This is the fourth year that I have played the spread. In 08, I didn’t win a single week, in 09 I won of the weekly.
Last year I did not a win a thing, and for all three years I was continually miles away from the leader board. Well this year I’m doing better than ever.
I started off not doing great. For the first 8 weeks I was getting somewhere between 6 and 8 picks right per week. I had not won a week, I was about halfway through the leader board , yet my tie breaker score was very low (i.e accurate) and the lower the better.
Then in week 9 I hit a whopping 11 points, but my tie break was exactly the same as someone else’s so we shared the weekly prize. I had been as much as 11 points behind who is now my nemesis and rival for the title: “AJY231”
AJY2321 He had started of flying with several double scores and was consistently up the top. TimAdams55 who I shared my week 1 win had three previous wins, yet his inconsistency in between kept away from being top of the leader board.
On week 9 I gained AJY231 by four points. I hit a 10 on week 10, yet so did my rival and leader of the pack. Week 11 I got a mediocre 7, but the leader, AJY231 got a 7. Then it was onto week 12 and that week turned the season for me. I hit an 11 and came second. Those pesky Steelers let me down. Had they have scored more like they should have done against Kansas City I would have won that week. Though my nemesis, started to wane and only hit a 8 that week and I had drawn level at the top of the tree and had a better tie break average. I came in from nowhere.
From this point I was only really watching not every game, but which games the people below me that picked differently to me. In week 13 I hit a whopping 11 again and came third. Again just one team let me down and I could have won the week. Yet my rival dropped points again and only got an 8. I went 3 clear of the leader board with four weeks to play. Now I was getting excited.
The differing teams now became the focus. If AJY231 simply kept picking the same as me I would the season, unless someone creeps up on me.
In week 14 I really had a chance to stretch my lead. AJY231 and myself had picked seven different games. I knew if I could get all seven, my lead would stretch to ten and I would be confident of the season win. Sadly I only won three of those, and AJY231 caught by a point. We both struck low considering we were the leaders. I hit an 8 with AJY231 claiming a 9.
Week 15 swung back the other way. We picked seven different games. Yet this time I hit four of those and retained my position at the top going back to three points clear. Once the games were I picked I only concentrated on the games that we had picked differently.
With three points up and two weeks to play I could taste victory. I was nervous about my picks. When 1:30 am struck Thursday night in the U.K I hit refresh on my laptop. I was nervous because this week looked tricky. Some teams had qualified for the playoffs, so would they been playing hard?
I hit refresh and something strange appeared. AJY231 had not put his picks in time and his line was clear. I hit the roof with cheer and woke up Steph. This meant I was actually 6 points ahead because the two chaps in the third and fourth place were six behind me, and with AJY231 not playing a week, we would all leap frog him.
Though despite being six points both guys had picked six different games to me, which meant in the worst case scenario I would go into the last week level at the top. Best case meant I could be 9 points up.
The Thursday night game went against me. Only my Dad had Indy over Houston, but luckily no one caught me from that game, we all had Houston, who needed the win, and somehow lost to the Colts, who wanted to lose to maintain their first pick in next year’s draft.
Because of Christmas most of the NFL games in week 16 were on Christmas Eve, the Saturday night. My Dad told me on Saturday to check the site, as I won’t be happy. I looked and AJY231 had his picks in. Perhaps the site had gone down. But either way they were in and I was not happy.
He had four different picks to me, which meant I could lose my first place. The four different games were the Titans, the Panthers, the Eagles and the Jets.
The Giants had helped me week before with their comeback win over the Cowboys. Yet this time I opted for the Jets, thinking their home field would give them an advantage, even though the Giants share that stadium. I was badly wrong.
The Giants won easily, but thankfully the Panthers destroyed the ‘Bucs. The Titans were starting -7.5 against the woeful Jags, yet they only won by a few points. I am starting to hate it when teams don’t go for FGs when they are up just by a few points, instead they take the knee. So selfish. I was 1-2 going into the night game, when the Eagles saved my bacon by destroying the Cowboys. Phew.
I was still three up, yet those two pesky chaps who were six behind me had picked four right out of our six different games. The 49ers, like the Titans really irked me for not winning by more. I was two up with two to play and another week.
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