Pool winding down

For the record, I'm still in mourning, but since one of our two leaders has asked for the update (if only to make me further face the fact of my poor Chargers' demise this weekend)....here goes...

Those friggin' Patriots (who I'd root for on any other day) beat my Chargers, taking me out of the running. The dang Ravens let us down as well. Much to Kevin's pleasure, the Saints continue to ride their emotional high (we know it's because they have a former Charger at the helm). And the Bears, well, they won. Whoopdy-dooo -- the NFC can be so blah-zay...

So, where does that leave things?

...and then there were two...

Kevin and Lin are tied at 67 points. They both have the Bears and Colts. Kevin's hopes hang on the Saints. Lin (who gets the credit even if it's her husband Harry who made the picks ;-) has the Pats. If one of those two teams win, either Kevin or Lin will win it all. If the Colts or Bears win it all, then Kevin and Lin split the $700 pot.

For those curious to see where their picks will leave them when it's all over, this week's games are worth 8 points to the winner -- 3 for the playoff win and 5 for the division title. Same points for the Superbowl.

For comparison's sake, last year's winner (my husband) won with a total of 78 points. This year's winner will max out at 83 points if the Pats or Saints win.

Now, back to mourning my poor Chargers. And to think, I need to root for those damn Pats this weekend! (Can't EVER root for Peyton Manning -- blasphemy).

End of Regular Season - On to the Playoffs!

Well, the regular season wraps up with week 17 standings below. I've done what I can to see who is mathematically still in the running. I'm not great with math, but I think it's down to 11 of us.

Kyle Mills is our best loser and gets his $25 back. Tony, you came close but go figure -- Lions, Panthers and Texans would all win for you in the end when you didn't want them to!

Jean, you may not have won money, but you beat Steve Martin so that has to count for something...

Dwight and Susan, after such a strong showing last year, you guys are sure on the downslide -- hopefully that baby of yours will be a Chargers fan and help you out a bit! And Dwight, KC may make it past the first week (I kind of hope, since I can't root for Indy), but they will fall again to the Chargers in two weeks for sure! Oh, and that check you owe me?...

My husband Seth went from top of the pack to middle of the road this year. He really should listen to me more;-)

Kevin -- game on...you best hope those Saints go marching on. Just remember, it's only because you have a great Charger leftover.

Sandy and Steve -- Colts are going down next week, sorry to say. It's been a fun run!

Onward to the best part of the season!

My personal playoff picks:
KC beats Indy, loses to SD
Pats beat Jets, and much to my dismay lose to Baltimore
Chargers and Ravens meet in the best game of the year and unlike last time, it's the Chargers who win out in the last 2 minutes with LT throwing for a TD to Gates.

Seattle beats Dallas and loses to New Orleans
Philly breaks my hear tearly and loses to the Giants, who get their asses whooped by Chicago
Drew Brees, former Charger, carries the Saints to an emotional win over Chicago, who's defense just can't score enough to make up for teh fact that they have no quarterback.

Saints versus Chargers is a total offesive shootout -- best superbowl in years. LT breaks all kinds of records and San Diego wins in the highest scoring superbowl ever ;-)

So what do your playoffs look like?

---------------------------------

End of regular sxeason standings
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61: Colleen Thomas (Winner - end of regular season)
57: Sandy and Steve Seymour; Hoover-HA-1
56: Kathy Lucciola
55: Kevin Wry; Tom Savage; Barry-HA
52: Kevin Kirby; Lin Mills; Tom D'Angelo
51: Gerry Halley; Stoli Thomas
50: Lucy Thomas; Surf Nanny; Brett Seymour
48: Hoover-HA-2
44: Don Tonachio
43: Seth Thomas; Harry Mills
42: Paul-HA-1; Bill Gordon
39: Debra Fleming; Joe Kasper
38: Paul-HA-2
36: John Halley; Paul-HA-3
35: AJ-HA
34: Jean Wry
33: Dwight Palmer; Susan Palmer; Christian Kasper
31: Scott Munday; Robert Conner
30: Steve Martin
27: Tony Lucciola
25: Kyle Mills (Winner - Best Loser)

Week 12 results are in

Sandy and Steve -- make some room up there at the top, cause here I come!!!

Week 12 gave us some nail-biters for sure. Glad to see my Chargers still pulling out wins in the end. Cheers also to the Titans for a glorious upset of the evil Giants (all Mannings must go down!).

If you haven't paid for your trades yet, you need to get me a check by next week, or your trades will revert back to your prior picks. Last call for pay-ups...

Here's where things stand:

31
Sandy and Steve Seymour
Colleen Thomas

29
Hoover-HA-1
Kevin Wry

28
Brett Seymour
Barry-HA

27
Lin Mills
Hoover-HA-2
Kathy Lucciola

26
Tom D'Angelo
Joe Kasper
Surf Nanny
Lucy Thomas
Kevin Kirby
Harry Mills
Tom Savage

25
Paul-HA-1
Gerry Halley
Don Tonachio

24
Bill Gordon
AJ-HA
Stoli Thomas

23
John Halley
Seth Thomas
Dwight Palmer

22
Jean Wry
Susan Palmer

21
Paul-HA-3
Debra Fleming

20
Scott Munday
Paul-HA-2

19
Steve Martin
Kyle Mills
Tony Lucciola
Christian Kasper

15
Robert Conner

Week 10 - Trades are in...

