Archive | December 2011

NFL Week 16

Good news and bad news for Dallas. Good news? You don’t get killed by New Orleans in the playoffs. Bad news is it really won’t matter.

My take:

Away

Home

Away

Home

Favorite

Line

O/U

Houston

Indianapolis

23

21

Houston

1

44

Miami

New England

18

24

New England

7

42

Cleveland

Baltimore

15

23

Baltimore

8

37

Arizona

Cincinnati

18

21

Cincinnati

3

39

Minnesota

Washington

21

22

Washington

0

43

Denver

Buffalo

20

22

Buffalo

1

42

St. Louis

Pittsburgh

14

24

Pittsburgh

10

38

NY Giants

NY Jets

19

25

NY Jets

6

44

Tampa Bay

Carolina

20

19

Tampa Bay

0

39

Jacksonville

Tennessee

18

24

Tennessee

6

42

Oakland

Kansas City

21

22

Kansas City

0

43

San Diego

Detroit

25

23

San Diego

2

48

Philadelphia

Dallas

23

25

Dallas

2

48

San Francisco

Seattle

18

21

Seattle

3

39

Chicago

Green Bay

16

25

Green Bay

9

41

Atlanta

New Orleans

21

25

New Orleans

4

46

Vegas:

Favorite

Line

O/U

Bet

O/U

Houston

7.0

40.5

Indianapolis

Over

New England

7.0

49.0

Miami

Under

Baltimore

11.0

38.5

Cleveland

Under

Cincinnati

4.0

41.5

Arizona

Under

Washington

6.0

43.0

Minnesota

Over

Denver

3.0

43.5

Buffalo

Under

Pittsburgh

10.0

33.5

St. Louis

Over

NY Jets

2.5

46.0

NY Jets

Under

Carolina

8.0

48.5

Tampa Bay

Under

Tennessee

8.0

38.5

Jacksonville

Over

Kansas City

3.0

43.0

Oakland

Under

Detroit

0.0

52.5

San Diego

Under

Philadelphia

2.5

49.5

Dallas

Under

San Francisco

2.5

37.0

Seattle

Over

Green Bay

12.5

41.5

Chicago

Under

New Orleans

6.5

52.5

Atlanta

Under

Still no good bets.

E.W.

I went to a party where they played Dirty Santa. One of the gifts was a cast iron Fluer-de-lis which we all assumed was a weapon. I warned the people who got it that, while it would protect them from all manner of beasts, such as Bears, Jaguars, Panthers, Colts, Lions, Falcons, even Pirates and Vikings and mythical creatures like Giants and Titans, that it would offer no protection whatsoever from Rams.

 

This entry was posted on December 25, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

2011 NFL Week 16 – Picks

Ok..so we have a game on Thursday; is it just me or is the coverage on NFL truly the worst in the world? Most games are on Saturday and Sunday’s game might really be interesting. Though I do expect New Orleans to win, I think Atlanta will give them a run for it. But who knows if the Twilight Zone will extend into this week.

The Prince is sticking with his animal wins theme. It served him better last week than my method..which isn’t really a method. But here are our picks.

Week 16
Thu, Dec 22 Spring’s Picks Prince’s Picks
HOU @ IND Houston Indianapolis
Sat, Dec 24
MIA @ NE New England Miami
CLE @ BAL Baltimore Baltimore
ARI @ CIN Cincinnati Cincinnati
MIN @ WAS Washington Washington
DEN @ BUF Denver Buffalo
STL @ PIT Pittsburgh St Louis
NYG @ NYJ NY Jets NY Jets
TB @ CAR Carolina Carolina
JAC @ TEN Tennessee Jacksonville
OAK @ KC Kansas City Kansas City
SD @ DET Detroit Detroit
PHI @ DAL Dallas Philadelphia
SF @ SEA San Francisco Seattle
Sun, Dec 25
CHI @ GB Green Bay Chicago
Mon, Dec 26  
ATL @ NO New Orleans Atlanta
Byes: None
This entry was posted on December 21, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

2011 NFL Week 15 – Results

It was football in the twilight zone. Which basically means we had a terrible week!

