Prior to the start of the current NFL season I joined the “HawaiiThreads: Yahoo! Sports Pro Football Pick ’Em.” The older I get, my interest in sports are reserved until the playoffs or the championship match. And so, joining this ‘tournament’ was purely for “virtual fun.” Lilinoe became interested, and as we do with nearly everything in our lives, we collaborated on a strategy.
It wasn’t very complicated, it consisted of choosing the teams that had players with ties to Hawaii on their rosters; Houston was automatic since I was a former resident; and Lilinoe will choose the New England Patriots each week only because she finds Tom Brady to be “cute.”
The strategy worked the first two weeks as we were able to accumulate 22 points (1 point per win) or 22 correct picks. We didn’t consider the point spread, home field advantage, injury lists, or anything other than the method mentioned above.
In Week 3 I decided to read a few lines of summarized predictions, and managed a low 5 points. In Week 4 I woke up with a bad attitude that left me home alone and only increased to 6 points. Determined to be back on track, I committed to a better attitude and included (begged) Lilinoe back into the selection process, and our points for the week increased to 8. And, I don’t know what happened during Week 6 as the point spread broke our spirit to an all time low of 4 points.
At the end of week 6 we amassed a total of 44 points and were in second place overall. Determined to improve, but having not a clue of the players’ abilities or coaching successes or even the teams’ records we enrolled our 3 year old son Jayden.
As I sat by the computer, I rattled off the names of two teams and he chose. Whatever his response we selected it on the screen. I admit that I was a bit unsure of the strategy, so I went through the list again, but this time by their respective mascots and his picks did not change. The only game we (Lilinoe) attempted to “change his mind about” was the New England vs. Miami (+16.5), but I defended his choice and we went with his selection of Miami.
The last game just ended a few minutes ago, and of the 13 games scheduled, we have 10 points or 10 correct picks! Amazing to say the least, but he should have listened to his Mommy since New England beat the spread!
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