Week 8: The Parlay

 

Heading into 2013, we made a decision to switch the week of the trip. Vegas was getting too crazy for the opening week of the tournament.  Too many young kids clogging up the sportsbook and impacting our table play.  We made a decision to go during conference tournament week as it provided more games to bet and should be less packed.   This was also the start of us drifting away from craps.  Eric was concerned that we were going to get into a rut with these trips and for this one we had some great stories.  It started off poorly with Eric missing his connection at LAX and having to take a United flight to get to Vegas and Wiz and I having to wait for our rooms for so long they put us up in another suite, where Eric and I had to share a bed.  It soon turned into fun times as we had our first bowling contest at Red Rocks, the golden ticket 24 course dinner in the back room of Jose Andres’ restaurant, having Kid N Play save us all at the craps table with a hot run, some crazy action in the salon, and a round of golf at Spanish Trails.  This course is an average course that gets a lot of play.  This is where we played golf with the creator of UTH who sold his company for an insane amount of money and is retired in Vegas.  I was getting a ton of strokes and played the best front 9 of my life before returning to my normal play.  And this was the location of one of the greatest sports gambling stories from our trip.   

 

We get to the course – Spanish Trail – and check in at the clubhouse. We were there as guests of a Shufflemaster executive, register at the pro shop and expect to pay the greens fees.

“Yes, guys, you will be teeing off in 30 minutes. The rate is $59”.

There’s dead silence for all of us for a good 15 seconds.

“Did you want me to double that rate for you?”

We were all stunned at the low cost for the round. Yesterday’s round at Southern Highlands was $400 – and everyone agrees it was worth every penny. Now here we are at a private club paying one-sixth that.

The golf was horrible; I was in no shape to stabilize my body on the lack of sleep; the whole round was spent sliding all over the place during the swing. I did birdie 18 after hitting driver off the deck on the tee box – it was the only way I knew where the ball was going.

 The drama, however, was with the parlay. My pick was Tennessee -1.5 vs Alabama. I have faith in Cuonzo Martin! The picture of the entire ticket is at right. (and, just for history’s sake, here’s a link to the scoreboard that day….)

On the 5^th green, the finals from the Indiana (Don) and St Louis (Layup) game came in about at the same time; we were 2-0. By the 8^th hole, NC State (Wiz) was well on top and cruising; Wisconsin (Leland) was hanging tough with Michigan. On the 10^th tee, my game was tipping off; Mike’s game – Southern Miss – would not start until about the 14^th hole.

On the 11^th hole – the NC State game went final. 3-0.

On the 14^th – The Wisconsin game went final – that’s 4-0.

My game was at halftime, with Tennessee losing; the last 4 holes with most of us watching the phones. Wiz started texting me “Roll Tide” messages and yelling it from the group behind. On the 16^th hole, Tennessee made a run to close it within 4…..

….and never got closer. 4-1. At that time, Southern Miss got out to a 15 point lead.

We had lunch at the club house (where we declined – declined! – a free round of drinks from John Esposito, only one of the 10 most famous gamblers in Vegas) watching the rest of the Southern Miss game – and my fate was sealed. I was paying for dinner that night. Everyone in the group wished we would have split the $4800 – except Wiz, of course.

Now I was pissed. An evening massage helped; and Lavo was the dinner that night – so at least I knew I would get a good meal out of it. The staple courses at Lavo: the giant Kobe bef meatball; Chicken Parmiagian, and (of course) the deep fried Oreos.

Eric was so upset about this which made it all the funnier.  He couldn’t wrap his head around why Wiz would be rooting against the parlay.  I remember cringing on those text messages to Eric while we were playing and the two guys that were playing with us were so confused but thought it was hilarious with what Wiz was doing.  Eric definitely got off so easy at dinner, with only footing a $300 bill as we picked up the wine and cocktails.  I’m sure we will get to what happened to me, SEVERAL TIMES, in these parlays that explains why I get so pissed at the end result. 

 

Onto the games:  Theme this week is stay away.   Vegas needs to get right after losing the last two weeks.  Lot’s of weird lines. 

 

GB @ AZ -7:  Stayed away for this game. 

