[GenosPicks]

While I can’t thank SBR Cynthia enough for bringing me to this forum and putting my stuff up here with brilliant handicappers—and Junkyard Dog—I will be the first to admit I could never crunch the numbers you do and know all that you do—three different people told me I was dead wrong about my Cards +3 pick—is it to late to plead it thought it was +30? Anyway, it was a tough weekend for plenty of people here on the forum as The Prick had a tough week—going 1 and 2—and hobbles into tonight with his Lions Picks versus my Bears. Also—if my calculations are correct—Godsmack came back down to earth with a juicy 4-4 week as—like me and many men filled with Monday morning regret—gave up on Donovan McNabb a week too soon. While plenty of people could have foreseen these things, here are a few thing I think that would have even made Nostradamus drop his beer texting WTF?!?!?!


Tackified Gloves
If you have never seen these in your local sporting good stores take a peek some time as the plastic, tackified surface is stickier than opie1988’s palm was after his Rangers came up with that 3-2 win Saturday night over Detroit. Any ball that touches them seemingly just sticks which is why players have evolved from making incredible one-handed grabs in desperation to instinctively trying to catch with just one hand. I am die hard Bolts fan but I will be the first to admit Vincent Jackson’s one–handed TD catch wasn’t a spectacular grab as much as a routine two-hander made difficult. Maybe these players get bored with the routine and look for the rush of a more exciting catch but eventually it bites you—and everyone of us bettors aligned with you—in the ass. Take Victor Cruz and his two one-handers against Seattle yesterday. The first came on a terrible defensive play where two Seahawk defenders played keystone cops and allowed a ball that should have been picked to instead be bobbled to Cruz in which his left hand has yet to touch the ball enabling him to score a beautiful TD. So of course on the game winning drive down the field with under a minute left, on a quick slant he only offered one hand which served as nothing more than a perfect bump-set spike bounced from Cruz’s one hand off Seattle safety Kam Chancellor’s fingertips and alighted safely in the hands of cornerback Brandon Browner. Good news Victor, the ball STILL hasn’t hit the ground—because after Browner carried it 94 yards to the endzone to finish off your Giants—he immediately cradled the sideline before shipping it home to his mantle
Yes, one-handed catches look awesome but the best teams are sound ones who win football games using the fundamentals like using two hands—like green bay and New Orleans. And trust me, you’re as like to see those teams in playing football in February as you will be to find guys like Cruz and Vincent Jackson home—where they’ll have plenty of time to screw themselves with one hand.


Just Win Baby
This weekend the NFL lost an incredible man with the passing of Al Davis. It is sad that while most of us—myself included—only remember the aged owner who preferred drafting the fastest player each year and dropping head coaches as carelessly as Plaxico Buress does passes—few of us realize how much he shaped the precious NFL that we are addicted to every Sunday. And while I will continue to make him and his Raiders the brunt of many jokes—it would be a disservice to any football fan not to read the incredible obit from the LA times this weekend. After you do you’ll realize why there wasn’t a dry eye on the Raider sideline—or Texans for completely different reasons—as Michael Huff intercepted Matt Schaub's pass yesterday on the games final play. I would group him as just a much a visionary in his field as the other man we lost this past week in Steve Jobs. Of course things always seem to die in groups of three and this weekend we laid those two great to rest along with the Eagles Playoff hopes –which seem dead in the water after another Sunday of poor tackling and missed opportunities. The Eagles find themselves at 1-4 and in the basement of division and need to make some wholesale changes across the board. Here’s an idea, start with weak footed Alex Henery who has yet to hit a 40 yard FG this season while guys like Janikowski has already hit two from over 60 yards. Maybe Henery should change his name to Tobasco because all he’s good for is a little kick.

Need the Bears tonight +5.5 follow the game along with me tonight on twitter @genospicks