Going 11-4 last Sunday (not including the Thursday before), my record for the season moved up to 106 & 53.

I missed picking the Thanksgiving Day games, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have picked Denver to beat the Giants.

Bold = my pick
Underline = the winner

Tampa Bay at Atlanta
Miami at Buffalo
Washington at Philadelphia
Seattle at St. Louis (how bad are the Rams, really?)
Carolina at Jets (when in doubt...)
Cleveland at Cincinnati (the Bengals are stumbling, but the Browns aren't doing any better)
Indianapolis at Houston
Kansas City at San Diego
Jacksonville at San Francisco
Chicago at Minnesota (Adrian Peterson may not play, but he didn't do well last week and the Vikes won)
Arizona at Tennessee (I might be wrong on this one)
Pittsburgh at Baltimore (I might be wrong on this one, too)

New England at New Orleans

Oops, missed another Thursday game. Oh, well.

I'm 95-49 on the season after going 9-5 last week. I'm proud of my Dallas/Green Bay pick, but I was pretty surprised that the Bengals beat the Steelers. I guess Pittsburgh is more like Dallas than you'd think. Either that or the Bengals are for real!

Bold = my pick
Underlined = winner

Indianapolis at Baltimore
Washington at Dallas (the 'Boys can't lose to the 'Skins at home, can they?)
Cleveland at Detroit (when in doubt...)
San Francisco at Green Bay (another "when in doubt" game)
Buffalo at Jacksonville
Pittsburgh at Kansas City
Seattle at Minnesota
Atlanta at Giants
New Orleans at Tampa Bay
Arizona at St. Louis
San Diego at Denver (a must win for the Broncos, but it will be tough)
Jets at New England
Cincinnati at Oakland (don't expect the Bengals to become complacent)
Philadelphia at Chicago (neither team has been playing very good of late)

Tennessee at Houston (MNF ratings will be slightly higher than last week's)

I went 8 & 5 last week, making me 86-44 for the season.

Yes, I missed picking Thursday's San Francisco/Chicago game (won by the 49ers), so that won't be included in this week's picks.

Bold = My Winner
underline = THE winner

Atlanta at Carolina
Tampa Bay at Miami
Detroit at Minnesota (the Vikes better win this one)
Jacksonville at Jets
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
New Orleans at St. Louis
Buffalo at Tennessee (I'm still iffy on the Titans)
Denver at Washington (this may be closer than expected)
Kansas City at Oakland
Seattle at Arizona
Dallas at Green Bay (the Pack isn't doing well, but the 'Boys are due for a surprising loss)
Philadelphia at San Diego
New England at Indianapolis (when in doubt...)

Baltimore at Cleveland (ratings will not be high for MNF)

Apparently the above is not a picture of a Hall of Famer's last at-bat of his career, just of his season.

Ken Griffey Jr. will return to the Mariners for one more year.

Whew, rough week last week, but I did scrape out a 7-6 record, making me 78 & 39 overall for the season.

Bold = my winner
Underline = the actual winner

Washington at Atlanta
Arizona at Chicago
Baltimore at Cincinnati
Houston at Indianapolis
Kansas City at Jacksonville (who cares, really?)
Miami at New England
Green Bay at Tampa Bay (can the Pack bounce back from an emotional loss?)
Carolina at New Orleans
Detroit at Seattle (but with the way the 'Hawks have been playing lately...)
San Diego at Giants
Tennessee at San Francisco (I was going to go with the Niners, but the Titans are off the bye and have Vince Young at the helm...)
Dallas at Philadelphia

Pittsburgh at Denver

Oh, and the Yankees won the World Series in six games last week. That's their 27th championship overall, more than any franchise in any sport world wide.

Another 10 win week for me (3 losses), bringing my total tally to 71-31 for the season.

This is the big "Brett Favre returns to Green Bay" weekend, and we're go to have to wait for the afternoon game to see how it all turns out. I'm not too sure about this. You know my "when in doubt" go to is to pick the home team, but Brett has the habit of pulling magic out of his backside when it counts the most (so does the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, btw). If the Vikes are able to give Adrian Peterson the ball, and he's able to get yards, then the Vikes should have no problem winning this game. That's probably what Green Bay is thinking, too, so once again the opposing defense will be planning on stopping AP and making Favre beat them or, better yet, himself.

