Week 17 NFL Picks Against a 5-Year-Old

Here we go.  It's down to the final week.  There is a decent chance that we get 3 of us to finish the season with more correct picks than wrong picks.  Also, a great Week 16 has given Uncle J a chance to win the whole thing.  It's not going to be easy, but he's within 6 picks of the lead.

The kid also has something to play for as he is just 2 games below .500.  He's not going to win like he did last year but this experiment of random selection is going to finish right where you would expect.

We'll update how things played out as soon as possible next week.  Happy New Year!

Week 16 Results
Uncle J: 11-5
5-Year-Old: 8-8
CDog: 7-9
JDaddy: 6-10

Overall Results
CDog: 127-107-6
Uncle J: 121-113-6
5-Year-Old: 116-118-6
JDaddy: 112-122-6

Week 16 NFL Picks Against a 5-Year-Old

What a week!  After almost two years of doing this, and mostly failing miserably, we have finally had a week where all of us picked more winners than losers.  And best of all, the founder of our humble blog, JDaddy, won the week.  He now has a realistic* chance of finishing at or above .500 on the year.

*sort of

Fans of our youngest member have to be cheering as well since the kid is within striking distance of .500.  Two weeks to go.  How will we finish?

Week 15 Results
JDaddy: 10-6
CDog: 9-7
Uncle J: 9-7
5-Year-Old: 9-7

Overall Results
CDog: 120-98-6
Uncle J: 110-108-6
5-Year-Old: 109-110-6
JDaddy: 106-112-6

Week 15 NFL Picks Against a 5-Year-Old

The big talk for me last week appears to have backfired.  A 5-10-1 week will do that.  Still, with 3 weeks left in the regular season, I have a 10 game lead.  The 5-year-old had a nice week and is back to within striking distance of .500.  My hypothesis is that he should end up at .500 since his picks are basically the same as flipping the coin.

Isn't math fun?

Week 14 Results
5-Year-Old: 9-6-1
JDaddy: 9-6-1
Uncle J: 8-7-1
CDog: 5-10-1

Overall Results
CDog: 111-91-6
Uncle J: 101-101-6
5-Year-Old: 99-103-6
JDaddy: 96-106-6

Week 14 NFL Picks Against a 5-Year-Old

I always hated the game of Hearts.  I've never actually played it with real cards, just on the computer, back before things like Words With Friends were in our lives.  I would play it because it was there, and the rules were easy to follow, but it was frustratingly hard for me to beat the computer.  What cards do I pass, what cards do I keep, when do I play the Queen of Spades?  I ALWAYS GOT STUCK WITH THE QUEEN OF SPADES!

Anyway, I was reminded of Hearts this afternoon as I was adding up our pick 'em standings.  If this was Hearts, the game would be over since JDaddy has reached the 100 loss mark.  The winner of our imaginary Hearts game?  Me!  Yay!  I like it better this way since we have way cooler names than the ones the computer would make up.

But it's not just Hearts that appears to be going my way.  With another 5 win week, Uncle J has fallen a game below .500 on the season.  That gives me a 13 game advantage with just 4 weeks to play.  Winning the season isn't clinched yet, but another double digit week has me rolling.  Still, I'm just going to take it one day at a time and Lord willin' I'll come out on top.

Week 13 Results
CDog: 11-5
5-Year-Old: 6-10
JDaddy: 6-10
Uncle J: 5-11

Overall Results
CDog: 106-81-5
Uncle J: 93-94-5
5-Year-Old: 90-97-5
JDaddy: 87-100-5

Week 13 NFL Picks Against a 5-Year-Old

Under the gun today, so just a couple of quick notes.

• The kid had a nice bounce back week with 9 correct picks.  Every time he looks like he's out of it he comes roaring back.  He's back to within striking distance of .500.
• I interrupted the kid from playing with his toys when we ran down the list of games last week.  He wasn't paying much attention and picked the home teams for all the games (except for Carolina, which is his favorite team).  Turned out to be a decent strategy.
• Uncle J had a rough week.  I had a very good week.  The 1st place lead is now 7 games.
• My strategy in picking Cowboys games continues to pay dividends.
• JDaddy is hanging in there!

