{"id":1283,"date":"2007-01-09T06:43:35","date_gmt":"2007-01-09T11:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-1-the-post-mortem\/"},"modified":"2007-01-09T06:50:02","modified_gmt":"2007-01-09T11:50:02","slug":"2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-1-the-post-mortem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-1-the-post-mortem","title":{"rendered":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 1: the post-mortem"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s never a good feeling to get up in the morning and find that one of your favorite writers just called you out like a bitch<\/a>. But I deserve it, not having gone online yesterday to explain my horrific weekend of NFL picks.<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, my brother said, “A game can be played horribly, but still be exciting.” This was moments before<\/em> Tony Romo botched the hold on the potential game-winning field goal for the Cowboys. He was right; the ‘Hawks and the ‘Boys played like crap, but at least the game came down to the final minute. Unfortunately, this level of excitement didn’t make up for my call that Seattle would cover the 7-point spread (actually, I predicted a 21-point win, but hey).<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Giants ignored the conventional wisdom that they’d quit on their coach, and busted their butts in their game against the Eagles, coming up short by 3 points, instead of the 7+ that I would’ve needed for a cover.<\/p>\n

But my biggest mistake was going with the Jets outright. I thought it’d be a 17-14 finish or thereabouts, but it turned into a late rout, because the Pats are That Good. What’s funny is that, in both 2004<\/a> and 2005<\/a>, I wrote on this very site, “Never bet against Bill Belichick.” Clearly, the fact that I didn’t reiterate this in 2006 doomed me to failure last weekend.<\/p>\n

So I ended the weekend 1-3 against the spread, while Ron Rosenbaum went 2-2<\/a> in our Playoff Challenge (we both called the Colts cover correctly, even though we both blew our call that Larry Johnson would run wild for KC). Still no word on what should actually be at stake on this run. I’d offer up that the loser hosts a Superbowl party at his home, but we’re already planning on throwing one here at palatial VM Estates, so that’s out (on the plus side, you’re invited!).<\/p>\n

Anyway, this Saturday morning, we’ll both post our second-round picks, based on Thursday’s betting line from the NY Daily News. Ron contends he’s also going to hazard a guess on what Philip Roth’s picks would be, even though I don’t think he’s aware of the, um, odd history I have with Mr. Roth (I’ll fill you in on that story sometime).<\/p>\n

(Oh, and you guys should all pick up Ron’s newest book, The Shakespeare Wars<\/a>, for two reasons: it’s a wonderful exploration into the wonder of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry, and if enough people buy it, I’ll be able to say that NYTimes best-selling author called me out like a bitch.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s never a good feeling to get up in the morning and find that one of your favorite writers just called you out like a bitch. But I deserve it, not having gone online yesterday to explain my horrific weekend of NFL picks. On Saturday night, my brother said, “A game can be played horribly, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 1: the post-mortem”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-kH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1289,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-2","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":0},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 2","author":"Gil","date":"January 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's do-or-die time, dear readers! I went 1-3 vs. the spread last week, while rival Ron Rosenbaum went 2-2. There's no denying it: Ron reached mediocrity before I did! I need to catch up in a hurry, since there are only 3 more games after this weekend, so this week's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1573225142","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1280,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-1","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":1},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 1","author":"Gil","date":"January 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"As longtime VM readers know, I'm more of a pro basketball guy than an NFL guy. That said, I spend more money on my NFL package (including HD) on my satellite account than I do on hoops. For a couple of seasons now, I've been making Super Bowl bets with\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":704,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/sports-fans","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":2},"title":"Sports Fans","author":"Gil","date":"October 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Big rain here in northern NJ tonight, and the official VM fiancee and I found that our street was blacked out by the time we got home tonight. Fortunately, my dad and brother were willing to call my cell periodically to let me know that the Red Sox were just\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1291,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-2-the-post-mortem","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":3},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 2: the post-mortem","author":"Gil","date":"January 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Several years ago, I attended a wedding in Las Vegas. It was my first trip visit longer than 24 hours, and I thought it would be fun to gamble on sports. See, I've never been a cards or dice guy, but I do allege to know something about pro sports.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1308,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-3-the-post-mortem","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":4},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 3: the post-mortem","author":"Gil","date":"January 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Funnily enough, when I was posting that Montaigne quote earlier, I didn't even think about how it relates to my near-complete inability to get anything right with football picks. But 0-for-2 I went, dear readers! And now I've dragged Thane Rosenbaum into my web of crappy picks! It's tough when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2033,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/its-the-quiet-ones-you-need-to-worry-about","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":5},"title":"It’s the quiet ones you need to worry about","author":"Gil","date":"May 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always loved Marvin Harrison for great performances and his lack of showboating, but how awesome would it be if he turned out to be the most badass mo'fo' in the NFL? Amy thinks it'd be like that SNL skit about Neil Diamond.","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}