Pit @ Browns -3.5:  Very excited for this game.  I’d prefer Keenum to start. Looks like Chubb is healthy.  Will be taking the Browns ML in this one.

Dolphins @ Bills -13.5:  I really want to take the Dolphins here, but its on the road and the Bills own them right now.  Will stay away.

Panthers @ Falcons -3: Both of these teams shouldn’t be favored.

Bengals @ Jets +10.5:  Is there really a drop off between the Jets QBs?  Think this is a let down for the Bengals after their biggest win in the last 5 years.

Titans @ Colts -1 :  Biggest bet of the year here.  This line opened with the Colts as a dog and now they are favored.  Got in early on the Colts. 

49ers @ Bears +4 : Loved the Bears before hearing the news on Mack and Hicks.  Still think they will win at home.

Eagles @ Lions +3.5: This seems like a trap.  Will I be forced to take the Lions for the second straight week?   

Rams @ Texans +14.5:  Mills is starting still, so I’m going to stay away on this one.

Pats @ Chargers -6: Who have the Pats beaten?  Jets twice and the Texans.  The Pats aren’t that good, especially on the road.  I’ll take the Chargers

Jaguars @ Seahawks -3.5:  Only 3.5?  Seems like such a trap, but I can’t help it.  Will be taking the Seahawks with the Browns in a ML parlay

Bucs @ Saints +5.5:  I absolutely love the Saints in this spot. 

Skins @ Broncos -3:  I don’t like the Broncos favored in any game, but its so obvious that

Cowboys @ Vikings +1.5 :  Money is coming in heavily on the Vikings with this line now at Vikings -3.  Makes me a little nervous on liking the Vikings early this week.     

Giants @ Chiefs -9.5: Why do the Chiefs continue to get such respect.  They looked horrible this year. Something is off.  I’ll take the points in this one.

 

Best Bets 46-52-1

 

Jets

Colts

Bears

Chargers

Seahawks

Saints

Skins

Vikings

Giants

 

Supercontest: 13-20-2

 

Vikings

Colts

Saints

Seahawks

Chargers

 

NFL Week 7: A trip to downtown

 

We really started to hit a consistent stride in 2012 with our Vegas trips.  After deciding on staying at the Mirage, we had a great core group, after losing Jay/Laura to having kids and lost Micah due to the wedding ring incident.  These were fun times as we still hadn’t switched fully to UTH and played a ton of craps.  On this trip I think most of us learned how to play Pai Gow Tiles which was always a fun transition.  Eric was still over in China so sleep was a concern along with his funny interactions with the Asian Dealers. Didn’t take him long to realize that not every Asian dealer was from China.  Lee had to remind him that some of them were from “The Big K”.   Also it seemed like everyone switched over to a credit system with the Mirage, resulting in a couple of hilarious stories like the walk of shame and Eric’s debacle at the craps table were he went over his limit and had to give back money during a roll.   On this trip, we had an amazing trip to downtown.  This started another tradition that Wiz and I have kept up since, but Eric does a great job recapping the afternoon session downtown.  And this is probably the drunkest I’ve seen him ever.   

 

We meet at the Nugget, see our annual partner in Dick (who we never saw again after the first 20 minutes), and head to a completely empty downtown scene. It was weird to see the main area of the downtown casinos before noon in pure sunlight. It looked like a suburban shopping plaza on a tuesday mid-day.

Ira decides to jump start the fun in the group by getting us all a slushie - a  flavored frozen alcoholic drink in a yard-long test tube. There are reports that some of the drinks may have had extra Everclear in them. (Noooo!)

We are holding our yard tubes walking around the barren downtime trying to find an empty craps table - and we find one at the fabulous "Las Vegas Club" casino. We walk up to the empty half table - the six of us in order (Ira, me, Mike, Wiz, Leland and Layup) plop our money down. The dealer on our side was at least - at least!- 80 years old. He valiantly tried to stay with us as we threw our money on the table and starting making bets, but couldn't. Once we got our chips, it was taking him about 2 minutes between throws to take care of the place bets, come bets, and keeping the hardways straight. The boxman, of course, knew that this (we?) was a disaster to happen, so after the required 20 minutes, he was quickly told to work at the other craps table in the casino - and we never saw him again.

