Road Dogs and Road Trips

So yeah, I haven't posted all week, but damn--it's hard to stay on top of this when I work a full forty every week and have a sixty-mile commute each day, too.  Just goes to show how good I had it back in Vegas when I worked a solid 18 hours each week and commuted a mile-and-a-half to the casino. 

Been a long time since dem days...

Even with a lot less time on my hands, I can still spare a few minutes to gloat as I went 4-1-1 last week.  Only Green Bay with that suspect defense let me down.  This week, however, I feel a great disturbance in the force, like millions of bettors crying out in terror and and were suddenly silenced.  I'm not feeling hugely confident in any of these picks, so it's probably a good thing that there is no sports book handy.  Regardless, I'm still going to put 'em out there, so here we go:

New York Football Giants  +8 over PHILADELPHIA  I really hate this pick, but the dog-slayer is concussed, and even when he wasn't, his stats weren't very good.  But is it ever a good idea to take Eli Manning on the road?  Normally, this would be a stay-away for me, but eight points is just too much chalk, and I need a road dog.  G-men!

Detroit -3.5 over MINNESOTA  I think I'm gonna ride this Lions bandwagon for a little while.  The Vikings are by far the worst team in this top-heavy division, and betting against Donovan McNabb is always fun and sometimes profitable.  BTW, without looking, can anyone besides Doc Al name Minnesota's head coach?

Green Bay -3.5 over CHICAGO  The unstoppable Green Bay offense against the tough Chicago defense--should be a great match-up, as always.  But when the ball is going the other way, with Green Bay unable to stop pretty much anyone, Jay Cutler has to remain upright to hurt them.  I wouldn't count on it, but then, I didn't expect the Packers to suddenly become the Indianapolis Colts of the past decade--a score-at-will offense with a JV defense.  Still, the Pack should win by at least a touchdown. 

OAKLAND +3.5 over New York Jets  First of all, Oakland is better than people think this year.  Ok, lemme rephrase that.  Oakland is not as bad as everyone thinks they are.  And it seems that every year, the Jets have a couple of WTF? games where they just play terribly.  I think this is one of those games.  Also, it seems that the Jets worry way too much about what the other teams in the AFC east are doing and how they're going to match up against them, so a long road trip against team that they don't seem to squabble with seems to be a trap game.  Besides, as much as I'd like to be on the Sanchez bandwagon, he reminds me too much of Brad Johnson as a quarterback--more of a game manager type with the very occasional big play in his pocket, but it doesn't seem like you can count on him when you need it--a-la Big Ben in Pittsburgh.  I think the Raiders not only cover, but win outright.

Atlanta +1.5 over TAMPA BAY  Ok, so I found another road dog, but it doesn't seem to me like the Falcons should be underdogs in this game.  Conventional wisdom has the Bucs coming back to earth this year, and I believe the second NFC wild-card team comes out of this division.  I think it's going to be the Falcons.

And in case y'all aren't keeping track, I'm now 7-3-1 for the year. If I keep up this torrid pace, you'll soon find me screaming at the local Las Vegas radio audience every Sunday morning offering my 900-number and my exclusive five-star locks of the week!  (Seriously--every damn radio station in Vegas every Sunday morning is nothing but handicappers literally yelling for three hours straight about their 'service'--very annoying).

Also, as much as I enjoy parking my ass on the couch and doing the Vulcan mind-meld with the NFL Red Zone channel for seven hours straight each week, I will be unable to do so this weekend.  I'm actually going to a game.  No, not the Broncos - Titans snoozer where Tebow finally gets his shot--I will be attending the Ravens-Rams game in St. Louis on Sunday!  Yep--love my Rams, and while I don't have high hopes for their success this week--they eat up huge chunks of yards but stall inside the ten on every drive, or it seems that their receiving corps is a bunch of Braylon Edwards clones, unable to hold onto anything that hits them between the numbers--I can't wait to see 'em.  Regardless of the beat down that I'm afraid is coming, I'll be there cheering them on and hoping they pull out a miracle.

One of my high-school buddies, Jim, who I haven't seen in almost twenty years, scored us some tickets down in the end zone, ten rows up from the field, directly behind the goal posts.  So y'all may see me in the highlights, especially since the Rams have an affinity for field goals instead of touchdowns.  But I digress--it will be a great time.  I'm taking off in about three hours and road-tripping up to St. Louis today, and I'll be up there for the next five days.  I'm also going to be spending some quality time with my gal Angela, my date from my Senior Prom. 

Yep--it's been 26 years and a whole head of hair since then, but we found each other almost a year ago through the 'miracle' of Facebook, so we've got a fun weekend planned.  And while I wanted to get to the Cardinals-Cubs game on Saturday, now that the Cards are back in the wild-card hunt, tickets are harder to find than an old Nova with matching doors.  Besides, Jim can't get down until late on Saturday (he lives in Chicago), so instead, Angela and I will be doing touristy stuff that day.

So that means that I need to wrap it up, pack my suitcase, and get on the road.  Even though I won't be working anytime soon, I still won't have time to make any updates, but I promise that there will be more content here either late on Tuesday night or early on Wednesday--and from then on, I'm gonna try to do the Linda Lou thing and get at least three new posts up every week. 

Y'all have a great weekend!

Mikey