Weekend Edition - Week 4 NFL & NCAA Picks

CV's PICKS - 2010 YTD Totals

2010 NCAA Picks: 8-6-1
2010 NCAA (unit picks differential): +5
NCAA 2010 Wager Total: (+$440)


NFL Picks: 25-20-3
NFL (unit picks differential): +8
NFL 2010 Wager Total: (+$650)

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WEEK 4 NCAA PICKS (pick in BOLD CAPS)

VIRGINIA TECH (-3.5) at NC State - 1 unit
Virginia Tech 41 - NC State 30 - correct ($+100)
Ohio State at ILLINOIS (+17.5) - 1 unit
Ohio State 24 - Illinois 13 - correct (+$100)
BOISE STATE (-42.5) at New Mexico State - 1 unit
Boise State 59 - NMSU 0 - correct (+$100)
STANFORD (+7) at Oregon - 1 unit
Oregon 52 - Stanford 31 - incorrect (-$110)

Additional games of note (no "unit" plays) - results" Green = correct/Red = incorrect: CV would favor: Army, OklahomaIndiana, Ole Miss, Florida.


Week 4 NCAA Picks: 6-2-0
Week 4 unit pick differential: +2
Week 4 wager total: +$190 

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 NFL EARLY GAMES
BYE WEEK: (Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Dallas, Minnesota)
Peeps - I'm going to do my best to re-create the detail of some of the game write-ups this week, but I lost a lot of data when the power went down & I hadn't saved work a few days ago... For now, just the UNIT PLAYS...





Denver Broncos (1-2) at Tennessee Titans (2-1) (1:00 EST)


Line: Titans by 6.5


Generally speaking, Vegas comes out with the lines on Tuesday mornings. Most are set the day prior, but the final piece is the MNF game (which naturally effects the lines of 2 games the following week)... The other exception is if there is an issue to a key player (normally QB) or otherwise change in personnel or management (which I'll get to in other game write-ups)... Usually, before the lines come out, I have some games circled on the agenda, and this happened to be one of them...
The big issue right now is for the public to try and wrap its arms around certain teams, or not... After 3 weeks of regular season, a pattern of "how is this team living up to expectations" emerges... If you play fantasy football, this is clearly evident in the waiver wires... Vegas makes its money on the "perceptions" of bettors, so these ideas start working themselves into game lines by week 4... At this point, it's literally MAKE OR BREAK for some teams, while other teams become the FLAVOR of the week/month... If you're handicapping games, it's important to stay objective...
Anytime you're handicapping the Titans, you're thinking "What's Chris Johnson going to do"?... What type of defense is he playing this week?... Moreover, is it a head coach or defensive coordinator that is crafty enough to game plan against the Titans #1 threat...

Last week versus the Denver defense, the Colts only managed 41 yards on 20 carries, but the Colts don't thrive off the run, and are perennially near the bottom in the NFL in rushing stats... So
Chris Johnson should not have many problems running against this defense... Teams like the Steelers can stack the box and contain CJ, but Denver does not have that personnel... You have to understand that the first job of any team is to win your division... That means the Broncos are built to try and contain teams like the Chargers (which come at them with an aerial attack)... That's why they have players like Champ Bailey, and crafty pass rushers like Elvis Dumerville... The bottom line is that both Bailey & Dumerville are banged up, so Denver is going to have problems stopping anyone...


This is a tough spot for the Broncos. Last week, against the Colts, they put a lot of stock into the game due to the death of one of their players... The Titans, OTOH, are coming off a nice rebound win on the road (although the STATS on the victory over the Giants weren't as impressive as the score)... Still, I'll take the TITANS here and lay the points for (4 units)...

 



Baltimore Ravens (2-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0) (1:00 EST)

Line: Steelers by 1.5


Even though I went 10-6 last week, (which is a great result ATS), one of my poorer calls was suggesting that Tampa Bay over the Steelers might have been a good UPSET SPECIAL play...
I have to admit that I didn't do all my homework... I didn't realize that TB safety Tanard Jackson was out (and thus, Charlie Batch torched them with 3 TD passes)... The "Batch" part I'm not surprised about... I really don't know why the Steelers haven't used him all year (while waiting for Big Ben to come back from suspension)... But the Steelers are 3-0, including 2 wins on the road, so what the hell do I know?
The "road", (even though they're playing "home" this week), gets a lot tougher this week as they play division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens...

