morning and continued studying. It just felt wrong. Like that dry mouth feeling of dread. The quiet before the storm, where the wind is whipping up the dry leaves and the sky turns green before a tornado hits. The zombies are walking up the street kinda wrong. Just Wrong with a capital W.

So I'm selecting the New York Giants to carry me to week 15.

100K Contest

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas, Seattle

Week 14: NYG

15. Denver v cle
16. New England v buf
17. Houston v jax

 

NFL Weekend Recap & Survivor Week 13

Lovely Thanksgiving week here in the Carolinas. Got all my kids home for five days which made me a very happy man. I am blessed beyond measure.

Dallas took my Survivor ticket into the Teens as weeks One through Twelve are in the books. I have adjusted my Path to victory once again and looks like I'm going to use my Week 17 team Seattle this week. I had Seahawks beating Arizona in Week 17, and Houston beating Cleveland in Week 13, but Cleveland all of a sudden is a legitimate average team instead of an easy "free square." Houston will be on a short week after playing tonight, and I'm just getting that prickly sensation at the back of my neck. So I will strike with the suddenly hot Seabirds at home against SF in 13 and then push Houston to Week 17 at home vs. Jacksonville. Looks like this:

100K Contest

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas

Week 13: SEATTLE

14. Denver @ sf (or Ten v. jax)
15. Atlanta v ari
16. New England v buf
17. Houston v jax

There are 121 tickets left vying for the 100k.

And Carolina... sigh, we were doomed after Donte Jackson injured his quad on the very first play of the game. His replacement got burned deep over and over (though it took Pete Carol 3 quarters to notice and let Wilson throw the ball). Gano blew another game and now the Panthers have lost three straight. The last two losses by a total of 4 points. I'd say we do not make the playoffs this year, with games against the Saints (twice) and Atlanta still on the docket.

Survivor Week 12

Another 50% plus went down in week 11 as 140 tickets fell. One hundred and twenty-four remain.

100K Contest

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans

 

12. DALLAS v Washington (formerly Cincy, formerly Philly)