Nemmers Scrum

This week everyone was a winner.  The good news is, you all made it through the week.  The bad news: one less good team left to pick for the second half of the season.

And, I know it will kill Jim a little bit to think about it, but I have to say that probably the best play of the season this year was the game ending “downing the football Fake” that local boy Matt Stafford pulled on the Cowboys.  Love that kind of trickery!

Click here to see it:  http://twitpic.com/dj0dne

Speaking of trickery – have a great Halloween.  Tonight’s game is Cinny at Miami if you want to pick it.  Otherwise you’ve got until tomorrow night.

Happy Halloween week Footballers,

Well, Joel and Grandpa Bill had the sense to pick the Carolina game that was Thursday night, so they can sit back, relax, and watch the World Series.  The rest of you better fix a spot of tea – lots of bets on the game being held in London.

For only 11 players left, there was a smattering of choices.  In addition to Carolina and San Fran, there was Green Bay, Seattle, and New Orleans.  I think that the Saints are a bold pick, especially after Buffalo proved they could hold their own against Miami last weekend.  But, what do I know.  I’m on the sidelines.

Good luck to all.

Hello Footballers!
Sorry for no post with the picks on Saturday.  Kevin and I (along with Adam and Lisa and Elizabeth) made a road trip to Austin to watch Bart play in an Australian rules football tournament.  There was lots of eating (fried food at the Texas State fair, street tacos and bbq in Austin), and it was great to hang out with Bart and Elizabeth one last time before they head to the other side of the world.

Here’s a pic after one of Bart’s games….

Anyway, let’s get back to real American football.  The pool got roughed up a bit this weekend.  The Dolphins got trampled by Buffalo, spelling the end of the road for Mary, Howie and Whoosie.  The controversial overtime call in New York that put the J-E-T-S over the Pats wiped out Tyler.  Bailey and Charlie H. both got their 1st strike.

With this week’s shake ups there are now 11 people left in the pool, and only 4 have no strikes: Bill N., Dianne, Paul and the Sherburnes.  Good stuff.  Especially the Sherburnes, as I think last week they were eliminated in week 3?  Obviously, whatever change in strategy they took on is working.

Carolina at Tampa Bay is the Thursday night game – otherwise get those picks in by the end of the day on Friday.  There are a lot of good teams playing other good teams, and bad teams playing other bad teams in Week 8, so choose carefully.  Fingers crossed that Uncle Bill goes with Jacksonville….

Well, thanks to an OT win by Cincy, and an Oakland team that thought that the game was really only 35 minutes, no one took a strike this week.  You may notice, though, that the chart looks a little different.  To clear things up, I have moved all the people who have two strikes (some would say “losers”, but being on of them, I will say “double-strikers”) to the bottom, and the people who are still in the hunt are at the top.

Thursday this week is Seattle vs. Arizona.

If you have time this week, you may want to wish Charlie N. a happy birthday.   Good thing you have today’s Columbus day sales to shop and find him the perfect 70th birthday gift.  I’m sure he’s expecting big things.

Have a great week!

Hello Footballers!

Bill N.  had the great foresight to pick the Bears for the Thursday night game and can now spend the weekend just enjoying some good football, and maybe a little playoff baseball.  Well played, Mr. Bill.

The rest of you are staking hopes on Seattle, Cincy, KC and SF. And, somehow Mary still had Denver in her arsenal, but decided that she’s use it on the sure thing over Jacksonville.

(Another small note, last week Tyler picked Saint Louis, not Denver.  I have the original text of his pick – I just put it in wrong.  They both won, but I changed his pick on the sheet so that moving forward he would have an accurate representation of what he had used up.  So, if you notice the difference, it isn’t him cheating, it was me screwing up.  But, we’re all squared away now.)

Good luck to everyone.  I’m gonna pull for the Saints over New England and maybe work on some Halloween costumes, now that I don’t have a pick to worry about.

Uh Oh!  The 10 point spread wasn’t big enough to save all of us idiots who picked Atlanta this week.  6 people took a strike with that choice – and Jim, the Lillegards and I were eliminated because of it.  Wah!  Can’t believe I didn’t make it past week 5.  And, the funny thing is, even if I had hypnotized Paul into taking Oakland he would have come out ok.  Those Hergenrothers are unstoppable!