So, the big trade week is over. Sandy and Steve were so confident they did not change a thing. Many people ditched the Bengals for the Ravens, others decided to hop on the Bears bandwagon. For those who made changes, please get me your payment in the next two weeks for your picks to hold.

It's gonna come down to the wire -- playoff teams will be key and for some at the top, it may actually come down to the lame little point team that differentiates you from the pick hot on your trail.

I don' tknow about you, but I'm excited!

Cheers all. I haven't yet proofed the preadsheet, so please help me with that task. If anything looks out of order, please let me know.

Go Chargers! Down with Peyton! Dominate Donovan!

(italics are teams that were traded; new team is last in list)
Results thus far:

27 Sandy and Steve Seymour Ravens Browns Colts Bears
25 Colleen Thomas Chargers Jaguars Bengals Bears Ravens
24 Hoover-HA-1 Bills Browns Texans Raiders Eagles Saints Titans
24 Kevin Wry Bears Colts Bills Rams Saints
23 Brett Seymour Patriots Ravens Giants 49ers
23 Lin Mills Patriots Bears Colts
22 Tom D'Angelo Colts Lions Bengals Saints Chargers
22 Hoover-HA-2 Dolphins Chargers Giants Saints
22 Joe Kasper Jets Browns Titans Raiders Giants 49ers
22 Surf Nanny Colts Chargers Seahawks
22 Lucy Thomas Colts Chargers Seahawks
22 Kevin Kirby Colts Chargers Redskins Raiders Bears
21 Harry Mills Bengals Chargers Giants Rams
21 Bill Gordon Bengals Colts Broncos Ravens
21 Paul-HA-1 Colts Seahawks Bills Raiders Browns
21 Barry-HA Chargers Eagles Titans 49ers Dolphins
21 Gerry Halley Panthers Colts Chargers Bears
21 Don Tonachio Colts Panthers Chargers
21 Kathy Lucciola Ravens Chargers Vikings Bucaneers Bears
20 Tom Savage Patriots Bengals Lions Chargers Ravens
19 AJ-HA Dolphins Bills Colts Raiders Lions
19 John Halley Panthers Ravens Jaguars Raiders
19 Stoli Thomas Patriots Ravens Seahawks Bears
19 Seth Thomas Patriots Panthers Bears
18 Scott Munday Jaguars Raiders Giants Panthers Colts
17 Paul-HA-3 Dolphins Giants Vikings Rams Ravens
17 Jean Wry Jets Titans Raiders Lions Bucs 49ers
17 Steve Martin Jaguars Giants Seahawks Colts
17 Paul-HA-2 Bengals Giants Seahawks Ravens
16 Dwight Palmer Chiefs Jaguars Bengals Titans
16 Debra Fleming Bengals Seahawks Patriots
16 Kyle Mills Bengals Broncos Panthers
16 Tony Lucciola Panthers Bengals Lions Raiders Texans
15 Susan Palmer Cowboys Bengals Rams Titans
15 Christian Kasper Patriots Panthers Rams
13 Robert Conner Steelers Eagles Panthers

How the mighty have fallen

Don't even talk to me about my Chargers, or the Jets or Jacksonville or Dallas... all games that just went wrong! And what is worse -- my brother, a Ravens fan, made me stay on the phone with him during the last two minutes as my Chargers gave away their win. In my Yahoo weekly pick'em pool, I actually went 2 for 13! It's hard to be THAT wrong!

So it's Monday night and only into the first quarter of the Philly game. While I like Brett Farve, I have faith enough in Donovan and the Eagles that I'm posting the pool results anticipating their win. If I'm wrong, I'll post a correction for tomorrow.

For those who still owe me for the pool, please get in touch with me so we can get together.

Find week four results here.

Football week 3

So, did you all catch U2 on Monday night football? I still don't see them as a football kind of band (unless you're maybe talking Irish football), but the work Edge has been doing in New Orleans with Music Rising has been really great. And as always, I'm always psyched to see the boys...just wish Mom and I were headed to Hawaii to see them in December.

On to the games -- GOOD week to have NFL Ticket, as many games were exciting and close, except for those blowouts on the local major networks. Don't get me wrong, I will always enjoy watching the Giants get their asses kicked, but given the option, I'd much rather watch a close competitive game that comes down to the wire. Must admit that after a good strong start, I was pissed to see Jacksonville blow it against Indy. Surprised to see New England do so poorly against Denver. And last night, happy to see the Saints capitalize on all the hype -- while I love watching Michael Vick play, I'm a sucker for an underdog.

