Going all in

As usual, this year I took part in an NFL “survivor” or “suicide” league. The basis of these leagues are simple. Every week you pick one NFL team to win a game. You can only choose each team one time. Every year, I get off to a great start, find myself in the minority of unbeaten players, and then it all goes to shit. Usualy my downfall is directly linked to either picking all the good teams, and being forced to pick the lesser of two shitty teams. Sometimes I get to confident, or too worried, and try to save teams for later in the season, bypassing them in games they are sure to win, and then blow it on picking, the lesser of two shitty teams. This year, I was just plain screwed by the system. I got off to a great start. A good chunk of the competition was eliminated early when teams like Indy went down, or when Dallas lost in St. Louis. I was rolling. By about week 5 I had a clear path to victory. I had still saved all of the teams that are now in first place. I had used up dangerous teams like Miami, and Arizona, and had plans for each week as what middle of the road team I would use. The pick against the Lions or Bengals every week system was going to win me a sizeable chunk of cash. By week 9, I already had decided who I was going to pick in each of the final weeks. Victory would be mine. Week 10, cut the competition to just myself, and one other unbeaten team. Several people had picked the Eagles to beat my Bengals, not knowing that my presence in the Queen city would drive my Bengals to a tie. The only other unbeaten player, had used up most of the good teams, and was certain to go down. Then it happened. Not wanting to get too cocky, I decided to not enter the rest of the weeks picks until the friday of each week. This gave me something to do at work, and gave me a chance to change my mind in case of injuries. Week 11, the NFL, and it’s shitty thursday night games, that nobody gets to watch, took me out. Pittsburgh over Cincy, who had just went an entire overtime a few days earlier, had suspended ocho cinco, and had no carson palmer. It was a no brainer. Except one thing. I hadn’t entered my pick when the game started. And that was that, game over. There was one guy still undefeated. The league is set up so it’s not the last man standing. If everyone has one loss, the winner is whoever was the last person undefeated. This is done so that it isn’t all over after week 3 if everyone goes down early. The final guy lost this past week, giving everey one at least one loss, most people have at least two. There is still an outside chance of me winning it all, but I need a ton of help. I figure that since I have no luck at all, the more logical I am with my final two picks, the harder I’m gonna fall, so I might as well enjoy myself. Right? This week, I’m picking my Bengals. Since it will likely be the last game televised in Columbus, and they have no shot at getting the #1 pick, I’m going all in. I’m going to resume rooting for my favorite team. No more trying to get the coach fired, no more hoping certain lineman, and or running backs get killed during the game, I’m going to root for my Bengals, to beat their hated rivals, in what i consider the last game of the season. My hopes and dreams as a fan all ride on this, shitty, un-watchable game, and any hopes i have at winning a few hundred bucks as well. For the Bengals, it’s a chance to feel like actual NFL players. For many of the guys who joined the team midseason, due to injuries, this is a job interview so to speak. For Marvin, it’s about pride. Neither team has a quarterback, or a running game. Both rosters are filled with dissapointing performers, and back-ups. The way I see it, it all comes down to one man.

Braylon Edwards. At the start of the year, the talk was of the bet Edwards had made with Olympic hero, and the most famous Michigan athlete to never actually attend Michigan, Michael Phelps. The bet was simple. Braylon would have double the ammount of touchdowns as Phelps did gold medals. This will be the motivation for Edwards, and the browns. Braylon only needs 13 more TD’s to double up Phelps, so he’ll need at least 10 this week. If he can score 10 TD’s it’s gonna be tough for the worst offense in the NFL to keep pace. Seeing as how they’ve scored just 10 TD’s the last 10 games, if Braylon can score 10, the Bengals may be in trouble. Only time will tell. Can Edwards put together the best two week stretch in the history of sports? Can The Bengals screw themselves out of another slot in the draft order? Tune in and see.