We played craps for a good 2 hours, storing our tubes below the table (how none of us spilled a drink, I'll never know), with a moderate loss for all of us (I'm estimating). Some memories:
- Layup and Wiz having a contest to see who could finish the drink first; Mike and I wanted no part of that, so we created our own "B" flight competition for finishing the drink;
- At random times, Ira was convinced that a 9 was going to be rolled; he suggested to me that we should hop the 9. He put $5 on the 4-5 hop. I asked him "What about the 3-6?"
He said "No one rolls the 3-6".
So that started a mini competition betweenus the whole trip; every time a 4-5 was rolled, I paid him $5; when a 3-6 came up, I received $5. I always got out to an early lead each craps session, but as the session wore on, the 3-6's disappeared and so did my red chips.
- Great adventures in line setting; the Price is Right was on the TV near the craps table - the annoucner told us that the "Showcase Showdown" was coming up!
So I offered the table the over/under on the winning score - 90.5 was the line.

All the suckers (Layup, Wiz, Ira) took the under.....and when the second spinner spun a 95, I was the richer one.

(Looking back, a better line would have been 87.5. I may have to write into Wizard of odds for this one).

- I had Norfolk State +21.5 over Missouri; the game was on another TV while we were rolling. We caught glances of the game in the 1st half, when it was close; as the game wore on, and Norfolk stayed close, we were more and more interested. A new chant was made in support of the Spartans:
"We don't drink.....We don't smoke....Norfolk!"
Yes, it was funny after 3/4 of the yard was gone.

After we were done with craps, it was time for lunch - and what better food than sliders and fried twinkies! I have to say, the fried twinkie was better than the Fried Oreos of the night before. The complete meal for $1.98!

The alcohol caught up to me, and I don't exactly remember how I got back to the Mirage; Mike, Ira and I took a taxi while Layup, Leland and Wiz split away from us. I asked Mike about the taxi trip and he said that I was asking about Ira's connection to Wiz. It may have come out as "So, Ira, how do you know Wiz? Did you hire that ass, or did he become an ass after working for a while?"

 

Yes the alcohol did catch up to him.  Lee responded to this post by reminding Eric that he wasn’t even with us during this time as he went to go work out and only met up with Wiz and I afterwards.  Hilarious.

 

Heading into Week 7 and things have taken a big turn for the worse.

 

Broncos @ Browns -2:  Had this game.  Great showing by the Browns.

Chiefs 42 @ Titans 28 +5.5:  Who is stopping who?   Like the Chiefs in a big shoot out.

Jets 10 @ Pats 24 -7:   Pats own the Jets.  I think this will be a blood bath. 

Panthers 17 @ Giants 21 +3:  How many times will I take the Panthers.  I always have one team that I can’t quit each year.  This is the Panthers.  Ugh.  I’m staying away from this game.

Bengals 21 @ Ravens 31 -6.5:  Ravens are on a roll right now and I’m not getting in the way of this one.  And what a huge coaching difference here.

Falcons 19 @ Dolphins 20 +2.5:  Would love to the take the fish here, but all this news about Tua is concerning.  

Skins 23 @ Packers 31 -8.5:  Confused as to why this line is dropping from 9.5 to 7!!!!!  Skins are done. There is no life. 

Eagles 24 @ Raiders 21-3: Loved the Raiders last week after Gruden was let go. Thought it was a perfect spot.  Eagles are good and I think they win outright.

Lions 14 @ Rams 28 -15:  Huge line, with a really bad team that is still wanting to be competitive.  Double revenge game with Stafford and Goff.   Think that they will cover this.  

Bears 10 @ Bucs 26-12.5: Another huge line which makes me scared, but what the Bucs are great matches up perfectly against the Bears.   Don’t think this will be close.

Texans 16 @ Cardinals 33 -18.5: Not sure what the motivation will be here for such a huge line. And big match up for them on Thursday night.

Colts 17  @ 49ers 27 -4:  Like the 49ers here with a week off. 

Saints 16 @ Seahawks 26 +4.5:  Love Seattle in a must win situation at home.

