As you might remember, I participate in a weekly NFL pool. Through my daughter’s internship and work at FOX News, we have been grandfathered into the action. We play it for fun, although when you get close to what you believe is a winning number of games picked correctly, the rooting instincts start to take over.
However many games are on the schedule in a week, you choose one team per contest. It does not involve point spreads, and you can change your choice up to kickoff. Because the NFL week begins on Thursday, the choice for that night must be in before the Amazon Prime telecast starts. Fairly simple, right?
Except it is anything but that. Due to the way they play in the NFL, especially this year, upsets can wreak havoc with one’s picks. Moreover, as we saw this week, wackiness has a lot to do with it, too.
My father burned into my brain that only a fool could bet on the outcome of sporting events. No matter the glitter of the commercials touting Caesar’s online betting making Cooper Manning just as famous and funny as his father and his better know brothers, the house knows exactly what it is doing—and it is reaching an even wider audience—with the approval of its professional sports partners.
Predicting the outcome of sporting events, like playing the stock market, another form of legalized gambling, is much harder to do than deciding what shirt to buy when shopping. At least you can try on the garment and return it if you don’t like it. That does not work when picking winners in sports.
I never would have wagered any money on the World Cup final. I can just imagine how many anguished France followers lost a ton of Euros or whatever currency they used with the thrilling penalty kicks win by Lionel Messi and his Argentinian mates.
I have been in blind office pools for the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, where the teams I had in each are randomly drawn from a hat. I have actually won a pool that way. I also picked the field of 64 for the NCAA Tournament a couple of times and my bracket actually came in third, to my amazement.
I have never been in a Super Bowl pool, although I have had the opportunity. That started to get too complicated, with numbers corresponding to scores at the end of the quarters and the game. And it wasn’t cheap.
Thus, I found myself wanting to win this week’s pool, having opened the week’s action with a 4-0 record. Sure, it was easy on Thursday night with the Niners going up to the Pacific Northwest and downing Seattle behind rookie sensation and the guy almost nobody had heard of, Brock Purdy.
Then Saturday started with a resounding thud. I had picked Minnesota over Indianapolis. Except that the Colts were ferocious and put up 33 answered points on the scoreboard. I thought to myself that this looked ominous.
Only this was a game for the record books. Minnesota and Kirk Cousins put on the biggest rally in NFL history, outlasting Indy in OT. My disappointment turned to absolute glee. Could this be magic?
I periodically checked on Game 2 of the NFL Network triple header. That would be Baltimore at Cleveland. I had selected Cleveland to upset the Ravens. Without Lamar Jackson QB, I felt that Baltimore wouldn’t have enough talent versus the strong defense of the Browns on a snowy day by the shores of Lake Erie. Final score 13-3 Cleveland.
While I admit that I watched college hoops through most of this game, I had a funny feeling that the 8-5 Dolphins and 10-3 Bills would also be playing in a blinding snowstorm as had been predicted. Thus, for the finale on Saturday night, I went with the AFC leaders to win.
Well, the teams played in the snow for much of the game. The snow that covered the field came in the form of snowballs from the home crowd; seven inches of the white powder sat in the stands as it had snowed in the morning and there had been no cleanup.
Buffalo fans have pretty good aim, because they pelted the Dolphins sideline with those frozen concoctions. So much so that the officials halted the game to try to halt (yeah right!) the attack. It didn’t end and the game went on.
I had been checking The Weather Channel radar for Orchard Park and there was a very large and dark blue band of snow sitting offshore. I had more than a feeling that this would enter the game in the most crucial moments.
Sure enough, the snow came cascading down, glistening in the floodlights illuminating the stadium. Very wintry and it was still Fall.
The snow gave an aura to the field as the play was super, which included a late Bills TD and two point conversion, then watching the linemen of the Bills clear a spot in the snow for the kicker to strike a winning FG for Buffalo as the clock expired. Well worth staying up for.
After I had watched the most captivating World Cup ever, showcasing the great talents of Messi and Mbappe of France, the clock nearly struck 1:00 and the start of the NFL Sunday games. Up first were the red hot Detroit Lions and the Jets in New Jersey.
Both teams had playoff aspirations. Detroit was red hot, winners of 5 of the last 6. The Jets were losing close games and Mike White, their new QB who sparked the offense, was sidelined with busted ribs.
Enter the heralded Zack Wilson, fresh from his banishment to the sidelines, to try to lead the Jets to victory. As rusty as he was, he had done enough to drive the team to a fourth quarter lead. Then, on fourth and one, the Lions threw the ball and it resulted in a winning touchdown because the Jets defense was awaiting a run up the middle.
While Wilson gamely led the team back to a spot where they could attempt a 58 yard game-tying field goal with one tick left on the clock, the kick sailed wide. Detroit was victorious once more, while Jets fans like me sulked. I had switched my pick earlier in the day to the Jets; how loyal and dumb could I be?
I had picked the Jaguars to upset Dallas. The Cowboys led nearly the entire game until, in overtime, Dallas QB Dak Prescott threw a pick six.
Atlanta lost to New Orleans. Philadelphia survived at Chicago. Kansas City needed OT to down the lowly Texans on the road. I had those games and, besides the Jets, I lost when Pittsburgh defeated Carolina.
In the late games, Denver was my correct choice over Arizona. The Chargers needed some last minute heroics to beat Tennessee. Cincinnati came roaring back against Tom Brady and the Bucs. Three more for me.
But everything fell apart with the crazy last second intercepted lateral which doomed the Patriots and gave the Raiders a walk off gift win with no time remaining. Lunacy. I had picked New England.
For good measure, the Giants were the beneficiaries of two horrible calls against Washington by the officials. On plays which would have put the Commanders ahead. Of course I had selected Washington.
The sum total of my day was 11-4. The leader was 14-1. I stood no chance. There is a lesson somewhere in here.
Meanwhile, I hate the Jets…Patriots…Panthers … Giants…and myself. Until Thursday.
Happy Holidays.
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