As for the standings, shall I try to be humble? Nah... Even with my Chargers taking a by-week, I still sit atop the pack, with Sandy, Kevin and Tommy right behind. Jean is holding strong in the basement.

Standings can be found here.

Week two football plus a new dog in our pack!

Today's update is two-fold. First, football... What can I say?!? 100% performance for two weeks in a row have me once again in the lead. This was an interesting week. The Panthers that so many of you have continue to suck to the surprise of many. The Jaguars are showing a defense that's quite dominant. Let's hope that that can translate into Peyton Manning finding himself on his ass and the Colts finding some challenge in that division. And of course my quick snapshot of this week would not be complete without pointing out WHO'S ON TOP IN THE AFC WEST? !!! Yes indeed, my Chargers continue to kick ass!!!

Standings can be found here.

On to more important things though...OUR NEW DOG!!!

Bailey joined our pack on Monday afternoon. She's an 11 year old black lab from Salem, NH. Her owner had to give her up because they were moving into a small third floor condo in the city to take care of an aging family member. They didn't feel that Bailey could leave the country setting where she had spent most of her 11 years, and clearly with her arthritis could not handle three flights of stairs each day. How lucky she was to find her way into a pack in rural Vermont where she'll live on the first floor with us and have the magic hands of her uncle John the canine massage therapist to ease her achey bones.


Bailey looks astonishingly like Stoli! At times during the drive home from picking her up, I'd look in the rear view mirror and do a double-take thinking that she was Stoli. She's a little shorter than Stoli (typical for females), and has several old person skin flaps -- two are right under each eye and look like teardrops (or eye boogies), but it's cute. I think after we switch her over to our home cooked meals and better vitamins, her coat will shine right up.

We had driven down to Salem on Sunday to do a meet-n-greet with Stoli and Lucy. On first sight, she walked right up to me and lathered my face with kisses. She does the cutest little hopping move as she kisses you. Her and Lucy hit it off quite well, with Bailey doing that little air humping lesbian move that Sammie does when Lucy is around. Stoli was rather cordial when they met and didn't even grumble or flinch when she laid down right next to him and leaned on his paws.

Stoli wasn't AS gracious on Monday afternoon when it was his turn to host her in his home. Stoli was in fact a bit short with her and snappy for the first few hours, but it was rather apparent that Stoli was in fact more pissed at me than at her. He seems to be getting over that -- the spoiled only child that he's been having mommy dog all to himself for the past three months. This morning before I left for work, Stoli and Bailey (mmm... sounds like a good drink, eh?) -- they were sniffing and barking at things together. As I type right now they are lying on the living room floor sleeping butt to butt, like little mirror images of each other.

And so we start a new chapter in our pack. Stoli, Lucy-J (yes, given the new pack we've had to add J for Jamison's to her name so that she too can have a boozey name), and Bailey.

More stories and pictures to come!

Week One and I'm on top!

Well, I know that it looks bad when the pool organizer is on top the very first week, but what can I say??? GO CHARGERS! Nice stats for Tomlinson, eh? If I did fantasy football, he'd be a must-have. And just to relish in last year's shining moment, go here for a flashback...

Thanks to everyone who's joined in our season-long fun. Each week I will post a link to the weekly standings update. Week one is here.

I was intrigued to see how many people chose the Panthers in their picks. Must mean a catastrophic injury is in their future.

So this year's pool payout is more than double of last year -- a healthy $900 at least (we'll see how that pot grows with mid-season trades). Now, as some folks may remember from last year, Dwight won the end of regular season and my husband Seth won the final. Chances of me keeping it in the family I'd say are slim this year, unless of course it's me (and I don't share!). If Stoli or Lucy wins, that's a hell of a lot of raw hides for the puppies!

A bit o' history for those new to the game -- I first learned of this kind of pool when I first moved to Vermont and a friend got me into a pool that was run by someone at Ben and Jerry's. Same model, more players. After me, my mom and some other family members donating to the pool, the last year they ran it, I walked away with nearly $2,000! Not a bad take away. But I must admit that my mom helped me with a few of those key picks tha tput me over the top. But what can you expect from mym mom the football guru, who taught me about the game, and betting at a very YOUNG age (yes, the infamy of getting busted for running a superbowl pool in 6th grade still lives on in Lavallette Elementary infamy!). Really, though, it's all in good fun.

And it will stay fun as long as my Chargers keep winning! Cheers all!

Chargers put Peyton on his ass!!!

Ah, yes, the mighty have fallen! Long live my San Diego super-Chargers!!! After a season of almost wins and shouldn't have lost's, my Chargers managed to keep it together so well that they took down the pretty-boys of the NFL, the Indy Colts. How sweet is was to see Peyton under pressure...FINALLY. Brees was graceful under pressure and kept things going.

Yes, we may not make the playoffs for no good reason but our own last minute failings in too many games. But hey, if we're not going to make the playoffs, at least we knocked teh mighty kings off their thrones and prevented the perfect season! Not a bad consolation prize!. Way to go!