A Plug for Jared's Football Pool

I promised Jared I would give a plug for his annual NFL betting pool, and since he felt weird tooting his own horn, he asked that I give a write-up of my own. The pool began during the 2002 NFL season with 10 kids from Penn State, created by our very own, Jared Melzer. Not sure where Jared got the idea, but it turned out to be a very fun thing to be involved in every fall. Basically, we are picking the winner of every NFL game each week during the regular season, based on the point spread. There are winners each week which get a cut of the total money pot, and cumulative points are also earned for overall prizes at the end of the season.

I have to say that although my luck has not been that great in the initial 3 seasons of Jared's pool, it does give you a vested interest in each game that is played during the weekend. For example, would I really care who wins in the Arizona vs. San Francisco game? Normally, no, I could care less. But, if SF is favored by 4 points, and only wins by a field goal, I'm a happy camper if I picked Arizona. Of course, I like to find the trends in making all of these selections, and have been unsuccessful thus far. (How do you think the Vegas bookies stay in business?) Then others just make selections off the top of their heads, and end up winning 12 out of 16 games. Unbelievable.

Of course, we all expect Brandon to be in contention for the top spot, because he seems to have some crystal ball that gives him some sort of insight that no one else has access to. He claims he doesn't spend that much time researching the games, but I lived with him for 2 years at school, and I saw the list of sports websites in his Internet Explorer Favorites. So, Brandon, you are full of crap. Other predictions for the season include Jared's friend, Andrew Franklin, being in contention for the lead, with the sketchy trend of picking 75% underdogs each week, and never picking the Eagles. Jared, you tell Andrew that I'm on to him. And he's gotta break down and pick the Eagles if he wants some more wins this year. Picking against them with the spread is a bad move. I also know that Josh Bushner (brother of the Sarah Bushner) will make a cocky remark about the Cowboys about every other week, and then proceed to crawl into a hole after he realizes that there's nothing Parcells can do to turn that team around.

We can put good money on Eric Steinberg winning Week 1 (he has won the first week in each of the last 2 seasons) and then went on to win basically nothing else the rest of the way. A rule of thumb, as I like to say, is that you can make one pick each week with your heart and not your brain - and that is for your team. So each week, Brandon and I will pick the Eagles regardless of spread... Eric/BGriff/Andrew Franklin will picks the Giants (dumb move), but BGriff will be disgusted and pick against the Giants by Week 8 (smart move)... Jared and his pops, Shane, will pick the Raiders (and they'll probably start to pick against them by Week 11)....Andy Franson will pick the Steelers.... Gregg will pick the J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets! and all the rest of the people will pick their teams. Pretty standard stuff, but just thought I'd mention it because its one of the few trends you see week to week.

Overall, the pool has grown a lot in 3 seasons, from 10 participants to 16 to 24 last season. Jared mentioned that he expects close to 30 members this year, which makes winning tough, but provides a nice payout if you have a solid week and put up 12 or 13 points.

If you are interested in joining the pool and would like more info, drop Jared a line at jmelzer@mail.utexas.edu and he'll brief you on all of the rules and regulations. (Believe me, Jared runs a tight ship. He's got this thing down to a T).

Shameless Plug:
Additionally, if anyone out there is tech savvy, please read on... Jared is looking for someone who is good with web design or programming to make a website for the pool. What he is looking for is this: A website where he can post the lines for each game, and then have an application created where each person can go and make their picks online, and be consolidated/posted for others to see after the deadline has passed. We're sure it's possible, just not good enough with web applications to make it happen. So, if you are interested in making a few bucks (Jared said he would offer some form of monetary compensation), again, please contact Jared at the email address listed in the paragraph above. Thank you.
End of Shameless Plug

Quotes of the day from fans attending Eagles training camp in Bethlehem, PA --

"We're gonna give you hell, but we still love you, T.O."

"This ain't San Francisco. You ain't bigger than this team. Shut up and play."

I heart Philadelphia fans!