Rob Q. Ink - A Philly Sports Blog

After an 0-3-1 week for -$75, I’m going to let my pick on Michigan to win the National Championship ($100 to win $215) ride for a bit. I definitely need to regroup, but like Frosty the Snowman . . . I’ll be back someday (with picks). Likely by the NFL playoffs. Of course, the comments are open for your picking wisdom.

The Eagles absolute choke against Seattle cost me a winning week as I finished 1-2 for -$28.38. I know no one wants to hear a losing gambler grouse, but letting a Drew Lock drive his then 6-7 team down the field with less than 2 minutes left in the game for the go-ahead touchdown is pathetic. Then we (at least, I) find out Nick Sirianni changed defensive coordinators mid-week on a 10-3 team. And, oh, by the way, throwing a deep pass that gets intercepted when you’re 15 to 20 yards from field goal range to tie it up with about 15 seconds left was a nice cap to the game. Keep lovin’ on Nicky, Philly. The Eagles are 13.5-point favorites against the Giants on Christmas day. The Eagles shouldn’t be 13.5-point favorites against Santa and his elves right now. So far, I like Miami -1.5 over Dallas, another fraud team on the road, and the 49ers -5.5 over the Ravens. Teaser possibilities with the Chiefs -10 over the Raiders, Bills -12.5 at the Chargers, and . . . a third team. Maybe Denver -7

An 0-2 week for -$30 brought the winning streak to an end. I’m still annoyed I didn’t jump on Dallas solo after Baltimore didn’t cover, killing the first parlay. The “same game parlay” was a shot in the dark, which was looking ok when CeeDee Lamb scored for the Cowboys. Who knew the Eagles offense would completely disappear? Here’s what I’m looking at this week: Chiefs -8.5 at the Patriots Dolphins -9 versus the Jets Cowboys +2.5 at the Bills 49ers -12 at the Cardinals Eagles -3 at the Seahawks There are some obvious teaser possibilities on the list, I would think. Let me know your thoughts, and I’ll have my picks in the comments.

Apparently, I’m wrong. The NBA In-Season Tournament  was  a success. All the reports that I can find say that TV ratings for the NBA were up during the tournament compared to the same time last year. Players were enthused by it,  including Trae Young , who I’m a big fan of. In the end, it’s not hard to understand why this worked – money. The league incentivized the tournament – players made more money for advancing. Ok. I’d be incentivized, too. There were also gambling odds on which team would win the tournament and who would win the Most Valuable Player Award, so that explains fan interest. But there’s still something artificial about it. Competition seemed to take a back seat to marketing. The “tournament” consisted of seemingly random games that counted as tournament games mixed with non-tournament games. At one point, the Sixers played Indiana in consecutive games in Philadelphia. The first was not part of the tournament, while the second game was a tournament game. The Sixers won

The winning streak ran to four weeks into December with a 1-1 record for +$45. If the 49ers and the Eagles played more often, I might be a rich man. Then again, if I stayed away from college football the last couple weeks, I’d at least be in the black this season. It’s all NFL this week, so maybe that will happen this week. I choked not grabbing Washington over Oregon last Friday, but I still feel good about my Michigan pick to win the NCAAF Championship. I can’t say I love anything this week. San Francisco has gone up to -12.5 on Sugar House as I write on Friday evening on Sugar House. The Ravens at -7.5 and Cowboys -3.5 both have “hooks,” and Detroit (-3 at -117) has heavy juice having dropped .5 point from earlier. So, I’ll be waiting to see what happens with those lines. Teaser time? A parlay I finally frikkin’ win? See you in the comments!

When we flipped the calendar to November, I was hoping to flip my luck. It took a minute, but I’m entering December with three straight winning weeks, including a 2-2 Thanksgiving weekend for +$48.71. I mentioned earlier this season that it’s about the money total, not the win-loss record. In the last three weeks I’m only 5-4 on picks, but I’m up $154.21, chopping down my early season losses. Since the reboot of the “Ink” in September, my record is 24-38-2 for -$108.14. I’m excited to be kicking off December with a new Blogger template that looks great and should vastly improve the experience on this blog for mobile users! You know, just about everyone these days. You might even notice my book, Reach Past Your Limits , is being advertised at the top of the site . . . something I thought was visible on the template for the last three months. Duh! I’m still tinkering with the template but  let me know what you think of the new look! I will have my official picks in the comments section,