NFL

Recently we had a friendly contest involving choosing a winning NFL team each week. The premise is that each week you had to choose one team which would win, with the restriction that you can't pick any team more than once during the whole season. If your team wins, you're through to the next week. If your team loses, you're out.

Week 1 I really didn't put much thought into it, I just picked the team playing against Chicago, because I thought Chicago was bad. I made it to week 2, but 17 people were out. Now the stakes were higher, I was already better than half of the people in our department. So, I took a look at the Vegas odds before making my pick. Myself and 7 others made it through to week 3. Now the pressure was on, there were only 8 of us left. So, look at the Vegas odds, and read some sports writers commentaries about the games. Week 4, week 5, week 6... We were all making it. By this point, I was actually watching some of the games on TV, looking at the Vegas odds, and reading sports experts columns to try to find my next winner, in addition to planning out a 2-3 week strategy of what teams to pick based on who they were playing and where the game was located. We would make a short list of teams we thought had a chance then ponder before making a final pick.

Then came week 7, and I was out on a last second touchdown by the Giants to defeat Denver. So now, I'm left with no picks to make, no reason to watch the games on TV or read the Vegas odds... I was really kind of down about it, but I guess the pressure is off now and my Sunday afternoons are free again.