Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 8/February 11

 

Welcome back to the Olympics NHL Hockey players.  The professionals return after a 12-year absence, and several medal contenders had their opening games.  Slovakia defeated Finland 4-1, and Sweden defeated Italy 5-2.

Although the hockey loss was disappointing for the hosts, they had a great day at the sliding track, as both the women's and men's double luge events were conducted.  Italy earned 2 golds, by winning both of the races behind their women's team of Andrea Vietter and Marion Oberhofer, whereas the men's team of Emmanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldren were up to the task by matching their compatriots.

Wednesday was also the return to the ice for the men's Curling teams, and the US, behind Daniel Casper, defeated Czechia 8-7.

In the most prototypical of all Winter Olympic events, the Nordic Combined, Norway's Jans Luraas Oftebro won gold, followed by Austria's Johannes Lamparter (silver) and Eero Hirvonen of Finland (bronze). 

In another quintessential Winter Olympics sport - the biathlon, Julia Simon of France followed up her team Mixed Relay gold with an individual gold in the 15KM, where she was followed by teammate Lou Jeanmonnot who earned silver.

On the ice, the ice dancers performed their 4th routine in about six days, and the competition was wonderful.  Any of the final three teams would have won gold in most Olympics, and some thought the silver medalists should have won THIS year.  But, it was the French team of Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron who captured the gold followed by crowd favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the US and Piper Gille and Paul Poirier of Canada, who won silver and bronze respectively.

The men's Super-Giant Slalom was held yesterday, and tell me if you have heard this before, Franjo von Allmon of Switzerland took home the gold - his third of these games.  American Ross Cochrane-Siegle could not match his mother's 1972 gold, but he did win silver, followed by Swiss juggernaut Marco Odermatt, his second bronze of these games.

And moving from someone who is already a star in these games (von Allmon) to somebody who his likely to be, US Speedskater Jordon Stolz set an Olympic record and won gold in the men's 1000-meter race, defeating Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands and Ning Zhongyan of China.  Is this the first of many for Stolz?

Athlete(s) of the Day - Franjo von Allmon, Switzerland, Alpine Skiing/Julia Simon, France, Biathlon

Von Allmon with his third gold, and Simon with her second, and both in convincing fashion.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Jordan Stolz, Speed Skating

An Olympic Record performance in winning the gold.  Not much better could be done than that!

Upset of the Day - Madison Chock and Evan Bates, United States, Figure Skating

The upset isn't with their performance, but with the scoring.  To a lot of people it sure looked like the Americans won, especially since they skated a practically flawless artistic free skate AND had more technical points. 

 

Team of the Day - Slovakia, Men's Hockey

One of the five or six teams with legitimate medal hopes, Solvakia came out and dominated one of those other squads - Finland - and won 4-1.

U.S. Team of the Day - Men's Curling

Won its only match of the day over Czechia 8-7, with Daniel Casper scoring the winning point with his thirteen stone in the 10th end to secure the victory.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Nordic Combined - An event that combines cross-country skiing with ski jumping, in today's action a 10KM ski and jumps off the normal hill.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, Speed Skating

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Ashley Farquharson, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight, Ilia Malinin, Ben Ogden, Jordan Stolz, Cory Thiesse

NFL Picks of the Week - Final Tally!!!!

 

So the Super Bowl is over and congratulations to the champions Seattle Seahawks.  More importantly, I had a winning Super Bowl weekend to cut into (a little bit) this travesty of a football season.  Here are the final results from Super Bowl week as well as the season!

Last Week Record: 8-6

Last Week Big Bet:  3-1

Playoff Record: 26-24

Playoff Big Bet:  5-5

Year-to-Date Record: 152-164-3

Year-to-Date Big Bet: 11-17

Last Week Winnings (Losses): $975

Playoff Winnings (Losses):  $521.80

Year-to-Date Winnings (Losses): ($3,478.20)

Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 7/February 10

 

A lot of varied events today, which is part of what makes the Olympics so wonderful.  Let's get to it!

