Power Position Betting Quick Hits: Week Nine Football Review

Chris Baker was in—a week hasn’t dampened the anger I feel for the officials of the Jets-Browns game. The bye-week simply allowed the call to fester in my mind, like an insect bite infected with toxic chemicals until it swells to twice the original size. And there is something great about this; this is why we watch sports. This is why I am sitting here, posting my thoughts about all these games, why you are reading them, why the Internet is so huge, why bars are some of the greatest places in the world, why there is sometimes nothing more relaxing than kicking back with a beer and yelling at the screen, yelling at each other, yelling just to yell.

The refs blew a call, and the next day you could see the people directly affected by it, walking around with these swollen chips on their shoulders. They huddled together almost conspiratorially as they assuaged themselves, telling themselves that it was all right, we’ll get them next week, next year, next whenever. This is how a sense of community builds, whether virtual or in the physical world. All because of sports, and how great has this year been, this past week—this is the NFL community, sprawling across all the bars and homes, the Internet, and the minds of countless people.

Colts VS Patriots. Manning VS Brady. The source of a particular vehement debate (and an odd one, considering Brady has all the rings) as to which is the better QB. This game settled it, as far as I’m concerned—Manning for any regular season contest, Brady for the playoffs. The Colts are undefeated halfway through the season, playing some great football, but as it’s been said so many times…

It’s all about winning come January.

Favre knows all about winning in January, and here is another condition of humanity best exemplified by sports—heroes don’t die, they just fade away. He is playing on a young, inexperienced team, obviously past his prime but he is still Brett Favre, still capable of putting up numbers, of adding to his prodigious stats. But as this loss to the Bills shows, he is fading. Has been fading.

And we are all happy to see him fade. That’s the great things about sports, that even when the individual’s winning ways are done, people still get out and cheer him—unless you’re the babe who stayed on for too long. There is a time to let go, and we are fast approaching the time for Favre to hang up his cleats and call it a day.

Maybe the Cardinals should hang up their cleats. If I thought the miscall against the Jets festered during the bye week, imagine what is happening to the shoulders of Cardinals fans across the country. Not pretty.

Not pretty like the Titans loss to the Jaguars (David Garrard steamrolled over them) or the Vikings/49ers game (which is great cause I really did not want to do the Frank Gore dance). Or like the Bears and the Falcons losing to teams they were supposed to beat—everyone was so high on Vick becoming a monster quarterback, they forgot to tell the rest of the team to take it one game at a time. Same went for the Bears, mauled by the Dolphins. The only thing fans could do was shake their heads and try to keep their chins up…hope for next week.

The Giants almost joined the Bears and Falcons, but they pulled out a gutsy performance in a game where a gutsy performance wasn’t needed, but hey, that’s football for you this year. Same went for the Chargers, minus Merriman. Losing to the Browns, they gave the ball to LT and rode him to victory. Many a fantasy heart was broken, who playing against LT and seeing his paltry halftime numbers, suddenly had any hope squashed with a 3 td monster performance.

Larry Johnson played like the number 2 overall back he is, fantasy wise, putting up monster yards but only 1 touchdown. And how about Stephen Jackson’s numbers? Fumbles, schmumbles, 13 catches for 130+ yards. Animal.

Colston is the rookie of the year. What a great player, it’s always great when one of the later round picks does so well, and the fact that I picked him up early in all of my fantasy leagues makes me smile come Sunday. He led the Saints, who rebounded from the loss to Baltimore with a win against a team they should have beaten. Good deal for all of them, especially for Brees who had another monster game, real and fantasy.

Javon Walker had the fantasy game of the week, propelling the Broncos to a convincing victory over the Steelers who, as the Bus said post-game, are done. They are out of the playoffs and hopefully not out of their minds in the Steel city—c’mon guys, your team won last year. It’s easy to forgive the champions.

The Ravens D played like champions. Jumping out to a 14-0 lead, off a pick six from a great play by Samari Rolle and Ed Reed, Rolle handing off to Reed as getting tackled, just a great play. The Bengals battled, but never really made it as close as the six-point difference at the end. And Chad? We miss you buddy…

Oh T.O., falling asleep in meetings and sometimes during the middle of a play. How many drops does he have now? Way too many, and against the Redskins, that figured to be huge…as did Parcells going for two. The point of this is that you can’t play would have should have, but still, if T.O. caught that ball and scored that td…

Good for the Redskins though. This was easily one of the most exhilarating and chest thumping endings to a game. First, you get the missed field goal, then you get it blocked, and then you get a BS 15-yard facemask penalty? And that leads to the game-winning kick that barely sneaks inside the pole?

I wasn’t rooting for anyone in particular, but I still felt my heart jump into my throat, and this is what makes sports so special. This is what makes our Power Position Betting system so great. We get to watch all the games, with little to worry to about. We turn degenerate gambling into a relatively safe investment, which allows you all to watch the games in peace, knowing you have already won. This way, you can yell at the refs, at the players, let you heart race or just sit there relaxing with a beer, it is all good…

Until next week, CollegeBoy is going to relax with a few beers, shouting at the Raiders to score just one touchdown. Seriously. Does anyone else see a shutout coming? The Raiders won two weeks in a row; so you know they won’t do anything. Anyhow, like always—stay sharp, play smart.