 

Best Bets 40-48-1

Ravens

Carolina Under

Chiefs

Patriots

Eagles

49ers

Seahawks

Lions

Texans

Dolphins

 

Supercontest 11-17-2

Ravens

Chiefs

Eagles

Seahawks

Patriots

Week 6- Lack of Sleep

 

2011 began Eric’s 4 year stint over in China.  His commitment on still making the trek back to Vegas was still very high.  I would typically pick him up at LAX and then make drive out with Eric acting like a zombie because he can’t sleep on flights.  He would always doze off for like 1-2 minutes and wake up thinking he was asleep for hours, expecting us to be almost to Vegas.  While the trips to Vegas were always a struggle, I loved driving him back to Vegas on that Sunday. This was typically when they made the selections for the tournament and we would spend the entire trip either predicting the seeds or making fun of John Thompson, who for some reason was always the commentator on the announcement shows on AM radio. 

 

And then there were the trips to Target, Walmart, and other random places to pick up supplies for the family.  So many times we would clear out all the children’s medicine at multiple stores.  Having a shopping cart full of this stuff was always entertaining.  And I loved watching Eric get so mad about trying to pack all this crap up on Sunday. 

 

Anyway, this was the year that we started to do group parlays for basketball.  Everyone would chip in $20 and pick one team and Eric would put in a parlay.  The payoffs would be pretty high.  We also had a penalty that if you were the only one that picked a loser, you had to pay for dinner.  Below is Eric’s story on his innocent mistake.  This was anything but innocent.   

 

 

Before the craps run, I placed my bets for the late afternoon games. I was doing well, and - for whatever reason - put in a few wacko bets for the afternoon. I don't like the Big East at all, so for no reason I took Florida State. I wanted to play a parlay as well, so I said "what the hell" and put in a $50 money-line parlay on VCU and Florida St. That means both of those underdogs have to win for me to get a nice 13-to-1 payout.

Anyway, before the Kansas game, the four of us got together to put in a group parlay for the two late games, Kansas-Illinois and Fla St-Notre Dame. We each would pick a side or total for a 4-way parlay.

Wiz took the Fla St under.
Layup took Kansas -8.
It was my turn. I had no feeling whatsoever on the Kansas over/under, so it was up to the Notre Dame/Fla St game, with ND giving 5.

I really didn't want to drag everyone down with me on the Floridat State flyer. And it was a flyer! There was no reasoning at all for me to pick them earlier in the day - it was just because I hated the Big East!

So I chose Notre Dame -5. Leland took the Kansas under. We put $25 down each to win a total of $1100 if all 4 came through.

Well, the Kansas game ended up 73-55 or so, so we were 2-0 for that game. It was down to the final game of the night, Fla St-ND.

Now, VCU was the upset of the day, and they beat Purdue, so now my underdog parlay to win $650 is live. And Florida State got out to a big early lead, shutting down Notre Dame....and the under was looking good....

Layup asked me what I have left for my betting slips. I showed him the Fla St bet and the live parlay.

He was a bit confused. "What did you do?"

Well, I don't really like the Florida State bet, I stammered.

"You hedged against us!"

No! That's not it at all!

I was really waiting for Sean Connery to show up.....in that scene from Entrapment, when he realizes that Catherine Zeta-Jones is a double agent...

"YOU'RE PLAYING BOTH SIDES!!!!!"

No! I protested. I just didn't want to take you down on a losing Florida State bet.......

Florida State, of course, won by 19 in another big upset; the under covered as well. I collected my Fla St straight bet, my VCU-Fla St parlay, and we lost the group parlay because of my pick........

Dinner that night was a bit cold as we watched the end of the game.

 

 Onto the games. 

 

Bucs at Eagles: Love the eagles here.  And boy what an amazing backdoor cover.

Dolphins at Jaguars:  Are we sure the right team is favored here?  I was high on the Dolphins earlier, but I’ve watched enough.

Rams at Giants:  Giants playing with their second string offense.  

Texans at Colts:  Colts have to be gutted after that Monday night loss.  Looking for some good effort from the Texans

Chiefs at Skins:  I don’t trust the Chiefs anymore.

Vikings at Carolina:  Vikings favored on the road? I’ll fade them again and again. 

Chargers at Ravens:  How are the Ravens giving less than 3 at home.  Chargers D is improved, but so is the Ravens offense. 

