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1/5 - San Diego may be only 9-8 this year, but they are in the second round of the playoffs. New England is 11-5, and watching it all from the sidelines. How do you suppose that makes Bill Belichick feel?

It was odd that the visiting team was the betting favorite in each of the weekend’s four NFL playoff games. I don’t ever recall that happening. If my archives from the previous 6 years of Football Pickoff are accurate, 21 of 24 first round home teams were favored over that span – so this was a remarkable year in that respect.

In spite of the oddity, six Football Pickoff slates called all four games correctly, and two had the optimum game doubled. One of those was by HooeyPoo, who parlayed the result into a first place tie in the YTD standings. Of some surprise was that five of the top ten slates in the YTD standings failed to submit picks this week. Too much New Year’s merriment? And several slates picked the Saturday games but not the Sunday games, apparently failing to recognize that during the playoffs, all games freeze at the time of the first kickoff. Oops.

1/2/09 - Happy New Year!

The first order of business for the new year was to resequence the left menu items, dropping the football links to the bottom. While Football Pickoff does continue throughout the playoffs, all other fantasy football statistical production ifs done for the year. And for Football Pickoff, remember that the freeze for each playoff round occurs at the scheduled kickoff time of the first game. So you have until Saturday at 4:30pm to lock in your picks for all four games. No waiting until Sunday this week.

I’ve gotten a few emails asking about GuruGolf for 2009. I do plan to offer the game once again, but the launch will be later in January or early in February, as has been my norm over the years. So fantasy golfers, just hang loose for a few more weeks.

The NBA schedule cranks up in earnest now. All 30 teams are in action tonight, which is very rare. In fact, it’s the only day this season with a full slate of 15 games.

12/23 - First, congrats to Gurupie Slackjawed Yokel who repeats as winner of the 2008 RIFC Championship. He is the first repeat winner.

In Football Pickoff, the top score was posted by tekeballer with 13 correct picks and 526 points. This was a difficult week, as only about one fourth of all active slates posted positive scores. Only three slates scored better than by simply picking underdogs across the board.

Although the YTD leader in Pickoff has a significant margin over #2, remember that Pickoff continues throughout the playoffs, so there are still 11 games up for grabs after the regular season ends – four of which can be doubled. There’s still time to make up some ground.

This will be my final blurb posting for 2008, as I’m leaving later today for a week of family visits over the holidays. I’ll be back in RotoGuru World Headquarters at the start of 2009. Until then, I’ll be updating stats, but maintaining a lower profile otherwise. So, here’s wishing all of you a wonderful end to 2008. Special thanks to all of you who continue to keep RotoGuru.com active and viable. I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do this without your encouragement, enthusiasm, feedback, and support. Let’s do it again in 2009!

Cheers!

12/22 - I was feeling pretty smug by mid-afternoon yesterday, having decided to go ahead with my plans to get Matt Cassel in spite of the snowy weather in Foxboro. But I was brought back to earth in the evening, when my decision to shed DeAngelo Williams turned out to be a massive “Oops!” It’s a maddening game. Regardless, I’m still in the top 100 in both TSN Ultimate and RotoHog, so I guess I shouldn’t moan too loudly. I occasionally do well in salary cap football games, but it’s never something that I expect. And the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, so I still have some mistakes to avoid if I’m going to pull it off..

It actually turned out to be a good day for a lot of QBs, as many of the popular candidates put up a lot of points. Obviously, I’m presuming that Kurt Warner was not a popular option this week. It wasn’t long ago that Warner was widely touted as a leading contender for league MVP. That seems much less likely now. Even though the Cardinals have clinched a playoff berth, they still could finish with a record of 8-8.

And it also wasn’t long ago that the Jets seemed to be on a path to the Super Bowl. But after yesterday’s flub in Seattle, they are now on the brink of missing the playoffs entirely. First, they must beat the Dolphins in the Meadowlands. But they also need either New England (at Buffalo) or Baltimore (vs. Jax) to lose. Miami and Baltimore control their own destinies; the Pats and the Jets need help.

Thanks to Gurupie Challenger for suggesting today’s quote.

