Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Week 17 In Which I Find Out How Much Football I Can Actually Watch

 AAAAANNNNNDDDDD...

...we're down to the penultimate week of the NFL regular season, when the games really matter. Well, except for those games featuring two bad teams playing out the string, and those with a bad team serving itself up as food a good team with something to play for. Sure, there could be upsets; hey, that's why we watch! Well, that, and it gives us an excuse to write crap using cool words like "penultimate."

In any case, I'm figuring on this being my last week of picking against the spread this season; week 18 are too dicey with teams being locked into playoff seedings and resting star players, and teams that threw in the towel some time ago and just want to end the season without crippling injuries. I will, however, write some sort of season-capping summary here next week (probably).

One obvious observation: we have games this week on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Opinion: teams should not be playing on three days' rest, not ever. I do believe this makes for bad games, bad TV, and possibly shortened careers among the players. Teams more often than not do not look ready to play, resulting in mental mistakes, penalties, turnovers, and injuries, and, not incidentally, me being unable to pick winners against the spread worth a shit (I think I'm 7-12 on Thursdays). This week is particularly ridiculous, most notably for the Chiefs, who played a week ago Sunday, then last Saturday, and now play on Wednesday, Christmas day. And remember, this is a team that has played a regular season's worth of extra post-season games since 2018. The wear and tear must be immense. 

It's a ridiculous schedule for a sport like football. This happens because the owners are billionaires, and if you didn't know, billionaires never think they are making enough money.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills have not played a game on a day other than Sunday since October 14. They had their bye week just before Thanksgiving, and finish with games against New England (last Sunday), the Jets, and New England again, all bad teams, all the while fighting the Chiefs for the number one seed. Ack.

So I don't want to hear any conspiracy bullshit about the league favoring the Chiefs and rigging the games. They certainly didn't rig the schedule, at least not in the Chiefs' favor. Take your flat earth crap elsewhere, please. It's just not cute anymore.

Wednesday

Steelers +2.5 vs. Chiefs

Ravens -5.5 vs. Texans

Thursday 

Bears +3.5 vs. Seahawks

Saturday

Chargers -4 vs. Patriots

Bengals -3 vs. Broncos

Rams -6.5 vs. Cardinals

Sunday

Giants +8 vs. Colts

Bills -9.5 vs. Jets

Jaguars -1 vs. Titans

Raiders -1.5 vs. Saints

Panthers +8 vs. Buccaneers

Cowboys +9.5 vs. Eagles

Dolphins -6.5 vs. Browns

Packers +1 vs. Vikings

Commanders -4.5 vs. Falcons

Monday

Lions -3.5 vs. 49ers

Last week: 9-6-1

Season to date: 132-103-5


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