Bengals at Lions:  Think there is value on the Bengals on the road here.  I know the Lions are such a great story and they are fun to watch, but I think the Bengals will take care of business here.

Packers at Bears:  Packers still don’t seem right.   

Cards at Browns: This should be an amazing game.  Seems like everyone is injured on each side.  I’ll take the better O line

Cowboys at Pats:  I know that the Pats seem like the sharp play here.  O-line is back for them, but something is wrong with their D.  But I don’t see them keeping up with the Cowboys.

Raiders at Broncos:  Should have maximum effort by the Raiders here with Gruden gone. 

Seahawks at Steelers: I honestly don’t know who is worse, Big Ben or Geno.  Must win game for the Seahawks in a classic spot where the Steelers tend to fall short, but there are too many holes for the Seahawks and am I really going to take Geno on the road?  

Bills at Titans:  Everything that the Bills do well, the Titans suck at.  I’m not getting in front of this Bills train just yet.

 

Best Bets: Was doing so well and then got destroyed last week.  (34-38-1)

Eagles

Texans

Skins

Skins Over

Carolina

Ravens

Ravens over

Bengals

Bears

Browns

Cowboys

Raiders

Steelers

Bills

Bills Over

 

Supercontest 9-14-2

Bears

Panthers

Browns

Raiders

NFL Week 5: Nothing up Top

 

The 2010 Vegas trip started our 11 year stint at the Mirage.  For some reason it feels like its been longer.  Maybe its because during the next 4-5 years I was coming out to Vegas at least every other month. Going through the posts for 2010 this is when everyone other than Eric stopped blogging (except about Vegas) and this was Eric’s last trip to Vegas before heading off to China.  I did find this one gem from Eric on his first post Vegas blog:

 

What's the point of the diaries? Well, I think it's 30% to have others fill in hazy details from the trip, 20% to make sure all hilarity and craziness is documented, and 50% for entertainment in the future, when you re-read this diary 2, 3, 4 years from now or later.

 

Or 11 years later. Eric used to tell me that he would review all of the old posts about Vegas before heading on out and that would get him pumped. I’m so happy we did these posts, because he kept documentation about everything in his notebooks but most are completely illegible.  Its been helpful to go back and read these as well as his NFL pickem posts to keep his memories alive.  

 

Anyway, this trip was full of action.  Eric’s first male massage, Don brought out the UTH card and introduced it to all of us, we had a UTH 12 hour telethon, intro to BJ switch, Show me the Shot Clock line from Jay, the last time I played serious BJ on the floor, $5 Blue Jacket tickets for everyone, the infamous Sahara craps roll with Jay, Laura, Dick, and I, and this hilarious story:

 

Well, by now, the disaster of the UTH table was long forgotten, my big sports bets (why Leland and I didn't go 4 digits on Kentucky -9 vs Wake? )were coming in, and I was feeling pretty good after 14 Strawberry Daiquiris at the UTH table and 5 Tom Collinses (yes, this drink made a comeback this trip!) at the craps table. On to Pai Gow. It was 7 pm or so, I only had that turkey sandwich all day, and I was getting a bit drunk. In Pai Gow, if you have a good bottom hand - like a flush or a straight - your top 2 cards are usually going to suck. Many players call this being "topless".

 Well, I decided to act this out. I got a heart flush on the bottom and 5-3 up top. I turned to Leland and Jay to my right.

 "You know what my top hand is?"

 No, they answered.

 I lifted up my shirt. "Topless!"

As Jay said, there are things he can't unsee.

Well, I thought I was hilarious that first time, so I repeated it at least 6 more times. I thought it was just as funny as the first - I'm sure Leland and Jay did not agree. By the 4th time, I started laughing uncontrollably. I couldn't see out of my contacts. I just lost it for a good 2-3 minutes. The waitress hated me, I'm sure the dealer didn't like it, and (most embarrasingly) the guy at the other end of the table - who was betting $1000/hand, sometimes $5000 - did not like it.

Here he is, with a $40,000 stake at the table, and a drunk idiot is giggling and lifting up his shirt. A proud moment for me. There was one other time I completely lost my emotions in Vegas - 2004, shortly after the stressful move to Iowa and I was convinced on this trip that Steve and Kermit were conspiring against me - but that was more of a breakdown. This was just......immaturity.

