For all the time I spend watching sports, I never got into the gambling aspect of games.
This is why I don't get into betting.
It’s just not for me; I’m not much of a gambler. If I lose $10, it’ll eat at me for a while. I’m genuinely bitter if I lose. If I win, it doesn’t really give me any rush.
You won’t catch me itching to go to Atlantic City when I’m up here in New Jersey for the week. Not into poker, but I do occasionally play black jack for free online from time to time.
I’ve participated in an NCAA basketball pool for each of the past three seasons, and no joke, came in dead last each time.
But I do cave when it comes to betting in a suicide pool for football.
It’s a simple premise where each week you need to only select one game. You have to win that game or you’re done for the year. Once you select a team, that’s it, you can’t pick them again for the rest of the year.
We’re headed to week 8 of the NFL season, and I’m still standing. Now this story will likely be the biggest jinx of all time, but here’s my guide to staying alive in a suicide pool.
Now this might be pretty self-explanatory but each week my strategy is to treat each week like I have a gun to my head and have to get the answer right.
Some people try and navigate through the whole season saving certain good teams, like the Colts, for later in the year and keep on living that way.
I just take it easy and which ever team I feel will give me the for sure win, pick them and just keep rolling.
Here’s a week-by-week breakdown of each game I selected and then the final score.
Week 1- Minnesota over Cleveland, 34-20
Week 2- Atlanta over Carolina, 28-20
Week 3- Baltimore over Cleveland, 34-3
Week 4- Indianapolis over Seattle, 34-17
Week 5- New York Giants over Oakland, 44-7
Week 6- Green Bay over Detroit, 26-0
Week 7- Buffalo over Carolina, 20-9
Week 8- Houston over Buffalo, 31-10
I try and stick with teams that are at home, except for the Buffalo-Panthers game, stick with whoever has the better defense, better run game and stay away from division games.
I think Cleveland is awful, so I’ve picked against them twice this season and have only gone for two division games, but each were pretty much a sure thing.
There’s no way the Packers would lose at home to the Lions and Baltimore owns the Browns, so I was very comfortable with those games.
If a team is traveling across the country, it’s a good idea to bet against them (Oakland) and as always, just find a team you don’t like and keep betting against them.
I still have some good teams to choose from, New Orleans, San Diego, New England to name a few, and still have plenty of ideas for how to keep alive for next week.
Looking through all the games for this week, I was torn between the San Francisco-Tennessee game, but the Titans just inserted a new quarterback and even though they are 1-6, I don’t like betting against Chris Johnson.
So that led me to pick the Jacksonville Jaguars at home over the Kansas City Chiefs for next week.
Lets go Jags!
-15 to go- (Click here to see why we are keeping count.)