Bold = my pick
Underline = the winner

Denver at Baltimore
Houston at Buffalo
Cleveland at Chicago
Seattle at Dallas
Miami at Jets
San Francisco at Indianapolis
Giants at Philadelphia (Eagles game in the morning, Phillies loss to Yankees in game 4 of the World Series at night)
St. Louis at Detroit (don't bet the farm on this one, but...)
Oakland at San Diego
Jacksonville at Tennessee (Vince Young don't let me down)
Minnesota at Green Bay (I'll probably watch this game with my hands over my eyes)
Carolina at Arizona

Atlanta at New Orleans

It was announced that Tony LaRussa signed a one-year contract today to continue managing the St. Louis Cardinals, which wasn't much of a surprise, but it was also announced that Mark McGwire would take the position of hitting coach for the Cardinals next season, replacing Hal McRae. (Source: mlb.com

I pretty amazed that McGwire took the position, since he has pretty much been out of the limelight ever since he retired, and continues to dodge the steroids questions. It is going to be pretty hard for him to continue dodging the questions now that he has taken this job. It could also raise more questions regarding the Cardinals' hitters, including Albert Pujols who claims never to have used steroids. The guilt by association spotlight will, in my opinion, shine brighter on Pujols with McGwire around.

Another 10 & 4 week for me last week, bringing my season's pick numbers to 61 correct and 28 wrong. Those Vikes dodged a bullet, the Broncos continued to amaze (and so did the Titans, but not in the same way), but the Bengals, Seahawks and especially the Eagles let me down.

My pick = bold
Winner = underline

New England at Tampa Bay (the Pats are favored by 15.5, which seems low, but they're on the road, I guess)
Green Bay at Cleveland
San Francisco at Houston
Minnesota at Pittsburgh (My gut tells me that I could be wrong, but I'm picking with my heart)
Indianapolis at St. Louis
San Diego at Kansas City (I could be wrong on this one, too)
Buffalo at Carolina (who cares, really?)
Jets at Oakland (the Raiders can win two in a row, can they?)
Atlanta at Dallas
Chicago at Cincinnati (when in doubt, take the home team)
New Orleans at Miami
Arizona at Giants

Philadelphia at Washington (this maybe too ugly to watch. Could this be Jim Zorn's last game as Redskins' coach?)

I went 10 & 4 last week (who would have seen Cincinnati beating Baltimore or Denver beating New England??), giving me a 51-24 record for the season so far.

Bold = my pick
Underline = the winner

Houston at Cincinnati (I sure hope this isn't a let down)
Detroit at Green Bay
St. Louis at Jacksonville (someone has to win, hopefully)
Baltimore at Minnesota (although I wouldn't be surprised if the Ravens won)
Giants at New Orleans (this may be the upset of the weekend)
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Carolina at Tampa Bay
Kansas City at Washington (the Chiefs played Dallas tough last week)
Philadelphia at Oakland (Duh)
Arizona at Seattle (I'm taking my chances here)
Tennessee at New England (what has happened to the Titans?)
Buffalo at Jets
Chicago at Atlanta

Denver at San Diego

I went 10 & 4 in week 4, bring my season total to 41 & 20.

Bold = my choice
Underline = the winner

Cincinnati at Baltimore
Cleveland at Buffalo
Washington at Carolina
Pittsburgh at Detroit
Dallas at Kansas City
Oakland at Giants
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia
Minnesota at St. Louis
Atlanta at San Francisco
Houston at Arizona
New England at Denver
Jacksonville at Seattle
Indianapolis at Tennessee

Jets at Miami

Not a whole lot of time to comment since games start in 45 minutes. Last week I went 12-4, my total for the season is 31 & 16.

Bold = my pick
Underline = the winner

Detroit at Chicago
Cincinnati at Cleveland
Oakland at Houston
Seattle at Indianapolis
Tennessee at Jacksonville
Giants at Kansas City
Baltimore at New England
Tampa Bay at Washington
Buffalo at Miami
Jets at New Orleans
Dallas at Denver
St. Louis at San Francisco
San Diego at Pittsburgh

Green Bay at Minnesota

There has finally been an arrest in the Erin Andrews nude video case.

What I've learned from week 2 is that I've learn absolutely nothing after week 1. My 6 & 9 record for week 2 is exhibit #1 that picking NFL games can be a complete guessing game. 19 & 12 for the season, let's see if I can improve my numbers with the week 3 match-ups.

The big match-up that most eyes will be on is the Redskins/Lions game, where many prognosticators (including myself, although a little reluctantly) are picking the Lions to beat Washington, ending their season-plus losing streak. That's pressure.

Michael Vick is now active, and could get behind center for the Eagles, although he won't be starting; that will be Kevin Kolb's job.

I'm picking the Vikings although the 49ers are off to a some-what surprising 2-0 start and are playing well under Mike Singletary. Hopefully the Niner defense will have trouble shutting down Adrian Peterson and Brett Favre if he has to start slinging his guns.

Bold is my pick, underlined is the actual winner.