Steeler - Ravens games are always slugfests (where generally a lot of bones are broken)... Ask Rashard Mendenhall (who had a good week vs. TB last week, but now faces Ray Lewis who put him out for the season in his rookie year)... It's doubtful he'll find the same type of running success (unless the Ravens D tosses in a head scratching stinker like they did last week against the Browns Peyton Hillis)... Maybe they were just saving themselves for this game... But that was also a game I lost a multi-unit bet on...


The quick and dirty here is that the Steelers are playing awesome on defense at the moment... Baltimore's offense is IMPROVED (over past seasons), but it's not yet visible in that they've played two very tough defenses (Cincinnati & NY Jets) this season... Last week, vs. the Browns, they were finally able to open up and produce some fireworks...


In week 12 last week vs. the steelers, Joe Flacco went 23-of-35 for 289 yards and a touchdown... However, he took five sacks, & fumbled twice there, and the Steelers didn't even have Troy Polamalu or Aaron Smith in the lineup... Here, the Ravens may be out the services of Ray Rice (who suffered a knee contusion last week)...


The Ravens have often managed to create blitz packages against the Steelers and recently sacked Ben Rothleisberger a whopping 9 times in one game... Charlie Batch won't have as much time to locate Mike Wallace again for long bombs as he did last week... Baltimore is first against the pass, giving up a 4.8 YPA... (Those statistics are skewed though, because they played a conservative Jets team in week 1, followed by a crappy Carson Palmer in week 2, and backup QB Seneca Wallace in week 3)... The defensive secondary is actually the WEAKEST part of the Ravens team, and they're really not getting that many sacks, so sooner or later they're going to be exposed when they face a Tom Brady, or a Drew Brees (remember I said that all you RAVENS DST fantasy football owners)...

The silent factor here is that the oddsmakers have actually made the Ravens "favorites" by a point and a half... If the Steelers had been favored by 3, that would essentially have been the NEUTRAL or PICKEM bias considering home field advantage... 
Frankly - I think the Ravens are a better team, but they haven't yet played to their full potential in 2010... The Steelers are outright playing the best football in the NFL thus far, so it's hard for me to back the Ravens in this spot... Objectively, I'll take the STEELERS for (0 units) and hope I'm wrong...

 



Cincinnati Bengals (2-1) at Cleveland Browns (0-3) (1:00 EST)

Line: Bengals by 3

I'd said earlier (above), that certain games I circle before the lines even come out because I'm expecting Vegas to reflect something "emotional" in nature and lure money in the wrong direction...
Understandably, unless you're from the state of Ohio, there's nothing really emotional about a Browns - Bengals matchup... I don't think it's a far stretch to say that "Ohio-ans" are DONE for the weekend after Ohio State plays... I suppose they used to get emotional about LeBron, but now that he's kickin' it in South Beach, they're back to the Drew Carrey show for their weekly thrills...
I'm a Ravens fan, so I can say (which is more than MOST people can say), that I've already seen both teams in action this year... The Ravens played them the past two weeks in a row...
Cincy beat the Ravens (or was it the refs?)... Cleveland didn't, but played better than expected against a Ravens squad that was probably a little guilty of looking ahead to this weeks match-up vs. the Steelers...
All Cincy had to do last week was go down and beat up on a rookie QB (in Carolina), who was missing all pro left tackle Jeff Otah... The fact that Carolina is clueless didn't help either... Jimmy Clausen was practicing with the 2nd team for most of the pre-season and therefore botched 3 snaps from first team center Ryan Kalil... If that wasn't enough to convince you, his main target was a guy that he'd developed a rapport with on the practice squads...
Against Cincy, despite all the mistakes, Carolina still had a chance to pull the game out in the 4th quarter until Jonathan Stewart fumbled deep in the Red Zone... 
Basically what I'm trying to say is... The Cincinnati defense has put up some good numbers in the past two games, but most of it is due to errors by the opposing teams... They got torched by New England in week 1...
I doubt the Browns, on offense, are going to do much torching... Hopefully they can get Peyton Hillis involved in the game as they did last week... But Seneca Wallace won't have much luck dodging pressure... Cincinnati is likely to have yet another week of solid performance versus a mediocre squad... 
They might not have to do much on offense because for all the hype of "85" & TO, the Bengals look shoddy on offense... It seems that Carson Palmer can't concentrate when he has two receivers who have neon lights on their chest blinking THROW THE BALL TO ME OR I'LL POUT AND MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE... If the Browns can therefore focus on limiting Cedric Benson, they might hang a little in this game...
What puzzles me most about this game is the point spread... 3 points? Are you kidding me? The KC Chiefs were in town about a week ago and the point spread was basically PICK EM... You mean the Bengals are only a field goal better than the Chiefs? (and that was two weeks ago when everyone, including myself, was convinced the Chiefs sucked)... I can't side with a game like this that I think has a fishy line... I'll take the BROWNS for (1 unit)...


