This year, I developed crazy fantasy man-love for Ray Rice. I played in three fantasy leagues with money involved, so I really cared about those leagues (as opposed to the other dozen free public leagues which I cared about, just slightly less). In two of those leagues I drafted Ray Rice, once as high as the first pick of the fourth round (pick 37) because I knew he wasn't coming back to me at 60. In the third, I traded for him mid season. I now have Ray Rice in two keeper leagues and I am mostly going to thank Matthew Berry and ESPN's Fantasy Focus podcast. 1300 yards rushing and 700 yards receiving and one fantasy league is a PPR. Now I just need Willis McGahee to hurt his knee again and stop vulturing TDs. So how is all this relevant?
Well, it's probably not. But it was extra sweet to see Rice take the Ravens' first offensive play and run it in from the 17 yard line...the far 17 yard line. Maybe he can do it again this week and the Chargers can host the AFC Championship game. Again, relying on Simmons reported lines, the Saints are favored by 7 over the red-hot (and just red) Arizona Cardinals. The Colts are giving 6.5 to Baltimore (I think only an 80 year old would be confused by that sentence..."You mean the Baltimore Colts? What's six and a half?"...sports writers, please stop looking for contrived angles. Focus on the Colts week 11 17-15 victory, not the Baltimore Colts). The Vikings are favored by 2.5 over the Tony Romo-led (my other consistent fantasy guy...not that I was really in love with him, but he was there in the 5th-7th rounds and was serviceable) Cowboys and completing the all-home-teams-are-favored-which-is-actually-normal-in-the-divisional-round-because-the-home-teams-are-the-higher-seeds-and-got-a-bye the Chargers are giving 7 to the Jets (and I am hereby banning any discussion including Marty Schottenheimer or any game in which the Chargers were coached by Marty Schottenheimer).
I am taking the Cardinals +7 and I even have made a friendly wager with my father-in-law over this game. I mentioned that the loser could give the winner a stroke when we play golf the next day, but neither of us could really afford to handicap ourselves at golf.
ReplyDeleteThen I'll go with the Colts -6.5 because the Peyton Manning is REALLY good and this is a logical, being-led-by-my-brain decision...because I will be rooting really hard for the Ravens all game long.
I'll skip the Vikings-Cowboys because I don't know yet and go straight to blindly picking the Chargers every week. I am a Chargers fan and refuse to pick against them...EVER. Even when there were games where I thought the spread was too high (such as 16 points vs. the Raiders) I still picked them and I still beat my friends by 14 games ATS with my intentionally self-imposed handicap.
Now, as for the Cowboys-Vikings...I guess I'll take the Cowboys. This would mean that I think both NFC home teams will lose and the AFC home teams will win...the opposite of last week...I guess I like that symmetry.
"the red-hot (and just red) Arizona Cardinals" - really?? *groan*
ReplyDeleteCongrats on setting the hyphenated-sentence-record for FIWK thus far... be proud, son.
Are you picking these games? If so who would you actually put money on?
I will take the Vikings -2.5, cause I think they definitely win and logically it's most likely to come by a field goal margin or greater.
I considered the Chargers -7 but that's a lot of points in the playoffs. But if we get ahead early, the Jets are a running team - so our lead could grow.
I also think taking Baltimore +6.5 is a good play, going to think on that one.
The one game I DEFINITELY would not touch is the Cardinals-Saints... those teams could score 200 combined points, so there's no way you could feel safe being on either side of that line.
Who ya got?
I also never, ever pick against the Chargers in anything. And I was one of those friends against you in ATS so your handicap wasn't one against me. I was also out of town and didn't set my lineup in 3 weeks, so when you consider THAT self-imposed handicap I actually was better than you. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteI cannot BELIEVE you feel comfortable picking the Cardinals. Seven points in that game is the equivalent of a 0.5 point spread in a normal game. How can you sleep?
Aaron, fan dilemma - I am going to be skiing this weekend. It's likely I'll miss both morning games. I will come off the slopes to watch the Chargers' game. What's my play here - do I just bundle up in the cabin with a bunch of beers? Try to find a sports bar in Tahoe? Make a snowman before the game, so I have something to decapitate if things go south?
While I acknowledge the "red" Cardinals line deserved a rim shot (ba-dum-cha) followed by crickets, I was specifically going the the hyphenated-sentence-record. I just didn't know the history of FIWK well enough. I'd like to thank God, my family, and all those who have contributed to FIWK for making this record possible.
ReplyDeletei say you watch the game on the mountain with me Royce duh ill take the cards vikings colts and jets this weekend and i also will be writing like this whenever aaron rolls off a 90000003 word paragraph as he did with this post
ReplyDeleteMy goal was to provide a link to a bar on the mountain, but the best I could do was this and this. At 1:30 you ski into the California Lodge & Bar or Boulder Lodge, and enjoy lunch and a (several) beer(s).
ReplyDeleteI'm ok taking the Cardinals +7 because even if the Saints are up by 14 or 17 with 5 minutes left, I think the Cardinals get two scores to get within the spread.
Scott, you're saying that the length of our respective Posts and Comments must be inversely related? At least I added a 'Read More' link in the middle. Are you saying you didn't enjoy my 90000003 word paragraph? Or that it took so long to read that you didn't have time to formulate your own response...you know since we all have jobs and such.
ReplyDeletei advocate spaces between paragraphs and topics see royces comment its more pleasing to the eye imo
ReplyDeleteOk, instead of pressing 'Enter' once, I will press it twice.
ReplyDeleteDoes this make you happy?
Aaron, see what you did? You just turned Scott into the Cormac McCarthy of FIWK
ReplyDelete(that's an inside joke for readers of McCarthy... I'm really wishing right now that I'd already got around to doing my write-up of Blood Meridian so I had something on FIWK to link to...)
Sure Does - thanks! And, to reward you, I leave you with:
ReplyDeleteKids 1 - 0 Kittens
...and...
Kittens 1 - 1 Kids
The kitten pounce video is one of my all-time favorites - the way that cat jumps out with its legs splayed in "I'm gonna take you down" mode absolutely kills me
ReplyDeleteThe surprising thing here is just how many other "kitten vs baby" videos there are on YouTube... this is a whole unknown sub-culture, like the Jersey Shore
Me: Who the hell is Wilson #88?!?!?
ReplyDeleteMy brother: The Jets are asking the same thing.