2012 NFL Season – Week 1

2011 Season: 122-123-9 (.498) Best Bets: 24-19-1 (.557)

Here we go again… Another NFL season ahead of us. Questions to be asked include: “Can the Giants repeat as Super Bowl Champs?” “How will the rookie quarterbacks fare?” “Will the New York Jets score a touchdown?” and “Will the replacement referees blow a call that will change the outcome of a game?” My answers are: “No.”, “Well enough to be a positive impact”, “Yes.” and “Yes.” Today’s picks are being made on a Monday, but the rest of the season, the picks will be made by 3:00PM (Eastern) on Thursday afternoons. There will be Thursday night football every week except for this week with a Wednesday night game. (The game was moved to Wednesday so more people will watch President Obama’s speech.) I canceled my Wednesday night appearance so I can watch football.

Without further ado:; here are my picks for Week 1:

NFL Point Spreads For Week 1 – Week One NFL Football Point Spread – NFL Spreads 9/5 – 9/10, 2012

Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/5 8:30 ET	At NY Giants	-4	Dallas
9/9 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-9.5	Indianapolis
9/9 1:00 ET	Philadelphia	-8	At Cleveland
9/9 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-3	Buffalo
9/9 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-9	Washington
9/9 1:00 ET	New England	-6.5	At Tennessee
9/9 1:00 ET	At Minnesota	-4	Jacksonville
9/9 1:00 ET	At Houston	-11	Miami
9/9 1:00 ET	At Detroit	-8	St. Louis
9/9 1:00 ET	Atlanta	-2.5	At Kansas City
9/9 4:25 ET	At Green Bay	-5.5	San Francisco
9/9 4:25 ET	Carolina	-2.5	At Tampa Bay
9/9 4:25 ET	Seattle	-2.5	At Arizona
9/9 8:25 ET	At Denver	-1	Pittsburgh

   Monday Night Football Point Spread

9/10 7:00 ET	At Baltimore	-6	Cincinnati
9/10 10:15 ET	San Diego	-1	At Oakland

Projected winners against the point spread in Bold – Best bets in Italics

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Thwarted Plans

Next weekend was supposed to be my weekend to have my daughter.  But since next Saturday is Vanna White’s birthday, I could not do that.  After much discussion, it was agreed that I will have custody this weekend.  I will also have to pick her up next Sunday for the mid-winter recess.  This is not where the plans are thwarted.

My father has tickets for CPAC this weekend and Patricia and I will be with my father at CPAC.  I was hoping to be campaigning for their straw poll that will be taken towards the end of the conference.  (Here is the thwart) – voting this year will be done electronically with no provisions for write-ins.  The only way I will be able to win the straw poll is if I change my name to Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum.  (Ron Paul was not invited this year because CPAC wants somebody else to win the straw poll, even if he can’t beat Obama or me in a real election.)

I am leaving for Washington tonight.  I am thinking of moving back to the DC area.  (Too many New York Giants, Rangers, and Mets fans here in New Jersey.)  I will be looking for prices for a small two-bedroom condo to own or rent) and a small office to lease.  Below is my new business card:

Just to make it clear, the entire picture is the business card and not just what is being typed.  I had it made by Vista Print.  I am using my campaign phone number as my business phone for now because I don’t have a regular business phone and couldn’t decide between using my cell phone or my home phone as a business phone.  I also didn’t want to get another phone just for the business because I hate phones.

Off to CPAC I Go!  If you watch on C-SPAN on either Saturday or Sunday and you hear somebody yawn, it is probably me.

Nevada Shenanigans and Super Bowl Ads

This is two entries posted in one great entry!

Saturday:  (Nevada Shenanigans) – Like many Americans, I was glued to my computer and my television as the results were coming in following the Nevada Caucuses.  There were some odd occurrences with the reporting of the results.  The ones I noticed were in Washoe County.  There were other oddities in Clark County (Las Vegas) that had to do with vote totals as well as locking voters from allowing to caucus.  Below is what I posted on Facebook Saturday night:

Weird stuff happening with the Nevada caucuses and it all evolves around the Newtered One. Washoe County went from 41-20% Romney over Gingrich to 39-21 Gingrich over Romney. The AP was resulting that Gingrich was leading Paul in total votes 1900-1800. A few minutes later, it was 2200-1200.

