Nemmers Scrum

This week’s collection of games was a bummer. Whoever came up with this list of games is cruel and mean. Despite it all, congratulations to Dana who was the lone competitor to achieve a perfect 5 points. I achieved a perfect zero, which ended up working out in my favor thanks to rule enhancements – more on that later.

As promised, I used the blank check Emily left me to rewrite the rulebook. Below is the standings using the old rules with Charlie and Adam at the top. You’ll notice myself and a herd of Hergies at the bottom. How lame is that? Clearly we need to fix the rules to make things right.

A zero is still perfect. If you don’t believe me, just try to score a donut on purpose next week. It’s very challenging and perfection in its own right. So to reward those of us who picked the magic combo of Colts-Texans-Rams I transposed the digits in their total scores. This works out wonderfully for Whoosie and I (woo hoo!!). It is less than ideal for Fletcher and Bill, but I’ll still sleep well tonight. Progress as promised!

So congratulations to me for being at the top of the standings once again where I belong. You’re welcome.

I have other rule enhancements to make next week, but they require the commissioner to have extreme jet lag for me to execute. Fingers crossed that I will hold the power throughout the weekend.

This week we have three new fun games to choose from:

Chargers at Bengals
Football Team at Raiders
Patriots at Bills

Send your picks to me this week as Emily will be flying.

cheers!
Kevin

Welcome back to the Scrum Blog. In case you didn’t hear the big news, the Scrum Queen is traveling and has exercised questionable judgment by transferring power to Kevin, the Mad King.

I considered instituting certain rule changes. One under consideration is whether a Rams power pick should be worth 15 points or a Colts upset victory should be worth 10.  These points would apply regardless of game outcome. They both seem like reasonable changes to try for one week, but I’ve decided to leave the rules as-is and simply doctor the results to put myself at the top of the standings at the end of the weekend.

Emily received a lot of adorable holiday pictures this past week which she’d love to share. However, I haven’t seen them and will do one better by sharing adorable photos of myself instead. Three enthusiastic dogs photo bombed the selfie session.

This week there is a lot of confidence in the Buccaneers and Texans with a pretty good split on the Packers-Rams game. Four different teams are selected as the power pick.

Best of luck to everyone who picked the same picks as me.

Go Steelers!

Hello Footballers and Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has their turkey defrosted and their pies in the oven.  I’m not even close. We will get there, though, I have no worries.

In the meantime, let’s give a shout out to Adam who now stands alone atop the leaderboard after edging out the other top contenders with a strong 4 point performance in week 11. Also big props to Whoosie, Stephanie and Celia for their perfect picking in week 11.  Nice work, ladies!  (Admin note – Whoosie had picked AZ and I typed it in wrong – we verified before kickoff, and i updated it here).

This week, the picks were tough, and I like getting some new teams in the mix – hence the 2-8 match up of horrible teams in the mix.  But at least the spread keeps it competitive for our pool, even if the game itself might be a turkey.

The week 12 picks are:

Buccaneers v. Colts
Jets v. Texans (TURKEYS ALL AROUND!!!!)
Rams v. Packers

This week more than other weeks it is critical that you get your picks in on Friday! If you are late, you will hear from Kevin – and I make no promises if he will be nice about it or not while I am out.  : – )

For your Thanksgiving week enjoyment, I have included 2 pictures of Charlie and Judy who are celebrating their 56th anniversary this weekend.  I feel like I should identify Dad as he was hard to recognize without his signature glasses.  He has assured me that since his eye surgery that he doesn’t need them, and that he can see me from there.  Hah!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I am so thankful for this pool and the excuse it gives me to check in with everyone each fall.  GO STEELERS!

Hello Footballers,

Are your turkeys defrosting? Is your gravy boat out of storage?  It’s almost that time.

But first, we have a little football to see to. This week, as Jim pointed out, it could all go to the C’s: The Cowboys, the Cardinals, and the Cincinnati…so maybe that last one didn’t quite work but you get the point.  Expect more ups and downs in the picks – all six teams are chose again this week.  Man, that’s crazy.  Who will QB for the Cardinals? What will Dallas so without Amari Cooper? What else could possibly go wrong for Vegas? That’s why we play the games.  Good luck to everyone.

This week’s picture is of the Kennedy family vacationing in Nantucket.

