By Des Boodam
I thought Week 8 brought good spoils for many participants in the World Series of Handicapping contest. There were a ton of players that finished in the positive. We had a perfect week AND a bunch of people getting come close… one player picked Buffalo, for their only loss, and through three quarters it seemed as though they would be $50 richer, but than New England went New England. Either way – many more people than usual came out of this week feeling good about their picks. There were half a dozen newbies that made their way on the weekly leader board, so that was really good to see. If you’re sensing a more relaxed tone, please don’t assume I killed it this week, because I didn’t. A cool 3-4 left me humbled and regretting my decision to go against the experts that I typically follow. I looked at a bunch of numbers this week and decided to go against them all… they didn’t convince me that they were going to effectively support Week 8 outcomes. Major over-think on my part, and so the lesson here is don’t take the number lightly. They are based on years of data, and put out there to help you make informed decisions. It’s truly like hitting on sixteen when the dealer has a six showing. We do it to ourselves, but the spotlight needs to be on the successes of Week 8 and the failures.
Props to Par5n2jas and Wingenter for perfect weeks because I know the $50 only represents a portion of the recognition you need for finishing 7-0. Both had common picks of SEA for 5 units and New Orleans for 1 unit as well sharing Carolina and Tampa Bay as well. That’s half their picks being common, and that Tampa Bay game was insane. Par5 opted to go in on a couple of over/under predictions that obviously went well. Of the top 10, week 8 finishers, 6 of them chose only to select games against the spreads. This is telling because not everyone is comfortable betting on over/under outcomes. You have to really pick your spots with these calls but there are angles out there… just don’t be the guy that only sees the angles as they are playing out. Placing an NFL bet is just has never been easy!
We have some horses bunching on the leader board. Allredb1 lost some major ground allowing Fred14 to gain 15 points while Sdiddy gained another 10 points. Allredb1 now owns a .20 lead on Fred14. They hold a solid two-point lead on Sdiddy, but these players are not messing around. Come week 17 will Allredb1 be someone we heard of for a few weeks two months prior to the end of the season, or will we be talking about them being a mainstay on the leaderboard. Allredb1 has truly been walking away with this, but oh how the time on top can be short lived. I can’t call it, but I know they can feel it slipping away. I’m rooting for an epic showdown that goes to the last week.
See you next week gamers.