 
Detroit Lions (0-3) at Green Bay Packers (2-1) (1:00 EST)
Line: Packers by 14.5
Quick & Dirty: The Packers are coming off an emotional loss (where they were penalized a whopping 17 times)... The Lions are looking for their first win... Expect the Packers to win here, but until they start playing more disciplioned football, a backdoor cover by an intradivisional rival should not be ruled out... The Lions plan to play Jahvid Best, but "watch out" fantasy owners, turf toe injuries can hamper a player all season (ask Antonio Gates)... LIONS for (0 units)
 
Line: Saints by 13.5
Carolina Panthers (0-3) at New Orleans Saints (2-1) (1:00 EST)

Quick & Dirty: Drew Brees got banged up a little last week in a hard fought intradivisional game that they lost to Atlanta by a field goal at the end... The Saints have to be worn out by playing two tough games in a row, and having lost Reggie Bush (and now have Brees & Pierre Thomas nursing injuries)... Carolina, somehow, seems to manage to play the Saints tough, and even though they're 0-3 and starting rookie Jimmy Clausen, at least Clausen got snaps with the first team this week (and hopefully won't fumble 3 snaps)... They actually were driving for the winning score last week vs. Cincy when Jonathan Stewart fumbled in the RED ZONE... I think the Panthers can try to play some vanilla ball here and contain a double digit intradivision line...
PANTHERS for (1 unit)
 
San Francisco 49ers (0-3) at Atlanta Falcons (2-1) (1:00 EST)
Line: Falcons by 6.5
Quick & Dirty: The 49ers are 0-3 and the the public has dropped them like a hot potato... I wasn't surprised that they lost to the Chiefs last week (as they were drained from the Monday Night affair vs. the Saints)... It's sort of the same in reverse here... Last week, ATLANTA has the tough game vs. the Saints... Teams get "up" to play the defending Super Bowl Champions (and thus have a horrible record against the spread the following week)... The 49ers fired their offensive coordinator last week so I'd expect them to be very mad here and just pummel Frank Gore down the Falcons throat all afternoon... I'll go with the 49ERS for my max (5 units)...
 
Seattle Seahawks (2-1) at St. Louis Rams (1-2) (1:00 EST)
Line: Seahawks by 1
Quick & Dirty: I can't really figure the Seahawks out yet... I'm simply going to have to go on the "tradition" here... Which is... While the seahawks play well at home, they're one of the worst road teams in the NFL... The only problem with that logic is that if there are any teams that they've fared well against on the road, it's been the Rams... However, the Rams have been doormats for the past few years, so that might not be saying much... The Rams look more re-juvenated this year, and have been "in" every game this season thus far (with rookie QB Sam Bradford doing a fine job)... They beat a Redskins team last week that was in a trap game after losing an emotional game to the Texans, and looking AHEAD to the Donovan McNabb/Michael Vick game)... I'll punt here and say that the Rams can win this game for RAMS for (1 unit)...
 

J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets (2-1) at Buffalo Bills (0-3) (1:00 EST)
Line: Jets by 4.5
Quick & Dirty: As "the Swami" says... "No one circles the wagon like... the Buffalo Bills"... The Bills are 0-3 and have given up on Trent Edwards... They're now going with Harvard QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, and playing a shuffleboard backfield... Why don't they just trade Marshawn Lynch to Green Bay and get it over with for crying out loud?... Anyway, this is a huge TRAP GAME situation... I'd expect the jest to be very "disinterested" here after two big wins (vs. New England & Miami)... They could have lost the Miami game, save for a blown coverage (and tackle) that allowed DUI Braylon Edwards to score a long TD... Frankly, I question the locker room discipline of the Jets... It means that you have to be very careful taking them and laying any point spread in what appears to be a meaningless game... Especially if the opponent is "circling the wagons"... BILLS for (2 units)

