The coveted "Chocolate Chip Maker" trophy Despite the potential misstep of Mike’s text to Mrs Doofus –the Doofus Deck NFL party was on. Attendance was a little sparse - perhaps due to the nervousness surrounding the text. But the attendees more than made up for it with enthusiasm and partying.
Food was in abundance as Dobby brought a pizza, I cooked up some smoked sausage, Chris made martinis and brought over some chocolate dipped pretzels and popcorn finely crafted by Mrs Chris.
The Sax Man and Jason brought only their appetites when they made it halfway through the party. We took a pause to honor their sister for choosing Mercer. There, in the coveted place where the Spartan and WildCat flag normally hung, was the Mercer flag. Go Bears!
During the games we were testing each other with various trivia. I would periodically ask where a player played college. Chris asked one from the half time question from Friday night trivia over at the Starbucks. “Of the 25 largest buildings in America 16 are in Chicago and New York. The other 9 are in seven cities. Name the cities.” Answer below.
The Sax Man had one that none of us could answer – not even him. Perhaps someone out there in our vast readership has the answer. “There have been plenty of walk off field goals and this year there was even a walk off safety. But has there ever been a walk off extra point? A team is down six – scores a TD on the last play to tie and the extra point to win.” Great question – don’t know
After the games were all done but just before we started to take down the Doofus Deck – there was a moment of great honor. Chris presented me with the “Best Host 2013-14” trophy. He had scrounged long and hard through his basement for just the right trophy. Given the pose of the statue we immediately dubbed it the “Chocolate Chip Maker” trophy. And carefully etched (well actually, the etching was a piece of masking tape with handwriting strikingly similar to Chris’ handwriting) were the touching words “Best Host 2013-14 Doofus Deck”.
I was touched. A tear try to well up but the moment was not that touching. I gave a short and immediately forgotten speech. No word yet whether this will be a travelling trophy. I lean towards yes. I wouldn’t want to hog all that glory.
As for the games themselves – The Mega Bets continue to be on a hot streak as I went 2-0 this weekend.
Seattle -7.5 vs New Orleans – As predicted, in blustery conditions, Seattle kept pounding away with Marshawn Lynch as the slowly built a 16-0 lead. Drew Brees was stymied until the fourth quarter. The Saints had 205 yards of their 409 total yards in the final stanza. The Saints got a TD and two point conversion to open the quarter to cut the lead to 16-8. I had the cover but only by half a point. This was going to be interesting.
The Saints continued to move the ball but getting no points. A missed 47 yard FG with 5 minutes left was huge.
Finally the Seahawks countered with a 37 yard Lynch TD run to put it all but away. I was nervous that the lead was 15 but as the Sax Man pointed out – if the Saints score a TD they will go with one to keep the game in play. I liked the way he was thinking.
And his thinking was spot on. The Saints responded with their on TD with 26 seconds left. If they go for one I have the cover. If they get the 2 point conversion I lose the cover. What will they do?
The Sax Man was correct – they went for one.
But then the Saints get the on side kick– Oh Nooo!!
They obviously wouldn’t go for a FG to blow the cover (there are times when you are glad you lay the points). A short pass and spike set up the dumbest ending I ever recall in a playoff game
Food was in abundance as Dobby brought a pizza, I cooked up some smoked sausage, Chris made martinis and brought over some chocolate dipped pretzels and popcorn finely crafted by Mrs Chris.
The Sax Man and Jason brought only their appetites when they made it halfway through the party. We took a pause to honor their sister for choosing Mercer. There, in the coveted place where the Spartan and WildCat flag normally hung, was the Mercer flag. Go Bears!
During the games we were testing each other with various trivia. I would periodically ask where a player played college. Chris asked one from the half time question from Friday night trivia over at the Starbucks. “Of the 25 largest buildings in America 16 are in Chicago and New York. The other 9 are in seven cities. Name the cities.” Answer below.
