Joe Public

I haven't even logged into this site in years, but you know what, for this I will take the time because I've always believed message boards and forums function best when the users police themselves to an extent.

To that point, posts like these are the worst of the Internet. They're embarrassing, and not only do they make you look like a petty, jealous infant with no life and nothing better to do than troll others online, they actively discourage exactly what forums like these are supposed to promote.

Van may remember me from ye olden times, he may not. But one thing I know about him is that he'll always discuss how he's capped a game, why his play is what it is—and if you're asking for more, for free, from someone online that you'll never meet, you need to re-evaluate your life.

Forget for a second that I've been on the same side as some of these losses and can tell you I absolutely believe many of them were capped well (hell, despite not even trying to score for the last 15 minutes of the game, but for dumb luck Spain wins that game at least 2-0, if not 3-0, blah blah blah). But the individual plays are irrelevant.

The point is, if your entire contribution to this thread is to remind a guy that he lost, as if a handicapper wouldn't know that, removing you from the thread is addition by subtraction. And if your only contribution to the site is the same, you're failing at the incredibly low bar of doing enough to justify posting here.

And don't say it was just one post, because you had another post barely minutes after the France game saying the same thing about his record.

TL;DR, you're being a jackass.

Don't bother responding, I'm now returning to hibernation and to watch the World Cup in peace.

Good to see you're still out there swinging, Van. Been a long time, brother, good luck the rest of the tourney.

=)

We're old, and there are only a handful of us left.

That's just how it is.

=|

Good to see someone picked this up, too.

Joe's on an almost complete posting hiatus until after the presidential election in November.

Thanks, YO.

=)

Thanks, RF, I appreciate it.

Jets
Pittsburgh
Detroit
Philly
Arizona

Chalk it up.

Hey, hey, all.

I haven't really been around in, oh, six months.  Lots and lots and lots of work.  Which is actually what brings me to post this.

For the last couple of years I took over running the weekly thread which gave people a chance to sort of paper bet the famous Hilton contest.

Unfortunately, especially for the next six to eight weeks, I won't be able to run this thing.  Which basically means, someone needs to take this thread over for the season.

There are folks who've played this in years past, they know how it goes, and there are a couple of people who can easily do this if they'll be around.  Hell, last year I basically just posted the thread, stats and standings were handled, quite well, by other posters.

So if you guys want to do this again, great, I'll even try to play, but I know I won't be consistent enough to post the lines and manage the thread this season.

Sorry.

Let's.  Go.  Pens.

Good to see you, Lou.

Do what ya gotta do, SC.  And I'm sorry I missed your e-mail until tonight.

Go Indy.

Time for trotter to let it ride.

I love it.

My biggest concern about Indy tomorrow is that they turn in one of those home games where they kind of go through the motions.  You know the ones, the kind that they play against Jax or Tennesee or Buffalo when they're favored by seven or 10 or 13, and they win by four or a late FG because they just haven't been able to get on track all day.

My hope is that they get it.  That they want a little revenge for the way they played in SD and that they make SD one dimensional early. 

If they do that, I'm not convinced Rivers is emotionally there yet to really get this thing done.

Sorry about the Pats loss tonight, I actually tried to middle this game, and missed in large part because of that FG. 

It's kind of a s**tty beat, but we'll get it back.

Where've I been, oh, around.  I was working ridiculous hours for the last couple of months of the year so I wasn't posting much.

Ack.  Let's get those Colts tomorrow, Doggy.

=)

Ding, ding, ding.

Winner, winner, winner.

Nice work, D.

=)

Yep, love 'em all save NY.

No starting center, no depth in their secondary thanks to injury, Eli on the road.  Just a tough situation.

Good luck this weekend, Van.

I think it's because I didn't post it, I was out of town.

Here it is.

I believe Soup won for his first title.

1 - Can David Garrard make plays on the road to win the game?

I don't think he needs to.  Pittsburgh has fallen completely apart against the run since even before that Jax game.  If you can't stop the run, you don't win in the playoffs unless you're prepared to put up 30.  And this Pittsburgh team is not a 30-plus point team.

2 - Can a team win in Pittsburgh twice in the same year? (sounds ridiculous but its really really hard to do it anywhere let alone Pittsburgh)

This isn't the same Pittsburgh team.  They're banged up and without Willie Parker.  If they were 100% healthy, I'd agree that this would be extremely difficult.  Without him, their running game doesn't scare anybody and the play-action pass is tougher to make work which is where they have a lot of success.

3 - Can Pitt trust Najeh to run the ball 20-25 times and get 90-110 yards in place of Willie Parker?

I don't think you can.  I also worry that they won't give it to him 20 to 25 times in the first place.

