September 19th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)A nice rebound day going 8-3-0 here and 2-0-0 for my Streak picks overall. Started out the day with a 3-0 win for Arminia Bielefeld on the road, skipped the next soccer match and got the come from behind win with the Marlins to finish the day. Florida rallied with 4 runs in the top of the 9^th and it proved just enough to avoid losing for the 10^th straight time at Great American Ballpark. We're back into the college football season tomorrow and hopefully there's at least one gimme screaming at you on the board. And so, with that, we continue, onward and froward to the picks.

Picks
1) Stoke City @ Bolton Wanderers - Stoke City win or draw
2) East Carolina Pirates 2^nd Half Points @ North Carolina Tarheels Winning Margin - East Carolina 2^nd half points
3) #8 California Golden Bears Rushing TDs @ Minnesota Golden Gophers Total TDs - California rushing TDs
4) #18 Utah Utes @ Oregon Ducks - Oregon
5) #19 Nebraska Cornhuskers @ #13 Virginia Tech Hokies - Virginia Tech
6) #3 USC Trojans Winning Margin @ Washington Huskies Points Scored - USC winning margin
7) Arizona Wildcats @ Iowa Hawkeyes - Iowa
8) San Francisco Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
9) #17 Cincinnati Bearcats @ Oregon State Beavers - Cincinnati
10) Northwestern Wildcats @ Syracuse Orange - Syracuse
11) Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers - Los Angeles
12) #23 Georgia Bulldogs @ Arkansas Razorbacks - Arkansas
13) Texas Tech Red Raiders Points Scored @ Texas Longhorns 2^nd Half Points - Texas Tech points scored
14) Colorado Rockies @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Colorado
15) Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Marquez - Any other outcome (non-decision)

Previews
2), 6), and 13)For these picks I tried not to think too much about them and instead just used the over/under and spread to figure what the result might be. From the over/under (denoted OU) and the Line (denoted Ln) one can figure the final score. Say Team A and Team B's final scores are denoted 'A' and 'B' then we can figure the final score from OU and Ln:

i) A + B = OU
ii) A - B = Ln
iii) 2×i) + ii) ==> 2A = OU + Ln ==> A = (OU + Ln)/2
iv) Insert iii) into i) OU/2 + Ln/2 + B = OU ==> B = (OU - Ln)/2

Now you can just plug in the over/under and the line to get the final scores. For East Carolina @ UNC the O/U is 44 and the line is 7.5 so the final score is 25.75 to 18.25, so ECU is figured to score 0 to 18 points, possibly all or none in the second half. Since 7.5 is less than half of 18 I'll go with the second half points.

USC is favored to win by 19 with 52 total points scored so (52-19)/2 = 16.5 is less than 19 so go with USC winning margin. You can figure of Texas Tech's points is more than half of Texas' points as well. Good luck, and go with your gut if you figure one team will score all their points in the first half or will just get whomped by more than the line shows.

September 18th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Wow, well the day started off miserably with FC Basel handling AS Roma 2-0. That might have been the biggest upset in Europa League play but Hamburg SV lost to Rapid Vienna 3-0! Everton scored 3 goals before the half so my 2 goals or fewer pick was quickly sunk there and out of frustration I picked the low % Beckett to give up fewer hits to the Angels than Hamels to the Nationals. Lost that one 5 to 7 and at this point my blog picks were 0-5. A run of good luck followed, picked up a win with 3 runs or fewer scored in the final 3¹/₂ innings of the Oakland game and won my next 5 blog picks to finish 5-5-0. I expect to do better on the new day so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Arminia Bielefeld @ MSV Duisburg - Arminia Bielefeld win or draw
2) Sheffield Wednesday @ Sheffield United - Sheffield Wednesday win or draw
3) San Diego Padres @ Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh
4) Florida Marlins @ Cincinnati Reds - Florida
5) Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves - Philadelphia
6) Calgary Stampeders @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Hamilton
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers - Texas
8) Chicago Cubs @ St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis
9) Boise State Broncos Winning Margin @ Fresno State Bulldogs TDs and FGs - Boise State winning margin
10) Los Angeles Sparks @ Seattle Storm - Seattle
11) New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners - New York

September 17th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)God damn it, even though I spent another day above .500 with my picks here I ended up 1-3-0 with my actual Streak picks. I am just really poor at knowing which picks to take. I suppose I ought to go with the picks I'm least confident in. Started out nice with the over in the Spain-Poland game but then got shot down when Liverpool played sloppy as hell and won by the score of 1-0. Then the Mets and Braves played me when they failed to score in the 1^st inning but scored in 6 of the next 8 innings. Finally the Giants played tease as they came back from 4-0 only to fall short by a single run in the 9^th. A day better left forgotten and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) AS Roma @ FC Basel - AS Roma win
2) Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
3) AEK Athens @ Everton - 2 goals or fewer
4) Indiana Fever @ Washington Mystics - Washington
5) Cole Hamels (v. Nationals) vs. Josh Beckett (vs. Angels) - Beckett allows fewer hits
6) Florida Marlins @ Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati
7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets@ Miami (FL) Hurricanes - Miami (FL)
8) Phoenix Mercury @ San Antonio Silver Stars - San Antonio
9) Cleveland Indians @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
10) How Many Runs Will Be Scored In Innings 6 Through 9 (Indians @ Athletics): 3 Or Fewer vs. 4 Or More - 3 or fewer

