It looks like Jose Canseco is turning to the poker tables in hopes of turning around his recent financial troubles. Knowing Jose, and knowing the way Jose plays poker, I’m willing to bet that Canseco has a better chance of pounding out 10 more books than making any money playing cards. The oddsmakers agree. Read the full story

Somewhere between Chris Paul manhandling the Dallas Mavericks’ defense and Avery Johnson being fired, people overreacted to Josh Howard admitting to smoking marijuana in the offseason. There was no outrage when Henry Abbott of True Hoop broke this story LAST YEAR (4th question from the bottom), and the flap is extremely overblown when you consider that 80 million Americans have admitted to smoking marijuana with 11 million claiming they do so on a regular basis. Read the full story

I don’t pick sides in games involving the Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type.

Cincinnati +3 over Cleveland

Green Bay -8 over Chicago

Indianapolis -7 over Houston

Kansas City +5.5 over Detroit

New England -22 over Miami

Buffalo +3 over NYG

Jacksonville -13 over Oakland

Washington +6 over Minnesota

Arizona -10 over Atlanta

Seattle -11 over Baltimore

Tennessee -8.5 over NYJ

Tampa Bay -6 over San Francisco

San Diego -8.5 over Denver

I don’t pick sides in games involving the Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type.

Seattle -7 over Carolina 

Cleveland -5′ over Buffalo

Kansas City +2′ over Tennessee

Baltimore -3′ over Miami 

New England -21 over NYJ

Arizona +3′ over New Orleans

Pittsburgh -3 over Jacksonville

Green Bay -8 over St. Louis 

Atlanta +12′ over Tampa Bay

Indianapolis -10′ over Oakland

Detroit +10 over San Diego 

NYG -5 over Washington

Chicago +10 over Minnesota

It’s finally here.. The big game we’ve been waiting for, and hopefully New England and Indianapolis won’t disappoint us. It’s a playoff game in week 9, and I seriously can’t wait. But I have to wait so that’s the end of that.

I went 7-5 last week, bringing my season total to 49-51-9. This is now the second week that I’ve been below .500 for the season. I gotta get things turned around in a hurry. The season started off so promising.. I was 11-2-2 out of the gate, and I’ve been 38-49-7 since. I’m the Minnesota Vikings of NFL picks.

Chicago, St. Louis, Miami, and the N.Y. Giants have a bye week, and I don’t pick for or against the Philadelphia Eagles. A Philly win over the Cowboys would have my squad right back in the NFC East mix.

The home team is in bold type.

Atlanta -3 over San Francsico: Enjoy it now ATL, because I probably won’t pick you in another game this season. At St. Louis on Dec. 2 is a slight possibility, but you guys will probably let the Rams off the 0-16 hook.

Buffalo +1 over Cincinnati: This is an easy pick. I’m taking the better team. The semi-mighty Bengals have fallen. Cincy was in the playoffs two years ago, and now they’re pure trash. They need to blow this thing up in the off season and start over.

Detroit -3 over Denver: This line seems too low to me. The Bronco offense can’t find the endzone, and the Lions light it up at home. The oddsmakers are the oddsmakers for a reason, but still, seems kinda low.

Green Bay +2 over Kansas City: The positives for the Chiefs are they’re coming off a bye week, playing at home against a team that played on Monday night. The bad news is they’re playing Green Bay’s defense and the Chiefs are the only team that Brett Favre has never beaten.

Minnesota +7 over San Diego: Adrian Peterson has played like a monster in the first half of his rookie season. He’s pretty much the only bright spot for the Vikings.. And I’m still taking the Vikes.. Dumb.

Jacksonville +3.5 over New Orleans: The Saints have looked good lately… Against Seattle, Atlanta, and San Francisco. The Jags are the best team the Saints have faced in over a month, and I don’t think New Orleans is up to the task.

NYJ + 3.5 over Washington: I don’t know what it is about this game, but I see the Jets winning. Something about New York’s 30th ranked offense and 29th ranked defense has me believing that they’ll keep this game close.

Tampa Bay -3.5 over Arizona: The Cardinals are the exact type of team that the Bucs need to play after last week’s tough loss to Jacksonville.. A crappy team. Tampa should beat them by at least a touchdown.

Tennessee -4 over Carolina: I have to believe that the 2nd best team in the AFC South can handle the 1st place team from the NFC South. Right? The Panthers are 4-0 on the road and 0-3 at home. Their first 4 road games were against the Rams, Falcons, Saints, and Cardinals.. a combined 7-22 on the season.

Cleveland -1 over Seattle: I usually don’t like teams that aren’t favored by at least 3 at home. A point doesn’t show a lot of confidence in the Browns, but Seattle’s weak. Shaun Alexander is far removed from his MVP season, and the defense doesn’t seem to crack like they use to… Speaking of defense, Cleveland has none, which probably explains the line.

New England -5.5 over Indianapolis: The only game that matters this week… Well, besides Eagles/Cowboys. I’ve been saying that I’m taking the Patriots every week until I see a reason not to. I gambled a couple of weeks ago and took the Dolphins to cover against the Patriots, which, as we know, was a huge mistake.. Kinda like me thinking the wildfires would affect San Diego’s play last week. New England has been destroying the league and they’re not gonna stop until they hold up the Lombardi Trophy…

On a quick sidenote. I’ve heard or read people making reference to Bill Belichick being Darth Vader. C’mon people, to quote Mark Jackson, “You’re better than that”. Calling Bill Belichick Darth Vader makes you seem like an idiot. Belichick is clearly the Emperor. He’s evil, wears a hooded jacket, and he’s guiding his young protegee, the real Darth Vader, Tom Brady. Remember, Darth started out good, but he fell victim to the temptation of the Dark Side… This also means that Tom’s son with Bridget Moynihan is Luke Skywalker, and that TB has a daughter that Bridget was wise to keep from him…. It’lll be a good game tho.

Houston +3 over Oakland: And this will be a bad game.

Pittsburgh -9 over Baltimore: Steve McNair’s back this week for the Ravens, but who gives a damn? The Ravens are a hollow 4-3. Their 4 wins are against the Jets, the Cardinals, the Niners, and the Rams, and they’ve lost at Cincy, Cleveland, and Buffalo. The Steelers victory over Seattle is their only win over an alleged good team, but they’re still good enough to beat Baltimore by 10.

Tags: NFL Week 9, NFL, Free Picks, Colts Patriots

Little did I know that Bill Parcells’ quarterbacking commandments would bring quite a bit of traffic to YBB.. If you stopped by for yesterday morning, and the site was down, thank Mr. Parcells. I have to say, there are either a lot of aspiring quarterbacks out there, or Bill Parcells is the E.F. Hutton of the NFL studio. Either way, everything’s running smoothly now..As far as last week, wow what a week it was. Dallas pulled out a miracle, Leinart’s season is over, the Steelers stomped the Seahawks, and the Colts and Patriots played like the elite teams that they are. As for me.. I was under .500 (5-8-1, 34-31-7 on the season), and now fun time’s over. It’s time to right this ship.Buffalo, Denver, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Detroit have the bye week. And, as always, I don’t pick for or against my beloved Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type. Read the full story

If gambling was abolished, do you know who would suffer the most? The NFL and the NBA referees. Regardless of the NFL’s official stance on wagering, the reason the league is so popular is because of the violence, gambling, and video games. But I’m not here to call the NFL a bunch of hypocrites, I’m here to salute the gridiron gladiators. I am entertained and hopefully my picks do likewise.

I’m superstitious, so I never pick for or against my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type. Read the full story