So, this week we saw the elimination of the 3 Atlanta pickers and Barry O.  Adam, Grandpa Bill and Charlie N. all picked up their first strike.  That leaves only Bailey, Bill N., Charlie H., Dianne, Paul, Howie and the Sherburnes with no strikes.   I should cheer for Kevin, but he kept rooting for the Jets last night, and I tend not to forget something like that.  So GOOOOOO Grandpa Bill!!!!!

This week’s reminder:  Some of you still have not paid.  I’m concerned doubly, because if you can’t figure out a way to part with 10 smackers when you think you might be in the hunt for over $200, I have a hard time believin’ you’re gonna mail me a tenner after you’ve been eliminated.  Yes – that’s right, even if you get eliminated, you still have to pay to play.  For those who haven’t mailed it – I’m gonna start naming names (and commissioning your neighbors to toilet paper your houses).  Here’s my address (again!):

4025 Alta Vista
Dallas, TX 75229

Do it now, people!

Ok, this week’s picks are due on Friday, end of day.  We will be going to the State Fair of Texas that day to enjoy corny dogs, bumper cars, and apparently this year – ostrich races!  At least I won’t have to worry about making a pick.  I tripple dog dare anyone whose last name is Hergenrother or Sherburne to pick the battle of the “New’s”, New Orleans vs. New England.  Should be a good one!

(Thursday game is Bears vs. Giants, so if you want this I need to know by Thursday kickoff).

With almost everyone having used Denver as a choice (and a few not willing to pick the Cowboys game out of principle), the picking seemed to clump up this week in a few teams:  St. Louis, Atlanta, Green Bay – which have a combined total of 3 wins on the season.  Looking to those who used Denver and KC to at least show the rest of us dummies that it makes good sense to go with a winner.

A few other notes:  After a polite request (thanks, John), and some petty belly-aching (ahem, Bill N.), I have corrected the date in the header of the chart.  Also, Gerri’s name now has the proper number of “r”s.  If you notice any other typos, lemme know.  And, in speaking to Grandpa Bill this week about his pick he said that he’s glad that his buddy Barry is in the hunt, but that when Minnesota lost, Barry was so mad that Bill was afraid for his safety.  I told Grandpa not to worry, that Barry probably would punch a hole in the wall before beating up on an old man. But, it did make me think that I should remind everyone to make sure to keep a safe distance from other people in the room who have one strike when it gets down to the 4th quarter and their picks aren’t winning.  Bad things, man, bad things.  So, just be safe out there.

Ok, have a great weekend and Gooooooo Falcons!

Sorry for the late post.  I’ve spent the day mourning the end of the Rangers season, and just didn’t have it in me to tell anyone else bad news on the sporting front.  Between the Rangers loss, the Cowboys loss and the Bengals loss, I bet Jim has come up with a few new swear words in the last 48 hours.  (I know Kevin and I thought up some good ones watching the Steelers sorry performance Sunday for sure.)

This week was the end of the road for Andy, Stephanie and Gerri.  Sorry to all and thanks for playing.  Everyone else survived the week, but it stands to get trickier in week 5 and beyond as everyone is using up the “safe” teams.  With no more Denver or Indy to choose, whatcha gonna do?

Do me a favor moving forward and make sure that you don’t choose a team that you’ve already picked. That usually starts to happen about now.

For those keeping score, the people who still have no losses are:  Adam, Bailey, Bill N.  Grandpa Bill, , Charlie Nemmers, Team Sherburne and the Hergenrothers (Paul, Dianne and Charlie).  I say we all try to convince Paul to go with the Raiders or the Jaguars for a few weeks, but I bet he wouldn’t buy it.

The Thursday game is Buffalo vs. Cleveland.  Picks for that game are due before kickoff Thursday, otherwise, end of day Friday, please.  Thanks to everyone and have a great week.  (Happy Birthday to Adam!)

.….Paul…..pick the Raiders….the Raiders, Paul….