NFL Pick 'Em Week 11

Every week I can't believe it's this late in the season already. Week 11 holds some very interesting matchups and playoff spots are starting to be won and lost. Here's my picks:

Miami at Carolina - No Ronnie Brown means the Dolphins can't run the Wildcat the way they have been all season. Carolina is looking better each week.

Washington at Dallas - After losing to my Packers last week, I think the Cowboys rebound at home.

Cleveland at Detroit - This is another one of those "who cares?" games. Seriously, is anybody going to watch this one? Games like this are tough to pick, though.

San Francisco at Green Bay - After last week I was tempted to pick the 49ers this week, actually hoping for another Green Bay win. But as a fan, I can't do it. I thought the offense was going to be the Packers' strength this season, but it's starting to look more and more like they're going to have to rely on the defense to win tough games. After abusing an experienced Tony Romo last week, they should be able to mess with Alex Smith a little bit this week too.

Pittsburgh at Kansas City - No way the Steelers lose this one. I just can't see a scenario that leads to a Chiefs' win.

Atlanta at NY Giants - This was a really tough pick for me. Both teams need this one badly - the Giants (5-4) can still win their division while the Falcons (5-4) need every win they can get to try to get a Wild Card spot.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay - The Saints have a legitimate shot to go undefeated in the regular season. This week's a Brees (sorry, I had to do it) and a Week 12 game at home against New England may be the last really tough challenge. They also have to take care of business Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina the rest of the way.

Buffalo at Jacksonville - Things are really bad in Buffalo. Not quite as bad as Cleveland, but really bad.

Indianapolis at Baltimore - Normally I would pick Baltimore in this one, but I'm not picking against the Colts the rest of the way. I think they're THAT GOOD.

Seattle at Minnesota - As easy as it is to dislike Brett Favre, it's hard to deny how great things are working out in Minnesota. They're fun to watch, too.

Arizona at St. Louis - The Cardinals are looking like Super Bowl contenders once again. Of course, that's contingent on getting breaks at the right time and a healthy Anquan Boldin. As much abuse as their running game has taken, I actually think it's shaping up nicely. Wells and Hightower aren't a bad combination.

NY Jets at New England - The Jets seem to be in a slump while the Patriots look like things are really clicking, especially on offense. Look for Bill Belichcik to show why everyone considered him a genius before last week's debacle.

Cincinnati at Oakland - OK, I'm convinced. The Bengals are for real. Sweeping the Ravens and the Steelers earns respect. Oakland hasn't done anything to earn anybody's respect.

San Diego at Denver - This is more of a vote against the Broncos than for the Chargers. I just think Denver's weaknesses are being exposed and now that Kyle Orton is injured, they're even weaker.

Philadelphia at Chicago - Man, what happened to the Bears?

Tennessee at Houston - This one is slightly out on a limb. Trailing by 8 games at this point in the season calls for taking some chances. This isn't a big reach, but I'm the only one who picked the Titans. As long as Chris Johnson is healthy, I feel comfortable taking chances on the Titans!

LIVING differently

It's been awhile since I've written anything of significance on the old blog. It's mostly been NFL Pick 'Em updates. I've been really busy at work and haven't had much time to stop and process a lot of the stuff that's happening.

Now, don't get your hopes up because what I'm about to write may still not be very significant. But it was for me, so I hope it's beneficial to you.

As most of you know, Katie and I have gotten involved with Student Ministries at NMC this past summer and school year. One of the things that everyone involved with Student Ministries at NMC has heard about is the Kids In Need focus. Katie and I are leading Small Groups and have helped with some Kids In Need planning sessions. So, we're invested.

This past weekend was a big one for the Kids In Need effort. Starting with the Silent Auction and the 5KIN on Saturday, continuing with Derry's message Sunday morning and the Baby Walk Sunday night.

Katie and I were to be heavily involved with several of these events. I was going to run the 5KIN and shoot some video while doing so. Both of us were going to share how Kids In Need has impacted us as part of Derry's message and we both wanted to go to the Baby Walk.

On top of all that, Katie was hosting a 24-hour women's retreat called Refresh at the lake.

Well, plans changed.

Our two kids came down with something resembling Croup, starting Thursday night. It's nothing new to our family; it seems like we fight through Croup at leas a couple times each fall/winter. But this affliction was especially inconvenient considering all we had going on.

We planned to have our kids spend the night with their grandparents Saturday night and most of the day Sunday. As Friday night progressed, however, it became apparent that neither of them was well enough to go anywhere, let alone spend the night away from home.

Now, this is the significant part for me: One of the things I was going to talk about during Derry's message was how I've learned that kids right here in our area sometimes don't even have parents that care about them. It's impacted me and I never want my kids to think I don't care about them.

