Triumph of the Zilch

I play in a football pool with a small group of folks at work. After watching the NFL for 20+ years, I like to think I have a good grasp of what's going on in the league. I keep it simple too--no super inside tidbits or stats like how Seattle plays at night after a loss of greater than 10+ in October. Just a few simple factors, combined with my gut instinct. I'm not bad--certainly good for at least 9 or 10 wins a week, on a good week creping up to 12 or even a rare 13.

Only problem is, I've never won. Ever.

Which normally wouldn't bother me much (well, except for losing money). No, the problem is, I continually lose to women who have no idea what they're doing, and make no efforts to hide that fact. They'll pick based on what city they'd rather live in, or what uniforms they like better, and things like that. And they keep winning.

Well, this week I started off getting the two Thanksgiving games right. No big stretch there--Indy over the falling Detroit Lions and the Cowboys over the hideous Chicago Bears, not exactly going out on a limb.

Then Sunday rolls around, and checking my scores around 4:15, I realize I haven't gotten a game wrong yet. Hmmmm...

The afternoon games roll in and I'm still on a roll. In fact, my only setback all day had been Seattle (a hideous loss to Buffalo at home). I'm 13-1. Is this my week?

Not so fast--Denver ends the day with a stomach punch loss to the Raiders (at home and in the snow, no less), leaving me at 13-2. Would that be enough?

The answer: maybe. Turns out I'm tied with another guy in the office, and since we both picked Green Bay, it's going to come down to points (we used combined point total as a tiebreaker). I guessed 52 points, he guessed 42, I went higher at 52. I need a shootout.

Well, for once in my life, let me say, I love Bret Favre. Mike Martz, you're great too. Final score: 45-17, victory and a big ka-ching for yours truly. Of course, I've only broke even for all the other weeks I lost, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Last note: I think Ken Jennings took a dive. How did he not know that Final Jeopardy question? And did you see that third contestant? I could not get over how androgynous he looked. I think after he lost he went back to the Planet of the Spiders with Ziggy Stardust.