The Guest Picker Update:  Doug Howe showed Scott Holtzman he understands the game - you don’t need to be good, just better than or in this case equal to your opponent.  So, who’d have guessed that Doug’s and Scott’s tie at -10 would have tied for the 2nd best result of the weekend. We welcome them back to break the tie this weekend.  What can they do to top their tie from last week - well, Scott bought lunch, so you’d think the Savants might have a slight rooting interest there - except for the shocking development we witnessed in Doug’s picks.  Wow, you’d think he knows better than going with the same picks as 3 Savants who have managed to put up a mere -330 total for the year.  How does Scott top that?  Well, his waiter at Fridays was at his best picking all the games.  Unfortunately for Scott, Tom got the list first and disclosed it to the whole table.  Will that throw Scott off his game?  Will Doug soon regret going with the Savants?  What were the waiter’s picks (see below). Let the games begin. 

This Week’s Headlines:  The Savants Move Back to Critical Condition.  Only Frank Gore managed to go positive last week among the Savants.  Frank is +100 over the last two weeks earning back his nickname:  The Goracle is Back. With confidence that we haven’t seen from Frank since September, The Goracle has his sights on taking first place from Rand this week.  Will Rand be up to the challenge?  Tom joined Dick in the death spiral down.  It has been 7 weeks since Dick won, so how does he break the dry ice cold streak?  Back home with his Cows.  Will they break his heart again? Will Tom confirm that he remains a week behind on his decisions to jump on a bandwagon?  Prediction:  a very positive week from the Savants.

Season through Week 16
Dick  -150 +50 = -100
Tom   -130 - 50 = -180
Rand    -10 -10 = -20
The Goracle -50 -50 = -100

This Week’s Guest Pickers

Doug Howe -10 versus Scott Holtzman -30  

This week’s picks
Dick: $50 on Dallas -7. With no relief in sight for a winning pick, Dick comes home with the Cows just in time for the holidays.  Please, please, please - don’t let those Cows break his heart one more time.  +++ The Pathetic Redskins allow the Cows to snooze through this win.  Cassidy’s cold streak is officially over.

 Tom:  $50 on New York Football Giants -7.  If it worked for The Goracle, it should work for Tom.  No picking against the football gods this week - just a pick on a team that needs to win to keep its playoff hopes alive.   XXX The Giants Stink, The Giants Stink, The Giants Stink - maybe a bit of an overreaction - not when the favored team loses by 32 at home.
           
        Rand: $10 on Miami -3.  Rand goes with those stout Fins.  Will Believing in Big Bill pay dividends? XXX Miami goes down in an important one.
          $10 on Minnesota -7. Rand’s trust in Brett was slapped down last week.  But, no worries here as Rand is back with Brett.  XXX yikes, losing to the Bears on national TV.
          $10 on Pittsburgh -2.5. Rand’s Titans hope for a playoff spot looks to be slipping away - so why not take the Steelers against the nemisis Ravens? +++ The Steelers hang on, barely.
          $10 on New England -8. Rand is going with the other Big Bill here - of course it is the hated Big Bill Belichick.  The Pats seem stabilized. +++ Rand continues to make a living going against Jax.
          $10 on Indy Colts -5.5. Rand knows that history is too tempting for Peyton and Co.  On to 16 and 0. XXX Jim Caldwell takes this one down for Rand.
                   
         Frank: $50 on Philadelphia -7.  Frank jumps back from one NFC East team to his tried and true Eagles this week.  Expect this to be an automatic win as The Goracle is Back. XXX Back, but apparently not all the way back. 
             
             
This Week’s Guest Prognosticators - Doug Howe and Scott Holtzman

Doug:  $20 on Dallas -7.  Doug joins Dick on this one.  Why?  Simple:  did you see the Redskins play last week.  They are already done for the season. +++ Doug is right on with the hometown Cows.
          $20 on Philly -7. Doug joins The Goracle for this one.  Frank is feeling good with this vote of confidence. XXX a close one, but Denver doesn’t let Philly score the easy TD at the end to try for overtime. 
           $10 on New York -7. Doug joins Tom on this one.  Go Giants.  XXX Never go with Tom’s pick.

           Scott:  $20 on Indy -5.5.  Scott shows no sign of concern about the Colts resting this week.  Looks like a good pick. XXX Another Jim Caldwell casualty. 
          $20 on Baltimore +2.5. Scott goes opposite Rand with this one.  After last week’s show against da Bears, they should be ready to match points with the Steelers. XXX A tough half point loss sinks Scott’s weekend. 
           $10 on KC/Cincy Under 40.5. Scott thinks the Cincy defense will wake up and prove they are a playoff team.  Will that same Chief offense from last week wreck this one? +++ These teams show that they are not any good.  
          

Note 1: The Waiter with the inside knowledge picked all the games except Monday night.  Here are the winners:  Falcons, Bengals, Browns, Packers, Dolphins, Giants, Patriots, Saints, Eagles, Steelers, Cardinals, Niners, Colts, and get this one:  The Redskins!

Note 2: The Sports Savants do not gamble with real money and do not endorse, recommend or promote doing so. The dollar figures above are in “pretend” money, as a way of measuring our success in the game. Not only is gambling illegal in many jurisdictions, it is also pretty dumb. In the end, the house always wins. That’s why the house has gold plated ceilings, dancing girls, magic shows and enormous fountains out front.

*Unlike last year, the guests will compete against each other.  The winner between the guest pickers each week will continue to pick the next week.  If they win that week, they keep going.  There is one asterisk to that sentence - we are attorneys you know - if a guest picker buys lunch for the Savants at the regular pick’em lunch, they will continue to the next week whether they beat the new guest picker or not.

** Perhaps the Savants have been spending a bit too much time concerning themselves with country club law, private clubs and resorts law, membership law, and related hospitality law matters.

Last Week’s Guest Picker’s Results

Scott Holtzman -10 versus Doug Howe -10

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 6:20 pm and is filed under NFL Picks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.