LATE GAMES




 
Indianapolis Colts (2-1) at Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2) (4:05 EST)
Line: Colts by 8.5
Quick & Dirty: I had a bunch of stats to give you for when the Colts play the Jaguars (which I lost when the power went down on work that I hadn't saved earlier this week...I'm just going to give you th "bottom line"... I've made a lot of money betting the Jags over the Colts in the past few years simply because the public always takes the Colts, the Colts were usually undefeated, and nobody understands inflated intradivision lines or game dynamics... The dynamic is basically this... To get to the Super Bowl, you have to win your division first (or get in the playoffs by a playoff lottery)... The INTELLIGENT thing to do is to try and win your division though because that's a guaranteed sopt... Naturally you want to draft a squad that has the personnel to compete with your strongest divisional rival (and that has been the Colts for many years)... So the Jags basically "match-up" well vs. the Colts... You draft guys like Maurice Jones Drew that can do tough inside running (and negate 3rd & longs and the inevitable pass rush from Freeney & Mathis)... You try to play "ball control" and eat up a lot of clock (keeping Peyton Manning off the field)... It might not be enough to win a game, but it usually "keeps you in" games... You HOPE a couple turnovers, penalties, or special teams plays will go your way in the process... By the 4th quarter, the Colts might be just sitting on the ball trying to preserve a win... It's not fun to lay more than 7 points in a spread when you have that dynamic involved... Normally, this would be a 5 unit play for me (on the Jags), but the fact that the Colts already have lost a division game to the Texans, and that the Jags suck especially bad this year, and that MJD hasn't really gotten it going yet this year dials this pick down to JAGUARS for (1 unit)...
 
Houston Texans (2-1) at Oakland Raiders (1-2) (4:05 EST)
Line: Texans by 3
Quick & Dirty: There are too many "injuries" and not knowing who's going to play or not play to really get a handle on this game... Ordinarily, I'd have made this a high play on the Raiders, but the Texans did lose last week (fulfilling my SEPTEMBER PICK OF THE MONTH 7 unit prophecy)... This isn't a divisional match-up but it's an AFC conference matchup... The Texans have to win games like this if they expect to go to the playoffs... They're up a game in their division with their week 1 win over the Colts, but the two teams will play again in Indy... Matt Schaub may be without Andre Johnson & Owen Daniels, and going against Nnadi Asamogha is no picnic... They might have to rely heavily on arian Foster to carry them thru here... I'm going to say that, barring sloppy play, or excessive turnovers, the Texans can win here, but won't cover... RAIDERS for (1 unit)
 
Arizona Cardinals (2-1) at San Diego Chargers (1-2) (4:15 EST)
Line: Chargers by 8
Quick & Dirty: The Cardinals are very lucky to be sporting a 2-1 record... Let's review their body of work... Barely beat the Rams in week 1 vs. a rookie QB, got slaughtered in week 2 in Atlanta, barely beat the crappy Raiders, at home, last week because the Raiders shankaholic kicker missed 3 firld goals (including a 30 yarder at the end of the game which would have won it for the Raiders)... I can't really say that the Chargers are playing much better football at the moment, but "on paper" (uh oh... he said "on paper"), the Chargers beat the Cardinals in their sleep... This isn't even a conference match-up here so it won't lack very "playoff" implications (save for a W)... The Chargers, in both of their losses, were in the Red Zone at the end of the game with a chance to win, so they may be thinking they need to put this game away early here to insure a win... I'll say they are the ones who will bring more urgency to this game (as they are already 2 games behind the Chiefs in their division)...CHARGERS for (2 units)
 