I didn’t get too much information as it was happening with Clark County because I had gone to bed before it was reported.  Here is a link to a video of what is believed to be Clark County officials counting votes.

Sunday: (Super Bowl Ads) – The New York Giants might have won the Super Bowl and they might have beaten the New England Patriots twice, but I can take comfort that they lost to the Washington Redskins TWICE!  The thing I found disturbing was all of the commercials for movies that will not be released until sometime between March and Memorial Day.  Some of the movies had yet to be rated by the Cinemafia Motion Picture Association of America.  All of those movie ads at $3.5 million per ad adds up to what promises to be increased prices in movie tickets and concessions.

Why Redskins? Why?

I spent the first 30 years of my life living in Washington, DC.  There are some advantages and disadvantages (mostly disadvantages) to living somewhere without a governor, senator, or representative with full voting powers.  One way we are like other cities is that we have professional sports teams.  Washington has the Redskins (football), Nationals (baseball), Capitals (hockey) and Bullets Wizards (basketball).

I grew up watching the Redskins, Capitals, and Bullets.  I quit watching basketball when the Bullets changed their name to the Wizards because when I think of “wizards” I think of cartoon characters.  This is how the Bullets have been playing since the name change.  I hopped on the Nationals bandwagon when the Expos moved from Montreal.

Every professional sporting event I had ever attended was played in the Washington metropolitan area.  Yesterday I watched the Redskins play the Giants at Jets Stadium.  (I hate the Giants, so I call the new stadium “Jets Stadium” just to tick off Giants fans.  The stadium is actually called, “New Meadowlands Stadium.”)  It was cold and windy, but the weather wasn’t as miserable as the way the Redskins played.

I do not know what was worse; The Redskins turning the ball over SIX TIMES or TWO running backs rushing for two touchdowns and 100 yards.  The final score was Giants 31 Redskins 6, but it could have been worse.  It would have been bad watching a debacle like that if the game was played at FedEx Field in Washington or watching it in the comfort of my own home.  But wearing burgundy and gold in a sea of blue made me an easy target of deranged Giants fans.

It was such a distraught and upsetting experience that I couldn’t get myself to write anything when I got home.  I did not blog, send a tweet, or “liked” anything on Facebook.  And to add insult to injury, I got home in time to watch the Dallas Cowboys win.

I wonder why the Redskins had to play as horribly as they did yesterday.  It was probably because they knew I was in attendance and they felt the pressure of playing in front of the next President of the United States.  It’s like tennis star Andy Murray choking in Wimbledon when he plays in front of Queen Elizabeth.  That has to be it.  Mike Shanahan is a good coach.  It didn’t look like the Redskins were outcoached or that the players didn’t understand the plays.  It looked like stage fright caused by trying to play in front of a prominent political figure who happens to be a fan of your team.

I have a ton of work to do.  It’s time for me to shake this off and get to work!

Nap Time

Special thanks to http://haruth.com/r/RedskinsHailtotheRedskins.html

The next two weeks are going to be very slow.  Business is usually slow until following the new year.  People want to enjoy the holidays, which means staying away from politics.  I have done my Christmas and Festivus shopping and am only two layaway payments from Vanna White Day.

I have started napping.  This will keep me awake when Congress votes at 1:00 AM.  It will also keep me alert as the Redskins spank the New York Giants tonight.

And now… The Washington Anthem:

Hail to the Redskins!
Hail Victory!
Braves on the Warpath!
Fight for old D.C.!
Run or pass and score — we want a lot more!
Beat ’em, Swamp ’em,
Touchdown! — Let the points soar!
Fight on, fight on ‘Til you have won
Sons of Wash-ing-ton. Rah!, Rah!, Rah!

Hail to the Redskins!
Hail Victory!
Braves on the Warpath!
Fight for old D.C.!

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Hail to the Redskins

New York Giants Fans – Please Help

If you are going to the game against the Carolina Panthers this Sunday evening, I  need a couple of fans to hold a sign like the one in the picture.  I would advise against wearing any Philadelphia Eagles attire at the game.  If you feel compelled to wear Eagles apparel at Giants Stadium, let me know and I’ll give you some “McCain – Palin” signs for you to carry around.