The Sax Man had one that none of us could answer – not even him. Perhaps someone out there in our vast readership has the answer. “There have been plenty of walk off field goals and this year there was even a walk off safety. But has there ever been a walk off extra point? A team is down six – scores a TD on the last play to tie and the extra point to win.” Great question – don’t know
After the games were all done but just before we started to take down the Doofus Deck – there was a moment of great honor. Chris presented me with the “Best Host 2013-14” trophy. He had scrounged long and hard through his basement for just the right trophy. Given the pose of the statue we immediately dubbed it the “Chocolate Chip Maker” trophy. And carefully etched (well actually, the etching was a piece of masking tape with handwriting strikingly similar to Chris’ handwriting) were the touching words “Best Host 2013-14 Doofus Deck”.
I was touched. A tear try to well up but the moment was not that touching. I gave a short and immediately forgotten speech. No word yet whether this will be a travelling trophy. I lean towards yes. I wouldn’t want to hog all that glory.
As for the games themselves – The Mega Bets continue to be on a hot streak as I went 2-0 this weekend.
Seattle -7.5 vs New Orleans – As predicted, in blustery conditions, Seattle kept pounding away with Marshawn Lynch as the slowly built a 16-0 lead. Drew Brees was stymied until the fourth quarter. The Saints had 205 yards of their 409 total yards in the final stanza. The Saints got a TD and two point conversion to open the quarter to cut the lead to 16-8. I had the cover but only by half a point. This was going to be interesting.
The Saints continued to move the ball but getting no points. A missed 47 yard FG with 5 minutes left was huge.
Finally the Seahawks countered with a 37 yard Lynch TD run to put it all but away. I was nervous that the lead was 15 but as the Sax Man pointed out – if the Saints score a TD they will go with one to keep the game in play. I liked the way he was thinking.
And his thinking was spot on. The Saints responded with their on TD with 26 seconds left. If they go for one I have the cover. If they get the 2 point conversion I lose the cover. What will they do?
The Sax Man was correct – they went for one.
But then the Saints get the on side kick– Oh Nooo!!
They obviously wouldn’t go for a FG to blow the cover (there are times when you are glad you lay the points). A short pass and spike set up the dumbest ending I ever recall in a playoff game
Denver got the running game going Oops. Final score Seattle 23 New Orleans 15
WIN
San Diego +9.0 @ Denver – This one started out ugly as Denver’s defense was shutting down the Bolts. By the end of the third quarter it was Broncos 17 Chargers 0.
Then Denver CB Chris Harris Jr went down with an injury. It was enough to get Phillip Rivers going. He tossed a TD pass to open the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 17-7. I didn’t have the cover yet but it was now within reach.
Manning countered with his own TD pass to get the lead back up to 24-7. Crap. Still had time but Rivers needs to keep going.
Rivers wasn’t done. He also countered with an 80 yard drive and tossed a 16 yard TD pass to get within 10. \
With 5 minutes left – I’m going to need an onside kick to get back in the game. San Diego lines up and gets the on side! Perfect
Even better they drive down and get a FG. Now the lead is 24-17 with 3:53 left. San Diego has enough time to kick it away. If they can play a little defense the cover is in the bag.
Now the beauty of getting lots of points is if the favorite gets a big lead they start up the running game to kill the clock. That’s exactly what happened. It was Knowshon Moreno left and Moreno right as Denver drove down to the San Diego 32 killing the rest of the clock. Final score Denver 24 San Diego 17 WIN
NFL Championship Mega Bets
It’s down to the Final Four on the NFL.
New England +5.0 @ Denver - In the first game, New England travels to Mile High to face Denver as a 5 point dog. I am really torn on this game. As was pointed out last week – teams coming off a win scoring 40 or more points are 3-22-2 against the spread since 1996. Not good for Brady’s Patriots as they won last week 43-22 last week over the
Colts. And Brady is 0-3 in that 40 point win scenario.
But Brady was giving 7 or more in those three situations. Now he is the underdog.
Last week, San Diego got its offense going when Denver lost CB Chris Harris. Brady will have all week to find a way to torch his replacement Quentin Jammer.
Much has been made of Manning’s record against Brady over the years where Brady leads 10-4 all time. Wow. But digging a little deeper, Brady got off to a 6-0 start. Since 2004 the record is an even 4-4.
New England was able to overcome a 24 point deficit against Denver this year pulling off an improbable 34-31 win in OT after a muffed punt return by Denver. That will have Manning in FU mode. Both these QBs are great when in FU mode.
In the win Brady had Gronkowski to target. He is out. But so is Denver LB Von Miller and now Harris.