How in the world did some of these teams win? There’s no other explanation than..the harmonics of the Universe turn around and flew in the opposite direction. Buffalo lost to Miami IN Buffalo? Huh?  Indianapolis really beat the Titans? And where has San Diego been all year? This reminds me of stepping it up at the end to take it all like Tony Stewart did during the final 10 races of the Chase.

Week 15
Thu, Dec 15 Spring’s Picks Results Prince’s Picks Results Game Results
JAC @ ATL Atlanta W Atlanta W 14 – 41
Sat, Dec 17
DAL @ TB Dallas W Tampa Bay L 31 – 15
Sun, Dec 18
CIN @ STL Cincinnati W Cincinnati W 20 – 13
MIA @ BUF Buffalo L Buffalo L 30 – 23
WAS @ NYG NY Giants L NY Giants L 23- 10
TEN @ IND Tennessee L Tennessee L 13 – 27
SEA @ CHI Chicago L Chicago L 38 – 14
GB @ KC Green Bay L Green Bay L 14- 19
CAR @ HOU Houston L Carolina W 28 – 13
NO @ MIN New Orleans W New Orleans W 42 – 20
DET @ OAK Oakland L Detroit W 28 – 27
CLE @ ARI Arizona W Arizona W 17 – 20 OT
NYJ @ PHI NY Jets L Philadelphia W 19 – 45
NE @ DEN New England W Denver L 41 – 23
BAL @ SD Baltimore L Baltimore L 34 – 14
Mon, Dec 19  
PIT @ SF Pittsburgh L San Francisco W 3 – 20
Byes: None

Results: W = 6 / L = 10   of 16

Season: W = 142 / L = 82 of 224

Results: W = 8 / L = 8   of 16

Season: W = 118 / L = 106 of 224

This entry was posted on December 21, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 15

I picked the Dallas game wrong, and never been happier. The Football Giants not only won, but knocked Dallas to the bottom of the playoffs. Worse for Dallas, they will now get slaughtered at New Orleans in the first round. And that’s assuming they don’t lose one of the remaining games and any of a quarter dozen teams hold their own or just win one more game than I figure.

On the other hand, Denver is now in the playoffs. If you’re a Bronc fan, don’t get excited, they aren’t going any further than Dallas. Tebow is a great quarterback, unfortunately, John Fox doesn’t have the slightest clue how to use one of those. If only he knew of some way a quarterback could somehow get the ball to a receiver down the field. Some way that the ball would go past the defenders out of their reach and end up at one of his runners. Almost like it could fly through the air…

Here’s my take this week:

Away

Home

Away

Home

Favorite

Line

O/U

Jacksonville

Atlanta

18

24

Atlanta

7

42

Dallas

Tampa Bay

22

20

Dallas

2

41

Cincinnati

St. Louis

21

19

Cincinnati

2

40

Miami

Buffalo

19

18

Miami

1

37

Washington

NY Giants

20

23

NY Giants

2

43

Tennessee

Indianapolis

20

22

Indianapolis

2

43

Seattle

Chicago

18

26

Chicago

8

44

Green Bay

Kansas City

25

19

Green Bay

6

43

Carolina

Houston

19

25

Houston

5

44

New Orleans

Minnesota

23

24

Minnesota

1

47

Detroit

Oakland

21

23

Oakland

3

44

Cleveland

Arizona

20

23

Arizona

3

43

NY Jets

Philadelphia

22

22

Philadelphia

0

43

New England

Denver

27

21

New England

6

48

Baltimore

San Diego

19

22

San Diego

3

41

Pittsburgh

San Francisco

18

21

San Francisco

3

39

Here’s Vegas:

