A few people have asked if we are doing a RandBall U Pickem Group again this year for NFL games. The short answer is this: We live in the U.S.A.; we work for a newspaper; if something is mildly enjoyable once, we will do it again (TWSS?). So: To play the Fan Frenzy U Pickem game, simply go here, acquire a login and password, and join the “RandBallers” public group. Then faithfully make your picks every week, and let the trash-talking ensue.

Know what’s overrated? Summer. Too hot. Everyone is gone at different times, so it’s hard to organize things. You always have to work when it’s nice out. You only go on sweet-[redacted] road trips every so often.

Know what’s great? Fall. The weather is cool and crisp. Everyone can stop pretending they care about getting a tan. Everyone can stop pretending they enjoy going to the cabin every weekend. And everyone can start watching FOOTBALL, the NFL version of which (and really, for the televised stuff, the only version we care about) begins in about 33 hours. So let’s make some picks (predicted winners in bold):

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

Some comments: Arizona, Detroit, and Cincy on the road? Really? Wow, actually they’re all favored. We didn’t even know that. Numbers from Vikings/Packers: Tarvaris Jackson — 14 for 24, 157 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Aaron Rodgers — 19 for 31, 212 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT. Adrian Peterson: 25-105, 1 TD. Ryan Grant: 23-80. Final score: Vikings 20, Packers 17.

Fasola-link! The banana that saved Starbucks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 8:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.