(And do I regret it? Ummmmmm......no.)

Was there anything better than a drunk Eric?  Onto the picks:

Rams at Seahawks:  I really thought the Seahawks would of pulled this out. Wilson is now out. Not good for my 50-1 Superbowl ticket

Falcons 14 at Jets 28 (+3):  Going back to the cupboard on this one.  Falcons have no WR’s and no running game.  Jets have a solid D and I think can move the ball and will win this game easily. 

Pats 13 at Texans 6 (+9):  Want to fade the Pats here so bad especially with the O line out.  This isn’t your old Pats team.     

Miami 21 At Bucs 24 (+10):  How is this not a letdown game after the Pats.   Miami’s D can keep the Bucs in check and Miami should be able to move the ball against that horrid secondary to keep it close.   

Eagles 10 at Panthers 22 (-3.5): This line is making me scared.  Why isn’t it higher?   Yes the Panthers got rolled on the road against the Cowboys but they are still a playoff team. 

Lions 14 at Vikings 31 (-9.5): Cousins owns the Lions. 

Titans 28 at Jaguars 17 (-4.5): Think this is way too low despite the issues with the Titans.  But the injuries are piling up and Jags

Broncos 14 at Steelers 17 (-1): That bullshit offsides call changed that Steelers Packers game.  Knew it was over when that was called back.   Hope Bridgewater doesn’t get cleared, but even if he does I think we will get the best e

Packers 21 at Bengals 24 (+3):  See above on the Packers.  Burrow can overcome that putrid coach. 

Saints 23  at Skins 24 (+2.5)  Saints offense is broken and the Skins D is broken.  Skins offense is looking solid and Saints D looking great.  I’m staying away

Bears 9 at Raiders 24 (-5.5):  Bears just suck on the road and might have the worst coach. Raiders can score. This should be a blowout

Browns 22 at Chargers 23 (-1.5): Baker is injured?  Chargers riding high after two big divisional wins.  Chargers struggle against the run, and the Browns D is legit. Think the Browns will keep this close

Giants 24 at Cowboys 27 (-7):  Divisional game.  Giants on the road so we know that Danny Dimes will be better.  Think that the Cowboys will win, but it will be tight.

49ers 21 at Cardinals 17 (-5.5):  Divisional game.  Cardinals excel at pass D, but are just average at stopping the run.  Really like the 49ers to win outright.

Bills 28 at Chiefs 31(-2.5):  What would this line be if they didn’t fumble at the Ravens and didn’t screw up in the 4^th qtr against the Chargers?  I like getting less than 3

Colts 10 at Ravens 26 (-7):  Think the Ravens figured something out against the Broncos.  They are at home in primetime and playing a bad team. 

 

Best Bets 32-25-1

 

Pats Under

Saints Under

Broncos Under

Bengals Over

Vikings Over

Bengals

Steelers

Panthers

Dolphins

Jets

Raiders

Giants

49ers

Chiefs

Ravens

Houston

 

 

8-11-1

Ravens

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Steelers

NFL Week 4: Block or Charge

In 2009, in the heart of the financial crisis we decided to go back to the Palazzo, which it seemed like it was subpar.  Complaints about the dealers, the players, the pit bosses, the TV’s, and the restaurants were pretty common.  I do remember that they closed down a portion of the casino and had higher limits, so we started to travel over to the Mirage to play cheaper craps and UTH as well.  Its also funny to see that we always complained about the quality of the UTH dealers…even our beloved Gary.  Ha!  Anyway, this trip introduced us to Ira and his pervy older friend Pete, the little blue books, and the Be Be Aggressive saying.  And apparently we ate a Pastrami sandwich underneath a UTH table.

But for this trip, it seemed like it was dominated by craps play.  I clearly remember the below story from Eric on this one craps session that really summarizes our trips out to Vegas: 

Played craps with Wiz again later - and we started to use basketball terminology on our rolls. Wiz was being the coach calling plays ("The Diamond Press") looking for numbers; I would be the ref calling the end result of the roll. If the point was made, I did the "swoosh" of the basket, counting the bucket and giving the foul. Harmless fun.