September 16th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)A bit better day as I went 2-1-0 on my Streak picks. Started out with a last second loss with Greece, France made the go-ahead basket with 0.2 seconds remaining though they had led most of the game. I picked up my first win of the day with Real Madrid scoring a couple of goals late to win 5-2 while Chelsea defeated a very tough FC Porto 1-0. My second win came with Cliff Lee pitching a complete game. I might have thought twice about that pick but the Nationals on the road are usually bankable for mediocrity. Some interesting picks up tomorrow, some easy, some not. If it looks like a lopsided matchup it probably is and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Poland vs. Spain - 153 points or more
2) Florida Marlins @ St. Louis Cardinals - Florida
3) FC Barçelona @ Inter Milan - FC Barçelona
4) Debrecen @ Liverpool - Liverpool win by 3 goals or more
5) Slovenia vs. Turkey - Turkey
6) New York Mets @ Atlanta Braves - 1 or more runs scored in the 1^st
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
8) Atlanta Dream @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
9) Sue Bird points and assists vs. Candace Parker points - Parker points
10) Colorado Rockies @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco

September 15th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)It was just another one of those days. Started out with Randers really being as bad as advertised as they went down 3-0 at home. Then I picked up a win with del Potro actually defeating Federer in 5 sets. Missed the 7pm picks and capped it off with a Florida Marlins loss. Their pitching was just too awful to win the game. Rule of thumb 83: Florida teams have shitty bullpens. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Greece vs. France - Greece
2) Piacenza @ Padova - Piacenza win or draw
3) Manchester United @ Besiktas - 2 goals or fewer
4) Real Madrid (@ FC Zürich) vs. Chelsea (v. FC Porto) - Real Madrid wins by more goals
5) Toronto Blue Jays @ New York Yankees - Toronto
6) How Many Innings Will Cliff Lee Pitch: 6²/₃ Or Fewer vs. 7 Or More - 7 or more
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Boston Red Sox - Los Angeles
8) Milwaukee Brewers @ Chicago Cubs - Chicago
9) How Many Strikeouts Will Dan Haren Record: 6 Or Fewer vs. 7 Or More - 7 or more
10) Colorado Rockies @ San Francisco Giants - Colorado

September 14th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Well, another poor day for me in which I remained over .500 but still picked more losers than winners for my own streak. I went 4-1 in NFL straight up picks, but ended up taking the Houston Texans who could not do anything against a revamped Jets defense. Then the Dodgers got shut down by AL transfer Brady Penny. I never got a chance to pick Green Bay who pulled off a last minute victory so I'm stuck on the losing end of things at the end of the day. On the plus side I should win 2 out of 3 fantasy football league games even though I played a man down with Anthony Gonzalez going out. The one loss was my team that had Gonzalez and Breaston so I played two men down in that one. Well, I think the streak breakers of the day lie in baseball so good luck and on with the picks.

Picks
1) Aalborg BK @ Randers FC - Randers FC win or draw
2) Juan Martin del Potro vs. Roger Federer - 4 or 5 sets played
3) Terrell Owens vs. Randy Moss - Moss records more receiving yards
4) Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles - Tampa Bay
5) Houston Astros @ Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati
6) Florida Marlins @ St. Louis Cardinals - Florida
7) Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Diego Padres - San Diego
8) San Diego Chargers Winning Margin vs. Oakland Raiders 2^nd Half Points - Chargers winning margin

September 13th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Ouch, today hurt. I continued my losing ways with Tim Clark carding a stroke worse than Mahan in the morning golf. From there Manchester United demolished by Tottenham Hotspur pick 3-1 and after that Notre Dame made some poor play calls near the end of the game, failed to eat up enough clock, and gave away the game in the last minute to Michigan. That put me at L6, a personal worst. At least the Dodgers' bats seem to have woken up as they won easily. Thank goodness for that and on to the picks.

Picks
1) AS Roma @ Siena - Siena win or draw
2) Stewart Cink vs. Kenny Perry - Cink cards a lower or equal front 9 score
3) Rafael Nadal vs. Juan Martin del Potro - Nadal
4) Tiger Woods vs. Brandt Snedeker or Marc Leishman - Snedeker or Leishman card a lower 4^th round score
5) Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals - Denver
6) Miami Dolphins @ Atlanta Falcons - Atlanta
7) Philadelphia Eagles @ Carolina Panthers - Philadelphia
8) Minnesota Vikings @ Cleveland Browns - Minnesota
9) New York Jets @ Houston Texans - Houston
10) Maurice Jones-Drew and Torry Holt vs. Reggie Wayne and Joseph Addai - Wayne and Addai record more total yards
11) Kansas City points scored vs. Baltimore Ravens winning margin - Baltimore winning margin
12) Roy Williams vs. Antonio Bryant - Bryant records more receiving yards
13) Calvin Johnson vs. Marques Colston - Johnson records more receiving yards
14) Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants - Los Angeles
15) Clinton Portis vs. Brandon Jacobs - Jacobs records more total yards
16) Steven Jackson vs. Julius Jones - Jones records more rushing yards
17) San Francisco 49ers Total Touchdowns vs. Arizona Cardinals Passing Touchdowns - 49ers total touchdowns
18) Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers - Green Bay