“I am really superstitious,” Griffey said in an interview on MLB Network. “I have played in the Hall of Fame Game three times and I’ve never set foot in the building, I’ve never even seen the front of it. I’ve gone directly from the field to the hotel and the hotel to the bus and never looked at the front of it because the one time I wanted to go in there, I wanted to be a member of it.”
99.3%; almost everybody.
Bengals make the playoffs, but don’t get a bye and have to play the (expletive deleted) Steelers again. Oy. Model likes the Bengals more than Vegas does. All the games should be pretty close.
Overall Against the Spread: 120-107
Week 2: 9-7
Week 3: 5-11
Week 4: 10-5
Week 5: 5-6 (2 pushes, 1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 6: 8-6
Week 7: 6-7 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 8: 6-6 (2 pushes)
Week 9: 6-7
Week 10: 10-4
Week 11: 6-7 (1 push)
Week 12: 11-5
Week 13: 4-11 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 14: 7-7 (2 not bet due to correct line)
Week 15: 8-6 (2 pushes)
Week 16: 9-6 (1 push)
Week 17: 10-6
This Week’s Predictions (line in parentheses):
Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans (+3.5): Predicting 20.7-20.3. Bet on the Houston Texans.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals (+2.5): Predicting 20.9-24.8. Bet on the Cincinnati Bengals.
Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings (+5.5): Predicting 21.7-21.6. Bet on the Minnesota Vikings.
Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins (-1.5): Predicting 22.1-23.6. Line is correct; do not bet.
Titans at Colts line is not out yet, still, Saturday afternoon, somehow. Will the Colts succeed in their 10 team parlay to make the playoffs?
Overall Against the Spread: 110-101
Week 2: 9-7
Week 3: 5-11
Week 4: 10-5
Week 5: 5-6 (2 pushes, 1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 6: 8-6
Week 7: 6-7 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 8: 6-6 (2 pushes)
Week 9: 6-7
Week 10: 10-4
Week 11: 6-7 (1 push)
Week 12: 11-5
Week 13: 4-11 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 14: 7-7 (2 not bet due to correct line)
Week 15: 8-6 (2 pushes)
Week 16: 9-6 (1 push)
This Week’s Predictions (line in parentheses):
New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons (-4.0): Predicting 22.1-27.1. Bet on the Atlanta Falcons.
New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (+3.0): Predicting 21.7-23.2. Bet on the Buffalo Bills.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers (-11.5): Predicting 19.0-29.7. Bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears (even): Predicting 22.3-25.0. Bet on the Chicago Bears.
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals (-10.0): Predicting 17.4-27.6. Bet on the Cincinnati Bengals.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns (+11.5): Predicting 25.6-20.8. Bet on the Cleveland Browns.
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts (even): Predicting 19.7-24.8. Bet on the Indianapolis Colts.
Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys (-3.5): Predicting 20.9-21.2. Bet on the Washington Redskins.
Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers (-3.0): Predicting 20.3-23.2. Bet on the Minnesota Vikings.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans (-7.0): Predicting 20.5-26.0. Bet on the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5): Predicting 18.7-27.3. Bet on the Kansas City Chiefs.
New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins (+11.5): Predicting 26.4-20.7. Bet on the Miami Dolphins.
Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants (-3.5): Predicting 23.7-28.2. Bet on the New York Giants.
Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals (-7.0): Predicting 21.1-27.0. Bet on the Seattle Seahawks.
San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos (-10.0): Predicting 17.1-24.7. Bet on the San Diego Chargers.
St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers (+3.0): Predicting 19.3-18.9. Bet on the San Francisco 49ers.
The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
by Dan Ariely, 2010
Walking a tight line between memoir and research, this book manages to explain many of the impulses behind some of our irrational actions. We try harder when our work is meaningful to others. We go out of our way to punish people who didn’t act fairly. We become ineffective and risk-averse when offered big salaries and bonuses. We overvalue things we made with our own hands. We respond to specific pleas for aid but not to general ones. Ariely draws from his life experience, especially from a series of hospital events after he experienced a severe burn as a teenager, to motivate each idea. Much of the research presented involves simple laboratory experiments that attempt to distill the essence of emotions or choices out of complex issues. The results are fairly believable, with the caveat that real-world behavior is often much more complicated. Interesting read; I listened to it on tape. One downside of listening on tape was missing out on the referenced “figures” in the text, which was occasionally annoying.