Week 12 Results
CDog: 11-3-2
5-Year-Old: 9-5-2
JDaddy: 7-7-2
Uncle J: 5-9-2

Overall Results
CDog: 95-76-5
Uncle J: 88-83-5
5-Year-Old: 84-87-5
JDaddy: 81-90-5


Week 13 Picks

Game	JDaddy	CDog	5 Year Old	Uncle J
New Orleans (+3.5) at Atlanta	New Orleans	Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta
Seattle (+3.5) at Chicago	Chicago	Seattle	Chicago	Chicago
Minnesota (+8) at Green Bay	Green Bay	Minnesota	Green Bay	Minnesota
San Francisco (-7) at St. Louis	San Francisco	San Francisco	St. Louis	San Francisco
Arizona (+4.5) at NY Jets	NY Jets	NY Jets	NY Jets	NY Jets
Carolina (-3) at Kansas City	Carolina	Carolina	Carolina	Carolina
Indianapolis (+4.5) at Detroit	Detroit	Indianapolis	Detroit	Detroit
Jacksonville (+5.5) at Buffalo	Jacksonville	Buffalo	Jacksonville	Buffalo
New England (-7.5) at Miami	New England	Miami	Miami	New England
Houston (-6) at Tennessee	Houston	Houston	Tennessee	Houston
Tampa Bay (+7) at Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh (+8) at Baltimore	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Baltimore	Baltimore
Cleveland (PK) at Oakland	Oakland	Cleveland	Oakland	Cleveland
Cincinnati (-2.5) at San Diego	Cincinnati	Cincinnati	San Diego	Cincinnati
Philadelphia (+10) at Dallas	Dallas	Philadelphia	Dallas	Dallas
NY Giants (-2.5) at Washington	Washington	NY Giants	Washington	NY Giants

Polar Bears Win! and Words From Woody

Last Friday I found myself at "Goat Field" in Groesbeck, Texas. After a 34 year absence I was about to see the Frost Polar Bears (my high school team) play football. The last time had been in 1978 and from 1970-73 I had been a member of the team myself. But I was here for this year's team. Frost was in the playoffs and would be facing a team that had beaten them 53-0 last year.

And it was a terrific game. The Polar Bears won 16-12 with a goal line stand as time was running out. The team will now move on to the next level this Friday against the Mount Enterprise Wildcats. The Polar Bears stand 11-1 and the eleven wins are the second most in school history.

With me at the game was my son, son-in-law, and two of my grandsons. None of them attended Frost, but they joined in the excitement with me. I travel home and attend High School games each Thanksgiving weekend, once taking in 5 in a two day period. But this year for the first time, one of those games was played by the Bears! I wrote once about my love of Polar Bear football. I found last Friday that even as time and distance got in the way, I still feel the same.

I saw my sixth grade girlfriend Vickie, and Keith Speer who was one of those Polar Bears I looked up to as a kid. I am sure there were folks there I did not recognize or who did not recognize me. But there were mostly new names and families That I did not know or they me.

But on my side of "Goat Field" we were all cheering for the blue and white with their punishing running game and motivated young coach, Eric Blenden. But none were cheering louder than my high school teammate and friend Gary Woods. Gary was a two time All District selection when we played, and his son Woody plays for the Polar Bears (and scored the night's first TD). I had made plans to touch base with him and caught him just before game time. I am pretty sure Gary is a motivated parent and is probably hoarse after every game. We did catch a glimpse of each other during the game somehow we were teammates again.

To top it off, I got to meet Woody after the game and told him how happy I was for them and wished them well. He shook my hand and said he had heard a lot about me. (Uh-Oh). But as I hugged him and told him bye, he looked at me and said "Once a Polar Bear, always a Polar Bear". Not sure if this kid will even remember he said it..... But I sure will.

Go Polar Bears!

Woody and Gary