Favorite

Line

O/U

Bet

O/U

Atlanta

12.0

42.5

Jacksonville

Under

Dallas

7.0

47.0

Tampa Bay

Under

Cincinnati

6.5

40.0

St. Louis

Under

Buffalo

0.0

42.0

Miami

Under

NY Giants

7.0

46.5

Washington

Under

Tennessee

6.5

41.0

Indianapolis

Over

Chicago

3.5

36.0

Chicago

Over

Green Bay

13.5

46.0

Kansas City

Under

Houston

6.5

45.0

Carolina

Under

New Orleans

6.5

51.5

Minnesota

Under

Detroit

1.0

47.5

Oakland

Under

Arizona

6.5

37.5

Cleveland

Over

Philadelphia

3.0

44.0

NY Jets

Under

New England

6.5

46.0

Denver

Over

Baltimore

2.5

44.5

San Diego

Under

San Francisco

3.0

39.5

Pittsburgh

Under

The economy still sucks, so there’s still no good bets this week.

E.W.

I watched the painful St. Louis game. Seven shots at the endzone from the 1 yard line. At some point the quarterback should have just said, “Screw the play call, you two line up behind for the hand off. When the ball snaps, you shove my ass through the line.”

 

This entry was posted on December 15, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

2011 NFL Week 15 – Picks

Once again the week starts early and we tried to make our picks on time. I don’t know what to think of my Skins. But I don’t think they’re playing well enough to take on the Giants at home. So while my heart says Washington, my brain says..not this week. Houston is another interesting pick this week. I expect them to win, but Cam sure is picking up the level of the Panthers and it’s hard telling how he might inspire them this week. My other toss up is in San Diego. The numbers say Baltimore should win and I’ve picked them. But the Chargers have also picked up their level of play and some have said Norv’s job is on the line. So they may actually push the envelope and make a run at the Ravens. We’ll see. So here’s our picks for the week.

Week 15
Thu, Dec 15 Spring’s Picks Prince’s Picks
JAC @ ATL Atlanta Atlanta
Sat, Dec 17
DAL @ TB Dallas Tampa Bay
Sun, Dec 18
CIN @ STL Cincinnati Cincinnati
MIA @ BUF Buffalo Buffalo
WAS @ NYG NY Giants NY Giants
TEN @ IND Tennessee Tennessee
SEA @ CHI Chicago Chicago
GB @ KC Green Bay Green Bay
CAR @ HOU Houston Carolina
NO @ MIN New Orleans New Orleans
DET @ OAK Oakland Detroit
CLE @ ARI Arizona Arizona
NYJ @ PHI NY Jets Philadelphia
NE @ DEN New England Denver
BAL @ SD Baltimore Baltimore
Mon, Dec 19  
PIT @ SF Pittsburgh San Francisco
Byes: None
This entry was posted on December 14, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

2011 NFL Week 14 – Results

Woohoo, we all had a pretty good week for Week 14. Even the little Prince did pretty well, finishing his pics 12/4. Not too bad all the way around. And once again..Dallas lost..because their kicker got iced. So here’s our results for last week:

Week 14
Thu, Dec 08 Spring’s Picks Results Prince’s Picks Results Game Results
CLE @ PIT Pittsburgh W Pittsburgh W 3 – 14
Sun, Dec 11
TB @ JAC Jacksonville W Jacksonville W 14 – 41
NE @ WAS New England W New England W 34 – 27
HOU @ CIN Houston W Cincinnati L 20 – 19
KC @ NYJ NY Jets W NY Jets W 10 – 37
MIN @ DET Detroit W Detroit W 28 – 34
NO @ TEN Tennessee L Tennessee L 22 – 17
PHI @ MIA Philadelphia W Philadelphia W 26 – 10
IND @ BAL Baltimore W Baltimore W 10 – 24
ATL @ CAR Atlanta W Carolina L 31 – 23
OAK @ GB Green Bay W Green Bay W 16 – 46
CHI @ DEN Denver W Denver W 10 – 13 OT
SF @ ARI San Francisco L Arizona W 19 – 21
BUF @ SD San Diego W Buffalo L 10 – 37
NYG @ DAL Dallas L NY Giants W 37 – 34
Mon, Dec 12  
STL @ SEA Seattle W Seattle W 13 – 30
Byes: None
This entry was posted on December 14, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