The sharps are all over the Broncos as the spread dropped from 7 down to 5 despite the public pounding the Pats. But, I expect this game to be a classic so I’ll take New England and the five points.
Seattle -3.5 vs San Francisco – Going to make this one simple. Seattle is awesome at home. The Seahawks are 24-10 against the spread at home. And that includes a 5-0 record against the Niners
The pundits are all over how San Francisco is the best team in the NFL now.That will piss Seattle off even more. I like going against the pundits. This game won’t be the 29-3 blow out that it was back in week 2 when San Fran last traveled up to CenturyLink stadium but Seattle will get the cover.
Trivia Answer: Atlanta, San Francisco, LA, Houston, Dallas and Cleveland (the one no one got and turns out I’ve worked in the building) And by the way Chris got his own answer wrong insisting that Miami and Dallas was in the top 25. Miami’s largest is number 55. Must have been his martinis
Remember the 2014 GO JUMBO weekend is Nov 15 2014 at the LVH
WIN
San Diego +9.0 @ Denver – This one started out ugly as Denver’s defense was shutting down the Bolts. By the end of the third quarter it was Broncos 17 Chargers 0.
Then Denver CB Chris Harris Jr went down with an injury. It was enough to get Phillip Rivers going. He tossed a TD pass to open the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 17-7. I didn’t have the cover yet but it was now within reach.
Manning countered with his own TD pass to get the lead back up to 24-7. Crap. Still had time but Rivers needs to keep going.
Rivers wasn’t done. He also countered with an 80 yard drive and tossed a 16 yard TD pass to get within 10. \
With 5 minutes left – I’m going to need an onside kick to get back in the game. San Diego lines up and gets the on side! Perfect
Even better they drive down and get a FG. Now the lead is 24-17 with 3:53 left. San Diego has enough time to kick it away. If they can play a little defense the cover is in the bag.
Now the beauty of getting lots of points is if the favorite gets a big lead they start up the running game to kill the clock. That’s exactly what happened. It was Knowshon Moreno left and Moreno right as Denver drove down to the San Diego 32 killing the rest of the clock. Final score Denver 24 San Diego 17 WIN
NFL Championship Mega Bets
It’s down to the Final Four on the NFL.
New England +5.0 @ Denver - In the first game, New England travels to Mile High to face Denver as a 5 point dog. I am really torn on this game. As was pointed out last week – teams coming off a win scoring 40 or more points are 3-22-2 against the spread since 1996. Not good for Brady’s Patriots as they won last week 43-22 last week over the
Colts. And Brady is 0-3 in that 40 point win scenario.
But Brady was giving 7 or more in those three situations. Now he is the underdog.
Last week, San Diego got its offense going when Denver lost CB Chris Harris. Brady will have all week to find a way to torch his replacement Quentin Jammer.
Much has been made of Manning’s record against Brady over the years where Brady leads 10-4 all time. Wow. But digging a little deeper, Brady got off to a 6-0 start. Since 2004 the record is an even 4-4.
New England was able to overcome a 24 point deficit against Denver this year pulling off an improbable 34-31 win in OT after a muffed punt return by Denver. That will have Manning in FU mode. Both these QBs are great when in FU mode.
In the win Brady had Gronkowski to target. He is out. But so is Denver LB Von Miller and now Harris.
The sharps are all over the Broncos as the spread dropped from 7 down to 5 despite the public pounding the Pats. But, I expect this game to be a classic so I’ll take New England and the five points.
Seattle -3.5 vs San Francisco – Going to make this one simple. Seattle is awesome at home. The Seahawks are 24-10 against the spread at home. And that includes a 5-0 record against the Niners
The pundits are all over how San Francisco is the best team in the NFL now.That will piss Seattle off even more. I like going against the pundits. This game won’t be the 29-3 blow out that it was back in week 2 when San Fran last traveled up to CenturyLink stadium but Seattle will get the cover.
Trivia Answer: Atlanta, San Francisco, LA, Houston, Dallas and Cleveland (the one no one got and turns out I’ve worked in the building) And by the way Chris got his own answer wrong insisting that Miami and Dallas was in the top 25. Miami’s largest is number 55. Must have been his martinis
Remember the 2014 GO JUMBO weekend is Nov 15 2014 at the LVH