Washington Redskins (1-2) at Philadelphia Dog Killers (2-1) (4:15 EST)
Line: Dog Killers by 6.5
VICK's AN EAGLE... Hide your Beagle!
Quick & Dirty: Is it just me or is anyone else bothered by the sudden "love affair" that the media has with Michael Vick, now that he's made it to the Eagles "starting QB" job and has won two games against the crappy Lions & even crappier Jaguars (two of the WORST defenses in the NFL)... OK, let's put it this way... Winning against ANY team in the NFL (on any Sunday is a good thing), but the commentary has morphed into some kind of treatise on how black athletes are treated in the the media, and in society as a whole... If you've watched all the sports programs, NONE of them break down the "X"'s and "O"'s of Vicks performances (which, if you've watched, is about 3 or 4 plays where interceptions were dropped, etc. from being "ho-hum" or even BAD)... Instead, it's like Vick is the "2nd coming" of the messiah... So they parade all these things about Tony Dungy and Donovan McNabb coming to Vicks rescue at his darkest moment, and that now he sees the light and can be an inspiration to all black youth from here to kingdom come...
Let's face it people... MICHAEL VICK RAN A DOG FIGHTING (KILLING) RING... I'm sorry, but nobody in the world is going to impress me with the fact that after spending a year & a half in federal prison, and taking away MILLIONS of dollars, and leaving a once promising athlete with a pile of debt, that ANYTHING, afterwards is only just an effort to get the $$ back in his pocket... We're only 2 football games (against the crappy Lions & Jags), into even seeing what kind of FOOTBALL player he might still be... I'll hold my judgement as to what kind of person... To me, he's still 3 years removed from killing dogs...
Part of my gripe about this is also directed at the media & at Americans as a society... All week, the sportswriters (whores to make a storyline out of anything, so of course, QUICK to blow a NOTHING into SOMETHING), latched on to the "race issue"... It was all over TV (not only with Vick, but with "boo-hoo" Le Bron James)...
The issue was... Do black athletes receive the same treatment as white athletes when it comes to media coverage during the seemingly INEVITABLE moments when they get their hands caught in the cookie jar?...
Vick was being compared to Ben Rothleisberger (who was implicated in the off season for some sexual misconduct/alleged rape behavior - and received a 4 game suspension from the NFL)... These things all tend to bubble up at once, so of course, Braylon Edwards of the Jets was in Miami playing in a game (on Sunday Night Football national tv), only a few days away from receiving a DUI... That's not to mention that the same Braylon Edwards was out drinking with Donte Stallworth, a year before, in Miami, where Stallworth was convicted of vehicular manslaughter...
Now... LeBron hasn't broken any laws, that I know of... But there he is in the same Miami (with the Heat)... The "Heat" that Le Bron is getting now is with regards to "THE DECISION"... A nationally televised, made for TV program aired over the summer announcing the fact that he was giving the shaft to Cleveland and moving on to "kick it" in South Beach...
So, of course, the "controversy" is whether black athletes are receiving FAIR treatment in the media for these things (illegal, or image wise)...
CV is going to break this down for you people... IT'S SIMPLE... 70% of the players in the NFL are African American... I don't know what the percentage is in the NBA but it has to be tipping 90%... By virtue of SHEER MATHEMATICS, the black athlete is going to be the feature news story here...
SO GET THE FUCK OVER IT!
From a mathematical standpoint... Any of you, out there, if you were given a chance to go to Vegas and bet EVEN MONEY on a proposition that black was going to come up on the wheel 70-75% of the time (simply because that's the population sample)... Would you do it? What do you think your bankroll would be if you did it 1000x?... Me? I happen to like money, so I'd take that bet...
Lesson here? Athletes (ALL ATHLETES - politicians, actors too)... Keep your hand out of the cookie jar... Ben Rothleisberger, you do the same! I suppose the PROBLEM is that with only 30% of white guys on NFL rosters, there's a mathematically reduced sampling size of BAD BOYS... Add to the fact that among those minority 30% you have "Saintly" Drew Brees, all around good guy Peyton Manning, and Peyton throwing balls to BYU grad "Austin Collie" (who leads the NFL in receiving yards so far this year)... Nobody was writing, this week, about the fact that the Indianapolis Colts started 8 out of 11 white guys on their offensive unit (including a guy off the practice squad) and proceeded to win a game on the road... But there was plenty of "boo-hoo" saying that the poor 70% of black players in the NFL couldn't catch a break even that one or two of them had been involved in a feature story because their of recent DUI's, or past involvement with dog killing rings...
