Breathing

I thought up this little song last night as I was trying to get to sleep. It is sung to the melody for Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."

I feel those folks a breathing

There breathing down my neck

ya da da da da da

ya da da da

If I don't make some good picks

I'll find myself out of it

This Pigskin Pickem is getting me down.

Well, I guess you get the idea. Don't you Lin. It really did sound very good in my head I should have a pen and paper next to my bed for these types of instances. In the last two weeks he has lost 5 points to Amy and 3 to Big Jay, his closest competitors. I said it a few weeks ago, I smell the fear. It might be a case of too little, too late but with this last weekend, you just don't know for sure. Here are the standing going into the last week of the Pigskin Pickem.

1. Lin - 167

2. Amy & Big Jay - 165

3. Me 164

4. Me - 163

5. Sue - 160

In the Gridiron, it shows all players having a BYE this week so I'm not sure what might be going on here but here are the standings going into the final weekend.

1. Jay - 1681

2. Amy - 1651

3. Scott - 1624

4. Lin - 1614

5. Bryan - 1581

Finally, in the Eliminator, I was officially eliminated from any prizes but Scott is still in the running for the runner up prize along with 3,168 of his closest friends. Good luck this week Scott. Make our small group proud.

Last but certainly not least, the Bowl games are half over now and many of us are riding a 4 of 5 game loosing streak with all the upsets that have happened the past couple of days. I guess some teams just want to play and others only want to play one half of a game. Should be interesting these last few days. The standings right now are:

1. Me

2. Bryan

3. Sue

4. Amy

5. Sue

It might be noted that these standings don't mean too much since it depends on how many points you have left and whether or not your team comes to play (a full game.) Good luck to everyone in the games this weekend and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

And Then Were Two (As In Weeks Left)

Can you just feel the pressure building? I know some who are starting to sweat just a little. Some probably wish last week was in fact THE LAST WEEK! But sorry you folks who are starting to have to clear your collective throats as the final two weeks of the season are upon us. Maybe with the excitement of the Bowl Season and Christmas they can take their minds off of the picks and games ahead. Remember, that most of the NFL games are on Saturday this week so make your picks early lest you fall farther behind. Speaking of Christmas, when someone asks you if you are ready for Christmas, don't hit them although you might want to, just tell them that you will be. You will won't you? On to the updates.

Scott is defying all that our group has stood for in the past by still remaining perfect in the Eliminator along with 1514 others. I remain tied for second with 4216 others. I can't wait to see what we might win.

In the Gridiron, you might remember last week I thought there would be a shake up of the standings. Well what I meant was I would fall flat on my face and drop down to below everyone who is trying to take this game seriously. Helped by a week where he scored over 100 points, Jay has remained in first place and 107 points now separate 1st from 5th place, but only 57 separate 1st from 3rd. I think I can hear him sweating, very sad. If someone knows a quarterback who can play the entire game let Jay know so he can add him to his roster. Hey jay Brady does. On to the standings.

1. Jay - 1156
2. Amy - 1528
3. Scott - 1499
4. Lin & Bryan - 1475
5. Me - 1449

Finally, Lin has either decide to stick with one name, I mean his current name OR, he has run out of names in the Pigskin Pickem. The later is highly unlikely. Regardless, here is another who you can almost hear sweat. A few facts. Lin has lost 2 points to me in the last two weeks and 3 each to Big Jay and Amy over the same period. We might run out of weeks but Lin has to be careful and when you are too careful you tend to make mistakes. This is not my unique idea but it is proven again and again. Will see what happens this week. You just need to know what upsets to pick and by the way, don't listen to any idiot experts on TV. I did and it cost me a game with my second place entry. On to the standings.

1. Lin - 158
2. Big Jay and Me - 155
3. Amy - 154
4. Sue and Me - 153

Well that does it for this week. Enjoy all the football, college and pros, this week. We will be talking to most of you over Christmas. Hope our journeys are safe and you get most everything you wish for Christmas. Thanks again and enjoy Jethro Tull.

