Refund

I'm not a gambler, but wow.

1-1-WTF?

No need to re-live Monday night. It would be far too easy to use the bitterness of the Packers getting jobbed and the "interception" meme as excuses to take a cheap shot at, say, the nearest convenient division rival.

Good thing we don't do stuff like that here.

It appears, right now, that the real refs are on the way back. Only 48 hours and ten minutes too late.  And as a number of us have done our picks for week four (me included), I guess the nascent NFL boycott is off.  That said, in a strange convergence of National F**kup League-related events, Time Warner Cable reached a deal to carry the NFL Network just days ago, which, interestingly, makes our decision to drop cable TV come January that much easier.

<rant off>

Okay, back to business.  Congratulations to Team Dean/Marlene, our weekly winners.  They were, happily, unaffected by Mr. Magoo's touchdown call, i.e., they had won before that game even started.  So nobody here got hosed.

Good luck with the picks this week.

I've Got a Guy On the Line About Some Whitewalls

Sorry for the tardiness of this update, everyone. I was incorrectly flagged for several false starts and sentence fragments. These were overturned upon review, but it took twenty minutes each time. Not to pile on the NFL's overmatched replacement refs, but if I was Roger Goodell, I'd be placing a phone call right about now to somebody who might be able to head off the oncoming train wreck.



Meanwhile, congratulations to Bill Gullo, winner of week #2, on his 98.

Points, that is.

We have 22 players this year, or a total pot of 1100. As always, win a week, get your money back, as Sarah and Bill have already found out. That leaves 250 to pay out to the overall winner. I propose said winner get 200 and the runner up 50. No Roo Award this year. So...almost a winner-take-all scenario. Choose wisely gang.

The Replacements

Overheard:
rrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnngggggg
"Thank you for calling the NFL officiating call center.  How may I provide you with excellent service today?"
"Did you SEE that block in the back!?  How could you miss that?"
"I'm sorry sir, I will do my best to assist you with this problem.  First, please provide your team name and current location."
"My what?"
"Please hold sir.  I must first check to see if you've used all four of your timeouts this half."

Getting it right the first week, it is said, is like successfully nailing jello to the wall.  This has not been a problem for Sarah Schneider, who has now won the opening jackpot in three of the last four seasons.  The outcome is certain as I write this since no one put much on the game on right now, San Diego at Oakland.

Less certain is whether Sarah will agree to a celebratory date with new Raiders head coach Dennis Allen.  Word on the street is that he's pretty persistent, and it has nothing to do with his finally being able to see R-rated movies.

Still sorting out the final player count for this year so more updates later in the week.

P.S.

I should probably add that the pool home page is on CBS Sportsline, our home of many years.  Click here to go there.  You need your own account with CBS (I don't know your id or password).  The pool might prompt you for a password also.  The password is smoove5.

One More Time Around

September 1st, 2012.  Wild.  When I first started the confidence pool back in a different century, I didn't think it would see 2012, or if it did, it would have morphed into the Outer Space Football League or something.  But anyway.  The Friends of Smoove B football pool is back.

After all this time, I doubt you need the rundown on how this works.  You and this pool are basically an old married couple now, where the rules are understood and you're allowed to do your picks with the bathroom door open.  But if you're new...well, 1) welcome, and 2) please read:

You buy into the league for $50 (0% inflation since the late 1990s).  Every week you assign a confidence value to each NFL game being played, putting 16 on the game your most sure of and counting down from there to 1 (3 or 4 during bye weeks).

Payout for the weekly point winner is $50.  You're also competing for high points overall.  Season-long payouts will be announced and depend on the number of players.  I usually pay out the top two spots, and have a $25 bronx cheer known as the Roo Award that goes to the person with the lowest season-long point total, assuming that person did picks every week.  I keep no commissioner fees.

As for where to go with entry fees, my address is unchanged, but if you need it again, just send me an email or message on Facebook and I'll get it to you.

The season starts this coming Wednesday - September 5.  Picks for a game are due an hour or two prior to its scheduled start.  I will do my best to remind you, especially before the midweek games, but ultimately it's on you to hit the deadlines.

Nice tackle, by the way, at 1:03.