I am going to start with the person that is likely to be the most dominating athlete in these Olympics, Norway's Johanes Hoesflot-Klaebo, who was back at it again in the Men's Cross-Country Skiing Classic Sprint.   After dominating his qualifiers, he absolutely dominated the last hill in the finals to put major distance between himself and at that time the only two other medal contenders to win his second gold.  Finishing second in a surprise was Ben Ogden of the United States!!!

The Women's Sprint Classic competition was also held with a Swedish sweep!!!  Lian Svahn, Jonna Sundling, and Maja Dahlqvist won gold, silver, and bronze respectively to dominate the event, and more importantly, their main rivals - the Norwegians!

Staying at the ski-course, the Men's 20km individual biathlon was held, with Norway's Johan-Olav Botn defeating French biathlete Eric Perrot, and Botn's countryman Sturla Holm Laegreid who comprised the rest of the podium.  The difference is that Botn went 20-20 in shooting, and Perrot and Laegreid both missed 1 shot, incurring a 1-minute time penalty each.

Many team events were held on Tuesday, including the Mixed team ski jumping competition, where Slovenia took gold, Norway earned silver, and Japan won the bronze.

In the Alpine Skiing Women's Team Combined, team Austria won gold behind Ariane Raedler's downhill and Katharina Huber's slalom, followed closely by Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (downhill) and Emma Aicher (slalom).  Interestingly, Aicher, who skied the slalom portion of the team combined for Germany, won silver in the individual downhill race behind Breezy Johnson.  The United States finished third, but it wasn't Breezy Johnson (gold in the downhill) and Mikaela Shiffrin's team, as Shiffrin finished 15th out of 18th slalom skiers), but rather the team of Jacqueline Wiles and Paila Moltzan.  The medal was satisfying for Wiles who earlier finished fourth in the individual downhill.

Mixed Doubles curling held its semi-finals and finals, with Sweden defeating the United States 6-5 in the gold medal match, after dispatching the number-1 seed Great Britain in the semi-finals.  The US team of Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse beat the defending-champions Italy in the semi-finals before settling for the silver in a closely fought match in which the Swedish squad held the hammer in the last end.  Italy defeated Great Britain for the bronze.

In the last matches of the women's hockey round robin, Sweden defeated Japan 4-0, Germany beat Italy 2-1 and Finland outlasted Switzerland 3-1.  But all of these were just the appetizers for the United States-Canada battle, which turned out not to be a battle.  The United States swarmed their Canadian rivals and won 5-0, which was the first shutout of Canada IN OLYMPIC HISTORY!  The US was paced by 2 goals from Hannah Bilka, and led by yesterday's US Athlete of the Day Caroline Harvey who started the scoring with a goal just 3:45 into the game, and led the US team with a +/- of 3.

Short track speedskating started, with all of the Mixed Team relay qualifiers and finals held.  Italy, behind the team of Elisa Confortola, Arianna Fontana, Thomas Nadaline and Pietro Sighel, skated away from the field during Fontana's second-lap to win by a margin so safe, Sighel did a 180 and cupped his ears to hear the crowd as he crossed the finish line backwards!!!  This was Fontana's third career gold medal, and her 12 overall, the most in short track history.

In luge, the final two runs of the Women's Singles were held, with Julia Taubitz of the Germany winning gold!  Latvia's Elina Bota took home silver and Ashley Farquharson of the United States finished third - earning bronze.  Taubitz led after each of the last three runs, but Bota was fifth after the first run, and Farquharson was fifth after the second run, but both made up a ton of time on run three to make the podium.  This was Taubitz's first Olympic medal after finishing 7th in Beijing.  Bota likewise made a big jump from Beijing, where she finished 18th.  Farquharson improved on her 12th-place finish in 2022.

Athlete(s) of the Day - Johanes Hoesflot-Klaebo, Norway, Cross-Country Skiing

Go watch his spring up the final hill.  One of the most dominating sports performances I have ever seen.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Ben Ogden, Cross-Country Skiiing

Nobody has a chance against Klaebo, but Ogden dominated everyone else!

Upset of the Day - Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin, United States, Alpine Skiiing

Was not the US team on the podium in the Women's Team Combined, as Shiffrin did not ski even remotely close to her normal levels.  In the 8 World Cup races this year, Shiffrin has won 7 and came in second in the other.  She finished 15th of the 18th skiers in this race.

