Archive for November 26th, 2009
Swim Out Past the Breakers: Diver Down
The suicide pool is dead. Long live the suicide pool!
As mentioned earlier this week, there are still six weeks left (plus the post season) to go in the National Football League season. For some who follow an actual team like the New York Giants, San Diego Chargers, or the Pittsburgh Steelers, the interest in the coming weeks remains high. Wildcard positions and division titles are still available. People with a horse in the race have no reason to look elsewhere. In fact, and I’m speaking from experience here, those of us hanging on every down are looking for even more from our football weekends. That’s just how it is — when things are going good, or even when hope continues to spring into December — the more discussion about the NFL the better.
We are now entering uncharted territory. The 2009 4th Star Suicide Pool, a disaster of an idea that has died TWICE in the first eleven weeks of the season, is back for one sweet breath, one last caress. Amazingly, I have real doubts that we can sustain this thing until the Super Bowl. Even the New Year looks like a reach. As terrible as our football prognostication is, let’s give ‘er a go one more time. Round Three. The Final Countdown.
I guess there is no one to blame, we’re leaving ground
(leaving ground).
Will things ever be the same again?
(music) Denh-denh denh-denh deeenh
It’s the final countdown!
Given the short stretch of schedule we’re working with, rules must be put into place to ensure we all don’t take the Vikings this weekend. Last time around, four teams were off the market and I thought it worked pretty good. People had to actually look at the schedule and think about their picks. For this edition, we’ll do the same thing — only we’ll throw a couple more contenders on the ‘Do Not Take’ list. The teams off limits are:
New Orleans Saints
Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings
New England Saints Patriots
San Diego Chargers
Cincinnati Bengals
You may notice the Denver Broncos are back in play again. I suggest you take them this week. Be my guest. I was going to throw the Dallas Cowboys on the list, too, but I figure they’ll take themselves out of the picture with December coming up. I’ll start things off here. Thanks to the Falcons important role in righting the Giants ship last week, I’ll pay my respects by taking Atlanta to beat the curious Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
Now it’s your turn. Put your picks in the comments and show everyone how smart you are. And remember: No one has won taking the Texans this season.