The grandparents were still more than willing to help out with the kids this weekend. They even offered to come to our house and sit with them, make some chicken noodle soup and comfort them. But something inside of me knew that was not a good plan. Something told me it was my job - even though Katie was gone at the retreat - to care for my children.

I tried to fight it. I was tempted to let the grandparents take the kids, even though they didn't want to go and weren't up to it. After all, I had a very good reason for doing it. I had important things to do (5KIN, work around the house and Derry's message).

But then I was reminded that there are kids in my own community who don't even have parents, let alone parents that are willing to take care of them when they're sick. So, I knew it was time for me to let go of what I wanted to do and embrace my role as daddy to those two sick kids.

Once I let go of my agenda, things went incredibly well. I had so much fun with my kids and it was wonderful being the one to comfort them and help them get healthy. We had a great time together and I think they realized that daddy was pretty good at taking care of them.

I don't write this to brag on myself, but to remind myself that it's not about me. The plans I had were for some very significant things, but what I ended up doing was much more significant. I want to always make the right choice, especially when my kids are involved.

I love them. I hope they feel and understand that.

NFL Pick 'Em Week 10

Here's my take on Week 10:

San Francisco over Chicago - Mike Singletary comes back to Soldier Field and beats up on his old team.
New Orleans over St. Louis - The line on this one should be 30.
Miami over Tampa Bay - Yes, the Bucs beat the Packers last week, but the Dolphins will win this battle of Florida.
Minnesota over Detroit - The line on this one should be 35.
NY Jets over Jacksonville - Coming off a bye, the Jets get back to their early-season form.
Tennessee over Buffalo - Look out Bills! You got nobody that can catch Chris Johnson!
Pittsburgh over Cincinnati - Steelers bring some sanity back to the AFC North.
Denver over Washington - Broncos are still a good team even though it's been a rough couple weeks for them. Washington is still a bad team.
Atlanta over Carolina - This pick is mainly because I just can't bring myself to believe in the Panthers.
Kansas City over Oakland - Who cares?
Arizona over Seattle - The Cardinals look like they're kind of settling into a rhythm.
Dallas over Green Bay - This pains me to pick against the Packers for the first time this season, but I have to admit that they've got problems - namely the offensive line.
Philadelphia over San Diego - I don't feel good about picking either team here.
Indianapolis over New England - Great game! I give the edge to Indy because it's at home and it's a primetime game.
Baltimore over Cleveland - Ugghhh. That's the sound I make everytime I hear or think about the Browns.

NFL Pick 'Em Week 9 results

Well, we had a bit of a problem last week. As you can see above, there's three guys with yellow letters below their names. Those three did not turn in their picks last week. In order to keep them in the game, they were given a record one game worse than the worse record of those who turned in their picks. So Geoff, Preston and Jason each received a record of 5-8 for Week 9.

Of course, Craig is still in the lead at 92-37. Tim Emmons has taken over second place at 87-42 while I am tied with Dan Erickson for third at 85-44. Derry has made a nice comeback to move into fifth all by himself at 84-45.

As a group, our overall record is 907-512, which is a .639 correct pick percentage. I think we can do better!

So Pretty

NFL PIck 'Em Week 8 Results

NFL Pick 'Em Week 8

I don't have much time to elaborate on these picks because it's almost 5 and I need to get out of here! As you can see, Jason Thompson's picks didn't make it in for this week. He's on vacation so I'll forgive him.

As for me:
Houston over Buffalo - I really like the Texans. I keep saying that, but it's all I got for picking this game this way!
Chicago over Cleveland - Cleveland is really bad. Just trade one of your quarterbacks already!!!!!!!
Dallas over Seattle - Wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong here.
Detroit over St. Louis - Two really bad teams. Detroit's at home.
Baltimore over Denver - Somebody's got to beat them eventually and it might as well be the Ravens with the game played in Baltimore.
Indy over San Francisco - I like the Niners but the Colts are just too good.
Miami over NY Jets - This is mainly because I like the Wildcat offense so much.
NY Giants over Philly - Can't see the Giants losing three in a row.
Jacksonville over Tennessee - Will Tennessee be better or worse with Vince Young?
San Diego over Oakland - LaDainian Tomlinson crushes Oakland and just because he's 30 doesn't mean that changes.
Arizona over Carolina - I like the Cardinals more and more every time I watch them.
Green Bay over Minnesota - Obviously the game of the week for me. I don't feel great about my Packers so far and this game is no different. But I do feel that if the Green Bay offensive line can buy Aaron Rodgers a little time the Packers have a good chance. At the very least they've got to give up fewer sacks this time around.
New Orleans over Atlanta - Saints are really good.