 

Team of the Day - Italy, Mixed Team Relay, Short Track Speedskating

What a final's race.  Fontana!!!  Sighel's 180 before the finish line!!!  Pure poetry.

U.S. Team of the Day - Women's Hockey

Annihilated Canada to truly make a point before the knockout stages.  Canada will be thinking about this game for decades.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Charging the Block - Short Track Speed Skating - In short track speed skating, it is when an athlete passes on the inside of a congested area just as the other skaters are making the turn.  This is what Fontana did to give Italy the lead in the mixed-team relay.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Luge, Short Track Speed Skating

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Ashley Farquharson, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight, Ilia Malinin, Ben Ogden, Cory Thiesse

Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 6/February 9

 

The Olympics continued in earnest on Monday, with a lot of action in newer sports, and as the women's hockey and curling round robins near their end.  Let's recap the action.

Lots of athletes flying through the air today, so we will start with the Women's Snowboard Big Air.  Japan's Kokomo Murase won gold over New Zealand's Synott Sadowski (silver) and Yu Sevengeun of Korea (bronze).  This gold for Murase will sit nicely on her mantle next to the bronze in the same event from Beijing!

The women's slopestyle medal rounds were completed as well, and Mathilde Gremaud of won gold, defeating Eileen Gu of China and Megan Oldham from Canada.  Gremaud defended her gold from Beijing to go along with her silver from Pyeongchang.

Despite these high-flyers winning medals, nobody, and I mean nobody flies higher than the ski jumpers, and the men's normal hill concluded with Germany's Phillipp Raimund winning gold, Kacpar Tomasiak of Poland finishing second, and a tie for the bronze between Ren Kikaido (Japan) and Gregor Deschwaden (Switzerland).

In women's hockey, Italy defeated Japan 3-2, Germany beat France 2-1 in overtime, and Canada in its final prep before playing its Heated Rivals the US, beat Czechia 5-1.

The United States, in its final tune-up before the round-robin matchup against Canada defeated Switzerland 5-1, behind goals from 5 different players.  And, since the goal scorers usually get all of the love, I want to point out the play of Defensewoman Caroline Harvey, who topped the US in shots with 5, and with a +/- of 4.

The rhythm dance portion of the ice dancing event in figure skating was held, with a fantastic performance from the French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizerone, who finished .5 points ahead of American favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates, setting the scene for an amazing long skate performance.

The men returned to the Alpine slopes as the men's combined was contested with Downhill gold medalist Franjo von Allman of Switzerland taking home his second gold medal of these games with his teammate Tanguay Nef.  Their teammate Marco Odermatt wins his first medal of Milano-Cortina by finishing third with his teammate Luc Maillard, behind the silver medalists Vincent Kreichmyar and Manuel Fettner.

And although the speeds on the slopes were technically faster, nothing on earth could possibly faster than a camera focusing on Jake Paul during the 1000-meter women's Speedskating race.  For once, Jake Paul was not the spectacle, as Jutta Leerdam from the Netherlands flew around the track in Olympic record time to win the gold medal, followed by her teammate Femke Kok (silver) and Miho Tagaki of Japan (bronze).  This track seems incredibly fast, and I expect to see lots of Olympic and possibly even World records.

Athlete(s) of the Day - Jutta Leerdam, Netherlands, Speed Skating/Mathilde Gremaud, Switzerland/Freestyle Skiing

A dominating performance from Leerdam, and a second-straight gold - and third straight medal - for Gremaud in Slopestyle.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Caroline Harvey, Hockey

Dominating blue line performance on defense AND offense.

Upset of the Day - Marco Odermatt, Switzerland, Alpine Skiiing

Yes, he won the bronze medal in team combined, and yes Franjo von Allmon is having a tremendous Olympics winning both the downhill and skiing the downhill in the team combined, but just one bronze for Odermatt in two downhill races seems like an upset in itself.

 

Team of the Day - Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Guillaume Cizerone, France, Figure Skating

Just a beautiful Rhythm dance performance.