Hello Footballers,

Sorry for the delay in posting this week.  I think that subliminally I was putting off putting my zero into the record book. Boo for me.  But, big big congratulations to Gerri and Jim who both got all 5 points in week 10.  The deck shuffled a little, but Adam and Charlie H are hanging onto the top spots.

Week 11 is gonna be a hard week:

Bengals v. Raiders
Cowboys v. Chiefs  (Cowboys and Indians)
Cardinals v. Seahawks (Battle of the birds)

Please get your picks in by Friday end of day.

Thanks everyone, and let’s hope there are no more COVID surprises in the QB department (especially in Pittsburg).  GO STEELERS!!!!

Hello Footballers,

The fall colors are really getting pretty around here.  I hope that whatever it is that you are up to is also full of crisp days outside and trees full of beautiful leaves.  This really is the best time of the year (even if it only lasts for about 3 weeks in North Texas).

This week we have 5 of the six teams chosen as the power pick, so the chance for some pool movement is there.  The big jump could be on the  Saints and Titans game, as almost everyone who chose Tennessee made it their power pick.  Lots and lots of lopsided points riding on that game.  (As someone who picked the Saints, I am pulling for the upset).

Good luck to everyone! And, after that Ravens loss on Thursday, even more GO STEELERS than usual.

Hello Footballers,

I’m not sure about the rest of you, but the daylight savings shift is hitting me like a ton of bricks this year.  If I don’t get this done soon, I’ll be asleep and drooling into my keyboard.

This was a week with a lot of 5 point pickers. Well done to Gerri, Stephanie, Cassie, Whoosie, Charlie N, Jim, and Celilia.  Woo hoo that’s a lot of good picking. No move in the top spots, but Gerri and Stephanie are sneaking up there.  Gerri’s got perfect picks two weeks in a row, so look out. And while I was watching these games for all of you, I was sweating it out at the end of the Monday night game with the Steelers and couldn’t help that Whoosie was doing the same, but with the opposite hope for a winner.

This week was tough one to pick the games.  The same teams seem to be on rinse and repeat for us.  The bad teams aren’t fun to pick when they have  giant spread.  That being said, I did the best that I could. A little bit of drama awaits:  will the Browns miss Odell Beckham Jr.? Will the Broncos ride high from their win over Dallas to demolish Eagles? That’s why they play the games.

For week 10 the picks are:

Saints v. Titans
Browns v. Patriots
Eagles v Broncos

Get those picks in on time.  And, send pictures if you got ’em!

GO STEELERS!

Hello Footballers,

What a crazy week! The brouhaha around a certain cheesehead quarterback surely caused a little chaos for the picking, but he wasn’t the only one making waves.  We’ve got lots of picks all over the map in the pool this week – all 6 teams have been chosen as power picks – so surely our leader board is gonna look quite different next week too…we can’t all win.  So, when Violet pointed out she was picking Eagles and Cardinals, it did seem like a fitting title for all of us that we have gone to the birds.

And, as an added bonus, you can chip away at your honey-do list if you start early, as you’ll only need to be glued to the TV from 3:30 – 7:00.

And, thanks to everyone for getting picks sent in a timely manner this week, even Bill who may or may not have been kidnapped and had to escape his captors in order to text his picks.  I appreciate the effort.

Good luck to everyone, and GO STEELERS (on Monday).

Emily

Hello Footballers,

I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend.  Thanks to everyone who sent pictures.  A few stragglers rolled in as well that were too good not to share.

Lots of twists and turns in week 8.  I don’t even know WHAT happened at the end of the Cowboys / Vikings game.  Like really, I fell asleep with a belly full of Reese’s cups and Whoppers somewhere in the fourth quarter.  All I know is that Dallas is one of 3 teams left with only 1 loss.  Impressive.   Almost as impressive as Margie and Gerri who got perfect scores in week 8.  Well done, ladies!  Between a few strong showings from the middle of the pack, and some not-so-hot scores at the top, our leaderboard is all shook up.  Just in time for week 9.

This week, it’ll be an Afternoon Delight with all 3 games taking place in the late afternoon slot. Get those remote controls ready if you are planning to keep up in real time on Sunday Afternoon.

Week 9 picks:

Chargers v Eagles
Packers v. Chiefs
Cardinals v 49ers