Thoughts Over Morning Coffee

Ah, the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning. The newspaper read, OK perused. Now it is time to make some picks. I am sitting at my computer looking out over my front lawn and the street beyond. It is cloudy out there and windy. Looks like snow and I see a number of crazy people running in a neighborhood race complete with police escort. The dogs are going nuts barking as they watch these health nuts run in very cold morning. Mmmm, this coffee tastes good. I need to go out and rake some more leaves but it is just too cold this morning. Besides, I have way too much crap to do before J & J come. I was in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Biloxi this past week. This was my second trip after Katrina and even though a lot of work has been done in the time between last month and this month's visit, there is still a ton of work to be done. It will take years to get back to where they were. Last night I was looking at the bowl matchups for this season and there are some tough games to pick this year. I still have some shopping to do for Christmas and have a pretty full week ahead of me. Right now we have three dogs and one cat living with us and they all get along. Kids should be so easy. Boy this coffee tastes good...Dunkin Donuts coffee. Delivered straight to your house. This is what psychologists call free association. We all know it as rambling...on to the results from last week.

Scott continues his quest for a prefect season in the Elimnator Challenge. He joins 1587 others with a perfect record. I am still in the hunt for second place with 4853 others. With only a few weeks left we are running out of teams.


In the Gridiron, Jay is determined to let someone take over first place as he had his second sub 100 week in a row. Maybe he is doing too much research. Bryan won the week with 133, I was second with 125 and Sue was third with 122. The oversall results are :
1. Jay - 1454
2. Amy - 1400
3. Scott 1395
4. Bryan - 1370
5. Me - 1368
I would look for a big shake up in the standings this week as only 86 point separate 1st from 5th place.

Finally, in granddaddy of them all, the Pigskin Pickem, it remains a very close race and these next three weeks will be very interesting as Lin trys to hold on to first place. He is panicking out there I can feel it, he is panicking. Remember, there is money on the line here (a whole $35.00 for first place.) Big Jay with his 1 If By Land entry won the week with 14 out of 16 games correct. The overall results are:
1. Lin - 148
2. Me - 144
3. Big Jay - 143
4. Sue - 142
5. Amy and Me 141
Did you know there are more than 138,000 entries across the country in this game and the top 10 entrees in our group are all in the top 90%. This is very strong and an excellent showing by us amaturs. Lin is tied with many others for 2368th place. He also changed his name AGAIN. Obviously, a true sign of panic. Remember there are games today. Good luck this week.

The bowl games start this week too on Tuesday with the New Orleans Bowl live from Lafayette, LA. Should be fun.

What? Skip a Week?

NEVER...not so long as the Blog Police are out there looking for non blog writers. You know who you are, leaving nasty messages on home phones...talk about pressure. Hey, speaking of pressure how about the pressure Lin must be under trying to come up with another new name for his leading entry in the Pigskin Pickem. That's right the boy wonder, I wonder why he is always changing his name to a new name each week and each name is getting weaker. Oh well, here are the results after week 13.

1. Lin - To Da Hizzle - 136
2. Me - Rudy - 131
2. Me - Instant Replay - 131
2. Sue - Passing for Glory - 131
3. Big Jay - Pats Roll On - 130

There are a few lurking behingd these leaders who have been slowly making their mark on the group. Still 4 weeks to go. Everyone is looking for Lin to stumble but he has remained strong.

The Gridiron Challenge leaders gap is closing on Jay. He has slid a little the last two weeks but still finds himself in first place. Here are the results after this past week. I might mention that only 139 points separate first place from fifth place and we all know what happened a few weeks ago with Jay's entry. Anything can happen.

1. Jay - 1382
2. Amy - 1322
3. Lin - 1298
4. Scott - 1285
5. Me - 1243

Finally, Scott has remained tied with 2090 of his closest friends in the Elimnator Challenge. I am still tied with 5804 for the second chance prize. Jay, Bryan and Joan remain tied for third in our little group with 10 correct picks out of 13 weeks.

Good luck to all this week and remember to get in on the bowl game challenge or what ever it is called this year.