U.S. Team of the Day - Women's Hockey

Another shutout on the even of the Canada game - which will determine the overall number 1 seed in the tournament; not that anybody doesn't expect either squad to face-off again in the finals.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Telemark Landing - Ski jumping - In ski jumping, the Telemark landing is a landing technique in which the skier pushes one ski a little further forward and the other ski a little further back to aid in the landing process.  This was first performed by Torju Torjussen in 1883, and is still almost exclusively used today.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Speedskating

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight, Ilia Malinin, Cory Thiesse

Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 5/February 8

The first Sunday of the Olympics is chock full of events and medals!!!

The United States won its first gold medal in the women's downhill, and it wasn't Lindsay Vonn, who crashed early on in her race and suffered a compound fracture to her tibia.  Instead, it was Breezy Johnson, who skied 6th and set the low time, which was not caught.  Germany's Emma Eicher finished second and Sofia Goggia of Italy won the Bronze.

Also going downhill in the Snowboarding parallel giant slalom were the men and women, raced toward the medals.  Austria's Benjamin Karl - at 41 years of age - defeating Kim Sandkyun of Korea in the finals to become the oldest winter Olympics gold medalist ever.  In the women's event, Zuzana Maderova of Czechia won gold over Austria's Sabine Payer.  Although I always love to give love to the winners, the big story of the parallel Super Giant Slalom was that heavy favorite and 2018 double-gold medalist Ester Ledecka of Czechia, lost to Payer in the quarterfinals.  Here is Karl in his iconic celebration after he clinched the gold!

In another big upset, Germany's Felix Loch failed to medal in the luge, with gold going to his teammate Max Langerhan, who was followed down the slied by Jonas Mueller of Austria and Dominik Fishnaller of Italy.

Lots of action on the skis, as the potential for 6 gold medals at these games is still in paly for Johanes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway, as he just decimated the other 4 racers in the lead pack on the last 1/2 lap of the skiathlon to win his first gold medal of these events in what many consider his weakest event - comparatively speaking.

Norway also won another gold in the Men's 5000-Meter Speedskating fianl, as Sander Eitrem of Norway was victorious.  

In team sports, the United States qualified for the semifinals with one match remaining in the round-robin tournament by defeating Estonia 5-3 and Sweden 8-7.  Their last match against reigning Olympic champions Italy will be for seeding only, as Italy has also qualified, along with Great Britain.

In women's hockey shutouts reigned supreme with Sweden whitewashing France 4-0, and Switzerland blanking Finland 2-0.

In perhaps the most dominating performance to date in these games, France won gold in the Biathlon mixed relay, as Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Lou Jeanmont and anchor Julia Simon absolutely destroyed the field - especially anchor leg Simon's last shoot in which not only was she clean, she was brilliantly fast as well, so fast that even a miss or two would likely have led to gold over silver medalist Italy and third place Germany.

And, in the event everybody was waiting for at the conclusion of the evening, the last three events in the team figure skating turned out to be spectacular.  First up was pairs, and although the Japanese pair won their expected 10 points, the US team of Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea exceeded their expected fifth place finish by scoring their highest performance of the season to finish 4th, and that extra point led to a tie between the US and Japan after Kaori Sakamato came in first place in the women's singles long skate, ahead of Amber Glenn who finished third.  And, although Shun Sato of Japan skated absolutely brilliantly, Ilia Malinin's routine was just so technically difficult that he exceeded 200 points even with a touchdown on one of his quads.  Team US won gold by 1 point.

Athlete of the Day - Johanes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway, Cross-Country Skiing

He skied with a 5-man breakway pack most of the race, and then absolutely obliterated the other leaders with 1/2 lap left to go.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, Figure Skating

Breezy Johnson could be here, but Kam and O'Brien's pair performance was so critical as they increased their positioning by one point, and that single point was the difference between gold and silver over the Japanese in the team event.

Upset of the Day - Ester Ledecka, Czechia, Snowboarding and Felix Loch, Germany, Luge

Such huge favorites that not only didn't win gold, they didn't even medal!!!  Loch finishing fourth in the men's luge after his four runs and Ledecka losing to the eventual silver medalist in the quarterfinals, despite being the one seed.