Cleveland at Baltimore
Washington at Detroit
Jacksonville at Houston
Atlanta at New England
Green Bay at St. Louis
Giants at Tampa Bay
Tennessee at Jets
Kansas City at Philadelphia
San Francisco at Minnesota
New Orleans at Buffalo
Chicago at Seattle
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Denver at Oakland
Miami at San Diego
Indianapolis at Arizona

Carolina at Dallas

I'm 13 & 3 after week one of this season, 2 games better than week one of last season. I was able to see the Viking's beat the Browns and was satisfied with what I saw. It's pretty easy to be happy with Brett Favre when he's handing it off to Adrian Peterson most of the time. Some prognosticators aren't going to expect that to last the whole season, that Brett when still be the same old Favre we've seen over the last couple of season, and while I'm not thrilled with him being on the Vikes, I don't have anything to complain about, yet. Before last Sunday's game, Dan Patrick said on his 9/11 show that he expects Favre to throw over 17 interceptions. Favre threw 22 last season, as well as 22 touchdowns.

Another piece of big news coming out of week 1 was Donovan McNabb's injury to his ribs. The Eagles signed Jeff Garcia, and he'll probably start Sunday, but week 3 should be interesting with Michael Vick finally available.

Now for the picks.
Bold = my pick.
Underlined = the actual winner.

Carolina at Atlanta
Minnesota at Detroit
Cincinnati at Green Bay
Arizona at Jacksonville
Oakland at Kansas City
New England at Jets
New Orleans at Philadelphia
Houston at Tennessee
St. Louis at Washington
Tampa Bay at Buffalo
Seattle at San Francisco
Pittsburgh at Chicago
Cleveland at Denver
Baltimore at San Diego
Giants at Dallas

Indianapolis at Miami

I'm not much of a tennis guy, so I'm not sure how much of a foot-fault there really was to cost Serena the point, but, boy, did she fly off the handle! Then she goes ahead and flat-out lies that she didn't threatened the lines-woman's life, and later says in the post-match press conference (which I'm surprised she attended) that her temper used to be worse. Really?? This wasn't the first time Serena stared-down a line-judge at this open, but this time she launched into this unnecessary tirade. She's got to realize that it wasn't the fault that cost her the match, it was this. Plus the fact that she was getting beat by Kim Clijster. She might have been able to pull out the second set if she was able to pull herself together, but from what I've heard, Clijsters was on top of her game and might have been able to pull out the win, but we'll never know.

I don't know the drug-testing policies in tennis, but in any other sport this would be suspected 'roid-rage behavior.

Woo-hoo! I'm off to a one and oh start!! Hopefully that will continue for Sunday and Monday. I'll try and stick by one of the lessons I learned last year: when in doubt, pick the home team.

My picks in bold, the actual winners will be underlined.

Miami at Atlanta
Kansas City at Baltimore
Philadelphia at Carolina
Denver at Cincinnati
Minnesota at Cleveland
Jets at Houston
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Detroit at New Orleans
Dallas at Tampa Bay
San Francisco at Arizona
Washington at Giants
St. Louis at Seattle
Chicago at Green Bay

Buffalo at New England
San Diego at Oakland

Here we go again folks! How will the defending champs started the year? Let's see what I think.

Bold is my pick,
underlined is the actual winner.

Tennessee at Pittsburgh

I just bought tickets for the last two Seattle Mariners games of the season. I'll see them hosting the Texas Rangers October 3rd and 4th. They've had a good year, so it should be fun. The first game is at noon, so I'm going to have to leave for my hotel in Seattle pretty early. I don't know if I'll be able to check in, but I should be able to park and head to Safeco Field to enjoy the game and check in afterwards.

It looks like the 2100 inch big screen at the new Cowboys Stadium is too big because punts are hitting it. (Source: Yahoo!Sports)

Jerry Jones is, of course, upset that the Titans punters thinks the screen is too low, and refuses to raise it, claiming the punter was trying to hit it. That may be true, but we will have to wait and see what happens during the rest of the season. Pro football games can go too long thanks to penalties and replay-reviews, so re-punting a kick isn't going to speed things up. Hopefully the NFL will order Jones to have the screen raised if this happens too many times.

I (like Sage Rosenfels and Tavaris Jackson) feel betrayed by my team. Having a Hall of Fame quarterback is one thing, but if the Vikings win a Super Bowl with #4 at the helm, Packer fans would say, "Yeah, but you did it with our guy," and that will hurt more than anything.

Here are the numbers:

The Vikings will pay Favre $12 million this year and $13 million next season, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen and ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. The contract does not contain performance bonuses.

Because Favre is a vested veteran, the $12 million is guaranteed for this season if he is on the opening day roster. This also applies to the $13 million 2010 deal. This year, $6 million is guaranteed for skill and injury, meaning that if he is bad during the next few weeks, the Vikings can't get out for less than $6 million.

The 2009 salary payments are deferred: $4 million over the season, $4 million in March and $4 million in 2011.(Source: ESPN.com)

The talking-heads are now calling the Vikes a complete Super Bowl potential team. Me, I hope that fall as flat as the 2008 Detroit Lions. Although former Viking and current ESPN analyst Cris Carter is upset about it, too.