Happy Martin Luther King day to everyone. He was a great leader and helped change the shape of our country. So did many other people, which is why I don’t understand why MLK day or Presidents Day are holidays, but who am I to judge? With or without this holiday, King was an impactful person that everyone should read about, no matter what nationality you are.
Enough non-sports talk. The holiday means afternoon basketball and I’ll be heading to the Louisville/Marquette game in a few hours to try and forget the Packers ugly loss yesterday. It wasn’t as ugly as my 2-12 Saturday in college hoops. We now no longer have a profitable record, but we don’t even have a winning record. Time to take a baby step and get back above .500.

Missouri -15 4:30 pm (play of the day) Win

Rider +10.5 Win

Syracuse -13 Loss

Rutgers -3.5 Win

Baylor +7 Loss

Today: 3-2
Season: 166-167-7
POTD: 26-24-2

The NFL may take the spotlight today, but there’s plenty of money to be made in hoops.

St Louis -3.5 Loss

Yale -13.5 Loss

Marquette -10 (play of the day) Loss

Georgia St -26.5 Loss

Rutgers +11 Loss

Wyoming +4 Loss

Delaware +8.5 Loss

Boise St -10 Loss

Marshall -7.5 Loss

Detroit +5 Loss

North Dakota St -15.5 Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

UTEP -6.5 Loss

Houston +8 Loss

UCSB -14.5 Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

Today: 2-12 (not a misprint….hopefully nobody looked at todays picks)
Season: 163-165-7
POTD: 25-24-2

Last week we went 5-3, but unfortunately, we lost .9 units as our stronger plays did not come through. A lot of high spreads this week, which makes picking a little more difficult.

New Orleans @ San Francisco (+4, o/u 47)

The Saints are a dome team and have struggled on grass. They lost at Tampa and barely won at Tennessee, Carolina and Jacksonville. The 49ers have a great defense, but that’s predicated on stopping the run. When they’ve played teams with a good passing offense, they’ve given up some points.
This game really has me stumped, but I’m taking the home team who had a bye week. The Saints struggles on grass will continue and the 49ers pass rush will be the difference. Frank Gore could be huge.

Pick: San Francisco +4 (2 units) under 47 (1 unit) Win/Loss (+0.9 units)

Denver @ New England (-13.5 o/u 50)

This one is a slam dunk for New England. They won easily in Denver a few weeks ago. They’ve seen Tebow’s offense once, so Bellichek will definitely have a game plan to stop it. New England gets home field this time. No Eric Decker hurts Denver’s offense as Thomas can be double teamed now. The only slight scare I have is that Denver had 200 yds rushing in the first quarter when McGahee was healthy last meeting. He got hurt, and denver’s running attack stalled. Denver will need to rush for 250+ yds in order to stay within 10.

Pick: New England -13.5 (3 units), over 50 (1 unit) Win/Win +4 units

Houston @ Baltimore (-7.5 o/u 36)

Baltimore won the first match up quite easily shutting down the Schaub-less Texans offense. This one should be the same. I don’t trust rookie qb’s in the playoffs and Foster won’t be able to carry the offense against the stingy Ravens. Look for Rice and Smith to have big games as the Ravens run away with this one.

Pick: Baltimore -7.5 (3 units) under 36 (1 unit) Loss/Win -2.3

New York @ Green Bay (-7.5 o/u 53)

I know how hard it is to repeat in the NFL, but I truly believe that only the Packers can beat the Packers this year. Dropped passes and penalties are why they lost in KC. The Giants probably have the best resume to beat Green Bay. They have a strong pass rush and a potent offense that can score points with Rodgers and crew. The Packers defense has thrived on turnovers, and they play much better at home. I expect the Packers to win, but the safe play is to take the points, as it should be very similar to the first meeting between the two teams.
*****Edited 9:15 am Sunday*****
I’ve done a complete 180 on this game. The more I think about it, the more I love a Packers blow out. Maybe I’m just a homer, but here’s my thoughts. The grass will slow down the Giants pass rush. Watching the games yesterday, I under estimated the impact a home crowd has on it’s own defense. And Rodgers is just too damn good. The Packers are as healthy as they’ve been all year. I think they win this by 20+. I am now taking the Packers -7.5 for 3 units.

Pick: NY Giants +7.5 (1 unit) over 53 (3 units) Loss/Win -2.3

This week: 5-3 +0.3 units
Playoffs: 10-6
Units: -0.6 units

No close games last night. The wins were easy wins and the losses were easy losses.

Princeton -1 (play of the day) Loss

Missouri St +6 Win

Creighton -2 Win

Today: 2-1
Season: 161-153-7
POTD: 25-23-2

A nice solid day yesterday, despite losing our POTD. It was a rough 2nd half for the Johnnies. I won’t complain, as we finally won a lot of the coinflip finishes.