More Design Guy Sightings

I love my old Chevy truck. But it is old. Which means things break on it every now and then. Of course the AC pump’s been broke for a loooong time. But it finally got so bad I needed to take it out. It was whining so loud that people would look up to try to see the RC plane they heard. I may one day put a new one in there, but then, I like summer and have never had a vehicle with AC. So… not today.

I got a pulley to replace it and set about removing it. Seemed like it would be a pretty easy repair. Take off the belt pull the electrical connectors and hose connection. Remove the three bolts, whip it out and drop the pulley in place and zip tie the lose electrical and hose connections. I’m going to kill the next person who asks me to do something and adds, “it’ll only take five minutes.”

I pulled the belt. Pulled the connections. Loosened the five inch long bolt and discovered that there was only two inches clearance to pull it. It jammed up hard against the pulley of the compressor that it was holding in place. Ditto with the other two bolts.

After looking at it a while it was clear that the pulley would have to come off the compressor. I looked online seems I’m not the only one who had this problem. Some of the guys actually cut the bolts off. As you will see in a moment that’s a Real Bad Idea ™. But several of them said that the bolts will come out if you wiggle them around..

I took another look at it. The pulley probably can come off, but it looks like you need The Special Tool ™. I don’t have it of course. So I tried the wiggling idea. After some unproductive moments trying really hard not to say any words the group of 6 years old gathered around don’t need to learn, suddenly, one of the bolts is now flush with the ridge on the pulley that was blocking it. I was momentarily fascinated by the fact that it seemed the bolt and the pulley were now occupying the same space and time. But I didn’t bother to really wait to figure out what I was seeing and jerked the bolt out.

Now, with the bolt in hand, I had time to be fascinated again. At first glance the bolt appears to be a standard metric flanged cap bolt. However, one side of the flange is ground away flat, which allows the bolt to come past the pulley when magically turned just right. So basically, instead of designing the bracket’s bolt diameter to be just an 1/8” larger, the solution was to make three special bolts only for this AC compressor. All those people that cut them off and bought new bolts were screwed.

We really should spend some time and resources to find the Design Guy and eliminate him.

E.W.

I bet you can buy the Special Bolts ™ from the dealer. I bet they’re ten bucks each.

NFL Week 14

Been having pretty good weeks for picks, gambling finally fell deep in the negative zone for all bets, no surprise. But I’m in the black for good bets… Thanks Indy, I know all of your necks hurt after the surgery, but you really pulled it off there and covered the 20 and a half point spread!

Here’s my take this week:

Away

Home

Away

Home

Favorite

Line

O/U

Cleveland

Pittsburgh

16

23

Pittsburgh

7

40

Tampa Bay

Jacksonville

20

20

Jacksonville

0

40

New England

Washington

26

19

New England

6

45

Houston

Cincinnati

22

20

Houston

2

42

Kansas City

NY Jets

17

22

NY Jets

6

39

Minnesota

Detroit

21

25

Detroit

4

45

New Orleans

Tennessee

24

22

New Orleans

2

46

Philadelphia

Miami

24

23

Philadelphia

1

47

Oakland

Green Bay

18

28

Green Bay

10

46

Indianapolis

Baltimore

18

25

Baltimore

7

43

Atlanta

Carolina

21

18

Atlanta

3

40

Chicago

Denver

22

20

Chicago

2

41

San Francisco

Arizona

21

22

Arizona

2

43

Buffalo

San Diego

18

26

San Diego

8

44

NY Giants

Dallas

21

25

Dallas

5

46

St. Louis

Seattle

16

23

Seattle

6

39

Vegas:

Favorite

Line

O/U

Bet

O/U

Pittsburgh

14.0

39.0

Cleveland

Over

Tampa Bay

2.0

39.0

Jacksonville

Over

New England

8.0

48.0

Washington

Under

Cincinnati

3.0

38.0

Houston

Over

NY Jets

9.0

36.5

Kansas City

Over

Detroit

8.0

49.5

Minnesota

Under

New Orleans

3.5

48.5

Tennessee

Under

Miami

3.0

45.0

Philadelphia

Over

Green Bay

11.0

52.0

Oakland

Under

Baltimore

16.5

41.0

Indianapolis

Over

Atlanta

2.5

47.5

Atlanta

Under

Denver

3.5

35.5

Chicago

Over

San Francisco

3.5

39.5

Arizona

Over

San Diego

7.0

47.5

San Diego

Under

Dallas

3.5

49.0

Dallas

Under

Seattle

5.5

39.5

Seattle

Under

There aren’t any good bets this week.

E.W.

Looks like a lot of planned slaughters this week.

 

This entry was posted on December 8, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

2011 NFL Week 14 – Picks

I’m trying to get my Week 14 picks in early enough for the Thursday night game. So the Prince and I made our picks tonight. There are a few games that are toss ups. But we’re either going with our favorites, or who the bigger animal is. 😉

Week 14
Thu, Dec 08 Spring’s Picks Prince’s Picks
CLE @ PIT Pittsburgh Pittsburgh
Sun, Dec 11    
TB @ JAC Jacksonville Jacksonville
NE @ WAS New England New England
HOU @ CIN Houston Cincinnati
KC @ NYJ NY Jets NY Jets
MIN @ DET Detroit Detroit
NO @ TEN Tennessee Tennessee
PHI @ MIA Philadelphia Philadelphia
OAK @ GB Green Bay Green Bay
IND @ BAL Baltimore Baltimore
ATL @ CAR Atlanta Carolina
CHI @ DEN Denver Denver
SF @ ARI San Francisco Arizona
BUF @ SD San Diego Buffalo
NYG @ DAL Dallas NY Giants
Mon, Dec 12  
STL @ SEA Seattle Seattle
Byes: None
This entry was posted on December 6, 2011, in Sports - NFL.

2011 NFL Week 13 – Results

We had a pretty good week in Week 13. There were a few bets I’m glad I didn’t get right. Particularly how in the world do you ice your own kicker and lose the game. Well ask Dallas cause they did it. Ha-ha. So here’s our results for the week.

Week 13
Thu, Dec 01 Spring’s Picks Results Prince’s Picks Results Game Results
PHI @ SEA Seattle W Philadelphia L 14 – 31
Sun, Dec 04  
IND @ NE New England W Indianapolis L 24 – 31
OAK @ MIA Oakland L Miami W 14 – 34
ATL @ HOU Houston W Atlanta L 10 – 17
TEN @ BUF Tennessee W Tennessee W 23 – 17
KC @ CHI Chicago L Chicago L 10 – 3
NYJ @ WAS NY Jets W NY Jets W 34 – 19
CIN @ PIT Pittsburgh W Cincinnati L 7 – 35
CAR @ TB Tampa Bay L Carolina W 38 – 19
DEN @ MIN Denver W Denver W 35 – 32
BAL @ CLE Baltimore W Baltimore W 24 – 10
DAL @ ARI Dallas L Arizona W 13 –  19 OT
GB @ NYG Green Bay W NY Giants W 38 – 35
STL @ SF San Francisco W San Francisco W 0 – 26
DET @ NO New Orleans W Detroit L 17 – 31
Mon, Dec 05  
SD @ JAC Jacksonville L Jacksonville L 38 – 14
Byes: None

Results: W = 11 / L = 5   of 16

Season: W = 123 / L = 69 of 192

Results: W = 9 / L = 7   of 16

Season: W = 98 / L = 94 of 192

This entry was posted on December 6, 2011, in Sports - NFL.