Team of the Day - France, Mixed Biathlon Relay, Biathlon

Flawless shooting by everyone, but particularly by Julia Simon in the relay position!

U.S. Team of the Day - Figure Skating

Winning their second consecutive gold medal, although only ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates remain from Beijing.  Of particular import, Ilia Malinin planned on skipping the men's single free skate after skating the short program and with his individual event approaching in two days, but knowing the US was tied with Japan (and behind in the tiebreaker), he suited up and won his event, and thus the gold.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Axel - Figure Skating - in figure skating, an edge jumped named after Norwegian Axel Paulsen It is the only jump with a forward take-off, with the takeoff on the forward outside edge and landing on the backward outside edge - making Ilia Malinin's quadruple axel really a 4 1/2 twist jump.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Snowboarding

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight, Ilia Malinin, Cory Thiesse

Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 4/February 7

 

What an Opening Ceremonies!!!  And to follow it up?  Our first medals of the Olympics along with a ton of other competitions across Northern Italy!

I am going to start with the story of the day, by far ... Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida taking home the gold medal, the host country's first, in the women's 3000 Meter Speed Skating event.  She fell behind the time trial's of other athletes, but with 3 to 3 1/2 laps left, just started a spring that most athletes do not even have in their last lap - and she put up a time that Norway's Rajne Wiklund could not catch.  Wiklund with the silver, and Lollabrigida, who contemplated retirement after Beijing in 2022, took time off to have a baby, and then decided to return as her country was hosting the Olympics - won Gold.

Hers was not the first medal won by Italy, however, as her countryman Giovanni Fanzoni and Dominik Paris took home the silver and bronze respectively in the Men's Downhill, as Swiss skier Franji van Allman won gold. 

The Round Robin portion of the Mixed Doubles Curling event continued, with Great Britain winning 7-5 over Canada, and then handing Team US its first defeat 6-4.  This loss stunned the US, as they then fell to Korea 6-5.  Sweden won its two matches 17-7 over Switzerland and 9-4 over Italy, who managed to bounce back to defeat Norway.  Tomorrow's matches will likely decide the semifinalists.

In the X-Games portion of the day, Japan swept the top two spots on the Men's Snowboard Big Air, as Kira Kimora gold and Ryoma Kimata took home the silver.  

The women's normal hill competition in Ski Jumping was completed, with Norway's Anna Odine Stroem flew farther than everyone else to take home the gold.  Slovakia's Nika Prevc and Japan's Nozomi Maruyama joined Stroem on the podium.

The women's 10K x 10K skiathlon was held, and the perennial younger sibling of the cross-country skiing world, Sweden, dominated their older, more decorated older sister Norway as not only did Frida Karlsson win gold, but teammate Ebba Andersson followed her to the finish line to earn silver.

Women's hockey round robin continued as well, with Sweden defeating Italy 6-1 and Germany beating Japan 5-2.  The two favorites dominated, as Canada beat Switzerland 4-0 and the United States controlled its match against Finland, winning 5-0.  For the US, assistant captain Hilary Knight scored her 24th Olympic goal - to tie the record.  I look forward to posting about her record-breaking goal here shortly!

Besides the women's 3000 meters speed skating event, the talk of the day was the continuation of the team figure skating event with the men's short program and the ice dancing long program.  One of the shocks of the tournament to date occurred in the men's short program, as Japan's Yuma Kagiyama stunned American Ilia Malinin to win 10 points for Japan, with Malinin's 9 points giving the US a 34-33 lead heading into the long programs.

And, the long programs began immediately thereafter with the ice dancing long program.  The US team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates might as well have been the only performers in the competition, as it was them, and everyone else fighting for 2nd.  The fact that Japan came in 5th, advanced the US lead from 1 point to 44-39 with three events remaining.

Athlete of the Day - Francesca Lollobrigida, Italy, Speed Skating

Not only did she win gold, she set an Olympic record - AND - she did it on her 35th birthday!!!  Happy Birthday to you Francesca.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Figure Skating

Just absolutely amazing!

Upset of the Day - Swiss alpine skier Marco Odermatt did not even medal in the Downhill, an event in which he entered the Olympics as the overwhelming gold medal favorite.