 

Well, we went to the Mirage later that day to play craps (again). (Wow, that's a lot of craps in one day). This is the scene of the hot roll that Layup talked about - this lady (and, in fact, it started with the guy before her) just hit point after point and point. And we were getting drunker and drunker and drunker. And I was getting more and more emphatic with my calls.

 

On the 5th point made - another hard way - I called the block. I slammed my forearms to my waist 2, 3 times. Thought nothing of it. Another point was made. I did it again - maybe even harder. My fists were now pounding into the front of my stomach. This repeated another 3 or 4 times.  I went up to my room. For some reason, my waist felt sore.

 

I took my shirt off - and uncovered the big welt on my left waist.

 

"How did I get....oh, no way....."

 

It looked even worse the next morning. The picture in the previous blog post was how it looked on Monday afternoon. It still looks bad - although there's no pain whatsoever. It was fun trying to describe this to Janice.

"What happened to you??"

"Well, I got injured"

"Injured how? At the cabana? Golf?"

"Um, no. This is a craps injury."

"How? Did the dice hit you?"

 

Only Eric could injure himself while playing craps.  This was also the start of Eric betting the Horn high ace deuce bets that Ira convinced him to do with him.  Those two playing craps together is just total chaos. 

Onto the games

Jags 17 @ Bengals 24 (-7.5):  Thought the Jags would keep it close.  Bengals coach is just so bad.

Skins 28 @ Falcons 24 (+1) Skins offense is underrated while their defense isn’t that good.  No clue what is going on with the Falcons. Ryan looks old.  But I do think that both teams will put up some points here in a shoot out.

Lions 10 @ Bears 17 (-3)  Everyone is loving the Lions spirit.  Everyone is hating on the Bears.  Lions are not good.    Love this spot for the Bears.

Titans 20 @ 17 Jets (+7)  Titan’s have a bunch injuries and Tannehill doesn’t look right.  Jet’s D playing actually pretty well.  Getting 7 points at home is tasty

Browns 23 @ 28 Vikings (+2) I don’t get this line and its probably a trap.  No way Vikings should be getting points at home against the Browns.  Vikings are a different team at home as we just saw.  Who have the Browns beaten again?   

Colts 14 @ Dolphins 10 (-2.5) Amazing cover by the Dolphins last week, but injuries are piling up on their offensive line.  

Chiefs 28 @ Eagles 13 (+7) No way the Chiefs lose 3 games in a row. They will come out on fire.  The play calling by the Eagles last week was simply horrendous. 

Panthers 24 @ Cowboys 17 (-4.5) Love that I get another week of people undervaluing the Panthers.   Panthers D is legit, plus they added a piece this week against the Cowboys coming off of a primetime game.  Yes I know that I’m taking Darnold on the road   

Giants 21 @ Saints 23 (-7.5) Giants on the road for some reason are a different team on offense.  And I’m waiting on a Winston blow up

Texans 3 @ Bills 21 (-16.5) Such a big spread but without Taylor I don’t see how they will score. 

Cards 20 @ Rams 24 (-4.5) I want to take the Rams here because I just want to keep fading the Cards.  But this is a divisional game and there has to be a let down.  I’m staying away

Seahawks 27 @ 49ers 28 (-3)  Both these teams have subpar D, with strong offenses. Divisional game will be close.  Will take the underdog in a must win game

Ravens 19 @ Broncos 17 (-1) Who have the Broncos played?  Teddy Covers only does that on the road.  Still believing in Harbaugh and that run offense.

Steelers 26 @ Packers 20 (-6.5)  This is the classic Tomlin game.  Big underdogs on the road.   And its against a really bad run D, which will help Big Ben stay out of trouble.  

Bucs 21 @ Pats 10  (+6.5) Who knows.   I guess the Bucs D will shut down the Pats run game. But I’m scared that this is the Pats superbowl.

Raiders 16 @ Chargers 24 (-3.5):  This might be the last week I fade the Raiders.  Not too sure

 

Best Bets 23-20-1

Skins Over

Bears

Jets

Vikings

Vikings Under

Dolphins Under

Chiefs

Panthers

Panthers Under

Giants

Ravens

Steelers

Pats Under

Cards Under

Chargers

 

 Supercontest 6-8-1

Vikings

Panthers

Giants

Ravens

Steelers