I don't hear white people screaming about "affirmitave action" when it comes to sports... That the MAKEUP of professional or sports teams needs to be commensurate with population demographics... Let the best players play... Of course, that doesn't go for the rest of society... If the best players are black, let them play... But if they get get be an overwhelming MAJORITY of the demographics of the sport... Well - you can expect damn well that there will be more of a sampling size of criminal behavior that makes the headlines... Stop crying about when it does...
As for LeBron... Look - THE DECISION (the tv program), simply left a bad taste in peoples mouths... PERIOD... EVERYONE LOVED LEBRON before... But he did this numb-nuts thing (although I inderstand the $$ from the show was donated to charity), and insulted a lot of people...
I've got news for you LeBron... People don't like to be insulted... END OF STORY... The Cleveland owner was very emotional about THE DECISION and basically called it a low class move (which it kind of was)... Nevertheless, it was JESSE JACKSON... that's right JESSE JACKSON that had to chime in AFTER the Cleveland owner, calling the reaction "racist"... Race didn't even enter into the picture until Jesse Jackson opened his pie hole...
So basicaslly, that's where we are as a society people...
-70% of the NFL is African-American
- 90% of the NBA is probably AA (with the other 10% from Slovenia or somewhere)
- The only POTUS (that I know of currently) is AA (technically mixed, but CONSIDERED AA)
Therefore, if anything bad happens, there's probably a 3 in 4 chance that, "guess who" is going to come under some scrutiny... GET OVER IT...
But I can already see what's going to happen... This is just a TRAIL RUN in sports people... Just wait and see... In 2012, race is going to come up again... BIG TIME... When it comes time to look at the "deeds" by the Obama Administration, it it turns out that the body of work is substandard, or didn't meet expectations, expect the race card to be played in the same way it's being played out with Vick & LeBron James...
As for me... I don't have any problems taking a black QB in a football game... (Hell - as you saw with the previous pick - I took the Jaguars [led by black QB David Garrard] over snowy white Peyton Manning and his 8 out of 11 white guys on offense)... I took "black" Charlie Batch [and the team I hate most in the world - the Steelers], over my favorite team in the world [the Ravens - led by white QB Joe Flacco - who I've heard, doesn't kill dogs... I took the Titans (Vince Young) over the Broncos (Kyle Orton)... I took the Browns (Seneca Wallace) over the favored Bengals (Carson Palmer)... In fact, in EVERY game this week, I took the black QB over the white QB...
There was NO REASON for doing so (in fact, I didn't even realize it at the time)... I had to go back and check my references on that... So the bottom line is... CV is looking at games, and situations for what they're worth... Not by all this crap the media want's to focus your eye on...
Barack Obama is a shitty President because he has no balls, makes poor decisions, and blames poor results on other people... We'll see fairly shortly here if Michael Vick starts to do the same thing... Maybe the Eagles will win every game by a wide margin and go to the SuperBowl... And then Vick will be a big hero that USED to kill dogs... But if that's the case, he's going to have to first get by former Eagles QB, Donovan McNabb (who the city of Philadelphia hardly ever gave the time of day to, despite the fact that he took them to 5 NFC Championships, a SuperBowl appearance, and was instrumental in bringing dog killer Vick to Philly in the first place)... McNabb has class... I hope his class (and play) is enough to overcome "classless" Albert Haynesworth (a thug who likes to stomp helmetless players on the field with his cleats - then sign a $100 million contract with the Redskins, cash his guaranteed signing bonus check in April, then proceed to "sit out" because he doesn't like 2 time Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan's defensive scheme)... How many rings do you have Fat Albert?... Notwithstanding thug Haynesworth, I'm really pulling for McNabb (and the REDSKINS) for (4 units)... As for Vick? Despite what I said here, I don't give a FF about him (at least not he passes the test that he can both win AND LOSE with dignity - and not kill dogs in the process, if only because they lock him behind bars and take away all his money)...
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL



 
Chicago Bears (3-0) at New York Football Giants (1-2) (8:20 EST)
Line: Giants by 3.5
Quick & Dirty: I'm having an 8 - 4 day today (including two high unit picks)... So I'm shutting it down as I have no real "feel" for this game... The Giants stink, but the Bears are overdue to toss in a clunker... (NO PICK) - (0 units)...

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL



 
New England Patriots (2-1) at Miami Dolphins (2-1) (8:35 EST)
Line: Patriots by 1

AmenRa's Corner

A place where a skillful caddy always offers cool contemplation when it comes to your "stick" selection



Creditcane™: I came. I saw. I didn't conquer. But I'm not done yet.



SPX
Spinning top day again. Midpoint above EMA(10). Still above the trendlines (3/6/09-7/1//10), (2/5/10-5/6/10) & (4/26/10-8/9/10). Above all SMA's. Above 1110.02 (the .09 fibo from high) and no test of 1151.86 (the .0557 fibo from high). No daily 3LB changes (reversal is 1125.07). QE2infinity.



DXY
Bearish long day (aka whoosh!). Way below all SMA's. Midpoint below EMA(10). Well below its 61.8% retrace at 79.72. Now below 78.41 (.0557 from low). New low on daily 3LB (reversal is 79.34).



VIX
Inverted hammer day. Will it get confirmation? Midpoint below EMA(10). Below weekly 3LB mid and monthly 3LB mid. Still below all SMA's. No daily 3LB changes (reversal is 23.89).



GOLD
Bullish long day. Still above all SMA's. Midpoint above EMA(10). Made a new 0% retrace. New high on daily 3LB (reversal is 1298.60).



EURUSD
Bullish long day. Midpoint above EMA(10). 50% retrace is in the past and now approaching its 61.8%. Above all SMA's. New high on daily 3LB (reversal is 1.3471).



JNK
Dragonfly doji day (which confirmed hanging man). Above all SMA's. Midpoint above EMA(10). Above the 85.4% retrace. No daily 3LB changes (reversal is 39.65).



10YR YIELD
Spinning top day (which confirmed inverted hammer). The 0.0% fibo retrace at 24.69 has held. Still below the weekly 3LB mid (27.60) and all SMA's. Midpoint below EMA(10). No daily 3LB changes (reversal is 27.95).



AUDJPY
Spinning top day. Held its 61.8% retrace. Midpoint above EMA(10). Above all SMA's. No daily 3LB changes (reversal is 79.5441).



DJ TRANS AVG
Spinning top day (second lower close also). Holding above the upper trend line and all SMA's. Midpoint above EMA(10). No daily 3LB changes (reversal is 4475.12).



WTI
Bullish long day forming the three white soldiers pattern. Back above the SMA(144). Midpoint above the EMA(10). New high on daily 3LB (reversal is 77.90).



LEFTBACK'S BOND REPORT

The Bond Reportzzzzzzz 10.01.10

It wasn't a very interesting day.

Corpiez: ZZZ z.zz%; ZZZ 0.24%; JNK 0.20%; HYG 0.15%;
Goviez: ZZZ 0.68%; ZZZ 0.20%; TIP 0.70%
Hedgiez: ZZZ zzzzz%

We are long JNK, HYG and short the long bond. We are fearful for the P/L of recent fixed income inwestors. Too much complacency in bond land regarding the inevitability of QE2, deflation and anything bond-friendly.

Await future opportunities and sit on your wonga, is our advice.

Risk is high.




Morning Audibles 10.1.10

And then there were...


What? Don't tell me you forgot about ol' Shemp?




Reports: Emanuel to quit White House on Friday

As has been speculated for some time now, White House PCOS Rahm Emanuel will be leaving to run for mayor in Chicago... Hmm... All I can say to all you Chicago-ans is...


It's reported that his first act as mayor will be to suspend all "short yellow bus" activities...


"F—ing retarded," Mr. Emanuel scolded the group, according to several participants. He warned them not to alienate lawmakers whose votes would be needed on health care and other top legislative items...

So take that! 

What CV? Don't you have any GOOD news to print? Something that will make us happy? Well, What about this?

Federal Reserve 'Will Be Gone' In 25 Years, Top Financial Mind Predicts, Despite Geithner's Vote Of Confidence

Excerpt: "A mere half-hour after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner praised the "necessary" and "very substantial" actions of the Bush and Obama administrations to "break the back of the financial crisis," one of the world's leading financial minds said Thursday that the United States is in the same economic predicament today as it was in 2007, predicting that within 25 years the Federal Reserve "will be gone."


Gone within 25 years? Let's analyze the "published" balance sheet and see if there's anything to this story?


Actually, CV has dug up, specifically for you readers, just EXACTLY what is on the mysterious FED balance sheet...


Ah well what can I say? Perhaps I'll end this thread on the topic of "monkeys"... More specifically, the likelihood that some will come flying out of your butt anytime soon... Now all I need to do is try and handicap the odds of that happening, or that we'll get a correction of the nature indicated on the following chart... Most are betting on the "monkeys" at this point...








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