Elon -3.5 (play of the day) Win

Georgia Southern -6 Loss

Manhattan +13.5 WIn

Coll of Charleston -14.5 Loss

Detroit +1.5 WIn

Indiana -9.5 Loss

George Mason +3 Loss

Today: 3-4
Season: 159-152-7
POTD: 25-22-2

All close games last night and rightfully we came out .500. Our POTD streak was snapped at 3 wins.

Rutgers +8.5 Win

Fordham +14.5 Loss

St John’s +13.5 (play of the day) Loss

Western Michigan -17.5 Loss

Ohio -6.5 Win

Auburn +17.5 WIn

UAB +3 Win

Tulsa -6 Win

Temple +8 Win

Today: 6-3
Season: 156-148-7
POTD: 24-22-2

Undefeated last night! Only problem is we only picked one game. Better 1-0 than 0-1.

Pennsylvania +5 (play of the day) Loss

Indiana St -6.5 Loss

Toledo +5 WIn

Southern Illinois +12 push

Northern Iowa +6.5 Win

Today: 2-2-1
Season: 150-145-7
POTD: 24-21-2

Had a very nice day yesterday. Only one play today, with the light schedule.

Wyoming -16 (play of the day) Win

Season: 148-143-6
POTD: 24-20-2

An up and down day resulted in a losing day. Not much action today.

DePaul +8 Loss

Michigan +1.5 Win

LaSalle -4.5 Win

Purdue +2 (play of the day) Win

Today: 3-1
Season: 147-143-6
POTD: 23-20-2

The playoffs are about to start, and I’ve decided to do a writeup for each game of this playoffs and will make plays on each game. I will assign the plays as 1-2-3 units. 1 unit plays mean I’m just making a pick because I have to. 2 unit plays mean I lean towards the pick, but not super confident. 3 unit plays means it’s a solid play and I’d put a lot of my own money on the line for it.

Cincinnati @ Houston (-4, o/u 38)

This is a tough one to call, because both teams have rookie qb’s. Cincinnati has the advantage that Dalton has started all season, and he is not phased by a big stage. Yates is a completely unknown as he’s not asked to do much, and he really hasn’t done much. Houston has made it this far based on running the ball and playing good defense. I give them a slight edge because of this. Neither team has a recent playoff track record, so I just like the under.

Houston -4 (1 unit) under 38 (3 units) Win/Loss net -2.3

Detroit @ New Orleans (-10.5, o/u 59.5)

Everyone is expecting a shootout. Last time these two played, it was only 38-17. Detroit played well, but hurt themselves with foolish penalties. New Orleans took advantage and pulled away late. As they showed last week against Green Bay, Detroit has a brutal secondary. If their front 4 can’t create pressure, it will be a field day for Brees. Detroit has not won against a good team this year, and they have struggled scoring points in those games (with the exception of last week against Green Bay who sat Woodson and Matthews). New Orleans could score 40 if they want to. I don’t see Detroit getting 20. The total is a ridiculously high number for any game, much less a playoff game.

New Orleans -10.5 (2 units) under 59.5 (3 units) Win/Loss net -1.3

Atlanta @ NY Giants (-3, o/u 47.5)

I see this game as being a shootout. Atlanta does not have a very good defense and the Giants have plenty of offensive weapons to exploit the weak defense. Atlanta has only played 3 outdoor games this year, losing to Chicago and Tampa and beating Carolina. All of these road games had warm temperatures. The Giants are getting healthy on the defensive front line which should give Ryan credit. The public appears to be on Atlanta, but the Falcons have not shown me anything since getting blown out at home in the playoffs last season.

NY Giants (2 units) over 47.5 (3 units) Win/Loss -1.3

Pittsburgh @ Denver (+8.5, o/u 33.5)

This is quite the interesting match up. The public knows how bad Tebow is at qb, and Pittsburgh has the reputation of having a great defense, so you expect a blowout. The home team being a huge underdog shows that. However, this line has actually moved down during the week. Which means the smart bettors like me, are going with Denver. Pittsburgh has a great pass defense because of their complicated blitz schemes. However, they are just average against the run. And due to a freak blood disorder, they’ll be missing their hard hitting safety and unsung hero of the defense, Ryan Clark. Add to that the loss of Mendenhall and a gimpy Big Ben. The Steelers will have to throw the ball to win. I don’t think Denver will have trouble scoring points as long as McGahee stays healthy all game. I’m still not convinced Denver can win, but it wouldn’t surprise me. This is very similar to the New Orleans/Seattle game last year in the first round when Seattle pulled off the big upset.

Denver +8.5 (2 units) over 33.5 (2 units) Win/Win +4

Wild card record: 5-3
units won/lost: -0.9