12/19 - Fantasy teams who were relying on Peyton Manning to lead their teams to a championship may have gotten their wish. At a minimum, they are off to a splendid start. But teams that were relying on Joseph Addai are already ankle deep in doodoo. He dealt fantasy owners the nastiest blow of all – being declared active for the game, and then spending the entire game on the sidelines. For a guy who was probably a top 5 draft pick in many leagues, he sure worked out to be a bust this season.

It looks like my motivational skills have faltered. After several examples of calling out NBA players for disappointing seasons only to seem them quickly respond favorably (see 12/4 blurb), my latest disparagement of Elton Brand (see 12/12 blurb) resulted in a dislocated shoulder. Maybe I just got him too amped up.

Snow is heading this way, and another helping of snow and freezing rain is expected on Sunday. This could have ramifications for the Arizona-Patriots game in Foxboro, and maybe also for the Carolina-Giants game in the Meadowlands. Keep it in mind if you’re relying on any of those players this weekend.

12/18 - For those of you who no longer play the TSN salary cap games due to administrative snafus, feel free to smugly say “I told you so” today. The Ultimate Hoops price changes were bungled last night, and the solution that TSN has announced (gory details) appears to be no better – and maybe worse – than doing nothing. It does seem to disadvantage just about every team to varying degrees, however. Maybe that’s the definition of a good compromise. … Not.

In an unrelated issue, some stat sources seem to credited last night’s stat line for Jose Barea to Antoine Wright. Barea played 21 minutes, with 3 points, 3 assists, and 6 rebounds. To compound the problem, several of the monitoring sites (including RotoWire and RotoWorld) have erroneously posted that Barea played only one minute last night. If you have Barea on your roster, check your game site to make sure you get credited for his actual stats. Neither TSN nor NBASE have it correct, although Yahoo does have it right. If you need further confirmation that he really did play, see the photo at the top of this AP news story.

There is one NFL game tonight, Indy at Jacksonville. Make sure your lineups are properly configured, and your Pickoff pick is registered before the kickoff.

12/17 - Tracy McGrady produced a triple double last night. Several years ago, that news would have been a ho-hummer. But lately, it’s news when TMac just manages to stay healthy for a whole game. Pick him up at your own risk!

This appears to be the start of Rodney Stuckey week in TSN Hoops. After a strong showing in last year’s playoffs, Stuckey was a trendy pre-season sleeper pick, but languished for most of November with disappointing results in limited playing time. However, since taking over as Detroit’s starting PG three weeks ago, he has averaged 33 TNSP in 28 minutes per game, including back-to-back 40+ games last week. If he can maintain a TSNP average over 30, he’ll eventually become a fixture on all competitive rosters. Time will tell.

12/16 - Mike D’Antoni received an extended standing ovation from the crowd on his return to Phoenix. The Knicks then proceeded to shoot 5-37 from behind the 3-point arc. That’s not usually good enough – and it wasn’t this time either.

There must have been a disturbance in the force this weekend, as the top Football Pickoff result was posted by some blind squirrel known as RotoGuru.com. Perhaps my midi-chlorian levels were elevated. It could have been a lot better, too, as I had Buffalo, Baltimore, and Kansas City, each which found a way late in the game to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

You know how it always seems that any running back can do well on Denver? Well, maybe any center can do well in Orlando. Case in point: Marcin Gortat started last night in place of injured Dwight Howard, and responded with 16 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 41 TSNP. Then again, it was against Golden State, so perhaps elevated midi-chlorians weren’t really required.

12/15 - It wasn’t so long ago that the Giants and Tennessee had only one loss between them, and were the odds on favorites to meet in the Super Bowl. Since then, Tennessee has dropped 2 of 4, with Pittsburgh and Indy left on the schedule. And the Giants have dropped 2 straight, facing a showdown with Carolina this week, followed by a trip to Minnesota. Although both of them have already clinched playoff berths, each needs at least one more win to assure a first round bye.

Matt Cassel came through yesterday with a game eerily reminiscent of Brett Favre. Favre is widely remembered for having a big game (4 TDs) following the death of his father in late 2003. Cassel duplicated the feat, suffering the loss of his father earlier in the week and then throwing for four TDs in a 49-26 beatdown in Oakland.

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