4 - Can Todd Collins win a playoff game on the road?

Potentially.  He played well in NY and in Minny, but he got out in front and could play with a lead.  What happens if he gets behind on the road?

5 - Can the Skins start fast to quiet the crowd in Seattle? If they dont, it will be very tough to win up there.

Seattle is a tough place to play, but the Skins have a better shot with Collins than with Campbell simply because Collins can actually throw TDs to WRs.  No way Washington wins if they are content with only 13 offensive points or whatever.  Not unless there's a downpour, four Seattle turnovers, or both.

6 - Can Eli play a complete 60 minutes in a pressure spot?

I'm not sure he has to this point in his career so I can't imagine he will here.

7 - Can Gruden coach this game to win...not to 'not lose'?

Yeah, I think he can and, in this case, I think he's helped by Garcia who generally always plays to win, sometimes too much.

8 - How do you feel about that Pittman/Graham RB combo in TB? How about Garcia being a healthy scratch yesterday? How about losing 2 straight to end the season?

Don't care about the healthy scratch, they're not a very healthy team so that made sense.  I like Ernest Graham, but I'm a Gator fan.  I think this is a good spot for TB, I think they're going to get a lot of s**t for those two losses and they can come out and prove a point.  Chucky will get them fired up.

 9 - Can the Titans score more than 10 points in San Diego? Can they even move the ball?

Yeah, they'll move the ball a bit.  My guess is mostly on the ground, believe it or not.  I think they can get to 13, maybe 20 if Rivers is in a giving mood.

10 - Can Philip Rivers not make mistakes to cost the Chargers valuable field position in what seems like it can be a low scoring game?

Yes, but only if Norv is smart and feeds LT all day.  Hanesworth got a bit gimpy in that Indy game, and I'm not sure that defense is 100%.  Tire 'em out early, run over their *ss late, SD should be fine.

I would have liked to have seen this before I played SF on a line I didn't even like.

Good call, FE.

(and nice avatar.)

=)

Hell of a post, HG.

Nice work.

Well, since I was mentioned, I suppose I should respond.

The only downside to taking Jax here is the time of the game.  It's a night game, which means that it's going to be colder than normal and they may have flashbacks from the beatings they've taken from teams like the Pats in spots like these.

Still, the Steelers haven't been able to stop the run in five weeks, why on earth should they start to do so now?

The line should be around a PK because on a neutral field Jax should be favored.  I had Pittsburgh in their last game, and maybe their lines show up this week, but they were utterly man-handled in their last meeting.  It's difficult, particularly without Willie Parker, to see how Pittsburgh comes out on top here without a lot of turnover help.

The over looks interesting, too.

Thanks for posting this, Double S.

Congrats to all who survived the marathon.  I'm more than a little disappointed in my performance this year.  Under .500 is simply unacceptable.

I'm sure I'll have more to say tomorrow, but for now let me get in my absolutely, 100%, completely unresearched picks for the week:

Overall: 36-42-2 - 37 pts.

Last week:  3-2

Baltimore +3.5
Indy +6.5
Cleveland -10
NO -2
Oakland +7.5

That number's too big for the Browns, but at this point I'm playing for pride so putting them in there can't hurt anyone.

Good luck tomorrow, guys, and congrats again to all those willing to stick it out.

Overall: 33-40-2 - 34 pts.

Last week:  3-2

Philly +3.5
Jax -13
Seattle -10
Arizona -10
Buffalo +2.5

Tough year, no way around that.  Speaking of which, I'd love it if someone could post this thread for Week 17, I won't be around next week until Saturday.

Washington almost made this list, and I don't really like the Buffalo line, but I'll take it.

Good luck this weekend all.

Two weeks to go and I think, if I'm not mistaken, congrats are in order for Kerry B, who swept the board last week.

Great work, KB.

I believe I also owe Webba a 5-0, as he does all of us. 

Your lines for Week 16:

Pit      -7.5      STL
Dal     -10.5     CAR
Cle     -2.5     CIN
g.b.     -9     CHI
IND     -7.5     Hou
DET     -4.5     k.c.
NE     -21.5     Mia
Nyg     -2.5     BUF
JAX     -13     Oak
NO     -3.5     Phi
MIN     -6.5     Was
ARZ     -10     Atl
SEA     -10     Bal
TEN     -9     Nyj
t.b.     -7     SF
SD    -8.5     Den

Lines come from: https://legend.jimfeist.com/Contests/HiltonContest.aspx

Actual Hilton Contest standings can be found here:
https://legend.jimfeist.com/Contests/HiltonContest.aspx?FT=N&WN=15

Good luck this weekend, everybody, and Merry X-Mas.

=)