Team of the Day - Great Britan, Mixed Doubles, Curling

Just your everyday 6-0 in the round robin round, including handing the United States its first defeat.

U.S. Team of the Day - Women's Hockey

Another strong win, this time shutting out Finland 5-0!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Skiathlon - A cross-country skiing competition that combines two different skiing techniques - classical technique and freestyle (skating) techniques - within the same race.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Hockey, Snowboarding, Speed Skating

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Best, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Hilary Knight, Cory Thiesse

Picks of the Week - Super Bowl Sunday!

 

An absolute shambles of a season, and I do not expect this Super Bowl to be any different.  Hoping to find some really good-looking prop bets to try to salvage something for the year!

A reminder, all bets are for $100 expect for the Big Bet, which is $250.  All losses incur a vig of 10%.  On to the picks.

New England Patriots +5 1/2 V. Seattle Seahawks

Let's be honest here, Seattle is by far the better team.  But, New England does have a really good defense of its own (4th in Scoring Defense, 8th in Total Defense).  And, given that this spread moved an extra point overnight in Seattle's favor, I will take it.

 

Seattle Seahawks -235 Moneyline (Bet $235 to win $100) v. New England Patriots

New England might cover, but Seattle IS going to win this game.  Seattle has the third-highest scoring offense in the NFL this season (New England's is second, though), but Seattle did that playing a way tougher schedule.  We are well past the time to start believing in Sam Darnold, especially since he has Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

New England Patriots versus Seattle Seahawks UNDER 45 1/2

Tough - and I mean Tough defenses.  Both of their averages on the season total 36 points given up.

Charlie Puth National Anthem UNDER 119 minutes

Why not?!

Interception on Playing Starting in the Red Zone -160 (Bet $160 to win $100)

Had to take this bet given the Super Bowl history between the two teams.

Kenneth Walker OVER 70 1/2 rushing yards

With Zach Charbonnet being injured, this bet HAS to come in for Seattle to win.  Walker the Workhorse.

Kayshon Boutte OVER 2 1/2 receptions

Somebody will have to catch the ball, and I expect the Seahawks will take away Stefon Diggs as much as possible.

Cooper Kupp OVER 3 1/2 receptions

Similar storyline to Boutte above, but Kupp has been here before.

Rashid Shaheed OVER 4 1/2 rushing yards

Seattle will find ways to utilize this weapon, and a couple of jet sweeps might do it.

Rashid Shaheed OVER 32 1/2 receiving + rushing yards

See above.

Longest Field Goal Made OVER 50 1/2 yards.

Yards hard to come by on offense + quality of kickers + K Ball.

Total Field Goals Made OVER 3 1/2

See above!

Hunter Henry OVER 38 1/2 receiving yards

A lot of checkdowns today!

Trayveon Henderson OVER 4 Receiving yards

This could be just one reception!

BIG BET OF THE WEEK

Seattle Seahawks -235 Moneyline (Bet $235 to win $100) v. New England Patriots

New England might cover, but Seattle IS going to win this game.  Seattle has the third-highest scoring offense in the NFL this season (New England's is second, though), but Seattle did that playing a way tougher schedule.  We are well past the time to start believing in Sam Darnold, especially since he has Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Seattle is THE best team today, and it isn't even close.  The Patriots barely beat the Broncos with Jarrett Stidham starting at QB.

Kenneth Walker OVER 70 1/2 rushing yards

With Zach Charbonnet being injured, this bet HAS to come in for Seattle to win.  Walker the Workhorse.

Cooper Kupp OVER 3 1/2 receptions

Similar storyline to Boutte above, but Kupp has been here before.

Longest Field Goal Made OVER 50 1/2 yards.

Yards hard to come by on offense + quality of kickers + K Ball.

Last Week Record: 5-1

Last Week Big Bet: 1-1

Playoff Record: 18-18 

Playoff Big Bet:  2-4

Year-to-Date Record: 144-158-3

Year-to-Date Big Bet: 8-16

Last Week Winnings (Losses): $375

Playoff Winnings (Losses):  ($453.20)

Year-to-Date Winnings (Losses): ($4,453.20)